Umbilical cord serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels in normal pregnancies and in pregnancies complicated by preterm delivery or pre-eclampsia.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine whether increased levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are implicated in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia and in preterm delivery.

Methods: Umbilical cord serum VEGF levels from women with uncomplicated term pregnancies (control group, n=24), with pregnancies complicated by pre-eclampsia (n=21), or with preterm delivery (n=29) were compared. Statistical analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney U-test, the t-test, and Smirnoff-Kolmogorov test.

Vascular endothelial growth factor gene polymorphisms and pre-eclampsia.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays a crucial role in physiological vasculogenesis and vascular permeability and has been implicated in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia. Our present study was undertaken to identify associations between three functional VEGF gene polymorphisms, linked with altered VEGF gene responsiveness, and pre-eclampsia. The study involved 42 pre-eclamptic and 73 healthy control women who were genotyped for the -2578C/A, -634G/C and 936C/T polymorphisms of the VEGF gene.

Carotid plaque echomorphology and serum vascular endothelial growth factor levels.

Neovascularization in atherosclerotic plaques plays an essential role in the progression and rupture of plaques. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an important angiogenic factor. Echomorphologic evaluation of carotid plaques using computer-assisted imaging was found to have a good correlation with the histology of the lesion.

Upregulated hypoxia inducible factor-1alpha and -2alpha pathway in rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.

The pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA) remains obscure, although angiogenesis appears to play an important role. We recently confirmed an overexpression of two angiogenic factors, namely vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor (PD-ECGF), by the lining and stromal cells of the synovium in both conditions. Because hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-1alpha and HIF-2alpha are essential in regulating transcription of the VEGF gene, active participation of HIF-alpha molecules in the pathogenesis of these arthritides is anticipated.

Maximal voluntary ventilation in myasthenia gravis.

Assessment of respiratory muscle weakness is important at all stages of myasthenia gravis. The maximal voluntary ventilation (MVV) is an objective dynamic method for measuring the working capacity of respiratory muscles. The clinical value of this method was studied in 24 newly diagnosed patients with myasthenia gravis, classified according to Osserman criteria (grades I, IIa, and IIb).

Vascular endothelial growth factor in inflammatory bowel disease.

Background And Aims: Angiogenesis is an important component of tissue regeneration. As Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) involves inflammation, ulceration, and regeneration of the intestinal mucosa, angiogenesis may be an integral part of IBD pathology. This study investigated the role of vascular endothelial growth factor in IBD.

Prevalence of hemochromatosis gene (HFE) mutations in Greece.

The frequencies of the hereditary hemochromatosis gene (HFE) mutations C282Y and H63D vary between different populations. There are a limited number of reports regarding the frequency of these mutations in populations of southeastern Europe. Two hundred and sixty-four adult individuals of Greek origin were examined for the C282Y and H63D mutations to determine the allele and genotype frequencies.

Individual cases of autochthonous malaria in Evros Province, northern Greece: entomological aspects.

Prompted by four autochthonous cases of malaria in 1994 and 1995 in Evros Province, northern Greece, we conducted an entomological study between 1997 and 1999 in Nipsa and Chandras, rural locations where two of the four cases had occurred, and in Feres where two additional autochthonous malaria cases had been diagnosed in 1998. In Nipsa and Chandras, we identified 29 Anopheles breeding sites and characterized them by physicochemical parameters. Larvae were collected both at these sites and in a brackish water breeding site near Feres in the Evros River delta.

Hypoxia inducible factor 1alpha and 2alpha overexpression in inflammatory bowel disease.

Aims: Hypoxia inducible factors 1alpha and 2alpha (HIF1alpha and HIF2alpha) are hypoxia regulated transcriptional factors, which control the expression of a variety of genes responsible for angiogenesis, glycolysis, and the inhibition of apoptosis. Because angiogenesis and tissue regeneration are integral components of the inflammatory process, this study was designed to investigate the role of HIFalpha molecules in inflammatory bowel disease.

Methods: Surgical specimens from patients with active ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) were assessed immunohistochemically for HIF1alpha and HIF2alpha reactivity, and the expression of these molecules was compared with the expression of the angiogenic factors thymidine phosphorylase (TP), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and VEGF-KDR activated vasculature.

Down-regulation of intestinal-type alkaline phosphatase in the tumor vasculature and stroma provides a strong basis for explaining amifostine selectivity.

