Mutations and amplification of oncogenes in endometrial cancer

Alterations in oncogenes are critical steps in the development of endometrial cancer. To investigate the potential clinical relevance of the amplification of the oncogenes c-erbB2, c-myc, and int-2 and the mutation of K-ras in endometrial cancer, 112 tumors were examined using PCR-based fluorescent DNA technology. Amplification of the three oncogenes and the mutation of K-ras were correlated with age, tumor size, lymph node status, metastases, stage, histological types, grade, steroid hormone receptor expression (estrogen receptor, ER; progesterone receptor, PgR), family history of cancer, previous history of cancer or precursor lesions, and previous history of hormone replacement therapy. Oncogene amplification of c-erbB2 was detected in 18.9%, of c-myc in 2.7% and of int-2 in 4.2%, and K-ras mutation in 11.6%. No significant correlations could be detected between amplification of c-erbB2 and any of the other parameters. Mutation of K-ras is associated with positive expression of PgR. This might indicate that mutation and activation of K-ras are involved in the development of hormonal independence in endometrial cancer

Recombinant human thyrotropin in thyroid cancer and hypopituitarism due to sella metastasis

We present a patient with thyroid cancer and hypopituitarism who required recombinant human thyrotropin (rhTSH) for I-131 Scanning with respect to subsequent therapy. The thyroid cancer had been unknown until central neurological symptoms developed, leading to the diagnosis of a huge metastasis to the sella that was the only manifestation of metastatic spread. The failure to generate endogenous thyrotropin (TSH) was overcome by the use of rhTSH for performing a I-131 test. Unfortunately, the I-131 uptake was not sufficient for therapy. This subject is the first reported case who required the application of rhTSH due to a single thyroid cancer metastasis in the sella region with secondary failure to generate endogenous TSH

Possibilities and Limitations of Spatially Explicit Site Index Modelling for Spruce Based on National Forest Inventory Data and Digital Maps of Soil and Climate in Bavaria (SE Germany)

Combining national forest inventory (NFI) data with digital site maps of high resolution enables spatially explicit predictions of site productivity. The aim of this study is to explore the possibilities and limitations of this database to analyze the environmental dependency of height-growth of Norway spruce and to predict site index (SI) on a scale that is relevant for local forest management. The study region is the German federal state of Bavaria. The exploratory methods comprise significance tests and hypervolume-analysis. SI is modeled with a Generalized Additive Model (GAM). In a second step the residuals are modeled using Boosted Regression Trees (BRT). The interaction between temperature regime and water supply strongly determined height growth. At sites with very similar temperature regime and water supply, greater heights were reached if the depth gradient of base saturation was favorable. Statistical model criteria (Double Penalty Selection, AIC) preferred composite variables for water supply and the supply of basic cations. The ability to predict SI on a local scale was limited due to the difficulty to integrate soil variables into the model

Large stellar disks in small elliptical galaxies

We present the rotation velocities V and velocity dispersions sigma along the principal axes of seven elliptical galaxies less luminous than M_B= -19.5. These kinematics extend beyond the half-light radii for all systems in this photometrically selected sample. At large radii the kinematics not only confirm that rotation and "diskiness" are important in faint ellipticals, as was previously known, but also demonstrate that in most sample galaxies the stars at large galactocentric distances have (V/sigma)_max of about 2, similar to the disks in bona-fide S0 galaxies. Comparing this high degree of ordered stellar motion in all sample galaxies with numerical simulations of dissipationless mergers argues against mergers with mass ratios <=3:1 as an important mechanism in the final shaping of low-luminosity ellipticals, and favors instead the dissipative formation of a disk.Comment: 11 pages LaTex with 4 Postscript figure

Analytic Time Delays and H_0 Estimates for Gravitational Lenses

We study gravitational lens time delays for a general family of lensing potentials, which includes the popular singular isothermal elliptical potential and singular isothermal elliptical density distribution but allows general angular structure. Using a novel approach, we show that the time delay can be cast in a very simple form, depending only on the observed image positions. Including an external shear changes the time delay proportional to the shear strength, and varying the radial profile of the potential changes the time delay approximately linearly. These analytic results can be used to obtain simple estimates of the time delay and the Hubble constant in observed gravitational lenses. The naive estimates for four of five time delay lenses show surprising agreement with each other and with local measurements of H_0; the complicated Q 0957+561 system is the only outlier. The agreement suggests that it is reasonable to use simple isothermal lens models to infer H_0, although it is still important to check this conclusion by examining detailed models and by measuring more lensing time delays.Comment: 16 pages with 2 embedded figures; submitted to Ap

Impact of tropospheric ozone on terrestrial biodiversity: A literature analysis to identify ozone sensitive taxa

Tropospheric ozone has long been known as highly phytotoxic. However, currently hardly anything is known whether this air pollutant can also pose a threat to the overall biodiversity in terrestrial ecosystems. Identifying the relative ozone sensitivities of relevant taxa or species can be a first step in an assessment if biodiversity is at risk from ozone. A literature survey was conducted describing experimental and observational results of exposure of organisms and particularly plant species to ozone at environmentally relevant concentrations. For plants ozone effects considered were vegetative growth (e.g. biomass of shoots, foliage, single leaves, stems, and roots), reproduction (number and biomass of seeds and flowers), species development, and symptoms of visible foliar injury. A total of 474 literature references were evaluated which described such effects. For crop plants 54 species with 350 varieties could be considered, while (semi)natural vegetation was represented by 465 vascular plant species comprising 298 herbaceous and 165 woody plant species. Overall, these ozone studies cover only a small fraction of the entire global flora. About two third of woody and about one half of native herbaceous plant species investigated so far have been described as ozone sensitive in at least one study. Ozone sensitivity is slightly higher with respect to visible leaf injury as compared to growth effects, and herbs and deciduous tree species are more responsive than grasses and coniferous trees. Observational results from field surveys conducted along ozone gradients to assess ecosystem effects of ozone in North America and Europe revealed visible macroscopic leaf injuries for 258 herbaceous species. However, these findings often have not been verified under experimental ozone exposure. Albeit the numbers of ozone studies related to a particular plant family varied considerably, high proportions of ozone sensitive species were found e.g. for the families Myrtaceae, Salicaceae and Onograceae, while low proportions of ozone sensitive species were found e.g. for the families Brassicaceae, Boraginaceae and Plantaginaceae. Intra-specific variations of ozone sensitivity of vascular plants were primarily detected in crop species (e.g. wheat, soybean, snap bean, clover, rice), most often derived from screening studies of cultivars for their relative ozone sensitivity/tolerance to ozone. In some cases intra-specific variation of ozone sensitivity is also true for different populations of woody and herbaceous plant species, which often resulted from temporal or spatial differentiation of the relative ozone susceptibility. Therefore, there is some evidence that ozone pollution in the past has already affected plant selection and modified the genetic pool of ozone sensitive genotypes. Information on direct ozone effects on species other than vascular plants (e.g. ferns, mosses, fungi, algae, vertebrates) is very poor or irrelevant, i.e. ozone sensitivities for these taxa could not be described. This is also true for organisms like microbes, arthropods or insects which have not been tested so far for their responses to direct ambient ozone exposure. However, these organisms may be indirectly impaired by ozone via loss of vitality of the plant system to which they are associated