"Z"型及网状食管支架置入后的病理学比较研究

目的探讨Z型及网状支架置入实验犬食管后局部的形态学变化特点.方法选择成年健康实验犬,均分为Z型组和网状组,采取自体阔筋膜移植固定法置入Z型或网状食管支架,分别于术后1,2,4,8 wk分批处死每组动物,取出置架部位的食管组织,进行大体、光镜、电镜分析,并比较两组的差异.结果自体阔筋膜移植固定法能有效地固定食管支架.支架术后1,2 wk局部食管粘膜炎症反应显著,成纤维细胞处于旺盛的增殖及分泌状态,有广泛肉芽组织形成及部分纤维化,食管组织开始向管腔内生长;术后4,8 wk增生组织已完全覆盖支架结构,并连接成片,管腔明显狭窄,局部大量的纤维结缔组织形成,炎症反应缓解.两组实验标本病理形态基本相似,仅"网状"组于术后1,2 wk炎症反应明显,粘膜广泛出现溃疡.结论支架术后食管组织主要表现为肉芽组织形成及纤维化,术后4,8 wk随着炎性反应的减弱,纤维化过程渐趋稳定.网状及Z型支架术后的病理过程基本一致,网状支架术后局部炎性反应显著加重.     

The war on "anti-aging medicine"

Leading members of the gerontological community have recently launched a war on anti-aging medicine, seeking to discredit what they judge to be fraudulent and harmful products and therapies, and to distinguish their research from what they regard as the pseudoscience of the anti-aging movement. This article interprets the contemporary war on anti-aging medicine as largely an attempt by established gerontological researchers to preserve their hard-won scientific and political legitimacy, as well as to maintain and enhance funding for research on the basic biological mechanisms of aging. First, it recounts the difficult struggle of U.S. biogerontologists to join the scientific mainstream in terms of legitimization and public funding. Second, it examines how elements of a contemporary anti-aging movement seem to threaten the hard-won public legitimacy of established gerontological researchers and practitioners. Third, it looks at the "boundary work" responses of the gerontological community to the anti-aging movement. Finally, it assesses the consequences of the war on anti-aging medicine to date.     

A note on the "Brody-effect"

The effect of a perfectly conducting sphere simulating the intracavitary blood mass on a dipole source located at the interface with the outer tissue (myocardium) is studied, utilizing image theory. The resulting enhancement factor is found to be a function of the field point location and is not a constant, as previously reported by Brody and by Rush and Nelson.     

Perspectives on "chronic Lyme disease"

There is much controversy about the treatment of Lyme disease with respect to 2 poorly defined entities: “chronic Lyme disease” and “posttreatment Lyme disease syndrome.” In the absence of direct evidence that these conditions are the result of a persistent infection, some mistakenly advocate extended antibiotic therapy (≥6 months), which can do great harm and has resulted in at least 1 death. The purpose of this brief report is to review what is known from clinical research about these conditions to assist both practicing physicians and lawmakers in making sound and safe decisions with respect to treatment.     

"Turning on" other persons to drugs

Data obtained in a recent national survey are examined to test two hypotheses about drug transmission. The hypothesis that transmission of drug use to others is most likely to occur within a short period of time after initial use is supported. For each drug or drug class, at least one-half of the users who transmitted drug use to others did so within a span of 2 years after they began to use the drug. One-fourth of the marijuana users "turned on" others. Marijuana users are more likely to transmit their drug use than are users of other illicit drugs, but most drug users never "turn on" others. The hypothesis that drug transmission occurs only within a short period of time after onset of use is rejected. Among marijuana users who "turned on" others, 29% of them did so 5 or more years after they first used marijuana.     

"T"-ing off on nasopharynx cancer

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is the most frequent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated malignancy worldwide. In this issue, Straathof and colleagues take aim at EBV-associated NPC showing that adoptive immunotherapy with EBV-specific T cells expanded in vitro can be successfully administered to NPC patients and is associated with potential therapeutic efficacy.