Contrast-enhanced ultrasound in planning thermal ablation of liver metastases: Should the hypervascular halo be included in the ablation volume?().

Introduction: Liver metastases often exhibit a hypervascular halo during the arterial phase of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS). This finding has no correlates on baseline gray-scale imaging, and it has never been characterized. The aim of this study was to identify the features of this halo and determine whether it should be included in the ablation volume during thermal ablation procedures.

Quantifying synapses: an immunocytochemistry-based assay to quantify synapse number.

One of the most important goals in neuroscience is to understand the molecular cues that instruct early stages of synapse formation. As such it has become imperative to develop objective approaches to quantify changes in synaptic connectivity. Starting from sample fixation, this protocol details how to quantify synapse number both in dissociated neuronal culture and in brain sections using immunocytochemistry.

Group B streptococcus serotype prevalence in reproductive-age women at a tertiary care military medical center relative to global serotype distribution.

Background: Group B Streptococcus (GBS) serotype (Ia, Ib, II-IX) correlates with pathogen virulence and clinical prognosis. Epidemiological studies of seroprevalence are an important metric for determining the proportion of serotypes in a given population. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of individual GBS serotypes at Madigan Healthcare System (Madigan), the largest military tertiary healthcare facility in the Pacific Northwestern United States, and to compare seroprevalences with international locations.

Intramuscular 17α-hydroxyprogesterone caproate administration attenuates immunoresponsiveness of maternal peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

Objective: 17α-hydroxyprogesterone caproate (17P) may decrease risk of prematurity by suppressing maternal immunity. We hypothesized that in vivo 17P treatment attenuates immunoresponsiveness of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs).

Study Design: Study subjects were gravidas receiving weekly prophylactic intramuscular 17P injections.

The effect of magnesium sulfate on the activity of matrix metalloproteinase-9 in fetal cord plasma and human umbilical vein endothelial cells.

Objective: Clinical evidence suggests that magnesium sulfate may reduce the risk of fetal neurologic injury in preterm delivery. Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) levels are elevated in preterm labor patients. There is evidence that MMP-9 may break down the blood-brain barrier in humans, causing cytokine mediated cell injury.

Transcriptional analysis of novel hormone receptors PGRMC1 and PGRMC2 as potential biomarkers of breast adenocarcinoma staging.

Background: The expression of progesterone receptor membrane component 1 (PGRMC1) in breast cancer has generated interest in this recently discovered protein because of its role in tumorigenesis. However, correlations between patient age, PGRMC1 gene expression, breast cancer morphology, and breast cancer stage have not been adequately studied. Furthermore, very little is known about possible roles for other PGRMC isoforms in breast cancer, like PGRMC2.

Change in glucose metabolism measured by 18F-FDG PET/CT as a predictor of histopathologic response to neoadjuvant treatment in rectal cancer.

Purpose: In order to analyze the changes of glucose metabolism by maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of 18F-FDG PET/CT in patients with rectal cancer submitted to neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy (nRCT) and to correlate SUV changes with tumor regression grade (TRG).

Methods And Material: Three sequential 18F-FDG PET/CT studies were performed in 31 patients with rectal cancer at the following time point: before starting the treatment (PET/CT1), during the treatment (PET/CT2), and after completion of neoadjuvant treatment (PET/CT3). The SUVmax values of the rectal lesion in the PET/CT1 (SUV1), PET/CT2 (SUV2), and PET/CT3 (SUV3) were obtained; deltaSUV1 [(SUV1 - SUV2)/SUV1] and deltaSUV2 [(SUV1 - SUV3)/SUV1] were also calculated.

Rapid and sustained nuclear-cytoplasmic ERK oscillations induced by epidermal growth factor.

Although the ERK pathway has a central role in the response of cells to growth factors, its regulatory structure and dynamics are incompletely understood. To investigate ERK activation in real time, we expressed an ERK-GFP fusion protein in human mammary epithelial cells. On EGF stimulation, we observed sustained oscillations of the ERK-GFP fusion protein between the nucleus and cytoplasm with a periodicity of approximately 15 min.

MR enterography with polyethylene glycol as oral contrast medium in the follow-up of patients with Crohn disease: comparison with CT enterography.

Background: To compare magnetic resonance enterography (MRE) and computed tomography enterography (CTE) in detecting inflammatory bowel disease activity (IBD) in patients with Crohn's disease (CD).

