Concordant and discordant effects on cardiovascular risks exerted by oestrogen and progestogen in women using oral contraception and hormone replacement therapy. ESHRE Capri Workshop Group

The major indications for the clinical use of oestrogen and progestogen are oral contraception (OC) in young women, and hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) in menopause. Over the past few years, epidemiological data have associated the use of these hormones to different cardiovascular conditions such as myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular disease and venous thromboembolism. This review summarizes the data discussed and the conclusions achieved by the ESHRE Capri Workshop Group, recently published in Human Reproduction.     

Erratum: Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1): Identification of eight unreported mutations in NF1 gene in Italian patients

In the original version of this article, the title was incorrect. Please find the correct title given here. The publisher deeply regrets this error. The original article to which this Erratum refers was published in Human Mutation 22:179–180 Human Mutation(2003) 22(2) 179–180     

Capillary electrophoretic profiling and pattern recognition analysis of urinary nucleosides from uterine myoma and cervical cancer patients

Capillary electrophoretic (CE) profiling analysis combined with pattern recognition methods is described for the correlation between urinary nucleoside profiles and uterine cervical cancer. Nucleosides were extracted from urine specimens by solid-phase extraction in affinity mode using phenylboronic acid gel. CE separation was carried out with an uncoated fused-silica capillary (570 mm x 50 microm I.D.) maintained at 20 degrees C, using 25 mM borate-42.5 mM phosphate buffer (pH 6.7) containing 200 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate as the run buffer under the applied voltage of 20 kV. A total of 15 nucleosides were positively identified in urine samples (2 ml) from eight uterine myoma (benign tumor group), 10 uterine cervical cancer (malignant tumor group) patients and 10 healthy females (normal group) studied. The star symbol plots drawn based on each mean concentration of nucleosides normalized to that in normal group enabled one to discriminate malignant and benign groups from normal group. In addition, canonical discriminant analysis performed on the nucleoside data of 28 individual urine specimens correctly classified into three separate clusters according to groups in the canonical plot.     

Molecular diagnosis of Granulicatella elegans on the cardiac valve of a patient with culture-negative endocarditis

We herein report one case of culture-negative infectious endocarditis (IE) where the organism, Granulicatella elegans, was identified by molecular analysis using broad-range PCR primers complementary to the 16S rRNA gene on the removed valve. The results and utility of this method are discussed.     

Heterogeneity of the polyribocytidilic acid tract in aphthovirus: changes in the size of the poly(C) of viruses recovered from persistently infected cattle

A sample of aphthovirus type C3 strain Resende carrying two polyribocytidilic acid [poly(C)] tracts was cloned in tissue culture. One clone with a poly(C)-rich tract of about 145 nucleotides long (clone 3B) and another with a poly(C)-rich tract of about 230 nucleotides long (clone 12) and a mixture of both were injected intralingually into three steers. Samples from all three animals were recovered during the acute phase of the disease, from the blood and from the feet, and at various days after inoculation from the oesophageal-pharyngeal (OP) fluids. Analysis of the viral RNAs of the positive samples by means of RNase T1 maps on one- and two-dimensional gels showed (1) changes in the electrophoretic mobility of the poly(C)-rich tracts of viruses recovered from the OP fluids at various times after infection; (2) selection of virus populations with poly(C)-rich tracts of increased size; (3) later on, changes in the patterns of oligonucleotides of persistent viruses. These variations may lead to the production of new strains with altered biological properties that may contribute to the maintenance and spread of these viruses in the field.     

Kinematic and dynamic analysis of running under conditions of variable gravity

A new training system was designed and realised by the engineer G. Scuderi: a centrifugal track for runners. The principal advantage of this track is to increase the forces on athlete during the run with an effect very similar to that of an "artificial gravity", so the athlete can develop more muscle power. A multibody numerical model of a runner was developed to analyse the behaviour of the athlete on the centrifugal track. The multibody model was calibrated by experimental analysis; in fact, the joint angles were measured by a digital image processing system and introduced as input in the numerical simulation. The numerical results obtained are the values of many kinematic and dynamic variables, in particular the ground reaction force and the moments in the hip, knee, and ankle joints. A comparison between the normal running and that on the centrifugal track was carried out, demonstrating the validity of training on the latter. The results of the numerical simulation confirm that the power developed during running on the track, and the corresponding work performed by the joints, is considerably greater than that found during normal running.     

The epidemic wave of meningococcal disease in Spain in 1996-1997: probably a consequence of strain displacement

During 1996 and 1997 an epidemic wave of meningococcal disease took place in Spain. Initial studies described the antigenic expression of the epidemic strain as C:2b:P1.2,5 and proposed that it was a variant of the previously identified Spanish C:2b:non-subtypable epidemic strain. To clarify this hypothesis, 1036 C:2b:P1.2(5) and 76 C:2b:NST isolates obtained during 1992-1999 were analysed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. The majority of the C:2b:P1.2,5 and C:2b:P1.2 isolates showed one of two very closely related profiles. During the epidemic period, 80% of the C:2b:NST strains showed these two pulsotypes. However, before the epidemic wave, most of these C:2b:NST strains (60%) showed a profile that was found infrequently among C:2b:P1.2,5 and C:2b:P1.2 isolates. A similar evolution was observed in C:2b:P1.5 isolates. Thirty-four C:2b:P1.2(5) and 10 C:2b:NST isolates, exhibiting representative pulsotypes, were subjected to multi-locus sequence typing. Isolates belonging to both A4 and ET-37 lineages were identified. These data point to the possibility that the A4 cluster has displaced the ET-37 complex among serogroup C meningococci in Spain.