Dual-source-Computertomographie des Herzens

In a newly developed dual-source computed tomography system (DSCT) the relation of heart rate and image quality and the possible advantages of the system’s superior temporal resolution in the evaluation of left ventricular parameters as compared to results of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were assessed. Coronary CT angiography was performed using a DSCT (Somatom Defintion, Siemens Medical Solutions, Forchheim, Germany) in 21 patients (mean age 62±8; 15 male, 6 female). Image quality of the coronary arteries, the heart valves, and the left ventricular myocardium was assessed using a three-point grading scale. Ten of these patients also underwent cardiac MRI for the assessment of left ventricular function, using a SSFP (steady-state free precession) sequence. Left ventricular ejection fractions (LV-EF), the end-systolic volumes (ESV), and the end-diastolic volumes (EDV) were measured employing MRI and DSCT datasets. The image quality ratings for the coronary arteries at the optimal reconstruction interval were diagnostic even in patients with high heart rates (1.42±0.49). Analysis of global LV function using DSCT quantified from CTA datasets showed a good correlation with results of cardiac MRI [EF: r=0.75 (p=0.01); ESV: r=0.72 (p=0.19); EDV: r=0.71 (p=0.02)]. The dual-source CT system offers robust image quality of the coronary arteries, independent of the heart rate, and provides combined diagnostic imaging of coronary arteries, the heart valves, the myocardium, and the global left ventricular function.     

Lipid-drug conjugate nanoparticles of the hydrophilic drug diminazene-cytotoxicity testing and mouse serum adsorption.

Sleeping sickness is a widely distributed disease in great parts of Africa. It is caused by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense and rhodiense, transmitted by the Tse-Tse fly. After a hemolymphatic stage, the parasites enter the central nervous system where they cannot be reached by hydrophilic drugs. To potentially deliver the hydrophilic antitrypanosomal drug diminazene diaceturate to the brain of infected mice, the drug was formulated as lipid-drug conjugate (LDC) nanoparticles (NP) by combination with stearic- (SA) and oleic acid (OA). To estimate the in vivo compatibility, the particles were incubated with human granulocytes. Because as potential delivery mechanism the absorption of specific serum proteins (ApoE, Apo AI and Apo AIV) was found to be responsible for the delivery of nanoparticles to the brain, demonstrated using PBCA nanoparticles coated with polysorbate 80 (LDL uptake mechanism) the nanoparticles were incubated with mouse serum and the adsorption pattern was determined using the 2-D PAGE technique. As a result of this study, the cytotoxic potential was shown to decrease when diminazene is part of the particle matrix compared to pure fatty acid nanoparticles and the mouse serum protein adsorption pattern differs from the samples studied earlier in human serum. Especially, the fact concerning Apo-E that could be detected when the particles were incubated in human serum is absent after the mouse serum incubation, potentially, is a critical point for the delivery via the LDL-uptake mechanism but the data demonstrate that LDC nanoparticles, with 33% (wt/wt) drug loading capacity possess the potential to act as a delivery system for hydrophilic drugs like diminazene diaceturate and that further studies have to demonstrate the usability as a brain delivery system.     

Streptococcus sanguis bacteremia and colorectal cancer: A case report

Streptococcus sanguis, usually considered a nonpathogen of the oral cavity, was isolated from blood cultures from a patient who was subsequently found to have a cecal adenocarcinoma. Further studies are needed to determine if Streptococcus sanguis infections have diagnostic implications similar to those of Streptococcus bovis. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Nocturnal sleep in huntington's disease

Summary Nocturnal sleep was studied in 16 inpatients with Huntington's disease. In comparison with healthy controls, patients exhibited a disturbed sleep pattern with increased sleep onset latency, reduced sleep efficiency, frequent nocturnal awakenings, more time spent awake and less slow wave sleep. These abnormalities correlated in part with duration of illness, severity of clinical symptoms, and degree of atrophy of the caudate nucleus. Patients showed an increased density of sleep spindles.     