Methods: A total of 29 patients (M 20; F 9; mean age 43.8 ± 15.

Perfusion computed tomographic assessment of early hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhotic liver disease: initial observations.

Objective: To prospectively assess perfusion computed tomography (CT) for evaluation of tumor vascularity of early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with cirrhosis.

Methods: The study cohort included 30 patients who had Child-Pugh class A or B liver cirrhosis and a single histopathologically confirmed HCC not exceeding 3 cm in diameter. All patients underwent perfusion CT study using a multidetector 16-slice CT.

Resonance cone interaction with a self-consistent radio-frequency sheath.

We study the propagation of lower-hybrid-type resonance cones in a tenuous magnetized plasma, and, in particular, their interaction with, and reflection from, the plasma sheath near a conducting wall. The sheath is modeled as a vacuum gap whose width is given by the Child-Langmuir law. The application of interest is when the resonance cones are launched (parasitically) by an ion-cyclotron radio-frequency antenna in a typical rf-heated tokamak fusion experiment.

Perfusion CT in cirrhotic patients with early stage hepatocellular carcinoma: assessment of tumor-related vascularization.

Purpose: To assess the value of CT-perfusion in determining the quantitative vascularization features of early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in cirrhotic patients.

Materials And Methods: A total of 35 cirrhotic patients with single histologically proven HCC not exceeding 3cm in diameter underwent conventional triple-phase multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) examination. All patients were also examined with CT-perfusion (CTp) technique after i.

Multiple mechanisms are responsible for transactivation of the epidermal growth factor receptor in mammary epithelial cells.

The number of distinct signaling pathways that can transactivate the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in a single cell type is unclear. Using a single strain of human mammary epithelial cells, we found that a wide variety of agonists, such as lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), uridine triphosphate, growth hormone, vascular endothelial growth factor, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha, require EGFR activity to induce ERK phosphorylation. In contrast, hepatocyte growth factor can stimulate ERK phosphorylation independent of the EGFR.

Hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhotic liver disease: functional computed tomography with perfusion imaging in the assessment of tumor vascularization.

Rationale And Objectives: Our goal was to prospectively determine the value of perfusion computed tomography (CT) in the quantitative assessment of tumor-related angiogenesis in cirrhotic patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Materials And Methods: Forty-seven patients met all the following inclusion criteria: 1) Child-Pugh class A or B liver cirrhosis; 2) presence of a single lesion suspected as HCC at screening ultrasound examination; and 3) lesion diameter between 1 and 3 cm. All patients underwent contrast-enhanced ultrasound, pre- and post-contrast triple-phase CT, and perfusion computed tomographic study using multidetector 16-slice CT.

Sciatic nerve ligation-induced proliferation of spinal cord astrocytes is mediated by kappa opioid activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase.

Partial sciatic nerve ligation (pSNL) markedly increased glial fibrillary acidic protein immunoreactivity (GFAP-IR) 1 week after lesion in the L4-L5 spinal dorsal horn of wild-type, but not in dynorphin knock-out, mice lacking kappa opioid receptors (KOR-/-) or in wild-type mice pretreated with the KOR antagonist nor-binaltorphimine (norBNI). A direct effect of KOR on glial cell proliferation was suggested by the findings that primary cultures of type II GFAP-immunoreactive astrocytes isolated from mouse spinal cord express KOR. Sustained treatment with the kappa agonist U50,488 (trans-3,4-dichloro-N-methyl-N-[2-(1-pyrolytinil)-cyclohexyl]-benzeneacetamide methane sulfonate) significantly increased the proliferation rate of GFAP-immunoreactive astrocytes isolated from wild-type mice, and this effect was blocked by norBNI pretreatment.

Asymptomatic cholelithiasis in children with sickle cell disease: early or delayed cholecystectomy?

Summary Background Data: Our study aimed to evaluate the role of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) in children with sickle cell disease (SCD) and asymptomatic cholelithiasis and, furthermore, to determine whether the outcome is related to the operation timing.

Methods: The records of 30 children with SCD diagnosed with cholelithiasis from June 1995 to September 2005 were retraspectively reviewed. All 30 children were asymptomatic at the time of the first visit, and an elective LC was proposed to all of them.

Deep brain stimulation in Parkinson disease: a metaanalysis of patient outcomes.

Object: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) to treat advanced Parkinson disease (PD) has been focused on one of two anatomical targets: the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and the globus pallidus internus (GPI). Authors of more than 65 articles have reported on bilateral DBS outcomes. With one exception, these studies involved pre- and postintervention comparisons of a single target.

