The expression of thrombospondin-1 and p53 in clear cell renal cell carcinoma: its relationship to angiogenesis, cell proliferation and cancer specific survival.

Purpose: We evaluated possible associations among thrombospondin-1, p53 expression, microvessel density, cell proliferation index, nuclear grade, tumor stage and continuously coded tumor size in clear cell renal cell carcinoma. The value of thrombospondin-1 as a prognostic marker in clear cell renal cell carcinoma was examined.

Materials And Methods: A total of 172 consecutive patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma treated with radical nephrectomy were initially enrolled in the study.

Organ-confined clear cell renal cell carcinoma: the prognostic impact of microvascular invasion, nuclear grade and tumour size.

The frequency of diagnosed and treated organ-confined renal cell carcinoma is increasing. The prognosis of this group of tumours is difficult to predict. The main purpose of this study was to examine the prognostic significance of microvascular invasion, tumour size and nuclear grade in a complete cohort of 76 consecutive patients with organ-confined clear cell renal cell carcinoma treated with radical nephrectomy.

Renal cell carcinoma: a clinicopathological follow-up study after radical nephrectomy.

Objective: To examine the prognostic significance of performance status, tumour stage, histological subtype, nuclear grade and histological tumour necrosis (HTN) in a population of consecutive patients subjected to radical nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

Material And Methods: The cohort consisted of 110 males and 86 females with a mean age of 66 years (range 39-88 years). The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS) was determined in all cases.

Bladder rupture due to accidental oxygen insufflation via an indwelling urethral catheter--a report of two cases.

Two cases of bladder rupture caused by accidental insufflation of oxygen through an indwelling urethral catheter are described. Both patients were ill with multiple diseases. Conservative treatment, including an open indwelling urethral catheter, and surveillance of abdominal status seem appropriate when managing this complication.

Brain derived neurotrophic factor protects human neuroblastoma cells from DNA damaging agents.

Neurotrophins are required for survival of neurons during development and may act as survival factors to cells undergoing stress. We tested whether brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) protects neuroblastoma (NB) cells from cytotoxic agents using a model NB cell line, NB 1643, which expresses functional tropomyosin related kinase B (TRKB) following treatment with all-trans-retinoic acid. TRKB is the receptor for BDNF.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor promotes survival and chemoprotection of human neuroblastoma cells.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) promotes neuronal survival and protection against neuronal damage. We addressed whether BDNF might promote survival and chemoprotection in neuroblastoma (NB) using a drug-sensitive human NB cell line. All-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) induces a striking phenotypic differentiation of NB1643 cells, and exogenous BDNF treatment promotes survival of these differentiated cells.

Perforation of continent urinary reservoirs. Scandinavian experience.

In a questionnaire survey of urological departments in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway, 20 episodes of perforation of continent urinary pouches were found to have occurred in 18 patients, representing an incidence of 1.5%. This complication occurred with ileal as well as colonic segments, without predilection.

Local excision of ureteral tumours.

A retrospective study was carried out on 20 patients with transitional cell ureteral tumours (TCUT). Surgical exploration of the tumour was performed in 17 patients. Biopsies for frozen section were evaluated for decision concerning the extent of operative intervention.

One or two incisions for nephroureterectomy in transitional cell renal pelvis tumours.

A retrospective study comprising 18 patients with transitional cell renal pelvis tumours (TCPT) was carried out to evaluate the results after two different surgical procedures for nephroureterectomy. The kidney was removed by a flank incision and the lower part of the ureter by either an incision in the lower part of the abdomen or intussusception of the ureter followed by transurethral resection of the ureteral orifice. Eight patients were subjected to nephroureterectomy by means of two incisions and another eight patients underwent a simple nephrectomy followed by ureteral intus-susception and transurethral resection.

Long-term experience of self-injection therapy with prostaglandin E1 for erectile dysfunction.

A total of 42 evaluable patients 36-80 years old were treated with intracavernous injection of prostaglandin E1 for erectile dysfunction. They reported retrospectively via a questionnaire their long-term experience of this method. Twenty-four patients (57%) were after 46.

Identification of genes required for pollen-stigma recognition in Arabidopsis thaliana.

In higher plants, cell-cell recognition reactions taking place following pollination allow the selective restriction of self-pollination and/or interspecific pollination. Many of these systems function by regulating the process of water transfer from the cells found at the stigmatic surface to the individual pollen grain. Interspecific pollination studies on the cruciferous weed Arabidopsis thaliana revealed only a broad specificity of pollen recognition such that pollen from all tested members of the crucifer family were recognized, whereas pollen from almost all other species failed to hydrate.

Prostaglandin synthetase inhibition of renal pelvic smooth muscle in the rabbit.

