Case-control study of the alpha-synuclein interacting protein gene and Parkinson's disease.

We conducted a case-control study of the alpha-synuclein-interacting protein gene (SNCAIP, also known as synphilin-1) and Parkinson's disease (PD). A total of 319 PD cases and 195 controls were genotyped for four SNCAIP variants, including a microsatellite repeat in intron 4 and three restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) proximal to the 5' terminal of exons 1, 4, and 6. None of the variants were found associated with PD overall. Global score statistics were not significant for four, three, and two loci haplotypes. All four loci were in linkage disequilibrium for cases, controls, or both groups combined (P < 0.0001). Recursive partitioning showed no interactions between variants of the SNCAIP gene and variants of the alpha-synuclein gene (SNCA) or the parkin (PARK2) gene.     

Proton Overhauser enhancements in human cardiac phosphorus NMR spectroscopy at 1.5 T.

Narrowband irradiation of water protons with a surface coil yields significant nuclear Overhauser enhancement (nOe) of phosphocreatine (PCr) and some adenosine triphosphate (ATP) moieties in localized and unlocalized phosphorus (31P) NMR spectra from chest and heart muscle. In seven normal subjects at 1.5 T the nOe values were 0.6 +/- 0.3, 0.6 +/- 0.3, 0 +/- 0.3, and 0.3 +/- 0.2 for myocardial PCr, gamma-ATP, alpha-ATP, and beta-ATP, respectively, not significantly different from those in chest muscle. Distortion of the measured PCr/ATP ratios due to differences in the nOe may require accurate correction to realize the full benefit of the effect in studies involving quantitative intergroup comparisons.     

Flow cytometric analysis of cellular DNA content in Barret's esophagus. A study of 66 cases]

Dysplasia is the only marker for malignant potential in Barrett's esophagus. The histologic interpretation of dysplasia is sometimes difficult, particularly when attempting to distinguish dysplastic changes from those of a regenerating and inflammatory mucosa. In order to find an objective marker to identify patients with high risk of malignant transformation, the authors evaluated 497 biopsies from 66 patients with Barrett's esophagus with flow cytometry. The aim of the study was to correlate DNA content and proliferative abnormalities with histology. All biopsies classified histologically as negative for dysplasia had a diploid DNA content. The percentage of biopsies with an aneuploid DNA content increased with the histologic grade of dysplasia: 2 percent of indefinite dysplasia, 11 percent of low grade dysplasia, 44 percent of high grade dysplasia and 78 percent of biopsy specimens with cancer biopsies were aneuploid. Mean S and G2M fractions of diploid biopsy specimens increased with the severity of histologic changes. The S and G2M fraction threshold values that could differentiate patients that were negative for dysplasia from those with high grade dysplasia or cancer were 9 percent and 6 percent, respectively. Aneuploidy or G2M fraction greater than 6 percent was the best discriminating criteria between those two distinct groups of patients. All 6 patients with high grade dysplasia or cancer had aneuploid cell populations or increased G2M fraction, whereas none of the 35 patients whose biopsies were histologically negative for dysplasia had evidence of genomic instability or increased G2M fraction. Flow cytometric abnormalities were found in 10 out of 25 patients whose biopsies were classified as indefinite for dysplasia or low grade dysplasia.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Mycoplasma pneumoniae Induces Chronic Respiratory Infection, Airway Hyperreactivity, and Pulmonary Inflammation: a Murine Model of Infection-Associated Chronic Reactive Airway Disease

Because chronic Mycoplasma pneumoniae respiratory infection is hypothesized to play a role in asthma, the potential of M. pneumoniae to establish chronic respiratory infection with associated pulmonary disease was investigated in a murine model. BALB/c mice were intranasally inoculated once with M. pneumoniae and examined at 109, 150, 245, 368, and 530 days postinoculation. M. pneumoniae was detected in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid by culture or PCR in 70 and 22% of mice at 109 and 530 days postinoculation, respectively. Lung histopathology was normal up to 368 days postinoculation. At 530 days, however, 78% of the mice inoculated with M. pneumoniae demonstrated abnormal histopathology characterized by peribronchial and perivascular mononuclear infiltrates. A mean histopathologic score (HPS) at 530 days of 5.1 was significantly greater (P < 0.01) than that for controls (HPS score of 0). Serum anti-M. pneumoniae immunoglobulin G was detectable in all of the mice inoculated with M. pneumoniae and was inversely correlated with HPS (r = -0.95, P = 0.01) at 530 days postinoculation. Unrestrained whole-body plethysmography measurement of enhanced pause revealed significantly elevated airway methacholine reactivity in M. pneumoniae-inoculated mice compared with that in controls at 245 days (P = 0.03) and increased airway obstruction at 530 days (P = 0.01). Murine M. pneumoniae respiratory infection can lead to chronic pulmonary disease characterized by airway hyperreactivity, airway obstruction, and histologic inflammation.     

Peribursal fat plane of the shoulder: anatomic study and clinical experience

A comprehensive anatomic and radiographic analysis of the peribursal fat plane in 12 cadavers confirmed that the fat plane seen on radiographs represents extrasynovial fat lining the subacromial bursa and documented the anatomic relations of the bursa. A three-part retrospective clinical evaluation of rotator cuff tears, calcific tendinitis, and rheumatoid arthritis was performed. Two osteoradiologists blindly graded the appearance of the peribursal fat plane with the shoulder in external versus internal rotation in 21 patients with arthrographically intact rotator cuffs and 21 patients with disrupted rotator cuffs. The peribursal fat plane was seen better with disrupted rotator cuffs. The peribursal fat plane was seen better with the shoulder in internal rotation and was seen in 60% of control subjects but only 21% of patients with rotator cuff tears. Partial or complete obliteration of this fat plane is a sensitive (79%) but less specific (60%) indicator of rotator cuff tears. Obliteration of the peribursal fat plane by inflammatory processes in adjacent tissues, including calcific tendinitis and rheumatoid arthritis, occurred with a high frequency.