Strong clinical and experimental evidence indicates that amifostine confers cytoprotection in normal, but not in tumor, tissues. However, the mechanism of such selective action is poorly understood. Intestinal-type alkaline phosphatase (IAP) is a major isoenzyme involved in the hydrolysis of amifostine (WR-2721) to its active thiol form WR-I065.

Tumour necrosis factor-alpha levels in non-diabetic offspring of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is considered to be involved in the insulin resistance of type 2 diabetes mellitus. The offspring of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus are at increased risk of developing diabetes and several metabolic abnormalities, but the underlying defects responsible are not known. We studied serum TNF-alpha levels in 30 healthy non-diabetic offspring of type 2 diabetic parents (group A), and the relationship between TNF-alpha levels and variables associated with insulin resistance and diabetes.

Retrospective study of febrile seizures: subsequent electroencephalogram findings, unprovoked seizures and epilepsy in adolescents.

A retrospective questionnaire to determine the prevalence of febrile seizures was given to adolescents (16- and 17-year-olds) in the final 2 years of secondary school at the five schools in Alexandroupolis, Greece. Parents were interviewed, and clinical and electroencephalographic examinations were performed in all adolescents with a history of febrile seizures. Of 1708 adolescents, 56 (3.

Epidemiological data of multiple sclerosis in the province of Evros, Greece.

The frequency of multiple sclerosis (MS) in Greece is still debated. Our previous epidemiological field survey with a cross-check study of MS on March 31, 1984, in the province of Evros in north-eastern Greece showed a prevalence rate of 10.1/100,000.

Human subcutaneous dirofilariasis: a report of three cases manifesting as breast or axillary nodules.

Human subcutaneous dirofilariasis is a rare infection caused by filarial worms of the genus Dirofilaria. The parasites are transmitted to man by zooanthropophilic bloodsucking insects and the infection is manifested as subcutaneous nodules. Excisional biopsy is both diagnostic and therapeutic.

Interleukin-6 levels in umbilical artery serum in normal and abnormal pregnancies.

Objective: The aim of our study was to determine the correlation of abnormal umbilical artery interleukin-6 levels with pregnancies complicated by preterm delivery and pre-eclampsia.

Method: Cord serum (umbilical artery) was collected at delivery by cesarean section or spontaneous delivery. Samples were retrieved from patients with normal and abnormal pregnancies.

Unexpected toxicity after low-dose docetaxel treatment of a cancer patient with clinically latent HCV-positive hepatic cirrhosis.

We report a case with unexpected toxicity after low-dose docetaxel chemotherapy. The patient had a history of clinically latent HCV-positive hepatic cirrhosis when she presented with inoperable pulmonary adenocarcinoma. She was recruited in a protocol combining standard radiotherapy (RT) with docetaxel (30 mg/m2 week).

Prevalence study of hospital-acquired infections in 14 Greek hospitals: planning from the local to the national surveillance level.

A prevalence study of hospital-acquired infections (HAI) was carried out in 14 of 112 Greek hospitals (15.7%), scattered throughout Greece. Five of seven Greek university hospitals and nine regional hospitals participated in the one-day study, and 3925 hospitalized patients (10.

Individual cases of autochthonous malaria in Evros Province, northern Greece: serological aspects.

From 1994 to 1995 four presumably autochthonous malaria cases were diagnosed by blood smear microscopy in Evros Province, northern Greece. Alarmed by these unexpected infections a serological survey was performed from 1997 to 1999 in ten rural villages, including those where the malaria cases had occurred. Among the 1,102 blood samples examined, nine turned out to contain specific antibodies against plasmodial parasites as detected by indirect fluorescent antibody test, including two of the former patients.

Dietary administration of tannic acid lowers plasminogen activator activity in the liver of C3H hepatoma bearing male mice.

Background: This study was undertaken to investigate if low-dose dietary administration of tannic acid exerts its chemopreventive activity on hepatocarcinogenesis in male C3H mice through changes of plasminogen activator activity (PAA), plasminogen activator inhibition (PAI) or plasmin inhibition (Pl) in the liver of C3H hepatoma bearing male mice.

Materials And Methods: Tannic acid was administered in the drinking water of hepatoma bearing C3H mice, in a concentration of 0.0075% (group B), 0.

Value of routine diagnostic criteria of bullous pemphigoid.

Background And Design: The clinical, histologic, and direct (DIF) and indirect (IIF) immunofluorescence findings are used in a critical, although arbitrary, manner in the routine diagnostic process of bullous pemphigoid (BP). Our purpose was to estimate their relative value. In the present retrospective study, a follow-up of at least 18 months was used as a prerequisite for the final diagnosis of BP (63 patients) and controls (n=159).