Insights into pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma research: Challenges and goals

Overall survival rates for pediatric patients with high‐risk or relapsed rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) have not improved significantly since the 1980s. Recent studies have identified a number of targetable vulnerabilities in RMS, but these discoveries have infrequently translated into clinical trials. We propose streamlining the process by which agents are selected for clinical evaluation in RMS. We believe that strong consideration should be given to the development of combination therapies that add biologically targeted agents to conventional cytotoxic drugs. One example of this type of combination is the addition of the WEE1 inhibitor AZD1775 to the conventional cytotoxic chemotherapeutics, vincristine and irinotecan.     

头皮糠疹与巯氧吡啶锌

头皮糠疹是常见病是多发病,临床表现为头皮红斑和脱屑,提示皮损部位表皮结构和功能异常,头皮角质层代谢紊乱,最近对头皮糠疹病因和病理的研究证实马拉色菌,皮脂分泌和个体敏感性是形成上述皮损的3个关键因素,硫氧吡啶锌（PTZ或ZPT）可以有效地杀灭马拉色菌,PTZ的颗粒大小和形状对其在头皮的生物利用度有明显的影响。此外,PTZ的抗菌效果有赖于其分子结构的完整性,在外用制剂中加入附加的游离锌,可以有效防止PTZ解离,从而提高其疗效。     

Establishing a baseline phase behavior in magnetic resonance imaging to determine normal vs. abnormal iron content in the brain

PURPOSE: To establish a baseline of phase differences between tissues in a number of regions of the human brain as a means of detecting iron abnormalities using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A fully flow-compensated, three-dimensional (3D), high-resolution, gradient-echo (GRE) susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) sequence was used to collect magnitude and phase data at 1.5 T. The phase images were high-pass-filtered and processed region by region with hand-drawn areas. The regions evaluated included the motor cortex (MC), putamen (PUT), globus pallidus (GP), caudate nucleus (CN), substantia nigra (SN), and red nucleus (RN). A total of 75 subjects, ranging in age from 55 to 89 years, were analyzed. RESULTS: The phase was found to have a Gaussian-like distribution with a standard deviation (SD) of 0.046 radians on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Most regions of interest (ROIs) contained at least 100 pixels, giving a standard error of the mean (SEM) of 0.0046 radians or less. In the MC, phase differences were found to be roughly 0.273 radians between CSF and gray matter (GM), and 0.083 radians between CSF and white matter (WM). The difference between CSF and the GP was 0.201 radians, and between CSF and the CN (head) it was 0.213 radians. For CSF and the PUT (the lower outer part) the difference was 0.449 radians, and between CSF and the RN (third slice vascularized region) it was 0.353 radians. Finally, the phase difference between CSF and SN was 0.345 radians. CONCLUSION: The Gaussian-like distributions in phase make it possible to predict deviations from normal phase behavior for tissues in the brain. Using phase as an iron marker may be useful for studying absorption of iron in diseases such as Parkinson's, Huntington's, neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation (NBIA), Alzheimer's, and multiple sclerosis (MS), and other iron-related diseases. The phases quoted here will serve as a baseline for future studies that look for changes in iron content.     

Candida albicans in patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome: absence of a novel of hypervirulent strain

To determine whether Candida albicans in patients with AIDS represents a unique strain, C. albicans isolated from 24 patients with AIDS was compared with Candida isolated from 23 healthy adults. Resistance to 5-fluorocytosine, synthesis of amino acids and nucleotides, sugar use, and enzyme activity patterns were similar among isolates from the two groups. Molecular analysis revealed similar banding patterns of EcoRI restriction fragments of DNA between 2.5-3 and 6-7 kb. In addition, the frequency of a dimorphic 3.7-versus 4.2-kb band, identified by agarose gel electrophoresis and by probing Southern transfers of EcoRI digests with a cloned fragment of C. albicans DNA encoding 25S ribosomal RNA, was not significantly different between the AIDS-derived and control C. albicans. C. albicans isolated at different time points in the course of disease and from different sites in individual patients showed identical DNA fingerprints. The similarity in isolates of C. albicans that cause disease in AIDS patients and those present in healthy subjects suggests that the candidiasis associated with AIDS is not due to the presence of a unique or particularly virulent strain but is likely the consequence of a defect in host defense mechanisms.