BACKGROUND: 99mTc-labeled Q12 (99mTc-Q12) is a new imaging agent that produces myocardial visualization in humans. This study examined the hypothesis that a 100-minute rest-exercise tomographic imaging protocol after injection of 99mTc-Q12 can be used to detect the presence or absence of coronary artery stenoses. METHODS AND RESULTS: Imaging with 201Tl and 99mTc-Q12 was performed in 20 patients with angiographically documented coronary artery disease and 10 "normal" subjects including two patients with chest pain and normal coronary arteriograms and eight subjects with a very low likelihood of occlusive coronary disease. 99mTc-Q12 was imaged beginning 15 minutes after injection at rest and with exercise. In the 20 patients, a corresponding myocardial defect was detected in blinded fashion in 18 with 201Tl and 17 with 99mTc-Q12 (difference not significant). Of 10 patients without evidence of coronary disease, nine had a normal 201Tl scan and eight had a normal 99mTc-Q12 scan (difference not significant). Agreement of 99mTc-Q12 and 201Tl imaging for detection of regional myocardial perfusion defects was excellent (kappa = 0.88). Identification of the presence or absence of angiographically documented coronary disease in individual coronary artery distributions was 80% and 82% for 201Tl imaging and 73% and 87% for 99mTc-Q12 (difference not significant). CONCLUSION: 99mTc-Q12, used in a rest-exercise sequence that can be completed in 100 minutes, provided identification of regional myocardial perfusion defects similar to that of 201Tl.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Comparison of imaging properties of technetium 99m Q12 and technetium 99m Q3 in humans.

BACKGROUND: This study was a direct comparison of the imaging characteristics of 99mTc-labeled Q12 (99mTc-Q12) and 99mTc-labeled Q3 (99mTc-Q3) in the same patients. METHODS AND RESULTS: In 10 patients with known angiographic coronary artery anatomy, 99mTc-Q12 and 99mTc-Q3 myocardial imaging were performed. Tomographic myocardial imaging was started 15 minutes after tracer injection at rest and with treadmill exercise. Ratios of heart-to-lung and heart-to-liver activity were calculated from the anterior plane projections of the tomograms at 20 minutes after tracer injection. The presence or absence of angiographic coronary artery disease was correctly determined from 99mTc-Q12 images in 10 of 10 patients with 99mTc-Q12 and in 9 of 10 patients with 99mTc-Q3. The presence or absence of a greater than 50% stenosis in an individual coronary vessel was correctly predicted for 26 of 30 vessels with 99mTc-Q12 (87%) and in 27 of 30 vessels with 99mTc-Q3 (90%, p = NS vs 99mTc-Q12). Mean heart-to-lung activity ratio at rest was 1.50 for 99mTc-Q12 and 1.93 for 99mTc-Q3 (p < 0.01). Mean heart-to-liver activity ratio at rest for 99mTc-Q12 was 0.78 versus 0.54 for 99mTc-Q3 (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: In 10 patients with chest pain and angiographically defined coronary anatomy, 99mTc-Q12 and 99mTc-Q3 provided similar detection of coronary artery stenoses. At 20 minutes after tracer injection, heart-to-liver activity ratios were more favorable for 99mTc-Q12 than for 99mTc-Q3, but 99mTc-Q3 resulted in a more favorable ratio of heart-to-lung activity.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Monophyly of endosymbiont containing trypanosomatids: phylogeny versus taxonomy.

To obtain additional information on the phylogenetic relationships within the family Trypanosomatidae (order Kinetoplastida), we have sequenced the small subunit ribosomal RNA genes from the endosymbiont containing species Herpetomonas roitmani TCC080, Herpetomonas sp. TCC263, Crithidia oncopelti ATCC 12982 and a partial large subunit rRNA gene from H. roitmani. The small subunit sequences in the two isolates of Herpetomonas are very similar but not identical, and so are their restriction digest profiles of kinetoplast DNA. The size of minicircles in both isolates is 4.2 kilobases. The inferred ribosomal RNA phylogenetic trees shows the genera Herpetomonas and Crithidia as polyphyletic. Endosymbiont-bearing herpetomonads cluster with the endosymbiont-bearing crithidias and a blastocrithidia to form a monophyletic clade, whereas the endosymbiont-free members of these genera are found elsewhere in the tree. These data support the hypothesis of a monophyletic origin of endosymbiosis in trypanosomatid evolution and also suggest that a taxonomic revision is needed in order to better describe the natural affinities in this family.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Molecular phylogenetic relatedness of Frenkelia spp. (Protozoa, Apicomplexa) to Sarcocystis falcatula Stiles 1893: is the genus Sarcocystis paraphyletic?

The coccidians Frenkelia microti and F. glareoli (Apicomplexa: Sarcocystidae) form tissue cysts in the brain of small rodents (intermediate hosts) while oocysts are formed in the intestine of final hosts, buzzards of the genus Buteo. The inclusion of the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene sequences (SSU rRNA) of both Frenkelia species into the SSU rRNA trees of other, tissue cyst-forming coccidia strongly supports paraphyly of the genus Sarcocystis. Frenkelia spp. exhibit close relatedness to Sarcocystis falcatula Stiles 1893, a bird-opossum parasite, recognized under its junior synonym S. neurona Dubey et al. 1991, as the causative agent of equine protozoan myeloencephalitis on the American continent. As the definition of the genus Frenkelia is based on a plesiomorphic character (affinity to the neural tissue) of supposedly low phylogenetic value, the synonymization of the genus Frenkelia with Sarcocystis is proposed. This renders the genus Sarcocystis monophyletic.

Animals↗