Electrotransfer of gene encoding endostatin into normal and neoplastic mouse tissues: inhibition of primary tumor growth and metastatic spread.

Electroporation-mediated gene transfer relies upon direct delivery of plasmids into cells permeabilized by electric fields, a method more efficient than transfer using nonviral vectors, although neither approaches the transfer efficiency of viral vectors. Here we studied electrotransfer of a gene encoding an angiogenesis inhibitor (endostatin) into primary tumors and muscle tissues, which would serve as a site of synthesis and secretion into the bloodstream of a therapeutic antimetastatic protein with systemic effects. Optimum electroporation conditions (voltage, number and duration of impulses, separation of caliper electrodes) were first established to maximize expression of a reporter gene transferred into murine Renca kidney carcinoma, B16(F10) melanoma, or skeletal muscle tissues. In neoplastic tissues, electrotransfer of plasmid DNA was far more efficient than electroporation with lipoplexes, but no differences between naked DNA and lipoplexes were found in case of electroporated muscles. We then studied the electrotransfer of plasmid DNA carrying the endostatin gene into pre-established experimental Renca tumors. A significant inhibition of tumor growth was observed in animals electroporated with this construct. Electrotransfer of the endostatin gene into muscle tissues resulted in reduced numbers of experimental B16(F10) metastases in the lungs. This study clearly shows that electroporation may be used to efficiently transfer antiangiogenic genes into both normal and neoplastic tissues.

[Estimation of telomerase transcriptive activity in the umbilical cord and the mother's venous blood cells]. / Ocena aktywnosci transkrypcyjnej telomerazy w komórkach krwi pepowinowej i krwi zylnej matek.

Stem cells possess the ability of the partition and differentiation into other cells, practically lifelong of the organism. The potential of the self-extraction of these cells practically unrestricted and results probably from the telomerase gene activity, especially subunit hTERT. To the analysis of 11 samples of the umbilical cord and mothers blood received immediately after the childbirth in which one compared the expression of telomerase genes hTERT, TP1, hTR. Four cases ascertained the expression subunit hTERT in the umbilical cord blood at the lack its transcripts in the venous blood of mothers. In one case we found 10-times higher concentration of subunit hTERT in the umbilical cord blood than in the venous blood of the mother. 6 cases did not demonstrate the expression of the hTERT nor in the umbilical cord blood nor in the venous blood of mothers. The transcriptive activity TP1 and hTR did not show differences among investigated groups. Received results put the question or the transcriptive activity subunit hTERT in the umbilical cord blood is a results of the presence of stem cells.

Body image of tall and medium girls aged 13-17 years.

INTRODUCTION: Adolescent girls often experience difficulties in a rational perception of own body and consider attaining an "appropriate shape" as a key to success and happiness. Growth disorders, like e.g. very tall stature, may bring about stigmatising which, in turn, may decrease in such girls their self-esteem, especially in adolescence. Aim of the study was to assess the perceived body image of tall and medium-statured girls and to compare their self-rating with an external one. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A group of 56 girls aged 13-17 years were classified into two categories of body height: medium stature, between Percentiles 40 and 60 (n=36) and tall, above Percentile 90 (n=20). Using a template containing 9 female body shapes, the girls indicated the shape they thought they had, the shape they wished to have, and an external rating was also made. Girls rated as shapes 1 or 2 were classified as thin, shapes 3 or 4 as medium and shape 5 or higher as robust. The data were related to the BMI values. RESULTS: Thin girls self-rated their body shapes and the desired ones significantly higher (p <0.05) compared with the external rating. In medium-shaped girls the same was true for self-rating, the desired shape being concordant with the external rating. In robust girls, the external and self-ratings were concordant, the desired shapes being significantly lower (p <0.05) but higher (p <0.05) in tall than in medium-height girls (5.0 and 3.9, respectively). Tall and medium girls did not differ significantly in BMI but a very high correlation (r=0.930; p <0.001) was found between the externally rated body shape and BMI in both groups of girls. CONCLUSION: The distorted perception of own body shape by adolescent girls may result from the specific ideals of feminine beauty and excessively slim silhouette insistently promoted by mass media and fashion designers. Popularisation of the results of this and similar studies may contribute to altering the respective attitudes of adolescent girls.

