Painful ophthalmoplegia in a patient with a history of marginal zone lymphoma.

A 73-year-old man with a history of marginal zone lymphoma was admitted to the emergency room for diplopia and ipsilateral headache. The Fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) demonstrated intense and symmetrical hypermetabolism of the cavernous sinuses, and hypermetabolic lesions diffusely in the lymph nodes and bones. The diagnosis of high-grade relapse of lymphomatous disease was made. In this context, the homogenous and symmetric lesion of the cavernous sinuses, without any other encephalic or meningeal lesions, raised the hypothesis of a paraneoplastic origin. A plausible paraneoplastic link between the neuro-ophthalmological lesion and the malignant disorder is IgG4-related disease, a condition that may be associated with lymphoma. As in our case, this diagnosis is often presumptive because histopathological confirmation is difficult to obtain.

Analysis of heart rate variability with correlation dimension method in a normal population and in heart transplant patients.

INTRODUCTION: The correlation dimension (CD) method is related to chaos theory and is used to quantify heart rate variability (HRV). The CD is a measure for the amount of correlations present in the signal. METHODS: The algorithm used to calculate the CD is based on the method of Grassberger and Proccacia. The method was first validated on signals with known CD and then applied to HRV-signals of heart transplants and an age-matched control group of healthy subjects. The CD of the corresponding surrogate time series was calculated to investigate non-linear correlations in the HRV-signal. Circadian variations of the CD were studied in 20 healthy subjects, including men and women. RESULTS: The value of the CD for healthy subjects ranged from 2.12 to 5.53 with a mean value of 4.32. For heart transplants, only a few time series showed a finite value of the CD that varied between 2.10 and 5.60. Also, a significant difference was found between the CD of the original and the surrogate time series in healthy subjects. The CD of women is higher than the CD of men, and this difference was more pronounced during the night than during the day. CONCLUSIONS: This limited study shows that the CD alone cannot be used to make a distinction between HRV-signals of healthy subjects and of heart transplants. However, there is evidence that there are non-linear correlations present in the HRV-signal and that there are significant gender and circadian differences in the CD.

Ruminal phosphorus availability from several feedstuffs measured by the nylon bag technique.

The present study was aimed at determining rumen phosphorus availability of some feedstuffs assessed with the nylon bag technique: forage (alfalfa), cereals (control-C wheat, formaldehyde treated-FT wheat, barley, corn), cereal by-products (wheat bran, wheat distillers, corn distillers) and meals (C and FT soya bean meals, rapeseed meals and sunflower meals). Rumen phosphorus availability was not uniform amongst the feedstuffs, varying from 33.1% (FT rapeseed meal) to 84.7% (C wheat). Alfalfa phosphorus release kinetics showed high bacterial phosphorus contamination. Technological treatments affected phosphorus content of by-products by either increasing (wheat bran and distillers) or decreasing (corn distillers) after germ extraction from the seed. Formaldehyde treatment decreasing rumen phosphorus availability (from 77.2% vs. 89.4% for wheat to 33.1% vs. 64.4% for the rapeseed meal) may depreciate the phosphorus nutritional value of FT meals.

Kinetics of particulate and solute marker passage in sheep supplemented with cationomycin and lasalocid antibiotics. Comparisons among methods for calculating mean retention time.

Passage of particulate and solute markers in the digestive tract was studied in sheep fed a roughage-pelleted diet supplemented or not with ionophore antibiotics. Methods of marker administration (continuous infusion vs pulse-dose) and mathematical treatment of data were investigated. Antibiotic supplementation did not affect markers' mean retention time (MRT) significantly, regardless of sampling site, technique of marker administration or MRT calculation methods used. The pulse dose technique led to 20-30% higher estimate of particle markers MRT in the entire gut and stomachs of sheep than did the continuous infusion method. Similar results were obtained between these methods for solute markers MRT at both sampling sites. Total MRT in the digestive tract could be partitioned among compartments using a deterministic model when applied to pulse-dose kinetics. Such a partitioning appeared unsatisfactory with continuous-infusion data. Estimations of particle or solute markers MRT in the rumen from duodenal and faecal marker kinetics were significantly different and rarely correlated.

Ultrasound: a method for kidney size monitoring in children.

Normal kidneys were studied echographically in 170 children from 0-15 years of age. The length, thickness, width, volume and largest sagittal and transverse areas were measured and plotted against the children's height and body surface to establish standard growth curves. The usefulness of this non-invasive inter- and intra-individual estimation of renal size in following the progress of kidney alteration in children was illustrated in one case of malakoplakia and one case of parenchymal scars.

Control of adenosine-3',5'-monophosphate level in human amnion by prostaglandin E1 and isoproterenol.

The adenosine-3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP) level in human amnion has been measured in vitro during short-term incubations, with or without prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) or isoproterenol. Concentration-response and kinetic curves were obtained. Isoproterenol and PGE1 stimulated cAMP production by amnion in a time-dependent manner. The stimulating effect of isoproterenol and noradrenalin on cAMP level was abolished by the addition of propranolol. Our study, demonstrating cAMP production by amniotic membranes and its stimulation by PGE1 and beta-agonists, suggests that hormones could modulate the amniotic cell metabolism through the cAMP system.

