Initial assessment of α-synuclein structure in platelets

Journal of Thrombosis and Thrombolysis - Over the last few years data from our group have indicated that α-synuclein is important in development of immune cells as well as potentially...     

Treatment of Acquired Bilateral Nevus of Ota-Like Macules (Hori''s Nevus) with a Combination of the 532 nm Q-Switched Nd:YAG Laser Followed by the 1,064 nm Q-Switched Nd:YAG Is More Effective: Prospective Study

BACKGROUND: Acquired bilateral nevus of Ota-like macules (Hori's nevus) is a common dyschromatosis among Asian women. Q-switched lasers have been used successfully as a treatment modality. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of using the Q-switched 532 nm neodymium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Nd:YAG) laser followed by the 1,064 nm laser versus the Q-switched 1,064 nm Nd:YAG laser alone in the treatment of Hori's nevus. METHODS: This is a prospective left-right comparative study. Ten women with bilateral Hori's nevus were recruited and treated with a combination of the Q-switched 532 and 1,064 nm Nd:YAG lasers on the right cheek and the Q-switched 1,064 nm Nd:YAG laser alone on the left cheek. Only one laser treatment session was performed. The degree of pigmentation was objectively recorded with a mexameter. Subjective assessment was made by both patients and two blinded, nontreating dermatologists. RESULTS: At 6 months, there was a statistically significant difference (p = .009) of 35.10 points using objective mexameter measurements between the two sides, favoring the side treated with a combination of 532 and 1,064 nm laser treatment. Subjective grading by the patients and blinded dermatologists also confirmed that combination therapy was more successful after one treatment. Although combination treatment had a higher incidence of mild postinflammatory changes, this disappeared within 2 months. CONCLUSIONS: Concurrent use of the Q-switched 532 nm Nd:YAG laser in combination with the 1,064 nm laser is more effective in pigment clearance than the Q-switched 1,064 nm Nd:YAG laser alone for Hori's nevi.     

The molecular and clinical impact of hepatocyte growth factor, its receptor, activators, and inhibitors in wound healing

Wound healing involves a number of cellular and molecular events, many of which are controlled by soluble growth factors. In the process of healing, hepatocyte growth factor, a cytokine known to act as mitogen, motogen, and morphogen, has been postulated to play multiple roles during several stages of this complex biological process. Produced primarily by stromal fibroblasts, hepatocyte growth factor regulates angiogenesis, vascular permeability, cell migration, matrix deposition and degradation, and other biological processes. The current article discusses recent progress in understanding the multiple roles played by this growth factor in tissue repair.     

Human hepatocellular carcinoma tumor xenografts

Castrated or sham-operated male athymic mice were inoculated with cells from the human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line PLC/PRF/5. There were no significant differences between the two groups with respect to the number of animals developing tumors, the time to tumor development, or the subsequent rate of increase in either tumor base area or mouse serum alpha-fetoprotein concentration. Androgen receptors were assayed in nuclei obtained from three separate liver cancer cell lines and from normal adult human liver. Similar concentrations, ranging from 235 to 550 fmol/mg DNA, of nuclear androgen receptors were detected in all tissues. Low percentages of androgen receptors were retained on DNA-cellulose. Although the presence of receptors implies the potential for metabolic effects of androgens in normal and malignant liver, our in vivostudies suggest that castration does not alter significantly the growth of liver cancer xenografts in athymic mice.     

The influence of sleeping sickness on mortality in two districts of Northern Nigeria

The object of this enquiry was to obtain some idea of the mortality of untreated sleeping sickness in two non-adjacent districts in Northern Nigeria. The method employed was to obtain data, by methodical questioning of every householder, from which the crude death and other rates could be calculated over a preceding period, and be correlated with the known incidence of sleeping sickness. The figures were worked out village by village, and the villages then combined into groups of sufficient size to make the numbers significant.In the first district, Igabi, a close correlation was obtained, the death rate rising from 71.4 per 1,000 with a sleeping sickness incidence of 18.6 per cent., to 104 per 1,000 with a sleeping sickness incidence of 28.6 per cent. In other words an additional death occurred for approximately every additional three people infected. The infantile mortality rate also showed a close correlation with the sleeping sickness incidence. As infants were not found to be infected, this result was unexpected. The reasons for it are discussed. The birth rate showed no definite correlation.In the second district, Kankara, no correlation was found to exist, and the conclusion is drawn that, during the period under review, sleeping sickness was not fatal; the patients must either have harboured a mild chronic infection carrying no threat to life, or have been undergoing spontaneous cure.The clinical types of the cases found are described. They are similar in the two districts, and would not have been suspected of having so different a prognosis.It is pointed out that Igabi lies in the middle of a sleeping sickness belt, and it is suggested that the virulence of the disease in this district may be accounted for by the very free means of communication which exist, and by the movement in the past of large gangs of labour, tending to disseminate many different strains of trypanosome imported from outside. The infection in Kankara, on the other hand, was probably of later, though not very recent, introduction; and as the district is situated on the very edge of the belt and is traversed by no main roads or railways, the possibility of a multiplicity of strains existing is very much less. If this conclusion is correct, it emphasizes the necessity of careful sleeping sickness control measures in areas which may be opened up in the future.The mean birth rate found in Igabi was 64.7 per 1,000; and the mean death rate 84.2. The corresponding figures for Kankara were 44.1 and 23.6. The reliability of these figures is discussed.