Closed pleural needle biopsy: predicting diagnostic yield by examining pleural fluid parameters.

Objective: Pleural fluid parameters that predict a diagnostic closed pleural needle biopsy were investigated.

Design: A retrospective analysis.

Setting: The Institute of Pulmonology, Hadassah University Hospital.

Human alpha-defensin regulates smooth muscle cell contraction: a role for low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein/alpha 2-macroglobulin receptor.

We have previously identified alpha-defensin in association with medial smooth muscle cells (SMCs) in human coronary arteries. In the present paper we report that alpha-defensin, at concentrations below those found in pathological conditions, inhibits phenylephrine (PE)-induced contraction of rat aortic rings. Addition of 1 microM alpha-defensin increased the half-maximal effective concentration (EC(50)) of PE on denuded aortic rings from 32 to 630 nM.

Time course of bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis.

Intratracheal instillation (IT) of bleomycin is a widely used experimental model for lung fibrosis. In this study we describe the time-course of bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis in mice using computer-assisted morphometry. C57Bl/6J mice were treated with a single IT dose of bleomycin or control saline.

Osteoporosis in the Cohen diabetic rat: correlation between histomorphometric changes in bone and microangiopathy.

Osteoporosis is well documented in type I diabetes, but its occurrence is controversial in type II diabetes. Microangiopathy is a major complication of type I and type II diabetes. We studied bone and microvascular changes in the Cohen diabetic rat, a unique nonobese model of noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

Gavaging the infant lung.

An 8-month-old female infant was hospitalized for persistent bilateral infiltrates, failure to thrive, and tachypnea. An extensive diagnostic workup was negative, except for strong oil-red O staining of the white-turbid bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and borderline esophageal pH monitoring. Conservative treatment failed, and she was scheduled for gastrostomy and Nissen-fundoplication until the family physician found that the anxious mother was feeding the child forcibly, which caused chronic aspiration pneumonitis.

Invasive airway aspergillosis with new airflow obstruction mimicking post-BMT bronchiolitis obliterans.

A 52-year-old male with severe gastrointestinal graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), developed dyspnea and irreversible airflow obstruction, 11 weeks post-allogeneic bone marrow stem cell transplantation. Based on the clinical picture and presence of 'mosaic attenuation' pattern on chest high-resolution computerized tomography (HRCT), he was presumed to have bone marrow transplantation-related bronchiolitis obliterans. Post-mortem examination revealed invasive airway aspergillosis with no evidence of bronchiolitis obliterans.

Binding of urokinase to low density lipoprotein-related receptor (LRP) regulates vascular smooth muscle cell contraction.

Urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) is a multifunctional protein that has been implicated in several physiological and pathological processes involving cell adhesion and migration in addition to fibrinolysis. In a previous study we found that two-chain urokinase plasminogen activator (tcuPA) stimulates phenylephrine-induced vasoconstriction of isolated rat aortic rings. In the present paper we report that uPA(-/-) mice have a significantly lower mean arterial blood pressure than do wild type mice and that aortic rings from uPA(-/-) mice show an attenuated contractile response to phenylephrine.

The amygdala regulates the pituitary-adrenocortical response and release of hypothalamic serotonin following electrical stimulation of the dorsal raphe nucleus in the rat.

The amygdala is known to modulate the function of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis, but the mechanism of this effect is still not clear. In the present study we examined the specific role of the serotonin (5-HT) system in mediating the effect of the amygdala on the activity of the HPA axis. Bilateral lesions of the amygdala in rats reduced the adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) and corticosterone responses to electrical stimulation of the dorsal raphe nucleus, where the cell bodies of serotonergic neurons are located.

Post-partum hypocalcemia: idiopatic hypoparathyroidism manifested early in lactation.

Hypocalcemia associated with labor and lactation is a rare condition reported previously in patients with hypovitaminosis D. We here describe a case of a young woman in whom symptomatic severe hypocalcemia appeared after her second delivery, early in lactation. At the end of lactation the condition worsened.

Interferon-gamma deficiency attenuates local P. gingivalis-induced inflammation.

Infection with the periodontal pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis causes a strong local inflammatory reaction. Using IFNgamma-deficient mice, we tested the hypothesis that the absence of IFNgamma would result in a reduction of the local pro-inflammatory response to P. gingivalis.

Evidence for a mutual interaction between noradrenergic and serotonergic agonists in stimulation of ACTH and corticosterone secretion in the rat.

We investigated the mutual interactions between hypothalamic norepinephrine (NE) and serotonin (5-HT) in mediating the ACTH and corticosterone responses to direct stimulation of the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) with adrenergic and serotonergic agonists. The hormone responses to the intrahypothalamic injection of the alpha1-adrenergic agonist phenylephrine (20 nmol/2 microl) were significantly reduced by prior depletion of hypothalamic 5-HT with intra-PVN injection of the serotonergic neurotoxin 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine (5,7-DHT), but not after depletion of hypothalamic NE by intra-PVN injection of the noradrenergic neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA). The ACTH and corticosterone responses to intrahypothalamic injection of the 5-HT(1A) receptor agonist 8-OH-DPAT (20 n mol/2 microl) were significantly reduced by depletion of hypothalamic NE with 6-OHDA, but not after depletion of hypothalamic 5-HT with 5,7-DHT.

