Microvascular basal lamina injury after experimental focal cerebral ischemia and reperfusion in the rat.

To define the location and extent of microvascular damage of the basal lamina after cerebral ischemia and reperfusion in rats, the authors subjected animals (n = 16) to 3 hours of focal cerebral ischemia and 24 hours of reperfusion using the suture middle cerebral artery occlusion model; sham-operated animals served as controls (n = 6). The Western blot technique was used to define the collagen type IV protein content in various brain regions, whereas immunohistochemistry identified microvascular basal lamina loss (anticollagen type IV staining). The extent of damage was quantified by automatic morphometric video-imaging analysis.

Value of positron emission tomography with [F-18]fluorodeoxyglucose in patients with colorectal liver metastases: a prospective study.

Purpose: To assess prospectively the value of fluor-18-deoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET), in addition to conventional diagnostic methods (CDM), as a staging modality in candidates for resection of colorectal liver metastases.

Patients And Methods: In 51 patients analyzed for resection of colorectal liver metastases, clinical management decisions were recorded after a complete work-up with CDM. Afterward, FDG-PET scans were performed and any change of clinical management according to FDG-PET results was carefully documented.

No evidence for an association of coxsackie virus infections during pregnancy and early childhood with development of islet autoantibodies in offspring of mothers or fathers with type 1 diabetes.

Recent case-control studies reported an increased frequency of antibodies against Coxsackie virus (CV) antigens in patients with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes and during pregnancy in mothers of diabetic offspring, suggesting a role for CV infections in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes (T1D). However, it is not known whether CV infections are causally related to the development of islet autoantibodies or merely represent secondary events in subjects already affected with established islet autoimmunity. Therefore we have prospectively evaluated CV infections from birth, prior to and in parallel with the appearance of islet autoantibodies in offspring of parents with T1D.

High prevalence of testicular adrenal rest tumors, impaired spermatogenesis, and Leydig cell failure in adolescent and adult males with congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

In male patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia, testicular tumors, or so-called adrenal rest tumors, have been described, but their presence in well controlled patients is thought to be rare. In this study, the prevalence of testicular tumors in 17 adolescent and adult male patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (age, 16-40 yr) was investigated. In 16 of 17 patients, one or more testicular tumors, ranging in maximal length from 0.

Patient selection for magnetic resonance imaging of prostate cancer.

Background: Routine magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for local staging of prostate cancer is controversial, due to moderate staging performance. However, MR imaging may be beneficial in a subgroup of patients with clinically localized prostate cancer.

Objective: To define the patient group in which local staging of prostate cancer using MR imaging is useful for treatment outcome.

Magnetic resonance imaging and mammography in women with a hereditary risk of breast cancer.

Background: Although breast cancer screening is recommended to start at a younger age for women with a hereditary risk of breast cancer, the sensitivity of mammography for these women is reduced. We compared magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with mammography to determine which is more sensitive and whether MRI could play a role in the early detection of breast cancer for these women.

Methods: We constructed a retrospective cohort of all breast MRI and mammography surveillance reports made in our department from November 1994 to February 2001.

Human herpes virus type 7 DNA in the cerebrospinal fluid of children with central nervous system diseases.

Unlabelled: Human herpes virus type 7 (HHV-7) has been associated with unspecific febrile syndrome, exanthem subitum (ES), viral rashes and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) like syndrome. Neurological complications such as hemiplegia or seizures have been described in a few children with ES. Whether HHV-7 may also affect the CNS in the absence of ES is unknown.

Long-term results of treating hepatic colorectal metastases with cryosurgery.

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the long-term efficacy of cryosurgery as an adjunct to hepatic resection in patients with colorectal liver metastases not amenable to resection alone.

Methods: Thirty patients met the following inclusion criteria: metastases confined to the liver and judged irresectable, ten or fewer metastases, cryosurgery alone or in combination with hepatic resection allowed tumour clearance.

