High-circulating leptin levels are associated with greater risk of hypertension in men independently of body mass and insulin resistance: results of an eight-year follow-up study.

Background: We previously reported a significant association between plasma leptin (LPT) concentration and blood pressure (BP), which was partly independent of serum insulin levels and insulin resistance. The aims of this study were to detect whether serum LPT levels predict the development of hypertension (HPT) in the 8-yr follow-up investigation of a sample of an adult male population (the Olivetti Heart Study), and to evaluate the role of body mass index (BMI) and insulin resistance in this putative association.

Patients And Methods: The study population was made up of 489 untreated normotensive subjects examined in 1994-1995 (age: 50.

Volumetric modulated arc therapy for delivery of prostate radiotherapy: comparison with intensity-modulated radiotherapy and three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy.

Purpose: Volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) is a novel form of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) optimization that allows the radiation dose to be delivered in a single gantry rotation of up to 360 degrees , using either a constant dose rate (cdr-VMAT) or variable dose rate (vdr-VMAT) during rotation. The goal of this study was to compare VMAT prostate RT plans with three-dimensional conformal RT (3D-CRT) and IMRT plans.

Patients And Methods: The 3D-CRT, five-field IMRT, cdr-VMAT, and vdr-VMAT RT plans were created for 10 computed tomography data sets from patients undergoing RT for prostate cancer.

Pretreatment prostate-specific antigen velocity is associated with development of distant metastases and prostate cancer mortality in men treated with radiotherapy and androgen-deprivation therapy.

Background: In men with prostate cancer, pretreatment prostate-specific antigen (PSA) velocity (PSAV) has been demonstrated as a predictor of biochemical and survival outcomes in patients undergoing radical prostatectomy (RP). The utility of pretreatment PSAV in predicting outcomes after radiotherapy (RT), with or without androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT), is less certain. This study was undertaken to determine whether pretreatment PSAV is associated with biochemical disease-free survival, patterns of recurrence, and survival outcomes in men treated with radiation therapy and ADT.

Oxygen desaturation during sleep in hepatopulmonary syndrome.

Unlabelled: Sleep alters respiratory mechanics and gas exchange, which can adversely affect arterial oxygenation. Whether sleep affects oxygenation in hepatopulmonary syndrome is unknown. The aim of this study was to assess oxygen desaturation during sleep in hepatopulmonary syndrome.

Inter-observer reproducibility in reporting on renal drainage in children with hydronephrosis: a large collaborative study.

Purpose: The goal of this study was to evaluate the inter-observer reproducibility in reporting on renal drainage obtained during (99m)Tc MAG3 renography in children, when already processed data are offered to the observers.

Methods: Because web site facilities were used for communication, 57 observers from five continents participated in the study. Twenty-three renograms, including furosemide stimulation and posterect postmicturition views, covering various patterns of drainage, were submitted to the observers.

Obesity as a predictor of biochemical recurrence and survival after radiation therapy for prostate cancer.

Objective: Obesity has been demonstrated to predict biochemical progression in men undergoing radical prostatectomy for prostate adenocarcinoma, and is associated with a higher risk of biochemical and clinical relapse after radiation therapy (RT). We evaluated if obesity, determined by body mass index (BMI), is associated with adverse disease characteristics, pre-treatment serum testosterone, biochemical disease free survival (bDFS), disease-specific survival (DSS), or overall survival (OS) in patients undergoing radical external beam radiation therapy for prostate cancer.

Patients And Methods: A cohort of 706 patients with localized prostate adenocarcinoma treated with RT between 1993 and 2001 were categorized as obese (BMI > or = 30 kg/m(2)), overweight (BMI 25-29.

Guidelines for lung scintigraphy in children.

The purpose of this set of guidelines is to help the nuclear medicine practitioner perform a good quality lung isotope scan. The indications for the test are summarised. The different radiopharmaceuticals used for the ventilation and the perfusion studies, the technique for their administration, the dosimetry, the acquisition of the images, the processing and the display of the images are discussed in detail.

[Neurologic involvement in relapsing polychondritis].

Relapsing polychondritis is a multysistemic inflammatory disease, of unknown etiology. It is characterized by recurrent episodes of inflammation with progressive destruction of cartilaginous structures and connective tissue. It may also affect tissues that contain proteoglycans like eyes, heart, kidney, and blood vessels causing a picture of vasculitis.

Pain perception, blood pressure levels, and peripheral benzodiazepine receptors in patients followed for differentiated thyroid carcinoma: a longitudinal study in hypothyroidism and during hormone treatment.

Background: Elevated blood pressure levels that are associated with hypalgesia and hypothyroidism have major influences on the cardiovascular system. The potential modulation of pain sensitivity by thyroid hormones is largely undetermined. Moreover, a few experimental studies show that peripheral benzodiazepine receptors (PBRs), which may be altered in hypothyroidism, seem to be related with pain perception.

5-aminosalicylic acid improves indomethacin-induced enteropathy by inhibiting iNOS transcription in rats.

Nitric oxide has been implicated in the pathogenic mechanism of inflammatory bowel disease states. We evaluated indomethacin-induced enteropathy in rats, in relation to the expression of the inducible isoform of NO synthase (iNOS) using aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA), its isomer 4-ASA (10 or 50 mg/kg/day, po), and dexamethasone, an iNOS transcription inhibitor (3 mg/kg/day, sc). Enteropathy was induced by indomethacin (7.

Pretreatment PSA velocity as a predictor of disease outcome following radical radiation therapy.

