Transcriptional impairment of beta-catenin/E-cadherin complexis not associated with beta-catenin mutations in colorectal carcinomas

We report the absence of beta-catenin mutations in 63 sporadic colorectal carcinomas (SCRCs) with demonstrated decreased beta-catenin and E-cadherin mRNA expression and E-cadherin protein expression in a subset of carcinomas examined, suggesting that beta-catenin mutations are an extremely rare phenomenon in SCRCs and are not responsible for the transcriptional impairment of the beta-catenin/E-cadherin adhesion complex observed in these tumours. (C) 2003 Cancer Research UK

Coxsackievirus B3 sequences in the myocardium of fatal cases in a cluster of acute myocarditis in Greece

Aim: The investigation of three fatal cases during a nationwide cluster of cases of an upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) associated with myocarditis and/or pericarditis in Greece in 2002. Methods: In the three women who died, necropsies were performed and tissue sections were taken for histological examination, antigen detection by immunohistochemistry and indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA), amplification of viral genomes by nested reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR), and sequence analysis. Results: All samples showed histological signs of active myocarditis. Immunohistochemistry revealed the presence of the enterovirus VP1 family of proteins and IFA revealed the presence of coxsackievirus B3 antigen. Nested RT-PCR amplified enteroviral alleles of the 5’-untranslated region which were identical to each other and to the coxsackievirus B3 sequences. Conclusions: This study provides pathological evidence of enteroviral infection among fatal myocarditis cases in a nationwide URTI cluster of cases associated with myocarditis and/or pericarditis

Estimating the Jacobian of the singular value decomposition : theory and applications

Theme 3 - Interaction homme-machine, images, donnees, connaissances - Projet RobotvisSIGLEAvailable from INIST (FR), Document Supply Service, under shelf-number : 14802 E, issue : a.2000 n.3961 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueFRFranc

Camera self-calibration using the singular value decomposition of the fundamental matrix From point correspondences to 3D measurements

Theme 3 - Interaction homme-machine, images, donnees, connaissances - Projet RobotvisSIGLEAvailable from INIST (FR), Document Supply Service, under shelf-number : 14802 E, issue : a.1999 n.3748 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueFRFranc

Camera self-calibration using the Kruppa equations and the SVD of the fundamental matrix The case of varying intrinsic parameters

Theme 3 - Interaction homme-machine, images, donnees, connaissances - Projet RobotvisSIGLEAvailable from INIST (FR), Document Supply Service, under shelf-number : 14802 E, issue : a.2000 n.3911 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueFRFranc

Sensitive differential detection of genetically related mycobacterial pathogens in archival material

A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay targeted to the immunogenic protein MPB64 gene was used to detect members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, and an outward-primed PCR (OPPCR) designed on the IS6110 element allowed differentiation between Mycobacterium bovis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Additionally, the amplification of IS1110 and 16S ribosomal RNA sequences combined with a dot blotting assay were able to differentially detect Mycobacterium avium, Mycobacterium intracellulare, and Mycobacterium paratuberculosis. The validity of the experimental procedure was tested on reference material and formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples from patients with tuberculosis, sarcoidosis, or Crohn disease. We demonstrated mycobacterial DNA in 59 of 75 cases,with histologic lesions typical of tuberculosis; we detected M tuberculosis and M paratuberculosis in 6 of 25 sarcoidosis cases and in 7 of 20 Crohn disease specimens, respectively. The proposed diagnostic procedure is directly applicable to archival material and allows differentiation of genetically related mycobacterial pathogens in more detail than other molecular methods. It provides a tool for the diagnostic study, of tuberculosis, sarcoidosis, and Crohn disease

Hypermethylation-associated transcriptional silencing of E-cadherin in primary sporadic colorectal carcinomas

Loss of E (epithelial)-cadherin expression has been previously documented in sporadic colorectal carcinomas (SCRCs), but not as a consequence of mutations or allelic loss. In this study, the methylation status of the E-cadherin promoter was examined by, utilizing the methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP) assay in 63 primary SCRCs and paired adjacent normal tissues. This was correlated with F-cadherin expression at both the RNA and the protein levels using multiplex reverse transcription (RT)-PCR and immunohistochemistry (IHC), respectively. Data were associated with the patients’ clinicopathological features. Methylated alleles were present in 34/61 (56%) of the samples examined. Decreased E-cadherin mRNA expression was demonstrated in 29/61 carcinomas (47.5%) and was significantly associated with lymph node (LN) metastases (p = 0.03, Kruskal-Wallis) and tumour stages Astler-Coller B1 and B2 (p = 0.01, chi(2)). E-cadherin IHC expression was significantly associated with the absence of LN metastases (p = 0.01, chi2) and tumour stages Astler-Coller B1 and B2 (p = 0.002, Kruskal-Wallis) in 28/63 (44.4%) of the samples examined. Twenty-three out of 29 (79.3%) samples with decreased mRNA expression and 20/33 (60.6%) with detected protein expression revealed methylated (p = 0.03, Kruskal-Wallis) and unmethylated (p = 0.01, Kruskal-Wallis) alleles, respective]),. In agreement with previous work demonstrating that somatic mutations and loss of heterozygosity of the E-cadherin gene are rare or absent in the majority, of SCRCs studied so far, this study reports a consistent and uniform decrease or absence of E-cadherin expression. associated with aberrant methylation, in the majority of carcinomas examined, suggesting an epigenctically mediated loss of E-cadherin function in these carcinomas. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd

c-mos immunoreactivity is an indicator of good prognosis in lung cancer

Aims: Reports concerning the expression of cytoplasmic components of the mitogen-activating protein kinase (MAPK) pathway in lung cancer are limited. One of the molecules participating in this pathway is the product of the c-mos proto-oncogene. In vitro investigations, in somatic cells, have shown that c-mos expression has opposing effects on cell cycle progression suggesting that it may represent an important determinant of aberrant cell function. In this study we analysed, by immunohistochemical means, its status in a series of lung carcinomas and correlated the findings with clinicopathological parameters and survival of the patients. Methods and results: Sixty cases of lung carcinomas were included in the study. These comprised 52 non-small (NSCLCs) and eight small cell lung carcinomas (SCLCs). Sections from the carcinomas were immunostained with the polyclonal anti-c-mos antibody P-19. Specificity was tested by using the appropriate control peptide and control cell lines. Expression was observed in 63% of the cases, with NSCLCs showing higher reactivity (67%) than SCLCs (37.5%). Staining was observed mainly to the cytoplasm and membranes of the cancerous cells, but some nuclei reacted as well. An intratumour heterogeneous immunoreactivity was noticed. The most interesting and unexpected finding was that c-mos positive staining was associated with better recurrence-free survival in our series, regardless of histological type (P = 0.035). Furthermore, favourable disease-related and recurrence-free survival was observed in the SqC group with c-mos immunoreactivity (P < 0.001). Conclusions: c-mos proto-oncogene is expressed in a significant proportion of lung carcinomas and may play a role in its development. The fact that its expression is associated with a relatively good prognosis may be indicative of a negative impact on tumour growth