First case of penile metastasis following abdominoperineal resection with VRAM flap reconstruction.

Penile metastases are rare in colorectal cancer. We report the first case of such a recurrence in a patient who had undergone an extralevator abdominoperineal resection with vertical rectus abdominis myocutaneous flap perineal reconstruction. The patient was treated with curative intent by total penectomy.

The human salivary RNA transcriptome revealed by massively parallel sequencing.

Background: Evaluation of the salivary transcriptome is an emerging diagnostic technology with discriminatory power for disease detection. This study explored massively parallel sequencing for providing nucleotide-level sequence information for each RNA in saliva.

Methods: Transcriptome profiling with the SOLiD™ system was applied to RNA isolated from unstimulated cell-free saliva (CFS) and whole saliva (WS) from healthy human volunteers.

Gene profiling study of G3139- and Bcl-2-targeting siRNAs identifies a unique G3139 molecular signature.

G3139 is a phosphorothioate oligodeoxyribonucleotide that is targeted to the initiation codon region of the Bcl-2 mRNA, which downregulates Bcl-2 protein and mRNA expression via an antisense mechanism. In previous work, we have demonstrated that the phenotype observed in several prostate and melanoma cell lines after treatment with G3139 appears to be Bcl-2 independent. In contrast, downregulation of Bcl-2 expression by a small interfering RNA (siRNA) produced little or no phenotype change.

Microarray analysis reveals differences in gene expression of circulating CD8(+) T cells in melanoma patients and healthy donors.

Circulating T cells from many cancer patients are known to be dysfunctional and undergo spontaneous apoptosis. We used microarray technology to determine whether gene expression differences exist in T cells from melanoma patients versus healthy subjects, which may underlie these abnormalities. To maximize the resolution of our data, we sort purified CD8(+) subsets and amplified the extracted RNA for microarray analysis.

Ultrasound guided minimally invasive breast surgery (UMIBS): a superior technique for gynecomastia.

The last 30 years has seen a shift in surgical treatment of breast diseases to less invasive, more conservative treatment options. The mammotome equipment was originally introduced as a diagnostic tool, but advances in technology have extended its role to therapeutic procedures. The mammotome device (8-gauge) is inserted through a cosmetically placed 4-mm scar and breast tissue is resected sequentially using a suction facility without the need to remove the biopsy device.

A microfluidic system for high-speed reproducible DNA sizing and quantitation.

Microfabrication technology was used to develop a system consisting of disposable glass chips containing etched channels, reagents including polymer matrix and size standards, computer-controlled instrumentation for performing electrophoretic separations and fluorescence detection of double-stranded DNA, and software for automated data analysis. System performance was validated for separation and quantitation reproducibility using samples varying in amount and size of DNA fragments, buffer composition, and salt concentrations. Several applications of the microfluidic system for DNA analysis have been demonstrated, such as of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products, sizing of plasmid digests, and detection of point mutations by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) mapping.

The menstrual cycle and Raynaud's phenomenon.

Fluctuations in female sex hormones may be responsible for the high prevalence of Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) observed in premenopausal women. These hormones are known to act on central and peripheral thermoreceptors. In an attempt to establish whether cold sensitivity is altered during the menstrual cycle 50 premenopausal women were investigated.

The effects of isolation on the mechanics of the human heel pad.

In previous studies on the mechanical properties of the human heel pad (Bennett & Ker, 1990; Aerts et al. 1995) the fat pad and part of the calcaneus was removed from amputated test specimens. The present study tested whether this procedure influences the mechanical behaviour of the sample.

The mechanical properties of the human heel pad: a paradox resolved.

In vivo and in vitro mechanical testing of the human heel pad gave apparently different properties for this structure: the in vivo stiffness is about six times lower, whereas the percentage of energy dissipation is about three times higher (up to 95% loss). It was postulated that this divergence must be ascribed to the lower leg being involved in in vivo heel pad testing. This hypothesis is presently evaluated by applying the two experimental procedures formerly used in the in vivo (an instrumented pendulum) and in vitro (an Instron servo-hydraulic testing machine) investigations on the same isolated heel pad samples.

3'-Azidothymidine (zidovudine) inhibits glycosylation and dramatically alters glycosphingolipid synthesis in whole cells at clinically relevant concentrations.

Recent in vitro work with Golgi-enriched membranes showed that 3'-azidothymidine-5'-monophosphate (AZTMP), the primary intracellular metabolite of 3'-azidothymidine (AZT), is a potent inhibitor of glycosylation reactions (Hall et al. (1994) J. Biol.

Acyclic guanosine analogs inhibit DNA polymerases alpha, delta, and epsilon with very different potencies and have unique mechanisms of action.

Acyclovir triphosphate, ganciclovir triphosphate and penciclovir triphosphate inhibited DNA polymerases alpha, delta, and epsilon. Each triphosphate preferentially inhibited pol delta, although ganciclovir triphosphate was the most impressive of the three; the Ki for inhibition of pol delta was 2 microM (competitive with dGTP), while the Kis for inhibition of pol alpha and epsilon were 80 and 140 microM, respectively. Each of the compounds was polymerized by pol alpha, delta, and epsilon.

A thermographic study of paravertebral analgesia.

Six patients undergoing paravertebral blocks for chronically painful conditions of the chest wall were thermographically imaged so that the extent of cutaneous vasodilatation and hence sympathetic block could be correlated with the distribution of the somatic block. All blocks were performed by a single experienced operator, with a single percutaneous entry, using 15 ml of 0.5% bupivacaine at a mean level of T9-10 (range T7-8--T10-11), with radiological confirmation of correct needle placement.

The cold hemiplegic arm.

Background And Purpose: Vasomotor changes occur in the arm after hemiplegic stroke. Previous studies have provided conflicting results, with most showing an increase in skin temperature of the hemiplegic arm. However, a number of patients complain of distressing coldness of the hemiplegic arm.

Calf thymus DNA polymerase alpha-primase: "communication" and primer-template movement between the two active sites.

The DNA polymerase alpha-primase complex replicates single-stranded DNA by first synthesizing a short RNA primer (primase) which is then further elongated by the incorporation of dNTPs (DNA polymerase alpha). While primase and pol alpha function independently prior to synthesis of an RNA primer, the two activities become coordinated after primer synthesis. After primase generates a primer-template, it moves from the primase active site to the pol alpha active site for further elongation without dissociating into solution.

Inhibition of DNA primase and polymerase alpha by arabinofuranosylnucleoside triphosphates and related compounds.

Inhibition of DNA primase and polymerase alpha from calf thymus was examined. DNA primase requires a 3'-hydroxyl on the incoming NTP in order to polymerize it, while the 2'-hydroxyl is advantageous, but not essential. Amazingly, primase prefers to polymerize araATP rather than ATP by 4-fold (kcat/KM).

Mechanism of DNA polymerase alpha inhibition by aphidicolin.

Synthetic oligonucleotides of defined sequence were used to examine the mechanism of calf thymus DNA polymerase alpha inhibition by aphidicolin. Aphidicolin competes with each of the four dNTPs for binding to a pol alpha-DNA binary complex and thus should not be viewed as a dCTP analogue. Kinetic evidence shows that inhibition proceeds through the formation of a pol alpha.