The influence of di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate on steroidogenesis by the ovarian granulosa cells of immature female rats.

Phthalate esters are known to exert harmful effects on mammalian reproduction and fertility, but their potential adverse effects on the hormonal functions of the ovary have not yet been elucidated in detail. Here, we investigated the effects of di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) on the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis of young developing female rats, as well as on ex vivo steroidogenesis by granulosa cells (GCs) and secretion of LH by gonadotropes. Exposure of 20-day-old female rats to 500 mg DEHP by oral gavage once daily for 10 days reduced their serum levels of progesterone and estradiol, while tending to enhance levels of LH.

Qualitative DNA differences between two structurally different lesions: high-grade dysplasia and carcinoma in situ in colorectal adenomas.

Background: Despite the fact that the Vienna classification of neoplasias in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract acknowledged low-grade dysplasia (LGD), high-grade dysplasia (HGD) and carcinoma in situ (CIS) and that most Western pathologists recognize CIS in many organs, both CIS and HGD are still used synonymously in colorectal adenomas. Differences between CIS and HGD in colorectal adenomas are reported.

Materials And Methods: Five large colorectal adenomas (measuring >20 mm) having areas of both HGD and CIS were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and with Feulgen stains.

Alcohol biomarker analysis: simultaneous determination of 5-hydroxytryptophol glucuronide and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid by direct injection of urine using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

A direct ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method (UPLC-MS/MS) for simultaneous measurement of urinary 5-hydroxytryptophol glucuronide (GTOL) and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) was developed. The GTOL/5-HIAA ratio is used as an alcohol biomarker with clinical and forensic applications. The method involved dilution of the urine sample with deuterated analogues (internal standards), reversed-phase chromatography with gradient elution, electrospray ionisation and monitoring of two product ions per analyte in selected reaction monitoring mode.

Serrated neoplasias and de novo carcinomas in ulcerative colitis: a histological study in colectomy specimens.

Background And Aim: Cancer in ulcerative colitis (UC) originates in dysplastic crypts, adenomatous growths (UCAG), and UC-associated adenomas (UCAD). The aim of the present study was to compare the histological phenotypes between UCAG, UCAD, and sporadic colorectal adenomas in non-colitics (non-UCAD), as well as between UC-associated carcinomas (UCC) and carcinomas in non-colitic patients (non-UCC).

Methods: Three thousand and forty nine sections from 96 colectomy specimens in patients with UC-pancolitis and carcinoma were reviewed.

Xenotransplantation of testicular tissue into nude mice can be used for detecting leukemic cell contamination.

Background: Xeno-grafting of testicular tissue may allow viable gamete maturation. This would be beneficial for prepubertal cancer patients in that it may allow restoration of fertility without the risk of a cancer relapse. However it is unknown whether cancer cells in the testicular graft can transmit the malignancy into the host animal and also if gametes can be retrieved from testicular grafts that are contaminated with malignant cells.

Quantitative real-time PCR analysis and microarray-based RNA expression of HER2 in relation to outcome.

Background: Our aim was to use quantitative real-time PCR (Q-PCR) and RNA expression profiles (RNA-EPs) to investigate HER2 status in relation to outcome.

Patients And Methods: Cut-off levels for Q-PCR and RNA-EP were established in relation to immunohistochemistry (IHC) validated by FISH in a test set of frozen tissue samples from 40 primary breast cancers. The HER2 status was subsequently studied in another validation set of 306 tumors, where Q-PCR and RNA-EP results were compared with previously carried out IHC that we had validated by chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH).

An improved method to visualize eosinophils in eosinophilic esophagitis.

We previously found in Giemsa-stained colorectal sections from IBD patients that eosinophilic granulocytes turned fluorescent when excited with indirect fluorescent light, while other inflammatory cells were non-fluorescent. We now studied with that method, the frequency of eosinophilic granulocytes in sections from patients with eosinophilic esophagitis (EE). Cell counting was done in consecutive sections stained with Giemsa stain using indirect fluorescence light (G-IFL setting) and with hematoxylin-eosin using transmitted light (HE-TL setting) in 5 cases of EE and in 10 consecutive cases of reflux esophagitis (RE) grade 2.

Insulin-like growth factor-I is an important antiapoptotic factor for rat leydig cells during postnatal development.

The present investigation examines the influence of IGF-I and the role of IGF-I receptor (IGF-IR) in the apoptosis/survival of Leydig cells. Immunohistochemical analysis of the rat testis at different ages revealed that the level of the phosphorylated IGF-IR increases from birth to d 20 of postnatal life, remaining high in the adult testis. Western blotting revealed that this level is higher in Leydig cells isolated from 40-d-old than from 10- or 60-d-old rats.

Gastric duodenal metaplasia in duodenal adenomas.

Background: In cases of known aetiology, gastric duodenal metaplasia (GMD) is a reversible lesion. In cases of unknown aetiology, the fate of GMD remains elusive. GMD was recently found in a duodenal adenoma.

Cell proliferation at the leading invasive front of colonic carcinomas. Preliminary observations.

Dilated neoplastic glands, some with a layer of flat tumour cells and others lacking a group of consecutive lining tumour cells (i.e., glandular gaps called pores), were previously found at the leading invading tumour edge of colorectal carcinomas.

Anti-apoptotic factor humanin is expressed in the testis and prevents cell-death in leydig cells during the first wave of spermatogenesis.

Humanin (HN) is a 24 amino acids peptide with potent neuro-survival properties that protects against damage associated with Alzheimer's disease. In the present report, we have demonstrated by immunohistochemical analysis and Western blotting the pattern of expression of rat humanin (HNr) in the testis of 10- to 60-day-old rats. The Leydig cells of 10- and 40- day-old rats expressed this peptide at high levels; and in the testis of 60-day-old rats the expression of HNr expanded to include Leydig, endothelial, peritubular and germ cells.

