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Hypertension is a poor prognostic factor following STEMI, however the impact of blood pressure (BP) on the extent of microvascular damage in the setting of acute ischemia -reperfusion injury has not yet been fully evaluated and this evaluation is the purpose of the present study. Methods A cohort of patients with acute STEMI referred to primary percutaneus intervention were prospectively included. Angiographic analysis were performed according to standard clinical practice and decision regarding type of stent and antiplatelet drugs was left to the discretion of cardiologist. Information about high blood pressure needing drug therapy before acute event and also BP levels at catheterization laboratory during reperfusion procedures were assessed. All patients underwent cardiac MRI during the first week post reperfusion with a standardized protocol including 8–10 short axis slices in order to asses: area of myocardium at risk (AR) as an area of signal hyperintensity >2sd with respect to the remote one in TSE-T2 sequences, necrosis size (NS) as signal hyperintensity >5 SDs relative to the remote in IR-FGE sequences, microvascular obstruction (MVO) as signal hypointensity in the infarct core in IR-FGE sequences and intra-infarct haemorrhage (IIH) as an area with T2* Results 94 patients,mean age 62,SD 13, 67% males were included. Hypertensive patients were more likely to have diabetes mellitus 43 vs 28% (p0.05). Conclusions 1. Hypertension is associated with lower extent of necrosis and microvascular damage without differences in myocardial salvage and area of myocardium at risk. 2. Low BP levels at catheterization laboratory were associated with a significantly higher extent of microvascular damage, so maintaining systolic blood pressure over 120mmhg during reperfusion procedures should be advised. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: None. Typical CMR sequences: T2w, T2*, IR-FGRCMR segmental analysis with T2* mapping

Increased expression of cyclooxygenase (COX) and overproduction of prostaglandins (PGs) have been implicated in the development and progression of colorectal cancer (CRC). Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDS) inhibit growth of various CRC cell lines by both COX-dependent and COX-independent pathways. To specifically examine the effect of COX and PGs on proliferation in CRC cells, we introduced an antisense COX-2 cDNA construct under the control of a tetracycline (Tc)-inducible promoter into a CRC cell line, HCA-7, Colony 29 (HCA-7) that expresses COX and produces PGs. In the presence of Tc, PG production in COX-depleted cells was reduced 99.8% compared with either uninduced transfectants or parental HCA-7 cells. This decrease in PG production was associated with a concomitant 60% reduction in DNA replication. Subsequently, we examined the effects of various PGs to modulate cell growth in COX-depleted HCA-7 or COX-null HCT-15 cells by quantifying [3H]thymidine incorporation and/or growth in collagen gels. We report that J-series cyclopentenone PGs, particularly PGJ2 and 15-deoxy-delta12,14-PGJ2, induce proliferation of these cells at nanomolar concentrations. Lipids extracted from parental HCA-7 cell conditioned medium stimulated mitogenesis in COX-depleted HCA-7 cells and COX-null HCT-15 cells. Using chromatographic and mass spectrometric approaches, we were able to detect PGJ2 in conditioned medium from parental HCA-7 cells. Taken together, these findings implicate a role for cyclopentenone PGs in CRC cell proliferation.

The authors report the results of an extensive set of investigations on superconducting compounds in the BaO-Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}-CuO system. Two new synthetic procedures, a nitrate coprecipitation and a sol-gel technique, are described. A possible new superconducting phase, which may be a distorted 2:1:3, is partially characterized. It is shown that superconductivity is insensitive to a number of processing parameters, and, to some extent, to microstructure. A microstructural screening technique is used to quantify the proportions of different phases present in phase impure samples. A systematic thermal analysis of the 2:1:3 phase is presented, showing the effects of oxygen partial pressure on the defect structure and on the crystal structure, and providing evidence for the existence of two phase transitions.