Antibiotherapy in Children with Cystic Fibrosis-An Extensive Review.

In cystic fibrosis (CF), the respiratory disease is the main factor that influences the outcome and the prognosis of patients, bacterial infections being responsible for severe exacerbations. The etiology is often multi-microbial and with resistant strains. The aim of this paper is to present current existing antibiotherapy solutions for CF-associated infections in order to offer a reliable support for individual, targeted, and specific treatment.

A pilot study on the expression of microRNAs resident on chromosome 21 in laser microdissected FFPE prostate adenocarcinoma samples.

The tremendous research effort of the last decades added a new, epigenetic layer of complexity to the already complex image of prostate cancer pathogenesis. Here we use quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to investigate the expression of the microRNAs resident on chromosome 21 (miR-ch21) in laser capture microdissected (LCM) tissues from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) archived, prostate adenocarcinoma samples. We show a strong, specific down-regulation of miR-ch21 in tumoral epithelia and stromae as compared to normal counterparts, results at odd with the current paradigm on the involvement of these microRNAs in prostate oncogenesis.

Cystic fibrosis liver disease - from diagnosis to risk factors.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most frequent monogenic genetic disease, autosomal recessive transmitted, characterized by an impressive clinical polymorphism and appreciative fatal prospective. Liver disease is the second non-pulmonary cause of death in cystic fibrosis, which, with increasing life expectancy, became an important management problem. Predisposing factors like male gender, pancreatic insufficiency, meconium ileus and severe mutation are incriminated to influence the occurrence of cystic fibrosis associated liver disease (CFLD).

Safety of vascular endothelial and hepatocyte growth factor gene therapy in patients with critical limb ischemia.

Unlabelled: The present clinical trial analyzed the safety of gene therapy using plasmidial constructs expressing vascular endothelial and hepatocyte growth factors in patients with critical limb ischemia. The study included 43 patients: 29 in the treatment group and 14 allocated to the placebo group. The primary end points were the rate of major amputations and the clinical safety of the method.

Estrogen receptor alpha polymorphisms and the risk of malignancies.

Estrogens represent risk factors for endocrine-related cancers and play also an important role in the development and progression of other malignancies. In order to analyze the associations between estrogen receptor gene alpha polymorphisms and cancers susceptibility, we genotyped six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 163 Caucasian cancer patients--103 breast cancers and 60 other malignancies (colorectal, bladder, hepatocellular carcinoma and acute myeloid leukemia)--and 114 healthy controls using hybridization probes. We performed Armitage`s association trend-test to evaluate the risk.

Polymorphic variants of extracellular superoxide dismutase gene in a Romanian population with atheroma.

Extracellular superoxide dismutase (EC-SOD) is the main SOD isoform in the arterial wall contributing to cardiovascular defense against oxidative stress by removing the superoxide anion. In our study, the Thr40Ala and Arg213Gly polymorphic variants of the EC-SOD gene (SOD ( 3 )) were investigated for associations with atherosclerosis and other related factors in 144 subjects with significant atheroma (having one, two, or three major coronary arteries with >50% obstruction, and/or peripheral artery lesions, and/or carotid artery stenosis demonstrated by angiography and echography) and in 150 subjects with no significant atheroma. For the Arg213Gly polymorphism, only five heterozygous subjects were found.