Effects of actinomycin D and estrogen priming on decidual growth in ovariectomized mice.

Ovariectomized mice were primed for 2 days with estradiol and/or actinomycin D. In order to evaluate the effects of these treatments on endometrial cell proliferation, colchicine and [3H]-thymidine were administered shortly before killing groups of animals at days 4 and 5 after priming (the latter groups received 500 micrograms progesterone plus 10 ng estradiol 24 h before killing). The same priming treatments were administered 3 days before starting hormonal treatment eliciting uterine sensitivity to decidualization (incuded by intrauterine oil injection). The comparison of labeling and mitotic indices and of decidual tissue weights between experimental groups showed that under such conditions: (1) actinomycin D only partly inhibits the effects of estrogen priming: the increase in cell division obtained on day 4 after priming remains unchanged in all three endometrial components while the increase in stromal mitotic activity at day 5 and further decidual growth are reduced, (2) since the inhibition rate of these parameters is greater in non-primed than in primed animals, it appears that estrogen priming counteracts the antagonistic action of actinomycin D.

Effects of uterine distension and oestradiol on cell kinetics in the endometrial epithelium of ovariectomized rats.

Cell kinetics in the uterine epithelium of ovariectomized rats were studied after uterine distension and/or an oestradiol injection, by cumulative 3H-TdR labelling and percentage of labelled mitoses (PLM). With both methods it was found that distension shortens the total cell cycle at the expense of G1 more than does oestradiol. Both treatments act in a cumulative manner since the greatest reduction in T c is observed after distension plus oestradiol. PLM curves showed that distension and/or oestradiol induce a 30% reduction S phase duration. The evolution of percentages of labelled cells and colchicine-blocked mitoses after these treatments confirms their additive effects and indicates that the mitogenic action of oestradiol is delayed compared to that of distension. It is suggested that these factors stimulate epithelial cell division in the uterus through partly different metabolic channels.

Compartmentalization and movement of calcium in the thyroid.

The present work suggests that in dog thyroid tissue Ca2+ is distributed at least in two compartments (A) and (B). Compartment (A) could be the extracellular space, and extracellular binding sites for Ca2+. The uptake of Ca2+ in this compartment is increased and the release is decreased at 0 degrees C. The release is not influenced by the ionophore A23187 or by metabolic inhibitors (NaF, iodoacetate, dinitrophenol) or by thyrotropin (TSH). Compartment (B) is defined functionally as a slowly exchangeable store of Ca2+. Uptake and release from this compartment are temperature dependent. The release is accelerated by A23187 and by antimycin A, this suggests an intracellular, presumably mitochondrial, location. TSH stimulates the efflux of Ca2+ originating from the cellular compartment (B). Our data are compatible with the hypothesis that, as in other tissues, the translocations of stored intracellular calcium may be a crucial step in the activation of the thyroid cell.

Hormonal control of pinocytosis in the uterine epithelium of the rat.

Ovariectomized rats were treated with oestradiol-17 beta and/or progesterone to mimic the hormonal parameters inducing uterine sensitivity for implantation. The degree of pinocytosis of trypan blue and ferritin in the endometrial cells was examined. Significant epithelial pinocytosis of trypan blue occurred after a 3-day treatment of progesterone, and uptake was independently increased by priming with oestrogen and by oestradiol given on the 3rd day of progesterone treatment. Progesterone treatment caused uptake of ferritin by the epithelial cells; in control animals epithelial and stromal cells were involved. Oestrogen priming enhanced ferritin absorption, while 'nidatory' oestrogen had no effect. Oestradiol given alone completely blocked pinocytosis of both intraluminally injected substances.

Inability of actinomycin D to act upon the uterine refractory state resulting from nidatory oestrogen action in rats.

After priming with oestradiol, ovariectomized rats were given 6 days of progesterone treatment in which two doses of 50 ng oestradiol were superimposed on days 3 and 6. This basic regimen allows the oestradiol-induced (1st injection) inhibition of uterine sensitivity to decidual stimuli to appear. Actinomycin D given instead of, or together with, the first dose of oestradiol could not mimic, or prevent oestrogen action in the occurrence of the uterine refractory state. This drug was unable to interfere with the minimal 48 h progesterone treatment which is requisite to uterine sensitization. Our results together with other data from the literature, suggest that luteal hormones do not need to act at the transcriptional level to sensitize and desensitize the uterus to implantation.

[Cycloheximide has no effect on the conditioning of the uterus for implantation by certain ovarian steroids]. / Inactivité de la cycloheximide sur certains effets des stéroides ovariens responsables du conditionnement de l'utérus à la nidation

Cycloheximide was unable to induce or inhibit the appearance of the refractory state to decidualization which is normally obtained by a small dose of oestrogen given to the progesterone-dominated uterus. Neither was this inhibitor capable of preventing progesterone from sensitizing the uterus to decidualizing stimuli. These results suggest that certain effects of luteal steroids in endometrial cells do not depend on RNA translation.