Comparison of pollen gene flow among four European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) populations characterized by different management regimes.

The study of the dispersal capability of a species can provide essential information for the management and conservation of its genetic variability. Comparison of gene flow rates among populations characterized by different management and evolutionary histories allows one to decipher the role of factors such as isolation and tree density on gene movements. We used two paternity analysis approaches and different strategies to handle the possible presence of genotyping errors to obtain robust estimates of pollen flow in four European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) populations from Austria and France. In each country one of the two plots is located in an unmanaged forest; the other plots are managed with a shelterwood system and inside a colonization area (in Austria and France, respectively). The two paternity analysis approaches provided almost identical estimates of gene flow. In general, we found high pollen immigration (~75% of pollen from outside), with the exception of the plot from a highly isolated forest remnant (~50%). In the two unmanaged plots, the average within-population pollen dispersal distances (from 80 to 184 m) were higher than previously estimated for beech. From the comparison between the Austrian managed and unmanaged plots, that are only 500 m apart, we found no evidence that either gene flow or reproductive success distributions were significantly altered by forest management. The investigated phenotypic traits (crown area, height, diameter and flowering phenology) were not significantly related with male reproductive success. Shelterwood seems to have an effect on the distribution of within-population pollen dispersal distances. In the managed plot, pollen dispersal distances were shorter, possibly because adult tree density is three-fold (163 versus 57 trees per hectare) with respect to the unmanaged one.

Regular moderate intensity physical activity and blood concentrations of endogenous anabolic hormones and thyroid hormones in aging men.

BACKGROUND: Physical activity has been reported to affect endocrine function in elderly men. OBJECTIVE: To establish an association between regular moderate physical activity and endogenous anabolic hormone levels in healthy aging men. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty four middle-aged (57.4+/-4.7 years) and 24 elderly (68.3+/-2.6 years) physically active men who in the past 10 years had been regularly bicycling during leisure time were compared with 24 middle-aged (57.9+/-4.0 years) and 24 elderly (67.2+/-1.7 years) sedentary men. Groups did not differ for body composition. MEASUREMENTS: Serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-1), free testosterone (FT), and thyroid hormone levels were assessed. RESULTS: In general, elderly men had lower IGF-1 (P<0.001), DHEAS (P=0.013), and triodothyronine levels (P<0.001) than their middle-aged counterparts. Independently of age, however, physically active men had on average higher IGF-1 (P=0.031), DHEAS (P=0.001), and triodothyronine serum levels (P<0.001) than sedentary men. FT and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) serum concentrations did not differ across age groups, but physically active men had lower TSH values than sedentary men (P=0.021). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that, in aging men, regular moderate physical activity is associated with higher levels of IGF-1 and DHEAS levels and with thyroid function alterations.

Elevated plasma homocysteine levels in centenarians are not associated with cognitive impairment.

BACKGROUND: Previous reports have shown elevated plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) levels in elderly person with impaired cognition. OBJECTIVE: To study the association between cognitive status and plasma tHcy levels in centenarians. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: Centenarians living in two northern Italian provinces. PARTICIPANTS: Thirteen cognitively normal centenarians, ten cognitively impaired not-demented centenarians, and 34 demented centenarians with a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). MEASUREMENTS: Blood levels of homocysteine's biological determinants vitamin B12, folate, and vitamin B6. RESULTS: Elevated plasma tHcy levels (>17 micromol/l) were common in the general population (77% of normal centenarians, 100% of cognitively impaired not-demented centenarians, 82% of AD centenarians). Demented centenarians had the lowest folate serum levels. Low or borderline vitamin B12 serum levels (<221 pmol/l) and low vitamin B6 plasma levels (<11.7 nmol/l) were found in 33 and 66% of all centenarians independently of cognitive status. Among demented centenarians only plasma tHcy correlated inversely with both serum vitamin B12 and folate. No significant difference was found for plasma tHcy levels among the three diagnostic groups, even after adjusting for B vitamin levels. CONCLUSIONS: Hyperhomocysteinemia is very common among centenarians, probably due to vitamin deficiencies, but does not seem to be associated with cognitive impairment.

Use of sulprostone for induction of preoperative cervical dilation or uterine evacuation: a comparison among the effects of different treatment schedules.

