Successful non-invasive imaging of the coronary artery IMT in pediatric patients with Kawasaki disease using high-resolution echocardiography.

Kawasaki Disease (KD) is a multisystemic vasculitis of medium- and small-sized arteries. Abnormal intimal thickening may develop in the involved arterial area after regression of coronary artery aneurysm (CAA). Intimal dysfunction may induce local stenosis or arteriosclerosis in the future.

Coronary artery z score values in adolescent elite male soccer players.

Background: With the increased training loads at very early ages in European elite youth soccer, there is an interest to analyse coronary artery remodelling due to high-intensity exercise.

Design And Methods: Prospective echocardiographic study in 259 adolescent elite male soccer players and 48 matched controls.

Results: The mean age was 12.

Phase-contrast magnet resonance imaging reveals regional, transmural, and base-to-apex dispersion of mechanical dysfunction in patients with long QT syndrome.

Background: Regional dispersion of prolonged repolarization is a hallmark of long QT syndrome (LQTS). We have also revealed regional heterogeneities in mechanical dysfunction in transgenic rabbit models of LQTS.

Objective: In this clinical pilot study, we investigated whether patients with LQTS exhibit dispersion of mechanical/diastolic dysfunction.

Mutation analysis of the apoptotic "death-receptors" and the adaptors TRADD and FADD/MORT-1 in osteosarcoma tumor samples and osteosarcoma cell lines.

Apoptosis is a key mechanism of the organism that regulates embryogenesis and development, maintains homeostasis of the immune system and removes potentially hazardous cells. A dysregulation of apoptosis signaling may thus disturb the balance of cell survival and cell death, leading to the development of several diseases including cancer. In order to determine whether osteosarcomas display an increased frequency of genetic alterations that affect apoptosis signaling, we analyzed the death domains of the death receptor genes CD95/Fas/Apo1, TNFR1, DR3/Apo3/WSL-1/LARD/TRAMP, DR5/TRAIL-R2/TRICK2/KILLER, DR6 and the complete coding sequences of the death receptor gene DR4/TRAIL-R1 and the genes of the adaptors TRADD and FADD/MORT-1.

Identification of drug-regulated genes in osteosarcoma cells.

The introduction of systemic chemotherapy improved significantly the prognosis of osteosarcoma. Despite this success, approximately 30-40% of patients will relapse. Cytotoxic drugs have been shown to induce apoptosis in the target cells independent of their primary effects.