Results: Median follow-up was 26 (range 9--73) months.

Cryosurgery as treatment modality for colorectal liver metastases.

Liver metastases occur in more than 40% of the patients with colorectal cancer. The best prospect of cure is achieved by resection of the metastases. Only 10-15% of the patients with colorectal metastases are candidates for resection.

B-1 and B-2 cell-derived immunoglobulin M antibodies are nonredundant components of the protective response to influenza virus infection.

We have studied the role of secreted immunoglobulin (Ig)M in protection from infection with influenza virus and delineated the relative contributions of B-1 versus B-2 cell-derived IgM in this process. Mice deficient in secreted IgM but capable of expressing surface IgM and secreting other Ig classes show significantly reduced virus clearance and survival rates compared with wild-type controls. Irradiation chimeras in which only either B-1 or B-2 cells lack the ability to secrete IgM show mortality rates similar to those of mice in which neither B-1 nor B-2 cells secrete IgM.

Endothelial cell autoantibodies are a marker of disease susceptibility in inflammatory bowel disease but apparently not linked to persistent measles virus infection.

Intestinal vasculitis caused by persistent measles virus infection of intestinal endothelial cells was described in Crohn's disease. Furthermore, endothelial cell autoantibodies have been demonstrated in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Autoantibodies against intestinal endothelial cells were visualized by indirect immunofluorescence in patients with IBD, in their healthy first-degree relatives, in patients with infectious enterocolitis, and in healthy, unrelated controls.

Prostate cancer staging: should MR imaging be used?--A decision analytic approach.

Purpose: To determine the appropriate use of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for preoperative staging of prostate cancer.

Materials And Methods: Literature review was performed by using the principles of evidence-based medicine and medical technology assessment. A decision analytic model was used to compare (a) the strategy that radical prostatectomy is performed on the basis of clinical staging with (b) the strategy that extracapsular disease detected at MR imaging contraindicates radical prostatectomy in patients who were considered surgical candidates on the basis of clinical staging.

CD4+ T cells derived from B cell-deficient mice inhibit the establishment of peripheral B cell pools.

We demonstrate that adoptive transfer of peritoneal cavity B cells fails to replenish the peripheral B-1 cells in adult B cell-deficient (mu(-/-)) mice but does replenish adult RAG-1(-/-) mice. We show that this lack of self-replenishment in mu(-/-) mice is mediated by strongly inhibitory, radiation-sensitive CD4(+) T cells that also function in cotransfer studies to block the reconstitution of B-1 cells and inhibit accumulation of bone marrow-derived B-2 cells in the periphery in irradiated recipients. CD8(+) T cells from mu(-/-) do not mediate this inhibition.

Clinical presentations of infection by the human herpesvirus-7 (HHV-7).

Reports on the clinical picture of primary infection with the human herpesvirus-7 (HHV-7) are scarce. A heterogenous population of 478 patients (1 month-14 years) was examined for the presence of an acute HHV-7 infection. A variety of clinical pictures can be observed during primary infection with HHV-7, such as exanthema subitum and mononucleosis-like syndrome.

Accuracy of normal-dose contrast-enhanced MR angiography in assessing renal artery stenosis and accessory renal arteries.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of breath-hold contrast-enhanced MR angiography in the assessment of renal artery stenosis and accessory renal arteries using a standard dose of gadolinium.

Subjects And Methods: Thirty-eight patients suspected of having renal artery stenosis underwent MR angiography and intraarterial digital subtraction angiography, which was the method of reference. Three-dimensional gradient-echo MR subtraction angiography (TR/TE, 5.

Replacement therapy with protein C concentrate in infants and adolescents with meningococcal sepsis and purpura fulminans.

We report the effects of substitution with a virus-inactivated protein C (PC) concentrate in disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) in infants and children with meningococcal sepsis associated with purpura fulminans. It was a prospective open-label study. Eight pediatric and adolescent patients age 0.