Multivariate analysis of oestrogen receptor alpha, pS2, metallothionein and CD24 expression in invasive breast cancers

Determination of oestrogen receptor alpha (ER) represents at present the most important predictive factor in breast cancers. Data of ours and of other authors suggest that promising predictive/prognostic factors may also include pS2, metallothionein (MT) and CD24. Present study aimed at determining prognostic and predictive value of immunohistochemical determination of ER, pS2, MT, and CD24 expression in sections originating from 104 patients with breast cancer. An univariate and multivariate analysis was performed. Both univariate and multivariate analyses demonstrated that cytoplasmic-membranous expression of CD24 (CD24c-m) represents a strong unfavourable prognostic factor in the entire group and in most of the subgroups of patients. In several subgroups of the patients also a prognostic value was demonstrated of elevated expression of pS2 and of membranous expression of CD24. Our studies demonstrated that all patients with good prognostic factors (higher ER and pS2 expressions, lower MT expression, CD24c-m negativity) survived total period of observation (103 months). The study documented that cytoplasmic-membranous expression of CD24 represented an extremely strong unfavourable prognostic factor in breast cancer. Examination of the entire panel of the studied proteins permitted to select a group of patients of an exceptionally good prognosis

Exercise-induced apoptosis in renal tubular cells of the rat

A number of studies have shown that acute physical exercise is associated with the induction of apoptosis not only in skeletal muscle but also in many distant organs. One of the pathogenic agents responsible for exercise-induced damage in many tissues is the generation of oxygen free radicals. The aim of the present study was to examine the influence of exercise-induced oxidative stress on the rat kidney. The analysis was performed on the kidneys of rats subjected to treadmill running until exhaustion. Our results demonstrated that acute exercise led to apoptotic damage of the renal distal tubular cells, although this was not a result of oxidative stress

Expression of Metallothionein and Ki-67 Antigen in GISTs of Different Grade of Malignancy*

Abstract Background. Metallothioneins (MTs) are low molecular weight proteins (6-7 kDa), which have been shown to regulate zinc ion homeostasis. MTs exert anti-apoptotic and pro-proliferative effect on cancer cells. Overexpression of MT-I and MT-II isoforms has been noted in many malignant tumors, but the role of their expression in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) remains unclear. Objectives. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between expression of MT-I/II and K-67 proliferation antigen in a subset of GISTs presenting differential grade of malignancy. Material and Methods. The study was conducted using immunohistochemical methods on archival paraffin sections of 34 cases of GISTs. Of those, 17 tumors were classified as benign (GISTB) and 17 tumors as malignant (GISTM). Results. The GISTM cases demonstrated higher MT-I/II expression as compared to the GISTB cases, but not significantly higher (p = 0.08). The GISTM tumors showed significantly higher expression of Ki-67 antigen than the GISTB cases (p = 0.01). MT-I/II and Ki-67 expression positively correlated in GISTBs (r = 0.48, p = 0.0463), but not in GISTMs. Conclusion. The results of this study may point to a potential role of MT-I/II in the proliferation of GIST cells and disease progression (Adv Clin Exp Med 2013, 22, 4, 513-518)

The phonological skills of bilingual preschool children speaking Polish and Ukrainian in Poland

Zagadnienie jakościowych i ilościowych różnic w rozwoju fonologicznym dwujęzycznych oraz ich jednojęzycznych równieśników jest problemem nierozstrzygniętym, zwłaszcza w kontekście języków zbliżonych ze sobą typologicznie. Niniejsza publikacja prezentuje badanie, służące analizie rozwoju fonologicznego dwujęzycznych dzieci przedszkolnych, mówiących po polsku i ukraińsku, czyli niezbadanych pod tym kątem języków słowiańskich. W badaniu wzięło udział 57 dzieci w wieku od 4;0-6;0 - 18 z nich to dzieci dwujęzyczne z Polski, 19 to dzieci jednojęzyczne z Polski i 20 to dzieci jednojęzyczne z Ukrainy. W badaniu użyto kwestionariuszy obrazkowych za pomocą których zebrano realizacje dzieci. Wyniki badania pokazały dwujęzyczny rozwój fonologiczny w większości z użyciem typowych wzorców, silnymi wpływami międzyjęzykowymi i rzadkimi procesami, które były trudne do interpretacji. Autorzy wysunęli hipotezę, iż ogólny rozwój fonologiczny dzieci dwujęzycznych może opierać się na typowych wzorcach, zwłaszcza między językami podobnymi do siebie. Badanie potwierdziło również konieczność dwujęzycznego badania dzieci. Błędy, które nie są zinterpretowane jako typowe dla rozwoju albo wynikające z kontaktu językowych mogą być objawem zaburzenia.The extent of quantitative and qualitative differences in phonological development between bilingual children and their monolingual counterparts remains unresolved, especially with regard to typologically related languages. The current study used a comparative research design to examine the phonological skills of preschool children speaking Polish and Ukrainian, a pair of Slavic languages hitherto unexplored in this context. It involved 57 typically-developing children aged 4;0-6;0, i.e. 18 bilingual children speaking Polish and Ukrainian in Poland, 19 monolingual Polish children in Poland and 20 monolingual Ukrainian children in Ukraine. The qualitative and quantitative analyses of data collected through single word elicitation tests involved between-group comparisons of bilingual and monolingual children’s speech and within-group comparisons of the bilingual children’s phonological systems. Results paint a complex picture of bilingual phonological development with mostly typical patterns, a strong crosslinguistic influence, and rare processes which are difficult to interpret. Authors hypothesise that such general patterns of phonological process use might be typical of bilingual development involving typologically-related and geographically close languages. Findings underscore the need to assess bilingual children in all their languages and dialects. Errors which cannot be interpreted through either rules of normal development or crosslinguistic interaction could be a sign of disorder