Ototoxicity from cisplatin therapy in childhood cancer

Cisplatin has been associated with hearing damage. It is usually irreversible, bilateral, and characterized by high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss. This study was carried out to identify impairment of hearing function in children and adolescents with cancer after cisplatin therapy. Twenty-three survivors of childhood cancer treated with cisplatin at our Unit from 1991 to 2004 performed tympanometry, pure tone audiometry, transient otoacoustic emissions, and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE). The median age at diagnosis was 12.3 years and the median total dose of cisplatin received was 406 mg/m2. Fifty-two percent of patients had bilateral and in the high frequencies range hearing loss on audiometry. Transient otoacoustic emission and DPOAE abnormalities were detected in 22% and in 71% of the patients, respectively. We found a high concordance between the findings of audiometry and DPOAE (P=0.01). There was no influence of sex and number of ototoxic drugs other than cisplatin on hearing loss. There was a trend for younger age and higher cumulative dose of cisplatin to be associated with greater severity of hearing damage. Our data provide further evidence on hearing damage due to cisplatin therapy in children. The high incidence of patients with hearing function abnormalities found in this study and in previous reports highlights the importance of monitoring hearing function in children and adolescents undergoing cisplatin therapy, or as early as possible at follow-up. This study also demonstrates that DPOAE should be used for screening of hearing abnormalities and, once hearing damage is identified, patients require expert audiologic pediatric evaluation and (where indicated) use of hearing aids and/or speech therapy.     

银杏叶中双黄酮成分的提取分离及其HPLC法测定

研究了银杏叶中所含3种双黄酮成分:银杏双黄酮、异银杏双黄酮及7-去甲基银杏双黄酮的提取、分离、纯化及用HPLC法测定生药中3种成分含量。     

Cranial irradiation in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (author's transl)]

Recent literature is reviewed an 48 personal cases of cranial irradiation in treating acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in infancy are reported.     

Balanced translocation, impaired sperm motility, and offspring anomaly

An infant with multiple physical abnormalities, failure to thrive, and mental deficiency, all probably due to a 22/11 chromosomal translocation is described, and the implications of inducing pregnancies in childless couples are discussed.     

MR imaging in thyroid disorders: correlation of signal intensity with Graves disease activity

Thirty-six patients with a variety of thyroid disorders and eight healthy subjects were studied with T1- and T2-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. Solid benign nodules, malignant tumors, and inflammatory conditions were not distinguishable by thyroidal MR signal intensity, but almost all patients with Graves disease had a moderate to marked diffuse increase in signal intensity at both settings. Quantitative evaluation showed that in these patients, the thyroid-muscle signal intensity contrast ratio was linearly related to both the serum thyroxine (T4) level and the 24-hour radioactive iodine uptake. In three patients treated with iodine 131, this contrast ratio rose or fell in parallel with the serum T4 level and 24-hour radioactive iodine uptake. Either parenchymal changes or increased vascularity in Graves disease, or both, could produce these findings. In patients without Graves disease, signal intensity was not correlated with serum T4 levels. These findings suggest that MR signal intensity may reflect the activity of the stimulatory process in Graves disease and may therefore be a useful measure of thyroid function in this disorder, with both diagnostic and prognostic value.     

石斛类叶鞘的显微鉴定研究

商品石斛的植物来源复杂,规格繁多,外形鉴定较困难。为了准确鉴定石斛的品种,对常作为药用的16种石斛属(Dendrobium Sw)植物的叶鞘进行了显微观察,发现其表皮细胞的形状,大小,所含草酸钙结晶的形状、大小、分布等种间区别较明显,可作为鉴别石斛种类的科学依据之一。本文对金钗石斛D.nobile Lindl。等16种石斛的叶鞘表面特征加以描述,并附主要特征图和检索表。     

Radioimmunoimaging of venous thrombi using iodine-131 monoclonal antibody

Murine monoclonal antibody (Mab) specific for the NH2-terminal region of human fibrin, but not cross-reactive with fibrinogen, was used in radioimmuno-imaging of fresh, induced venous thrombi in three dogs. Iodine-131-labeled Mab was injected intravenously, with iodine 125-labeled polyclonal murine gamma-G globulin (IgG) simultaneously injected as a control. Images were strongly positive at 24 and 48 hours in all three animals, with thrombus-to-blood and thrombus-to-muscle ratios of 8.4 and 228.0, respectively, for I-131-labeled Mab; these ratios for control IgG were 1.2 and 13.0. Radioimmunodetection of thrombi in vivo is feasible in dogs and may have clinical application since Mab is specific to human fibrin.