Effects of Porphyromonas gingivalis on the central nervous system: activation of glial cells and exacerbation of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

Background: Several studies have suggested that peripheral inflammation may be involved in the etiology of multiple sclerosis (MS), a demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS). T-cells activated in the periphery enter the CNS, leading to demyelination and axonal loss. We hypothesized that peripheral infection by Porphyromonas gingivalis can affect pathological processes in the CNS and aggravate MS.

Direct inhibitory effect of erythromycin on human alimentary tract smooth muscle.

Background: Erythromycin was found to stimulate motor activity in the upper gastrointestinal tract. However, in several smooth muscle preparations, it also elicited an inhibitory effect. Our aim was to study the effect of erythromycin in various human alimentary tract smooth muscles.

Early and late invasive pneumococcal infection following stem cell transplantation: a European Bone Marrow Transplantation survey.

Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae) may cause severe and lethal infections months and years following stem cell transplantation (SCT). In a prospective survey over a 3.

Agranulocytosis in Sjögren's syndrome: two case reports and analysis of 11 additional reported cases.

Objectives: To report 2 patients who presented with agranulocytosis that was found to be immune-mediated and associated with occult primary Sjögren's syndrome (primary SS) and to identify and study similar cases reported in the literature.

Methods: Two patients encountered in 2 large medical centers over a period of 5 years were studied in detail. All reported cases of agranulocytosis in primary SS identified through a MEDLINE search were reviewed.

Expression of p53 gene product and cell proliferation marker Ki-67 in Ewing's sarcoma: correlation with clinical outcome.

Overexpression of tumor suppressor gene p53, cell proliferation nuclear antigen Ki-67, and proto-oncogene HER-2/neu are associated with poor prognosis in some tumors. We studied p53, Ki-67, and HER-2/neu immunohistochemical expression in archival biopsies of 37 patients with Ewing's sarcoma (ES). Patients with ES were treated at four Israeli hospitals between 1982 and 2000.

Percutaneous transhepatic cholecystostomy and delayed laparoscopic cholecystectomy in critically ill patients with acute calculus cholecystitis.

Background: The ultimate therapy for acute cholecystitis is cholecystectomy. However, in critically ill elderly patients the mortality of emergency cholecystectomy may reach up to 30%. Open cholecystostomy performed under local anesthesia was considered to be the procedure of choice for treatment of acute cholecystitis in high-risk patients.

Albert Renold memorial lecture: molecular background of nutritionally induced insulin resistance leading to type 2 diabetes--from animal models to humans.

Albert Renold strived to gain insight into the abnormalities of human diabetes by defining the pathophysiology of the disease peculiar to a given animal. He investigated the Israeli desert-derived spiny mice (Acomys cahirinus), which became obese on fat-rich seed diet. After a few months hyperplasia and hypertrophy of beta-cells occurred leading to a sudden rupture, insulin loss and ketosis.

Monitoring asthma severity and response to treatment.

Guidelines for the management of asthma rely on various methods of assessing severity and how it changes in order to select the appropriate treatment. These methods have been developed from the basic clinical skills of history taking and physical examination to which attempts at improving objectivity have been added, such as the use of asthma diaries, the home recording of peak expiratory flow (PEF) or measurements of bronchial reactivity. The present review was an attempt to determine to what extent monitoring asthma by various techniques is justified.

Orbital growth retardation in retinoblastoma survivors: work in progress.

Background: Orbital growth retardation, after enucleation and/or external beam radiation for retinoblastoma (RB), is a serious late effect. We measured orbital volumes of RB survivors treated at Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem, between 1980-1998.

Procedure: Forty-five orbits of 28 children with RB (17 bilateral, 11 unilateral) were examined.

Renal effects of nabumetone, a COX-2 antagonist: impairment of function in isolated perfused rat kidneys contrasts with preserved renal function in vivo.

The constitutive cyclooxygenase (COX)-1 enzyme has been considered the physiologically important isoform for prostaglandin synthesis in the normal kidney. It has, therefore, been suggested that selective inhibitors of the 'inducible' isoform (COX-2) may be free from renal adverse effects. We studied the renal effects of the predominantly COX-2 antagonist nabumetone in isolated perfused kidneys.

Exhaled nitric oxide and asthma in young children.

Exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) has been used to diagnose asthma in adults and children using either the slow vital capacity method (SVCm) or, in younger children, the tidal breathing method (TBm). Adenosine 5'-monophosphate (AMP) challenge also has been found to be a sensitive and specific test for the diagnosis of asthma. In the present study, we used the AMP provocation concentration that caused wheezing (PCW) to confirm the diagnosis of asthma (PCW < or = 200 mg/mL).

Electrical stimulation of the dorsal hippocampus caused a long lasting inhibition of ACTH and adrenocortical responses to photic stimuli in freely moving rats.

The effect of a single train of electrical hippocampal stimulation on ACTH and corticosterone (CS) responses to subsequent photic stimulation was studied in freely moving male rats. The hippocampal stimulation inhibited the stress-induced rise [corrected] in serum CS levels up to 150 h when compared to sham stimulated animals. This effect did not exist at 300 h following stimulation.

[Sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer: a validation study and preliminary results].

Introduction: Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) has been recently proven to be an accurate staging method for breast cancer, replacing axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) in selected cases. We present our initial experience and the process of introduction and implementation of SLNB in a University Hospital setting.

Material And Methods: 46 SLNB were performed in 42 consecutive female patients with invasive breast cancer.

[Choice of infusion site--differences in the references of staff (nurses and residents) and patients].

Insertion of an intravenous (i.v.) line is a common and routine procedure in hospitalized patients.