Gold: an old drug still working in refractory pemphigus

BACKGROUND: The mainstay of treatment for pemphigus is systemic corticosteroids. Different adjuvants have been used to reduce side-effects of long-term corticotherapy. Gold is an anti-inflammatory drug used in autoimmune diseases, whose use has waned with the advent of new immunosuppressive agents. OBJECTIVE: To study the outcome of the use of intramuscular gold treatment of pemphigus vulgaris refractory to previous therapies. METHODS: Thirteen patients with pemphigus vulgaris who had failed to respond to several prior therapies were treated with aurothiomalate, as a steroid-sparing agent. Patients were monitored to assess disease activity and gold toxicity. RESULTS: Seven patients achieved complete remission. Four patients were able to taper prednisone doses, although pemphigus flared when prednisone was discontinued or reduced. Toxicity was observed in the other two patients. CONCLUSIONS: In 53.4% of the patients, the use of chrysotherapy resulted in the complete clearing of the disease, discontinuation of all systemic therapies and induced a long-term clinical remission. Prednisone doses were able to be reduced in the remaining 46.6%. Any side-effects were reversible with drug discontinuation. Gold therapy showed efficacy as a secondary line treatment in refractory pemphigus vulgaris.     

Folic acid in the treatment of acute watery diarrhoea in children: a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial

One-hundred and six male children aged 6-23 months with a history of acute watery diarrhoea of less than 72 h duration were randomized to receive either folic acid in a dose of 5 mg at 8-h intervals or placebo for 5 d. There were 54 children in the folic acid group and 52 in the placebo group. The admission characteristics were comparable between the two groups. No significant differences were observed in the intake of oral rehydration solution or stool output between the groups. The mean ± SD of total stool output (g kg⁻¹) was 532 ± 476 vs 479 ± 354 and the duration (h) of diarrhoea was 108 ± 68 vs 103 ± 53 in the folic acid vs placebo group, respectively. The findings, therefore, should have a positive influence on preventing the inappropriate use of folic acid in acute diarrhoea.     

Progression and regression of cervical lesions: Review of smears from women followed without initial biopsy or treatment

Cervical smears were reviewed from patients in whom a cytological abnormality was followed, after an interval without interference, either by regression to `negative' or else by progression to invasive carcinoma. Twenty-eight cases were from a previously analysed series with positive smears and an interval of at least two years before investigation, resulting from refusal or failure to trace. Slides were also reviewed from 25 cases in which `positive' smears had regressed to negative without escaping from surveillance, and from 10 patients subsequently developing invasive carcinoma whose previous slides, taken several years earlier, showed abnormalities on review. None of these 63 patients had any biopsy or other surgical procedure to the cervix between the initial smear and the outcome.

Slides showing `superficial cell dyskaryosis' and/or well-differentiated `parabasal cell dyskaryosis' were found only among the groups with subsequent regression. Those showing dissociated poorly differentiated dyskaryotic parabasal cells regressed to negative in two cases and progressed to invasion in nine. This suggests that many examples of spontaneous regression correspond to mild dysplasias which are not precancerous, and overdiagnosis must often have resulted in unnecessary surgical procedures in the past.

`Regressing' and `progressing' groups both included cases in which the spatula had removed coherent pieces of undifferentiated epithelium. These are difficult to interpret cytologically. In nine of them (including four which regressed) the cytological picture was that of carcinoma in situ. The remainder (14 cases) were probably examples of reserve cell hyperplasia, and it is noteworthy that, of the 21 cases subsequently progressing to invasive carcinoma, five were preceded by appearances of this type. It is concluded that cell aggregates suggesting an unusual degree of reserve cell hyperplasia are a danger signal and require careful surveillance.

     

Formaldehyde in cryoprotectant propanediol and effect on mouse zygotes

Cryopreservation of human zygotes and embryos has been routinely performed by in-vitro fertilization clinics for many years. Karran and Legge (1996) first reported that formaldehyde (FA) present in the cryoprotective solutions can have a deleterious effect on mouse oocytes. FA is a cytotoxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic chemical. The effect of FA on mouse zygotes was investigated. In addition, the concentrations of FA in propanediol (PROH) obtained from various sources were determined. Pooled 1-cell embryos were dispensed into droplets of modified Ham's F10 or human tubal fluid containing various concentrations of FA. Since bovine serum albumin (BSA) may minimize toxicity additional trials were done as above in the absence of BSA. FA concentration in the standard 1.5 M PROH, from different sources in water, was measured in the same assay using a standard curve of 0-100 microM FA. FA in a complex medium had a significant deleterious effect on embryo development and hatching but only at 1 mM concentration (P < 0.000001; see Tables I-III). There was no significant effect of FA at 100 microM. However, in a simple medium even 50 microM FA decreased embryo hatching. FA was present in 1.5 M PROH from different sources (range 1.0-35.3 microM concentration). It appears that FA concentrations do not increase with storage because FA concentrations were low even after opening and storage for 3 years on the shelf. This suggests that FA is a contaminant during the manufacturing process and may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and batch to batch. Until further studies are done to confirm the lack of toxicity to embryos during cryopreservation (with or without FA scavengers) it may be prudent to screen all batches of cryoprotectants for FA as part of quality control.      

