BACKGROUND Autophagy has been found to be involved in animal and cell models of atherosclerosis, but to date, it lacks general observation in human atherosclerotic plaques. Here, we investigated autophagy in smooth muscle cells (SMCs), endothelial cells (ECs), and macrophages in human atherosclerotic plaques via transmission electron microscopy (TEM), western blotting, and immunohistochemistry ...

AIM To investigate in vivo the intermediate cytoskeletal filaments desmin and vimentin in myocardial tissues from patients with dilated cardiomyopathy, and to determine whether alterations in these proteins are associated with impaired contractility. METHODS Endomyocardial biopsies were performed in 12 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and in 12 controls (six women with breast cancer befor...

Blood hormone and tumor marker concentrations are usually determined by immunochemical methods which are based on an unique reaction between antigen and assay capture antibody. Despite the speed and simplicity of assays performance on automatic immunochemistry platforms, the interpretation of final results requires a deep knowledge of method fallibility. General lack of immunoassays standardiza...

Achievement of appropriate precision is a major challenge for the clinical laboratory, particularly in specialized fields such as enzymology and immunochemistry. Especially in immunochemistry, where accuracy can only poorly be checked because of a lack of reference methods and a multitude of detectable epitopes, precision remains an important index of quality. In immunochemical methods there ar...

Immunochemistry has traditionally focused on understanding the molecular basis of antibody binding affinity and specificity. In the last 20 years a major shift has occurred in the field. We are now asking how we can exploit the remarkable properties of the antibody molecule and the immune response in chemistry-from testing basic theories of enzymatic catalysis to the synthesis of new catalysts....

The most cpmmon parameters in the specific protein field, namely the immunoglobulins G, A and M were investigated on the recently developed Immuno Video Nephelometer System (IVNS). This System consists of the nephelometer, a microprocessor controlled program and a monitor screen, where instructions, Standard curve and results are displayed. Scattered light of immuno-complexes is measured at equ...

AIMS AND BACKGROUND To assess the long-term histological, apoptotic and proliferating alterations of the intestinal mucosa of ileal conduits and orthotopic neobladders. METHODS Fifty patients (46 males, 4 females), aged 52-78 years, who underwent urinary diversion with either ileal orthotopic neobladder (group ON, 20 patients) or conduit (group IC, 30 patients) from 2001 to 2005, were include...