The prostaglandin synthetase inhibitors diclofenac and indomethacin relieve pain in renal colic probably by decreasing renal pelvic pressure. Decreased diuresis and effects on the oedema around the obstructing stone are plausible explanations. In the present study on rabbit renal pelvic tissue strips it was found that both indomethacin and diclofenac decreased the spontaneous phasic activity of the strips.

Surgical alleviation of ureteric obstruction in idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis. An analysis of 9 cases.

Nine patients with retroperitoneal fibrosis were reviewed. All patients had idiopathic disease, bilateral in eight patients. An IVP on admission was normal in only one of 17 kidneys with delayed excretion in seven.

The effect of intraduodenal installation of oleic acid on plasma neurotensin-like immunoreactivity and on gastric acid secretion stimulated by betazole and sham feeding in man.

Intraduodenal administration of oleic acid has previously been shown to inhibit gastric acid secretion induced by pentagastrin in man. This inhibition was dose-dependent and significantly correlated to a rise in plasma concentration of neurotensin-like immunoractivity (NTLI). Maximal inhibition occurred with a volume of oleic acid of 20 ml.

Uretero-neocystostomy in the treatment of postoperative uretero-vaginal fistula.

Nine patients with unilateral uretero-vaginal fistula afer hysterectomy were seen over a 9-year period. In 5 patients radical pelvic surgery combined with radiotherapy had been carried out because of carcinoma of the cervix. In one patient the fistula developed following total hysterectomy 18 years after radiotherapy because of a cervical carcinoma.

Urethrovaginal and vesicovaginal fistula. A review of 29 patients.

During an 11-year period 29 women were treated for 6 urethrovaginal and 24 vesicovaginal fistulae. In all patients the urethrovaginal fistula was preceded by an operation for a benign lesion. Of the 24 patients with vesicovaginal fistulae 11 had a benign and 13 a malignant primary disease.

Reimplantation of the ureter in prostatic carcinoma associated with bilateral ureteric obstruction.

Bilateral ureteric obstruction from prostatic carcinoma is not uncommon. A number of techniques for urinary diversion have been used in selected patients when uraemia develops. Reimplantation of the ureter(s) as an alternative to urinary diversion has been carried out in 21 patients over a 7-year period.

Thigh adductor contraction during transurethral resection of bladder tumours: evaluation of inactive electrode placement and obturator nerve topography.

Thigh adductor contraction occurred in 17 of 160 patients during transurethral resection of newly diagnosed bladder tumours. In 13 of the 17 patients contractions were abolished by changing the site of the inactive electrode from the buttocks to the thigh. The topographic relationship between the obturator nerve and the bladder wall studied radiographically and at autopsy showed that the distance between the bladder and the nerve considerably diminished with increasing bladder volume.

Fat inhibition of gastric acid secretion in man and plasma concentrations of neurotensin-like immunoreactivity.

The effects of intraduodenal administration of oleic acid (5, 10, 20, and 40 ml) on gastric acid secretion stimulated by a submaximal intravenous pentagastrin infusion and on plasma concentrations on neurotensin-like plasma immunoreactivity (NTLI) were studied in 18 healthy subjects. Each volume of oleic acid or saline (controls) was tested in six subjects except the volume of 20 ml, which was given to ten subjects. Gastric acid secretion was studied for a 2-h period at 15-min intervals after intraduodenal infusion.

Inhibition of pentagastrin-stimulated gastric acid secretion by graded intraduodenal administration of oleic acid in man.

The inhibitory effect of intraduodenally administered oleic acid in volumes of 5--40 ml on pentagastrin-stimulated gastric acid secretion was determined in healthy volunteers. In the control experiments, corresponding volumes of saline were given. Five and 10 ml oleic acid brought about a significant inhibition of gastric acid secretion of 29% and 32%, respectively.

Fat inhibition of gastric acid secretion in duodenal ulcer patients before and after proximal gastric vagotomy.

In seven duodenal ulcer patients the effect of intraduodenal infusion of 20 ml oleic acid on submaximal gastric acid secretion stimulation by a continuous pentagastrin infusion was evaluated before and after proximal gastric vagotomy. In the control tests 20 ml of saline was given. Before vagotomy, oleic acid evoked a significant inhibition of gastric acid secretion of 25% compared with the controls.

Postcesarean vesico-uterine fistula.

A case of postcesarean vesico-uterine fistula in conjunction with a fibrous cord joining the anterior and posterior wall of the bladder is reported. The symptoms of menouria and amenorrhoea in the absence of urinary incontinence are explained by reference to the pressure gradients which normally exist in the bladder and the uterine cavity. The etiology, diagnosis and therapy of this and other reported cases are reviewed.