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Peyronie's disease can best be described as a localized connective tissue disorder that primarily affects the tunica albuginea of the penis. The disease may be attributed to repetitive vascular trauma that initiates an inflammatory process and ultimately leads to the formation of a fibrous penile plaque. The plaque consists mainly of collagen and can significantly alter penile anatomy and function. Patients with Peyronie's disease will most often present with penile curvature, pain on erection, a palpable nodule most commonly located on the dorsal shaft of the penis, and erectile dysfunction. There is no definitive treatment for Peyronie's disease and the treating physician has many options. They may wait for spontaneous resolution of the plaque, choose medical therapy (which includes both oral and intralesional regimens), or opt for surgical management. The main purpose of this article is to discuss the advances in medical therapy for Peyronie's disease, in particular intralesional injection of interferon-alpha-2b (IFN-alpha-2b). Several studies have concluded that IFN-alpha-2b can be an effective modality of treatment and that many patients placed on a regimen of IFN-alpha-2b experienced a significant reduction in penile curvature, diminished pain with erection, and decreased size of the plaque. Further clinical studies are currently being undertaken to determine the precise quantity and frequency of administration of IFN-alpha-2b that is most effective with the least amount of side effects.

Synopsis An epithelium is important for integrity, homeostasis, communication and co-ordination, and its development must have been a fundamental step in the evolution of modern metazoan body plans. Sponges are metazoans that are often said to lack a true epithelium. We assess the properties of epithelia, and review the history of studies on sponge epithelia, focusing on their homology to bilaterian epithelia, their ultrastructure, and on their ability to seal. Electron micrographs show that adherens-type junctions are present in sponges but they can appear much slighter than equivalent junctions in other metazoans. Fine septae are seen in junctions of all sponge groups, but distinct septate junctions are only known from Calcarea. Similarly, all sponges can have collagenous sheets underlying their epithelia, but only homoscleromorphs are established to have a distinct basal lamina. The presence of most, but not all, gene families known to be involved in epithelial development and function also suggests that sponge epithelia function like, and are homologous to, bilaterian epithelia. However, physiological evidence that sponge epithelia regulate their internal environment is so far lacking. Given that up to six differentiated epithelia can be recognized in sponges, distinct physiological roles are expected. Recognition that sponges have epithelia challenges the perception that sponges are only loose associations of cells, and helps to relate the biology and physiology of the body plan of the adult sponge to the biology of other metazoans.

L ow-flow vascular malformations, such as venous or mixed malformations, can cause a variety of medical problems related to pain, compression or invasion of adjacent structures, limited range of motion, bleeding, consumptive coagulopathy, and cosmetic deformity [1-4]. Treatment of these lesions is often problematic. Surgical resection, medical therapy, and transarterial embolization therapy have all had limited suc

The gene for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is amplified or overexpressed in high-grade gliomas but is low or undetectable in normal brain. Recently, there has been increasing interest in using epidermal growth factor (EGF)-based bioconjugates as targeting agents for brain tumors. In the present study, we have investigated the potential use of boronated EGF as a delivery agent for boron neutron capture therapy, which is based on the capture reaction that occurs when 10B, a stable isotope, is irradiated with low-energy thermal neutrons. A fourth generation starburst dendrimer was boronated and linked to EGF using heterobifunctional reagents. Either wild-type or EGFR gene transduced C6 glioma cells (C6EGFR), which expressed 10(5)-10(6) receptor sites/cell, were stereotactically implanted into the right cerebral hemisphere of Fischer rats. Four weeks later, the rats received either i.v. or intratumoral (i.t.) injection of 131I-labeled boronated starburst dendrimer (BSD) or BSD-EGF. The biodistribution of 131I-BSD-EGF and 131I-BSD was studied by means of whole-body scintigraphy, autoradiography, and gamma scintillation counting. Following i.t. injection of 131I-BSD-EGF, 21.8% of the injected dose per gram tissue (% ID/g) was localized in C6EGFR tumors at 24 h and 16.3% at 48 h compared to 5 and 1.3% ID/g in C6 wild-type tumors, respectively, and 0.01 and 0.006% ID/g, respectively, for i.v. injected animals at the corresponding times. In contrast, following i.t. injection of BSD-EGF, only 0.01-0.1% ID/g was localized in the liver and spleen at 24 and 48 h compared to 5-12% ID/g following i.v. injection. Our data indicate that direct i.t. injection can selectively deliver BSD-EGF to EGFR-positive gliomas and suggest that intracerebral administration may be the most effective way for delivering EGF-based bioconjugates to EGFR-positive brain tumors.

