Abstract. Dermal and epidermal laminar lesions were correlated with acute intestinal, primary hepatic, septicemic, chronic laminar, and acute laminar diseases. Horses with acute intestinal disease had edema in the secondary dermal laminae. Those with hepatic disease had increased keratinization of the secondary epidermal laminae. Septicemia caused increased keratin formation in the primary and secondary epidermal laminae. Chronic laminitis caused architectural changes of the epidermal laminae characterized by hyperplasia and keratin formation of the basal epidermal layer. Horses with acute laminitis had epidermal necrosis, especially with peracute laminitis. Various insults to the epidermal laminae led to epithelial hyperplasia of the secondary epidermis with ventral deviation of the third phalanx.T h e literature o n equine laminitis contains different opinions on the pathogenesis of the hoof lesions. Most reports concern hemodynamic changes in the acutely diseased hooc both vasodilation [ 11, 121 a n d vasoconstriction with reduced blood flow to the hoof [3,6, 81 have been described. Permanent reduction of blood flow has been reported in chronic laminitis [ 11. Edema of the coronary band in the acute phase has been reported [3, 111. A detailed description of laminitis [lo] suggests that changes of the dermis are secondary to deformation of the epidermal lamina. T h e basic defect in acute laminitis was reported to be a disturbance of keratinization, producing a decrease in keratohyaline [9].W e evaluate the dermal and epidermal hoof components of horses that died from various diseases. Knowledge of dermal and epidermal response to various influences is essential for further laminitis studies. Materials and MethodsThis study is based on necropsies of 55 horses. The right front hoof was disarticulated at the fetlock and sectioned with a band saw. The 2-cm frontal-midline section included the entire hoof structure-dermis, epidermis and third phalanx. Three sections of the hoof dermis and epidermis were examined, beginning at the ventral epidermis. Three successive sections, from ventral to dorsal, were collected. All tissues were futed in 12% buffered formalin and processed 656

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of transdermal estradiol replacement therapy (HRT) on immune function in menopausal women. Study Design: A prospective comparative study was carried out in 30 women, aged 48–55 years, who were divided into two groups; 20 of them received transdermal estradiol 50 µg/day during 3 months and 10 who refused to receive HRT served as controls. Serum interleukins were quantified by specific immunoenzymatic assays; in addition, hormones of somatotropin axis and prolactin (PRL) were quantified by IRMA and RIA. Results: Baseline elevated interleukin (IL)-6 levels decreased significantly (p < 0.001) after transdermal HRT as compared with the nontreated group. Contrarily, IL-2 and IL-10 levels as well as mitogenic induced T-cell proliferation were unchanged under HRT. Insulin-like growth factor-I, growth hormone and PRL levels were unaltered by transdermal HRT. Conclusion: Decrement of IL-6 in parallel with absent effect on some indices of immune activity suggests a beneficial action of transdermal HRT. These findings contrast with those demonstrating an increment of immune response in women taking oral HRT. Thus, the route of administra tion determines the effect of HRT on immune function.

The homeobox (HOX) genes are a family of transcription factors that bind to specific DNA sequences in target genes regulating gene expression. Thirty-nine HOX genes have been mapped in four conserved clusters: A, B, C, and D; they act as master genes regulating the identity of body segments along the anteroposterior axis of the embryo. The role played by HOX genes in adult cell differentiation is unclear to date, but growing evidence suggests that they may play an important role in the development of cancer. To study the role played by HOX genes in cervical cancer, in the present work, we analyzed the expression of HOXB genes and the localization of their transcripts in human cervical tissues. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis and nonradioactive RNA in situ hybridization were used to detect HOXB expression in 11 normal cervical tissues and 17 cervical carcinomas. It was determined that HOXB1, B3, B5, B6, B7, B8, and B9 genes are expressed in normal adult cervical epithelium and squamous cervical carcinomas. Interestingly, HOXB2, HOXB4, and HOXB13 gene expression was found only in tumor tissues. Our findings suggest that the new expression of HOXB2, HOXB4, and B13 genes is involved in cervical cancer.

A significant proportion of acromegalic patients change biochemical status upon long-term follow-up after surgery. Most of these changes occur within the first postoperative year and are more likely to take place if the initial GH postglucose and IGF-1 levels are discordant.