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Our clinical and experimental experience with chemotherapy of bladder tumours is reviewed. The routes of drug administrations, drug dosages and combinations, are presented. Adjuvant radiotherapy and chemoprophylaxis of certain tumours are discussed.S. Afr. Med. J., 48, 631 (1974)

Heart failure (HF) is an important health care issue in children because of its considerable morbidity and mortality. Advanced HF encompasses patients who remained symptomatic despite optimal medical treatment and includes patients who require special management, such as continuous inotropic therapy, mechanical circulatory support, or heart transplantation (HT). HT is the gold standard for children with advanced HF; nonetheless, the number of suitable donors has not increased for decades, leading to prolonged waitlist times and increased mortality rates. Therefore, the role of pediatric mechanic circulatory support has been assessed as an alternative treatment in patients in whom heart transplant could not be performed. The authors discuss the epidemiology, causes, pathophysiology, clinical manifestation, medical treatment, device therapy, and HT in pediatric HF, and a particular emphasis was posed on patients with advanced HF.

Leptin is a peptide that plays a key role in the control of satiety, energy expenditure, food intake and various reproductive processes. In the last years, the expression of leptin had been found in malignant cells of various origins. The aim of this study is to evaluate leptin expression in human laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and to investigate its possible role in predicting prognosis. Leptin expression was determined by immunohistochemistry in pathological and healthy tissue specimens from 24 patients with laryngeal SCC. Specimens were stained with an anti-leptin antibody. All measurements were performed using a computer-based image analysis system and scale of staining intensity was determined. All tumoural specimens showed significant immunoreactivity for leptin compared to healthy tissues (p ≤ 0.05), but showed different immunoreactivity that was related to clinicopathological features. High leptin expression was not significantly related with TNM, histological grading (HG) or advanced (III and IV) clinical stage (p0.05). Recurrence of malignancy was found to be significantly related with high expression of leptin by Spearman's rank correlation test (r = 0.59; p = 0.002), Fisher's test (p = 0.017) and Kaplan- Meier product-limit estimate (Log-rank test, p ≤ 0.05). In particular, multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that recurrences were significantly related with nodal involvement, HG and leptin expression (p ≤ 0.05). These preliminary results suggest that leptin may be a valuable parameter for predicting prognosis in laryngeal SCC.La leptina è un peptide che svolge un ruolo chiave nel controllo della sazietà, del dispendio energetico, dell'assunzione di cibo, e in vari processi riproduttivi. Negli ultimi anni, la leptina è stata trovata espressa nelle cellule maligne di varia origine. Lo scopo di questo studio è quello di valutare l'espressione di leptina nel carcinoma a cellule squamose della laringe umana (SCC) e di ricercare un suo possibile ruolo prognostico. L'espressione di leptina è stata determinata mediante immunoistochimica in campioni di tessuto patologico e sano di 24 pazienti con SCC laringea. I campioni sono stati colorati con anticorpo monoclonale anti-leptina. La valutazione dell'espressione immunoistochimica è stata eseguita da un sistema computerizzato che analizzava le immagini e stabiliva una scala di intensità di colorazione. Tutti i campioni tumorali esaminati hanno mostrato immunoreattività significativa per la leptina rispetto ai tessuti sani (p ≤ 0,05), ma è stata mostrata una diversa correlazione tra immunoreattività e caratteristiche clinico-patologiche. L'alta espressione della leptina non è correlata in modo statisticamente significativo con stadiazione TNM, grading istologico (HG) e stadio clinico avanzato (p0,05). L'insorgenza di recidive è risultata significativamente correlata con alta espressione di leptina tramite il test di correlazione di Spearman (r = 0,59, p = 0,002), test di Fisher (p = 0,017) e analisi di Kaplan-Meier (log-rank test, p ≤ 0,05). In particolare, l'analisi di regressione logistica multivariata ha dimostrato che le recidive erano significativamente correlate con il coinvolgimento linfonodale (N), HG e l'espressione di leptina (p ≤ 0,05). I nostri risultati preliminari suggeriscono che la leptina può essere un utile parametro prognostico.

