Glucocorticoid receptors in normal human lymphocytes and human leukemia and lymphoma cells

Glucocorticoids have been used widely in the treatment of leukemia; however, response has been variable. Glucocorticoid receptors have been implicated as the molecular basis of response to this hormonal therapy. Glucocorticoid receptor levels have been found to extend over a wide range in normal human lymphocytes, as well as in various leukemia and lymphoma cells. In several cases, correlations have been made between the concentration of glucocorticoid receptors and patient response to endocrine therapy. Other at tempts have been made to correlate glucocorticoid receptor levels with age, sex, immunological subtype of cell, and hematological classification of leukemia.     

关节炎的生存质量评价

该文阐述关节炎病人评价生存质量的重要性和必要性,生存质量的内涵和内容,生存质量量表的分类和量表选择,介绍评价关节炎常用量表以及评价生存质量应注意的问题,旨在推广和普及在临床中实施生存质量评价。     

Tubulocystic carcinoma, mucinous tubular and spindle cell carcinoma, and other recently described rare renal tumors

In the past 10 years, several new renal tumors have been identified. Some have been reviewed in this article, and others have been reviewed elsewhere in this issue. Most have been included in the 2004 edition of the WHO classification of tumors of the urinary system and male genital organs. Tubulocystic carcinoma needs to be studied and characterized more fully.     

Management of acute coronary syndromes from a gender perspective

Acute Coronary Syndromes are the most frequent manifestations of coronary heart disease (CHD). Gender differences in treatment intensity, including differences in level of care, have been reported. Also differences in benefit from certain treatments, especially invasive treatment, have been discussed. Finally, differences in outcome between men and women have been proposed. Results have been inconsistent, partly depending on if and how adjustment for differences in background characteristics has been made.     

Plant names in homeopathy: an annotated checklist of currently accepted names in common use

The imminent publication of a new checklist of all plant species used in homeopathic medicine is described and discussed. This brief article shows how the nomenclature of all names in the Complete Repertory have been revised and checked against the original publications. In addition, the names used in the French, German and American pharmacopoeias have also been examined. In total, some 801 species and approximately 1,700 names have been checked. In the checklist additional notes on common and vernacular names are provided, misidentified names have been corrected and names peculiar to homeopathy have been brought into line with the modern International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.     

抗菌金属材料的发展现状与研究动态

文章重点介绍了抗菌金属材料的分类及其抗荫机制,综述了抗菌金属材料的发展现状和研究动态,分析了各类抗菌金属材料的工艺特点和应用情况,阐述了中国抗菌金属材料的发展趋势和热点问题,提出了依据中国国情,对国外的研究成果进行消化吸收、降低成本,研制出抗菌时间持久、抗菌性能优良、能够适合大规模生产的抗菌金属材料.     

A comparative evaluation of the growth of Yersinia enterocolitica on elective media

The aim of the work has been to find the optimal selective medium for the isolation of different serological and biochemical variants of Y. enterocolitica. Endo's, Ploskirev's, Lewin's, and bismuth sulfite media have been under study. Hottinger's agar, pH 7.2, has been used for the inoculation dose control. Forty Y. enterocolitica strain isolated from humans and animals have been employed in the study. Thirty-eight strains have been referred to 8 most prevalent serological variants and to 5 biochemical variants. The mean arithmetic values of the number of grown colonies with a 0.95 probability when inoculating 100 cells have been 74 +/- 1.6 in Hottinger's agar, 59 +/- 2 in Endo's medium, 62 +/- 2 in Ploskirev's medium, 50 +/- 1.3 in Lewin's medium, and 62 +/- 0.5 in bismuth sulfite medium. Endo's medium has been found the best. The colonies have been morphologically identical, without signs of dissociation. This medium has virtually yielded the same harvest as the rest media that yielded heterogeneous colonies. The biological characteristics of the strains grown in selective media have been unchanged.     

EXPERIMENTAL EPIDEMIC POLIOMYELITIS IN MONKEYS

The experimental study of poliomyelitis has yielded a large number of important facts relating to the spontaneous disease in man. The nature of the virus has been discovered, many of its properties have been ascertained, some of its immunity effects have been established, the clinical and pathological peculiarities of the disease have been elucidated, and a basis has been secured on which to develop measures of prevention.     

