Contrast-enhanced sonography with SonoVue: enhancement patterns of benign focal liver lesions and correlation with dynamic gadobenate dimeglumine-enhanced MRI.

Objective: Contrast-enhanced real-time low-mechanical-index sonography is a new diagnostic technique for the assessment of macro- and microcirculation. The purpose of our article is to describe contrast-enhancement patterns of different benign focal liver lesions using the second-generation contrast agent SonoVue and to compare these findings with those of gadobenate dimeglumine-enhanced MRI.

Conclusion: SonoVue-enhanced real-time low-mechanical-index sonography provides specific contrast-enhancement patterns of different benign focal liver lesions, allowing accurate characterization.

Precautionary principles: a jurisdiction-free framework for decision-making under risk.

Fundamental principles of precaution are legal maxims that ask for preventive actions, perhaps as contingent interim measures while relevant information about causality and harm remains unavailable, to minimize the societal impact of potentially severe or irreversible outcomes. Such principles do not explain how to make choices or how to identify what is protective when incomplete and inconsistent scientific evidence of causation characterizes the potential hazards. Rather, they entrust lower jurisdictions, such as agencies or authorities, to make current decisions while recognizing that future information can contradict the scientific basis that supported the initial decision.

Operative files of legal medical emergency in Calabria: study team.

In Calabria, a study team form legal medicine emergency (LME) formed to initiate a Crisis Unit (CU) able to manage and deal LME with complicated operations and roles, people and technical aspects involvement. First steps are planning, scene study and organization. Everything connecting the first and second emergency to have practicable application.

High serum leptin in patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Background: Increased serum leptin has been described after various organ transplants, with a mechanism that is still unclear.

Methods: We measured serum leptin in 60 patients before and after allogeneic (allo) or autologous (auto) stem cell transplant (SCT) and in 60 healthy controls, matched for age and body mass index (BMI).

Results: Serum leptin was higher in patients after SCT than before and in controls.

Short-term zoledronic acid treatment increases bone mineral density and marrow clonogenic fibroblast progenitors after allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

Although osteoporosis is a relatively common complication after allogeneic stem cell transplantation, the role of bisphosphonates in its management has not yet been completely established. Thirty-two patients who underwent allogeneic stem cell transplantation were prospectively evaluated for bone mineral density (BMD) at the lumbar spine (LS) and femoral neck (FN) after a median period of 12.2 months.

Magnetic resonance imaging of traumatic brain injury: relationship of T2*SE and T2GE to clinical severity and outcome.

Primary Objectives: To evaluate (1) the sensitivity of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) T2* weighted gradient echo (GE) vs T2 weighted spin echo (SE) technology for lesion detection in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and (2) the relationship of lesion patterns to acute clinical severity and 1 year post-injury outcome measures.

Research Design: Comparative analysis.

Methods And Procedures: Forty-three acute rehabilitation patients with TBI were imaged utilizing T2 SE and T2* GE techniques an average of 26 days post-injury.

Color Doppler ultrasound in renal transplant: role of resistive index versus renal cortical ratio in the evaluation of renal transplant diseases.

Background/aims: Ultrasound (US) and color Doppler are not sensitive enough to detect anomalies in cortical perfusion, which is affected in most graft dysfunctions. The renal cortical ratio (RCR) is a variation in the resistive index (RI) values from the renal artery to cortical vessels, expressed in percent. The aim of this study was to compare the RI and RCR in the differentiation of normal and pathological grafts, to assess the positive predictive value of RCR and show that RCR enables earlier diagnosis than RI.

Involvement of the urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor in hematopoietic stem cell mobilization.

We investigated the involvement of the urokinase-type plasminogen-activator receptor (uPAR) in granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF)-induced mobilization of CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from 16 healthy donors. Analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNCs) showed an increased uPAR expression after G-CSF treatment in CD33+ myeloid and CD14+ monocytic cells, whereas mobilized CD34+ HSCs remained uPAR negative. G-CSF treatment also induced an increase in serum levels of soluble uPAR (suPAR).

