Post-implant evaluation of the anastomotic mechanical and geometrical coupling between human native arteries and arterial cryografts implanted in lower-limb: mechanical, histological and ultraestructural studies of implanted cryografts.

Background: There is an urgent need of vascular substitutes (VS) to be used in lower limb revascularization procedures when autologous veins are not available and synthetic prosthesis are contraindicated. Since the mechanical differences with respect to native vessels are determinants of the VS failure, the substitutes should have mechanical properties similar to those of the recipient vessels. The use of cryopreserved arteries (cryografts) could overcome limitations of available VS.

Novel ancestral Dysferlin splicing mutation which migrated from the Iberian peninsula to South America.

Primary dysferlinopathies are a group of recessive heterogeneous muscular dystrophies. The most common clinical presentations are Miyoshi myopathy and LGMD2B. Additional presentations range from isolated hyperCKemia to severe functional disability.

Desmin myopathy with severe cardiomyopathy in a Uruguayan family due to a codon deletion in a new location within the desmin 1A rod domain.

Desmin myopathy is a heterogeneous neuromuscular disorder characterized by skeletal myopathy and cardiomyopathy, inherited mostly in an autosomal dominant pattern. We report a five generation Uruguayan family with severe cardiomyopathy and skeletal myopathy. Its most striking features are: atrial dilation, arrhythmia, conduction block and sudden death due to conduction impairment.

[C1q nephropathy. Report of one case].

Clq nephropathy (Clq N) is an infrequent disease and only about 100 cases have been reported. It is defined by a pattern of immunofluorescence (IF) with dominant or co-dominant complement Clq with electron-dense deposits in the mesangium, without clinical or serological features of Lupus Nephritis. The most common histopathological findings of ClqN are focal segmental glomerulosclerosis and Minimal Change Disease.

Immunohistochemical study of nerve fibres in basal cell carcinoma.

Few studies have been made about the influence of the autonomous nervous system on the proliferation of malignant cells. The aim of this work was to investigate if there is any relationship between the aggressiveness of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and the presence of nerve fibres. We studied 20 samples of BCC, classified in two groups: non aggressive and aggressive, according to current criteria of malignancy.

Ultrastructural studies in stable vitiligo.

Vitiligo is a disease of melanocytes characterized by achromic lesions in the skin, affecting the epidermis and the pilosebaceous follicle. We performed an ultrastructural analysis of biopsy specimens from four patients with noninflammatory, stable vitiligo of long duration (three had generalized vitiligo and one had segmental vitiligo). The samples were taken from the oldest achromic lesions, and the biopsy sites were far from normal skin.

Cole disease: hypopigmentation with punctate keratosis of the palms and soles.

Cole disease is an uncommon disorder characterized by distinctive cutaneous hypopigmentation and punctate keratosis of the palms and soles. It is a congenital skin disease with an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern. We report two patients from a family with 15 members, 5 of whom were affected.

[Cytomegalovirus encephalitis in an immunocompetent patient: clinical, neuropathological and ultrastructural analysis].

Cytomegalovirus encephalitis is rarely diagnosed in immunocompetent patients. It is more frequent among immunocompromised hosts. We present a case of a young male patient without evidence of immunosupression who had a cytomegalovirus encephalitis.

Adrenergic innervation in reactive human lymph nodes.

Several experimental models have demonstrated that the central nervous system is functionally linked to the immune system by means of the autonomic nervous system. Samples of 36 lymph nodes of patients whose ages ranged from 16 to 69 y were studied. In order to demonstrate the existence and distribution of sympathetic nerve fibres, a polyclonal antibody antityrosine hydroxylase (TH), with the streptavidin-biotin system of detection, was used.

Localized myofibroblastic proliferation in the neck of a patient with an IgG myeloma.

We describe a myofibroblastic proliferation in the neck and lower part of the face involving skin and muscle of a 68-year-old female patient with an IgG kappa myeloma. Biopsies showed a fusocellular proliferation with scarce pseudoganglion cells involving the superficial fascia and the cutaneous muscle of the neck. The proliferative cells showed immunohistochemical and ultrastructural features characteristic of myofibrobasts with a proliferating cell nuclear antigen index of 48%; 42% of the cells displayed HLADR-positive membrane staining.

[Quantitative evaluation of juxtatrabecular fibrosis in myelodysplastic syndromes].

Purpose: Myelofibrosis is a common, poor-prognosis feature of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). The aim of this work was to evaluate quantitatively the extent of the juxtatrabecular fibrosis in primary MDS and in secondary myelodysplasias, along with the presence of immature precursor cells in anomalous position, that is, the displacement of granulopoiesis from the paratrabecular area to central positions.

Patients And Methods: Twenty-seven bone marrow samples were examined: 9 from primary MDS, 9 from secondary myelodysplasias, and 9 normal.

[Primary small cell carcinoma of the esophagus].

Primary small cell carcinoma of the esophagus, morologically indistinguishable from its counterpart of the lung is a rare tumour with a frequency between 0.05 to 7.6% of all esophageal malignancies.

Plasma membrane regionalization and compaction of mouse cleaving embryos: effect of microtubule and microfilament inhibitors.

Two-cell embryos were incubated during 44 h in media containing either microtubule or microfilament inhibitors. The lowest doses that inhibit cleavage were found to be 0.5 micrograms/ml for colchicine and colcemid, 5 micrograms/ml for cytochalasin B and 0.