Comparison of efficacy and safety of daily oral L-arginine and PDE5Is alone or combination in treating erectile dysfunction: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

The meta-analysis was performed to assess the efficacy and safety of daily oral L-arginine and phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE5Is) alone or combination in treating patients with erectile dysfunction (ED). We performed a search of randomised controlled trials in the following databases: PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane Library databases. Four articles including 373 patients were studied. Erectile functions were significantly improved in three therapy groups compared with baseline. Patients who received the combination of L-arginine and PDE5Is showed significant improvement compared to those treated with L-arginine and PDE5Is alone, as assessed by sexual function index (p <0.00001 and p =0.005, respectively) and total testosterone (p <0.00001 and p =0.0007, respectively). Furthermore, patients who treated with PDE5Is alone exhibited the better efficacy than those treated with L-arginine alone in respects of sexual function index (p <0.00001) and total testosterone (p =0.0001). However, the combination of L-arginine and PDE5Is had no obvious difference relative to PDE5Is alone in terms of various adverse events (AEs). Conclusively, compared with monotherapy, the combination of L-arginine and PDE5Is showed a greater improvement of sexual function and total testosterone, and did not significantly increase the AEs. Besides, PDE5Is alone revealed a better effect than those treated with L-arginine alone for patients with ED.     

The introduction of treatment and the cultural adaptability of western psychotherapies for eating disorders in China

In the past 40 years, the prevalence of eating disorders (ED) in China has shown an increasing trend, leading to an urgent need to develop efficient treatment modes and methods. Since the beginning of the new century, the diagnosis, treatment, and research of ED in China have been under development. This article gives an introduction and commentary on the treatment modes, treatment methods and their applications in ED in China. There are two main treatment forms for ED until now, that is, inpatient treatment and outpatient treatment. Inpatient treatment is recommended as the first choice. Since 2008, clinical psychotherapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), and family-based treatment (FBT), which are effective for pathological symptoms of ED, have been introduced into China and developed clinically. Group CBT and group DBT for patients with ED and group FBT for caregivers might be the most efficient psychotherapy in China nowadays. A multi-family FBT support group could be developed as the basic treatment of ED patients. Although these new types of psychotherapy have observed effectiveness in clinical application, the Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT) are rare and need to be developed.     

Mesalazine-induced apoptosis of colorectal cancer: on the verge of a new chemopreventive era?

BACKGROUND: It is an accepted fact that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are potent inhibitors of colorectal carcinogenesis. However, the major disadvantages of NSAIDs are gastrointestinal and renal toxicity. We conducted a prospective pilot study on the effects of the safe salicylic acid derivative, mesalazine, on apoptosis and proliferation of tumour cells and on normal tissue in colorectal cancer patients. METHODS: Patients with colorectal cancer were asked to take mesalazine enemas for 14 days. Biopsies from malignant and normal tissue were taken prior to and after this treatment. Apoptosis was scored on haematoxylin/eosin-stained tissue sections, and cell proliferation was assessed by the proliferation marker Ki-67. RESULTS: Ten out of 14 patients completed the study. The apoptotic score increased significantly in the tumour samples (pre-treatment 14.6 +/- 1.3 vs. post-treatment 19.4 +/- 0.8; P < 0.03). The apoptotic index in the normal mucosa was unchanged (pre-treatment 3.1 +/- 0.4 vs. post-treatment 2.9 +/- 0.3; N.S.). The cell proliferation in malignant tissue, according to the Ki-67 score, was hardly affected by mesalazine (pre-treatment 522 +/- 38 vs. post-treatment 493 +/- 39; N.S.). There was no effect on the Ki-67 index of normal mucosa (pre-treatment 24.2 +/- 2.0 vs. post-treatment 28.3 +/- 2.0; N.S.). CONCLUSIONS: This pilot study conducted in patients with colorectal cancer clearly shows that mesalazine selectively induces apoptosis of tumour cells. On the basis of these findings, which need to be confirmed in larger studies, it may be speculated that 5-ASA could be useful in the chemoprevention of colorectal cancer.