Similar Uptake of 99mTc-MDP and 67Ga-Citrate at the Sites of Metastatic Calcification.

A 59-year-old woman presented with fever for 2 weeks. The patient had end-stage renal disease and was undergoing dialysis therapy for 10 years. Plain radiographs revealed extensive calcification in the subcutaneous tissues of the shoulders, thighs, and hips.

Positive Captopril Renography Without Renal Artery Stenosis but a Renal Cell Carcinoma.

A positive captopril renography indicates that patient's hypertension is renin dependent, most commonly caused by renal artery stenosis. The authors reported a case of positive captopril renography; however, CT demonstrated that renal arteries were intact, but there was a huge chromophobe renal cell carcinoma. Renin-dependent hypertension was relieved soon after nephrectomy.

New Trends in Radionuclide Myocardial Perfusion Imaging.

Unlabelled: Radionuclide myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) with single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) has been widely used clinically as one of the major functional imaging modalities for patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) for decades. Ample evidence has supported the use of MPI as a useful and important tool in the diagnosis, risk stratification and treatment planning for CAD. Although popular in the United States, MPI has become the most frequently used imaging modality among all nuclear medicine tests in Taiwan.

Lung Metastasis From Prostate Cancer Revealed by 18F-FDG PET/CT Without Osseous Metastasis on Bone Scan.

A 54-year-old man, a case of prostate cancer, underwent radical prostatectomy and hormone therapy. Elevated prostate-specific antigen level developed 7 years later, but pelvic MRI and bone scan revealed negative results. Radiotherapy was performed under the suspicion of local recurrence but in vain.

Dipyridamole 201Tl myocardial SPECT in the assessment of a patient with myocardial bridging and concomitant atherosclerotic coronary artery disease.

Myocardial bridging (MB) is a common congenital condition in which a major coronary artery is covered by a bridge of muscle and narrows during systole. We present a patient with typical angina, severe MB of the left anterior descending artery and atherosclerotic coronary artery disease. In this case, dipyridamole 201Tl SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging, besides detecting coronary artery disease, provided supportive evidence that severe MB can cause myocardial ischemia and was useful for the assessment of the interventional outcome, as well as having played a key role in the clinical decision-making process.

Dipyridamole Tl-201 myocardial single photon emission computed tomography in the functional assessment of anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery.

Anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery is a rare congenital heart disease. Without surgical correction, most patients with this anomaly die during infancy from myocardial infarction and heart failure, with a mortality rate reported to be greater than 90% by 1 year of age. Some patients with significant collateral circulation from the right coronary artery may remain asymptomatic and survive into adulthood, but they usually develop progressive left ventricular dysfunction.

Cloning and expression analysis of a protein kinase C gene, PKCmu, and its regulation of the promoter region in zebrafish.

The cDNA and genomic DNA of zebrafish (Danio rerio) protein kinase Cmu (PKCmu), with its promoter region, were obtained. The 508-amino acid zebrafish PKCmu has 86.17% similarity to human PKCmu.

Phylogenetic characterization of Newcastle disease viruses isolated in Taiwan during 2003-2006.

Isolates of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) from chicken cases were obtained from various locations in Taiwan during 2003-2006 and were genotypically analyzed by using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) with primers specific to the viral fusion (F) protein gene (534 bp). Part of the amplified F protein DNA product (nucleotide sequence 47-418) and the deduced amino acid sequences were compared phylogenetically with those from strains previously reported in Taiwan and other geographic regions. Our results showed that all Taiwanese isolates (n=20) collected during 2003-2006, according to the phylogenetic tree, belong to the genotype VIId.

Upregulation of actin-like gene expression in giant freshwater prawns Macrobrachium rosenbergii infected with Metschnikowia bicuspidata.

The giant freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii is commercially cultured throughout the world including Taiwan. From 1992 to 1995, Taiwanese production decreased by approximately 50% due to disease. The yeast Metschnikowia bicuspidata is considered to be one of the major causes of white muscle disease, but the molecular mechanism of its pathogenesis is not known.

A novel gene homologous to teashirt is differentially expressed in neonatal mouse skin during development of hair follicles.

Neonatal mouse skin is useful for studying changes in gene expression during development of hair follicles, as the mitotic activity of skin cells changes shortly after birth. Using ribonucleic acid (RNA) differential display, a 261-nt message has been identified in the skin, specifically on d 3-5 but not on d 2 after birth. Confirmation of its expression by ribonuclease protection assay showed that stronger expression is seen on d 3-5 compared with d 1-2.

Mouse keratinocytes express c98, a novel gene homologous to bcl-2, that is stimulated by insulin-like growth factor 1 and prevents dexamethasone-induced apoptosis.

Many studies have been undertaken to investigate the mechanisms of skin differentiation. In particular, growth factors and hormones are believed to play important roles in skin proliferation, differentiation and survival. Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) has been identified as a survival factor in many tissues including the skin, but the molecular mechanism of IGF-1 in epidermal differentiation is not completely understood.