The prognostic importance of cathepsin D and E-cadherin in early breast cancer: A single-institution experience.

Molecular tools have increasingly been used for decision-making in patients with early breast cancer (EBC). Nevertheless, simple tools such as immunohistochemistry may still be required in particular cases to complement traditional and molecular prognosticators. In this study, the prognostic significance of three well-known immunohistochemical biomarkers, cathepsin D, E-cadherin and Ki67, was studied in 270 patients with EBC, followed by a median time of 126 months in a single institution.

Novel use of an exchange catheter to facilitate intubation with an Aintree catheter in a tall patient with a predicted difficult airway: a case report.

Introduction: The Aintree intubating catheter (Cook® Medical Inc., Bloomington, IN, USA) has been shown to successfully facilitate difficult intubations when other methods have failed. The Aintree intubating catheter (Cook® Medical Inc.

β2 adrenergic-mediated reduction of blood glutamate levels and improved neurological outcome after traumatic brain injury in rats.

Background: Isoflurane-anesthetized rats subjected to traumatic brain injury (TBI) show a transient reduction in blood L-glutamate levels. Having previously observed that isoproterenol produces a sustained decrease in blood glutamate levels in naive rats, we investigated the possible effects of nonselective and selective β1 and β2 adrenergic agonists and antagonists both on blood glutamate levels and on the neurological outcomes of rats subjected to TBI.

Methods: Rats received either 10 mL/kg of isotonic saline 1 hour after TBI, 50 µg/kg of isoproterenol pretreatment 30 minutes before TBI, 10 mg/kg of propranolol pretreatment 60 minutes before TBI, 10 mg/kg of metoprolol pretreatment 60 minutes before TBI, or 10 mg/kg of butaxamine pretreatment 40 minutes before TBI and 10 minutes before pretreatment with 50 µg/kg isoproterenol or 10 mg/kg of propranolol 60 minutes after TBI.

Relation between peritonsillar infection and acute tonsillitis: myth or reality?

Objective: To investigate the relationship between tonsillar and peritonsillar infections.

Study Design: Retrospective population-based study and a retrospective case series review.

Settings: Tertiary academic medical facility.

Collateral blood flow can predict myocardial blush grade in primary coronary intervention.

Objectives: Our aim was to investigate whether collateral flow may predict myocardial blush grade (MBG) in acute myocardial infarction patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention.

Background: No-reflow is a well known phenomenon associated with increased morbidity and mortality due to underperfused myocardium; therefore early prediction of no-reflow is of major importance. We have observed that in patients with good collateral filling of the infarct related artery as seen prior to primary angioplasty, the clearance of the contrast medium from the myocardium may be impaired.

p27kip1 Expression in non-small cell lung cancer is not an independent prognostic factor.

Background: p27(Kip1) (p27) plays an important role in cancer cell cycle regulation. Recent evidence however, suggests that p27 may function as an oncogene rather than a tumour suppressor gene.

Patients And Methods: Ninety-two patients with previously untreated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were studied for the association between the immunohistochemical localization of p27 through a semi-quantitative method and time-to-progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS).

Clinical and economic outcomes in a population-based European cohort of 948 ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease patients by Markov analysis.

Background: Forecasting clinical and economic outcomes in ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) patients is complex, but necessary.

Aims: To determine: the frequency of treatment-classified clinical states; the probability of transition between states; and the economic outcomes.

Methods: Newly diagnosed UC and CD patients, allocated into seven clinical states by medical and surgical treatments recorded in serial 3-month cycles, underwent Markov analysis.

Safety of vaccination of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Live vaccines are not safe for immuno-compromised patients and should not be given to patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. In addition, all vaccines are not recommended for systemic lupus erythematosus patients when their disease is very active and mainly for patients with very active lupus nephritis. Systemic lupus erythematosus patients with quiescent or mildly active disease should be encouraged to receive vaccination according the recommendations given by the Immunization Practices Advisory Committee.

Blocking adenosine A2A receptor reduces peritoneal fibrosis in two independent experimental models.

Background: Long-term peritoneal dialysis (PD) is associated with peritoneal fibrosis and loss of function. It has been shown that activation of the adenosine A(2A) receptor (A(2A)R) promotes tissue repair, wound healing and extracellular matrix (ECM) production. We have previously shown that adenosine is a potent regulator of inflammation in the peritoneum.

[The association between sports activity and knee osteoarthritis].

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common non-inflammatory joint disease. The hip and knee, the main weight-bearing joints, are most commonly affected. Previous trauma to the joints is strongly associated with OA.

Neutrophils transiently infiltrate intra-abdominal fat early in the course of high-fat feeding.

Chronic inflammation of adipose tissue in obesity is by now an established phenomenon, but the initiating event(s) of the inflammatory cascade are still unknown. We hypothesized that neutrophil infiltration into adipose tissue may precede macrophage infiltration as in classical immune responses. Here we demonstrate that early (3 and 7 days) after initiating high-fat feeding of C57BL/6J mice, neutrophils transiently infiltrate the parenchyma of intra-abdominal adipose tissue.

Effect of phenotype on health care costs in Crohn's disease: A European study using the Montreal classification.

Background: Crohn's disease (CD) is a chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract associated with life-long high health care costs. We aimed to determine the effect of disease phenotype on cost.

