Lung carcinoma: diffusion-weighted mr imaging--preliminary evaluation with apparent diffusion coefficient.

Purpose: To prospectively evaluate diffusion-weighted (DW) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with a split acquisition of fast spin-echo signals for diffusion imaging (SPLICE) sequence for tissue characterization of lung carcinomas by using apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs).

Materials And Methods: An institutional review board approved this study; informed consent was obtained from patients. Thirty patients (nine women, 21 men; mean age, 68.

Thyroid follicular carcinoma metastasized to the lung, skull, and brain 12 years after initial treatment for thyroid gland--case report.

A 65-year-old woman presented with multiple metastases from thyroid follicular carcinoma to the lung, skull, and brain. The skull and brain tumors had been successfully treated by surgery, thyroxine supplementation, and radiosurgery until she died of sudden intracerebral hemorrhage which had no connection with tumor treatment. The lung tumor was treated by conventional irradiation and radioactive ablation.

Central neurocytomas with MIB-1 labeling index over 10% showing rapid tumor growth and dissemination.

Objective And Importance: Central neurocytoma is recognized as a indolent intraventricular tumor arising from the ependyma around the foramen of Monro and anterior part of the lateral ventricles, and well demarcated from the brain parenchyma. Surgical removal can be curative without postoperative therapy. However, malignant central neurocytoma refractory to even aggressive treatment is known.

Involvement of mitogen-activated protein kinases and protein kinase C in cadmium-induced prostaglandin E2 production in primary mouse osteoblastic cells.

We previously reported that cadmium (Cd) induced prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) biosynthesis through the activation of cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) and induction of cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) in primary mouse osteoblastic cells. In the present study, we further investigated the mechanism of PGE2 production by Cd focusing on the main mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) subfamilies that mediate prostaglandin synthesis, extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK1/2 MAPK), c-jun-amino-terminal kinase (JNK MAPK) and p38 MAPK, and protein kinase C (PKC) which is activated by Cd in several kinds of cells. Cd at 2 microM and above stimulated PGE2 production in osteoblastic cells and its production was inhibited by the kinase-specific inhibitors PD98059, SB203580, curcumin, and calphostin C.