J. Zanen

Pulmonary Emphysema: Size Distribution of Emphysematous Spaces on Multidetector CT Images—Comparison with Macroscopic and Microscopic Morphometry

PURPOSE To test the hypothesis that the frequency-size distribution of low-attenuation areas could be a parameter to quantify pulmonary emphysema. MATERIALS AND METHODS Ethics committee approval and written informed consent were obtained. Multidetector computed tomographic (CT) scans were performed with simultaneous acquisition of four 1-mm sections of the whole chest in 80 patients (57 men, 23 women; age range, 38-79 years) who were referred for surgical resection of lung cancer. From the raw data, 1.25-mm-thick sections were reconstructed at 10-mm intervals. The relative area of lung with attenuation coefficients lower than -960 HU (RA(960)) and the 1st percentile of the distribution of attenuation coefficients were calculated. The cumulative frequency-size distributions of the RA(960) and the 1st percentile, when represented on a log-log plot, followed linear relationships. The slopes of these lines (D(960) and D(p1)) were compared with areas found macroscopically to have emphysema and with two different microscopic measurements assessed on resected specimens. Spearman correlation coefficients of each CT index with macroscopic and microscopic measurements were calculated. RESULTS The RA(960) and the 1st percentile showed statistically significant correlations with macroscopic and microscopic indexes (P < .001), whereas D(960) and D(p1) did not (P > or = .165). CONCLUSION The RA(960) and the 1st percentile reflect the extent of emphysema as compared to macroscopic and microscopic measurements, while D(960) and D(p1) do not.

Macroscopic assessment of pulmonary emphysema by image analysis.

AIMS--To propose a computerised image analysis based method for measuring, on paper mounted lung sections, the area macroscopically occupied by emphysema. METHODS--The study was based on the assessment of 69 lung sections prepared following a modified Gough-Wentworth technique. The results obtained from image analysis, point counting, and panel grading methods were compared, as was the repeatability of image analysis and panel grading. RESULTS--The results from image analysis and from point counting were not significantly different (p = 0.609) and significant quadratic regressions (r = 0.96, p < 0.001) were found between measurements from image analysis and from panel grading, the computerised technique being shown to be the most reproducible. CONCLUSIONS--Image analysis is a valuable and reproducible method to measure the area of lung macroscopically involved by emphysema.

The complete amino acid sequence of diphtheria toxin fragment B. Correlation with its lipid-binding properties.

The complete amino acid sequence of fragment B from diphtheria toxin has been determined. The polypeptide chain was split with cyanogen bromide, o-iodosobenzoic acid, clostripain and trypsin; all amino acid sequence analyses were made by automated Edman degradation. Fragment B, which corresponds to the carboxy terminus of the toxin molecule, contains 342 amino acids and has an Mr of 37240. The proposed amino acid sequence fully confirms the structure recently deduced from the nucleotide sequence of the structural gene. The complete sequence is analyzed in relationship with the role of fragment B in the transfer of diphtheria toxin fragment A from the extracellular medium into the cell cytoplasm.

CT Quantification of Pulmonary Emphysema — Correlation with Pulmonary Function Tests: Preliminary Results on 15 Patients

Pulmonary emphysema has been redefined as “a condition of the lung characterized by abnormal, permanent enlargement of the airspaces distal to the terminal bronchioles, accompanied by destruction of their walls, without obvious fibrosis”[1]. This diagnosis can theoretically only be established either at autopsy or by examination of surgically resected lobes or lungs. Emphysema is difficult to diagnose accurately during life and almost impossible to quantify. In the 48 autopsy lungs available from the 228 patients who died during the NIH trial of intermittent positive-pressure breathing involving 935 non-hypoxemic patients, Nagai showed that there were no significant relationships between clinical or physiologic variables and either the interalveolar wall thickness or the alveolar surface area, as calculated from measurements of the mean linear intercept [2].

APOPTOSIS AND CELL PROLIFERATION IN A MODEL OF RENAL TUMOR IN THE MALE SYRIAN HAMSTER EXPOSED TO DIETHYLSTILBESTROL

Mutation in the dlg gene cause neoplastic imaginal discs overgrowth. It encodes a protein required for septate junctions structure. Several vertebrate homologs of dlg have been identified. One of them., the dog 20-2 IS a protein component of epithelial tight junctions. Tight junchons form a belt around the cell, maintaining apical-basal cell polarity. In the course of a chromosomal walking in tbe Friderich ataxia chromosomic region, the Xl04 gene was isolated by exon trapping and further identified as the human 20-2 gene. A mZO-2 cDNA was cloned from a 10.5 day mouse embryo library using a human 20-2 cDNA probe. DNA sequence anal member of the MAGUK familv with PDZ. SH 3 sis indicates that mZO-2 is a and GUK domains. We have examined the RNA expression pattern of the 20-2 gene during mouse embryogenesis by means of in siru RNA hybridization. The transcript mZG2 is specifically expressed in the colon, and tightly regulated during lung and kidney organogenesis. Detailed pattern of expression for mZG-2 will be presented. These data suggest a specific role for mZO-2 during mouse embryogenesis. The cnzrtion of a null mutation for 20-2 in mouse will be of importance since no protein component of the tight junction have been knock out in a whole organism. In other hand, we can test ZG-2 as a tumor suppressor gene by bansfecting its cDNA into tumor cells which do not express the protein: preliminary results will be presented.

Action de la 8-azaguanine sur la synthèse de pénicillinase chez Bacillus cereus

Abstract Action of 8-azaguanine on the synthesis of penicillinase in Bacillus cereus Previous work on Bacillus cereus has indicated that protein synthesis is partially inhibited in the presence of azaguanine and that the synthesis of penicillinase (penicillin amido-β-lactamhydrolase, EC 3.5.2.6) is apparently more affected by the analog than the synthesis of other proteins. A search for the presence of an “abnormal” penicillinase under these conditions was made in the present work by immunological reactions and by column chromatography. Among the proteins secreted by the bacteria in presence of azaguanine, there is no other protein similar enough to penicillinase to be detected by immunological reactions. Similarly, the column chromatography experiments do not favour the hypothesis that other, different proteins might be synthesized under these conditions.