Sulprostone was administered to 144 pregnant women to induce either preoperative cervical dilation or uterine evacuation. A comparison was performed to select the drug treatment schedule showing the greatest effects with the lowest incidence of side effects. As for preoperative cervical dilation, the local (intracervical/intramural) injection of 50 + 50 micrograms and the intramuscular treatment with 500 micrograms of sulprostone showed the most favorable effects on the cervix after 12 and 6 hours, respectively. The cervix dilated 8 mm or more in 82.6% of subjects treated locally and in 85.7% of those treated intramuscularly. No patient experienced a serious side effect, but two displayed vomiting after receiving 500 micrograms of the drug. Uterine evacuation was induced by both repeated intramuscular injections (500 micrograms every 4 hours) and continuous intravenous infusion (2.8 micrograms/minute for 6 hours) of sulprostone in more than 90% of the patients with intact pregnancy, missed abortion, or fetal death. The efficacy of the drug was not influenced by gestational age or parity. Gastrointestinal symptoms were the only recorded side effects, with negligible incidence and intensity for both routes of sulprostone administration.

Fine aspiration versus fine cutting needle, and comparison between smear cytology, inclusion cytology and microhistology in abdominal lesions.

Two hundred patients underwent ultrasound guided percutaneous fine needle biopsy of focal solid abdominal lesions using 22 gauge aspiration and cutting needles. The material obtained by aspiration needle was treated by smear cytology and by inclusion cytology, and that obtained by cutting needle by microhistology. The retrieval rate was 89% for aspiration needle (smear cytology = 89%, inclusion cytology = 83.5%) and was 83% for cutting needle; the combined diagnostic accuracy was 98%. The typing accuracy was 76% for smear cytology, and was 84% for inclusion cytology and microhistology. We conclude that: 1. to obtain the highest retrieval rate (98%) both aspiration and cutting needles are necessary, because the aspiration needle is more likely to secure necrotic or soft tissue, and the cutting needle, fibrous or hard tissue; 2. histologic treatment of the samples yields a higher typing accuracy: 84% vs 76%; however, smear cytology remains essential because it permits a much faster evaluation of the adequacy of the sample and because it may avoid histologic methods in 76% of cases; 3. the smear cytology + microhistology combination seems to be the best solution (retrieval rate = 97.5%), but the costs are much higher because the cutting needle is somewhat expensive. The best solution would be to use the combination smear + inclusion cytology (retrieval rate = 89%) and to reserve the cutting needle for when aspiration needle material proves to be inadequate.

Percutaneous alcohol injection of portal thrombosis in hepatocellular carcinoma: a new possible treatment.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with portal thrombosis is usually regarded as a contraindication for surgery and for percutaneous alcohol injection (PAI). For palliative purposes we used PAI in 4 patients with infiltrative HCC and segmental portal thrombosis. Ethanol, injected directly into the thrombus, diffused mostly along it. No complications emerged after 20 injections. In the first patient, who later received a liver transplant, the thrombus was completely necrotic. In the other patients, biopsies yielded only necrotic material: in two cases, progression of the thrombus was stopped at 4 and 12 months of follow-up, and in one case the thrombus shrank and remained as such 13 months later. This preliminary experience might broaden the scope of treatment for HCC.

Fine needle percutaneous intratumoral chemotherapy under ultrasound guidance: a feasibility study.

To test the feasibility of fine needle (22 gauge) percutaneous intratumoral chemotherapy (PIC) under ultrasound guidance, a trial was conducted on 12 selected neoplastic patients with tumors not responsive to conventional treatments (5 adenocarcinomas of the pancreas, 1 hepatocellular carcinoma, 1 squamous cell carcinoma of the lung, 1 leiomyosarcoma of the hepatic hilum, 1 malignant fibrous histiocytoma of the ischiatic region, 2 liver and 1 peritoneal metastases). The drugs used were 5-fluorouracil, methotrexate and cyclophosphamide, according to the histotype. The doses given never exceeded the routine intravenous doses; 119 sessions of PIC were administered. There have been no significant local complications due to needle injury and drug toxicity or biochemical changes attributable to general toxicity. Partial or total pain control and stable disease or response to 60% was observed. This research has not been described previously to our knowledge.

Isolation and characterisation of bacterial colonies from seeds and in vitro cultures of Fraxinus spp. from Italian sites.

Culturable bacteria were isolated from seeds, embryos and contaminated in vitro cultures of ash (Fraxinus excelsior L., F. ornus L. and F. angustifolia L.) and were identified using morphological and molecular analyses. Fourteen morphologically distinct isolates were recovered from seeds of Fraxinus spp. 16S rDNA sequencing categorised these isolates into ten separate genera. Three strains isolated from contaminated in vitro cultures, Pantoea agglomerans, Staphylococcus succinus and Aerococcus viridans, were used for comparative analysis with isolates from seeds. Antibiotic sensitivity testing of the isolated contaminants, including phytotoxicity of antibiotics on in vitro cultures of ash, was also investigated. Phytotoxic effects on explants immersed in ampicillin or cultured on medium containing ampicillin were negligible, however tetracycline, either alone or in combination with other antibiotics, had phytotoxic effects. We conclude that ampicillin is a suitable antibiotic to limit the growth of contaminating bacteria during the in vitro culture of ash.

