Platinum-resistance in ovarian cancer cells is mediated by IL-6 secretion via the increased expression of its target cIAP-2.

Ovarian carcinoma patients are initially responsive to platinum-based therapy, but eventually become refractory to treatment due to the development of platinum chemoresistance. Elevated levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the sera and ascites of these patients predict poor clinical outcome. Our goal was to analyze the interaction between cisplatin and cisplatin-resistant ovarian cancer cells, and to identify means of circumventing platinum resistance.

Prognostic significance of HER-2/neu expression in patients with ductal carcinoma in situ.

Background: The prognostic significance of biologic markers in women with ductal carcinoma in situ is not fully understood. HER2/neu is a marker of prognostic significance that is routinely assessed in invasive cancer but its correlation with clinical outcome in DCIS is still obscure.

Objectives: To evaluate the significance of HER-2/neu expression as a prognostic marker in DCIS.

Morphology of the human tympanic membrane annulus.

Objective: To study the full panoramic view with figuring of the morphology and topography of the human tympanic annulus.

Study Design: Postmortem material analysis.

Setting: University-affiliated hospital.

An animal model for chemotherapy-associated steatohepatitis and its prevention by the oral administration of fatty acid bile acid conjugate.

Background: Preoperative chemotherapy for hepatic resection of colorectal liver metastases is associated with the development of chemotherapy-associated steatohepatitis (CASH). This increases the risk of perioperative morbidity and mortality. To the authors' knowledge, an animal model for CASH has not been described previously.

Treatment of preestablished diet-induced fatty liver by oral fatty acid-bile acid conjugates in rodents.

Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease in industrialized countries. It has no accepted medical therapy. Fatty acid-bile acid conjugates (FABACs) were proven to prevent diet-induced NAFLD in rodents.

Specimen length as a perioperative surrogate marker for adequate lymphadenectomy in colon cancer: the surgeon's role.

The objective of this study was to determine whether there is a correlation between the length of the sigmoid colon removed and the number of harvested lymph nodes (LNs). Pathology charts of 137 sigmoid resections that were done over a 5-year period were reviewed. The length of removed sigmoid specimen reported in the pathology reports was correlated with the number of LNs retrieved from the specimen.

Pressure equilibration in the penguin middle ear.

Conclusions: King penguins have a venous structure in the form of a corpus cavernosum (CC) in their middle ear (ME) submucosa. The CC may be viewed as a special organelle that can change ME volume for pressure equilibration during deep-sea diving it is a pressure regulating organelle (PRO). A similar CC and muscles also surround the external ear (EE) and may constrict it, isolating the tympanic membrane from the outside.

Diffuse disseminated candidiasis in a patient with Felty's syndrome: a case report.

Severe granulocytopenia predispose patients with Felty's syndrome to severe infectious diseases. The following report deals with an occurrence of chronic disseminated candidiasis in a patient with Felty's syndrome who presented with prolonged and severe granulocytopenia. To the best of our knowledge this coexistence has never been described before.

Additive renoprotective effect of candesartan and tetrahydrobiopterin in rats after 5/6 nephrectomy.

Background: Chronic treatment with candesartan cilexetil (C) improves the outcome of rats after 5/6 nephrectomy (Nx). Tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4), an essential cofactor for appropriate endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) activity, prevents an increase in blood pressure (BP) in Nx rats when given immediately after surgery. In the present study, we evaluated the renoprotective effect of a combined treatment.

Halofuginone reduces the occurrence of renal fibrosis in 5/6 nephrectomized rats.

Background: Halofuginone is a novel antifibrotic agent that can reverse the fibrotic process by specific inhibition of collagen type I synthesis.

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of Halo on the development of glomerulosclerosis and interstitial fibrosis in the 5/6 nephrectomy rat model

Methods: Male Wistar rats were assigned to undergo 5/6 NX or sham operation, and then divided into three groups: 5/6 NX rats (NX-Halo and NX-Control) and sham. Systolic blood pressure, proteinuria and body weight were determined every 2 weeks.

Epithelial shedding of the inferior turbinate in perennial allergic and nonallergic rhinitis: a riddle to solve.

Objective: To examine the epithelial integrity of the inferior turbinate in patients with perennial allergic rhinitis (PAR) and perennial nonallergic (vasomotor) rhinitis (PNAR).

Design: Nonrandomized, controlled morphometric study.

Setting: University-affiliated hospital.

Predominance of younger age, advanced stage, poorly-differentiated and mucinous histology in Israeli Arab patients with colorectal cancer.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence in the Israeli population is higher in the Jewish population than among Arabs.

Materials And Methods: To determine the differences in demographic, clinical, histopathological and molecular characteristics of CRC between these two ethnic groups, 125 Arab patients treated at 3 community hospitals over a 20-year period were compared to a group of 208 consecutive Jewish patients. The mutator (replication error-positive [RER]) phenotype was detected by immunohistochemical evaluation of hMLH1 and hMSH2 protein expression in tumor tissue.

Microsatellite instability in multiple nonfamilial malignancies.

Development of multiple tumors of different histopathologic types may suggest a profound generalized genetic defect, such as malfunction of DNA mismatch repair (MMR) mechanism. Defects in this mechanism are best reflected in microsatellite instability (MSI). We aimed to determine the role of MSI in a group of patients with dual malignancies and compared the data with that of patients with a single malignancy.

