Lichen sclerosus (LS) is a chronic benign inflammatory disorder of skin and mucosa which affects patients of all age groups, sex and race, particularly caucasian prepubertal girls and postmenopausal women. The etiology of LS is unknown, but it has been suggested that genetic predisposition to inflammatory disorders, immunological constitutions, hormonal influences and local factors might play a...

BACKGROUND Simultaneous assessment of longitudinal strain (LS) by 2D speckle-tracking echocardiography in all 4 cardiac chambers has not yet been explored. Our goal was to study LS curves obtained simultaneously from all 4 cardiac chambers in healthy subjects to gain insight into interchamber functional relationships. METHODS AND RESULTS We studied 259 healthy subjects (age 44±15; 118 men) in...

An antibody directed against Kit protein was used to investigate the distribution of interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) within the murine colon. The ICC density was greatest in the proximal colon and decreased along its length. The distribution of the different classes of ICC in the aganglionic colons of lethal spotted (ls/ls) mice was found to be similar in age-matched wild-type controls. There...

Ultrasonic transmission is a simple, non-destructive method to characterize turbid systems like e.g. emulsions or polymer dispersion. Here we use this technique for in-line monitoring of the miniemulsion polymerization of styrene. Either the ultrasound attenuation or the velocity signal provides a fingerprint characterizing the reaction process. During the reaction process the sound velocity in...