Synaptic Vesicle Protein 2 and Vesicular Monoamine Transporter 1 and 2 Are Expressed in Neuroblastoma.

Neuroblastoma (NB), the most common extracranial cancer in childhood, exhibits neuroendocrine (NE) differentiation. Two well-established NE markers, chromogranin A (CgA) and synaptophysin (syn), are used in the histopathological diagnostics. Our aims were to explore if the NE markers synaptic vesicle protein 2 (SV2) and vesicular monoamine transporter 1 (VMAT1) and 2 (VMAT2) also are expressed in human NB and if so, evaluate their usefulness in NB histopathological diagnostics.

Diagnostic ultrasound-guided cutting needle biopsies in neuroblastoma: A safe and efficient procedure.

Background: Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most common extracranial solid tumor of childhood and accounts for 15% of deaths in pediatric oncology. Apart from the clinical stage at diagnosis, molecular factors are important for the characterization of the tumor and for decision on adequate treatment. Pretreatment diagnosis and molecular profiling are based on analysis of a tumor sample, obtained either by fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC), cutting needle biopsy or open surgical biopsy.

Chromogranin A and neuron-specific enolase in neuroblastoma: Correlation to stage and prognostic factors.

Chromogranin A (CgA) and neuron specific enolase (NSE) are important markers in adult neuroendocrine tumors (NET). Neuroblastoma (NB) has certain neuroendocrine properties. The aim of this study was to correlate blood concentrations of CgA, chromogranin B (CgB), and NSE to prognostic factors and outcome in children with NB.

Effects of heat acclimation on time perception.

Cognitive performance is impaired during prolonged exercise in hot environment compared to temperate conditions. These effects are related to both peripheral markers of heats stress and alterations in CNS functioning. Repeated-exposure to heat stress results in physiological adaptations, and therefore improvement in exercise capacity and cognitive functioning are observed.

The compression of perceived time in a hot environment depends on physiological and psychological factors.

The human perception of time was observed under extremely hot conditions. Young healthy men performed a time production task repeatedly in 4 experimental trials in either a temperate (22 °C, relative humidity 35%) or a hot (42 °C, relative humidity 18%) environment and with or without a moderate-intensity treadmill exercise. Within 1 hour, the produced durations indicated a significant compression of short intervals (0.

Links between self-reported and laboratory behavioral impulsivity.

A major problem in the research considering impulsivity is the lack of mutual understanding on how to measure and define impulsivity. Our study examined the relationship between self-reported impulsivity, behavioral excitatory and inhibitory processes and time perception. Impulsivity--fast, premature, thoughtless or disinhibited behavior--was assessed in 58 normal, healthy participants (30 men, mean age 21.

Induction of visual dream reports after transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCs) during Stage 2 sleep.

REM sleep is a unique brain state characterized by frontal deactivation alongside activation of the posterior association and limbic cortices. Human brain lesion studies have found that the loss of dreaming is characterized by damage to the frontal and posterior parieto-temporo-occipital association cortex. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that the function of these brain regions might encapsulate the neural processes of dreaming.

Results of the Scandinavian Sarcoma Group XIV protocol for classical osteosarcoma: 63 patients with a minimum follow-up of 4 years.

Background And Purpose: The Scandinavian Sarcoma Group (SSG) XIV protocol is based on experience from previous SSG trials and other osteosarcoma intergroup trials, and has been considered the best standard of care for patients with extremity localized, non-metastatic osteosarcoma. We analyzed the outcome in 63 consecutive patients. Patients and methods From 2001 through 2005, 63 patients recruited from centers in Sweden, Norway, and Finland were included.

Differentiated expression of somatostatin receptor subtypes in experimental models and clinical neuroblastoma.

Background: Neuroblastoma (NB) is a solid tumor of childhood originating from the adrenal medulla or sympathetic nervous system. Somatostatin (SS) is an important regulator of neural and neuroendocrine function, its actions being mediated through five specific membrane receptors. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of the different somatostatin receptors (SSTRs) in NB tumor cells that may form targets for future therapeutic development.

Incidence and survival analyses in children with solid tumours diagnosed in Sweden between 1983 and 2007.

Aim: Solid tumours constitute 40% of childhood malignancies. The Swedish Childhood Cancer Registry is population based and includes all children with cancer reported from the six paediatric oncology centres in Sweden. The aim was to investigate incidence and survival.

The angiogenic growth factors HGF and VEGF in serum and plasma from neuroblastoma patients.

Aim: To determine whether concentrations of the angiogenic growth factors hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) correlate with clinical and genetic markers in samples taken at diagnosis in children with neuroblastoma (NB).

Patients And Methods: Heparin plasma (P-) and serum (S-) samples of healthy controls (n=73, mean age +/- SD 3.5+/-2.

Cognitive functioning in children with and without Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder with and without comorbid learning disabilities.

