Impact of cadaveric organ donation on Taiwanese donor families during the first 6 months after donation

OBJECTIVE: Organ donation is a complex decision for family members of Asian donors. The impact of cadaveric organ donation on both Chinese and Western donor families has not been well investigated within a cultural framework. The purposes of this study were to follow Chinese family members' appraisal of their decision to donate organs, to explore the possible negative and positive impacts of organ donation on their family life, and to determine what help they expected from healthcare providers during the first 6 months after donation. METHODS: Twenty-two family members (10 men and 12 women) of cadaveric organ donors who signed consent forms at an organ transplant medical center in Taiwan participated in this project and completed in-depth interviews during the sixth month after donation. RESULTS: Participants were 25 to 56 years old (mean = 48.15 +/- 8.31 years). The type of kinship of the participants included the donor's parents, older sister, and spouse. Subjects reported several negative impacts: worry about the donor's afterlife (86%), stress due to controversy among family members over the decision to donate (77%), and stress due to others' devaluation of the donation (45%). Positive impacts reported by the subjects included having a sense of reward for helping others (36%), having an increased appreciation of life (32%), having closer family relationships (23%), and planning to shift life goals to the study of medicine (9%). Subjects expected the transplant team to provide information about organ recipients (73%), to submit the necessary documents so that family members could receive healthcare payments from the insurance company (68%), to help resolve legal proceedings and settlements associated with accidents (64%), and to not overly publicize their decision to donate (64%). CONCLUSIONS: Although all of the subjects reported that organ donation was the right decision, the decision to donate did not protect Taiwanese donor families from negative psychocognitive bereavement. The impacts of organ donation were affected by the subject's social cultural, spiritual, and legal context and the nature of their bereavement.     

Translocation (X;12)(q27;q14) in a lipoma

Cytogenetic analysis by short-term culture of a lipoma from the posterior neck region of a 63-year-old man showed a t(X;12)(q27;q14) as the sole chromosomal abnormality. Rearrangement of band 12q14 is nonrandom in lipomas, although its involvement with a sex chromosome has not been reported earlier.     

肾上腺器官内淋巴管的解剖学研究

采用墨汁硝酸银水溶液局部动脉灌注方法,研究了胎儿、犬和家兔肾上腺(总计80例)器官内的淋巴管.所见结果表明:胎儿和犬肾上腺被膜内及腺体内的较粗大静脉周围存在淋巴管和毛细淋巴管;家兔肾上腺的淋巴管仅分布于被膜内;在肾上腺皮质和髓质的实质内,无论胎儿、犬和兔,仅有血管并无淋巴管或毛细淋巴管.     

Subchronic Toxicity of 2,4,4'-Trichlorobiphenyl in the Rat Liver: An Ultrastructural and Biochemical Study

2,4,4'-Trichlorobiphenyl or PCB congener 28 was given to Sprague-Dawley weanling rats and the experimental diets were prepared by mixing the congener in 4% corn oil. The congener was administered to animals placed in four groups, each comprising 10 males or females. The diets contained 0.05, 0.5, 5, or 50 ppm congener. The fifth or control group comprised animals that received diets mixed with corn oil. Thirteen weeks after commencement of dosing, animals were euthanized and liver specimens were harvested from the animals and prepared for electron microscopy and biochemical analyses. The hepatocyte architectural modifications included an augmentation of SER profiles and an elevation of peroxisome numbers in animals regardless of gender, and mitochondrial abnormalities in the females only. Mitochondrial aberrations consisted of abnormal shapes and cristae in atypical orientation. The alterations were revealed in animals of the 5-and 50-ppm groups and were more extensive in the females. Ethoxyresorufin-O-de-ethylase activity was significantly high in the animals of the 50-ppm group. The results suggest that the female rats were more sensitive than the males to congener 28, and the no observable adverse effect level (NOAEL) was believed to be 0.5 ppm for the congener.     

