Progesterone and progestins: neuroprotection and myelin repair.

Progesterone, known for its role in pregnancy, also exerts marked effects on the nervous system. Its neuroprotective and promyelinating actions, now well documented by experimental studies, make it a particularly promising therapeutic agent for neuroinjury and neurodegenerative diseases. This concept has recently been translated into clinical practice, though there is need for more experimental studies and investigations on the mechanisms of the actions of progesterone.

Deep-seated rectal/anal basaloid carcinoma: useful immunocytochemistry in rare squamous cell carcinoma variants.

Objectives: To report the cytological aspects of ano-rectal basaloid carcinoma (BC) variant in endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) conventional and liquid-based cytology (LBC), in a series of 10 cases of deep-seated squamous cell carcinomas (SCC), and to discuss the diagnostic difficulties in interpreting the morphology and immunocytochemical findings.

Methods: Ten cases of EUS-FNA smears and LBC specimens of deep-seated pelvic masses were retrospectively collected from January 2001 to November 2006.

Results: Ten EUS-FNA specimen cases were SCC, eight corresponding to usual SCC and two to BC-variant.

Assessment of the cost of fine-needle aspiration cytology as a diagnostic tool in patients with thyroid nodules.

Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is the reference diagnostic tool in patients with thyroid nodules. Because the true diagnosis is based on histopathologic findings, the final diagnosis of nodules not operated on is postponed, impacting the cost. We aimed to determine the cost of FNAC by taking account of diagnostic mistakes, failures, and follow-up of patients who did not have surgery.

Extracellular gadolinium-based contrast media: an overview.

Increasing use is made of extracellular MRI contrast agents that alter the image contrast following intravenous administration; they predominantly shorten the T1 relaxation time of tissues. The degree and location of these changes provide substantial diagnostic information. However gadolinium-based contrast agents (Gd-CA) are not inert drugs.

Molecular pathology of the FSH receptor: new insights into FSH physiology.

Manipulations of mouse genome have helped to elucidate gonadotrophin function but important differences subsist between rodent and human reproduction. Studies of patients with mutations of gonadotrophins or gonadotrophin receptors genes allow understanding their physiological effects in humans. The correlation of the clinical phenotypes of patients with in vitro studies of the mutated receptor residual function and histological and immunohistological studies of the ovarian biopsies permits to understand which stages of follicular development are under FSH control.

New therapeutic approaches to treat medullary thyroid carcinoma.

Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) accounts for up to 8% of all thyroid cancers. Although primary surgery is curative in the vast majority of patients treated at an early stage, disease can persist or recur with deleterious effects on quality of life. Local and distant metastases can occur and are the major causes of mortality.

Pregnenolone sulfate in the brain: a controversial neurosteroid.

Pregnenolone sulfate (PREGS) has been shown, either at high nanomolar or at micromolar concentrations, to increase neuronal activity by inhibiting GABAergic and by stimulating glutamatergic neurotransmission. PREGS is also a potent modulator of sigma type 1 (sigma1) receptors. It has been proposed that these actions of PREGS underlie its neuropharmacological effects, and in particular its influence on memory processes.

Development of a rapid and convenient method for determination of rubella virus-specific immunoglobulin G avidity.

We describe here a rapid and semiautomated method for the determination of rubella virus immunoglobulin G (IgG) avidity with the VIDAS instrument. A total of 153 serum samples from persons with naturally acquired rubella virus infections (n = 98), from vaccinated persons (n = 44), and from patients with autoantibodies (n = 11) were included in this study. The rubella virus-specific IgG avidity assay we developed for the VIDAS instrument was evaluated by comparison with an in-house method.

Progesterone: therapeutic opportunities for neuroprotection and myelin repair.

Progesterone and its metabolites promote the viability of neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Their neuroprotective effects have been documented in different lesion models, including traumatic brain injury (TBI), experimentally induced ischemia, spinal cord lesions and a genetic model of motoneuron disease. Progesterone plays an important role in developmental myelination and in myelin repair, and the aging nervous system appears to remain sensitive to some of progesterone's beneficial effects.

Developing strategies for liver metastases from colorectal cancer.

Five-year survival rates of patients with liver metastases from colorectal cancer range from 30% to 40% for those who undergo successful resection procedures, and is almost nil among those unable to have surgery. However, improved chemotherapy strategies for nonoperable patients (specifically, the use of neoadjuvant oxaliplatin- and irinotecan-based regimens) have increased response rates and tumor downstaging such that 15% to 30% of initially nonoperable patients are able to have secondary, or rescue, surgery. Preliminary data also indicate that new targeted therapies should further increase response rates and thus resection rates.

Classification based on cortical folding patterns.

We describe here a classification system based on automatically identified cortical sulci. Multivariate recognition methods are required for the detection of complex brain patterns with a spatial distribution. However, such methods may face the well-known issue of the curse of dimensionality-the risk of overfitting the training dataset in high-dimensional space.

Fronto-striatal overactivation in euthymic bipolar patients during an emotional go/nogo task.

Objective: Although euthymic bipolar patients show minimal manic and depressive symptoms, they continue to show impaired emotional regulation and cognitive functioning. Few studies have directly examined the interference of emotional information with cognitive processes and its underlying cerebral mechanisms in euthymic bipolar patients. The authors examined the emotional modulation of cognitive processes and its underlying neural mechanisms in euthymic bipolar patients.

Intestinal absorption of miltefosine: contribution of passive paracellular transport.

Purpose: This study aimed to characterize the transepithelial transport of miltefosine (HePC), the first orally effective drug against visceral leishmaniasis, across the intestinal barrier to further understand its oral absorption mechanism.

Materials And Methods: Caco-2 cell monolayers were used as an in vitro model of the human intestinal barrier. The roles of active and passive mechanisms in HePC intestinal transport were investigated and the relative contributions of the transcellular and paracellular routes were estimated.

Upper-limb motion and drop jump: effect of expertise.

Aim: In this study, the role of arm motion in a drop jump was investigated in skilled and unskilled subjects.

Methods: Nine skilled volleyball players and 8 novice individuals performed a series of jumps from two different heights: 30 cm and 60 cm. Free and restricted arm motion were used to determine the effect of arm motion on the vertical jump.

Expression and functional state of the corticosteroid receptors and 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 in Schwann cells.

To investigate the role of steroid receptors in mediating the reported effects of steroids on Schwann cell (SC) myelination and growth, we determined mRNA contents and transcriptional activities of the corticosteroid (glucocorticosteroid and mineralocorticosteroid) receptors (GR and MR) and sex steroid (progesterone, androgen, and estrogen alpha and beta) receptors in rat SC cultured under proliferative (in the presence of insulin and forskolin, which induces a high intracellular cAMP content) and quiescent conditions. We found no or very low expression and activity of the sex steroid receptors, as shown by mRNA concentrations determined with real-time PCR and transcriptional activities using transient expression of reporter plasmids in SC. These data and binding studies in SC lines demonstrated that the levels of the sex steroid receptors were the limiting factors.