Tyrosine phosphorylation of K(ir)3.1 in spinal cord is induced by acute inflammation, chronic neuropathic pain, and behavioral stress.

Tyrosine phosphorylation is an important means of regulating ion channel function. Our previous gene expression studies using the Xenopus laevis oocyte system suggested that tyrosine phosphorylation of G-protein-gated inwardly rectifying potassium channels (K(ir)3 or GIRK) suppressed basal channel conductance and accelerated channel deactivation. To assess whether similar mechanisms regulate K(ir)3 function in mammalian cells, we developed and characterized a phosphoselective antibody recognizing K(ir)3.

Dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibition for the treatment of type 2 diabetes: potential importance of selectivity over dipeptidyl peptidases 8 and 9.

Dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP)-IV inhibitors are a new approach to the treatment of type 2 diabetes. DPP-IV is a member of a family of serine peptidases that includes quiescent cell proline dipeptidase (QPP), DPP8, and DPP9; DPP-IV is a key regulator of incretin hormones, but the functions of other family members are unknown. To determine the importance of selective DPP-IV inhibition for the treatment of diabetes, we tested selective inhibitors of DPP-IV, DPP8/DPP9, or QPP in 2-week rat toxicity studies and in acute dog tolerability studies.

Blob dynamics in 3D BOUT simulations of tokamak edge turbulence.

Propagating filaments of enhanced plasma density, or blobs, observed in 3D numerical simulations of a diverted, neutral-fueled tokamak are studied. Fluctuations of vorticity, electrical potential phi, temperature Te, and current density J parallel associated with the blobs have a dipole structure perpendicular to the magnetic field and propagate radially with large E x B drift velocities (>1 km/s). The simulation results are consistent with a 3D blob dynamics model that incorporates increased parallel plasma resistivity (from neutral cooling of the X-point region), blob disconnection from the divertor sheath, X-point closure of the current loops, and collisional physics to sustain the phi, Te, J parallel dipoles.

Breast cancer surgery trends and outcomes: results from a National Department of Veterans Affairs study.

Background: This study examined trends and outcomes for breast cancer surgery performed at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals.

Study Design: We examined breast cancer operations performed in VA hospitals from October 1991 to September 1997. Data from the VA National Surgical Quality Improvement Program, surgical pathology reports, discharge data, and outpatient data were used.

Removal of G(ialpha1) constraints on adenylyl cyclase in the hippocampus enhances LTP and impairs memory formation.

Stimulation of adenylyl cyclase in the hippocampus is critical for memory formation. However, generation of cAMP signals within an optimal range for memory may require a balance between stimulatory and inhibitory mechanisms. The role of adenylyl cyclase inhibitory mechanisms for memory has not been addressed.

Sheared poloidal flow driven by mode conversion in tokamak plasmas.

A two-dimensional integral full-wave model is used to calculate poloidal forces driven by mode conversion in tokamak plasmas. In the presence of a poloidal magnetic field, mode conversion near the ion-ion hybrid resonance is dominated by a transition from the fast magnetosonic wave to the slow ion cyclotron wave. The poloidal field generates strong variations in the parallel wave spectrum that cause wave damping in a narrow layer near the mode conversion surface.

N-terminal tyrosine residues within the potassium channel Kir3 modulate GTPase activity of Galphai.

trkB activation results in tyrosine phosphorylation of N-terminal Kir3 residues, decreasing channel activation. To determine the mechanism of this effect, we reconstituted Kir3, trkB, and the mu opioid receptor in Xenopus oocytes. Activation of trkB by BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) accelerated Kir3 deactivation following termination of mu opioid receptor signaling.

Downregulation of fasting-induced cAMP response element-mediated gene induction by leptin in neuropeptide Y neurons of the arcuate nucleus.

States of increased metabolic demand such as fasting modulate hypothalamic neuropeptide gene expression and decrease circulating leptin levels. This study tested the hypotheses that fasting stimulates gene induction mediated by cAMP response element (CRE)-dependent increases in gene transcription and that fasting-induced decreases in leptin can regulate this CRE-mediated gene induction. Using C57BL/6J mice transgenic for a CRE-lacZ construct, an immunocytochemical study showed that fasting activated reporter gene expression in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus (Arc) in a small subset of neurons and increased phosphorylation of CRE binding protein.