Neuronal Fractal Dynamics.

Synapse formation is a unique biological phenomenon. The molecular biological perspective of this phenomenon is different from the fractal geometrical one. However, these perspectives are not mutually exclusive and supplement each other.

Computer-Aided Image Analysis and Fractal Synthesis in the Quantitative Evaluation of Tumor Aggressiveness in Prostate Carcinomas.

The subjective evaluation of tumor aggressiveness is a cornerstone of the contemporary tumor pathology. A large intra- and interobserver variability is a known limiting factor of this approach. This fundamental weakness influences the statistical deterministic models of progression risk assessment.

The Quantitative Criteria Based on the Fractal Dimensions, Entropy, and Lacunarity for the Spatial Distribution of Cancer Cell Nuclei Enable Identification of Low or High Aggressive Prostate Carcinomas.

Background: Tumor grading, PSA concentration, and stage determine a risk of prostate cancer patients with accuracy of about 70%. An approach based on the fractal geometrical model was proposed to eliminate subjectivity from the evaluation of tumor aggressiveness and to improve the prediction. This study was undertaken to validate classes of equivalence for the spatial distribution of cancer cell nuclei in a larger, independent set of prostate carcinomas.

On complexity and homogeneity measures in predicting biological aggressiveness of prostate cancer; Implication of the cellular automata model of tumor growth.

Background And Objectives: We propose a novel approach for the quantitative evaluation of aggressiveness in prostate carcinomas.

Methods: The spatial distribution of cancer cell nuclei was characterized by the global spatial fractal dimensions D0, D1, and D2. Two hundred eighteen prostate carcinomas were stratified into the classes of equivalence using results of ROC analysis.

Methylation analysis of histone H4K12ac-associated promoters in sperm of healthy donors and subfertile patients.

Background: Histone to protamine exchange and the hyperacetylation of the remaining histones are hallmarks of spermiogenesis. Acetylation of histone H4 at lysine 12 (H4K12ac) was observed prior to full decondensation of sperm chromatin after fertilization suggesting an important role for the regulation of gene expression in early embryogenesis. Similarly, DNA methylation may contribute to gene silencing of several developmentally important genes.

On the relationship between tumor structure and complexity of the spatial distribution of cancer cell nuclei: a fractal geometrical model of prostate carcinoma.

Background: A risk of the prostate cancer patient is defined by both the objective and subjective criteria, that is, PSA concentration, Gleason score, and pTNM-stage. The subjectivity of tumor grading influences the risk assessment owing to a large inter- and intra-observer variability. Pathologists propose a central prostate pathology review as a remedy for this problem; yet, the review cannot eliminate the subjectivity from the diagnostic algorithm.

Expression of the Bcl-2 family genes and complexes involved in the mitochondrial transport in prostate cancer cells.

Alteration of molecular pathways triggering apoptosis gives raise to various pathological tissue processes, such as tumorigenesis. The mitochondrial pathway is regulated by both the genes of the Bcl-2 family and the genes encoding mitochondrial transport molecules. Those proteins allow a release of cyctochrome c through the outer mitochondrial membrane.

[Fractal geometry in the objective grading of prostate carcinoma].

Background: A possible approach to objectively classify complex patterns in tumor tissue is a mathematical and statistical investigation of the distribution of cell nuclei as a geometric representation of cancer cells by fractal dimensions. Both the existence and changes in the fractal structure of tumor tissue have important consequences for the objective system of tumor grading. In addition, the complexity of growth in different carcinomas or their intercellular interactions can be compared to each other.

[Objective grading of prostate carcinoma based on fractal dimensions: Gleason 3 + 4= 7a ≠ Gleason 4 + 3 =7b].

Background: Significant intra- and interobserver variability ranging between 40 and 80% is observed in tumor grading of prostate carcinoma. By combining geometric and statistical methods, an objective system of grading can be designed.

Material And Methods: The distributions of cell nuclei in two-dimensional patterns of prostate cancer classified subjectively as Gleason score 3+3, 3+4, 4+3, 4+4, 4+5, 5+4, and 5+5 were analyzed with algorithms measuring the global fractal dimensions of the Rényi family and with the algorithm for the local connected fractal dimension (LCFD).

Protamine mRNA ratio in stallion spermatozoa correlates with mare fecundity.

Highly compacted sperm DNA in protamine toroids and a minor fraction of nucleohistones are prerequisites for the efficient transmission of the paternal genome into the oocyte at fertilization. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether protamines might serve as a prognostic factor for stallion fertility. In situ hybridization detected specific expression of P1 mRNA in the cytoplasm of stage I to VII spermatids, whereas comparable immunohistochemical stainings showed that protein expression was delayed till elongating spermatids in differentiation stages III to VIII.

Reducing infection rates after prostate biopsy.

