Radiation dose reduction during hysterosalpingography: an application of scanning-beam digital radiography

Hysterosalpingography was performed in 31 patients by means of a low-dose scanning-beam digital radiographic system. The technique permits adequate evaluation of gynecologic abnormalities while allowing significant reduction in radiation: 2.4-mR (6.1 X 10(-7) C/kg) exposure to the skin and 0.7-mrad (7 X 10(-6) Gy) mean dose to the ovaries per image obtained. Sixteen patients demonstrated readily recognizable and documented abnormalities, corroborated by laparoscopy, laparotomy, or other supportive evidence.     

Hypertrophy without increased isometric strength after weight training

Summary Eight men (20–23 years) weight trained 3 days week^–1 for 19 weeks. Training sessions consisted of six sets of a leg press exercise (simultaneous hip and knee extension and ankle plantar flexion) on a weight machine, the last three sets with the heaviest weight that could be used for 7–20 repetitions. In comparison to a control group (n = 6) only the trained group increased (P<0.01) weight lifting performance (heaviest weight lifted for one repetition, 29%), and left and right knee extensor cross-sectional area (CAT scanning and computerized planimetry, 11%, P<0.05). In contrast, training caused no increase in maximal voluntary isometric knee extension strength, electrically evoked knee extensor peak twitch torque, and knee extensor motor unit activation (interpolated twitch method). These data indicate that a moderate but significant amount of hypertrophy induced by weight training does not necessarily increase performance in an isometric strength task different from the training task but involving the same muscle group. The failure of evoked twitch torque to increase despite hypertrophy may further indicate that moderate hypertrophy in the early stage of strength training may not necessarily cause an increase in intrinsic muscle force generating capacity.     

Proliferation rates in epidermis of patients with graft-versus-host disease, non-specific inflammation and normal skin.

There is evidence that epidermal stem cells or their early progeny may be the targets in graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). The early progeny should be a proliferating group of daughter cells more concentrated in areas just above or adjacent to stem cell regions. We have, therefore, compared proliferative rates of keratinocytes within relevant subregions of the epidermis using the AgNOR stain on biopsies from patients with GVHD, non-specific inflammatory infiltrates (NSI) and normal skin. We concurrently evaluated T cell infiltration using immunohistology on paraffin-embedded tissue with UCHL-1 antibody. Fifty-one bone marrow transplant patients were evaluated in each of three temporal groups (days 7-20 post-transplant, days 20-40 post-transplant, and days 80-100 post-transplant). In each of these groups, 5-9 patients with a histological diagnosis of GVHD were compared to similar numbers of patients with a histological diagnosis of non-specific dermatitis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Endothelial changes in cutaneous graft-versus-host disease: a comparison between HLA matched and mismatched recipients of bone marrow transplantation

Histological features of endothelial and vascular changes seen in cell mediated immune reactions were evaluated in skin biopsies from 44 HLA matched and mismatched recipients of bone marrow transplantation. The mismatched group (n = 24) was further subdivided into 'D-mismatched' (n = 14) and 'AB-mismatched' (n = 10). All patients had clinical grade III and histological grade II graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Comparison groups consisted of skin biopsies from 10 non-GVHD cases. Histological evidence of endothelial damage including perivascular factor VIII related antigen deposition was assessed and compared between the groups. The results showed that all patients post-transplant had evidence of a non-specific vascular response consisting mainly of a perivascular lymphocytic infiltrate, perivascular oedema and factor VIII related antigen extravasation. However, a significant difference between matched and mismatched patients who developed GVHD was the more frequent observation of perivascular nuclear dust in the HLA mismatched group (p less than 0.01) suggesting a greater degree of endothelial cell damage in these patients.