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Objective: To assess the heterogeneity of liver fat deposition with MR of the liver in type-2 diabetic (T2D) patients.Methods: We enrolled 121 consecutive T2D patients. The reference standard was 3.0-T (1)H-MR spectroscopy. Hepatic steatosis was defined as liver fat content (LFC) ≥5.56 %. A triple-echo gradient-echo sequence corrected for T1 recovery and T2* decay was used to calculate LFC in left and right livers and hepatic segments. Analyses were performed using a linear mixed model.Results: Fifty-nine (48.8 %) patients had liver steatosis, whereas 62 (51.2 %) did not. Steatosis was greater in the right than in the left liver (P < 0.0001) [mean difference: 1.32 % (range: 0.01-8.75 %)]. In seven patients (5.8 %), LFC was <5.56 % in one side of the liver, whereas it was ≥5.56 % in the other. Steatosis of the left and right liver was heterogeneous at the segmental level in both non-steatotic (P < 0.001 and P < 0.0001 respectively) and steatotic (P < 0.0001 and P = 0.0002 respectively) patients [mean maximum difference: 3.98 % (range: 0.74-19.32 %)]. In 23 patients (19 %), LFC was <5.56 % in one segment, whereas it was ≥5.56 % in at least one other.Conclusion: Overall, the mean segmental/lobar variability of steatosis is low. However, segmental variability can sometimes lead to a misdiagnosis.Key Points: There is a need for methods quantifying steatosis over a large region. Steatosis is usually greater in the right than left lobe of the liver. Steatosis within both left and right hepatic lobes is segmentally heterogeneous. Segmental variability of steatosis can result in misdiagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Telomeres are specialized DNA structures located at the ends of chromosomes. Their length is reduced at each cell cycle, especially when the cumulative burden of oxidative stress is high. The purpose of this study was to determine the associations between telomere length and clinical and biological risk factors in ischemic stroke patients. A total of 215 stroke patients hospitalized in the Dijon, France, stroke unit were prospectively and continuously included from January to September, 2004. The telomere length measured from peripheral blood leukocytes-leukocyte telomere length (LTL)-was determined by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The results were compared with clinical and biological variables of interest collected at admission to find significant associations. Possible relationships between LTL and stroke subtypes were evaluated. A multiple regression that included all the variables significantly associated (p<0.20) with LTL in univariate analysis and age and subtypes of stroke confirmed a significant association with age (p<0.001), homocysteinemia (p=0,049), and levels of both antiphospholipid antibodies (p=0.019) and triglycerides (p=0.007). Linearity was verified and confirmed for each variable. The subtype of stroke did not significantly affect telomere length. We were able to highlight significant associations between LTL and certain cerebrovascular risk factors in a general population of stroke patients. These associations did not depend on the ischemic stroke subtype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to validate a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique for mapping liver fat, using (1)H magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) as the reference standard. In 91 patients with type 2 diabetes, 3.0-T single-voxel point-resolved (1)H-MRS was used to calculate the liver fat fraction (LFF) from the water (4.76 ppm) and methylene (1.33 ppm) peaks, corrected for T1 and T2 decays. LFF (corrected for T1 and T2* decays) was also obtained from the mean signal intensity on a map built from a triple-echo (consecutive in-phase, opposed-phase, and in-phase echo times) breath-hold gradient echo sequence, using basic image calculation functions (arithmetic mean, subtraction, division, multiplication by a numerical factor). Mean LFF was 8.9% (range, 0.9-33.5) by MRI and 8.8% (range, 0-34.1) by (1)H-MRS. Pearson's coefficient was 0.976 (P < 0.0001) and Lin's coefficient was 0.975 (P < 0.0001). Liver segment had no significant influence. With Bland-Altman analysis, 95.6% (87/91) of data points were within the limits of agreement. Given its excellent agreement with (1)H-MRS, our mapping technique can be used for visual and quantitative evaluation of liver fat in everyday practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study was to develop a reliable assessment of pain behaviour performed during the execution of a range of functional assessment measures. For the initial reliability study 18 subjects (consecutive referrals) were assessed. Subjects were observed and videotaped during a variety of physical tasks and demonstrations of pain behaviour were recorded; the videotapes were scored by two independent observers on two occasions. The relationships between pain behaviour, distress and physical function and impairment were also investigated in a group of 51 patients with chronic back pain. Self-report of disability and pain intensity were assessed using the Finnish version of Oswestry disability questionnaire and the pain visual analogue scale (VAS). Depression and somatic perception were assessed using the modified Zung and modified somatic perception questionnaire. The Tampa scale for kinesiophobia