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B van Damme

Publications and source records attributed to B van Damme.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

TuBaFrost 3: regulatory and ethical issues on the exchange of residual tissue for research across Europe.

The regulatory regimes for research with residual tissue and accompanying data differ widely between countries in the European Union (EU): from specific consent to opt-out or even no consent at all. This could greatly hamper research where the exchange of tissue and accompanying data has become the gold standard, like in TubaFrost. Instead of adhering to international guidelines, which have a democratic deficit, or an attempt for a new set of possible harmonising rules, TubaFrost chose to create a coordinating rule: if tissue may legitimately be used for a certain kind of research in the country where it was taken and under whose jurisdiction the patient falls, it may also be used for such research in the country where it is sent to in the context of a scientific program even if in that other country other regulations would apply for research with residual tissue taken from patients under their jurisdiction. This coordinating rule has a sound basis in EU law in general and will solve the problems related to diverging national regulatory regimes in the case of cross national research with residual tissue.

Ethics, Research↗
PubMed2006

TuBaFrost 5: multifunctional central database application for a European tumor bank.

Developing a tissue bank database has become more than just logically arranging data in tables combined with a search engine. Current demand for high quality samples and data, and the ever-changing legal and ethical regulations mean that the application must reflect TuBaFrost rules and protocols for the collection, exchange and use of tissue. To ensure continuation and extension of the TuBaFrost European tissue bank, the custodianship of the samples, and hence the decision over whether to issue samples to requestors, remains with the local collecting centre. The database application described in this article has been developed to facilitate this open structure virtual tissue bank model serving a large group. It encompasses many key tasks, without the requirement for personnel, hence minimising operational costs. The Internet-accessible database application enables search, selection and request submission for requestors, whereas collectors can upload and edit their collection. Communication between requestor and involved collectors is started with automatically generated e-mails.

Computer Simulation↗
PubMed2006

TuBaFrost 2: Standardising tissue collection and quality control procedures for a European virtual frozen tissue bank network.

Tumour Bank Networking presents a great challenge for oncological research as in order to carry out large-scale, multi-centre studies with minimal intrinsic bias, each tumour bank in the network must have some fundamental similarities and be using the same standardised and validated procedures. The European Human Frozen Tumour Tissue Bank (TuBaFrost) has responded to this need by the promotion of an integrated platform of tumour banks in Europe. The operational framework for TuBaFrost has drawn upon the best practice of standard workflows and operating procedures employed by members of the TuBaFrost project and key initiatives worldwide.

Biological Specimen Banks↗
PubMed2006

TuBaFrost 4: access rules and incentives for a European tumour bank.

When designing infrastructure for a networked virtual tumour bank (samples remain at the collector institutes and sample data are collected in a searchable central database), it is apparent that this can only function properly after developing an adequate set of rules for use and access. These rules must include sufficient incentives for the tissue sample collectors to remain active within the network and maintain sufficient sample levels in the local bank. These requirements resulted in a key TuBaFrost rule, stating that the custodianship of the samples remains under the authority of the local collector. As a consequence, the samples and the decision to issue the samples to a requestor are not transferred to a large organisation but instead remain with the collector, thus allowing autonomous negotiation between collector and requestor, potential co-authorship in publications or compensation for collection and processing costs. Furthermore, it realises a streamlined cost effective network, ensuring tissue visibility and accessibility thereby improving the availability of large amounts of samples of highly specific or rare tumour types as well as providing contact opportunities for collaboration between scientists with cutting edge technology and tissue collectors. With this general purpose in mind, the rules and responsibilities for collectors, requestors and central office were generated.

Europe↗
PubMed2006

TuBaFrost 1: Uniting local frozen tumour banks into a European network: an overview.

TuBaFrost is the consortium responsible for the creation of a virtual European human frozen tumour tissue bank: a collection of high quality frozen residual, accurately classified tumour tissue samples, which are stored in European cancer centres and universities. This virtual tissue bank, searchable on the internet, has rules for access and use, and a code of conduct to comply with the various legal and ethical regulations in European countries. The easy accessibility and the European scale of the bank will result in the availability of a large number of samples even of rarer tumour types. Standardisation of collection, storage and quality control throughout the network is achieved minimising inter-institutional variability. A website providing access to upload, search and request samples is a key tool of the tissue bank. The search engine makes use of virtual microscopy. An overview of the development of the European virtual frozen tissue bank infrastructure is described in this paper. The various key aspects are described in more detail in a series of articles to appear in this Journal.

Biological Specimen Banks↗
PubMed2006

TuBaFrost 6: virtual microscopy in virtual tumour banking.

