Anti-Helicobacter pylori immunoglobulin G （IgG） and IgA antibody responses and the value of clinical presentations in diagnosis of H.pylori infection in patients with precancerous lesions

AIM: To determine the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori(H. pylon) infection, the serum anti-H, pylori immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgA antibody responses, and the value of clinical presentations in diagnosis of H. pylori infection in patients with gastric atrophy, intestinal metaplasia and dysplasia.METHODS: H. pylori infection was detected by histology in 209 patients with mild chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG, n=76),severe CAG (n=22), mild intestinal metaplasia (IM, n=22),severe IM (n=58), or dysplasia (DYS, n=31). Serum anti-H. pylori IgG and IgA were double sampled and evaluated by enzyme-linked immunoadsordent assays. 35 clinical presentations were observed and their relationship with H.pylori infection was analyzed by the k-means cluster method.RESULTS: Both IgG and IgA levels in H. pylori positive patients were significantly higher than those negative for H.pylori(P<0.001-0.01). The prevalence of H. pyloriwas highest in severe IM (84.5%), and lowest in mild CAG (51.3%)(P<0.01). They were similar in severe CAG (68.2%), mild IM (72.7%), and DYS (67.7%). In H. pyloripositive patients,the IgG levels in severe CAG were significantly higher than those in mild CAG (P<0.01). In H. pylorinegative patients,both IgG and IgA levels increased remarkably in severe IM,compared to those in mild IM (P<0.01-0.05). H. pyhri infection exhibited no association with patient‘s gender (62.1% inmales; 71.7% in females) and age (r=0.0814, P=0.241).The diagnostic accuracy based on 35 clinical presentations was 65.7%. It could be improved by 5.7% when only the assemblage of digestive symptoms were engaged, or by 8.6% when the pathogenic factors, general status and grossoscopy were combined. The diagnostic accuracy could be decreased when only the general symptoms were engaged, or when the pathogenic factors were accompanied with some common digestive symptoms.CONCLUSION: H. pylori infection is a major risk factor for the process from atrophy, IM to DYS of gastric mucosa.Serum IgG and IgA are good indicators to evaluate this progress with a certain arrearage. Investigation on the effective assemblages of clinical presentations may provide a better understanding in the pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment for H. pyloriinfection.     

Color Doppler sonography and scintigraphy of the testis: a prospective, comparative analysis in children with acute scrotal pain

OBJECTIVE: To compare testicular color Doppler sonography with testicular scintigraphy in differentiating between surgical and nonsurgical conditions of the pediatric testis, and to evaluate the role of testicular color Doppler sonography in the pediatric population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-six children (age range, 1 day to 18 years; median age, 11 years) with acute scrotal pain were evaluated with both scintigraphy and color Doppler sonography by two separate groups of radiologists who had no knowledge of the results of the other modality. The final radiologic diagnosis was classified as a surgical condition, nonsurgical condition, or indeterminate and was compared with the patient's surgical diagnosis or clinical diagnosis, which was established by response to treatment and follow-up. RESULTS: Sonography correctly diagnosed 11 of 14 surgical conditions and 31 of 32 nonsurgical conditions. There was one indeterminate sonogram. There were no false-positive examinations, and there were three false-negative examinations (sensitivity = 78.6% [95% CI, 66.7-90.5%], specificity = 96.9% [95% CI, 94.3-99.5%], accuracy = 91.3%). Color flow was demonstrated in the asymptomatic testis in 34 of 44 boys. Scintigraphy correctly diagnosed 11 of 14 surgical conditions and 29 of 32 nonsurgical conditions. There were two indeterminate scintigrams. There were two false-positive examinations and two false-negative examinations (sensitivity = 78.6% [95% CI, 66.7%-90.5%], specificity = 90.6% [95%CI, 82.2%-99.0%], accuracy = 87.0%). CONCLUSIONS: Color Doppler sonography and scintigraphy show similar sensitivity for the diagnosis of testicular torsion. A small number of false-negative cases can occur with either modality. The two studies may provide complementary information in indeterminate cases.     

Chromobacterium violaceum infection in children: a case of fatal septicemia with nasopharyngeal abscess and literature review

This previously healthy 5-year-old boy initially presented with fever and purulent conjunctivitis. The course evolved rapidly into preseptal and facial cellulitis, nasopharyngeal abscess and sepsis. Chromobacterium violaceum was isolated from conjunctival exudate and blood cultures. He received intravenous cefazolin therapy for 2 days, followed by penicillin, oxacillin and netilmicin. However, no improvement was noted, and he died on the fifth days of illness.     

