Left ventricular global longitudinal strain calculated from manually traced endocardial border lengths utilizing the images for routine ejection fraction measurement by biplane method of disks.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to test whether the fractional change in the endocardial border length between end-diastole and end-systole as manually traced in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) measurement using the biplane method of disks (MOD) was consistent with the global longitudinal strain derived from speckle-tracking echocardiography. METHODS: For 105 patients who underwent echocardiography, two- and four-chamber images with manually traced endocardial lines for LVEF measurement by MOD were stored. LV endocardial lengths at end-diastole and at end-systole were measured on both images to calculate the fractional length changes, which were averaged (GLSMOD). Speckle-tracking analysis was performed to measure global longitudinal strains in the apical two- and four-chamber and long-axis images, and the three values were averaged (GLSSTE) according to the ASE and EACVI guidelines. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between GLSMOD and GLSSTE. GLSMOD correlated well with GLSSTE (r = 0.81, p < 0.001), and there was no fixed bias in the Bland-Altman analysis. The intraclass correlations for the intra- and inter-observer comparisons for GLSSTE were excellent, and those for GLSMOD were adequate. CONCLUSION: The fractional LV endocardial border length change, GLSMOD, showed sufficient agreement with GLSSTE to justify its use as a substitute for the STE-derived global longitudinal strain.

Cytochrome c1 as a favorable prognostic marker in estrogen receptor-positive breast carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Cytochrome c1 (CYC1) is a heme-containing subunit of mitochondria complex III and is mainly involved in cellular energy production. A recent study has demonstrated that CYC1 was overexpressed in breast carcinoma tissues and induced proliferation, migration and invasion of estrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast carcinoma cells. However, the clinical significance of CYC1 protein remains largely unclear in invasive breast carcinoma, and biological functions of CYC1 have not been reported in ER-positive breast carcinoma cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We immunolocalized CYC1 in 172 invasive breast carcinomas and evaluated its clinical significance according to the ER-status. Subsequently, we examined the effects of CYC1 on proliferation, glycolysis and chemosensitivity to paclitaxel, which is one of the most common chemotherapeutic agents in breast cancer, in ER-positive breast carcinoma cells (MCF7 and T47D). RESULTS: CYC1 immunoreactivity was detected in 47% of ER-positive cases and 30% of ER-negative cases. Immunohistochemical CYC1 status was inversely associated with Ki67 in ER-positive cases, and it was a significantly favorable prognostic factor for both disease-free and breast cancer-specific survival of the patients. On the other hand, no significant association was detected between CYC1 status and clinicopathological factors in ER-negative cases. In in vitro experiments, MCF7 and T47D cells transfected specific siRNA for CYC1 significantly increased cell proliferation activity, L-lactate production and cell viability after paclitaxel treatment. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that CYC1 inhibits cell proliferation, glycolytic activity and increases chemosensitivity to paclitaxel in ER-positive breast carcinoma cells and that CYC1 status is a potent favorable prognostic factor in ER-positive breast cancer patients.

Evaluating the Efficacy of Double-Filtration Plasmapheresis in Treating Five Patients With Drug-Resistant Pemphigus.

Double-filtration plasmapheresis is an effective and safe treatment for pemphigus. We retrospectively evaluated the decrease in autoantibody titer and pemphigus disease area index following double-filtration plasmapheresis in five patients with moderate to severe pemphigus, who were physically and/or serologically unresponsive to 1.0 mg/kg per day of prednisolone and other supportive drugs and ointments. The percentage reduction in autoantibodies 85.6 ± 14.4% (P = 0.00014), and that in pemphigus disease area index was 75.4 ± 24.3% (P = 0.0023). No side-effects were observed. All patients exhibited clinical improvement after undergoing double-filtration plasmapheresis, and the prednisolone dose was reduced by 41 ± 8.9 mg (P = 0.0005) approximately 3 months after double-filtration plasmapheresis. To our knowledge, this is the first report evaluating the efficacy of double-filtration plasmapheresis with pemphigus disease area index, and it demonstrated that double-filtration plasmapheresis is a safe "subtracting" treatment for patients with drug-resistant pemphigus.