Unspecified Origin Research Articles

Paraneoplastic Lambert-Eaton syndrome in a patient with disseminated metastatic cancer.

Neurological paraneoplastic syndromes are rare, occur in 0.01% of all cancer patients; like part of them, the Lambert-Eaton syndrome is an autoimmune presynaptic disorder of neuromuscular transmission characterized by muscle weakness and neurovegetative dysfunction, and often associated with small cell lung cancer. A 72 years old female with a family history of lung cancer and leukemia, with 7 months of dry cough and 3 months with waist and pelvic muscle weakness, oropharyngeal dysphagia, dry mouth, chronic constipation and weight loss of 10 kg. Physical examination: patient prostrated; clinical muscle examination: pelvic muscles waist -3/5 and -4/5 the rest; diminished reflexes. Laboratory normal parathormone and hypercalcemia. With electrophysiological study and positive anti-voltage-gated calcium channel antibodies, confirming Lambert-Eaton syndrome and imaging studies with neoplastic condition in brain, liver and kidney, with unspecified primary origin.

Low positive predictive value of International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision codes in relation to rheumatic heart disease: a challenge for global surveillance.

International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision codes for rheumatic heart disease (RHD) include valvular heart disease of unspecified origin, limiting their usefulness for estimating RHD burden. A cross-disciplinary national consultation developed an algorithm to improve RHD identification in hospital data. The algorithm has been operationalised and piloted. The algorithm developed categorised 32% of RHD-coded patients as probable/possible RHD. We outline a series of research initiatives to improve identification of RHD in administrative data thereby contributing to monitoring the RHD burden globally.

The Frequency of Primary Immune Thrombocytopenia (idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura) in Patients with Isolated Thrombocytopenia

CONTEXT: Many hematological and non-hematological diseases can be hidden under the mask of isolated thrombocytopenia. The choice of therapeutic tactics is determinated by correct diagnosis.OBJECTIVE: to define the frequency of occurrence of primary immune thrombocytopenia (idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura-ITP) in the group of patients with isolated thrombocytopenia.Materials and methods: We analysed clinical and laboratory data of 301 patients who applied to the outpatient department of National Research Center for hematology, Russian Federation with thrombocytopenia of unspecified origin. The first group is 183 patients who applied for the first time. The second group is 118 patients with long history of ITP. All patients were examined according to the extended differential diagnostic protocol used in isolated thrombocytopenia and based on international and National clinical recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of ITP in adults.Results: Median age of patients in both groups was 36 years, male/female ratio in group 1 was 1:2, in group 2 - 1:4. In group 1, the count of platelets in the blood was more than 50*109/l in 87% of cases, while in the second group, in most cases (94%), there was a decrease in the count of platelets <50*109/l. Among the patients of the first group, haemorrhagic syndrome was absent in 50% of cases, even with platelet count less than 50*109/l. In the second group, 88% of patients complained of haemorrhages on the skin and mucosa, in 2% of cases life-threatening bleeding (uterine and gastrointestinal) developed (table 1). The examination carried out according to the protocol allowed to establish the diagnosis of ITP in group 1 in 88 (48%) patients, in group 2 in 100 (85%). Thus, the ratio of primary and secondary thrombocytopenia in group 1 was 1:1, in group 2 - 6:1. (fig. 1). The causes of secondary thrombocytopenia in group 1 were: increased consumption syndrome with thrombogenic complications in 16 (9%) patients, autoimmune diseases, occurring with isolated thrombocytopenia in 13 (7%) cases, virus-associated thrombocytopenia in 12 (7%) patients, drug-induced thrombocytopenia in 8 (4%) patients with diseases of the cardiovascular system, long-taking anticoagulants and disaggregants, in 7 (4%) cases of chronic viral hepatitis C, in 4 (2%) - liver cirrhosis of non-viral etiology, in 4 (2%) HIV infection, in 4 (2%) lymphoproliferative disease, in 2 (1%) acute leukemia, in 3 (2%) cases myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), 14 (8%) women were diagnosed with gestational thrombocytopenia, EDTA-associated false thrombocytopenia was detected in 8 (4%) patients. Repeated examination of patients of the second group was carried out in the following cases: early relapse, resistance to corticosteroid therapy or loss of response after any line of therapy, incompliance of haemorrhagic syndrome with the count of platelets, the presence of thrombosis in the history, causing doubts in the diagnosis of ITP. The diagnosis of ITP in this group was changed to antiphospholipid syndrome in 4 patients, MDS in 4 cases, in 2 - systemic lupus erythematosus, in 3 - primary immunodeficiency and 2 patients, aged 40 and 44 years were found to have a genetic abnormality - abnormality Meya-Hegglina and thrombasthenia Glanzmann. A comparison of the number of patients diagnosed with ITP and secondary thrombocytopenia by age groups showed that secondary thrombocytopenia are more common at the age of 60 years (38% versus 19%, respectively) (Fig. 2).Conclusion: This study clearly presents a variety of hematological and non-hematological diseases occurring with isolated thrombocytopenia, which indicates the ambiguity of such concepts as the symptom of isolated thrombocytopenia and primary immune thrombocytopenia and requires a complete examination not only in the onset of the disease, but also in the recurrence of ITP. DisclosuresNo relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Ten years of native seed certification in Germany - a summary.

Many renaturation projects and compensation areas are based on the use of seeds from regional indigenous wild plants; in the following: native or regional seeds. Despite this, such seeds make up only a small proportion of the total number of seeds used for greening projects; in Germany, for example, it is only around 1% (=200t per year). Although the market for regional seeds is small, it is highly competitive. High-priced native seeds compete with flower mixes of unspecified origin and can only be differentiated from them by reliable quality seals. A quality assurance system based on seed legislation (EU Directive 2010/60, preservation mixtures) has been developed in a few European countries. However, quality assurance ends with the sale of the seeds. Thus, seed use remains unmonitored, and often unsuitable material, or material foreign to the region, is planted in restoration areas. Unfortunately, nature conservation has not made seed-based restoration one of its key issues, neither at the European nor at the national level. Currently there are many different local and regional standards, methods and private certificates that are confusing for users and which provide little continuity and predictability for producers. We recommend the establishment of an EU directive or a broadly agreed recommendation to the EU member states, spearheaded by nature conservation, which would define the standards for producing and using native seeds (e.g. harmonised regions that cross national borders, quality regulations). At the same time, wild plant interest groups should combine existing structures in order to strengthen seed-based restoration through international cooperation.

GASTROENTERITIS AND COLITIS AND SUBSEQUENT RISK OF PARKINSON’S DISEASE

It is hypothesized that Parkinson's disease (PD) may be caused by chronic systemic inflammation, and previous studies have shown that inflammatory bowl disease (IBD) or gastrointestinal infection with Helicobacter pylori causing gastritis and peptic ulcers may increase the risk for PD. We investigated the risk of PD in patients who were diagnosed with gastroenteritis and colitis and hypothesized that not only chronic but also acute systemic inflammation may be associated with a higher risk for PD. We used a longitudinal sample of 238,721 persons aged 50 and older from claims data of the largest German health insurer, containing 5,361 incident PD diagnoses between 2006 and 2013. We used Cox regression to compute hazard ratios (HRs) for PD and corresponding 95 % confidence intervals (CIs), adjusting for potential confounders. Risk of PD was increased in patients with viral infections (HR 1.28; 95 % CI 1.10–1.48), with gastroenteritis and colitis of infectious and unspecified origin (HR 1.23; 95 % CI 1.14–1.34), with bacterial intestinal infections (HR 1.24; 95 % CI 1.04–1.49), and with noninfective gastroenteritis and colitis other than IBD (HR 1.08; 95 % CI 1.00–1.16) when compared to the general population cohort. Gastroenteritis and colitis of infectious and non-infectious origin is associated with an increased risk for subsequent PD.

Application of DNA Methylation-based Body Fluid Typing to Evidence Sample Analysis for Sexual Assault Cases

사건 해결을 위한 현장 증거물의 인체유류물 식별은 범죄 현장의 재구성에서 중요한 역할을 하고 있다. 종래의 인체유류물 식별 실험은 항원항체 반응법, 효소반응법이 있으나, 이러한 식별 방법은 위양성 및 위음성 반응이나, 혼합시료에서 비특이적 반응 및 질액의 식별법 부재와 같은 문제점을 갖고 있다. 최근 인체유류물 식별을 위한 메틸레이션 연구가 진행되고 있고, 본 실험에서 현장 증거물의 인체유류물 식별을 위한 메틸레이션 타이핑의 적용 및 유효성을 검토하였다. 현장 증거물에서 미리 정량된 extracted DNA를 bisulfate 처리하여, 7개의 primer(정액, 혈액, 질액 및 타액에 특이적)와 함께 Multiplex PCR 및 SNaPshot 실험을 수행하였다. 성범죄 현장 증거물 중 유래물질이 알려진 질액, 정액, 타액의 시료를 시험한 결과, Electropherogram에서 각각 본 인체유류물의 특이 마커에서 메틸레이션을 나타내는 파란색 피크를 확인할 수 있었다. 기존 인체유류물 식별법으로 확인 불가하였던 시료에서 특이 마커의 발현을 확인함으로써 메틸레이션 인체유류물의 식별 가능성을 보여주었다. 본 실험으로 앞 서 개발된 인체유류물 메틸레이션 식별방법이 현장 증거물에서도 유효한 결과를 보임을 확인하였으며, 이를 통해 범죄수사에서 다양한 정보를 제시함으로써 범죄사건의 재구성에 큰 도움이 될 것으로 기대된다.Body fluid identification plays an important role in the reconstruction of crime scenes for forensic examination. Conventional methods have relied on the detection of antigens or enzymatic activity; however, these methods have limited detection sensitivity and specificity. Furthermore, there was no method available for vaginal fluid detection. Recently, a new body fluid identification method based on DNA methylation has been developed to identify body fluid including vaginal fluid, semen, blood and saliva (Jung et al, 2016). In the present study, The author tested the validity and applicability of this method to sample analysis for casework. The author could confirm that vaginal fluid, semen and saliva samples with known body fluid origin were successfully identified by the presence of blue peaks corresponding to a methylation signal only at each body fluid-specific marker on the electropherograms. In addition, samples of unspecified origin produced methylation profiles that indicated where they came from. The author expect that this newly developed DNA methylation-based body fluid typing method will be a powerful tool for identifying the source of biological fluid and reconstructing the crime scene.

Differential diagnosis of thrombocytopenes

The article presents a systematic diagnostic approach for thrombocytopenia, as well as the results of practical implementation of thrombocytopenia diagnostic protocol in adult patients. Among 183 patients first admitted to HRC with unspecified origin thrombocytopenia, primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) was established only in 48 % of patients, while in 52 % of cases it was a symptom of another pathology (the ratio was 1 : 1). As a result of re-examination of 118 relapse patients with long-term history of ITP diagnosis was confirmed in 85 % of cases, in 15 % the diagnosis has been changed to a different nosology. The results show that to establish the true causes of thrombocytopenia is necessary to conduct an extensive diagnostic search according to presented protocol. Differential diagnosis between primary immune and secondary thrombocytopenia should be carried out not only in the onset of the disease, but also in the relapse of an earlier established ITP.

Effects of the emotional properties of words and a manipulation of mindset on performance of an ambiguous task

ABSTRACTIn this study, we investigated whether processing of an ambiguous task was influenced by the emotional properties of words or promotion of a specific mindset. Words used differed in valence and origin of an affective state (derived “from heart” or “from mind”). Mindset was manipulated by suggesting that either fast or slow performance was associated with cleverness and then having participants perform a task requiring the “smart” processing strategy. The ambiguous task was to choose which of 2 Far East hexagrams better represented a previously presented target word. Reaction latencies were measured and appeared to be longer for ambiguous task probes involving words of reflective origin rather than automatic or unspecified origin. Promotion of heuristic thinking was associated with shorter responses latencies than promotion of systematic or neutral processing. The study demonstrated that the processing mode may be promoted by means of both emotional and cognitive manipulations and each of them is working in a specific way.

Mycosis Fungoides Tumour

Introduction: Cutaneous lymphomas are a group of disorders characterised by localisation of malignant lymphocytes to the skin. The most common subtypes of primary cutaneous T-cell lymphomas are mycosis fungoides (MF) and Sezary syndrome (SS). We present a case of rapidly progressive mycosis fungoides who initially presented with erythematous plaques. Keywords: Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma; Mycosis fungoides (MF); Sezary syndrome (SS) Case Presentation: A 53 year old lady presented initially with 4 months history of polymorphic patch over her right flank. It became raised and tender lump developed within few weeks which were initially considered as an abscess. An excision biopsy was performed and diagnosis of primary cutaneous T-cell lymphoma or T-cell lymphoma of unspecified origin was made. Immunohistochemistry was positive for CLA and CD3 and negative for CD20, cytokeratins AE1/3 and CK 8/18. S100, HMB45 and CD30 were also negative. A staging CT scan was normal. No weight loss, night sweats or fever was noted in the history and past medical history

Diagnostic Evaluation of a Multiplex Quantitative Real-Time PCR Assay for Bacterial Vaginosis

Background: Quantitative multiplex PCR assay for Bacterial Vaginosis (BV) based on the detection of the predominant contributory targets was evaluated against the conventional Nugent Score that is laborious and subjective due to morphological assessment bias of BV-associated bacteria. Methods: 125 dual vaginal specimens were collected from patients aged ≥18 years at the time of presentation at the provider office to perform real time PCR and Nugent Testing. PCR assessment of BV was performed by quantitation of DNA amounts of Gardnerella vaginalis, Atopobium vaginae, Lactobacillus spp., and total amount of bacterial DNA using a multiplex RT-PCR kit (ATRiDA, Netherlands). Discordant results were resolved by the Amsel criteria or ancillary testing such as BD Affirm, when available. Results: Nugent score classified 36.36% of the patients in BV and 15.45% in transitional BV categories. In contrast, the PCR method called 48.18% as BV and 12.72% as transitional BV or BV of unspecified origin categories. The overall concordance between the two methods was 81.81%. None of the BV positives by Nugent method were missed by the PCR. There were only 2 intermediates by Nugent that were called normal by PCR. PCR method was more sensitive than the Nugent and picked an additional 11% positives. Conclusions: PCR based molecular BV diagnosis can standardize women health testing by removing the bias due to subjective interpretation of Nugent scoring. Our study shows that PCR method is more sensitive than conventional testing and may be a promising replacement for laborious Nugent scoring method in an era of shrinking microbiology expertise.

Verbal Fluency and Verbal Short-Term Memory in Adults with Down Syndrome and Unspecified Intellectual Disability

The purpose of this study was to examine verbal fluency and verbal short-term memory in 12 adults with Down syndrome (DS) and 12 adults with Intellectual Disability (ID) of unspecified origin, matched for receptive vocabulary and chronological age. Participants’ performance was assessed on two conditions of a verbal fluency test, namely, semantic and phonemic fluency. In addition to the total number of correct words produced, the use of clustering and switching strategies was also evaluated. In order to investigate the likely relations of verbal short-term memory with the test variables, a digit span task was administered. According to the results of the study, the two groups differed significantly on the average phonemic cluster size, with the ID group outperforming the DS group. Regarding the within-group comparisons, a relatively similar pattern of results was found for the two groups, indicating higher scores on all the measures involved in the semantic test than the phonemic one. The examination of the relation of verbal short-term memory with the verbal fluency test measures revealed that, in the DS group, only the total words produced in the semantic and the phonemic test and the number of phonemic switches were significantly associated with verbal short-term memory. Additionally, in both groups, word productivity in the semantic and the phonemic test was positively associated with the number of switches. The observed similarities and differences in the performance of the two groups, as well as the associations that emerged among the test variables in each group, are discussed.

Investigation of Two Outbreaks of Gastroenteritis in Tržič in September 2011 / Preiskava Dveh Izbruhov Gastroenteritisa V Tržiču V Septembru 2011

BackgroundAn outbreak of gastroenteritis of etiologically unspecified origin and an outbreak of Salmonellosis occurred simultaneously in September 2011 in Tržič. The purpose of the investigation of both outbreaks was to identify the most probable source and the mode of transmission and to implement preventive measures.MethodsIn two retrospective case-control studies, the association between gastroenteritis of etiologically unspecified origin or Salmonellosis and food from a restaurant or drinking tap water were tested by univariate and multivariate analysis. The subject in the first study was a sick person with salmonellosis, and the subject in the second study was a resident that developed diarrhoea and/ or vomiting. Cases were reported by doctors, and controls were selected from healthy persons who responded to the questionnaire.ResultsA person exposed to food from the restaurant had a 24.8 times higher odds ratio (univariate analysis OR 24.8, 95% CI 7.5 to 82.3, p <0.05; multivariate analysis OR 14.7, 95% CI 3.5 – 61.3, p <0.05) for salmonellosis than non-exposed. A resident exposed to tap water from specific water source had a 3.4 times higher odds ratio (univariate analysis of OR 3.4, 95% CI 2.2 to 5.1 is p <0.05, multivariate analysis of RO 2.9, 95% CI 1, 7 to 5.3, p <0.05), for gastroenteritis of unspecific etiology than non-exposed. The dose response relationship was also statistically significant.ConclusionAnalytical cases - controls studies confirmed a causal relationship between salmonellosis and food from the specific restaurant and the causal relationship between gastroenteritis of etiologically unspecified origin and drinking tap water from specific water source. Salmonella enteritidis may have entered into the restaurant through tap water.

The Pigeon Needs a Bath! by Mo Willems (review)

Reviewed by: The Pigeon Needs a Bath! by Mo Willems Karen Coats Willems, Mo. The Pigeon Needs a Bath!; written and illus. by Mo Willems. Hyperion, 2014. 34p. ISBN 978-1-4231-9087-5 $16.99 R 4-7 yrs. Throughout all of his previous adventures, the Pigeon has shown a remarkable ability to keep his blue feathers pristine and unsullied. Not so here: the Pigeon appears on the cover smudged with dark brown stains of an unspecified origin (now there’s a pre-reading question in the making—how did our friend get so dirty?—a question answered in the endpapers, of course). The bus driver, wearing Knuffle Bunny slippers and obviously prepped for a bath of his own, solicits the help of the audience to convince the reluctant pigeon to bathe, and it’s game on. Deploying his formidable skills of argumentation, the pigeon offers up a number of reasons why he should not have to take a bath, but when even the flies buzzing around him are put off by his stench, he gives in. After getting the water juuuuuust right (oh, those endless delaying tactics all too familiar to the parent of the bath-averse!), he realizes that he loves taking a bath, especially when his friend, the duckling, stays close by. The comic pleasures of hyperbole abound here as they have in previous [End Page 547] Pigeon plots; the bird’s rhetorical inventiveness seems to know no limit (in fact, the vocabulary here is somewhat more advanced than in previous Pigeon titles). The familiar creamy-smooth backgrounds impart a simple reinforcement of the dirt motif by being more earthy than usual, while the smears of dirt on our hero have a textured, uneven quality that unerringly evokes a more visceral, lip-curling eeeuw; close viewers will surely find a favorite panel. If only it came in a waterproof edition … Copyright © 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Contributions of phonological awareness, phonological short-term memory, and rapid automated naming, toward decoding ability in students with mild intellectual disability

Reading decoding ability is a fundamental skill to acquire word-specific orthographic information necessary for skilled reading. Decoding ability and its underlying phonological processing skills have been heavily investigated typically among developing students. However, the issue has rarely been noticed among students with intellectual disability who commonly suffer from reading decoding problems. This study is aimed at determining the contributions of phonological awareness, phonological short-term memory, and rapid automated naming, as three well known phonological processing skills, to decoding ability among 60 participants with mild intellectual disability of unspecified origin ranging from 15 to 23 years old. The results of the correlation analysis revealed that all three aspects of phonological processing are significantly correlated with decoding ability. Furthermore, a series of hierarchical regression analysis indicated that after controlling the effect of IQ, phonological awareness, and rapid automated naming are two distinct sources of decoding ability, but phonological short-term memory significantly contributes to decoding ability under the realm of phonological awareness.

Monosynaptic inputs to new neurons in the dentate gyrus

Adult hippocampal neurogenesis is considered important for cognition. The integration of newborn dentate gyrus granule cells into the existing network is regulated by afferent neuronal activity of unspecified origin. Here we combine rabies virus-mediated retrograde tracing with retroviral labelling of new granule cells (21, 30, 60, 90 days after injection) to selectively identify and quantify their monosynaptic inputs in vivo. Our results show that newborn granule cells receive afferents from intra-hippocampal cells (interneurons, mossy cells, area CA3 and transiently, mature granule cells) and septal cholinergic cells. Input from distal cortex (perirhinal (PRH) and lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC)) is sparse 21 days after injection and increases over time. Patch-clamp recordings support innervation by the LEC rather than from the medial entorhinal cortex. Mice with excitotoxic PRH/LEC lesions exhibit deficits in pattern separation but not in water maze learning. Thus, PRH/LEC input is an important functional component of new dentate gyrus neuron circuitry.

DNA Extraction Columns Contaminated with Murine Sequences

Sequences of the novel gammaretrovirus, xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) have been described in human prostate cancer tissue, although the amounts of DNA are low. Furthermore, XMRV sequences and polytropic (p) murine leukemia viruses (MLVs) have been reported in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). In assessing the prevalence of XMRV in prostate cancer tissue samples we discovered that eluates from naïve DNA purification columns, when subjected to PCR with primers designed to detect genomic mouse DNA contamination, occasionally gave rise to amplification products. Further PCR analysis, using primers to detect XMRV, revealed sequences derived from XMRV and pMLVs from mouse and human DNA and DNA of unspecified origin. Thus, DNA purification columns can present problems when used to detect minute amounts of DNA targets by highly sensitive amplification techniques.

Third annual forum on T-cell lymphoma

The Third Annual T-cell Lymphoma Forum, held on 27–29 January 2011 in San Francisco (CA, USA), continued in the spirit of the two earlier conferences and provided a collegial venue for clinicians and scientists to discuss advances in the science and treatment of T-cell lymphomas. More than 40 experts from around the world presented updates on classification, epidemiology and prognosis; rare and T-cell lymphomas of unspecified origin, CD30+ T-cell lymphomas; new treatment strategies; new agents and rational combinations; and transplantation. Of particular interest this year was a discussion on the link between breast implants and anaplastic large-cell lymphoma, which coincided with the US FDA announcement of this rare but noteworthy relationship. Submitted abstracts and poster presentations rounded off each of the sessions.

Geochemical features of fossil fuel contaminants found in urban wastes (Siemianowice Śląskie, Poland)

Geochemical features of fossil fuel contaminants found in urban wastes (Siemianowice Śląskie, Poland)In sludge samples collected in the "Centrum" wastewater treatment plant in Siemianowice Śląskie, Poland, the composition of aliphatic- and aromatic hydrocarbons and polar compound fractions were investigated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Samples collected in accordance with Polish standards were extracted, the extracts were separated into fractions with preparative thin layer chromatography (TLC), which next were investigated by GC-MS. The following compound groups of the geochemical origin were identified:n-alkanes in the range ofn-C14ton-C.39, acyclic isoprenoids (mainly pristane and phytane), steranes, tri- and pentacyclic triterpanes. Based on the distribution of biomarkers and their parameters, it was established that the dominant component of extractable organic matter in sluge is petroleum material of an unspecified origin. Its geochemical features indicate that its most likely source was crude oil (or its products) of a relatively high degree of thermal maturity (catagenic stage of thermal evolution corresponding to vitrinite reflectance 0.7-0.8%). Aromatic hydrocarbons probably originated from petroleum also, though some of them can be attributed to the products of combustion or to sources such as bituminous coals, the ash from coal/biofuel combustion or coal wastes stored nearby.

Thyroid non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma expression pattern of nuclear retinoid and rexinoid receptor subtypes

Correspondence to: Julius Brtko, Laboratory of Molecular Endocrinology, Institute of Experimental Endocrinology, Centre of Excellence Acknowledged by the European Commission, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Vlarska 3, 833 06 Bratislava, Slovakia E-mail: julius.brtko@savba.sk Thyroid non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (TNHL) is an uncommon tumour, representing 2–8% of thyroid malignancies and approximately 1–2% of extranodal lymphomas. TNHL is a relative rare, and it occurs most frequently in elderly women and has been linked to Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. The female preponderance is due to its origin from chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis, which tends to occur in elderly women (Evans et al. 1995; Harrington et al. 2005). A number of controversies exist regarding the roles of surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy in the management of this disease (Ha et al. 2001). Surgery occupied a pre-eminent place in management of TNHL, in recent years, the appreciation that TNHL is sensitive to radiotherapy and chemotherapy has resulted in a move towards limited number of surgical interventions (Harrington et al. 2005). Retinoids, rexinoids and their biologically active derivatives are involved in a complex arrangement of physiological and developmental responses in many tissues of higher vertebrates. Both retinoids and rexinoids are either natural or synthetic compounds related to retinoic acids that act through interaction with two basic types of nuclear receptors belonging to the nuclear receptor superfamily: all-trans retinoic acid receptors, known as nuclear retinoid receptors (RARα, RARβ, and RARγ) and retinoid X receptors (RXRα, RXRβ and RXRγ) play a crucial role in both physiological and pathophysiological conditions as retinoid-inducible transcription factors (Brtko et al. 2009). Retinoids inhibit carcinogenesis, suppress premalignant epithelial lesions and tumour growth and invasion in a variety of tissues. Natural and synthetic retinoids exert important biological effects due to their antiproliferative and apoptosis-inducing effects. They are also known to cause redifferentiation or to prevent further dedifferentiation of various tumour tissues (Brtko and Thalhamer 2003; Brtko 2007). Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), characterized by its distinctive FAB-M3 morphology and its association with a bleeding coagulopathy, is known to be associated with at least four types of non-random reciprocal chromosomal translocation, but always involving the retinoic acid receptor α gene (RARα) on chromosome 17. The majority of APL patients with the promyelocytic gene-RARα fusion 21 and the rare cases of the nucleophosmin gene-RARα fusion 22 respond to retinoic acid-induced differentiation therapy; however, APL patients with the promyelocytic leukemia zinc finger gene-RARα fusion are unresponsive (So et al. 2000). Here, we report the case of a 67-year-old woman in Slovakia who was admited to the Saint Elizabeth Institute of Oncology in Bratislava with a neck stiffness. Magnetic resonance demonstrated thyroid neoplasia with the size of 52 × 63 × 90 mm. The pathological examination after surgery confirmed TNHL of unspecified origin. The patient after tyreoidectomy underwent radiation therapy with the total dose of 60.0 Gy. TNHL tissue from this patient has been analyzed in order to get information about expression of all known subtypes of nuclear retinoid and nuclear retinoid X receptors mediating the effects of retinoic acids at the nuclear/cellular level. Determination of mRNA levels encoding all isoforms of nuclear retinoid receptors (RARα, RARβ, RARγ) and nuclear retinoid X receptors (RXRα, RXRβ, RXRγ) has been performed by the reverse transcription and subsequent PCR analyses by previously established protocols in this laboratory (Szabova et al. 2003). The band intensities were measured using the STS 6220I Documentation System (Ultralum, USA) and normalized to the band intensity of PCR product corresponding to the house keeper gene GAPDH (Fig. 1). As shown in Fig. 1, the TNHL tissue excised from the patient thyroid expressed all isoforms of RARs or RXRs. Gen. Physiol. Biophys. (2010), 29, 411–413

Combining Stated and Revealed Preferences on Typical Food Products: The Case of Dry‐Cured Ham in Spain

AbstractAn extensive body of research concerns the valuation of EU certification schemes of quality based on the origin of food products. This literature focuses mainly on stated preferences (SPs) and reported behaviours by the consumers. We combine consumers’ SPs, obtained through a conjoint ranking experiment, with revealed preferences (RP), obtained through a retail scanner database. We evaluate SPs as predictors of RP, and investigate whether SPs and RPs are consistent. Dry‐cured ham in Spain is chosen as the anchor product, mainly because of its broad customer base and long history of origin certification. A ‘trick’ nested logit model with non‐identical and identical samples of consumers is estimated to answer each of the objectives. Results show that, irrespective of the analysed samples, SP can predict general market trends and choices but not accurately predict market shares, and that consumers’ actual behaviour is partly consistent with their SPs. We find that consumers prefer ham produced in Teruel, compared with unspecified Spanish origin. Quality Certification and a Distributor’s Brand are preferred over the alternatives of no quality label or identified with a brand owned by the producer. Interestingly, SPs for the Quality Certification and the distributor’s brand lead to an over‐ and under‐estimation, respectively, of the market share.