Body fat-based weight norms for children and youths.

INTRODUCTION: The issue of establishing reference values, especially of those pertaining to somatic features, is of importance for an assessment of normal growth. It was assumed that norms ought to reflect not the actually existing status but the recommended one. Thus, weight-height relations, including body mass index (BMI), ought to be established for that fraction of the general population, in which body fat content is within physiologically acceptable limits. THE AIM OF THE STUDY: To construct weight-to-height percentile norms for boys and girls aged 7-20 years. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A cohort of healthy boys (n=1282) and girls (n=1150) attending schools in the Eastern regions of Poland participated in the study. Their body height, body mass and body fat content were determined, the latter by skinfold (Slaughter's method) or bioimpedance measurements. The data for constructing normal values of body fat content were compiled from diverse sources so as to associate them smoothly with the normal values for adults. RESULTS: By applying the proposed lower and upper limits of body fat, 1007 boys (78.5%) and 581 girls (50.5%) with acceptable fat content were selected for constructing percentile norms of body mass expected for height, as well as for BMI. CONCLUSIONS: The existing norms for BMI of children and youths, also the Polish ones, differ from each other, as these were not based on data from subjects with acceptable body fat and assessing body fat content from BMI is known to be markedly biased. Unlike BMI, the presented percentile weight-for-height norms are age-independent in the range 7-20 years and are thus much easier to use. Those norms may be recommended as a tool in assessing the course of normal growth, as well as in developmental disorders and possible clinical intervention.

[Body image of short- and normally statured girls in pubertal age]. / Wizerunek ciala nisko- i normoroslych dziewczat w wieku okolopokwitaniowym.

INTRODUCTION: Short stature and other growth disorders may be a subject of public stigmatising and that, especially during puberty, may lead to lowered self-esteem and increase inadequate self-perception of one's body image. THE AIM OF THE STUDY: To assess own body perception in short- and normally statured girls and to evaluate the concordance of self-image with an assessment performed by an external expert. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Two groups of girls aged 14-16 years took part in the study: 25 short-statured girls (body height below 10th percentile) and 49 girls of normal body height. The subjects were given templates with 9 body silhouettes. They were asked to point out the silhouette that best represented their body and then the desired one. The third evaluation was performed by an external expert. Basing on the expert's assessment, the subjects were divided into three groups: slim (silhouettes 1 and 2), normal (3-4) and stocky (above 4). RESULTS: Regression slopes computed for the relationship between self-image and expert's assessment differed significantly in both groups: slim, short-statured girls overestimated their body image by about 1.5 unit while the stocky, short-statured ones by about one unit. Girls with normal body height overestimated their body image by about one unit irrespectively of the group they have been classified to. Additionally, stocky girls and those with normal body image from both groups wished to be leaner. CONCLUSIONS: Incompletely developed sense of identity as well as rapid changes in body composition and body proportions can be attributed to pubescence and may be the reason of inadequate perception of own body image. Additionally, self-image may be strongly affected by the beauty standards widely promoted by mass-media.

Comparison of gene expression of mitogenic kinin path in adherent and non-adherent CD 34-stem cells using oligonucleotide microarrays.

One of the more interesting cells present in the umbilical cord blood - as far as their potential clinical use is concerned - are stem cells not presenting the CD34 antigen. These are the pluripotential cells with their biological properties similar to mesenchymal stem cells, with the ability to differentiate into such tissue types as bone, cartilage, nervous (to some extent), glia and muscle. The authors compared the activity of genes coding the proteins in mitogenic signal paths activated by kinin receptors using oligonucleotide microarrays in adherent and non-adherent CD 34- cells derived from umbilical cord blood. In the linear regression model with a 95% prognosis area for differentiating genes outside this area, the following genes were selected: c-jun (present in 3 isoforms) and c-fos. The fos and jun genes create the AP-1 transcriptive factor which regulates the expression of genes taking part in numerous cellular processes, including the cell cycle and mitosis. The obtained results shed some light on the molecular processes behind the MSC proliferation and are a starting point for further studies on the mesenchymal stem cell biology.