A multimedia database system for thermal ablation therapy of brain tumors

A prototype multimedia medical database is described for supporting thermal ablation therapy of brain tumors. Its design is motivated by the major need to manage and access multimedia information on the progress and reaction of tumors to various therapy protocols. The database links images to patient data in a way that permits the user to view and query medical information using alphanumeric, temporal, and feature-based predicates. Visualization programs permit the user to view or annotate the query results in various ways. These results support the wide variety of data types and presentation methods required by neuroradiologists to manage thermal ablation therapy data. The database satisfactorily meets the requirements defined by thermal ablation therapy. A similar approach is being undertaken for supporting different therapies of other types of tumors, thus showing the generality of our approach.     

Lack of STK11 gene expression in homozygous twins with Peutz-Jeghers syndrome

Clinical features of Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS), an autosomal dominant disorder, include clusters of melanotic spots on the lips and limbs, polyposis of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, and propensity to develop neoplasms of the GI tract, ovaries, testes, and other sites. We report twin sisters with PJS who were found to be homozygous, based on analyses of 9 DNA markers containing short tandem repeats (STR). Aberrant expression of a putative tumor suppressor gene, STK11, which encodes a serine threonine kinase, has been suggested as the etiologic factor in PJS. In both of the twin sisters with PJS, mRNA analyses by RT-PCR demonstrated a complete lack of STK11 gene expression. These results provide direct evidence that STK11 gene expression is abnormal in PJS. Detecting abnormal expression of the STK11 gene may serve as a molecular approach to the diagnosis of PJS and may facilitate genotype-phenotype correlations in PJS patients.     

Production and characterization of antibody against fusarochromanone

Antibody against fusarochromanone (TDP‐1) was obtained from rabbits after immunization with TDP‐1 conjugated to bovine serum albumin (BSA). An indirect enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using TDP‐1‐ovalbumin conjugate as the antigen coated on to the microtiter plate was used for monitoring the antibody liter. For toxin detection, a direct competitive ELISA in which TDP‐1 was conjugated to horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was used. Competitive direct ELISA revealed that the antibody had about 5.6 and 4.5 times greater binding efficiency for monoacetyl fusarochromanone (TDP‐2) and diacetylated TDP‐1 than TDP‐1. The concentration causing 50% inhibition of binding of TDP‐1‐HRP to the antibody by TDP‐1, TDP‐2 and diacetyl‐TDP‐1 were 2.8, 0.5 and 0.62 ng/ml, respectively. For the analysis of fusarochromanones in wheat and barley, the toxins were first extracted from the commodities with 100% methanol. A small aliquot of the extract was dried, acetylated, diluted in buffer and then analyzed directly by ELISA. The overall recovery for fusarochromanone in the wheat and barley samples spiked with TDP‐1 in the concentration range of 20 to 500 ppb were found to be 97% and 103.4% with cv of 15% and 11.2% for barley and wheat, respectively.     

Testicular regression in a patient with virilized female phenotype

The 16-year old girl studied here had ambiguous external genitalia, ie, enlarged clitoris, pseudo vagina, and rudiments of Wolffian tubes. Her karyotype was 46,XY and she was H-Y antigen-positive. In spite of absence of gonadal tissue, genital virilization suggests presence of testes during embryogenesis. This patient is compared to 20 others with testicular regression from the literature. Autosomal-recessive inheritance of this condition is proposed.     

Primary papillary carcinoma arising in a thyroglossal duct cyst

We report a case of papillary carcinoma arising in a thyroglossal duct cyst, presenting with an anterior neck mass of a 31-year-old woman. The tumor was judged to be a primary lesion on the basis of intraoperative examination of the thyroid and pathologic findings of the mass. One year later, a small nodular mass in the left thyroid gland and lymph node enlargement of the right cervical lymph node were noted by follow-up imaging studies. Total thyroidectomy, right modified radical neck dissection and central neck dissection were performed. The thyroid gland revealed nodular hyperplasia without evidence of malignancy. On the other hand, the dissected neck lymph nodes revealed metastatic papillary carcinoma. Taken together, these findings suggested the tumor was a primary papillary carcinoma arising in the thyroglossal duct cyst.