Aspirin at low-intermediate concentrations protects retinal vessels in experimental diabetic retinopathy through non-platelet-mediated effects.

The prevention of diabetic retinopathy requires drugs that leverage the benefits of glycemic control without adding the burden of side effects. Aspirin at dosages of 1-1.5 g/day has prevented manifestations of diabetic retinal microangiopathy in a clinical trial as well as in studies with dogs.

Folinic acid, 5-fluorouracil and etoposide after curative resection for gastric cancer.

Background/aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the survival benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy with etoposide, leucovorin and 5-fluorouracil (ELF) in gastric cancer patients undergoing previous surgery with a curative intent.

Methodology: The clinical outcome of 49 patients with resected gastric cancer treated with adjuvant chemotherapy was compared with that of 85 surgically treated historical controls who did not receive any adjuvant treatment. The chemotherapy regimen consisted of six cycles of daily 1-hour intravenous infusions of folinic acid 100 mg/m2 and 5-FU 400 mg/ m2, and a 2-hour infusion of etoposide 100 mg/m2, for three days every 28 days.

Outcrossing hermaphroditic polychaete worms adjust their sex allocation to social conditions.

Sex allocation theory predicts that simultaneous hermaphrodites shift sex allocation facultatively in response to variation in local group size. This study was performed to evaluate the relative investment in each sex function by the simultaneously hermaphroditic polychaete worm Ophryotrocha diadema and to test whether allocation to each sex depends on the number of reproductive competitors. Four experimental groups were set up (in a 2 x 2 factorial design) with small or large group size and with small or large enclosures to control for potential confounding effects of density.

Vestibular rehabilitation therapy in children.

Objectives: Vestibular disturbances are underdiagnosed in children. However, balance impairment may compromise the normal development of affected children. The appropriate therapeutic approach has not been agreed on for this age group.

Identification of novel functional inhibitors of 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type III (17beta-HSD3).

Background: Endocrine therapy of prostate cancer (PCa) relies on agents which disrupt the biosynthesis of testosterone in the testis and/or by direct antagonism of active hormone on the androgen receptor (AR) in non-gonadal target tissues of hormone action such as the prostate.

Methods: In an effort to evaluate new therapies which could inhibit gonadal or non-gonadal testosterone biosynthesis, we developed high throughput biochemical and cellular screening assays to identify inhibitors of 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type III (17beta-HSD3), the enzyme catalyzing the conversion of androstenedione (AdT) to testosterone.

Results: Initial screening efforts identified a natural product, 18beta-glycyrrhetinic acid, and a novel derivative of AdT, 3-O-benzylandrosterone, as potent inhibitors of the enzyme.

Early signs of atherosclerosis in obstructive sleep apnea.

Background: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with several cardiovascular diseases. However, the mechanisms are not completely understood. Recent studies have shown that OSA is associated with multiple markers of endothelial damage.

Adverse events and death in stroke patients admitted to the emergency department of a tertiary university hospital.

Objectives: To identify the occurrence of adverse events in stroke patients presenting to the emergency department of a tertiary university facility, and to disclose the categories of adverse events associated with death.

Methods: This matched case-control study enrolled 468 patients admitted with stroke to the emergency department from March 1996 to September 1999. The cases comprised 234 consecutive deaths and the controls 234 discharged patients, matched for primary diagnosis and admission period.

Synthetic lethality of retinoblastoma mutant cells in the Drosophila eye by mutation of a novel peptidyl prolyl isomerase gene.

Mutations that inactivate the retinoblastoma (Rb) pathway are common in human tumors. Such mutations promote tumor growth by deregulating the G1 cell cycle checkpoint. However, uncontrolled cell cycle progression can also produce new liabilities for cell survival.

Dynamics of chemical mimicry in the social parasite wasp Polistes semenowi (Hymenoptera: Vespidae).

Chemical cues are so important in the recognition mechanism of social insects that most social parasites (which rely on hosts to rear their brood) have been documented as overcoming the mechanism by which colony residents recognize non-nestmates, by mimicking the odour of the usurped colony. We simulated in the laboratory the process by which the obligate social parasite, Polistes semenowi, invades nests of the host species, Polistes dominulus, in the field and analysed the epicuticular lipid layer before and after host nest usurpation. The experiment documents that P.

Cholesterol depletion perturbs calcium handling by rat submandibular glands.

The sensitivity to cholesterol depletion of calcium handling by rat submandibular glands was investigated. The glands were digested with collagenase. After homogenization, the lysate was extracted at 4 degrees C with 0.

Cuticular hydrocarbon dynamics in young adult Polistes dominulus (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) and the role of linear hydrocarbons in nestmate recognition systems.

In social insects, cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) play an important role in nestmate discrimination processes, but young individuals are usually not discriminated. We studied CHC changes in young workers of the social wasp Polistes dominulus. A quantitative estimation demonstrated that total quantities of CHCs increased after emergence, with branched alkanes increasing drastically when compared with other classes of hydrocarbons.

Studies of rat and human retinas predict a role for the polyol pathway in human diabetic retinopathy.

The polyol (sorbitol) pathway of glucose metabolism is activated in many cell types when intracellular glucose concentrations are high, and it can generate cellular stress through several mechanisms. The role of the polyol pathway in the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy has remained uncertain, in part because it has been examined preferentially in galactose-induced retinopathy and in part because inhibition studies may not have achieved full blockade of the pathway. Having observed that the streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat accurately models many cellular processes characteristic of human diabetic retinopathy, we tested in the diabetic rat if documented inhibition of the polyol pathway prevents a sequence of retinal vascular abnormalities also present in human diabetes.

Chloroquine gestational use in systemic lupus erythematosus: assessing the risk of child ototoxicity by pure tone audiometry.