Over the years, prostate biopsy has become the gold-standard technique for diagnosing prostate carcinoma. Worldwide, several million prostate biopsies are performed every year, most commonly using the transrectal approach. Preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis with fluoroquinolones has been shown to be effective for reducing infection rates.

[Infection and sepsis prevention in prostate biopsy].

Prostate biopsy is currently the gold standard in the diagnosis of carcinoma of the prostate. An estimated one million prostate biopsies are performed every year in Europe. Worldwide the most frequent form is the transrectal prostate biopsy using preoperative fluoroquinolone prophylaxis.

Prospective evaluation of interobserver variability of the hydronephrosis index and the renal resistive index as sonographic examination methods for the evaluation of acute hydronephrosis.

Objective: To confirm the reliability of assessements of the renal resistive index (RRI) and the hydronephrosis index (HI) comprising two sonographic techniques providing additional information in patients with acute renal colic.

Patients And Methods: Sonographic measurement of hydronephrosis and assessment of common clinical criteria was performed in 22 consecutive patients presenting with unilateral stone-related renal colic. RRI and HI were separately recorded by two investigators within a prospective study.

A principle of fractal-stochastic dualism and Gompertzian dynamics of growth and self-organization.

The emergence of Gompertzian dynamics at the macroscopic, tissue level during growth and self-organization is determined by the existence of fractal-stochastic dualism at the microscopic level of supramolecular, cellular system. On one hand, Gompertzian dynamics results from the complex coupling of at least two antagonistic, stochastic processes at the molecular cellular level. It is shown that the Gompertz function is a probability function, its derivative is a probability density function, and the Gompertzian distribution of probability is of non-Gaussian type.

On time-space of nonlinear phenomena with Gompertzian dynamics.

This paper describes a universal relationship between time and space for a nonlinear process with Gompertzian dynamics, such as growth. Gompertzian dynamics implicates a coupling between time and space. Those two categories are related to each other through a linear function of their logarithms.

Neuronal differentiation and synapse formation occur in space and time with fractal dimension.

The analysis of a set of experimental data obtained by an independent team of researchers confirms that neuronal differentiation or synapse formation do occur in time and space with fractal dimension. The interacting cells create first a dynamic system with its own attractor, (i.e.

Tissue as a self-organizing system with fractal dynamics.

Cell is a supramolecular dynamic network. Screening of tissue-specific cDNA library and results of Relative RT-PCR indicate that the relationship between genotype, (i.e.

On the relationship between fractal geometry of space and time in which a system of interacting cells exists and dynamics of gene expression.

We report that both space and time, in which a system of interacting cells exists, possess fractal structure. Each single cell of the system can restore the hierarchical organization and dynamic features of the entire tumor. There is a relationship between dynamics of gene expression and connectivity (i.

On the mitochondrial aspect of reactive oxygen species action in external magnetic fields.

Some retinoids or porphyrins can form radical pairs, alter transfer of electrons, and increase synthesis of reactive oxygen species in the mitochondrial respiratory chain. This leads to cell damage and apoptosis. We propose that co-application of an external static magnetic field of several to several hundreds miliTesla (mT) can enhance those effects by further alteration of electron flow in the mitochondrial respiratory chain, facilitation of forbidden transitions from the triplet to the singlet state of retinoid or porphyrin radicals, and modification of radical pair amount.

Complexity, retinoid-responsive gene networks, and bladder carcinogenesis.

Carcinogenesis involves inactivation or subversion of the normal controls of proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. However, these controls are robust, redundant, and interlinked at the gene expression levels, regulation of mRNA lifetimes, transcription, and recycling of proteins. One of the central systems of control of proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis is retinoid signaling.

Distribution of gland-like structures in human gallbladder adenocarcinomas possesses fractal dimension.

Background And Objectives: Epithelial cells form tissue patterns of higher order such as gland-like structures. A question arises whether distribution of those patterns in adenocarcinomas is subject to certain regularity.

Methods: Due to the pilot nature of this study, gallbladder adenocarcinomas were preselected by histopathological, immunohistochemical, and morphometric analysis to ensure relative homogeneity of the patterns analyzed.

Retinoid signaling in immortalized and carcinoma-derived human uroepithelial cells.

This paper investigates the presence and functionality of retinoid signaling pathways in human urinary bladder carcinoma and SV40-immortalized uroepithelial cell lines. Only two of eight cell lines were proliferation-inhibited by 10 microM of either all-trans or 13-cis-retinoic acid. Transactivation of the CAT gene under control of a retinoid-responsive element demonstrated functionality of the signaling pathway in both sensitive cell lines and four of six resistant cell lines.

On the holistic approach in cellular and cancer biology: nonlinearity, complexity, and quasi-determinism of the dynamic cellular network.

A keystone of the molecular reductionist approach to cellular biology is a specific deductive strategy relating genotype to phenotype-two distinct categories. This relationship is based on the assumption that the intermediary cellular network of actively transcribed genes and their regulatory elements is deterministic (i.e.