[Transrectal echographic micturitional evaluation of bladder neck pathology]. / Valutazione ecografica trans-rettale perminizionale della patologia del collo vescicale.

Dynamic transrectal echography is the primary method to evaluate bladder neck diseases during micturition for its safety, noninvasiveness and excellent imaging. In order to find some features for every kind of disease, we have examined 32 patients with BPH, Carcinoma, Marion disease and also evaluated the morphological images after prostate surgery. Enlargement of the prostate gland may restrict the urethral lumen and deviate its intra-prostate way, such that the urethra can't be allocated in one sagittal echographic plane. The third lobe, when it exists, can act like a valve against the urine flow. Prostate carcinoma, at first, can be asymptomatic on urodynamic study. Urethral invasion and its organic stenosis is shown by a very thin, longer and irregular profiles. Bladder neck sclerosis is an unusual disease, but its diagnosis can be easy if a posterior "beak" at internal meatus level, urethral dilatation after stenosis and positive Stop-Test exist. After surgery, one can observe full relaxation of the internal sphincter and the voluntary skeletal sphincter, located at the level of the membranous urethra, providing itself a continence mechanism.

Doxorubicin and m-AMSA induced DNA damage in blast cells from AML patients.

We investigated m-AMSA or doxorubicin (Dx) induced DNA single-strand breaks (DNA-SSB) in myeloid leukemia cells obtained from 8 adult patients suffering from AML. Highly purified AML cells were stimulated to proliferate with the addition of the appropriate growth factor (GCT) and exposed to different concentrations of m-AMSA or Dx for 1 or 4 h, respectively. DNA-SSB were determined by alkaline elution techniques. Either the kinetics or the amounts of DNA-SSB caused by both topoisomerase II inhibitors were variable among different cases. By increasing m-AMSA concentrations there was a concomitant increase in DNA-SSB up to a plateau at the highest concentrations. Dx induced DNA-SSB followed a bell shape curve with a decrease in the number of breaks at the highest concentrations that was evident in most cases. The interindividual variability of Dx-induced DNA-SSB was not correlated with intracellular Dx concentrations as assessed by flow cytometry. No correlation was evident between the amount of DNA breaks induced by m-AMSA and that induced by Dx. These data suggest that AML cells derived from different patients are not necessarily cross-sensitive or cross-resistant to topoisomerase II inhibitors with different chemical structures such as amsacrine or anthracyclines.