The histone deacetylase inhibitor AN-9 has selective toxicity to acute leukemia and drug-resistant primary leukemia and cancer cell lines

The novel prodrug of butyric acid, pivaloyloxymethyl butyrate (AN-9), a histone deacetylase inhibitor, shows great promise as an effective and relatively nontoxic anticancer agent for solid malignancies. However, little is known about its effects on hematopoietic malignancies. In this study, we show that 21 primary samples of acute leukemia were sensitive to the antiproliferative effects of AN-9, with a 50% inhibitory concentration (IC(50)) of 45.8 +/- 4.1 microM. In colony-forming assays, primary T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) cells were 3-fold more sensitive to AN-9 than the normal hematopoietic progenitors, erythroid burst-forming units and granulocyte/monocyte colony-forming units. AN-9 induced apoptosis in the T-ALL cell line CEM. A common problem with cancer is chemoresistance, which is often typical of relapsed cancers. Remarkably, a T-ALL sample at diagnosis and an acute myeloid leukemia sample at relapse that were resistant to doxorubicin in vitro were sensitive to AN-9, with an IC(50) of 50 microM for both samples. More strikingly, samples from 2 infants with t(4;11) ALL obtained at diagnosis and relapse each were the most sensitive to AN-9, with IC(50) values of 25 microM and 17 microM, respectively. Furthermore, a doxorubicin-resistant clone of HL60, HL60/ADR, obtained by the transfection of the MDR-1 gene, was equally sensitive to AN-9 cytotoxicity as the parental cells. AN-9 induced the expression of p21 in an infant leukemia sample with 11q23 rearrangement, but not in T- or B-precursor ALL. Collectively, our results suggest that AN-9 is a selective agent for hematopoietic malignancies that can circumvent the mechanisms of chemoresistance limiting most conventional chemotherapy.     

Platonin, a cyanine photosensitizing dye, inhibits pyrogen release and results in antipyresis

Intravenous injection of the supernatant fluids from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) incubated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) caused fever in rabbits. The fever was in parallel with the levels of either interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta), IL-6, or tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in supernatant fluids. When incubating the platonin with the LPS-human PBMC, both the levels of IL-1 beta, IL-6, or TNF-alpha in supernatant fluids and the pyrogenicity of supernatant fluids were significantly suppressed. The febrile response to supernatant fluids from the LPS-stimulated PBMC was attenuated almost completely by adding anti-IL-1 beta, but not anti-IL-6 or anti-TNF-alpha, monoclonal antibody to supernatant fluids. In addition, both the fever and the increased levels of either IL-1 beta, IL-6, or TNF-alpha in rabbit serum following an intravenous administration of LPS were significantly attenuated by pretreatment with an intravenous dose of platonin. Furthermore, the fever induced by intravenous injection of IL-1 beta was reduced by pretreatment of rabbits with intravenous injection of platonin. The data indicate that platonin inhibits production of pyrogenic cytokines (in particular, IL-1 beta) from PBMC and results in antipyresis.     

A sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for evaluating the concentration of bee venom in rat plasma

A simple and reproducible enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed to determine the concentration of bee venom in rat plasma. The intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation for the ELISA were less then 3% between 0.1 and 1,000 ng mL(-1) venom, and the sensitivity of the detection was 0.1 ng mL(-1). Total recovery of the bee venom added to rat plasma was determined. Using this ELISA, serum levels of bee venom were easily determined. The rats were administered a single intravenous injection or oral dose of bee venom (1 mg kg(-1) of body weight). The bioavailability of the bee venom under the two administrations was compared using pharmacokinetic parameters. Results showed that intravenous administration of bee venom produced high plasma concentrations with a short half-life. The area under the curve for oral administration was 10 times lower than for intravenous administration. This loss of bee venom may be due to the degradation that occurs in the enzymatic and acidic environment of the gastrointestinal tract.     

