Image perception and interpretation in senology. The relationship between the clinical picture, radiological sign and histology]

Once more, the authors are confronted with the difficult interpretation of senological images. When reviewing the radiologic features of a series including the symptomatic, the asymptomatic and the male breasts, the goal is to relate the patterns to clinical and histologic findings in order to improve the perception of the radiologist himself in transferring and integrating the information. The final conclusions, after reviewing the images, are: a) for the correct interpretation of senological images, the sign must be correlated with clinical findings and with data from other modalities; b) the radiologist's attitude must be always investigative and never exhaustive, due to the variability of all factors, which sometimes make a judgement of "radiological tranquility" in the breast impossible; c) the radiologist must, nowadays, improve his perception of senological images, thus becoming the one who knows how to correlate clinics to the images. By increasing his perception, his interpretation capabilities will certainly increase too.     

Different biological properties of paired HIV-1 isolates from peripheral blood mononuclear cells and cerebrospinal fluid.

Seven paired HIV-1 isolates from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PMCs) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of infected subjects at various stages of the disease were studied for their capacity to replicate in continuous cell lines (Molt-3 and U-937 cells) and to induce cytopathic effects "in vitro". Obtained results indicate that paired HIV-1 isolates from PMCs and CSF of the same patient can differ in their replicative activity "in vitro", suggesting that, at least in some cases, CSF isolates may represent a distinct subtype of HIV-1.     

Effects of heroin,alone or in combination with other drugs,on the locomotor activity in two inbred strains of mice

The locomotor activity of C57B1/6J and DBA/2J mice was studied, under the influences of heroin, amphetamine, strychnine, or ethanol, and of combinations of the opiate with each one of the other drugs. Heroin treatment was followed by the typical running fit in the C57 mice, while the DBA strain was unaffected. Amphetamine enhanced the activity in the C57 strain only. The combination of heroin with amphetamine or ethanol increased the locomotor activity only in the DBA strain, while heroin + strychnine exerted a clear stimulating effect on the activity of the C57 mice. The strychnine + heroin mixture was more toxic than heroin alone when the lethal doses (LD50) were determined in the 2 strains.     

AIDS-related Kaposi's Sarcoma: evaluation of potential new prognostic factors and assessment of the AIDS Clinical Trial Group Staging System in the Haart Era--the Italian Cooperative Group on AIDS and Tumors and the Italian Cohort of Patients Naive From Antiretrovirals.

PURPOSE: To assess potential new prognostic factors and to validate the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) for AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma (AIDS-KS) staging system in the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) era. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We collected epidemiologic, clinical, staging, and survival data from 211 patients with AIDS-KS enrolled in two prospective Italian human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) cohort studies. We included in the analysis all patients with the diagnosis of KS made from January 1996, the time at which HAART became available in Italy. RESULTS: In the univariate analysis, survival was not influenced by sex, age, level of HIV viremia at KS diagnosis, HAART at KS diagnosis (HAART-na?ve v HAART-experienced), or type of HAART combination. Regarding ACTG classification, the 3-year survival rate was 85% for T0 patients and 69% for T1 patients (P =.007), 83% for S0 patients and 63% for S1 patients (P =.003), and 83% for I0 patients and 71% for I1 patients (P =.06). In the multivariate analysis, only the combination of poor tumor stage (T1) and poor systemic disease (S1) risk identified patients with unfavorable prognosis. The 3-year survival rate of patients with T1S1 was 53%, which was significantly lower compared with the 3-year survival rates of patients with T0S0, T1S0, and T0S1, which were 88%, 80%, and 81%, respectively (P =.0001). CONCLUSION: In the era of HAART, a refinement of the original ACTG staging system is needed. CD4 level does not seem to provide prognostic information. Two different risk categories are identified: a good risk (T0S0, T1S0, T0S1) and a poor risk (T1S1).     

Fenretinide breast cancer prevention trial: drug and retinol plasma levels in relation to age and disease outcome.

OBJECTIVES: To assess, in women participating in a breast cancer prevention trialon fenretinide (4-HPR), the relationship of drug and retinol levels with the risk of second breast malignancy, taking into account age and menopausal status. METHODS: In a multicenter prevention trial, women with early breast cancer were randomly assigned to receive no treatment or 200 mg of 4-HPR/day for 5 years. Blood was collected at baseline and on a yearly basis during intervention from women recruited at the Istituto Tumori (Milan, Italy; 818 and 756 in the 4-HPR and control arm, respectively, who accounted for 53% of the participants in the trial). The plasma concentrations of 4-HPR, its main metabolite N-(4-methoxyphenyl) retinamide, and retinol were assayed by high-performance liquid chromatography. Three age ranges (or=56 years), menopausal status at baseline, and disease outcome at a median follow-up of 97 months were taken into account in the analysis. RESULTS: Baseline retinol levels were significantly lower (P or=46 years versus or= 0.71; P 相似文献   

Solitary meningeal recurrence in a patient with transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder with locally bulky disease at presentation

Patients with locally advanced transitional cell carcinoma (TCC)of the bladder are at high risk forsystemic relapse, with liver, bone and lung beingthe commonest sites of metastases.We report the case of a 52-year-old womanwith a solitary meningeal relapse, a rare siteof recurrence, after 8 months of complete remissionobtained with M-VEC for locally advanced TCC ofthe bladder. We speculate on the likely riskfactors related to this unusual site of recurrence.     

Effect of nolomirole on monocrotaline-induced heart failure.

Neurohormonal activation has been shown to be a major factor in congestive heart failure progression and mortality. The beneficial effects obtained in clinical trials with angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, beta-blockers and aldosterone antagonists have confirmed this hypothesis. 5,6-Diisobutirroyloxy-2-methyl-aminotetraline hydrochloride (nolomirole) is a selective agonist of prejunctional D(2)-dopaminergic and alpha(2)-adrenergic receptors. The stimulation of these receptors inhibits catecholamine release from sympathetic nerve endings. To confirm that this mechanism can be useful in congestive heart failure, we studied the effects of nolomirole on monocrotaline-induced congestive heart failure. The ACE inhibitor trandolapril was used as reference compound. Rats were given single intraperitoneal injection of either saline (control group; n=20) or monocrotaline (50 mg kg(-1)). Three days later, the monocrotaline-treated animals were randomly allocated (n=50 per group) to oral treatment with distilled water (vehicle group), nolomirole (0.25 mg kg(-1)) twice a day, or trandolapril (0.3 mg kg(-1)) once a day up to sacrifice. On the fourth week after monocrotaline injection, animals with signs of congestive heart failure were sacrificed for evaluation of heart hypertrophy and neuroendocrine alterations. Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and alderosterone were determined by radioimmunoassay in plasma. Tissue norepinephrine concentration was quantified by high-pressure liquid chromatography. Nolomirole and trandolapril significantly reduced (a) hypertrophy of right atria and ventricles, (b) plasma levels of ANP and presence of pleural/peritoneal effusions and (c) norepinephrine depletion of right ventricle. These findings confirmed that nolomirole, like trandolapril, is able to attenuate the heart failure signs in the monocrotaline-induced congestive heart failure model.