Aerobic exercise training fails to lower hypertriglyceridemia levels in persons with advanced HIV-1 infection.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether blood lipid and lipoprotein concentrations varied in 5 men with advanced HIV-1 infection after 12 months of aerobic exercise training. Prior to exercise, the mean baseline cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) serum concentration were each lower, and mean baseline triglyceride concentration was higher compared to a healthy population norm. Consistent exercise training for 12 months failed to significantly (p > .05) alter cholesterol or HDL-C. Triglyceride concentration was significantly (p < .05) elevated above baseline (63 mg/dL) regardless of exercise compliance. The results suggest that long-term exercise training cannot correct lipid profile abnormality, particularly hypertriglyceridemia, common to individuals with advanced HIV-1 infection.     

Luteinizing hormone sensitivity to naloxone in maturing male chimpanzees.

We have systematically investigated the involvement of endogenous opioids in gonadotropin secretion during primate sexual maturation by examining LH/FSH responses to gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and changes in LH secretion during infusions of saline or naloxone, an opiate antagonist, in ten male chimpanzees between one and nine years of age. Animals were anesthetized with ketamine (10 mg/kg) and injected or infused IV with GnRH, naloxone or saline. Circulating levels of serum LH were elevated to the same extent (approximately 400%) in response to GnRH (100 micrograms) in animals 1-5 years old (juvenile) and in animals 6-9 years old (pubertal). No differences were noted between the two groups in GnRH-stimulated levels of serum FSH. During treatment with naloxone (0.14 mg/kg bolus followed by 0.2 mg/kg/h maintenance infusion for 3 h), serum LH levels in pubertal animals were significantly (p less than 0.05) elevated by as much as 95% over LH levels found during treatment with saline. Juvenile animals, on the other hand, failed to demonstrate significant increases in serum LH following naloxone at the doses tested. A strong correlation (r = .84) was found between circulating testosterone and serum LH levels during naloxone treatment. These data indicate that opioid inhibition of LH secretion can be reversed by naloxone only when puberty is reached in chimpanzees and suggest an alteration in opioid regulation of GnRH near the time of puberty. The strong correlation between testosterone levels and LH responses to naloxone suggests that steroids may participate in the maturation of opioid control of LH during puberty of nonhuman primates.     

Nuclear estrogen receptor beta in lung cancer: expression and survival differences by sex.

PURPOSE: A role for estrogens in determining lung cancer risk and prognosis is suggested by reported sex differences in susceptibility and survival. Archival lung tissue was evaluated for the presence of nuclear estrogen receptor (ER)-alpha and ER-beta and the relationship between ER status, subject characteristics, and survival. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Paraffin-embedded lung tumor samples were obtained from 214 women and 64 men from two population-based, case-control studies as were 10 normal lung autopsy samples from patients without cancer. Nuclear ER-alpha and ER-beta expression was determined by immunohistochemistry. Logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with ER positivity and Cox proportional hazards models were used to measure survival differences by ER status. RESULTS: Neither tumor (0 of 94) nor normal (0 of 10) lung tissue stained positive for ER-alpha. Nuclear ER-beta positivity was present in 61% of tumor tissue samples (170 of 278; 70.3% in men and 58.3% in women) and 20% of normal tissue samples (2 of 10; P = 0.01). In multivariate analyses, females were 46% less likely to have ER-beta-positive tumors than males (odds ratio, 0.54; 95% confidence interval, 0.27-1.08). This relationship was stronger and statistically significant in adenocarcinomas (odds ratio, 0.40; 95% confidence interval, 0.18-0.89). Women with ER-beta-positive tumors had a nonsignificant 73% (P = 0.1) increase in mortality, whereas men with ER-beta-positive tumors had a significant 55% (P = 0.04) reduction in mortality compared with those with ER-beta-negative tumors. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests differential expression by sex and influence on survival in men of nuclear ER-beta in lung cancer, particularly in adenocarcinomas.     

Granulocyte antibodies in leukaemic chronic lymphoproliferative disorders

The anti-granulocyte activity of serum from patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and other lymphoproliferative disorders was investigated. Granulocyte-binding IgG was measured in 34 patients with CLL, 13 patients with hairy cell leukaemia, one patient with prolymphocytic leukaemia, two patients with Sézary cell leukaemia, and seven patients with chronic T-cell lymphocytosis who had a predominance of circulating large granular lymphocytes. Anti-granulocyte activity was absent in CLL and its variants, but present in the majority of granulocytopenic patients with chronic T-cell lymphocytosis. In one of these patients, granulocytopenia was associated with complement-activating IgG granulocyte antibody. Thus, antibody-mediated granulocyte injury appears to be an unusual occurrence in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, but is a frequent complication of chronic T-cell lymphocytosis.     

Klinische Erfahrungen mit der Knorpel-Knochen-Transplantation

The treatment of deep cartilage defects in load-bearing joints is a problem that still has no satisfactory solution. Full-thickness defects of the articular cartilage rarely heal spontaneously, usually leaving damage that can lead to early arthrosis. Techniques currently available for the treatment of chondral defects include abrasion, drilling, micro-fracturing, transplantation of tissue autografts and allografts, and cell transplantation. Osteochondral autograft transplantation is currently the only surgical cartilage repair technique known to lead to the formation of genuine hyaline articular cartilage and its retention at least in the medium term. The Draenert method, in which a water-cooled diamond bone-cutting system is used, is an effective procedure for resurfacing the joints affected by localised cartilaginous defects, even when there is also severe bone loss. Donor-side morbidity can be kept to a minimum by filling the defect caused by harvesting with a press-fit cylinder of cancellous bone covered with periosteum for protection.