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In the published article, there was an error in affiliation number 2. Instead of “Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Istituti di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS) Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, Bologna, Italy”, it should be removed. In the published article, there was an error in affiliation number 3. Instead of “Pediatric Surgery Department, Istituti di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS) Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, Istituti di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS), Bologna, Italy”, it should be “Pediatric Surgery Department, IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, Bologna, Italy”. In the published article, there was an error in affiliation number 4. Instead of “Division of Gynaecology and Human Reproduction Physiopathology, Istituti di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS) Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, Istituti di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS), Bologna, Italy”, it should be affiliation number 2 and changed as following “Division of Gynaecology and Human Reproduction Physiopathology, IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, Bologna, Italy”. In the published article, there was an error in affiliation number 5. Instead of “Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Division of Gynaecology and Human Reproduction Physiopathology, Istituti di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS) Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy”, it should be removed. The authors apologize for these error sand state that they do not change the scientific conclusions of the article in any way. The original article has been updated.

To describe the clinical history and ultrasound findings in women with decidualized endometriomas surgically removed during pregnancy.In this retrospective study, women with a histological diagnosis of decidualized endometrioma during pregnancy who had undergone preoperative ultrasound examination were identified from the databases of seven ultrasound centers. The ultrasound appearance of the tumors was described on the basis of ultrasound images, ultrasound reports and research protocols (when applicable) by one author from each center using the terms and definitions of the International Ovarian Tumor Analysis (IOTA) group. In addition, two authors reviewed together available digital ultrasound images and used pattern recognition to describe the typical ultrasound appearance of decidualized endometriomas.Eighteen eligible women were identified. Median age was 34 (range, 20-43) years. Median gestational age at surgical removal of the decidualized endometrioma was 18 (range, 11-41) weeks. Seventeen women (94%) were asymptomatic and one presented with pelvic pain. In three of the 18 women an ultrasound diagnosis of endometrioma had been made before pregnancy. The original ultrasound examiner was uncertain whether the mass was benign or malignant in 10 (56%) women and suggested a diagnosis of benignity in nine (50%) women, borderline in eight women (44%), and invasive malignancy in one (6%) woman. Seventeen decidualized endometriomas contained a papillary projection, and in 16 of these at least one of the papillary projections was vascularized at power or color Doppler examination. The number of cyst locules varied between one (n = 11) and four. No woman had ascites. When using pattern recognition, most decidualized endometriomas (14/17, 82%) were described as manifesting vascularized rounded papillary projections with a smooth contour in an ovarian cyst with one or a few cyst locules and ground-glass or low-level echogenicity of the cyst fluid.Rounded vascularized papillary projections with smooth contours within an ovarian cyst with cyst contents of ground-glass or low-level echogenicity are typical of surgically removed decidualized endometriomas in pregnant women, most of whom are asymptomatic.

Tonoplast-enriched vesicles isolated from maize (Zea mays L.) coleoptiles and seeds synthesize ATP from ADP and inorganic phosphate (Pi) and inorganic pyrophosphate from Pi. The synthesis is consistent with reversal of the catalytic cycle of the H+-ATPase and H+-pyrophosphatase (PPase) vacuolar membrane-bound enzymes. This was monitored by measuring the exchange reaction that leads to 32Pi incorporation into ATP or inorganic pyrophosphate. The reversal reactions of these enzymes were dependent on the proton gradient formed across the vesicle membrane and were susceptible to the uncoupler carbonyl cyanide p(trifluoromethoxy)-phenylhydrazone and the detergent Triton X-100. Comparison of the two H+ pumps showed that the H+-ATPase was more active than H+-PPase in coleoptile tonoplast vesicles, whereas in seed vesicles H+-PPase activity was clearly dominant. These findings may reflect the physiological significance of these enzymes in different tissues at different stages of development and/or differentiation.

The possibility that diacylglycerol analogues might have a wider spectrum of intracellular targets than the well-known protein kinase C was investigated with vesicles containing the Ca2+-ATPase derived from the dense tubular system in platelets and from the sarcoplasmic reticulum of skeletal muscle. The diacylglycerol analogues PMA and 1-oleoyl-2-acetyl-rac-glycerol (OAG) inhibited Ca2+ accumulation by these vesicles, an effect that was antagonized by cyclosporin A. The inhibitory activity of PMA and OAG resulted from the uncoupling of the Ca2+-ATPase, characterized by a pronounced inhibition of Ca2+ uptake accompanied by a discrete decrease in ATPase activity and by the inhibition of the enzyme's phosphorylation by Pi, leading to both a decrease in ATP synthesis and an enhancement of Ca2+ efflux. The inhibition of Ca2+ uptake by PMA was found to decrease as the Ca2+ concentration in the medium was raised from 0.1 to 10.0 μM. This was observed with muscle, but not with platelet vesicles. In contrast, the ability of cyclosporin A to antagonize the inhibition of Ca2+ uptake by PMA also increased when the Ca2+ concentration in the medium was raised from 0.1 to 10.0 μM, but this was observed with both muscle and platelet vesicles. The fact that phospholipase C activity and products from the inositol metabolism have been described as localized in regions of the sarcoplasmic reticulum where Ca2+-ATPase and Ca2+ channels are found suggests a possible physiological role for these products in the regulation of cytosolic Ca2+ levels.

We studied the Ca(2+)-ATPase isoforms of sarco/endoplasmic reticulum (SERCA) derived from cerebellum, cardiac muscle, and skeletal muscle. The Mg2+ dependence varied among the three enzyme preparations. The Ca2+ transport in skeletal muscle vesicles, but not in cerebellar or cardiac vesicles, was activated by free Mg2+ concentrations varying from 0.1 to 0.3 mM. Concentrations of Mg2+ of1 mM inhibited Ca2+ transport in all three vesicle preparations but with more pronounced effect in cerebellar and cardiac vesicles. At 10-80 microM, trifluoperazine activated Ca2+ uptake in cerebellar and cardiac vesicles but not in skeletal muscle vesicles. The activation was due to an increase in the coupling ratio between Ca2+ transport and ATP hydrolysis and was observed only in the presence of ATP concentrations of100 microM. The Ca2+ transport in all three vesicle preparations was inhibited by trifluoperazine concentrations of100 microM. The inhibition promoted by trifluoperazine was prevented by the addition of dimethylsulfoxide (10% v/v) to the medium. The Ca2+ efflux from loaded vesicles was increased by arsenate and even more by trifluoperazine. In skeletal muscle vesicles, the efflux promoted by arsenate was several-fold faster than that promoted in vesicles derived from cerebellum or cardiac muscle. In skeletal muscle, the enhancement of Ca2+ efflux promoted by both arsenate and trifluoperazine was antagonized by thapsigargin, Ca2+, Mg2+, and K+. These agents partly antagonized the enhancement of Ca2+ efflux promoted by trifluoperazine in cardiac vesicles but had little or no effect in the cerebellar vesicles. Finally, Mg.Pi and Mg.ATP, the two substrates that phosphorylate the Ca(2+)-ATPase, antagonized the effect of trifluoperazine in all of the preparations tested. The concentration of ATP needed was in the same range as that of the second K(m) value for ATP (50-300 microM) of the SERCA isoforms. The results indicate that the effect of the drugs on the cytosolic Ca2+ homeostasis may vary depending on the target tissue.