Early deficits in olfaction are associated with structural and molecular alterations in the olfactory system of a Huntington disease mouse model.

Olfactory dysfunction and altered neurogenesis are observed in several neurodegenerative disorders including Huntington disease (HD). These deficits occur early and correlate with a decline in global cognitive performance, depression and structural abnormalities of the olfactory system including the olfactory epithelium, bulb and cortices. However, the role of olfactory system dysfunction in the pathogenesis of HD remains poorly understood and the mechanisms underlying this dysfunction are unknown. We show that deficits in odour identification, discrimination and memory occur in HD individuals. Assessment of the olfactory system in an HD murine model demonstrates structural abnormalities in the olfactory bulb (OB) and piriform cortex, the primary cortical recipient of OB projections. Furthermore, a decrease in piriform neuronal counts and altered expression levels of neuronal nuclei and tyrosine hydroxylase in the OB are observed in the YAC128 HD model. Similar to the human HD condition, olfactory dysfunction is an early phenotype in the YAC128 mice and concurrent with caspase activation in the murine HD OB. These data provide a link between the structural olfactory brain region atrophy and olfactory dysfunction in HD and suggest that cell proliferation and cell death pathways are compromised and may contribute to the olfactory deficits in HD.

La proliferación celular (fase S) en carcinomas escamosos de pulmón. Aspectos clínico-biológicos / Cell proliferations (S phase) in lung squamous cell carcinomas. Clinico-biological aspects

No disponible (AU)

Grado nuclear en punciones de carcinoma de mama: características ópticas y análisis de imagen / Nuclear grade in breast carcinoma aspirates: optical features and image analysis

Planteamiento: Establecer la fiabilidad de unos parámetros subjetivos (tamaño y pleomorfismo nuclear, nucléolo y grado de dispersión celular) utilizados para establecer el grado nuclear de malignidad en punciones de mama, mediante su comparación con un examen morfométrico a través de un proceso digital de imagen. Material y métodos: El trabajo se realizó con 60 punciones con aguja fina (PAAF) correspondientes a carcinoma ductal infiltrante de mama. En primer lugar se estableció en cada una de las PAAF el grado nuclear mediante observación al microscopio. A continuación se realizó el estudio morfométrico, seleccionando una serie de parámetros (área, perímetro, diámetro máximo, forma circular y forma rugosa). Resultados: En el examen microscópico, 21 casos (35 por ciento) correspondieron a un grado nuclear I, 31 casos (51,7 por ciento) a un grado nuclear II y ocho casos (13,3 por ciento) a un grado nuclear III. Se estableción un estudio comparativo microscópico/morfométrico, así como una correlación entre los grados nucleares y los resultados morfométricos de los diferentes marámetros estudiados. con respecto al tamaño y el área media, existió una correlación estadísticamente significativa (P<0,05) con los grados subjetivos. En cuanto al pleomorfismo y la desviación estándar media, también la correlación fue significativa (p<0,05). Conclusiones: Los parámetros citológicos que mejor representan al grado nuclear son el tamaño de los núcleos y el pleomorfismo de los mismos, siendo además los que mejor se correlacionan con los resultados morfométricos (AU)

[Cardiac radionuclide scanning with 99mTc-MIBI-SPECT in acute myocardial infarction]. / Gammagrafía cardiaca con 99mTc-MIBI-SPECT en el infarto agudo de miocardio.

Several studies point out the importance of what is called rescue angioplasty or fibrinolysis (FB) when thrombolysis has been ineffective in acute myocardial infaction (AMI). Therefore, it is necessary to make use of new methods to asses reperfusion and to safely establish that such a treatment has not been effective. We present a work which is based on the assessment of patients with acute coronary heart disease: AMI patients treated with FB (N = 48), without FB (N = 15), unstable angina (N = 9); after determining cardiac imaging gammagraphies 99mTc-isonitrile-single-photon emission computed tomography (MIBI-SPECT) pre and post treatment, to assess myocardium at risk (MR), salvage (MS) and the existence or not of gammagraphic reperfusion. Unstable angina patients show a myocardial perfusion that is similar to AMI patients. However, in the case of unstable angina, perfusion is practically of a 100% 48 hours later, having almost completely saved the myocardium at risk (MS/MR = 81.5% +/- 27.7%), and with a non-existent residual myocardium (3.2% +/- 5.8%). In AMI patients treated with FB the salvage myocardium was higher [8.3 vs 3.0; p < 0.05). Considering that an improvement in perfusion defect (MS/MR)] higher than 30% can be viewed as an effective reperfusion, we can see that all the patients with unstable angina show reperfusion, the percentage in the AMI group treated with FB being 45.8%, and the percentage in the AMI group under conventional treatment being just 6.7%. Gammagraphy with 99mTc-MIBI-SPECT at admission allowed assessing regional perfusion in AMI patients during the early stage of their evolution. With a second exploration we could determine the amount of salvage myocardium and the existence of secondary reperfusion to FB treatment.

Diagnosis of prosthetic vascular graft infection by technetium-99m-HMPAO-labeled leukocytes.

UNLABELLED: The purpose of this study was to determine the usefulness of 99mTc-HMPAO-labeled leukocyte scans in the diagnosis of prosthetic vascular graft infection. METHODS: We performed 75 scans in 61 patients with vascular grafts. Thirty-six patients were evaluated for suspected infection and 25 were control patients. Scintigraphic images were performed at 5 min, 30 min, 3 hr and, occasionally, 24 hr. Persistent increased uptake at 3 hr along the suspected area of the graft was considered evidence of graft infection. RESULTS: All 20 infected grafts were detected with 99mTc-HMPAO leukocyte scan. The sensitivity and specificity of the scan in the detection of infected graft were 100%. We also detected two pelvic abscesses, two infected fistulae, two soft-tissue infections, three cases of ischemic colitis, one acute diverticulitis, one infected hematoma, one septic arthritis and one noninfected hematoma. One patient with a superficial groin infection had a negative scan. The eight pseudoaneurysms did not show scintigraphic evidence of graft infection. Correlative CT studies were performed in 12 cases. CONCLUSION: Technetium-99m-HMPAO-labeled leukocyte scan is an accurate and valuable diagnostic method for evaluation of suspected prosthetic vascular graft infection.

Iron toxicity studies of quelamycin.

A previous phase I study demonstrated excessive generalized toxicity (20 of 21 patients) and cardiotoxicity (eight of 21 patients) of single-day intermittent quelamycin (NSC-267703) treatment, and a modified schedule was recommended to overcome this acute toxicity. In the present study, 40 mg/m2 of quelamycin was administered iv on 2 or 3 consecutive days. This 2- or 3-day course was associated with a decrease in the incidence of general symptoms (five of nine patients) and a decrease in cardiotoxicity (none of nine patients). In addition, patients receiving multiple courses of quelamycin were evaluated. Clinical and pathologic findings supported the diagnosis of early hemochromatosis. In conclusion, quelaymcin administration was associated with acute and chronic iron-overloading toxicity. Acute iron toxicity was prevented by the administration of quelamycin at a dose of 40 mg/m2 iv on 3 consecutive days. On the other hand, hemochromatosis was an unexpected finding which requires further investigations before this drug is acceptable for broader studies.