Many systems have already been designed and successfully used for sharing histology images over large distances, without transfer of the original glass slides. Rapid evolution was seen when digital images could be transferred over the Internet. Nowadays, sophisticated Virtual Microscope systems can be acquired, with the capability to quickly scan large batches of glass slides at high magnification and compress and store the large images on disc, which subsequently can be consulted through the Internet. The images are stored on an image server, which can give simple, easy to transfer pictures to the user specifying a certain magnification on any position in the scan. This offers new opportunities in histology review, overcoming the necessity of the dynamic telepathology systems to have compatible software systems and microscopes and in addition, an adequate connection of sufficient bandwidth. Consulting the images now only requires an Internet connection and a computer with a high quality monitor. A system of complete pathology review supporting bio-repositories is described, based on the implementation of this technique in the European Human Frozen Tumor Tissue Bank (TuBaFrost).

Computer Simulation↗
PubMed2000

Malignant angiomyolipoma of the liver: a hitherto unreported variant.

AIMS: After their original recognition in the kidney, angiomyolipomas (AMLs) have been reported in the liver for more than 20 years. In the kidney, five cases of malignant AML have been reported. We report the first case of malignant hepatic AML. METHODS AND RESULTS: A 70-year-old female patient presented with abdominal discomfort. Clinical examination revealed a palpable liver. CT scan showed a polymorphous hypervascular lesion in the right liver lobe. A biopsy was taken and resulted initially in a differential diagnosis between a hepatocellular carcinoma, a metastatic tumour (possibly of renal origin) and angiomyolipoma (AML). After immunohistochemistry, a hepatic AML was suggested, given the immunoreactivity for HMB45/NKIC-3. The mass was resected 5 years later because of relapsing abscess formation. Gross examination of the resection specimen showed a focally encapsulated brown mass with focal necrosis. Microscopic examination showed a tumour growing in sheets, separated by sinusoidal-like vessels. Most of the tumour cells had a large, polygonal, clear cytoplasm, often with eosinophilic condensation around the nucleus. There was prominent vascular invasion. Immunohistochemistry (reactivity for HMB-45, NKIC-3, S100 and alpha smooth muscle actin, negativity for cytokeratin and vimentin) and electron microscopy confirmed the diagnosis of monomorphic epithelioid AML with prominent vascular invasion. Seven months after tumour resection, the patient died of recurrent disease. CONCLUSIONS: This case highlights the importance of immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy in diagnosing this type of tumour. Possibly, in the past, malignant AML of the liver has been misdiagnosed as HCC.

Actins↗
PubMed1996

Cytogenetic investigation of synchronous bilateral renal tumors.

Cytogenetic investigations on synchronous bilateral renal tumors are scarce. We report our findings on 13 renal tumors from 5 patients and review the literature. In bilateral as well as in solitary tumors, cytogenetic findings in each tumor correlated with the histological patterns, i.e. combinations of trisomies for papillary renal cell carcinoma, loss of 3p-material for non-papillary renal cell carcinoma, and coincident loss of the Y chromosome and chromosome 1 in oncocytomas. Bilateral multifocal renal cell carcinomas were always of the papillary type and the karyotypes showed more or less the same numerical anomalies, with trisomies in different combinations in tumors within the same kidney as well as in both kidneys. Structural changes, in contrast, were different from tumor to tumor.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

Giant cell rich parosteal osteosarcoma.

A parosteal osteosarcoma of the distal femur with a typical radiographic and macroscopic appearance is reported. On histology the tumour was dominated by large numbers of osteoclast-like giant cells in a fibro-osseous background and islands of immature bone. Most of the neoplastic bone lacked osteoblastic rimming. There was no spatial relationship between the giant cells and areas of haemorrhage. Signs of 'dedifferentiation' were lacking. Cytogenetic a analysis revealed telomeric associations which are frequently found in giant cell tumours of bone. Parosteal osteosarcoma may, on histological appearances, hardly be recognizable as malignant. In addition, unusual changes such as abundant giant cells may be misleading in the absence of clinico-pathological correlation.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Chromosome aberrations in fibrous dysplasia.

We report the cytogenetic findings of two cases of fibrous dysplasia, one occurring in the tibia, the other in the sphenoid. Both cases exhibited only one chromosome change: a t(6;11)(q15;p15) in the first case, a derivative chromosome 2 in the second. The previous cytogenetic report on fibrous dysplasia revealed only numerical changes. The significance of these inconsistent chromosomal findings in fibrous dysplasia is unclear.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Partial prevention of active Heymann nephritis by 1 alpha, 25 dihydroxyvitamin D3.

