Benign versus malignant breast masses: optical differentiation with US-guided optical imaging reconstruction.

Purpose: To investigate prospectively the feasibility of using optical tomography with ultrasonographic (US) localization to differentiate malignant from benign breast masses and to compare optical tomography with color Doppler US.

Materials And Methods: The study was approved by the local internal review board committee and by the Human Subjects Research Review Board of Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. Signed informed consent was obtained, and the study was HIPAA compliant.

TGFbeta1 enhances formation of cellular Abeta/apoE deposits in vascular myocytes.

Brain injury increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) through unknown mechanisms. We studied deposition of amyloid-beta protein (Abeta) in cells exposed to transforming growth factor beta1 (TGFbeta1), a cytokine that regulates cell metabolism during brain injury, and apolipoproteinE (apoE), the major lipid transporter in the brain. The studies were conducted by using brain vascular smooth muscle cells that are engaged in beta-amyloidosis in vivo and produce Abeta in cell culture.

Factors produced by activated macrophages reduce accumulation of Alzheimer's beta-amyloid protein in vascular smooth muscle cells.

Smooth muscle cells (SMCs) isolated from amyloid-angiopathy affected brain vessels accumulate intracellularly amyloid-beta peptide (A beta). Now we demonstrate that accumulation of A beta in SMCs can be reduced by factors secreted by macrophages - IL-1alpha, IL-6, TNF-alpha, TGF-beta1 or PGE2 - probably by stimulating the non-amyloidogenic processing of A beta precursor protein (PP). It is suggested that brain macrophages may regulate A betaPP/A beta metabolism under physiological conditions and prevent beta-amyloidosis.

Promotion of synthetic amyloid beta-peptide fibrillization by cell culture media and cessation of fibrillization by serum.

Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium promotes aggregation and fibrillization of the synthetic amyloid beta 1-40 and beta 1-42 peptides more than RPMI and OPTI media. Fibrillization in all of these media is faster than in phosphate-buffered saline and Tris buffer. Normal and heat-inactivated fetal bovine and human serum abolish amyloid fibril formation in buffers and cell culture media.

Angioplasty for the treatment of visceral ischemia.

Purpose: To evaluate percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) in the treatment of visceral ischemia.

Patients And Methods: Over a 14-year period, 25 focal visceral artery stenoses were treated with PTA in 16 patients with acute or chronic visceral ischemia. Thirteen patients were women and three were men, with a mean age of 64.

Stereotactic needle biopsy of nonpalpable breast masses.

One hundred two patients with nonpalpable breast masses that presented as mammographic densities with or without calcification were studied consecutively. Using the Stereotix stereotactic device, fine-needle aspirations were obtained with subsequent hook-wire placement followed by surgical excision. Pathology results were reached separately and then compared to the cytologic diagnoses.

Spontaneous renal rupture: evaluation by computerized tomography.

We report an unusual case of spontaneous renal rupture, including intrarenal and perirenal hemorrhage, which was evaluated by computerized tomography. Various causes of spontaneous rupture are discussed and a possible mechanism in this patient is suggested.

Binding of calmodulin to the neuronal cytoskeletal protein kinase type II cooperatively stimulates autophosphorylation.

The kinetics of autophosphorylation of the cytoskeletal form of the neuronal calmodulin-dependent protein kinase type II were studied as a function of calmodulin binding under the same conditions. Whereas calmodulin binding was noncooperative with respect to calmodulin concentration (Hill coefficient = 1), the activation of autophosphorylation and the phosphorylation of exogenous substrates showed marked positive cooperativity (Hill coefficient greater than or equal to 1.6).

Competitive binding assay for drugs that interfere with calmodulin function.

A direct 125I-calmodulin-binding system utilizing a particulate cytoskeletal preparation of the neuronal calmodulin-dependent protein kinase type II provides a simple, rapid filtration-based method for assessing anti-calmodulin drug activity. The binding assay avoids potential artifacts due to direct drug effects on the standard phosphodiesterase enzyme assay while obtaining comparable IC50 values for a spectrum of drugs. It also provides a tool to probe mechanisms of action of putative anticalmodulin agents which may help elucidate selective pharmacologic modifications of pathophysiological processes.

A comparison of Hexabrix and Renografin 60 in peripheral arteriography.

Fifty-one patients were analyzed after a randomized double-blind study comparing Hexabrix and Renografin 60 in peripheral arteriography. The arteriographic studies and the volumes of contrast material used in both groups were similar. Hexabrix caused significantly less pain and discomfort than Renografin 60, and the diagnostic quality of the radiographs was comparable.

A nonoperative technique for establishment of a gastrostomy in the dog.

Gastrostomies have been performed nonoperatively under local anaesthesia using a simultaneous percutaneous and endoscopic approach. This technique has been modified to be done under fluoroscopy without the need for endoscopy. The technique and results in five dogs are described.

A comparison of hexabrix and Renografin 60 in peripheral arteriography.

Fifty-one patients were analyzed after a randomized double-blind study comparing Hexabrix and Renografin 60 in peripheral arteriography. The arteriographic studies and the volumes of contrast material used in both groups were similar. Hexabrix caused significantly less pain and discomfort than Renografin 60, and the diagnostic quality of the radiographs was comparable.

The cervical split: a pseudofracture.

A horizontal lucent line projecting over a cervical vertebral body on lateral radiographs and simulating a fracture is described. The pseudofracture line results from the lucency between contiguous proliferative osteophytes at the uncinate process/vertebral articulation. Associated disc space narrowing was seen in all of our eleven cases.

Specific binding of solubilized adenylate cyclase to the erythrocyte cytoskeleton.

Concepts and criteria that have been developed for the study of the molecular organization of membrane-associated proteins are employed here to investigate the interaction of adenylate cyclase [ATP pyrophosphate-lyase (cyclizing), EC 4.6.1.

Ultrasonic visualization of the posterior thoracic aorta in long axis: diagnosis of a saccular mycotic aneurysm.

A saccular aneurysm arising from the descending thoracic aorta was identified ultrasonically in a 60-year-old man with a subsequent pathologic diagnosis of a Listeria monocytogenes mycotic aneurysm. A cross-sectional scanning technique, which permitted visualization of the descending thoracic aorta in long axis, demonstrated a 3 X 5 cm relatively echo-free mass between the heart and the aorta. A communication between the mass and the aorta established the diagnosis of an aneurysm.

Activation of pigeon erythrocyte adenylate cyclase by cholera toxin. Partial purification of an essential macromolecular factor from horse erythrocyte cytosol.

A cytosolic, macromolecular factor required for the cholera toxin-dependent activation of pigeon erythrocyte adenylate cyclase and cholera toxin-dependent ADP-ribosylation of a membrane-bound 43,000 dalton polypeptide has been purified 1100-fold from horse erythrocyte cytosol using organic solvent precipitation and heat treatment. This factor, 13,000 daltons, does not absorb to anionic or cationic exchange resins, is sensitive to trypsin or 10% trichloroacetic acid and is not extractable by diethyl ether. Activation of adenylate cyclase by cholera toxin requires the simultaneous presence of ATP (including possible trace GTP), NAD+, dithiothreitol, cholera toxin, membranes and the cytosolic macromolecular factor.