Cutis Marmorata Telangiectatica Congenita Associated with a Double Aortic Arch

Abstract: We report a patient with cutis marmorata telangiectatica with the hitherto unreported anomaly of a double aortic arch. The presence of two major vascular anomalies in this patient may be secondary to a developmental defect of the mesoderm during embryogenesis.     

Lesbians with disabilities

There is a severe lack of information on sexuality for any woman with a disability. Often, what is available is limited to material on birth control and child delivery. For women who are disabled and lesbian, virtually no written information exist and health care workers seldom feel comfortable discussing the topic. Lesbians with disabilities have the responsibility to discuss sexual preference with their health care workers. Yet, there is much to lose. This paper discusses the issues of being lesbian and disabled as well as the unique problems faced by their partners. Finally, the article discusses negative attitudes of health care workers toward both disability and homosexuality.     

FM sonography in diffuse liver disease: prospective assessment and blinded analysis

FM sonography - a signal-processing technique that uses frequency and phase information as well as amplitude data - shows promise in evaluation of patients with diffuse liver disease. In a prospective blinded review of 37 patients with biopsy-proved liver disease and 42 healthy volunteers, FM sonography was clearly superior to traditional amplitude-based (AM) sonography in distinguishing healthy from diseased subjects. Statistically significant differences were seen in accuracy (FM, 98.7%; AM, 84.8%), sensitivity (FM, 97.3%; AM, 70.3%), and negative predictive value (FM, 97.7%; AM, 78.8%). Our data also suggest that current FM sonographic techniques cannot differentiate among histologic findings associated with different hepatic parenchymal abnormalities. It is unclear, therefore, whether FM imaging can reduce the numbers of patients who require biopsy for diagnosis or the frequency of biopsy procedures in patients with known disease.     

用于筛选天然产物中脲酶抑制剂的脲酶活性测试方法的建立

抑制幽门螺杆菌产生的脲酶具有治疗胃炎和消化性溃疡的作用。用酚红指示剂和Ｂｅｒｔｈｅｌｏｔ试剂在９６孔培养板上检测重组脲酶活性，其灵敏度指标酚红法每ｍｇ酶蛋白引起的每分钟吸光度变化。△Ａ为６．９，而Ｂｅｒｔｈｅｌｏｔ法每ｍｇ酶蛋白引起的每分钟吸光度比值变化△Ａ为３１３。结果表明用Ｂｅｒｔｈｅｌｏｔ试剂检测重组脲酶活性适宜在９６孔培养板上大规模筛选天然产物中的脲酶抑制剂。     

Flow cytometric analysis of localized adenocarcinoma of the prostate: the use of archival DNA analysis in conjunction with pathological grading to predict clinical outcome following radical retropubic prostatectomy

Fifty-four specimens from patients undergoing radical prostatectomy for clinically confined prostate cancer between 1983 and 1987 were reviewed to determine the potential for flow cytometric (FCM) analysis of DNA ploidy and replication rate to predict disease recurrence. Each specimen was deparaffinized for FCM analysis and the pathology slides were reviewed by a single pathologist. FCM characteristics were correlated with pathological grade and stage, and both were correlated with disease status. In this series of patients, routine FCM analysis of DNA ploidy and replication rate failed to significantly enhance the ability of standard histopathological grading to predict disease recurrence in patients having clinically localized prostate cancer. Aneuploid tumors pathologically confined to the prostate did not appear to negatively affect prognosis.     

Flow cytometric analysis of DNA content as a prognostic indicator in squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue

The mortality of squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue has not significantly improved in decades. Much of the information that has been gathered to date has been based on retrospective analyses. There is little consensus on treatment of the disease. In an attempt to define an objective prognostic indicator of aggressiveness of these tumors, a retrospective analysis of 15 paraffin-embedded specimens using flow cytometry was performed. Ten patients (67 percent) had aneuploid tumors and had a 5 year disease-free survival rate of 33 percent, whereas patients with diploid tumors (33 percent) had a 5 year disease-free survival rate of 80 percent. Although the number of patients was small, it appears that flow cytometry may be an objective prognostic indicator in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue. Larger series of archival paraffin-embedded flow cytometry analyses are recommended, as well as examination of variables other than the disease-free survival rate.     

Cystic duct occlusion and transcatheter sclerosis of the gallbladder in the rabbit

We have identified a reliable sclerosant of the gallbladder in rabbits. After ligating the cystic ducts with a silk ligature in 24 rabbits and aspirating the bile from the gallbladder, we instilled a mixture of 95% ethanol and either 2 M% trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) or 5 M% TFA into the gallbladder. The animals were killed after 6 or 8 weeks. Ethanol with TFA resulted in replacement of gallbladder lumen with fibrous tissue in 22 rabbits. The two sclerosants were equally reliable and produced quantitatively similar fibrosis in the rabbits. The tendency for normal biliary mucosa to repopulate a sclerosed gallbladder can be obviated by complete occlusion of the cystic duct. The parameters for successful transcatheter sclerosis of the gallbladder have now been defined in an animal model.     

Mutation of the protein tyrosine kinase consensus site in the herpes simplex virus 1 alpha22 gene alters ICP22 posttranslational modification

We previously reported that at least eight HSV-1 and five HSV-2 proteins were tyrosine phosphorylated in infected human and mouse cells and the first phosphotyrosine-modified gene product identified was the ICP22 regulatory protein (Blaho, J. A., Zong, C. S., and Mortimer, K. A., 1997, J. Virol. 71, 9828-9832). All electrophoretic forms of ICP22 are tyrosine phosphorylated with the exception of the fastest migrating (unmodified) isoform. We now report the following. (i) ICP22 that reacted with a specific anti-phosphotyrosine antibody contained a significant amount of phosphotyrosine based on phospho-amino acid analysis. These results validate the discovery of ICP22 tyrosine phosphorylation. (ii) Wild-type ICP22 extracted from infected HEp-2 cells migrated as at least seven isoforms, termed ICP22a-g, in denaturing gels. (iii) The primary structure of ICP22 possesses a sequence that is homologous to protein tyrosine kinase recognition sites. A virus, termed RF141, was generated in which ICP22 tyrosine(193) in the kinase target site was mutated to an alanine. (iv) Biochemical analyses of infected HEp-2 and primary HFF cells indicated that the distributions of ICP22 isoforms differed between RF141 and control HSV-1(F). (v) The accumulations of representative viral polypeptides in RF141-infected HEp-2 cells appeared similar to wild-type virus. (vi) RF141 had reduced efficiencies of plating in HFF cells compared to control Vero cells. These differences increased as the multiplicity of infection decreased. Based on these results, we conclude (vii) that ICP22 tyrosine(193) is required for optimal posttranslational modification of the protein in HSV-1 infected human epithelial HEp-2 and primary human fibroblast cells.