Nonlinear evolution of the lower-hybrid drift instability in a current sheet.

The lower-hybrid drift instability is simulated in an ion-scale current sheet using a fully kinetic approach with values of the ion to electron mass ratio up to m(i)/m(e)=1836. Although the instability is localized on the edge of the layer, the nonlinear development increases the electron flow velocity in the central region resulting in a strong bifurcation of the current density and significant anisotropic heating of the electrons. This dramatically enhances the collisionless tearing mode and may lead to the rapid onset of magnetic reconnection for current sheets near the critical scale.

Genetic code, hamming distance and stochastic matrices.

In this paper we use the Gray code representation of the genetic code C=00, U=10, G=11 and A=01 (C pairs with G, A pairs with U) to generate a sequence of genetic code-based matrices. In connection with these code-based matrices, we use the Hamming distance to generate a sequence of numerical matrices. We then further investigate the properties of the numerical matrices and show that they are doubly stochastic and symmetric.

Gene expression profiling of normal and malignant CD34-derived megakaryocytic cells.

Gene expression profiles of bone marrow (BM) CD34-derived megakaryocytic cells (MKs) were compared in patients with essential thrombocythemia (ET) and healthy subjects using oligonucleotide microarray analysis to identify differentially expressed genes and disease-specific transcripts. We found that proapoptotic genes such as BAX, BNIP3, and BNIP3L were down-regulated in ET MKs together with genes that are components of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore complex, a system with a pivotal role in apoptosis. Conversely, antiapoptotic genes such as IGF1-R and CFLAR were up-regulated in the malignant cells, as was the SDF1 gene, which favors cell survival.

Comparison of diagnostic performance of unenhanced vs SonoVue - enhanced ultrasonography in focal liver lesions characterization. The experience of three Italian centers.

Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of contrast-enhanced US with SonoVue (Bracco, Milan, Italy) compared to baseline US in focal hepatic lesions characterization.

Materials And Methods: A comprehensive number of four operators from 3 hospitals evaluated 57 consecutive patients with 60 focal hepatic lesions (28 hepatocellular carcinomas, 11 metastases, 13 hemangiomas, 1 hepatocellular adenoma and 7 focal nodular hyperplasias) by baseline gray-scale ultrasound (US) and color Doppler US. The same lesions were subsequently scanned by contrast-enhanced US after intravenous bolus administration of 2,4-4,8 ml of SonoVue by employing intermittent high or continuous low transmit power imaging.

Contrast-enhanced US in the assessment of the ilio-caval axis in deep venous thrombosis.

Purpose: To assess the feasibility and the accuracy of a new technique in the evaluation of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in the ilio-caval axis.

Materials And Methods: Thirty-eight patients with suspected DVT were prospectively examined with unenhanced and enhanced colour-Doppler ultrasonography, and ascending contrast venography. Thirty-five out of 38 patients underwent US phlebography, consisting in manual injection of Levovist (Schering Ag, Berlin, Germany) through a 21-G cannula in a suitable dorsal vein of the foot ipsilateral to the suspected DVT.

High-dose therapy with autologous transplantation for aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: the Bologna experience.

Patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) who relapse after initial therapy have a poor prognosis and with standard dose salvage therapy the outlook remains poor. In this work we examine the patient characteristics and outcome of patients with aggressive NHL treated with HDT and autologous transplantation at our Institute from 1982 to 1999. A retrospective analysis was performed examining patient characteristics, prior chemotherapy regimens, pretransplant disease status, HDT regimen, source of stem cells, time for hematopietic recovery, complications of transplantation, response rates, overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS).

Large retroperitoneal hibernoma in an adult male: CT imaging findings with pathologic correlation.