This study attempted to determine whether children with the combined subtype of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have impairments in cognitive functioning and motor skills. The specific effect of the comorbidity of learning disabilities (LD) was also investigated. A battery of cognitive tests was administered to 26 children with a clinical diagnosis of ADHD-combined subtype (ADHD/C), to 24 children with ADHD/C with a comorbid diagnosis of LD (ADHD/C+LD), and to 102 participants without disabilities, all between ages 7 and 10.

Diagnosing childhood tumors: A review of 147 cutting needle biopsies in 110 children.

Background/purpose: The aims of this study were to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy and safety of cutting needle biopsy for diagnosis in children with tumors suspected for malignancy.

Methods: Medical records and biopsy slides recorded from 1988 to 1999 were reviewed. One hundred ten patients had undergone a total of 147 cutting needle biopsies.

Painful peripheral neuropathy after treatment with high-dose ifosfamide.

Background: Ifosfamide is successfully employed in the treatment of bone and soft tissue sarcomas in children and young adults. Used at high doses (HDI) the drug may cause severe multiorgan toxicity. Peripheral neuropathy is a less well-known side effect that may limit its use.

Etoposide as the basic and interferon-alpha as the maintenance therapy for Langerhans cell histiocytosis: a RTC.

The treatment of patients who suffer from a disseminated form of Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is still controversial. So far, few larger randomized studies have been performed. The authors present 3 patients with a disseminated form of LCH--4 months, 9 months, and 2 years old, respectively.

A randomized trial of treatment for multisystem Langerhans' cell histiocytosis.

Objective: To compare 2 active agents, vinblastine and etoposide, in the treatment of multisystem Langerhans' cell histiocytosis (LCH) in an international randomized study.

Study Design: One hundred forty-three untreated patients were randomly assigned to receive 24 weeks of vinblastine (6 mg/m(2), given intravenously every week) or etoposide (150 mg/m(2)/d, given intravenously for 3 days every 3 weeks), and a single initial dose of corticosteroids.

Results: Vinblastine and etoposide were equivalent (P > or = .

Sequence variation in the ftsZ gene of Bartonella henselae isolates and clinical samples.

In a search for methods for subtyping of Bartonella henselae in clinical samples, we amplified and sequenced a 701-bp region in the 3' end of the ftsZ gene in 15 B. henselae isolates derived from cats and humans in the United States and Europe. The ftsZ sequence variants that were discovered were designated variants Bh ftsZ 1, 2, and 3 and were compared with 16S rRNA genotypes I and II of the same isolates.

Cyclosporine A therapy for multisystem langerhans cell histiocytosis.

Background: Treatment of multisystem Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) remains difficult. Various regimens of single and multiagent chemotherapy have been used, but a significant proportion of patients fail to respond to treatment.

Procedure: We have evaluated the use of cyclosporine A (CSA) in a controlled group of patients, who had received a systematic primary therapy (LCH-I).

Pretreatment, ultrasound-guided cutting needle biopsies in childhood renal tumors.

Background: The current International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP)-10 protocol does not allow pretreatment histological classification of low-stage renal tumors in children for fear of needle tract recurrences. The aims of this retrospective study were to evaluate the safety, sensitivity, and specificity of ultrasound-guided cutting needle biopsies (UCNB) performed at our institution in pediatric patients with renal tumors.

Procedure: Of 28 pediatric patients presenting with a renal tumor between 1988 and 1996, 25 underwent biopsy with the Biopty biopsy instrument (needle diameter 1.

Elevated circulating levels of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist but not IL-1 agonists in hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.

The familial form of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is an inherited disease with disturbed immunomodulation and characterized by fever, hepatosplenomegaly, cytopenia, hypertriglyceridemia, and coagulopathy, i.e., findings which are similar to many of the reported biological effects of the inflammatory cytokines.

Rapid, reproducible pain relief with [131I]iodine-meta-iodobenzylguanidine in a boy with disseminated neuroblastoma.

[131I]Iodine-meta-iodobenzylguanidine ([131I]MIBG) is a radioactively labelled substance which is incorporated intracellularly by cells with neuroendocrine differentiation and used in the treatment of neuroendocrine malignancies. The agent was systemically administered on three occasions during a period of 16 weeks to a 4-year-old boy afflicted with disseminated neuroblastoma and suffering from severe pain caused by the disease. Initially, during the weeks immediately prior to radionuclide therapy, the boy required continuous intravenous infusions of morphine.

Low-sulphated oligosaccharides derived from heparan sulphate inhibit normal angiogenesis.

Heparin, with or without the addition of an adrenocorticosteroid, can inhibit normal angiogenesis in the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane. Low- or non-sulphated heparin fragments also have anti-angiogenic effect. Attempts to define a saccharide structure responsible for the anti-angiogenic effect implicated a -[GlcA beta 1,4-GlcNAc alpha 1,4]n-sequence.