Multivitamin and alcohol intake and folate receptor alpha expression in ovarian cancer.

Folate receptor alpha (FRalpha) expression in epithelial ovarian cancer may be related to folate intake. We examined this association using multivitamin intake, a proxy for folic acid, and assessed whether the relation was modified by alcohol intake, a folate agonist. Cases (n = 148) with suspected epithelial ovarian cancer, of ages > or = 20 years, were seen at Mayo Clinic, Minnesota, between 2000 and 2004; those with tumor specimens (n = 108) were included in analyses. Outpatient controls (n = 148) without cancer and with at least one ovary intact were matched to cases by age (within 5 years) and state of residence. Multivitamin (> or = 4 pills/wk) and weekly alcohol (> or = 5 drinks) intakes were assessed. Tumor specimens were analyzed immunohistochemically for FRalpha. Multivariable rate ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using unconditional logistic regression. In case-control analysis, the RRs of multivitamin intake with absent/weak/moderate and strong-expressing FRalpha tumors were 0.30 (95% CI, 0.12-0.70) and 0.47 (95% CI, 0.24-0.91), respectively. For alcohol, the associations were 0.84 (95% CI, 0.24-2.86) and 1.65 (95% CI, 0.69-3.93), respectively. In case-case analysis, the RR associated with developing strong-expressing versus other FRalpha tumors was 3.13 (95% CI, 1.14-8.65) for multivitamins and 1.58 (95% CI, 0.45-5.60) for alcohol. The data did not support evidence for an interaction between multivitamin and alcohol intake with risk of developing a strong-expressing FRalpha tumor. The association of multivitamin intake with ovarian cancer may depend on FRalpha expression level.     

Electrode manipulation automatism during temporal lobe seizures.

OBJECTIVE: To describe clinical characteristics and lateralizing value of peri-ictal electrode manipulation automatism (EMA) in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and compare our data with ictal manual automatisms described in the literature. METHODS: Two-hundred and five videotaped seizures of 55 consecutive patients with refractory TLE and postoperatively seizure-free outcome were analyzed and EMA (tugging, scratching or adjusting the electrodes and cables) were monitored. RESULTS: Twenty-eight (51%) patients showed EMA during 47 (23%) seizures. Ictal start was noted in 22 seizures and in 19/22 cases EMA finished before the end of seizure. Ictal EMAs were always associated with automotor seizure components. During 25 seizures, exclusively postictal EMAs were observed. Electrode manipulation was presented during 24/112 left-sided and 23/93 right-sided seizures (p = 0.742). Peri-ictal EMA was unilateral (completed by one hand) in 24/47 seizures (10 ictal, 14 postictal); it was done by the hand ipsilateral to the seizure onset zone in 17/24 and by contralateral hand in 7/24 cases (p = 0.064). We observed concomitant contralateral dystonic posturing during 3/10 seizures with unilateral ictal EMA. Unilateral hand automatism, temporally independent from the EMA appeared in 30 (64%) of the 47 seizures. CONCLUSION: Peri-ictal EMA is a frequent phenomenon but shows no lateralizing value in TLE. The mechanism of EMA is in many ways dissimilar from that of earlier described manual automatisms.     

Relative nocturnal hypertension in children with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

Twenty-four-hour blood pressure and heart rate measurements were carried out in 14 newly diagnosed diabetics and in 28 diabetics with 5–13 years' duration of the disease; 8 healthy children were used as controls. Mean arterial blood pressure increased at night in 5, decreased slightly (less than 10%) in 5 and decreased markedly (more than 10%) in 18 diabetics with longer duration of the disease. The diurnal-nocturnal differences in heart rates were significantly lower in diabetics with relative "nocturnal hypertension" compared to the control group ( p < 0.05). A significant negative correlation was found between maximal arterial blood pressure during physical exercise and the diurnal-nocturnal differences in mean arterial blood pressure in diabetics ( r =−0.58; p < 0.02). In conclusion, we found elevated nocturnal blood pressure in a subgroup of children with longer duration of diabetes and without increased albumin excretion. However, longitudinal studies of blood pressure profiles are needed to identify the candidates for diabetic vasculopathy among diabetic children.     

Improved DOP-PCR-based representational whole-genome amplification using quantitative real-time PCR.

