Immunochemical characterization of murine H-2 controlled Ss (serum substance) protein through identification of its human homologue as the fourth component of complement.

The S region of the mouse H-2 complex is genetically defined by a series of alleles, or pseudoalleles, which control the level of a serum globulin, Ss, and of its allotypic vairatn, Slp. In contrast with the products of other genes in the complex, no homologue of the Ss protein has been found in other species, except the rat. In the present study, a component in human plasma was identified which cross-reacts with anti-mouse Ss, and which also displays electrophoretic and size similarities to the mouse Ss protein. This component was isolated and characterized immunochemically as the fourth component of human complement (C'4 or beta1E globulin). Several antisera monospecific for human C'4 cross-react with the mouse Ss protein and detect its genetically determined quantitative variations.     

Stenting of the superior vena cava and right pulmonary artery in a woman with a mediastinal mass and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)

We report the case of a woman with a mass in the anterior and middle mediastinum (a non-small-cell lung carcinoma), determining significant compression of both superior vena cava and right pulmonary artery. The patient developed acute respiratory distress syndrome , necessitating intubation and admission to the Intensive Care Unit . Radiotherapy sessions to reduce the mass effect were attempted, without significant clinical improvement. Due to the persistence of severe hypoxemia, stenting of the superior vena cava and the right pulmonary artery was performed, the latter resulting in a significant improvement of the arterial blood gas parameters, allowing extubation of the patient. In our opinion, stenting of the superior vena cava and the pulmonary artery (or its branches) is an effective and safe treatment; it should be considered in similar cases, especially if other - less invasive - treatments fail.     

Platelet gel in cutaneous radiation dermatitis

Introduction

Radiotherapy, alone or in combination with chemotherapy and/or surgery, is a fundamental and irreplaceable method of treating tumours. Nonetheless, although the technological advances made during recent years and the associated improvements in this type of treatment have reduced the incidence of complications, 5?C15?% of patients still experience damage to the healthy tissues exposed to radiation. Cutaneous and mucosal lesions are severe collateral effects of radiotherapy that have an enormous impact on a patient??s quality of life. Unfortunately, however, the efficacy of conventional treatments, while demonstrably useful in acute lesions, remains disputed in chronic cases. Nevertheless, numerous studies and clinical findings have demonstrated that topical, non-transfusional plasma-rich platelet gel is able to accelerate the regeneration and repair of tissues through the action of the various growth factors contained within the alpha granules of platelets. We therefore set out to evaluate the efficacy of autologous platelet gel, chosen for its limited cost and ease of preparation, in chronic cutaneous radiation dermatitis.

Methods

??Home-made?? platelet gel was produced by treating platelets with autologous thrombin. The safety of the product was ensured by microbiological tests. The autologous platelet gel was applied topically once a week, for a mean duration of 35?days, to chronic third- and fourth-degree (European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel classification and Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events score) cutaneous radiation dermatitis in a group of ten patients previously treated for moderate-to-high grade (histology G2-G3) limb sarcoma by tumour excision and post-surgical radiotherapy (dose 50?C64?Gy). The radiation dermatitis had appeared at different intervals after treatment and had all proved resistant to conventional treatments.

Results

The autologous platelet gel was found to be successful in seven out of the ten patients treated. The various phases of the healing process were observed in all cases. Platelet gel application was suspended in three patients: in one patient after one application due to tumour progression, in another patient after two applications due to development of distant metastases and in the third after six applications with only partial tissue response. At 5-year follow-up, six of the seven successfully treated patients remained free of both disease and lesion, while the remaining patient, the eldest, had passed away in the interim due to extraneous causes.

Conclusion

Platelet gel treatment could therefore be used to bring about healing in chronic cutaneous radiation dermatitis, lending itself to better patient compliance and a favourable cost/benefit ratio, due to a reduction in the number of medications and hospital visits required.     

Balloon-assisted,ultrasound-guided percutaneous real-time thrombin injection,for the arteriovenous fistula pseudoaneurysm treatment

A pseudoaneurysm or false aneurysm is the consequence of a persistent blood leak caused generally by iatrogenic rupture of a vessel wall. The blood leak creates a new cavity delimited by surrounding tissues and allows blood flow to remain in continuity between this cavity and the vessel. In hemodialysis fistula, pseudoaneurysm generally results from repeated puncturing of the vein at the same site, leading to a bulging anatomical defect in the vein. Over the past few years, interventional radiological treatment has evolved and taken the place of surgery, with different kinds of percutaneous and endovascular treatment methods in pseudoaneurysm management. We reported a case report of successful treatment of arteriovenous fistula pseudoaneurysm with no-measurable neck. We performed ultrasound-guided percutaneous direct thrombin injection while an inflated balloon transiently obstructed flow out of the pseudoaneurysm, in order prevent non-target embolization.     

Five vs ten days of penicillin V therapy for streptococcal pharyngitis

To determine the effectiveness of a short (five-day) course of penicillin V potassium therapy, 172 patients with group A beta-hemolytic streptococcal (GABHS) pharyngitis were randomly assigned to receive 250 mg of penicillin V potassium three times daily for either five or ten days. The patients in the two treatment groups were comparable with respect to clinical findings, compliance, and serologic response to GABHS. A bacteriologic treatment failure was defined as the presence of the same serotype of GABHS in the follow-up as in the initial throat culture and occurred in 13 (18%) of the 73 patients in the five-day treatment group and in six (6%) of the 99 patients in the ten-day treatment group. These findings support the current recommendation for a full ten days of oral penicillin V therapy for the treatment of GABHS pharyngitis.     

Chromosomal evolution in bovids: a comparison of cattle,sheep and goat G- and R-banded chromosomes and cytogenetic divergences among cattle,goat and river buffalo sex chromosomes

A G- and R-banding comparison of cattle (Bos taurus, 2n=60), goat (Capra hircus, 2n=60) and sheep (Ovis aries, 2n=54) chromosomes at the 450 band level was made. The study revealed a large number of banding homologies among the autosomes of the three species and resolved some ambiguities in arranging some of their small disputed acrocentrics by direct and indirect comparisons with some bovid marker chromosomes. A loss of the subcentromeric G-positive band in sheep chromosome 2q was observed when the G-banding patterns of sheep 2q and homologous cattle and goat chromosome 2 were compared. The chromosomal divergences among cattle, goat and river buffalo (Bubalus bubalis, 2n=50) sex chromosomes are shown to have occurred by pericentric and paracentric inversions with a loss (or acquisition) of constitutive heterochromatin.