Surface modification and characterization of waste derived carbon particles to reinforce photo-cured shape memory composites

Carbon fillers have been a source of inspiration to accommodate a range of surface chemistries for different applications. In this study different surface chemistries have been compared for shape memory effect on polymeric composites. Sugar industry waste (fly ash) has been utilized to prepare carbon particles named FCB. Surface modification of FCB has been done in two steps, oxidation and thiolation, respectively. In the first step, different reagents have been used to anchor the surface of FCB with oxygenated functionalities. In the second step, oxygenated FCB has been treated with a thiolating agent to covalently link thio groups on its surface. Polymeric composites have been photo cured with both types of particles, separately. A thermal actuation study has been carried out to check the shape recovery behavior of the composites. A quick shape recovery has been observed for thiolated FCB composites, due to thio linkages in the polymeric network. Samples have been characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), attenuated total reflectance (ATR), dynamic light scattering (DLS), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), pH, conductivity, acid content particle dispersion, and composite gel content.

Carbon fillers have been a source of inspiration to accommodate a range of surface chemistries for different applications.     

THE ABSORPTION OF PROTEIN SOLUTIONS FROM THE PULMONARY ALVEOLI

Horse serum, crystallized hemoglobin, and crystallized egg albumin have been injected into the lung alveoli of dogs in which the entrances of the right lymphatics have been tied and the thoracic duct cannulated. Samples of blood and lymph have been taken following this injection. Only after several hours in the case of the horse serum and hemoglobin have these proteins been detected by immunological methods and invariably they have appeared first in the blood. Egg albumin also enters the blood capillaries, but much more rapidly than the other two proteins, due probably to the smaller molecular size.     

Schneller, höher, weiter

In the past months significant new data have been published in the field of headache and migraine. With the publication of the second and revised version of the classification of headache disorders, new entities such as chronic migraine have been introduced. Moreover, the repertoire of drugs available for the treatment of migraine has changed as well. Whereas ergot derivatives have been almost completely taken off the market, seven triptans in 23 different preparations are now available and allow the physician to customize the treatment of acute attacks. CGRP antagonists, a completely new generation of anti-migraine compounds for the treatment of acute attacks, have now been tested successfully in clinical trials. For the prophylaxis of migraine, several agents that had been well established for decades have recently been taken off the market too, but new agents such as topiramate, which possesses different modes of action, have been tested successfully and are now available for the prophylaxis of migraine. The following review will summarize the newest developments in acute therapy and prophylactic treatment of migraine.     

Dying and death, with special reference to brain death. A bibliography

A bibliography of dying and death has been made, with special reference to the brain. It does not claim to be comprehensive. Short references have been omitted unless they contained new information not published elsewhere. When books or papers have been written in other languages, their titles have been translated, and their original languages indicated. It has not always been possible to find the complete page references to these.     

Influenza virosomes as an efficient system for adjuvanted vaccine delivery

Immunopotentiating reconstituted influenza virosomes possess several characteristics defining them as vaccine adjuvants. Virosomes have been shown to provide vaccine components with protection from extracellular degradation; a regular, repetitive antigen structure aiding presentation to B lymphocytes and fully functional, fusion-active, influenza haemagglutinin envelope proteins that enables receptor-mediated uptake and intracellular processing of the antigen. In addition, virosomes, as vaccine delivery systems, have been shown to be safe and not to engender any antibodies against the phospholipid components. Through the use of virosomes as a delivery vehicle, a number of vaccines have been developed. In humans, virosome-based vaccines containing inactivated hepatitis A and influenza antigens have been found to be efficacious and well-tolerated and have been on the market for several years. Hepatitis B, nucleic acids, cytotoxic drugs, and tetanus and diphtheria toxoids have also been incorporated into virosomes. Further investigations are ongoing in order to define the full potential of virosomes in both prophylactic and immunotherapeutic applications.     

Doctors' perceptions of the effects of interventions tested in prospective, randomised, controlled, clinical trials: results of a survey of ICU physicians

OBJECTIVES: To establish a list of therapeutic interventions considered by intensive care unit (ICU) physicians to have been tested by prospective, randomised, controlled clinical trials (RCTs) in critically ill patients, and to survey the perceptions of the same physicians on the therapeutic effect of these interventions as evaluated by RCT. DESIGN AND SETTING: Self-applied questionnaire in an International Symposium of Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, Brussels, Belgium. PARTICIPANTS: All 3250 registrants at the symposium. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: There were 527 questionnaires completed, and 446 were suitable for analysis. Respondents were asked to list the therapeutic interventions used in intensive care medicine which they believed have been shown by RCTs to improve survival. Using a 5-point Likert scale, respondents were then asked to rate their assessment of the effectiveness of each intervention they listed and, using a 3-point scale, to select their level of confidence in those assessments. A total of 512 interventions were identified by the respondents as having been tested by RCT. Analysing the 42 interventions quoted more than 12 times, 31 were believed by the respondents to have been shown to have a beneficial effect, and 11 to have a harmful effect. Many of the interventions noted have not in fact been subjected to RCT. CONCLUSIONS: Many interventions that have not been tested by RCT were believed to have been tested; conversely, some interventions actually tested by RCT were not mentioned. Few interventions used in the ICU have actually been shown by RCT to have a positive effect on outcome.     

