Bronchogenic and esophageal cyst with laryngeal malformations in a thoroughbred foal.

This report documents an unusual case of congenital foregut cyst with dysphagia and stridor in a Thoroughbred foal. Histologically, the bilocular cyst, near the junction of larynx and trachea, had an epithelial lining of bronchogenic and esophageal origin. Concomitant malformation of the laryngeal muscles and cartilage resulted in a combination of anomalies that have not been reported in the human or veterinary literature.

Sensitivity and specificity of photopic negative response of focal electoretinogram to detect glaucomatous eyes.

AIMS: To determine the sensitivity and specificity of the photopic negative response (PhNR) of the focal electroretinograms (ERG; focal PhNR) to detect glaucomatous eyes with different degrees of visual field defects. METHODS: One-hundred and fourteen eyes of 114 patients with open angle glaucoma and 42 eyes of 42 normal controls were studied. The focal ERGs were elicited by a 15 degrees stimulus spot centred on the macula, and on the supero-temporal and on the infero-temporal areas of the macula. The receiver operating characteristic curves were determined to obtain optimal cut-off values. Eyes were classified as being glaucomatous when their focal PhNRs were less than the cut-off values in either retinal area (combined criterion). RESULTS: The focal PhNR amplitudes were significantly reduced with an advance in the stage of glaucoma. In early glaucoma, the sensitivities of the PhNR measured for each retinal area ranged from 58.1% to 80.7%. The sensitivities were significantly increased to 90.6% and 96.9% for the focal PhNR amplitude and the focal PhNR/b-wave amplitude ratio, respectively, when the combined criterion was employed. The specificity was >90%. CONCLUSIONS: Focal PhNRs have diagnostic ability in detecting early glaucoma with high sensitivity and specificity, especially when the combined criterion is used.

Modulation of the growth of Plasmodium falciparum in vitro by protein serine/threonine phosphatase inhibitors.

To elucidate the physiological roles of the protein serine/threonine phosphatases of P. falciparum, first we identified and characterized phosphatase activities of Plasmodium falciparum enzymologically and pharmacologically. We have demonstrated that P. falciparum possesses phosphatase-1-like activities predominantly over phosphatase-2A-like activities, while erythrocytes possess mainly phosphatase-2A-like activities. Then, we examined the effects of okadaic acid and calyculin A, potent inhibitors of protein phosphatase 1 and 2A, on the growth of P. falciparum in vitro. Both of the drugs inhibited parasite growth dose dependently. The manner of growth inhibition by calyculin A and okadaic acid suggested that these drugs inhibit parasite growth mainly by inhibiting parasite phosphatase-1-like activities. Both drugs were shown to inhibit the growth of three different developmental stages of parasites--ring forms, trophozoites, and schizonts--and inhibit trophozoites the most. This is the first report on P. falciparum protein serine/threonine phosphatase activities, which are essential to regulate the erythrocytic stage of parasite growth.