Head and neck cancer recurrence and mortality in nonselective cyclooxygenase inhibitor users.

Objective: To determine whether ongoing use of a cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibitor is associated with a reduction in mortality and disease recurrence after head and neck cancer treatment.

Design: Retrospective case-control study. Patients A total of 325 potential subjects with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma were identified using an electronic patient database.

Renal artery stenosis by three-dimensional magnetic resonance angiography in type 2 diabetics with uncontrolled hypertension and chronic renal insufficiency: prevalence and effect on renal function.

Background: The variable course of renal disease in type 2 diabetes mellitus in part may reflect associated atherosclerotic nephropathy.

Methods: To determine the influence of subcritical (<65%) renal artery stenosis (RAS) on the progression of chronic kidney disease, 45 patients with type 2 diabetes with uncontrolled hypertension and serum creatinine levels of 1.8 mg/dL or greater (>/=159.

Patterns of gene expression and a transactivation function exhibited by the vGCR (ORF74) chemokine receptor protein of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus.

The ORF74 or vGCR gene encoded by Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV; also called human herpesvirus 8) has properties of a ligand-independent membrane receptor signaling protein with angiogenic properties that is predicted to play a key role in the biology of the virus. We have examined the expression of vGCR mRNA and protein in primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) cell lines, PEL and multicentric Castleman's disease (MCD) tumors, Kaposi's sarcoma lesions and infected endothelial cell cultures. The vGCR gene proved to be expressed in PEL cell lines as a large spliced bicistronic mRNA of 3.

Altered patterns of cellular gene expression in dermal microvascular endothelial cells infected with Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus.

Kaposi's sarcoma (KS)-associated herpesvirus (KSHV; also called human herpesvirus 8) is believed to be the etiologic agent of Kaposi's sarcoma, multicentric Castleman's disease, and AIDS-associated primary effusion lymphoma. KSHV infection of human dermal microvascular endothelial cells (DMVEC) in culture results in the conversion of cobblestone-shaped cells to spindle-shaped cells, a characteristic morphological feature of cells in KS lesions. All spindle-shaped cells in KSHV-infected DMVEC cultures express the latency-associated nuclear protein LANA1, and a subfraction of these cells undergo spontaneous lytic cycle induction that can be enhanced by tetradecanoyl phorbol acetate (TPA) treatment.