Hibernoma is a rare benign tumor consisting primarily of brown fatty tissue. It is usually seen in locations where normal brown adipose tissue is found in fetuses and infants such as the periscapular or interscapular region, the neck, the axilla, the thorax, and, more rarely, the retroperitoneum. We report the computed tomographic findings and pathologic features of a large retroperitoneal hibernoma discovered in an adult male.

Housing needs of consumers of mental health services in rural New South Wales, Australia.

A survey of the housing needs of 101 people with mentally illness treated by the Central Western Area Mental Health Service were compared with data from the 1994 Australian Housing Study (Australian Bureau of Statistics). The results indicate that people with mental illness want housing similar to Australians in general. However, unemployment or very low incomes may affect their ability to realise their housing choices.

Risk of soft tissue sarcomas and residence in the neighbourhood of an incinerator of industrial wastes.

Aims: To investigate the association between occurrence of soft tissue sarcomas (STS) in Mantua and residence near an incinerator of industrial wastes.

Methods: Cases were subjects with histologically confirmed primary malignant STS diagnosed 1989-98 in the population resident in Mantua and in the three neighbouring municipalities. Controls were randomly extracted from population registries, matched for age and sex.

Transrectal ultrasound color Doppler in the evaluation of recurrence of anal canal cancer.

Objective: aim was to obtain elements for a differential diagnosis between post-radiation fibrosis and residual tumor or local relapse in anal canal cancer through detection of presence/absence of intralesional blood flow. Transrectal ultrasound and color Doppler were compared.

Methods: 43 patients underwent transrectal ultrasound sonography and color Doppler before and after therapy to assess intralesional blood flow and flow pattern (spotty and linear signals).

MR imaging features of solid pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas in adult and pediatric patients.

Objective: This study was conducted to describe the MR imaging features of solid pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas.

Conclusion: Solid pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas, a tumor typically seen in young women, is a large, well-defined, encapsulated lesion with heterogeneous high or low signal intensity on T1-weighted, heterogeneous high signal intensity on T2-weighted, and early peripheral heterogeneous enhancement with progressive fill-in on gadolinium-enhanced dynamic MR imaging. These features help differentiate this rare tumor from other pancreatic neoplasms.

Peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PPNET) of pelvic origin: report of a case arising from an unusual location.

We report a rare case of a peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PPNET) originating from the left ileopsoas muscle in an adult patient with neoplastic thrombosis of the left external iliac vein, the common femoral vein and the left popliteal vein. We performed a median laparotomy with an oblique left inguinal incision to remove the neoplasm, which consisted of a large mass surrounding the iliac-psoas muscles, extending from the transverse apophysis of the spinal column to Scarpa's triangle, and passing through the lacuna musculorum. Histopathological examination revealed a primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) with focal areas of necrosis, hemorrhage and vascular invasion.

High-dose therapy with autologous transplantation for Hodgkin's disease: the Bologna experience.

Background And Objectives: In this work we examine the characteristics and outcome of patients with Hodgkin's disease (HD) treated with high-dose therapy (HDT) and autologous transplantation at our Institute between 1982 to 2000.

Design And Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed examining patients' characteristics, prior chemotherapy regimens, pre-transplant disease status, HDT regimen, source of stem cells, time for hematopoietic recovery, complications of transplantation, response rates, overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS).

Results: Ninety-seven patients with HD were treated and had estimated 10-year OS and RFS rates of 32% and 60%, respectively.

Involvement of nitric oxide in farnesyltransferase inhibitor-mediated apoptosis in chronic myeloid leukemia cells.

The mechanism of action of farnesyltransferase inhibitors (FTIs) has not been fully clarified. We investigated the cytotoxic effects of various FTIs in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), using LAMA cells and marrow cells from 40 CML patients in chronic phase. FTI-mediated cytotoxic effect was observed in LAMA cells and in 65% of primary CML cells, whereas marrow cells from controls were only weakly affected.