Puma indirectly activates Bax to cause apoptosis in the absence of Bid or Bim.

Bcl-2 family members regulate apoptosis in response to cytokine withdrawal and a broad range of cytotoxic stimuli. Pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 family members Bax and Bak are essential for apoptosis triggered by interleukin-3 (IL-3) withdrawal in myeloid cells. The BH3-only protein Puma is critical for initiation of IL-3 withdrawal-induced apoptosis, because IL-3-deprived Puma(-/-) cells show increased capacity to form colonies when IL-3 is restored.

Switch from type II to I Fas/CD95 death signaling on in vitro culturing of primary hepatocytes.

Unlabelled: Fas/CD95-induced apoptosis of hepatocytes in vivo proceeds through the so-called type II pathway, requiring the proapoptotic BH3-only Bcl-2 family member Bid for mitochondrial death signaling. Consequently, Bid-deficient mice are protected from anti-Fas antibody injection induced fatal hepatitis. We report the unexpected finding that freshly isolated mouse hepatocytes, cultured on collagen or Matrigel, become independent of Bid for Fas-induced apoptosis, thereby switching death signaling from type II to type I.

Efficacy of percutaneous vertebroplasty for multiple synchronous and metachronous vertebral compression fractures.

Background And Purpose: Limited data exists regarding the efficacy of percutaneous vertebroplasty for multiple synchronous and metachronous vertebral compression fractures. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the number of vertebral levels treated during percutaneous vertebroplasty procedures or the number of separate vertebroplasty procedures performed on a given patient affect clinical outcomes.

Materials And Methods: We defined 3 patient populations in our retrospective study.

Prevalence of four enteropathogens in the faeces of young diarrhoeic dairy calves in Switzerland.

The prevalences of Cryptosporidium parvum, rotavirus, bovine coronavirus (BCV), and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (E coli K99) were determined in diarrhoeic dairy calves aged one to 21 days on 71 dairy farms in western Switzerland during the winter of 2005 to 2006. Faecal samples from 147 untreated calves suffering from acute diarrhoea were analysed by standardised diagnostic methods, and the immunoglobulin status of each calf was evaluated. The prevalences of C parvum, rotavirus, BCV and E coli k99 were 55.

Prevalence of bovine subclinical endometritis 4h after insemination and its effects on first service conception rate.

The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of subclinical endometritis 4h after AI and its effect on first service conception rate (FSCR) in dairy cows. A total of 201 Holstein-Friesian cows with no signs of clinical endometritis were examined 4h after first AI for signs of subclinical endometritis. Endometrial samples were collected from the uterus using the cytobrush technique.

Prevalence study of Staphylococcus aureus in quarter milk samples of dairy cows in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland.

In the present study, the prevalence of S. aureus in mammary gland quarters of dairy cows in Switzerland was estimated and a risk factor analysis was carried out. Dairy cows were selected by one-step-cluster sampling with stratification by herd size.

[Experiences with a BVD-free transhumance in the summer of 2006].

The aim of this paper was to examine the effect of eliminating persistently infected (PI) animals on BVDV infection during transhumance and to identify possible weak points in the prevention of new infection. An initial blood sample (A) was taken from all the animals until one week before the date of trans-humance (n = 190) and examined for virus by means of real-time RT-PCR or antigen-ELISA and for antibodies by means of ELISA. One PI animal was identified and eliminated.

Toxicology study of repeat intracerebral administration of a measles virus derivative producing carcinoembryonic antigen in rhesus macaques in support of a phase I/II clinical trial for patients with recurrent gliomas.

Gliomas have a dismal prognosis, with the median survival of patients with the most common histology, glioblastoma multiforme, being only 12-15 months. Development of novel therapeutic agents is urgently needed. We have previously demonstrated that oncolytic measles virus strains derived from the Edmonston vaccine lineage have significant antitumor activity against gliomas [Phuong, L.

Primary central nervous system lymphoma can be histologically diagnosed after previous corticosteroid use: a pilot study to determine whether corticosteroids prevent the diagnosis of primary central nervous system lymphoma.

The objective is to determine whether corticosteroid administration before biopsy prevents histopathological diagnosis of primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL). A retrospective review was performed of immunocompetent PCNSL patients from 1985 to 2005. A total of 109 patients was identified.

A longitudinal field study to evaluate the diagnostic properties of a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction-based assay to detect Staphylococcus aureus in milk.

Bacteriological culture as a diagnostic tool for chronic infections with Staphylococcus aureus intramammary infection is not completely satisfactory. The cyclical shedding pattern of Staph. aureus with intervals of low excretion is considered to be the main reason.

Bovine Staphylococcus aureus: association of virulence genes, genotypes and clinical outcome.

Based on our clinical experience on bovine mastitis, we hypothesized that subtypes of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) exist which differ in their contagious and pathogenic properties. In order to investigate this hypothesis, we analyzed strains of S.

Low-dose metronomic, multidrug therapy with the PEP-C oral combination chemotherapy regimen for mantle cell lymphoma.

The prednisone, etoposide, procarbazine and cyclophosphamide (PEP-C) oral combination chemotherapy regimen (prednisone 20 mg, cyclophosphamide 50 mg, etoposide 50 mg, and procarbazine 50 mg with an oral anti-emetic) was employed at our center to treat 22 patients with heavily pretreated, recurrent mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). All medications were administered daily until leukocytes fell to <3.0 x 10(9)/L whereupon treatment was withheld until recovery from the nadir.