was used to evaluate fear of movement and (re)injury. The results of the intra- and interobserver reliability study demonstrate good to excellent levels of agreement. The exception was facial expression (kappa 0.29), which was excluded from the final instrument. There was a strong correlation between pain behaviour and subjective pain report and disability (p < 0.01). The correlations between total pain behaviour and performance of physical function tasks is striking (p < 0.01). Subjective disability was analysed by means of multiple regression analysis. Pain measured on the VAS was the most important variable explaining 36% of the variance, pain behaviour and pain combined explained 48% of the variance for self reported disability. In conclusion, this functional videobased assessment of pain behaviour is a reliable measure of pain behaviour. The total scores for pain behaviour correlate with tasks that involve the back; tests involving upper limbs were not affected. This test is suitable for the assessment of those with pain problems specifically involving the back. Furthermore, in the group studied pain and pain behaviour were the two most important determinants of self-reported disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemical progress of silicosis in rat lungs was studied after a single intratracheal injection of 5O mg SiO. Total nitrogen and collagen increased in two phases, immediately and again after about 3 weeks. Total RNA and collagen increased more than DNA, total nitrogen or wet weight. After the first 3 days there was a six-fold transient peak in nuclear RNA. On a percentage basis, the increase in RNA during 12 weeks was greatest in the nuclear fraction; it was very small in the soluble fraction. During the first week the purified translatable RNA increased 40-fold. Its specific translational ability, however, calculated per μg of purified RNA, remained fairly constant throughout the experimental period. It is concluded that the metabolism of RNA changed in experimental silicosis; mRNA increased very markedly and collagen accumulated more than total nitrogen or wet weight. A pronounced increase was observed in cholesterol and phospholipids, the peak of phospholipids preceding that of cholesterol. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recent research on the SiO-liberated fibrogenic macrophage factors and on the composition of the silicotic rat lung is described. At least two separate factors are postulated: (i) a macrophage-RNAase which is partly inactivated by SiO and, hence, mRNA in the adjoining fibroblasts stays undegraded and the protein synthesis is consequently increased and (ii) a ‘direct’ fibrogenic factor which supports the protein synthesis in the fibroblasts. There is evidence for increased translatable RNA in experimentally induced silicotic rat lung. It is suggested that these factors are breakdown products of the macrophages, released and perhaps modified on phagocytosis SiO. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Non-elicited rat peritoneal macrophages were cultured for 1–6 days with and without silica. The decrease in DNA, RNA and protein of the cells was accelerated by silica. However, the silica-treated cells contained nucleic acids of high molecular weight which were liberated to the culture medium as distinct molecules. Initially the silica-treated cells released lactate dehydrogenase, ATPase and alkaline RNase to the culture medium more rapidly than control cells. Thioglycollate-elicited macrophages contained higher amounts of polysomal RNA than native cells and did not liberate alkaline RNase into the culture medium. Media from 0–4 day macrophage cultures inhibited, in part, protein and DNA synthesis of cultured granulation-tissue fibroblasts. Culture media from silica-treated macrophages had a lower inhibitory effect and the 4–6 day medium even slightly stimulated the protein synthesis. The sil ica treatment thus alters the proportions of the stimulatory and inhibitory factors liberated from the macrophages. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The objective was to evaluate the expression of the multidrug resistance P-glycoprotein (P-gp) in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). PBL from 68 RA patients and 44 controls were evaluated. RA patients had a mean disease duration of 10.7 yr, with a mean number of past resistances to DMARDs of 0.82, and were treated with NSAIDs (n = 34), DMARDs (n = 25) and prednisolone (n = 40). Fluorescence flow cytometry was used to assess P-gp membrane expression on PBL. In the RA group, the percentage of PBL expressing P-gp was Higher in patients treated with prednisolone than in other patients [mean ± s.D.: 10.7 ± 15.8% vs 3.3 ± 7.6%, P < 0.03, Student] and was not related to other therapies, age, sex, RA duration, number of past resistances to DMARDs, activity, ESR, CRP. The percentage of PBL expressing P-gp did not differ in RA and control groups, but was higher in the prednisolone-treated RA patients than in controls. Prednisolone could induce a rise in the percentage of PBL expressing P-gp. On the contrary, patients with a high percentage of PBL expressing P-gp could be more resistant to DMARDs and need prednisolone earlier. Further studies are needed to address this question and to evaluate the potential implication of P-gp in drug resistance in RA. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]