Small-cell carcinoma of the ovary in peritoneal fluid

Two cases of small-cell carcinoma of the ovary in the ascitic fluid and peritoneal/pelvic washings of a 30- and 28-yr-old woman, respectively, are presented and discussed. Smear preparations from the ascitic fluid showed loose clusters and single malignant cells with scant cytoplasm and nuclei with smooth to irregular nuclear membranes, granular chromatin, and small nucleoli. In the second case peritoneal/pelvic washing specimens contained clusters and single malignant cells with a moderate amount of cytoplasm and nuclei with smooth nuclear membranes, granular, clumped chromatin, and prominent nucleoli. Histology confirmed the diagnosis of small-cell carcinoma of the ovary. These are the first reported cases of this rare ovarian neoplasm present on fluid cytology. Its differentiation from other small-cell neoplasms on peritoneal fluid cytology from young women is discussed. Diagn Cytopathol 1994; 11:266–270. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Novel missense mutations and a 288-bp exonic insertion in PAX9 in families with autosomal dominant hypodontia

We describe the molecular analysis of three families with hypodontia involving primarily molar teeth and report two novel mutational mechanisms. Linkage analysis of two large families revealed that the hypodontia was linked to the PAX9 locus. These two families revealed missense mutations consisting of a glutamic acid substitution for lysine and a proline substitution for leucine within the paired domain of PAX9. A pair of identical twins affected with hypodontia in a third family demonstrated a 288-bp insertion within exon 2 that resulted in a putative frameshift mutation and a premature stop codon. The insertion was associated with the loss of 7-bp from exon 2. A block of 256-bp of sequence within the insertion was completely identical to downstream sequence from the second intron of the PAX9 gene. These studies extend the spectrum of mutations in PAX9 associated with hypodontia to include heretofore undescribed categories, including missense mutations.     

Comparison of an Adherence Domain and a Structural Region of Streptococcus mutans Antigen I/II in Protective Immunity against Dental Caries in Rats after Intranasal Immunization

Previous studies have identified an N-terminal saliva-binding region (SBR) on Streptococcus mutans surface antigen I/II (AgI/II) and suggested its importance in the initial adherence of S. mutans to saliva-coated tooth surfaces and subsequent development of dental caries. In this study, we compared the SBR with a C-terminal structural region of AgI/II (AgII) in their abilities to induce protective immunity against caries in rats. When SBR, AgII, or the whole AgI/II molecule was administered intranasally as a conjugate with the B subunit of cholera toxin (CT), in the presence of CT adjuvant, substantial levels of salivary immunoglobulin A anti-AgI/II antibodies were induced. Evaluation of caries activity showed that the SBR, though not as protective as the parent molecule, was superior to AgII and thus can be further considered as a component in a multivalent caries vaccine.     

Inflammatory Markers in Acute Myocardial Infarction Patients: Preliminary Evidence of a Prospective Association With Depressive Symptoms

Inflammatory activity has been associated with both coronary disease and depressive symptoms. We sought to determine whether inflammatory markers in myocardial infarction (MI) patients are prospectively associated with depressive symptomatology. Participants were a convenience sample of MI patients. Depressive symptoms were assessed soon after the MI and again 7 months postdischarge. Inflammatory markers examined were interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-1β. Results suggest no significant cross-sectional association between inflammatory markers and depressive symptoms at baseline. However, bivariate and multiple regression analyses revealed a significant positive prospective association between baseline IL-6 and depressive symptoms 7 months later ( β  = .57, p  < .01). The results suggest that temporal considerations are important in understanding relationships between inflammation and depressive symptoms following MI.     

Novel sequence variants in the TMC1 gene in Pakistani families with autosomal recessive hearing impairment

Though many hearing impairment genes have been identified, only a few of these genes have been screened in population studies. For this study, 168 Pakistani families with autosomal recessive hearing impairment not due to mutations in the GJB2 (Cx26) gene underwent a genome scan. Two-point and multipoint parametric linkage analyses were carried out. Twelve families had two-point or multipoint LOD scores of 1.4 or greater within the transmembrane cochlear expressed gene 1 (TMC1) region and were subjected to further screening with direct DNA sequencing. Five novel putatively functional non-synonymous sequence variants, c.830A>G (p.Y277C), c.1114G>A (p.V372M), c.1334G>A (p.R445H), c.2004T>G (p.S668R), and c.2035G>A (p.E679K), were found to segregate within seven families, but were not observed in 234 Pakistani control chromosomes. The variants c.830A>G (p.Y277C), c.1114G>A (p.V372M), and c.1334G>A (p.R445H) occurred at highly conserved regions and were predicted to lie within hydrophobic transmembrane domains, while non-synonymous variants c.2004T>G (p.S668R) and c.2035G>A (p.E679K) occurred in extracellular regions that were not highly conserved. There is evidence that the c.2004T>G (p.S668R) variant may have occurred at a phosphorylation site. One family has the known splice site mutation c.536 -8T>A. The prevalence of non-syndromic hearing impairment due to TMC1 in this Pakistani population is 4.4% (95%CI: 1.9, 8.6%). The TMC1 protein might have an important function in K(+) channels of inner hair cells, which would be consistent with the hypothetical structure of protein domains in which sequence variants were identified.     