Epithelial tissue — the sealed and polarized layer of cells that regulates transport of ions and solutes between the environment and the internal milieu — is a defining characteristic of the Eumetazoa. Sponges, the most ancient metazoan phylum [1], [2], are generally believed to lack true epithelia [3], [4], [5], but their ability to occlude passage of ions has never been tested. Here we show that freshwater sponges (Demospongiae, Haplosclerida) have functional epithelia with high transepithelial electrical resistance (TER), a transepithelial potential (TEP), and low permeability to small-molecule diffusion. Curiously, the Amphimedon queenslandica sponge genome lacks the classical occluding genes [5] considered necessary to regulate sealing and control of ion transport. The fact that freshwater sponge epithelia can seal suggests that either occluding molecules have been lost in some sponge lineages, or demosponges use novel molecular complexes for epithelial occlusion; if the latter, it raises the possibility that mechanisms for occlusion used by sponges may exist in other metazoa. Importantly, our results imply that functional epithelia evolved either several times, or once, in the ancestor of the Metazoa.

Clostridium perfringens spores were injured by ultrahigh-temperature treatment at 105 C for 5 min. Injury was manifested as an increased sensitivity to polymyxin and neomycin. Since many of the survivors could not germinate normally the ultrahigh-temperature-treated spores were sensitized to and germinated by lysozyme. Polymyxin reportedly acts upon the cell membrane. Neomycin may inhibit protein synthesis and has surface-active properties. Injured spores were increasingly sensitive to known surface-active agents, sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium deoxycholate, and Roccal, a quaternary ammonium compound. Injured spores sensitive to polymyxin and neomycin also were osmotically fragile and died during outgrowth in a liquid medium unless the medium was supplemented with 20% sucrose, 10% dextran, or 10% polyvinylpyrrolidone. The results suggested that a spore structure destined to become cell membrane or cell wall was the site of injury. Repair of injury during outgrowth in the presence of protein, deoxyribonucleic acid, ribonucleic acid and cell wall synthesis inhibitors was consistent with this hypothesis.

Exposure of Bacillus subtilis A spores to 115 to 125 C for several seconds activated a low-temperature germination system that remained dormant after a heat treatment that activated the normal l -alanine- and glucose-stimulated germination systems. The low-temperature germination system was characterized by an optimum temperature lower than that of the l -alanine or glucose germination systems (30 C versus 45 C), germination in the absence of exogenous germination stimulants, and the capacity for heat-induced deactivation and subsequent reactivation. The rates of activation at 115 to 125 C were exponential and were not influenced by a previous heat treatment that activated the l -alanine- or glucose-stimulated germination systems. Although activation of the low-temperature germination system was accompanied by suppression of l -alanine-stimulated germination, it did not appear to be a modification of the l -alanine germination system.

Clostridium perfringens spores (three strains) were normally resistant to germination by lysozyme. In the absence of disulfide bond-breaking reagents, tetrasodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate rapidly sensitized the spores to lysozyme.

Ninety-two British, caucasian, alcoholic patients with liver disese were grouped on the basis of hepatic histology into fatty change, hepatitis with or without cirrhosis, and cirrhosis alone. Men with alcoholic hepatitis with or without cirrhosis showed an increased incidence of the histocompatibility antigen HLA-B8 (P less than 0.02). Increased measles antibody titres were found in patients without cirrhosis with or without hepatitis and were associated with the B8 phenotype in both sexes. Rubella antibody titres and percentage DNA-binding were raised in patients with cirrhosis and showed no association with the B8 phenotype. Concentrations of IgM and IgA were were raised in patients with stetosis and with hepatitis, while in patients with cirrhosis IgG concentrations were also increased. Low titres of autoantibodies were found in all histological groups. It is possible that the development of hepatitis in response to alcohol abuse may be influenced, at least in men, by a gene linked to the B locus. Otherwise, immune processes associated with alcohol-related liver disease are probably secondary phenomena.

Clostridium perfringens strain NCTC 8798 spores were injured by ultrahigh temperature treatment and were unable to outgrow in the presence of antibiotics used in selective enumeration media. Injured spores underwent repair in a nonselective laboratory medium and in foods.

Hock and Stuhlman1 discovered that the reaction of iron pentacarbonyl with mercuric halides yielded solid products, which they formulated as addition compounds Fe(CO)4Hg·(HgX2), containing the Fe(CO)4Hg moiety which itself can be obtained by reaction of iron pentacarbonyl and mercuric sulphate. No structural information on these compounds is available, although Wells2 has suggested that Fe(CO)4Hg is polymeric and trans.

The conical end of a plastic funnel can be sterilized and used for aseptic collection, transfer, and distribution of shaving samples drilled from a frozen-food product. Images

IN a previous publication1 Adams and Gebbie reported the far-infra-red absorption spectra of some transition metal complex halides containing regular octahedral ions of the type MX6n−, X = halogen. We have now extended our observations to a series of halides of molybdenum and tungsten recently prepared by Edwards, Kennedy, Peacock and Said2.