Lifetime and six-month prevalence of mental disorders in the Munich follow-up study

Summary The Lifetime and 6 month DSM-III prevalence rates of mental disorders from an adult general population sample of former West Germany are reported. The most frequent mental disorders (lifetime) from the Munich Follow-up Study were anxiety disorders (13.87%), followed by substance (13.51%) and affective (12.90%) disorders. Within anxiety disorders, simple and social phobia (8.01%) were the most common, followed by agoraphobia (5.47%) and panic disorder (2.39%). Females had about twice the rates of males for affective (18.68% versus 6.42%), anxiety (18.13% versus 9.07%), and somatization disorders (1.60% versus 0.00%); males had about three times the rates of substance disorders (21.23% versus 6.11%) of females. Being widowed and separated/divorced was associated with high rates of major depression. Most disordered subjects had at least two diagnoses (69%). The most frequent comorbidity pattern was anxietyand affective disorders. Simple and social phobia began mostly in childhood or early adolescence, whereas agoraphobia and panic disorder had a later average age of onset. The majority of the cases with both anxiety and depression had depression clearly after the occurrence of anxiety. The DIS-DSM-III findings of our study have been compared with both ICD-9 diagnoses assigned by clinicians independently as well as other epidemiological studies conducted with a comparable methodology.     

Inhalation of the Phosphodiesterase-3 Inhibitor Milrinone Attenuates Pulmonary Hypertension in a Rat Model of Congestive Heart Failure

Background: Most patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) develop pulmonary venous hypertension, but right ventricular afterload is frequently further elevated by increased pulmonary vascular resistance. To investigate whether inhalation of a vasodilatory phosphodiesterase-3 inhibitor may reverse this potentially detrimental process, the authors studied the effects of inhaled or intravenous milrinone on pulmonary and systemic hemodynamics in a rat model of CHF.

Methods: In male Sprague-Dawley rats, CHF was induced by supracoronary aortic banding, whereas sham-operated rats served as controls. Milrinone was administered as an intravenous infusion (0.2-1 [mu]g [middle dot] kg body weight-1 [middle dot] min-1) or by inhalation (0.2-5 mg/ml), and effects on pulmonary and systemic hemodynamics and lung water content were measured.

Results: In CHF rats, intravenous infusion of milrinone reduced both pulmonary and systemic arterial blood pressure. In contrast, inhalation of milrinone predominantly dilated pulmonary blood vessels, resulting in a reduced pulmonary-to-systemic vascular resistance ratio. Repeated milrinone inhalations in 20-min intervals caused a stable reduction of pulmonary artery pressure. No hemodynamic effects were detected when 0.9% NaCl was administered instead of milrinone or when milrinone was inhaled in sham-operated rats. No indications of potentially adverse effects of milrinone inhalation in CHF, such as left ventricular volume overload, were detected. Moreover, lung edema was significantly reduced by repeated milrinone inhalation.     

Morphometric analysis of murine skin wound healing: Standardization of experimental procedures and impact of an advanced multitissue array technique

Morphometric data based on skin wounding offer important information for the characterization of the phenotype of transgenic mouse models. The goal of this study was the comparison of technical procedures concerning wounding, processing, and evaluation of samples in different mouse strains. The multitissue array technique was used to estimate its adaptability for standardized analysis in wound healing. Skin wounds between days 1 and 14 after wounding were analyzed. The influence of mouse strain (C57BI/6 vs. FVB/N mice), sex, size of the punch biopsies, and preparation of the tissue sections was investigated on 94 mice. The parameters distance between the migration tongues (deltaMT) and surface not covered by epithelium were evaluated to describe the reepithelialization, and the distance between the adnexa was chosen to measure wound contraction. In addition, the techniques to measure the area of granulation tissue (GT) were evaluated. The data illustrate the requirement of standardized conditions for skin wound-healing experiments and demonstrate that histological preparation in serial sections is mandatory to detect slight differences in wound contraction. For the analysis of cellular composition in GT, multitissue arrays are useful tools in wound-healing studies.     

Exposure to allergens of different cattle breeds and their relevance in occupational allergy

Introduction  

Cattle are an important source of allergens in the working area of farmers. Asthma caused by cow allergens is a significant occupational problem. Yet in allergological testing, the results of in vivo and in vitro diagnostic tests are often inconsistent even in cases with clearly cattle-related symptoms.