Benign and malignant nodular thyroid disease in acromegaly. Is a routine thyroid ultrasound evaluation advisable?

Data on the prevalence of benign and malignant nodular thyroid disease in patients with acromegaly is a matter of debate. In the last decade an increasing incidence of thyroid cancer has been reported. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of goiter, thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer in a large series of patients with acromegaly with a cross-sectional study with a control group.

The truncated isoform of somatostatin receptor5 (sst5TMD4) is associated with poorly differentiated thyroid cancer.

Somatostatin receptors (ssts) are expressed in thyroid cancer cells, but their biological significance is not well understood. The aim of this study was to assess ssts in well differentiated (WDTC) and poorly differentiated thyroid cancer (PDTC) by means of imaging and molecular tools and its relationship with the efficacy of somatostatin analog treatment. Thirty-nine cases of thyroid carcinoma were evaluated (20 PDTC and 19 WDTC).

New insights into lipid raft function regulating myocardial vascularization competency in human idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Objective: Idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDCM) affects myocardial vascularization. Whether a lack of demand for increased myocardial vascularization and/or an impaired response of circulating angiogenic-supportive cells are responsible for the vascular derangements found in IDCM is unknown.

Methods And Results: Left ventricle (LV) samples obtained at transplant from IDCM hearts were compared to control hearts from non-cardiac decedents.

Rifaximin, but not growth factor 1, reduces brain edema in cirrhotic rats.

Aim: To compare rifaximin and insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 treatment of hyperammonemia and brain edema in cirrhotic rats with portal occlusion.

Methods: Rats with CCl₄-induced cirrhosis with ascites plus portal vein occlusion and controls were randomized into six groups: Cirrhosis; Cirrhosis + IGF-1; Cirrhosis + rifaximin; Controls; Controls + IGF-1; and Controls + rifaximin. An oral glutamine-challenge test was performed, and plasma and cerebral ammonia, glucose, bilirubin, transaminases, endotoxemia, brain water content and ileocecal cultures were measured and liver histology was assessed.

Rat CCl(4)-induced cirrhosis plus total portal vein ligation: a new model for the study of hyperammonaemia and brain oedema.

Introduction: Animal models used to study hyperammonaemic disorders related to chronic liver disease are unsatisfactory. These animals only develop hyperammonaemia and brain oedema when fed with diets supplemented with amonium acetate.

Aim: To develop a novel experimental model of hyperammonaemia and brain oedema in CCl(4)-induced cirrhosis in rats.

Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled Phase I Clinical Trial of the therapeutical antituberculous vaccine RUTI.

A Phase I interventional Clinical Trial was performed with a potential tuberculosis vaccine, based on detoxified cellular fragments of M. tuberculosis, named RUTI. The objective was to evaluate the safety profile and T-cell immune responses over a 6-month period following subcutaneous inoculation.

A dynamic reinfection hypothesis of latent tuberculosis infection.

Background: It has been traditionally postulated that individuals, once infected by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, will retain throughout their entire lifetime latent bacilli which will remain dormant in old lesions. This bacillus would then be the source of a later reactivation of active tuberculosis (TB), with the aid of resuscitation factors. Unfortunately, the presence of these bacilli can only be predicted by indirect immunological methods, such as the tuberculin skin test (TST) or T cell interferon-gamma release assays.