Proapoptotic BH3-only protein Bid is essential for death receptor-induced apoptosis of pancreatic beta-cells.

Objective: Apoptosis of pancreatic beta-cells is critical in both diabetes development and failure of islet transplantation. The role in these processes of pro- and antiapoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins, which regulate apoptosis by controlling mitochondrial integrity, remains poorly understood. We investigated the role of the BH3-only protein Bid and the multi-BH domain proapoptotic Bax and Bak, as well as prosurvival Bcl-2, in beta-cell apoptosis.

Venous sinus thrombosis: a misdiagnosis using MR angiography.

Introduction: Magnetic resonance venography (MRV) is a non-invasive imaging modality that is used in many centers to supplant conventional cerebral digital subtraction angiography (DSA) for the diagnosis of dural venous sinus thrombosis.

Discussion: We present the case of a pregnant female diagnosed with dural venous sinus thrombosis by serial time-of-flight (TOF) MRV examinations, and treated with long-term anticoagulation based on these examinations.

Results: The appearance of the affected dural sinus did not change on MRV over the treatment period.

[Herd problem: udder health. Retrospective study of farms assessed by the Swiss Bovine Health Service (BHS) from 1999 to 2004].

Data from 59 farms with complaints of udder health problems and insufficient quality of delivered milk that had been assessed by the Swiss Bovine Health Service (BHS) between 1999 and 2004 were retrospectively analysed. Data evaluated included farm characteristics such as farm size, herd size, average milk yield, milking system and housing system, deficits of the milking equipment and the milking practices, and bacteriological results of milk samples from all cows in lactation. The average size of the farms assessed by the BHS was larger than the size of the were evaluated, 42 showed obvious failures which the farm managers could have noticed.

Pituitary adenoma with tumoral granulomatous reaction.

Herein, we report a unique case of an adult male with a corticotrophic pituitary adenoma of silent subtype 1 exhibiting conspicuous idiopathic tumoral noncaseating granulomatous inflammation. The lesion was unassociated with clinical or laboratory evidence of either systemic sarcoidosis or infection. Histochemical and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) studies revealed neither fungi nor tubercle bacilli.

[Heifer breeding farms as a source for spreading the BVD virus?].

It is well known that, in Switzerland, communal grazing of livestock on alpine pastures plays an important role in the spread of BVD virus. Analogously, we might expect that the communal raising on farms specialising in raising heifers of animals born on different farms would also favour the spread of BVDV. This study investigated whether a persistently infected (PI) breeding heifer kept on this type of farm over a period of 26 months would put the other animals at risk of being infected.

[Rumenocentesis: a suitable technique for analysis of rumen juice pH in cattle?].

In the United States, rumenocentesis has been recommended especially for early diagnosis of subacute rumen acidosis (SARA). The objective of the current study was to evaluate health risks due to the technique ofrumenocentesis and to measure pH in ruminal juice using a commercial indicator paper (Pehanon) and a pH electrode (reference method). After 11 dairy cows underwent rumenocentesis, the clinical status of those animals was evaluated daily, and cows were slaughtered as well as pathologically--anatomically examined on day 7.

The BH3-only protein Puma plays an essential role in cytokine deprivation induced apoptosis of mast cells.

Mast cells play critical roles in the regulation of inflammation. One characteristic feature of mast cells is their relatively long lifespan in vivo. Members of the Bcl-2 protein family are regulators of cell survival and apoptosis, where the BH3-only proteins are critical proapoptotic proteins.

Complications of diagnostic cerebral angiography: evaluation of 19,826 consecutive patients.

Purpose: To retrospectively evaluate the complications of diagnostic cerebral catheter angiography in 19,826 consecutive patients.

Materials And Methods: This HIPAA-compliant study had institutional review board approval, with waiver of informed consent. Demographic, procedural, and complication data in 19 826 consecutive patients undergoing diagnostic cerebral angiography at one institution from 1981 through 2003 were retrospectively reviewed.

The BH3-only protein bid is dispensable for DNA damage- and replicative stress-induced apoptosis or cell-cycle arrest.

Bid, a caspase-activated proapoptotic BH3-only protein, is essential for Fas-induced hepatocyte destruction. Recent studies published in Cell produced conflicting results, indicating that loss of Bid either protects or enhances apoptosis induced by DNA damage or replicative stress. To resolve this controversy, we generated novel Bid-deficient mice on an inbred C57BL/6 background and removed the drug-selection cassette from the targeted locus.

Specificity of MR angiography as a confirmatory test for carotid artery stenosis: is it valid?

Objective: We believe that many studies in the literature show a falsely elevated specificity for carotid MR angiography (MRA) in the detection of high-grade stenosis. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that inclusion of a substantial proportion of normal carotid arteries in a study population will falsely elevate the specificity of MRA for confirming a high-grade carotid artery stenosis.

Materials And Methods: Seventy-seven carotid arteries were evaluated in 63 patients suspected of having a high-grade carotid stenosis, and all vessels were evaluated with contrast-enhanced MRA.

Observer agreement in the assessment of endovascular aneurysm therapy and aneurysm recurrence.

Background And Purpose: Assessments of completeness of endovascular cerebral aneurysm therapy are commonly reported in the literature. We studied several aneurysm assessment scales with regard to observer variability, which directly affects validity of these scales.

Materials And Methods: Initial aneurysm occlusion and occlusion at a follow-up angiogram at 3-6 months were assessed independently by 2 experienced observers.