In many cases, only a minute amount of partially degraded genomic DNA can be extracted from archived clinical samples. Diverse whole-genome amplification methods are applied to provide sufficient amount of DNA for comparative genome hybridization, single-nucleotide polymorphism, and microsatellite analyses. In these applications, the reliability of the amplification techniques is particularly important. In PCR-based approaches, the plateau effect can seriously alter the original relative copy number of certain chromosomal regions. To eliminate this distorting effect, we improved the standard degenerate oligonucleotide-primed PCR (DOP-PCR) technique by following the amplification status with quantitative real-time PCR (QRT-PCR). With real-time detection of the products, we could eliminate DNA overamplification. Probes were prepared from 10 different tumor samples: primary and metastatic melanoma tissues, epidermoid and bronchioloalveolar lung carcinomas, 2 renal cell carcinomas, 2 colorectal carcinomas, and a Conn and Cushing adenoma. Probes were generated by using nonamplified and amplified genomic DNA with DOP-PCR and DOP-PCR combined with QRT-PCR. To demonstrate the reliability of the QRT-PCR based amplification protocol, altogether 152 relative copy number changes of 44 regions were determined. There was 85.6% concordance in copy number alterations between the QRT-PCR protocol and the nonamplified samples, whereas this value was only 63.8% for the traditional DOP-PCR. Our results demonstrate that our protocol preserves the original copy number of different chromosomal regions in amplified genomic DNA than standard DOP-PCR techniques more accurately.     

Developmental age estimated by bone-length measurement in human fetuses

The lengths of 491 long bones of the extremities derived from 193 freshly delivered human fetuses of 7 to 22 weeks fertilization age were measured. Fetuses delivered after spontaneous abortion, twin pregnancy, or known maternal disease were excluded. The correlation between fetal age (measured by crown-rump length) and bone length was linear. The term "developmental age" was used for bone length-derived age values. Developmental age can be determined from the length of even a single bone, i.e., when mechanical injury of the delivered fetus inhibits crown-rump length measurement. The results could aid researchers dealing with human embryology, clinicians performing fetal tissue transplantation, and could be applied in forensic medicine as well.     

Visual-perceptual dysfunctions are possible endophenotypes of schizophrenia: evidence from the psychophysical investigation of magnocellular and parvocellular pathways

Visual information processing is impaired in schizophrenia patients and their biological relatives. The authors measured vernier thresholds in 72 schizophrenia patients, their 86 siblings, and 60 healthy control subjects. Subjects were asked to detect the direction of the horizontal displacement of 2 stimuli (left or right). During magnocellular (M) pathway tests, stimuli were dots with low contrast (5%) or counterphase-modulated gratings (25 Hz). For parvocellular (P) pathway tests, isoluminant blue-red dots with yellow-green background were used. Results revealed that patients with schizophrenia and their siblings were more impaired in M pathway conditions than in P pathway conditions. There was no color-specific impairment. The patients and their siblings displayed lower performances on tests of executive functions, psychomotor speed, and verbal memory compared with the controls. Visual-perceptual and neuropsychological data did not correlate. In conclusion, M pathway dysfunction is a potential endophenotype of schizophrenia.     

Surgical treatment of renovascular hypertension

Unilateral stenosis of the renal artery was verified by angiography in 34 patients with hypertension. The cause-effect relationship between elevated blood pressure and stenosis of the renal artery was proved by detailed renin studies (basic plasma renin activity, plasma renin activity following orthostatic and diuretic stimulation, renal vein renin activity). Surgical treatment was applied in 39 cases: they were aortorenal bypass in 9, autotransplantation in 7, patch graft in 2, denervation in 2, decompression in 3 and nephrectomy in 16 cases. Six months following the operation, 68.4% of the patients were normotensive without drugs and 18.4% of them with a reduced dose of drugs. To achieve normotension preoperative treatment had to be continued only in 13.2% of the patients. Two to four years postoperatively, 29 patients were subjected to control examinations and in 23 cases also to angiography. Restenosis was observed in 4 patients (17.4%). As a result of surgical treatment, the increased response to hyperreninaemia and to various stimuli decreased. Based on the control examinations, 58.7% of the patients could be considered to be cured.