The hormone 1 alpha, 25 dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3) has potent immunosuppressive effects in vitro. Recent publications also described a protective effect of the hormone in various animal models of immune-mediated diseases. To test its in vivo activity we induced active Heymann nephritis in Lewis rats that were either untreated or treated with 1,25(OH)2D3 or its synthetic 20-epi analogue, KH1060. Treatment with cyclosporine A (CsA) was used as an immunosuppressive control. In this nephrotic model the administration of 1,25(OH)2D3 (0.5 microgram/kg body weight) given on alternate days during the first 13 days after active immunization significantly reduced the proteinuria as measured by weeks 7-9. This reduction was comparable to the reduction observed in rats treated with CsA (20 mg/kg) on alternate days. A second series of experiments with 1,25(OH)2D3 confirmed these findings. The level of autoantibodies was found to be significantly suppressed during the treatment time in the CsA (20 mg/kg) group, whereas the limit of significance (P = 0.06) was reached in the 1,25(OH)2D3 (0.5 microgram/kg) group. The size of the immune deposits also was found to be substantially smaller in the groups that developed less proteinuria. The administration of 1,25(OH)2D3 transiently increased the mean serum calcium concentration with 2.5 mg/dl above the pretreatment values, and the urinary calcium excretion by a factor of 3-5 during the short treatment time. Treatment with the analogue KH1060 did not reduce the proteinuria significantly. Our experiments add evidence to the hypothesis that 1,25(OH)2D3 in pharmacological doses has immunosuppressive potency.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis in a child.

Xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis is an uncommon form of chronic aggressive infection of the kidney and surrounding tissues usually affecting middle aged women. It is rarely seen in childhood. We report the case of a female child with a history of fatigue, progressive anorexia, and fever in whom a diagnosis of pyelonephritis on a predisposing factor of lithiasis was suggested. After initial antibiotic treatment, nephrectomy was needed for an acute general deterioration. Pathology demonstrated xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1992

Magnetic resonance imaging, microangiography, and histology in a rat model of primary liver cancer.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: N-nitrosodiethylamine is able to induce various benign and malignant liver lesions in rats with a high success rate and a low mortality rate. It provides a more appropriate model that better simulates the various lesions occurring in patients than the usual model of tumor implantations. METHODS: Hepatic carcinogenesis was induced in 58 Wistar rats using oral N-nitrosodiethylamine. The rats subsequently were studied by liver magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), postmortem microangiography, and histologic examination. RESULTS: Hepatic tumors developed in 57 rats. A wide variety of the tumors in the degree of vascularization, the type of vessels, the areas of intratumoral secretion and necrosis, and the tumor cell differentiation resulted from the tumor model. The authors were able to assess the contribution of the vascular, extravascular, and cellular components in the final pattern of contrast enhancement in MRI. CONCLUSIONS: The N-nitrosoethylamine model for hepatic tumor induction is simple, and provides a more representative range of tumors for experimental evaluation.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Renal transplantation in 20 children with hemolytic-uremic syndrome.

In this study the outcome of kidney transplantation in 20 patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) due to the hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) was evaluated. The characteristics and severity of the primary disease in these patients were not different from those commonly reported in patients with HUS. Eleven children developed ESRD immediately following HUS, in nine others temporary partial recovery of kidney function for 0.5-13.2 years was observed. Twenty-four grafts were transplanted in these 20 patients. Graft survival was no different from overall cadaver graft survival. In nine patients failure of the first kidney graft occurred, while the four second grafts were still functioning at the time of writing. Recurrence of HUS was suspected but not proven to be the cause of first graft failure in two patients, and impaired graft function in a third one. A short interval between HUS and kidney transplantation seems to adversely affect graft survival. No other factors influencing outcome of transplantation could be detected.

Child↗
PubMed1990

[IgA-nephropathy in childhood].

IgA nephropathy or M. Berger is regularly diagnosed in childhood. A kidney biopsy is necessary to verify the diagnosis, by demonstrating deposition of IgA in the glomerular mesangium. The kidney biopsy is performed in cases of recurrent macroscopic haematuria or persistence of microscopic haematuria, with or without proteinuria. The prognosis and factors influencing the prognosis in childhood IgA nephropathy are uncertain. In a mainly retrospective study we tried to find correlations between clinical and histological findings and the outcome after a mean follow up period of 7.36 years in 56 patients. In this study with its restrictions it was impossible to find correlations between histological parameters and outcome on one side and between sex, hypertension, macroscopic c.q. microscopic haematuria, proteinuria and outcome on the other hand.

Adolescent↗