The aim of the study was to assess the involvement of apoptotic factors, cytokeratins and metalloproteinase- 9 in the histogenesis of both Epithelialized Gingival Lesions (EGL) and Periapical Lesions (PAL). 55 consecutive patients, 30 with PAL and 25 with EGL, were selected for the study after clinical and radiological examinations. The PAL patients had severe periapical lesions and tooth decay with exposure of the pulp chamber. All PAL and EGL biopsies were surgically extracted, fixed in 10% buffered formalin, and processed for routine light microscopy. Ten biopsies of each category were processed for immunohistochemistry (IHC). Serial paraffin sections were stained by IHC with appropriate antibodies to detect cytokeratins (CKs) 1, 5, 8, 10 and 14, caspase-3 and -9, metalloproteinase-9, and for PCNA and TUNEL assays. Both PAL and EGL showed a high expression of the cytokeratin 1, 5 and 8 with higher expression in EGL. Moreover, CK10 was markedly less intense expressed in EGL compared to PAL, while CK14 was almost three times stronger expressed in EGL. The expression of caspase-3 and -9 was stronger in PAL compared to EGL, however, the difference was only significant for caspase-9. In PAL apoptosis detected by TUNNEL method and the expression of MMP-9 were higher than in EGL, whereas PCNA was significantly more expressed in EGL. The results clearly suggest that both lesions have exclusively an epithelial origin and that epithelial proliferation was correlated with the degree of apoptosis in both entities. PAL and EGL presented mostly similar cytokeratin expression except for CK10 and CK14, though with marked differences in the distribution and intensity of IHC reactions. Finally, the degradation of extracellular matrix in both lesions could be partially attributed to the strong presence of MMP-9. (Folia Histochemica et Cytobiologica 2012, Vol. 50, No. 4, 497–503) The aim of the study was to determine by immunochemistry the expression of leptin, orexin A and orphanin FQ in the major salivary glands (parotid, submandibular and sublingual) of rat, sheep and cow. These peptides, originally synthesized in central nervous system, adipose tissue and peripheral tissues including gastrointestinal tract, play an orexigenic (orphanin and orexin) or anorexigenic (leptin) roles in the intricate neuronal network appointed to the control of nutritional homeostasis. Peptide-specific immunoreactivity was present in the studied salivary glands with various intensities in different species, in the ductal epithelium, sometimes in the acinar epithelium, and in nervous trunks spread in connective tissue stroma. The obtained data show that salivary glands present an unexpected source of orexigenic and anorexigenic peptides which with their autocrine, paracrine, and endocrine mechanisms of action may participate in the control of salivary gland function.

This research has the objective to investigate immunohistochemical expression of CB1 receptor and its probable changes in Gastroenteropancreatic system (GEP) of obese and lean Zucker rats and understand the endocannabinoid pathophysiological implications in the obesity. Male obese (fa/fa) and lean Zucker rats 6 weeks old were obtained from Harlan Italy Srl; the rats were sacrificed at 8, 12 and 16 weeks old. Normal rats also were sacrificed. Specimens of stomach, jejunum-ileum and pancreas were fixed in Bouin’s mixture and embedded in paraffin; obtained sections were processed with anti-CB1 (Biosource Europe SA) by Streptavidin-Biotin-Complex Method. The findings show that CB1 receptor is expressed not only in enteric neurons as documented by earlier studies up to now but more widely and with stronger intensity in obese animals compared with their lean counterparts by several structures of gastrointestinal tract (epithelium, glands, endocrine cells and immune cells of villi stroma). In obese Zucker rats pancreas unlike the normal rats where the CB1 receptor is essentially expressed by A-cells, the CB1 immunoreactivity even extends with higher intensity to B-cells. It is concluded that GEP System represents a new and wide peripheral target of EC action that have a direct autocrine, endocrine-paracrine and neurocrine control on many functions of GEP. In addition in GEP of obese Zucker rats in comparison with lean ones, the CB1 receptor is overexpressed and consequently the peripheral endocannabinoid system is upregulated and negatively modulated by leptin. It may contribute to increase hyperphagia, body weight and hyperglycaemia.

Intrabdominal and extrabdominal portion of penis (rat, guinea pig, hamster and rabbit) have been used for histochemical activity Nadph-diaphorase. Pharmacological and electrophysiological studies, both in vivo and in vitro, make us to belive that, in man, dog, rabbit and rat, the relaxation of vascular smooth muscle of the cavernous body of penis, that is responsible for erection, is produced by the activation of a Non-Adrenergic, Non-Cholinergic (NANC) nervous pathway whose mediator is a new neurotrasmitter: Nitric Oxide (NO). Our observations provide the morphohistochemical base for the localization of NADPH-diaphorase in the different constitutive structures of the penis in some mammalian species. NADPH-diaphorase is a histoenzymatic revealing method that has been used to identify the structural components responsible for NO synthesis.

The aim of present study is to investigate the immunohistochemical identification of cNOS-containing prostatic structures in various species and in hyperplastic human prostate. We used specimens of rat, guinea pig and hamster. Human prostatic specimens were removed from patients suffering of prostatic hyperplasia. The study was processed by ABC method. Immunohistochemical staining with anti nNOS antibody revealed the existence of strong reactivity in numerous ganglionic cell bodies and varicose nerve fibers in the fibromuscular stroma, in smooth cells around acini and in blood vessels endothelium. Surprisingly nNOS immunoreactivity appears in the glandular epithelium. In the hyperplastic prostate the nitroxidergic innervation of stroma and glandular epithelium is almost absent. These data provide a morphological evidence for a segmental differentiation of NOS-containing prostatic structures and consequently suggest that in the prostate NO plays selective neural and paraneural roles in the control of blood flow, smooth-muscle tone (relaxation) and secretory function. Further immunohistochemical studies are carrying out to elucidate the prostatic role in aging, after hormonal perturbation and pathological processes.