Expression of the intestinal marker Cdx2 in secondary adenocarcinomas of the colorectum.

Context: Secondary adenocarcinomas of the large bowel can closely mimic primary tumors. The differentiation of secondary from primary adenocarcinomas of the colorectum, however, is important because their clinical management and prognosis are different. Immunostaining with the nuclear transcription factor Cdx2, expressed in normal intestinal epithelia and colorectal adenocarcinomas, could be of potential diagnostic use.

Microsatellite instability in gastric MALT lymphoma.

The role of microsatellite instability and defects in DNA mismatch repair mechanism in the pathogenesis of gastric lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) type is still controversial, as both negative and positive findings have been reported. This may be explained mainly by arbitrary selection of the tested loci, the use of various techniques of microsatellite instability analysis and by different definitions of replication error positive phenotype. The aim of our study was to evaluate the instability at selected microsatellite markers using the GeneScan Analysis Software.

Effect of chronic tetrahydrobiopterin supplementation on blood pressure and proteinuria in 5/6 nephrectomized rats.

Background: Tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) is a key cofactor of nitric oxide (NO) synthase. Reduced BH4 levels may mediate endothelial NO synthase uncoupling, resulting in reduced NO synthesis and enhanced oxidative stress. In rats after 5/6 nephrectomy (Nx), administration of BH4 prevents the onset of hypertension, typically observed 10 days after Nx.

Angiogenic switch in earliest stages of human colonic tumorigenesis.

Background: Angiogenesis is activated in numerous physiological and pathological conditions. We examined whether new vessel formation exists in the earliest stages of colonic tumorigenesis.

Materials And Methods: Microvascular density (MVD) was examined in 176 formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded aberrant crypt foci (ACF) dissected from macroscopically-normal mucosa obtained from patients with colorectal cancer.

The rising incidence of adult acute epiglottitis and epiglottic abscess.

Objective: To examine preliminary observations that the incidence of adult acute epiglottitis has risen between 1986 and 2000.

Materials And Methods: Demographics, annual and seasonal occurrences, clinical presentation, diagnostic procedures, treatment, airway management, and complications of 116 consecutive adult patients with laryngoscopically confirmed acute epiglottitis are presented.

Results: The mean annual incidence of acute epiglottitis per 100,000 adults significantly increased from 0.

Does vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) play a role in the pathogenesis of minimal change disease?

Background: Minimal change disease (MCD) is one of the major causes of nephrotic syndrome both in children and adults. The pathogenesis of this condition is not clear and it has been suggested that a plasma permeability factor may play a role. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), also known as vascular permeability factor, has been thought to be one the factors involved.

[Crescentic glomerulonephritis and cerebral vasculitis in the course of Henoch-Schonlein purpura].

Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP) is a systemic vasculitic disorder involving both arterioles and capillaries. Although mainly a disease of early childhood, it can occur at any age. HSP is typically recognized as a syndrome with four major components: rash, joint manifestations, abdominal symptoms and renal disease.

Detection of tumor circulating cells by cytokeratin-20 in the blood of patients with granulosa cell tumors.

Objective: Cytokeratins (CKs) are constituents of the intermediate filaments of epithelial cells which are expressed in various combinations, depending on the epithelial type and the degree of differentiation. Using the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique, we recently demonstrated that cytokeratin-20 (CK-20), the most recently discovered cytokeratin, is expressed in endometrial carcinoma tumors, in blood, and in lymph nodes with micrometastases of patients treated for endometrial carcinomas. However, CK-20 expression could not be demonstrated in the endometrium of patients with benign diseases, in peripheral blood, in lymph nodes of healthy subjects, or in normal blood cells.

Polypoid mucosa with eosinophilia and glandular hyperplasia in chronic sinusitis: a histopathological and immunohistochemical study.

Objective: To evaluate the histopathological and immunohistochemical characteristics of chronic sinusitis, with reference to the extent of sinus involvement.

Study Design: A nonrandomized, retrospective, controlled qualitative and quantitative study.

Methods: Twenty-nine adults with refractory chronic sinusitis underwent functional endoscopic sinus surgery.

[Long-term follow-up on the treatment of diffuse proliferative glomerulonephritis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus].

Background: Diffuse Proliferative Glomerulonephritis (DPGN) is the most ominous form of lupus nephritis. Treatment according to the "NIH Protocol" is considered by many physicians to be the treatment of choice for this form of disease, but this is not accepted exclusively. OUR AIM: To evaluate the outcome of SLE patients with biopsy proven DPGN diagnosed and treated in our department, between the years 1976-1996, and to compare the results achieved by using the "NIH Protocol" as opposed to other forms of treatment.

Diagnosis and management of the surgical complication of postoperative "slipped" medial rectus muscle: a new "tendon step test" and outcome/results in 11 cases.

Objectives: To report our experience in eleven patient with a "slipped" medical rectus after prior surgery. We describe the "tendon step test" as the basis for early intraoperative suspicion of a "slipped" muscle. The diagnostic translucent empty capsule is usually identified following careful dissection of the fibrous tissue surrounding the capsule.