Percutaneous ethanol injection therapy of hepatoma.

Percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) under ultrasound guidance is a new therapeutic possibility for patients with small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In our series, 35 patients with a total of 50 tumors were treated (tumor size 0.8-5.0 cm). No significant complications occurred after 502 sessions of ethanol injection. Thirty patients presented complete remission, as no evidence of residual HCC was revealed during the follow-up (mean 16 months). Five patients with lesions larger than 3.5 cm presented only partial remission. The survival curves at 1, 2, and 3 years (Kaplan Meier method) were 100%, 100%, and 80%, respectively. In comparison with the survival curves of untreated and surgically treated patients, PEI seems to be the better treatment for operable HCC smaller than 3 cm, and for lesions smaller than 5 cm in patients with high surgical risk.

Adenomatous hyperplastic nodules in the cirrhotic liver: a therapeutic approach. Work in progress.

Adenomatous hyperplastic nodules (AHNs) in the cirrhotic liver may be precurosors of hepatocellular carcinoma. These nodules have been demonstrated more frequently because of the increased use of ultrasonography (US) in the screening of high-risk patients. Treatment is a problem because surgical resection of a precancerous lesion is considered by some to be unadvisable in patients with high surgical risk. The authors used percutaneous ethanol injection with US guidance in five patients with AHNs that measured 1.4-2.6 cm. A total of 30 injections were performed, without complications. Lesions were undetectable or were reduced in size on follow-up US scans. All biopsies yielded necrotic material. No recurrences have been demonstrated with US after 9-21 months. Percutaneous ethanol injection is therefore proposed as a therapeutic alternative for small AHNs.

Liver metastases: results of percutaneous ethanol injection in 14 patients.

Percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) was performed under ultrasound (US) guidance in the outpatient department in 14 patients with 21 metastases 1.0-3.8 cm in diameter. The primary cancer was colorectal adenocarcinoma (seven patients), adenocarcinoma of the stomach (four patients), abdominal leiomyosarcoma (one patient), gastrinoma of unknown origin (one patient), and bronchial carcinoid (one patient). The indicators of therapeutic efficacy were US, computed tomography, fine-needle biopsy, and serologic markers. No complications occurred after a total of 175 treatment sessions. Complete response was obtained in 11 lesions, nine of which were less than 2 cm in diameter, and in all endocrine metastases (four lesions in two patients) with a maximum, recurrence-free follow-up of 38 months. Carcinoembryonic antigen values decreased in all patients but one for a 2-6-month period. The natural course of metastatic disease strictly limits the applicability of PEI, a local treatment. Single, metachronous, nonoperable metastasis of adenocarcinoma and endocrine metastases seem to be the only indications for PEI.

Clay minerals protect bacteriophage PBS1 of Bacillus subtilis against inactivation and loss of transducing ability by UV radiation.

The effect of UV radiation on the survival of and transduction by phage PBS1 of Bacillus subtilis, free or adsorbed on the clay minerals montmorillonite (M) and kaolinite (K), was studied. After free or clay-associated phage (approximately 10(7) PFU.mL-1) was irradiated with UV light (254 nm) for 0, 1, 2, 5, 10, and 30 min and then allowed to infect B. subtilis FB300 (thiB4 metA29 argF4 Rfmr), the phage was titered, and Met+ transductants were enumerated on selective media. After 1 min of irradiation, the titer of free and clay-associated phage decreased significantly (approximately 1.6 times for free phage, and approximately 4.9 and 6.8 times for M and K, respectively), whereas the transduction frequency increased significantly (approximately 3 times for free phage and approximately 1.4 and 2.2 times for M and K, respectively). The titer and transduction frequency of clay-associated phage remain essentially constant between 1 and 10 min of irradiation, whereas the titer of free phage decreased by approximately 1 order of magnitude after 5 min of irradiation. When free phage was irradiated for 10 min, the titer and transduction frequency decreased by approximately 2 and 0.5 orders of magnitude, respectively, whereas 30 min of irradiation was necessary to obtain comparable decreases with clay-associated phage. These results indicated that phages are protected to some extent from UV radiation when adsorbed on clay minerals.

[The clinico-echocardiographic aspects in acute pericarditis in a small child]. / Aspecte clinico-ecocardiografice în pericardita acuta la copilul mic.