Purpose: Pretreatment prostate-specific antigen velocity (PSAV) greater than 2.0 ng/mL/year has been identified as a predictor of disease-specific survival (DSS) and overall survival (OS) after radiotherapy for prostate adenocarcinoma. This study aimed to independently verify if pretreatment PSAV is associated with biochemical disease-free survival (bDFS), DSS, or OS in men undergoing radiation therapy.

Multifocality and multicentricity are not contraindications for sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer surgery.

Background: After the availability of the results of validation studies, the sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) has replaced routine axillary dissection (AD) as the new standard of care in early unifocal breast cancers. Multifocal (MF) and multicentric (MC) tumors have been considered a contraindication for this technique due to the possible incidence of a higher false-negative rate. This prospective study evaluates the lymphatic drainage from different tumoral foci of the breast and assesses the accuracy of SLNB in MF-MC breast cancer.

Changes in autonomic modulation to the heart and intracellular catecholamines. A longitudinal study in differentiated thyroid carcinoma during short-term hypothyroidism and thyroid hormone replacement.

Background: The effects of thyroid deprivation on the autonomic modulation to the heart remain controversial.

Methods: In this study in patients followed for thyroid carcinoma, we investigated (1) heart rate variability parameters and the baroreflex gain and (2) intracellular catecholamine levels in circulating lymphocytes during short-term hypothyroidism (phase 1) and after reinstitution of TSH-suppressive thyroid hormone replacement (phase 2).

Results: The RR interval value (p < 0.

Laparoscopic procedures for colorectal cancer: analysis of 134 cases.

Laparoscopic procedures to treat colorectal cancer have been increasingly adopted in the last 15 years and seem to be well accepted by the patients. We studied 134 patients treated by laparoscopic colon resection, analysing the reasons for conversion to open laparotomy and outcomes. Over the period from July 2002 to January 2005, 134 patients with different colorectal cancers were treated with a laparoscopic approach in our department.

Lysophospholipid transacetylase in the regulation of PAF levels in human monocytes and macrophages.

The transacetylase (TA), reported to be identical to platelet-activating factor (PAF) acetylhydrolase (II), is a multifunctional enzyme with three catalytic activities: lysophospholipid transacetylase (TA(L)), sphingosine transacetylase (TA(S)), and acetylhydrolase (AH). We report that TA(L) activity participates in the control of PAF levels in monocytes and macrophages and that its regulation differs in these two types of cells. In monocytes, LPS or granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) specifically increased the TA(L) activity.

Thyroid hormone and thyrotropin regulate intracellular free calcium concentrations in human polymorphonuclear leukocytes: in vivo and in vitro studies.

Intracellular free calcium concentrations (Ca++i) were studied in polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) from 13 athyreotic patients who had been previously treated by total thyroidectomy and radioiodine therapy for differentiated thyroid carcinoma, and from age- and sex-matched euthyroid healthy controls. Patients were studied twice, when hypothyroid (visit 1) and after restoration of euthyroidism by L-T4 TSH-suppressive therapy (visit 2). PMNs from patients at visit 1 had significantly lower resting (Ca++)i levels compared to both visit 2 and controls.

Fever of unknown origin, infection of subcutaneous devices, brain abscesses and endocarditis.

The term 'fever of unknown origin' includes a wide range of conditions that often remain undiagnosed. The possibility of an infection must be promptly diagnosed in order to begin appropriate therapy. Imaging with radiopharmaceuticals, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound are the most commonly applied techniques, usually performed in addition to blood tests, biopsies or tissue cultures when required.

Methadone in the management of intractable neuropathic noncancer pain.

Objective: To evaluate the role of methadone in the management of intractable neuropathic noncancer pain.

Methods: A case series of 50 consecutive noncancer pain patients who were seen at a tertiary care centre and treated with oral methadone for a variety of intractable neuropathic pain states.

Results: The mean age was 52.

Castleman's disease in children: report of 2 cases and clinicopathologic review.

Castleman's disease (CD), a disorder of lymphoid hyperplasia with an unknown etiology, is rare in children. It usually presents as a localized mass and is often cured by surgery. The authors report two unusual cases of CD in children.

[Radioiodine treatment of hyperthyroidism using a simplified dosimetric approach. Clinical results].

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical effectiveness of a simplified dosimetric approach to the iodine-131 treatment of hyperthyroidism due to Graves' disease or uninodular and multinodular toxic goiter.

Material And Methods: We enrolled 189 patients with biochemically confirmed hyperthyroidism and performed thyroid ultrasonography and scintigraphy obtaining the diagnosis of Graves' disease in 43 patients, uninodular toxic goiter in 57 patients and multinodular toxic goiter in 89 patients. In 28 patients we found cold thyroid nodules and performed fine-needle aspiration with negative cytology for thyroid malignancy in all cases.

Upregulation of vacuolar H(+)-translocating pyrophosphatase by phosphate starvation of Brassica napus (rapeseed) suspension cell cultures.

The influence of phosphate (Pi) deprivation on the vacuolar H(+)-translocating pyrophosphatase (PPiase) and ATPase in tonoplast vesicles from Brassica napus suspension cells was assessed. Pi starvation significantly elevated the ratios of PPi-:ATP-dependent H(+) translocation rate and H(+)-PPiase:H(+)-ATPase hydrolytic activities. These increases were reversed 36 h following resupply of 2.

[Beliefs, attitudes and knowledge about sex education].

Background: Previous reports show that Chilean teenagers have an inadequate knowledge about sexuality and reproduction.

Aim: To compare the knowledge about sexuality among adolescents coming from private and public schools, with and without sexual education programs.

Material And Methods: A structured anonymous inquiry, containing multiple choice and open questions, was applied to a sample of 229 adolescents attending seventh and eighth grade of junior school, in private and public schools of Temuco, Chile.