Representing nursing assessments in clinical information systems using the logical observation identifiers, names, and codes database

In recent years, the Logical Observation Identifiers, Names, and Codes (LOINC) Database has been expanded to include assessment items of relevance to nursing and in 2002 met the criteria for "recognition" by the American Nurses Association. Assessment measures in LOINC include those related to vital signs, obstetric measurements, clinical assessment scales, assessments from standardized nursing terminologies, and research instruments. In order for LOINC to be of greater use in implementing information systems that support nursing practice, additional content is needed. Moreover, those implementing systems for nursing practice must be aware of the manner in which LOINC codes for assessments can be appropriately linked with other aspects of the nursing process such as diagnoses and interventions. Such linkages are necessary to document nursing contributions to healthcare outcomes within the context of a multidisciplinary care environment and to facilitate building of nursing knowledge from clinical practice. The purposes of this paper are to provide an overview of the LOINC database, to describe examples of assessments of relevance to nursing contained in LOINC, and to illustrate linkages of LOINC assessments with other nursing concepts.     

Comparison of the sensitivities of the version 1.5 and version 1.0 ultrasensitive Roche AMPLICOR HIV-1 MONITOR kits at low concentrations of human immunodeficiency virus RNA

The sensitivities of the version 1.5 and 1.0 Roche UltraSensitive AMPLICOR HIV-1 MONITOR tests were compared using panels of coded samples of subtype B human immunodeficiency virus type 1 spiked into plasma at predetermined concentrations. Results indicate that the version 1.5 kit is more sensitive than the version 1.0 kit.     

Egfl7 knockdown causes defects in the extension and junctional arrangements of endothelial cells during zebrafish vasculogenesis.

The endothelial cell (EC) -specific secreted protein EGFL7 is important for tubulogenesis in newly forming blood vessels. We studied its role in vascular tube formation by a quantitative ultrastructural analysis of Egfl7-knockdown zebrafish embryos. At 24 hours postfertilization, the endothelia of dorsal aorta (DA) and posterior cardinal vein (PCV) were correctly anchored to the hypochord and endoderm, respectively, but failed to expand into the vascular area. This resulted in vessels with reduced or split lumen and open sheets of ECs. Concomitantly, the organization of hematopoietic cells-identified by the presence of previously undescribed membrane tubules-between DA and PCV, and within the vessels, was severely disturbed. Strikingly, ectopic cell junctions occurred across the obstructed vessel lumen, on the luminal EC surfaces, which in control conditions never display junctions of any kind. These data suggest that Egfl7 provides ECs with a cue for their extension into the vascular area and in establishing EC cell polarity.     

Receptors for neurohypophyseal hormones along the rat nephron: 125I-labelled d(CH2)5[Tyr(Me)2, Thr4, Orn8, Tyr-NH 2 9 ] vasotocin binding in microdissected tubules

A microassay was developed to measure the binding of the labelled monoiodinated analogue [1-(mercapto-,-cyclopentamethylenepropionic acid), 2-O-mithyltyrosine, 4-threonine, 8-ornithine, 9-¹²⁵I-tyrosylamide]vasotocin ¹²⁵I-d(CH₂)₅[Tyr (Me)², Thr⁴, Tyr-NH ₂ ⁹ ]OVT to isolated nephron segments microdissected from collagenase-treated rat kidneys. When determined using 1.7 nM labelled ligand at 4° C, specific binding sites (expressed at 10^–18 mol ¹²⁵I-d(CH₂)₅[Tyr (Me)², Thr⁴, Tyr-NH ₂ ⁹ ]OVT bound/mm tubule length) were found in medullary thick ascending limbs (MTAL), 1.67±0.49; cortical thick ascending limbs, 2.20±0.80; cortical collecting ducts, 2.39±0.86; outer medullary collecting ducts (OMCD), 2.54±0.53 and inner medullary collecting ducts, 5.33±0.40, whereas no specific binding could be detected in glomeruli and proximal tubules. Specific ¹²⁵I-d(CH₂)₅[Tyr (Me)², Thr⁴, Tyr-NH ₂ ⁹ ]OVT binding to OMCD was saturable with incubation time and reversible after elimination of free labelled ligand (the association and dissociation rate constants at 4° C were 1.06×10⁷ M^–1 min^–1 and 1.95×10^–2 min^–1 respectively). The stereospecificity of MTAL and OMCD binding sites was assessed in competitive experiments revealing the following recognition pattern for a series of eight vasopressin analogues:ddAVP>AVP>d(CH₂)₅-[Tyr (Me)², Thr⁴, Tyr-NH ₂ ⁹ ]OVT=AVT=OT>d(CH₂)₅[Tyr(Me)²]AVP=[Thr⁴, Gly⁷]OT>[Phe², Orn⁸]VT, whereas pharmacological concentrations of insulin and glucagon did not impair radioligand binding. These results indicate that the detected labelled binding sites might correspond mainly to physiological V₂ vasopressin receptors.     

Electroconvulsive Therapy in Two Former Neurosurgical Patients: Skull Prosthesis and Ventricular Shunt

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was successfully used to treat patients with prior neurosurgical history. The first patient had undergone surgery for a meningioma with subsequent insertion of a plate in the cranium. The second patient had a history of normal pressure hydrocephalus which was treated with a ventriculoperitoneal shunt procedure. Both patients received ECT and in both cases the presenting symptoms of depression abated. Treatment was considered both uneventful and successful.