X-ray characterization of a multichannel smart-pixel array detector.

The Voxtel VX-798 is a prototype X-ray pixel array detector (PAD) featuring a silicon sensor photodiode array of 48 × 48 pixels, each 130 µm × 130 µm × 520 µm thick, coupled to a CMOS readout application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The first synchrotron X-ray characterization of this detector is presented, and its ability to selectively count individual X-rays within two independent arrival time windows, a programmable energy range, and localized to a single pixel is demonstrated. During our first trial run at Argonne National Laboratory's Advance Photon Source, the detector achieved a 60 ns gating time and 700 eV full width at half-maximum energy resolution in agreement with design parameters.

31P MR spectroscopy to evaluate the efficacy of hepatic artery embolization in the treatment of neuroendocrine liver metastases.

Background: It is common to treat patients with metastatic disease from gastrointestinal neuroendocrine (NE) tumors with surgical reduction to prolong survival. This can be combined with hepatic arterial embolization (HAE) and medical treatment to reduce hormonal symptoms. Today there are no rapid and reliable methods to evaluate the efficacy of HAE in the treatment of neuroendocrine liver metastasis.

The Nephrocare project: referral, patient case-mix, follow-up and quality of renal care in Nordic renal centres.

Objective: Few studies have focused on patients actually attending renal units for their follow-up over time. This study reports the type of prevalent patients (case-mix) with a renal condition being followed up by 19 renal units in the Nordic countries during 1998-99.

Material And Methods: In a joint quality of care development project between the renal societies of the five Nordic countries and the unit for Quality of Health Systems, WHO (Europe), 19 renal units collected data on a random sample of their prevalent patients.

Relationship between anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody determined with conventional binding and the capture assay, and long-term clinical course in vasculitis.

Objectives: To evaluate the relationship between anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) measured with two different methods and long-term clinical course in vasculitis.

Design: Retrospective determination of ANCA with two different assays for detection of PR3-ANCA, conventional direct binding ELISA and capture ELISA using monoclonal antibodies against PR3. The 245 ANCA determinations were performed from frozen blood samples collected three to four times a year in each patient.

Prediction of prognosis by echocardiography in patients with midgut carcinoid syndrome.

Background: The association between malignant midgut carcinoid tumours and right-sided cardiac lesions is well known, but the pathogenetic link between tumour secretion and valvular disease is still obscure. The purpose of this investigation was to describe the morphological and functional changes of valvular heart disease in a large patient series and to correlate these findings with hormonal secretion and prognosis.

Methods: Of 64 consecutive patients with the midgut carcinoid syndrome followed between 1985 and 1998, valvular heart disease was evaluated in 52 patients by two-dimensional echocardiography, Doppler estimation of valvular regurgitation and flow profiles.

Cadmium, mercury, and lead in kidney cortex of the general Swedish population: a study of biopsies from living kidney donors.

Cadmium, mercury, and lead concentrations were determined in deep-frozen kidney cortex biopsies taken from 36 living, healthy Swedish kidney donors (18 males and 18 females), who were 30-71 (mean 53) years of age. Information about occupation, smoking, the presence of dental amalgam, and fish consumption could be obtained for 27 of the donors. The samples (median dry weight 0.

Rhabdomyolysis and acute renal failure associated with influenza virus type A.

Two patients with rhabdomyolysis-induced acute renal failure due to influenza A virus infection are presented. Both had influenza symptoms, with high fever and severe muscular pain leading to walking problems. In addition, they were dehydrated due to vomiting and diarrhoea.

Effects of chemical stimulation of masseter muscle nociceptors on trigeminal motoneuron and interneuron activities during fictive mastication in the rabbit.

An electrophysiological study was carried out in sixteen decerebrate and paralyzed New Zealand rabbits to determine how a bolus injection of a nociceptor stimulant (hypertonic saline, 5%) into the masseter muscle influences the activity of the trigeminal motor circuitry during fictive jaw movements. Hypodermic needles connected to a syringe held in a computer-controlled infusion pump were inserted into the anterior deep layer of either the right or the left masseter. Twenty-three infusions of 50, 70 or 80 microl saline were made in fourteen animals at constant rates over 1 min.

The arginine-nitric oxide pathway in thrombotic microangiopathy.

Eleven patients with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) or haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) were investigated with respect to plasma concentrations of L-arginine, a substrate for nitric oxide (NO) and asymmetrical dimethyl arginine (ADMA), during active disease and after recovery. Plasma concentration of NO3-, the degradation product of NO, was also analyzed. The patients were treated with fresh-frozen plasma and plasmapheresis.

Secretory patterns of tryptophan metabolites in midgut carcinoid tumor cells.

Hormonal overproduction is a significant problem in patients with disseminated midgut carcinoid tumors. Serotonin (5-HT) is one major product secreted from such tumors and the urinary excretion of its metabolite (5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, 5-HIAA) serves as an important tumor marker. The present study aimed at elucidating mechanisms of tryptophan metabolite secretion to facilitate the treatment of the carcinoid syndrome.

Survival of patients with disseminated midgut carcinoid tumors after aggressive tumor reduction.

Sixty-four consecutive patients with disseminated midgut carcinoids were treated during an 8-year period according to a single clinical protocol aimed at aggressive tumor reduction by surgery alone or with subsequent hepatic artery embolization. All patients had markedly elevated urinary 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) levels (581 +/- 79 micromol/24 h) and hormonal symptoms. Fourteen patients (22%) reached anatomic and biochemical cure by surgery alone.

Treatment of liver metastases of carcinoid tumors.

Liver metastases imply a major problem in patients with carcinoid tumors. Patients with localized disease should always undergo resection for cure. Patients with distant metastatic disease can also undergo resection for potential cure or symptom palliation because of the slow growth rate of many carcinoid tumors.

Pathophysiology of the vascular wall: the role of nitric oxide in renal disease.

Nitric oxide (NO) is formed in the endothelium by the constitutive enzyme NO synthase from the substrate amino acid L-arginine. As an endogenous vasodilator it contributes to renal arteriolar tone and modulates relaxation of the mesangium, thus contributing to regulation of glomerular microcirculation. NO also plays a role in regulating renal sodium excretion and renin release.