Hypercholesterolemia impairs vascular remodelling after porcine coronary angioplasty

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of hypercholesterolemia on neointima formation and vascular remodelling after porcine coronary angioplasty. METHODS: Left anterior descending coronary angioplasty was carried out in five control and 16 age-matched hypercholesterolemic miniature pigs. Vascular remodelling was measured by intravascular ultrasound. Neointima size and composition were assessed by quantitative image analysis. Coronary smooth muscle cells (SMC) from control and diet pigs were collected 1 h after angioplasty for in vitro study of the effect of hypercholesterolemic serum on SMC migration and of macrophage-induced matrix degradation on SMC adhesion. RESULTS: Twenty-eight days after angioplasty, lumen increase was 0.08+/-1.7 mm(2) in diet and 2.7+/-2.7 mm(2) (P=0.016) in control pigs. Lumen increase correlated with vascular remodelling (IEL(post)/IEL(pre); R(2)=0.59; P<0.001) and with the circumferential gain relative to the neointima (R(2)=0.32; P<0.01) but not with neointimal area that was similar in control and diet pigs. Circumferential gain correlated with VSMC deposition at the site of the injury (R(2)=0.28; P<0.01) that correlated with organized collagen (R(2)=0.34; P<0.01). The VSMC and collagen content of neointima in diet pigs was lower whereas the macrophage content was higher. Hypercholesterolemic serum and oxidised LDL reduced migration of VSMC from diet pigs. Macrophage-induced degradation of VSMC extracellular matrix reduced VSMC adhesion (P=0.015). CONCLUSION: Hypercholesterolemia impairs vascular remodelling of balloon-treated coronary arteries. It decreases VSMC and collagen accumulation at the site of injury. Our in vitro data suggest that this decrease can be due to macrophage-induced matrix degradation and reduced VSMC adhesion and to impaired VSMC migration. Oxidised LDL mimics the inhibitory effect of hypercholesterolemic serum.     

Mannose-binding lectin gene polymorphism, vulvovaginal candidiasis, and bacterial vaginosis

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate associations between polymorphisms in the gene coding for mannose-binding lectin (MBL) and the diagnosis of acute or recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis and bacterial vaginosis METHODS: Women at two outpatient clinics in Brazil filled out a questionnaire and were examined for the presence of vulvovaginal candidiasis or bacterial vaginosis. A buccal swab was blindly tested for codons 54 and 57 MBL2 gene polymorphisms by polymerase chain reaction and endonuclease digestion. RESULTS: A total of 177 women were enrolled. Vulvovaginal candidiasis was identified in 78 (44.1%) women, 33 (18.6%) had bacterial vaginosis, and 66 (37.3%) were normal controls. Recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis was present in 50 (64.1%) of the women with vulvovaginal candidiasis; 20 (60.6%) of the bacterial vaginosis patients had recurrent disease. Vulvovaginal candidiasis was associated with white race (P=.007), bacterial vaginosis was associated with nonwhite race (P=.05), and both were associated with a history of allergy (P< or =.02) and having sexual intercourse at least three times a week (P<.001). Carriage of the variant MBL2 codon 54 allele B was more frequent in women with recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis (25.0%) than in the women with acute vulvovaginal candidiasis (17.9%) or controls (10.6%) (P=.004). Allele B was also more prevalent in women with recurrent bacterial vaginosis (22.5%) than in those with acute bacterial vaginosis (0%) (P=.009). The MBL2 codon 57 polymorphism was infrequent and not associated with vulvovaginal candidiasis or bacterial vaginosis. CONCLUSION: The incidence of vulvovaginal candidiasis and bacterial vaginosis differs by ethnicity in Brazilian women. The MBL2 codon 54 gene polymorphism is associated with both recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis and recurrent bacterial vaginosis.     

Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) imaging reveals cholesterol overload in the cerebral cortex of Alzheimer disease patients

Although cholesterol has been involved in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer disease (AD), its distribution in the cerebral cortex over the course of AD is unknown. We describe an original method to quantify cholesterol distribution using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry imaging. Cholesterol was unevenly distributed along the cortical thickness, being more abundant close to the white matter, in both control and AD cases. However, the mean cholesterol signal was significantly higher in the lower half of the cortex in AD samples compared to controls. This increase, when converted into cortical layers, was statistically significant for layers III and IV and did not reach significance in layers V + VI, the variability being too high at the interface between grey and white matter. The density of neurofibrillary tangles and of senile plaques was not statistically linked to the abundance of cholesterol. Cholesterol overload thus appears a new and independent alteration of AD cerebral cortex. The structure in which cholesterol accumulates and the mechanism of this accumulation remain to be elucidated.     

How to quantify iron in an aqueous or biological matrix: a technical note

Iron oxide (nano)particles are powerful contrast agents for MRI and tags for magnetic cellular labeling. The need for quantitative methods to evaluate the iron content of contrast media solutions and biological matrixes is thus obvious. Several convenient methods aiming at the quantification of iron from iron oxide nanoparticle‐containing samples are presented. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

History of previous nasal diseases and sinonasal cancer: a case-control study.

A case-control study on cancer of the nose and paranasal sinuses, and several risk factors including previous nasal diseases and symptoms, was performed in France from January 1986 through February 1988. The frequency of previous nasal diseases and symptoms was analyzed by histologic type of cancer. Different results were observed for squamous cell carcinomas and adenocarcinomas. In men, there were statistically significant associations between squamous cell carcinomas and sinusitis, bleeding from the nose, polyps, rhinitis, and trauma to the nose; and between adenocarcinomas, bleeding from the nose, and rhinitis. In women, there was an association between squamous cell carcinomas and nasal polyps.     

Two functional equations preserving functional forms

Two functional equations are considered that are motivated by three considerations: work in utility theory and psychophysics, questions concerning when pairs of degree 1 homogeneous functions can be homomorphic and calculating their homomorphisms, and the link of the latter questions to quasilinear mean values. The first equation is h(σ(y)x + [1 - σ(y)]y) = τ(y)h(x) + [1 - τ(y)]h(y) (x ≥ y ≥ 0), where h maps [0, ∞[into a subset of [0, ∞[and is strictly increasing and continuously differentiable; the functions σ and τ map [0, ∞[continuously into [0,1], σ(y) > 0 for y > 0 but σ is not 1 on]0, ∞[. The solutions are fully determined. (Recently Zsolt Páles has eliminated the differentiability assumption.) The second equation is h[y + f(x - y)] = h(y) + g[h(x) - h(y)] (x ≥ y ≥ 0), where h maps [0, ∞[onto a subinterval of positive length of [0, ∞[and is strictly increasing and twice continuously differentiable, f and g map [0, ∞[onto[0, ∞[and are twice differentiable, and either f"(0) ≠ 0 or g"(0) ≠ 0. The solutions are fully determined under these conditions. When f"(0) = g"(0) = 0 and h" is not identically zero, we determine the solutions under the added assumption of analyticity. It remains an open problem to find the solutions in the latter case under the assumption of only second order differentiability. A more general open problem is to eliminate all differentiability conditions for the second equation.     

Acute hypoxic encephalopathy in the full-term newborn: correlation between Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and neurological evaluation at short and long term

PURPOSE: To determine which brain metabolite ratios have the strongest correlation with poor neurological outcome in newborns with perinatal asphyxia, whether the correlation is stronger with basal ganglia (BG) and whether a combined approach using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) can be used to evaluate the severity of neonatal asphyxia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty newborns with perinatal asphyxia were studied within the first week from the hypoxic insult with MRI and MRS. The MRS variables were compared with the assessment of general movements (GMs). The brain metabolite levels measured by MRS were N-acetylaspartate (NAA), creatine (Cr), choline (Cho) and lactate and the ratios NAA to Cr, Lac to Cr, Cho to Cr, mI to Cr. RESULTS: High lactate levels and low NAA levels were found in the newborns with the worst outcome; the levels in newborns with good outcome were within normal limits. CONCLUSIONS: Correlations between NAA/Cr and Lac/Cr ratios, general movements and outcome at 6 months are stronger in the basal ganglia regions than in the frontal border zone. The presence or absence of lactate may indicate the severity of the brain insult and the combination of MRS, MRI and evaluation of general movements may assist in localising and predicting a long-term brain injury.