Rubella in Poland in 2014.

Background: In 2004, Poland has adopted the WHO goal of rubella elimination and congenital rubella syndrome prevention. The main target of the Programme is to stop transmission of the virus in the environment and prevention of congenital rubella in children. In Poland participation in the rubella elimination program requires clinical diagnosis of rubella cases and their confirmation with laboratory tests.

Purification and Comparative Assay of the Human Mitochondrial Replicative DNA Helicase.

The replicative mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) helicase is essential for mtDNA replication and maintenance of the mitochondrial genome. Despite substantial advances that have been made in its characterization, there is still much to be understood about the functional roles of its domains and its interactions with the other components of the minimal mitochondrial DNA replisome. Critical to achieving this is the ability to isolate the enzyme in a stable, active form.

Endometrial cancer in postmenopausal women using estradiol-progestin therapy.

Objective: To estimate the risk of endometrial cancer in all Finnish postmenopausal women using various forms of estradiol-progestin therapy.

Methods: All Finnish women (aged more than 50 years) who had used estradiol-progestin therapy in 1994-2006 for at least 6 months (n=224,015) were identified from the national medical Reimbursement Registry and linked to the Finnish Cancer Registry. A total of 1,364 type I and 38 type II endometrial cancers were recorded by the end of 2006.

Increased bronchial NO output in severe atopic eczema in children and adolescents.

Atopic children have an increased risk for asthma, which is preceded by bronchial inflammation. Exhaled nitric oxide (NO) measured at multiple exhalation flow rates can be used to assess alveolar NO concentration and bronchial NO flux, which reflect inflammation in lung periphery and central airways, respectively. Exhaled breath condensate is another non-invasive method to measure lung inflammation.

Are questions on both achieving and maintaining an erection needed to define erectile dysfunction?

Our aim was to ascertain if the assessment of erectile dysfunction (ED) should include questions on difficulty in both achieving and maintaining erection. A population-based study of 3143 men in Tampere region in Finland was conducted by mailed questionnaire. The 1983 men who responded questions on erectile function were included in the analysis.

Long-term physical exercise and atrial natriuretic peptide in obese Zucker rats.

Endurance training increases natriuretic peptide synthesis in the hypertrophied myocardium of spontaneously hypertensive rats. We examined the effects of 22-week-long treadmill exercise on plasma and tissue atrial natriuretic peptide in Zucker rats, a model of genetic obesity and moderate hypertension without clear cardiac hypertrophy. The blood pressures of the animals were measured by the tail-cuff method, and plasma and tissue samples for the peptide determinations were taken at the end of the study.

Increased copy number at 17q22-q24 by CGH in breast cancer is due to high-level amplification of two separate regions.

Studies by comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) have defined a chromosomal site at 17q22-q24 that is often overrepresented in breast cancer, neuroblastoma, and several other tumor types. Due to the limited resolution and dynamic range of CGH, it remain unclear whether this gain reflects high-level amplification of small subregion(s) or low-level gain of most of the distal 17q. We used 32 physically mapped 17q probes to construct more accurate copy number profiles for 14 breast cancer cell lines by interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH).

The frequency of apolipoprotein E4 allele is not increased in patients with probable vascular dementia.

We used the NINDS-AIREN criteria to diagnose vascular dementia (VD), and compared apolipoprotein E (apoE) allele frequencies and apoE concentrations in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) between patients with possible (n = 19) and probable (n = 33) VD and controls (n = 105). There was no difference in apoE4 frequency between patients with probable VD and controls. Serum and CSF apoE concentrations did not differ between VD patients and controls.

Nuclear progesterone receptor is mainly heat shock protein 90-free in vivo.

Heat shock protein 90 (hsp90) is associated with many steroid receptors in tissue homogenates. It is widely accepted that hsp90 regulates the binding of the receptor to the corresponding gene regulatory element. However there is no unequivocal evidence that steroid receptor-hsp90 complexes are present in the intact cells.