Usefulness of different myocardial sampling zones for the postmortem diagnosis of myocardial infarction

Summary The diagnosis of myocardial infarction requires the use of a group of tests that are very efficient, quick and inexpensive. Another important consideration is the choice of myocardial sampling zones, especially in cases of differential diagnosis between a cardiac injury secondary to a trauma or violent asphyxia and others, secondary to myocardial infarction. The aim of this work was to choose, through discriminant analysis, the most useful zones of cardiac tissue for the quantification of free fatty acids and free carnitine and for the performance of the K/Na quotient, as biochemical parameters for the postmortem diagnosis of myocardial infarction. According to the discriminant analysis performed, seven zones of cardiac tissue are necessary to achieve a differential diagnosis among myocardial infarction, other natural deaths, and violent deaths with a 71.9% efficacy. Greater diagnostic efficacy was found (78.1%) for differentiating between natural deaths and violent deaths. Offprint requests to: E. Lachica     

Maternal effects in infant and adult phenotypes of 5HT1A and 5HT1B receptor knockout mice

The influence of the pre- and postweaning maternal environment on the offspring's phenotype was examined in 5-HT1A and 5-HT1B receptor knockout mice (KO1A and KO1B, respectively). We have previously shown that, when born to and raised by homozygous dams of the same genotype, adult KO1A are more anxious than wild-type (WT) mice, and adult KO1B are hyperactive and slightly less anxious than WT mice. We extend our studies here to the behavioral results of the offspring's own genotype, when the dam's genotype is constant, and the effects of the dam's genotype when the offspring's genotype is constant. In Experiments 1 and 2, KO1A-/- pups produced less ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) than controls in an isolation test on postnatal Day 7 when born to and reared by KO1A dams, either -/- or +/-. Heterozygous F1 pups reared by KO1A-/- dams produced more USV and were less anxious in the plus-maze at 2 to 3 months of age than F1 pups born to and reared by WT dams (Experiment 3). F1 pups reared by KO1B-/- dams produced less USV and were more anxious in the plus-maze than F1 pups reared by WT dams (Experiment 4). The results support a role for maternal effects that may comprise direct effects such as the dam's behavior and nutritional care of the pup, and possibly more complex indirect effects through the establishment of idiosyncratic dam-pup dyadic interactions. We recommend that breeding techniques that rely on same genotype (mutant-mutant or WT-WT) breeding pairs not be used to generate offspring when the focus of research is the study of gene function, but rather when familial effects need to be studied.     

Cervical specimen order and performance measures of Chlamydia trachomatis diagnostic testing

The orders of three endocervical specimens of 3,561 women for Chlamydia trachomatis testing were randomized to determine whether test performance measures of two nucleic acid amplification tests and a DNA probe were affected by swab order. Specimen collection order did not appear to affect the diagnostic accuracy of these tests.     

Comparison of Broth Microdilution Method Using Haemophilus Test Medium and Agar Dilution Method for Susceptibility Testing of Eikenella corrodens

Susceptibility testing of Eikenella corrodens is usually performed by a Mueller-Hinton sheep blood agar dilution (AD) method. However, this method is impractical for testing only a few strains. We compared AD with the broth microdilution method using Haemophilus test medium (HTM) in order to determine the susceptibility of 36 clinical isolates of E. corrodens to eight antimicrobial agents. MICs obtained by the HTM method yielded 95.5 and 84% agreement (within 2 and 1 log₂ dilutions, respectively) with those obtained by AD. The HTM method with incubation in CO₂ for 48 h was highly reproducible and constitutes an easy alternative for antimicrobial susceptibility testing of E. corrodens.     

Differential uptake of systemic fluorochrome Hoechst 33342 in lung and liver metastasis of B16 melanoma

Summary The growth and vascularization patterns of B16 melanoma colonies in the liver and lungs were measured and compared by histological techniques and dye diffusion patterns after injection of the fluorochrome Hoechst 33342. In the liver, the fluorescent pattern of dye diffusion revealed that uninodular tumours measuring up to 146 n in diameter were not functionally vascularized. However, when the nodules fused to give rise to multinodular tumours measuring between 256 and 366 n in diameter, a reticular dye diffusion pattern revealed functional tumour vascularization. In the lungs, subpleural, parenchymal and peritubular (i.e. surrounding blood vessels and airways) tumours were observed. The two former classes were vascularized down to thicknesses and diameters of 49 and 24 m respectively. In contrast, dye diffusion was never seen in peritubular tumour cuffs up to 609 m in thickness. The results indicate differences in vascularization patterns in B16 tumours in the liver and lungs, and differences between tumours growing in different sites within the lungs. If these results are applicable to metastases in these two organs, they indicate potential diffusion-mediated resistance to chemotherapy, and potential hypoxia-mediated resistance to radiotherapy of both metastases and micrometastases.     

In vitro regulation of beta1 and beta3 integrin subunits in endometrial epithelial cells from normal endometrium

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) on integrin expression. DESIGN Cultures of endometrial epithelial cells from normal endometrium. SETTING: All endometrial specimens were obtained from the Obstetrics and gynecology Department of the Catholic University, Rome, Italy. PATIENTS: Four patients were normal menstrual cycles undergoing operative laparoscopy for non-endometrial problems. INTERVENTION: Endometrial samples were collected by uterine courettings. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Immunocytochemistry for beta1 and beta3 integrin subunits. RESULTS: PGE2 clearly enhances both beta1 and beta3 integrin subunit expression. IL-1beta seem to slightly increase only beta3 subunit expression. CONCLUSIONS: In light of the critical role played by eicosanoids in endometrial differentiation, we suggest that PGE2 is also involved in local paracrine regulation of integrin expression.     

Antiviral effects of xanthate D609 on the human respiratory syncytial virus growth cycle

The antiviral compound tricyclo-decan-9-yl-xanthogenate (D609) inhibits respiratory syncytial (RS) virus growth in human epithelial (Hep 2) cells. D609 treatment resulted in a decrease in the accumulation of viral proteins, in the phosphorylation of the viral phosphoprotein, and in the amount of extracellular antigens and infectious particles. The relative accumulation of viral proteins was also unbalanced, however no differences were found in the amount of viral RNA with plus or minus polarity. In addition nucleocapsids formation was not inhibited. These observations suggested that this antiviral compound affects the relative proportion of viral proteins and the phosphorylation of P protein. Both features appear to be important in RS virus morphogenesis.