Regional cerebral glucose metabolism in SLE chorea: further evidence that striatal hypometabolism is not a correlate of chorea

The pathophysiology of chorea in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is uncertain. Pathologic examination has not identified a specific location for the causative lesion(s) and immunologic mechanisms have been suggested in its etiology. In other choreic disorders, such as Huntington's disease and benign hereditary chorea, glucose hypometabolism in the striatum has been demonstrated by positron computed tomography (PCT) using [18F]deoxyglucose. With this technique we have studied four patients with chorea secondary to SLE. In these patients the regional distribution of cerebral glucose metabolism was normal. In particular, striatal glucose metabolism was within the normal range, even though the ratio of striatal to cortical glucose metabolism was increased. Our results show that striatal hypometabolism, as seen in other disorders manifesting chorea, is not the PCT correlate of the dyskinesia.     

Treatment of adrenocortical carcinoma: a case report and review of the literature

A case report of adrenocortical carcinoma is presented, and its natural history and treatment are discussed. Adrenocortical carcinoma is a rare malignant disease. The mean survival time for untreated patients is less than three months. The tumor is classified as functioning or nonfunctioning depending on biochemical and clinical evidence of steroid overproduction. Surgical resection of the tumor is the primary treatment. Chemotherapy is indicated for antitumor and antihormonal effects. Mitotane is a direct adrenolytic, and is the only drug currently available that has extended survival in patients with this disease. Its clinical usefulness is limited by its gastrointestinal and neurological toxicity. Aminoglutethimide inhibits steroid synthesis by blocking the conversion of cholesterol to pregnenolone. It has no antitumor effect in adrenocortical carcinoma, but is effective in relieving the signs and symptoms of excessive hormone production in functioning tumors. Both mitotane and aminoglutethimide have complex mechanisms of action. Their combined use in the treatment of adrenocortical carcinoma requires a complete understanding of their individual actions and awareness of the potential for additive effects, both therapeutic and toxic.     

Influence of polymer architecture on the structure of complexes formed by PEG-tertiary amine methacrylate copolymers and phosphorothioate oligonucleotide.

The influence of polymer structure on the characteristics of complexes of a phosphorothioate antisense oligonucleotide (ISIS 5132) was studied, using well-defined cationic copolymers based on 2-(dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). The three related copolymer structures were: DMAEMA-PEG (a diblock copolymer) DMAEMA-OEGMA 7 (a brush-type copolymer), DMAEMA-stat-PEGMA (a comb-type copolymer); each of these were examined together with DMAEMA homopolymer, which served as a control. The results revealed that all the polymers exhibited good binding ability with the oligonucleotide (ON). Interestingly, the comb-type polymer DMAEMA-stat-PEGMA demonstrated the highest binding ability and DMAEMA homopolymer the lowest, as judged by a dye displacement assay. DMAEMA homopolymer produced large agglomerates of smaller individual complexes as observed by optical density, photon correlation spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy studies. In contrast, two PEG-block copolymers, DMAEMA-PEG and DMAEMA-OEGMA 7, formed compact complexes of 80-150 nm which had good long-term colloidal stability. This is attributed to the steric stabilisation effect of the PEG chains on the ON-copolymer complexes. These two copolymers are believed to form complexes with ON that have a micellar structure. Comb-type DMAEMA-stat-PEGMA copolymer formed highly soluble complexes with the ON that did not phase separate from the buffer solution. This study clearly demonstrates that varying the copolymer architecture allows access to a range of ON complexes. In vitro cytotoxicity experiments on HepG2 cells showed that all of the tertiary amine methacrylate copolymers displayed lower cytotoxicity than the control poly(L-lysine).     

蛋白质组学及其相关技术在运动人体科学中的应用

目的:对蛋白组学及蛋白芯片技术发展现状进行综述,为该技术在运动医学中的应用提供参考资料。资料来源:应用计算机检索PubMed2003-01/2006-12期间相关蛋白组学及蛋白芯片技术方面的文章,检索词“exercise AND protein chip,protein microarray”,并限定文章语言种类为English。同时计算机检索万方数据库2003-01/2006-12期间相关蛋白组学及蛋白芯片技术方面的文章,检索词“蛋白质,运动锻炼,运动医学”,并限定文章语言种类为中文。资料选择:对资料进行初审,并查看每篇文献后的引文。纳入标准:文章所述内容应与蛋白质组学及蛋白质芯片技术的研究相关。排除标准:重复研究或Meta分析类文章。资料提炼:共收集到312篇相关文献,32篇文献符合纳入标准,排除的280篇文献为内容陈旧或重复。资料综合:蛋白组学研究已成为基因组学研究后生命科学发展的大方向之一。它研究的主要内容包括:蛋白质分离与鉴定、蛋白质功能的确定、蛋白质翻译后修饰及相互作用、各种疾病或疲劳标志物的筛选与疾病诊断、生物信息学及药物开发等方面。文章在对蛋白质组学的发展及其相关技术在运动人体科学中的应用现状进行综述的基础上,对运动人体科学未来的发展方向进行了展望。由于蛋白质组学的建立以及蛋白质芯片技术的逐步完善,对运动人体科学的研究及其发展将起到很好的促进作用。结论:未来将从分子水平上阐明运动与人体适应的分子生物学机制,研究热点将集中于从运动营养蛋白质组学、反兴奋剂的蛋白质芯片技术、运动员机能评定的蛋白质芯片研究等方面。     

Oral sumatriptan in the acute treatment of migraine and migraine recurrence in general practice

We investigated the efficacy, safety and tolerability compared with placebo of a second dose of oral sumatriptan 100 mg in 1349 general practice patients who had already treated a moderate or severe migraine headache with 100 mg sumatriptan 4 h earlier. Headache was relieved by the first sumatriptan dose in about 70% of patients, but the second dose did not produce significantly more relief than placebo, either in nonresponders or in the group as a whole, nor did it reduce other symptoms (photophobia, nausea, vomiting, etc,) at 8 h, or influence the incidence of headache recurrence. The drug was well-tolerated, and a further single dose was effective in treating recurrence after initial relief. A single 100 mg dose of sumatriptan is an effective acute treatment for migraine. A second dose should be reserved for treating headache recurrence.      

Memory B Cells that Cross-React with Group 1 and Group 2 Influenza A Viruses Are Abundant in Adult Human Repertoires

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