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Biomedical subjects

C Maris

Publications and source records attributed to C Maris.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Tailgut cyst associated with a carcinoid tumor: case report and review of the literature.

We report the case of a 49-year-old woman who presented a tailgut cyst lined by a variety of epithelium including squamous, columnar and transitional. Fortuitously a microscopic carcinoid tumor expressing immunohistochemically neuroendocrine markers was identified in the cystic wall. Tailgut cysts are congenital abnormalities located in the presacrococcygeal area occurring usually in adult patients. Clinical diagnosis is difficult because they are often asymptomatic. Patients may present symptoms resulting from local mass effects or complications. The differential diagnoses include rectal duplication cysts, cystic sacrococcygeal teratomas, epidermal cysts, epidermoid cysts, anal duct or gland cysts. Magnetic resonance imaging has recently become the modality of choice to image the cyst. Malignant transformation is rare; 23 cases including 10 carcinoid tumors have been reported in the literature. To our knowledge, this is the eleventh case of carcinoid tumor arising in a tailgut cyst.

Carcinoid Tumor↗

Ozone quenching properties of isoprene and its antioxidant role in leaves.

Isoprene is formed in and emitted by plants and the reason for this apparent carbon waste is still unclear. It has been proposed that isoprene stabilizes cell and particularly chloroplast thylakoid membranes. We tested if membrane stabilization or isoprene reactivity with ozone induces protection against acute ozone exposures. The reduction of visible, physiological, anatomical, and ultrastructural (chloroplast) damage shows that clones of plants sensitive to ozone and unable to emit isoprene become resistant to acute and short exposure to ozone if they are fumigated with exogenous isoprene, and that isoprene-emitting plants that are sensitive to ozone do not suffer damage when exposed to ozone. Isoprene-induced ozone resistance is associated with the maintenance of photochemical efficiency and with a low energy dissipation, as indicated by fluorescence quenching. This suggests that isoprene effectively stabilizes thylakoid membranes. However, when isoprene reacts with ozone within the leaves or in a humid atmosphere, it quenches the ozone concentration to levels that are less or non-toxic for plants. Thus, protection from ozone in plants fumigated with isoprene may be due to a direct ozone quenching rather than to an induced resistance at membrane level. Irrespective of the mechanism, isoprene is one of the most effective antioxidants in plants.

Antioxidants↗

The differential expression of Galectin-1 and Galectin-3 in normal lymphoid tissue and non-Hodgkin's and Hodgkin's lymphomas.

The WHO classification of lymphomas was established on the basis of clinical, morphological, immunohistochemical and genetic criteria. However, each entity displays its own spectrum of clinical aggressiveness. Treatment success varies widely and is not predictable. Since galectins are involved in oncogenesis and the physiology of immune cells, we investigated whether galectin-1 and galectin-3 immunohistochemical expression could differ in 25 normal lymphoid tissues, 42 non-Hodgkins and 14 Hodgkins lymphomas. Immunohistochemical galectin expression was submitted to semi-quantitative and quantitative (computer-assisted microscopy) evaluations. This study is completed by an analysis (by means of quantitative RT-PCR) of galectin-3 mRNA expression in 3 normal lymph nodes, 3 follicular lymphomas (FLs) and 3 diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCLs). The data show that in normal lymphoid tissue, lymphocytes do not express galectin-1 and rarely express galectin-3. In contrast, galectin-3 was expressed in 8 of the 16 DLBCL cases and in 1 of the 8 FL cases. Furthermore, galectin-3 mRNA was expressed 3 times more in the DLBCLs than in the FLs. While the blood vessel walls of the lymphomas expressed galectin-1, the vessel walls of normal lymphoid tissues did not. This expression of galectin-1 in blood vessel walls was correlated with vascular density. The present study thus shows that DLBCL can be distinguished from normal lymphoid tissue and other lymphomas on the basis of galectin-3 expression.

Galectin 1↗