Disruption of cadherin-related junctions triggers autocrine expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in bovine aortic endothelial cells : effects on cell proliferation and death resistance.

The mechanisms involved in the blockade of proliferation in confluent endothelial cells are insufficiently understood. In this regard, the continuity of intercellular junctions appears to be critical to the regulation of endothelial monolayer cell growth. The present study examined the hypothesis that the disruption of the intercellular adherens junctions will trigger both endothelial cell proliferation and autocrine production of growth factors.

Role of vascular endothelial growth factor in the response to vessel injury.

In the post-embryonic life, physiological angiogenesis is tightly controlled. Angiogenesis also occurs in pathological circumstances such as tumor vessel proliferation, retinal neovascularization and ischemia. The development of collateral circulation is not only not deleterious, but life saving.

CT in the evaluation of the upper airway in healthy subjects and in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

Aim: To study if the caliber of the upper airway, measured by CT, allows us to distinguish patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) from healthy people.

Patients And Methods: Sixteen OSAS patients (with an apnea-hypopnea index > 10) and 39 healthy volunteers were studied. Polysomnography and CT of the upper airways during awake periods were performed in both groups.

The clinical value of neuron-specific enolase as a tumor marker in bronchoalveolar lavage.

Background: Neuron-specific enolase (NSE) is used in the staging and monitoring of responses to therapy and the detection of recurrences in lung cancer. The diagnostic value of NSE has been under discussion. This may be because NSE usually has been studied in the sera of patients with bronchogenic carcinoma and not in the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL).