This is the first investigation showing positive effects of a multimodal exercise program on CIPN, balance and strength on mCRC patients in a palliative setting, thereby consequently increasing patients` quality of life. The results support earlier findings stating a positive influence of balance exercise on CIPN.

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was performed on sections of plastic-embedded tissue using 16S rRNA-directed oligonucleotide probes to visualize uncultured treponemes in skin biopsies of cows with digital dermatitis. Plastic as embedding material allowed sectioning of hard and soft tissue with a defined thickness, avoiding the risk of dragging bacteria into the tissue while sectioning. Furthermore, it provided a good signal-to-noise ratio. Using this method the spatial distribution of three different bacterial phylotypes was visualized simultaneously within the tissue. Whereas debris covering the ulcers contained a mixture of different micro-organisms, a layering of certain treponemal phylotypes was observed deeper in the epidermis. Confocal laser scanning microscopy and subsequent three-dimensional reconstruction of series of optical sections confirmed that the treponemes migrated intercellularly around the cells, most of them directed towards the dermis. In situ hybridization on tissue embedded in plastic proved to be a useful method to study mixed bacterial infections since it combines excellent histological conservation of tissue with identification of bacterial species by simultaneous use of probes labelled with different fluorescent dyes. This technique may have implications for in situ detection, identification and localization of microorganisms in veterinary as well as in human medicine.

B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) is a heterogenous disease with a highly variable clinical course. Recent studies have shown that CD38 surface expression on the malignant cell clone may serve as a prognostic marker in that CD38 ؉ patients with B-CLL are characterized by advanced disease stage, lesser responsiveness to chemotherapy, and shorter survival than CD38 ؊ patients. To further investigate the molecular phenotype of these 2 clinical subgroups, we compared the gene expression profiles of CD38 ؉ (n ‫؍‬ 25) with CD38 ؊ (n ‫؍‬ 45) B-CLL patients using oligonucleotide-based DNA chip microarrays representative of approximately 5600 genes. The results showed that B-CLLs display a common gene expression profile that is largely independent of CD38 expression. Nonetheless, the expression of 14 genes differed significantly between the 2 groups, including genes that are involved in the regulation of cell survival. Furthermore, unsupervised hierarchical cluster analysis of 76 B-CLL samples led to the separation of 2 major subgroups, comprising 20 and 56 patients. Clustering to the smaller group was due in part to the coordinate high expression of a large number of ribosomal and other translation-associated genes, including elongation factors. Importantly, we found that patients with high expression of translation factors were characterized by a more favorable clinical course with significantly longer progression-free survival and reduced chemotherapy requirements than the remaining patients (P < .05). Our data show that gene expression profiling can help identify B-CLL subtypes with different clinical characteristics. Furthermore, our results suggest a role of translationassociated genes in the pathogenesis of

Sixty female dogs with untreated mammary carcinoma, comprising equal numbers of dogs in tumour stages I to IV, were evaluated for haemostatic abnormalities using the following tests: platelet count, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, thrombin time, plasma activity of factor V, VIII and X, plasma concentration of fibrinogen, fibrin monomers and fibrinogen degradation products, and plasma antithrombin III activity. Two-thirds of all dogs had one or more haemostatic test abnormality of which the likelihood and frequency was increased in those with stage III and IV neoplasia. Haemostatic abnormalities were more frequently observed in dogs which had mammary tumours with distant metastases, extended tumour necrosis, inflammatory carcinomas, tumours fixed to underlying structures, or tumours in which there was penetration of the tumour capsule by tumour cells. As in humans with mammary carcinoma, these haemostatic abnormalities might be used as prognostic indicators, but their clinical importance remains unknown.