Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein K is over expressed, aberrantly localised and is associated with poor prognosis in colorectal cancer

Heterogeneous ribonucleoprotein K (hnRNP K) is a member of the hnRNP family which has several different cellular roles including transcription, mRNA shuttling, RNA editing and translation. Several reports implicate hnRNP K having a role in tumorigenesis, for instance hnRNP K increases transcription of the oncogene c-myc and hnRNP K expression is regulated by the p53/MDM 2 pathway. In this study comparing normal colon to colorectal cancer by proteomics, hnRNP K was identified as being overexpressed in this type of cancer. Immunohistochemistry with a monoclonal antibody to hnRNP K (which we developed) on colorectal cancer tissue microarray, confirmed that hnRNP K was overexpressed in colorectal cancer (P<0.001) and also showed that hnRNP K had an aberrant subcellular localisation in cancer cells. In normal colon hnRNP K was exclusively nuclear whereas in colorectal cancer the protein localised both in the cytoplasm and the nucleus. There were significant increases in both nuclear (P=0.007) and cytoplasmic (P=0.001) expression of hnRNP K in Dukes C tumours compared with early stage tumours. In Dukes C patient's good survival was associated with increased hnRNP K nuclear expression (P=0.0093). To elaborate on the recent observation that hnRNP K is regulated by p53, the expression profiles of these two proteins were also analysed. There was no correlation between hnRNP K and p53 expression, however, patients who presented tumours that were positive for hnRNP K and p53 had a poorer survival outcome (P=0.045)

Anatomic variations of the coracoacromial ligament in neonatal cadavers: A neonatal cadaver study

One of the most common causes of pain and disability in the upper limb is inflammation of the rotator cuff tendons. When no significant bony abnormality exists in the surrounding structures, the coracoacromial ligament has been implicated as a possible cause of impingement on the cuff tendons and various morphological variants of the ligament have so far been claimed to be either the cause or the result of impingement. In this study, 110 shoulders from 60 neonatal cadavers that were preserved in a preparation of formaldehyde were dissected. Anatomic variations of coracoacromial ligaments were investigated with metric and histologic analysis. Three main ligament types were identified: quadrangular, broad band and U-shaped. The multiple banded ligament was not found. Histologic analysis showed that in U-shaped ligaments a thin tissue existed in the central part of the ligament close to the coracoid. Comparing our data with the adult measurements of a previous study we suggest that the primordial ligament is broad shaped, but assumes a quadrangular shape due to the different growth rates of the coracoid and acromial ends. We also suggest that broad and U-shaped ligaments account for the primordial and quadrangular and Y-shaped ligaments account for the adult types of the single or double banded anatomic variants respectively. Our results show that various types of the coracoacromial ligament are present at the neonatal period and that the final shape of the ligament should be defined by developmental factors, rather than degenerative changes. (C) 2002 Lippincott Williams wilkins

Treatment of intertrochanteric fractures in geriatric patients with a modified external fixator

Forty-two geriatric patients who had an intertrochanteric fracture were treated with a semicircular modification of the Ilizarov frame designed by Cattaneo and Catagni between January 1997 and September 2001. Twenty-five of the patients were female, 17 mate. The average age of the patients was 77.5 years (range, 63-99). No intraoperative complication occurred. Deep pin-track infection was found in four patients and varus deformity was observed in two patients and shortening of less than 2 cm in 10 patients. Fixator removal was achieved in a mean time of 12 weeks (range, 10-18). No implant failure, refracture or stiffness of knee and hip joint movements was recorded. We concluded that the treatment of intertrochanteric fractures of the elderly patients with our modification provides significant advantages such as minimal operative and anaesthetic risks, no blood loss, early weight-bearing, short hospitalisation time and rapid union time. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Overcompensation by Plants: Herbivore Optimization or Red Herring?

The increased growth rates, higher total biomass, and increased seed production occasionally found in grazed or clipped plants are more accurately interpreted as the results of growth at one end of a spectrum of normal plant regrowth patterns, rather than as overcompensation, herbivore-stimulated growth, plantherbivore mutualisms, or herbivore enhanced fitness. Plants experience injury from a wide variety of sources besides herbivory, including fire, wind, freezing, heat, and trampling; rapid regrowth may have been selected for by any one of the many types of physical disturbance or extreme conditions that damage plant tissues, or by a combination of all of them. Rapid plant regrowth is more likely to have evolved as a strategy to reduce the negative impacts of all types of damage than as a strategy to increase fitness following herbivory above ungrazed levels. There is no evolutionary justification and little evidence to support the idea that plant-herbivore mutualisms are likely to evolve. Neither life history theory nor recent theoretical models provide plausible explanations for the benefits of herbivory. Several assumptions underlie all discussions of the benefits of herbivory: that plant species are able to evolve a strategy of depending on herbivores to increase their productivity and fitness; that herbivores do not preferentially regraze the overcompensating plants; that resources will be sufficient for regrowth; and that being larger is always ‘better’ than being smaller. None of these assumptions is necessarily correct