Increased level of phosphorylated akt measured by chemiluminescence-linked immunosorbent assay is a predictor of poor prognosis in primary breast cancer overexpressing ErbB-2

Introduction  

Akt1, Akt2 and Akt3 kinases are downstream components of phosphoinositol 3-kinase derived signals from receptor tyrosine kinases, which influence cell growth, proliferation and survival. Akt2 overexpression and amplification have been described in breast, ovarian and pancreatic cancers. The present study was designed to investigate the prognostic significance of activated Akt in primary breast cancer and its association with other tumour biomarkers.     

Neurophysiological field potential analysis by microcomputer

A system is described for digitizing, storing, displaying, analyzing, and creating hardcopy drawings of electrophysiological field potential data, based on the Apple II microprocessor. The system uses commercially available hardware and user oriented software written in BASIC.     

Towards economy of effort in quantitative ultrastructural pathology: efficient sampling schemes for studying experimental carcinogenesis

Hamster cheek pouch mucosa was painted with DMBA in order to compare samples of epithelium at different pathological stages of carcinogenesis. Stereological methods were applied to ultrathin sections of tissue to estimate one ultrastructural index of change, the surface ratio of lamina densa compared with the overlying plasma membrane of cells in stratum basale. Analysis of variance techniques were then employed to isolate and quantify the contributions which different levels of sampling (animals, tissue blocks, microscopic fields) made to the total observed variation in this surface ratio. Economical sampling schemes for future use were calculated from the sampling variances by taking into account the relative costs at each sampling level. Though illustrated by means of the hamster cheek pouch-DMBA model, our results are pertinent to many other experimental models for quantitative histopathology.     

Parenting the premature infant: balancing vulnerability and quality of life

BACKGROUND: Relationships between child quality of life (QOL), maternal well-being and parenting were explored in a questionnaire study. METHOD: Mothers of 126 full-term (FT) and 91 pre-term (PT) infants during the child's second year of life completed measures of their own and the child's quality of life and behavioural difficulties. We developed a measure of parenting style derived from Regulatory Focus Theory (RFT), to distinguish greater reported use of promotion as opposed to prevention strategies (emphasising gains rather than losses, and encouraging pursuit of goals rather than prevention of harm). RESULTS: The two groups of mothers showed no differences on the parenting measure, but those in the PT compared with the FT group described their infant as having lower QOL and more behavioural and mood problems, and rated their own well-being as less satisfactory. Greater use of promotion was associated with reports of fewer difficulties (better QOL) for the child and better mothers' well-being. Differences in mothers' well-being as a function of group (FT vs. PT) and promotion were strongly mediated by mothers' perceptions of their child's difficulties. At the same time, associations with child difficulties were partly mediated by mothers' well-being, suggesting that maternal distress may have partly contributed to higher perceptions of such difficulties. Among PT infants, the degree of prematurity predicted child difficulties, but was not consistently related to mothers' well-being. DISCUSSION: Mothers of PT infants report more physical health and behavioural difficulties than mothers of FT infants, but specific parenting styles can contribute to child difficulties and QOL in both infants and their mothers. CONCLUSION: We conclude that RFT has potential for understanding the conflicts experienced by parents caring for vulnerable children.     

CINRG randomized controlled trial of creatine and glutamine in Duchenne muscular dystrophy

We tested the efficacy and safety of glutamine (0.6 gm/kg/day) and creatine (5 gm/day) in 50 ambulant boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy in a 6-month, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Drug efficacy was tested by measuring muscle strength manually (34 muscle groups) and quantitatively (10 muscle groups). Timed functional tests, functional parameters, and pulmonary function tests were secondary outcome measures. Although there was no statistically significant effect of either therapy based on manual and quantitative measurements of muscle strength, a disease-modifying effect of creatine in older Duchenne muscular dystrophy and creatine and glutamine in younger Duchenne muscular dystrophy cannot be excluded. Creatine and glutamine were well tolerated.     

Morphometric evidence that villous development and fetoplacental angiogenesis are compromised by intrauterine growth restriction but not by pre-eclampsia

The aim of this study was to compare morphometric measures of villous development, villous capillarization, fetoplacental angiogenesis and capillary lumen remodelling in normal pregnancies with those complicated by intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) with and without preeclampsia (PE). To this end, term placentas from control pregnancies (n = 9) and cases of IUGR alone (n = 5), PE alone (n = 5) and IUGR with PE (n = 5) provided random samples of tissue. These were fixed in formalin and Masson trichrome-stained wax sections were analysed stereologically. Overall growth of peripheral villi and fetal capillaries was assessed by estimating total volumes, surface areas and lengths. Villous capillarization was monitored using volume, surface and length densities and capillary:villus surface and length ratios. Measures of villous maturation and capillary lumen remodelling comprised mean cross-sectional areas, perimeters and shapes (perimeter(2)/area). Between-group comparisons were drawn using two-way analysis of variance. IUGR was associated with abnormal growth of villi and fetal capillaries. Reduced villous growth was not accompanied by changes in measures of villous capillarization or maturation and reduced capillary growth was not accompanied by changes in lumen calibre or shape. In contrast, PE was not associated with any main or interaction effects on placental morphometry. It is concluded that IUGR, but not PE, is associated with impoverished villous development and fetoplacental angiogenesis. The latter is due to production of fewer and/or shorter capillary segments (rather than a decrease in capillary calibre), does not affect villous capillarization and is not accompanied by luminal remodelling.