Activated ERK1/2 and phosphorylated oestrogen receptor alpha are associated with improved breast cancer survival in women treated with tamoxifen.

The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of activated (phosphorylated) ERK1/2, oestrogen receptor alpha phosphorylated at S118 (ERalphaS118), and HER2 in primary breast cancer, and to make correlations with the outcome of tamoxifen therapy. We performed immunohistochemical analysis to determine the expression of HER2, ERalphaS118, and activated ERK1/2 in tumours obtained from 279 women with primary breast cancer. HER2 status was also estimated by fluorescence in situ hybridisation.

Hyperplastic polyposis coli syndrome and colorectal carcinoma.

Background: Patients with hyperplastic polyposis coli syndrome (HPCS) have a propensity to develop colorectal carcinoma (CRC).

Patients And Methods: Details were retrieved from the files of patients attending our hospital between 1988 and 2004 who fulfilled the World Health Organization criteria for HPCS.

Results: Over a period of 16 years, 10 cases of HPCS were identified at our hospital (0.

Gastric glassy cells: a study of 3202 gastrectomy specimens from dwellers of the Atlantic and Pacific basins.

Fifteen years ago we detected gastric cells with glassy cytoplasm (GCs) in the human pyloric antrum. The frequency of these cells was subsequently investigated in sections from gastrectomies carried on in populations dwelling on the rim of the Atlantic and Pacific basins. In this work we compared the results obtained in these disparate geographic regions.

Neoplasias of the colorectal crypts.

Colorectal cancers are often preceded by noninvasive neoplasias arising in the surface epithelium, namely tubular, tubulovillous and villous adenomas. That neoplasias may also arise in the colorectal crypts is less well known. Between 1998 and 2002, colonoscopies, rectoscopies and colorectal surgical specimens from 8647 patients were received at this Department for histological diagnosis.

Extensive intestinal metaplasia in gastric carcinoma and in other lesions requiring surgery: a study of 3,421 gastrectomy specimens from dwellers of the Atlantic and Pacific basins.

Background: Extensive intestinal metaplasia (EIM) has been reported in gastrectomies from patients dwelling in the Pacific and Atlantic basins.

Aims: To compare all the results in an attempt to explain the findings.

Method: All sections from 3,421 gastrectomies were reviewed at various hospitals: 1946 in the Atlantic and 1475 in the Pacific basin.

Mott cell (Russell bodies) Barrett's oesophagitis.

The first case of Barrett's oesophagus with chronic inflammation having predominantly (> 50%) Mott cells, i.e. plasma cells with stored immunoglobulins, known as Russell bodies, is reported.

Doxorubicin induces apoptosis in germ line stem cells in the immature rat testis and amifostine cannot protect against this cytotoxicity.

The underlying primary damage to the seminiferous epithelium caused by chemotherapeutic regimens at childhood is largely unknown. The present investigation was designed to identify acute cytotoxic events in the testis caused by a single dose of doxorubicin. Male rats at 6, 16, and 24 days of age were injected with doxorubicin (3 mg/kg, i.

Influence of long-term dietary administration of procymidone, a fungicide with anti-androgenic effects, or the phytoestrogen genistein to rats on the pituitary-gonadal axis and Leydig cell steroidogenesis.

Procymidone is a fungicide with anti-androgenic properties, widely used to protect fruits from fungal infection. Thereby it contaminates fruit products prepared for human consumption. Genistein-containing soy products are increasingly used as food additives with health-promoting properties.

Sick leave due to depressive disease: not a risk factor for the development of malignant lymphoma.

For unknown reasons the incidence of non-Hodgkin's Lymphomas (NHL) has increased during the last decades. Conditions with impaired immune functions have been associated with an increased risk of malignant lymphomas. Interactions between the central nervous, immune, and endocrine systems have been recently identified, and the potential physiological importance of these interactions is being explored.

Cytokine and antibody responses in birch-pollen-allergic patients treated with genetically modified derivatives of the major birch pollen allergen Bet v 1.

Background: Recently, recombinant hypoallergenic derivatives of the major birch pollen allergen, Bet v 1, were used to treat birch-pollen-allergic patients in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-centre immunotherapy study. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of vaccination with aluminium-hydroxide-adsorbed recombinant Bet v 1 derivatives versus placebo on T-cell, cytokine and antibody responses in a subgroup of patients.

Methods: Blood was drawn from patients of the Swedish centre (n = 27; rBet v 1 fragments: n = 10; rBet v 1 trimer: n = 8, and placebo-aluminium hydroxide: n = 9) before the start and after completion of the treatment.

Macrophage-associated chronic diarrhea of unknown origin. Preliminary observations.

The distribution of macrophages in the colonic mucosa was investigated in 13 patients with chronic diarrhea. Group I consisted of 5 patients; both colonoscopy and colonic biopsies were reported as normal. Group II included 5 patients with normal colonoscopy, but with collagenous colitis or lymphocytic colitis at histology.

Interleukin-18 is expressed in rat testis and may promote germ cell growth.

Although host-defence mechanisms, designed to preserve the integrity of the developing germ cells are operative in the testis, the components of this protective system have yet to be characterised in detail. Here, we report that the cytokine interleukin-18 (IL-18) is expressed in the rat testis and may contribute to these defences. Thus, analysis by RT-PCR and Western blotting revealed pronounced testicular expression of pro-IL-18 from postnatal day 5 and onwards.

A mouse model for in vivo tracking of the major dust mite allergen Der p 2 after inhalation.

Inhaled environmental antigens, i.e. allergens, cause allergic symptoms in millions of patients worldwide.