The many faces of neurosyphilis Ylikallio, Emil; Heikinheimo, Terttu; Anttila, Veli-Jukka ...
Duodecim (Helsinki, Finland : 1961),
2014, Letnik:
130, Številka:
6
Magazine Article
Syphilis is an infectious disease caused by Treponema pallidum. We describe two patients with chronic syphilis causing neurosyphilis. The first had had several brain infarctions due to the presence ...of meningovascular syphilis. Second patient suffered from motor and psychiatric symptoms caused by syphilis. The symptoms of our patients were alleviated by antibiotic therapy. Recognition of the multifaceted symptom picture of syphilis is increasingly important, because the occurrence of the disease has increased in our country over the last few decades. An early enough treatment can prevent permanent disability of the patient.
Childhood cancer and its treatment weaken the immune defenses and predispose the patient to infections. The recovery of immune defences depends on the provided cancer therapy and associated ...complications such as the graft-versus-host reaction. Recovery takes place gradually and the spectrum of infections suffered by the patient reflects the different stages of restoration of the immune defenses. Bacterial and fungal infections dominate the early, neutropenic phase, viral infections being predominant during the later lymphocytopenic phase. In the follow-up it is essential to recognize the risk factors, to observe the recuperation of the immune system and to treat the complications.
We describe an epidemic of tuberculosis of occupational origin in five healthcare workers, which originated from a patient with tuberculous peritonitis. The source of the infection was not revealed ...until one year after the patient's death. Over 300 workers were exposed to tuberculosis. Up-to-date microbiological molecular technology was applied to the investigation of the infection among the exposed workers. This was the first time that an electronic reporting system for biological exposures was utilized for the investigation of an epidemic. Within this epidemic it is assumed that another five workers will develop a symptomatic tuberculosis infection during their lifetime.
To analyze alpha-catenin and collagen IV expression in epithelial ovarian cancer with special reference to their prognostic significance and correlations with clinical and pathologic characteristics, ...as well as cell proliferation marker Ki-67.
Alpha-catenin, collagen IV, and Ki-67 expression was immunohistochemically analyzed in paraffin-embedded specimens of 316 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer.
Alpha-catenin and collagen IV expression was not interrelated or related to International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage or proliferation marker Ki-67. Alpha-catenin expression was reduced (< 100%) in 50% of primary tumors. Reduced alpha-catenin and collagen IV expression was directly related to high histologic grade (P < .001). In both univariate and multivariate analyses, Ki-67 proliferation significantly predicted overall survival. In the subset of 86 patients with stage I tumor, a reduced (< 100%) alpha-catenin expression approached statistical significance as a negative prognostic factor (P = .035) and retained its statistical significance in the multivariate analysis (P = .025). The low (< 30%) expression of alpha-catenin (n = 10) was a sign of inferior survival as compared with normal expression in both the univariate (P = .0107) and multivariate analyses (P = .0105).
Alpha-catenin expression seems to be a useful marker of those FIGO stage I tumors likely to run a less favorable course. The high cell proliferative activity was associated with poor survival. In the future, alpha-catenin and Ki-67 expression should be studied in a large prospective cohort that includes early-stage cancers to select the more aggressive tumors for intense early chemotherapy.
Objective. Human α-catenin gene (
CTNNA1) on chromosome 5q31 is aberrantly expressed in various types of cancer including epithelial ovarian tumors. Allelic imbalance on this region has also been ...described in several malignant diseases. In the present work, the role of
CTNNA1 as a candidate tumor suppressor gene was studied by comparing protein expression with allelic imbalance in human epithelial ovarian tumors.
Methods. α-Catenin protein expression was determined from two areas of 41 tumors, and tissues from these areas were microdissected. After DNA extraction, AI analysis was carried out with eight microsatellite markers.
Results. Altogether, 93% of the tumors (38 of 41) showed allelic imbalance at one or more loci. Two distinct common regions of allelic imbalance were identified, one comprising markers D5S2002 and D5S1995 and the other markers D5S393 and D5S476. Loss of the
CTNNA1 gene did not appear to be involved in down-regulation of α-catenin in ovarian tumors, since allelic imbalance with a variety of markers, including
CTNNA1 associated marker D5S476, was found in tumor samples independently of α-catenin expression. Furthermore, allelic imbalance analyses of two different samples from the same tumor revealed genetic heterogeneity.
Conclusions. High allelic imbalance frequency indicates that chromosomal region 5q31 is functionally important in epithelial ovarian cancer. Allelic imbalance occurs at two distinct regions of which one includes the
CTNNA1 gene. However, this gene is likely to be inactivated by mechanisms other than allelic imbalance. In addition, genetic heterogeneity observed in these tumors demonstrates the multiclonal nature of epithelial ovarian tumors.