Rates of response,euthymia and remission in two placebo-controlled olanzapine trials for bipolar mania

Objective:  Clinically meaningful recovery from acute mania may not be captured by conventionally reported response categorizations. We defined new and stringent criteria for remission in bipolar mania. Using a cohort of patients with acute mania randomized to treatment with either olanzapine or placebo, we contrasted remission rates to findings using previously reported but more lenient categorical outcome measures of response and euthymia.
Methods:  We pooled and reanalyzed results through 3 weeks from two published randomized double-blind trials of olanzapine versus placebo for treating acute bipolar mania ( 1, 2 ). Response was previously defined as ≥ 50% decrease from baseline to endpoint total Young Mania Rating Scale ( 3 ) (Y-MRS) scores, and euthymia as an endpoint total Y-MRS score of ≤ 12. In this report, remission required an endpoint total Y-MRS score of ≤ 7, and an endpoint total Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, (HAM-D21) ( 4 ) score of ≤ 7 and an endpoint Clinical Global Impression Scale – Bipolar version, CGI-BP ( 5 ), overall severity score of ≤ 2.
Results:  Olanzapine treated subjects achieved statistically significantly greater rates of clinical response, euthymia and remission than those assigned to placebo, 55% versus 29.5%, 50% versus 27%, and 18% versus 7%, respectively.
Conclusions:  Olanzapine monotherapy resulted in discernable clinical improvements in mania in over 50% of subjects and just under 20% of subjects achieved a near complete resolution of manic and accompanying depressive symptoms after 3 weeks of treatment. Full remission is an important but potentially elusive goal during short-term management of acute mania.     

Intestinal transformation results in transforming growth factor-beta-dependent alteration in tumor cell-cell matrix interactions

BACKGROUND: An alteration in the expression of and response to transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1) appears to be an important event during colorectal carcinogenesis. However, the precise role of TGF-beta 1 in colorectal carcinogenesis is not clear. We have previously described in detail the changes in cell proliferation and differentiation caused by chronic exposure to TGF-beta 1. In this study we sought to better characterize the changes in tumor cell-cell matrix interactions seen during TGF-beta 1-mediated intestinal transformation. METHODS: Rat intestinal epithelial cells (RIE) and RIE cells transformed by chronic exposure to TGF-beta 1 (RIE-Tr) were treated with TGF-beta 1 and production of components of the plasmin/plasminogen system measured by ELISA and Western blotting. TGF-beta 1 effects on invasion and adhesion were determined in vitro. The role of urokinase on TGF-beta 1-mediated invasion and adhesion were determined using immunoneutralization. The role of COX-2 was determined using a specific COS-2 inhibitor. RESULTS: TGF-beta 1 had no effect on RIE-1 adhesion to collagen types I and IV, fibronectin, and laminin, or invasion through collagen types I and IV. However, 5 ng/mL TGF-beta 1 significantly increased the invasiveness and decreased the adhesiveness of RIE-Tr. This effect of TGF-beta 1 on RIE-Tr was associated with a significant increase in plasmin activity secondary to increased expression of uPA. TGF-beta 1 had no effect on either uPA receptor or PAI-1 in this system. Antibodies to uPA completely blocked the TGF-beta 1-mediated invasiveness of the RIE-Tr cells and returned their adhesiveness to basement membrane proteins to baseline. Addition of the selective Cox-2 inhibitor SC-58125 resulted in a dose-dependent decrease in TGF-beta 1-mediated invasion and uPA expression. CONCLUSION: This study provides additional evidence for TGF-beta 1 as a tumor promoter during intestinal carcinogenesis and a possible new mechanism for Cox-2-related colon carcinogenesis.     

乳腺癌患者外周血DNA p53基因突变的检测及其与预后关系的研究

目的 探讨乳腺癌患者外周血中DNAp53基因突变与预后的关系。方法 对126例乳腺癌患者和92例正常对照者血浆DNA含量进行检测。外周血浆中DNA由Qiagen纯化柱纯化,组织标本DNA抽提方法参照非有机化方法。应用PCR—SSCP方法检测DNA中p53基因5,6,7,8外显子点突变。结果 健康妇女外周血中DNA的平均值为21ng/ml,而乳腺癌患者为211ng/ml(P＜0．01)。126例乳腺癌患者中有46例(35.6％)原发瘤中检出p53突变,其中30例(65．2％)患者外周血DNA中检出p53基因突变。乳腺癌患者外周血中DNA p53基因突变与临床分期、肿瘤大小、淋巴结转移情况和雌激素受体状况密切相关(P＜0．05)。肿瘤原发灶与外周血中均检出DNA p53基因突变者预后较差,22例发生复发或转移的患者中,有13例(59．0％)外周血中检出DNA p53基因突变。结论 乳腺癌患者外周血中DNA p53基因的突变,可作为一种预后指标和提示肿瘤早期复发和远处转移的预后因子。