The authors present a case of pericarditis in a 12-months-old child. They underlined the peculiarities of the onset and of the evolution.

Interaction between bacteriophage PBS1 and clay minerals and transduction of Bacillus subtilis by clay-phage complexes.

Bacteriophage PBS1 of Bacillus subtilis was rapidly adsorbed on montmorillonite (M) and kaolinite (K), and adsorption was maximal after 30min on both clays. There was no correlation between adsorption and the cation exchange capacity of the clays. Studies with sodium metaphosphate (a polyanion that interacts with positively charged sites on clay) indicated that positively charged sites on K were primarily responsible for the adsorption of the phage, whereas other mechanisms appeared to be involved in adsorption of the phage on M. X-ray diffraction and electron microscopic analyses showed that the phage partially intercalated M. Survival of the phage was increased by adsorption on the clays, and adsorbed phage maintained its ability to transduce bacterial cells for at least 30 days (the longest time studied) after the preparation of the clay-phage complexes. Electron microscopic observations indicated that transduction by the clay-phage complexes was primarily the result of the phage detaching from the clays in the presence of host cells.

Focal fatty liver change by sonography.

Focal fatty liver change (FFLC) is a poorly characterized entity whose ultrasound pattern has not yet been properly defined. From our experience based on 12 cases and from the few cases reported in the literature, the following conclusions can be made: (1) FFLC can be of increased and decreased echogenicity with map-like or clearcut margins; (2) rounded lesions with defined margins are indistinguishable from other focal pathology; according to the case, fine needle biopsy, arteriography, computed tomography or nuclear scan should be used; (3) FFLC can change in size or disappear in a short span of time, and (4) a hypoechogenic area with map-like margins in the quadrate lobe (even if it turns out to be a false focal defect in that it corresponds to residual normal liver tissue) of a patient with abnormal values for gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) and serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT) is reasonably indicative of FFLC.

Treatment of autonomous thyroid nodules with percutaneous ethanol injection: preliminary results. Work in progress.

Eight patients with autonomous thyroid nodules 2.4-4.3 cm in diameter received percutaneous ethanol injections (PEIs) under guidance by means of ultrasound (US). Sterile ethanol at 95% was injected with a 22-gauge needle and a 7.5-MHz probe with a guide device. Each patient received one or two treatments, with 1-3 mL of alcohol (depending on the nodule size) per treatment, each week for a total of three to six injections per lesion. After a total of 36 injections in all eight patients, there were no complications. Follow-up ranged from 2 to 10 months. After therapy, symptoms subsided and hormonal levels became normal or reached the range of subclinical hypothyroidism. Scintigrams showed that the previously suppressed thyroid tissue had resumed functioning. At US, all nodules had shrunk. PEI was risk free and easy to perform. If these preliminary results are confirmed in a larger study with longer follow-up, the new treatment may become an alternative to surgical or radioiodine ablation of autonomous thyroid nodules.

Small hepatocellular carcinoma: percutaneous alcohol injection--results in 23 patients.

Twenty-three patients with hepatocellular carcinoma less than 4.5 cm in diameter (32 lesions) were treated with a percutaneous injection of ethyl alcohol performed with ultrasound (US) guidance. No complications or sequelae occurred after 271 treatments. All lesions were smaller after 6-27 months follow-up. No evidence of hepatocellular carcinoma was present at fine-needle biopsy or contrast material-enhanced computed tomography (CT). No viable tumor cells were detected in four patients who subsequently underwent surgery. The 1-year survival rate of 12 patients was 91.7%. From these data, it can be concluded that percutaneous alcohol injection (PAI) is an appropriate first-line treatment for patients with small hepatocellular carcinoma lesions who are poor surgical risks. Given the risk of new nodular lesions occurring on resected livers and the risk of perioperative mortality, PAI might even be considered an alternative to surgery.

Diagnosis of hydatid cyst by percutaneous aspiration: value of electrolyte determinations.

A study was made of the fluid from 11 hydatid cysts (10 hepatic, one renal) and from 50 nonparasitic cysts (25 renal, 10 ovarian, 10 pancreatic and five hepatic). Our analysis indicated that the chloride (range 62-95 mEq/liter), the sodium (range 125-139 mEq/liter) and the potassium content (range 5.1-7.5 mEq/liter) of the former differed significantly (p less than 0.01) from those of the controls. Hydatid cysts may be indistinguishable from others with both CT and ultrasound and therefore the electrolyte data are of diagnostic value when a hydatid cyst is accidentally punctured percutaneously.