Follow-up results of a prevention program for cervical cancer.

Of 4,782 women attending a colposcopy clinic from 1964 to 1971, 4,358 were included in a prevention program for cervical cancer and were followed for at least ten years. Of them, 1,105 were untreated and 3,253 treated. One hundred two underwent surgery and 3,151, electrocautery (ECT). On the basis of the post-ECT colposcopic examination, cervices were divided into iodine dark and iodine light. One cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN III) and three invasive cancers were found among the untreated women. Three neoplasias (one adenocarcinoma, one in situ carcinoma and one invasive carcinoma) were found among the treated non-CIN women, only one carcinoma among the treated CIN women and no neoplasias among the surgically treated women. The comparison showed a difference in favor of the treated group, though it was not statistically significant. A comparison between the observed and expected data on the basis of the literature was highly significant: the expected appeared high. While these data do not prove the basic hypothesis that ECT has a protective effect in cancer prevention, they do provide some evidence in favor of it.

[Thoracoplasty: the current role]. / La toracoplastica: il ruolo attuale.

The Authors report a retrospective analysis of 29 patients who underwent thoracoplasty between 1990 and 1999. The mean follow-up period was 30 months. The median age was 55 years. The peri-operative mortality rate was 6.8%. The control of space obliteration, space infection and closure of the bronchopleural fistula was achieved in 27 patients. This article also discusses surgical history of thoracoplasty, technique adopted and its current application.

Targeting of vasoactive intestinal peptide receptor 2, VPAC2, a secretin family G-protein coupled receptor, to primary cilia.

Primary cilia protrude from the cell surface of many cell types in the human body and function as cellular antennae via ciliary membrane localized receptors. Neurons and glial cells in the brain possess primary cilia, and the malfunction of primary cilia may contribute to neurological deficits present in many cilia-associated disorders. Several rhodopsin family G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are specifically localized to a subset of neuronal primary cilia. However, whether other family GPCRs target to neuronal cilia and whether glial primary cilia harbor any GPCRs are not known. We conducted a screening of GPCRs to determine their ability to target to primary cilia, and identified a secretin family member, Vasoactive Intestinal Receptor 2 (VPAC2), as a novel ciliary GPCR. Here, we show that endogenous VPAC2 targets to primary cilia in various brain regions, including the suprachiasmatic nuclei and the thalamus. Surprisingly, VPAC2 not only localizes to neuronal cilia but also to glial cilia. In addition, we show that VPAC2's C-terminus is both necessary and sufficient for its ciliary targeting and we define a novel ciliary targeting signal: the tetrapeptide RDYR motif in the C-terminus of VPAC2. Furthermore, we demonstrate that VPAC2 ciliary targeting is dependent on Tubby, the BBSome (a complex of Bardet-Biedl syndrome proteins) and the BBSome targeting factor, Arl6.

[An economical, rapid method for the detection and assay of anti-A and anti-B immune serum antibodies]. / Un metodo economico e rapido per la ricerca e il dosaggio degli anticorpi immuni anti-a e anti-b nel siero.

Seric immuno antibodies anti-A and anti-B are in prevalence IgG; we have therefore to neutralize IgM in order to be able to demonstrate the presence of the wanted IgG. We performed this neutralization by 2-mercaptoethanol. We suggest to search both for IgM and IgG in the same neutralized serum keeping two identical assays at 4 degrees C and 37 degrees C respectively. Generally assays for IgM results completely negative: if there is a positivity at 37 degrees C, this is given only by IgG anti-A or anti-B.