Age-dependent association of apolipoprotein E genotype with coronary and aortic atherosclerosis in middle-aged men: an autopsy study.

Background: Apolipoprotein E (apoE) polymorphism is one of the genetic determinants of serum cholesterol values. The apoE epsilon4 allele has been associated with advanced coronary heart disease (CHD) diagnosed by angiography, but the role of the apoE genotype in atherosclerosis has not been confirmed at vessel-wall level, nor is any age-dependent effect of the apoE genotype on the development of CHD known.

Methods And Results: The right and left anterior descending coronary arteries (RCA and LAD) and the aorta from 700 male autopsy cases (Helsinki Sudden Death Study) in 1981-1982 and 1991-1992 (average age 53 years, range 33 to 70 years) were stained for fat, and all areas covered with fatty streaks, fibrotic plaques, and complicated lesions were measured.

Six-year supplementation with alpha-tocopherol and beta-carotene and age-related maculopathy.

Purpose: Animal research and observational studies in man suggest a protective effect of antioxidant vitamins in the development of age-related maculopathy (ARM).

Methods: The ATBC study, a population-based, controlled clinical trial of alpha-tocopherol and beta carotene to prevent lung cancer, took place in Finland between 1984 and 1993. Over 29,000 smoking males aged 50 to 69 years were randomly assigned to alpha-tocopherol (AT; 50 mg/day), beta-carotene (BC; 20 mg/day), both of these, or placebo.

Retinal vascular changes following supplementation with alpha-tocopherol or beta-carotene.

Purpose: To examine if long-term supplementation with alpha-tocopherol (AT) or beta-carotene (BC) was associated with the prevalence of vascular changes in retinal arterioles.

Methods: An end-of-trial subsample from a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial designed to study the effects of alpha-tocopherol and beta-carotene on lung cancer incidence (ATBC Study).

Setting: Source population of Helsinki and the surrounding province.

Long-term supplementation with alpha-tocopherol and beta-carotene and age-related cataract.

Purpose: To study if long-term supplementation with alpha-tocopherol or beta-carotene is associated with cataract prevalence and severity.

Methods: An end-of-trial random sample of 1828 participants from the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial the alpha-tocopherol, beta-carotene cancer prevention study. The alpha-tocopherol, beta-carotene cancer prevention study was originally designed to examine whether supplementation with alpha-tocopherol or beta-carotene would reduce the incidence of lung cancer in male smokers.

Alcohol consumption and alcoholic liver disease: evidence of a threshold level of effects of ethanol.

The effects of long-term moderate or "social" alcohol consumption (10-80 g daily intake) on the incidence of features of alcoholic liver disease (ALD) were delineated in a consecutive autopsy series of 210 males. The subjects' daily intake, as well as duration of alcohol consumption, was determined by an interview with the spouse or a close acquaintance and compared with semiquantitative histological scores for stage of ALD. No significant increase in the incidence of features of ALD could be related to all-year daily intake of ethanol below 40 g (40 g equals 1.

Retinoids increase urokinase-type plasminogen activator production by human retinal pigment epithelial cells in culture.

Purpose: To examine the effect of two retinoids, all-trans-retinoic acid (tretinoin) and all-trans-9-(4-methoxy-2,3,6- trimethylphenyl)-3,7-dimethyl- 2,4,6,8-nonatetraenoic acid (acitretin) on the production of plasminogen activators and plasminogen activator inhibitors by human retinal pigment epithelial cells in culture.

Methods: Cultures of human retinal pigment epithelial cells were incubated with either of the retinoids at a concentration of 1 microM for 24-72 hours. The media were assayed using solid-phase immunocapture assays and zymography.

Diagnostic angiography in postoperative autopsies.

Postmortem angiography was used as a diagnostic tool to rule out surgical malpractice in 227 medicolegal autopsies following postoperative deaths in Finland. Of the cases, 111 involved neurosurgical patients or patients undergoing operations on the carotid arteries, 62 involved coronary bypass patients, and 54 patients died following abdominal surgery. A portable perfusion device for postmortem angiography at the autopsy table involves attaching quick couplings to a compressed airline.

Acute bilateral corneal hydrops caused by high temperature and high moisture in the Finnish sauna. A clinical and histological case report of a patient with keratoconus.

A 44-year-old healthy male with bilateral keratoconus developed acute hydrops of both his corneas with an interval of 3 years. On both occasions he had bathed in a hot, humid Finnish sauna the preceding evening. Penetrating keratoplasty had to be performed in the acute stage in both instances, as medical therapy brought no improvement.

Prognosis of conjunctival melanomas in relation to histopathological features.

Twenty-six patients (age 29-85 years) with primary malignant melanoma of the conjunctiva were analysed for usefulness of various histopathological and immunohistochemical features of the primary, recurrent and metastatic tumours in evaluating their prognosis. The mean follow-up time was 5.5 years, ranging from 8 months to 17 years.

Occurrence of benign hepatocellular tumors in alcoholic men.

Focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) and liver cell adenoma (LCA) are benign hepatocellular tumors, found mainly in females in association with the use of oral contraceptives. In adult male clinical patients and in retrospective male autopsy cases, both tumors were often found in association with chronic abuse of alcohol. This association was also found (p less than 0.

Benign bile duct tumours, non-parasitic liver cysts and liver damage in males.

Pathogenetic associations between benign hepatic tumours and liver damage were studied in an autopsy series of 91 males with high incidence of alcoholism. Information on the consumption of alcohol was obtained by interviewing a family member or a close friend of the deceased. The reported use of alcohol correlated well with the increase of fatty and fibrotic changes and with the occurrence of liver cirrhosis, alcoholic hepatitis or pancreatitis.

Changes in germinal tissue and Leydig cells correlated with ethanol consumption in males with and without liver disease.

The weight of testicles and morphometric changes in testicular germinal tissue and Leydig cells were correlated with chronic consumption of ethyl alcohol and liver diseases in 44 consecutive autopsies. The mass and volume of seminiferous tubules decreased with the increase in alcohol consumption (p less than 0.05).

Effects of anoxia on the isolated perfused rat heart: histological, histochemical and electron-microscopic observations.

A study to evaluate hematoxylin-basic fuchsin-picric acid (HBFP) and some other conventional stains in the demonstration of early anoxic lesions of the perfused rat heart has been undertaken. The extent of the anoxic injury was readily demonstrable electron-microscopically and in semithin sections by light microscopy, and at 1.5--2 hours practically all myocardial cells showed irreversible changes.