Methods: Clinical and economic data of a community-based CD cohort with 10-year follow-up were analyzed retrospectively in relation to Montreal classification phenotypes.

Influenza vaccination of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: safety and immunogenecity issues.

The influenza vaccine is highly efficacious in the general population; however there have been concerns about the safety, and immunogenecity of the vaccine in patients with SLE. Several studies have suggested that the immune response of patients with SLE to influenza vaccine is significantly lower than the general population, mainly in patients with age > or =50 years and those treated with prednisone. The vaccine is safe for patients with SLE and it does not affect the clinical manifestations of SLE including renal features, disease activity, or the requirement for steroids or cytotoxic drugs.

Cost analysis and cost determinants in a European inflammatory bowel disease inception cohort with 10 years of follow-up evaluation.

Background & Aims: Economic analysis in chronic diseases is a prerequisite for planning a proper distribution of health care resources. We aimed to determine the cost of inflammatory bowel disease, a lifetime illness with considerable morbidity.

Methods: We studied 1321 patients from an inception cohort in 8 European countries and Israel over 10 years.

Regional community-acquired urinary tract infections in Israel: diagnosis, pathogens, and antibiotic guidelines adherence: a prospective study.

Introduction: The identification and treatment of hospitalized patients with community-acquired urinary tract infections (CAUTI) may be a challenge. The pathogens causing the infection and their relative proportions vary geographically and with time. This observational prospective study had three primary goals: (1) to estimate the likelihood of diagnosis of CAUTI upon admission; (2) to evaluate adherence to the institutional recommendations; (3) to assess the compatibility of the current local antibiotic recommendations with a pathogen's distribution and with its drug sensitivities.

Adenosine is upregulated during peritonitis and is involved in downregulation of inflammation.

Loss of function of the peritoneal membrane is associated with peritonitis. Adenosine levels in sites of inflammation were shown to increase and exhibit immunoregulatory effects. Our aim was to elucidate the regulatory role of adenosine during peritonitis and to test the involvement of peritoneal mesothelial cells (PMC) in adenosine regulation.

Does nonarticlar tenderness change after bariatric surgery?

Background: A previous study reported an association between obesity and increased tenderness. However, the effect of weight reduction on tenderness is not known. The aim of the study was to assess tenderness thresholds before and after bariatric surgery.

Catastrophic thromboses and severe thrombocytopenia during heparin therapy in a patient with anti-phospholipid syndrome.

Catastrophic anti-phospholipid syndrome (CAPS) is a medical emergency characterized by thromboses of multiple small vessels of internal organs and the brain. Herein we present a patient with primary anti-phospholipid syndrome who developed CAPS manifested by hepatic, renal and splenic artery thromboses, as well as cerebral venous thrombosis. The course was further complicated by severe thrombocytopenia and haemolytic anemia.

Dermoid cyst of the maxilla.

Dermoid cysts of the jaw bones are very rare. A case of an intraosseous dermoid cyst of the maxilla of a 5-year-old-male is reported. The possible origins are described.

Stimulation of NADPH oxidase by angiotensin II in human neutrophils is mediated by ERK, p38 MAP-kinase and cytosolic phospholipase A2.

Objective: The present research was designed to study the involvement of ERK and p38 MAP-kinase in cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) and NADPH-oxidase activation by angiotensin II (Ang II) in human neutrophils.

Methods: NADPH-oxidase activity was measured by reduction of cytochrome C. cPLA2 activity was measured in cell lysate using sonicated dispersions of 1-stearoyl-2-[C]arachidonyl phosphatidylcholine.

Eruption cyst in the adult--a case report.

A case of eruption cyst in the right maxilla of a 40-year-old female is reported.

Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator and Na+ channel subunits mRNA transcripts, and Cl- efflux, show a different distribution in rat duodenum and colon.

Aim: We compared the distribution and putative association of Cl- channel transport, CFTR mRNA transcripts, and Na+ channel (ENaC) alpha- and beta-subunit mRNA transcripts in villus and crypt epithelial cells of duodenum, with corresponding surface and crypt cells of colon from sodium-depleted rats.

Methods: Cells were loaded with 36Cl- and forskolin-stimulated efflux was determined. RT-PCR was performed for CFTR mRNA transcripts and ENaC alpha- and beta-subunit mRNA.

Specific antibody response after influenza immunization in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Objective: To determine the efficacy of influenza virus vaccine in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Methods: The study population comprised 24 patients with SLE who received the split-virion, inactivated vaccine containing 15 micro g hemagglutinin (HA)/dose of each of A/Beijing/262/95(H1N1), A/Sydney/05/97(H3N2), and B/Harbin/07/94. Hemagglutination inhibition (HI) antibodies were tested using the HI test according to a standard World Health Organization procedure.

Influenza virus vaccination of patients with SLE: effects on generation of autoantibodies.

The sera of 24 women with SLE who received influenza vaccine were tested by ELISA for anti-DNA, anticardiolipin, anti-Sm, anti-Sm/RNP, anti-Ro and anti-La. Blood samples were withdrawn at the time of vaccination and 6 and 12 weeks after vaccination. The mean age at enrolment into the study was 46.

Anti-D exerts a very early response in childhood acute idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura.

Acute idiopathic (immune) thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) in the pediatric population is a disease in which autoimmune features are mainly self-limited, with a reported mortality of 0.1-0.5%.