Patent review: therapeutic applications for antisense oligonucleotides 1999-2000

Over 200 patents disclosing antisense sequences have been published in the last year. 30 Of these, in which a therapeutic application is claimed, have been reviewed in this article. We have classified these under the headings of antibacterial, antiviral, inflammation, cardiovascular, apoptosis and anticancer. Although not exhaustive or covering all diseases, major areas of antisense research have been addressed.     

THE SEPARATION OF TYPES AMONG THE PNEUMOCOCCI HITHERTO CALLED GROUP IV AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THERAPEUTIC ANTISERUMS FOR THESE TYPES

The pneumococci hitherto known as Group IV have been separated into ten types which have been designated by Roman numerals from IV to XIII. These have been correlated as far as possible with the types described by others. The prevalence and mortality of cases due to each type have been estimated in the limited number of cases studied. Laboratory tests indicated that therapeutic antiserums for Types I, II and III have very little protective power against the recently separated types. Monovalent antiserums of high agglutinative and protective power were prepared in rabbits for each type. Several monovalent antiserums each specific for a type, which are suitable for agglutination and experimental therapeutic use, have been obtained by immunizing horses. An antiserum prepared for one type had very little cross-protective power against other types.     

Long-Term Performance of Endocardial Leads with Steroid-Eluting Electrodes

During a three-year period, 48 steroid-eluting leads (Medtronic* 4003 and 4503] have been implanted in 39 patients. 23 were implanted in the atrium and 25 in the ventricle. 36 patients with 45 leads have been observed for more than 12 months. Stimulation thresholds have been followed using pulse generators with variable output (vario): 12 atrial and 11 ventricular leads, 4 atrial leads and 11 ventricular leads have been followed using pulse generators with variable pulse-width (auto-threshold], P-waves have been followed using telemetry or sensitivity programming (23 atrial leads). R-waves have been followed using telemetry in 11 ventricular leads. Mean stimulation thresholds after 2 years are 0.7 V ± 0.2 in the atrium and 0.8 V ± 0.3 in the ventricle. P-waves after 2 years are of magnitudes allowing a sensitivity setting of 2.5 mV in 12 cases and of 1.5 mV in 2 cases; R-waves have in all cases been high enough to permit lowest programmable sensitivity setting. During the observation time, two patients have died from nonpacing-related causes. The results obtained from this investigation document low stimulation thresholds and good sensing levels in both ventricle and atrium using the steroid-eluting electrode with no significant changes after 6 weeks postimplant.     

Impact of the New York Long-Term Home Health Care Program

The Long-Term Home Health Care Program (LTHHCP), also known as the Nursing Homes Without Walls, is an innovative, comprehensive Medicaid program in New York State that provides nursing home level of care to patients at home. This paper evaluates the performance of the first nine LTHHCP sites over the first 2 years of operation. Across all sites there is clear evidence that the program has been extremely successful in reducing levels of nursing home utilization. In the five upstate sites, considerable cost savings have also been achieved while improving patient survival. In the four New York City sites, patient outcomes have also been favorable, but health care costs for clients have been higher than would have been the case had clients not enrolled in the LTHHCP. Across the entire state, results could have been better if enrollment had been targeted to subsets of the eligible patient groups for whom the LTHHCP is most cost effective.     

超声引导穿刺在普通外科中的应用

目的　探讨高频超声在乳腺隐匿性病灶检出、超声引导穿刺定位切除活检和乳腺囊肿穿刺治疗的应用价值。同时介绍腹腔脓肿与积液的超声引导穿刺引流,超声引导PTCD。方法　1993年至今共检出乳腺隐匿性病灶250处,并在超声引导下作穿刺定位病灶切除术。对30处乳腺囊肿在超声引导下作穿刺治疗。5例腹腔脓肿、积液患者在超声引导下作穿刺引流。4例梗阻性黄疸患者在超声引导下行PTCD。结果　高频超声对乳腺隐匿性肿瘤诊断符合率为90%。同时检出9例隐匿性乳腺癌。5例腹腔脓肿、积液患者4例通过穿刺引流治愈。4例PTCD者3例引流成功。结论　超声为乳腺隐匿性病灶的检出、手术定位和囊肿穿刺治疗提供了有效手段。腹腔积液或脓肿超声下穿刺引流是一有效的非手术治疗,超声为PTCD提供了又一有效的引导方法。