The objective of this study was to assess child chloroquine ototoxicity after its use during the gestational period in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Nineteen children over four years old were evaluated: nine were exposed to chloroquine diphosphate (CDP) during gestation and 10 were born from mothers that did not take this drug before conception or anytime during pregnancy (CONTROL). Pure tone audiometry was performed in all children and high and low frequency threshold means were compared to evaluate the hearing status.

Morphological and functional study of the cochlea after administration of estrogen and progesterone in the guinea pig.

The aim of this study was to analyze the morphological cochlear changes and auditory function observed after the administration of estrogen or progesterone or both. Sixty-two guinea pigs were divided into four groups that received estrogen (group 1), progesterone (group 2), estrogen and progesterone (group 3), and saline solution (controls, group 4), respectively. The auditory evaluation consisted of brainstem evoked response audiometry, performed before and after drug administration.

Effects of respiratory therapist-directed protocol on prescription and outcomes of pulmonary rehabilitation in COPD inpatients.

Background: The use of respiratory therapist-directed (RD) protocols in non-ICU hospitalized patients decreases respiratory care charges as compared with physician-directed (PD) protocols.

Objectives: To determine whether RD or PD protocol assessments in COPD patients may impact: (1) prescription of respiratory treatments, and (2) outcomes of pulmonary rehabilitation program (PRP).

Methods: In a retrospective observational case-control study, 73 cases (RD) were compared with controls (PD) matched for age, sex, FEV1 and diagnosis of either chronic airflow obstruction (CAO), pulmonary emphysema (PE) or chronic respiratory insufficiency (CRI).

UFT/leucovorin and oxaliplatin alternated with UFT/leucovorin and irinotecan in metastatic colorectal cancer.

A total of 41 metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) patients received tegafur/uracil (UFT)+leucovorin (LV)+oxaliplatin alternated with UFT/LV+irinotecan. The overall response rate was 58.5% (95% confidence interval, 42.

Deregulation and mislocalization of the cytokinesis regulator ECT2 activate the Rho signaling pathways leading to malignant transformation.

The human ECT2 protooncogene encodes a guanine nucleotide exchange factor for the Rho GTPases and regulates cytokinesis. Although the oncogenic form of ECT2 contains an N-terminal truncation, it is not clear how the structural abnormality of ECT2 causes malignant transformation. Here we show that both the removal of the negative regulatory domain and alteration of subcellular localization are required to induce the oncogenic activity of ECT2.

Rho exchange factor ECT2 is induced by growth factors and regulates cytokinesis through the N-terminal cell cycle regulator-related domains.

The ECT2 protooncogene plays a critical role in cytokinesis, and its C-terminal half encodes a Dbl homology-pleckstrin homology module, which catalyzes guanine nucleotide exchange on the Rho family of small GTPases. The N-terminal half of ECT2 (ECT2-N) contains domains related to the cell cycle regulator/checkpoint control proteins including human XRCC1, budding yeast CLB6, and fission yeast Cut5. The Cut5-related domain consists of two BRCT repeats, which are widespread to repair/checkpoint control proteins.

Impact of comprehensive pulmonary rehabilitation on anxiety and depression in hospitalized COPD patients.

To prospectively evaluate the effect of inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation (iPR) on anxiety and depression as outcome measures in patients with COPD, we studied 149 consecutive adults COPD referred to our iPR after an exacerbation. Patients were divided according to the GOLD staging into: Group 1 (stage 2a, n = 48, FEV1 63 +/- 9% pred.), Group 2 (stage 2b, n = 53, FEV1 42 +/- 6% pred.

[Evaluation of the treatment of vestibular disorders in children with computerized dynamic posturography: preliminary results].

Objective: This study aimed at evaluating dynamic posturography as an evaluation method in children with balance problems due to peripheral vestibulopathy, before and after treatment with vestibular rehabilitation, establishing its correlation with classical clinical evaluation.

Method: Ten children (six boys and four girls) with vestibular symptoms of peripheral origin were evaluated through a complete clinical history and with dynamic computerized posturography after being treated by vestibular rehabilitation therapy. Posturographic data were analyzed and compared to standard clinical evaluation parameters.

PcF protein from Phytophthora cactorum and its recombinant homologue elicit phenylalanine ammonia lyase activation in tomato.

The phytotoxic protein PcF (Phytophthora cactorum-Fragaria) is a 5.6-kDa cysteine-rich, hydroxyproline-containing protein that is secreted in limited amounts by P. cactorum, an oomycete pathogen of tomato, strawberry and other relevant crop plants.

Experimental internal anal sphincter replacement with demucosated colonic plication.

Background: Selective re-creation of a new internal anal sphincter could be indicated when the natural one is irreversibly damaged or excised.

Methods: In this preliminary experimental work, surgical techniques of internal anal sphincter replacement in pigs were investigated. After preoperative anorectal manometry, surgical procedure was done in two phases: abdominal, mobilization of the colon-rectum to the pelvic floor; and perianal, dissection of the anal canal from the external anal sphincter through the intersphincteric space.

Sudden deafness and Lyme disease.

Objectives/hypothesis: Otolaryngological manifestations are common in Lyme disease, affecting up to 75% of patients. One of these symptoms is sudden deafness. Hearing loss has been frequently described in Lyme disease; on the other hand, titers seropositive for, the causal agent of this disease, have been found in almost 20% of cases of sudden deafness.

Concealing identity and mimicking hosts: a dual chemical strategy for a single social parasite? (Polistes atrimandibularis, Hymenoptera: Vespidae).

Polistes atrimandibularis is a species of obligate social wasp parasite, which introduces into nests of the host species P. biglumis, where it rears its own brood relying on the workers of the host species. Wasps of the host species discriminate between nestmates and non-nestmates by means of their epicuticular hydrocarbons.