Healing of duodenal and prepyloric ulcers after selective and highly selective vagotomy.

Thirty-six patients with duodenal or prepyloric ulcers who were treated by selective or highly selective vagotomy were followed up endoscopically. In one group of 21 patients examined 2 weeks after the operation, 67 per cent of the ulcers were healed. In another group of 15 patients endoscopy performed 2 months after the operation revealed that 93 per cent of the ulcers were healed. On comparing with previously reported endoscopical observations concerning spontaneous healing of duodenal ulcers, it can be concluded that vagotomy significantly promotes the healing of duodenal and prepyloric ulcers.     

成釉细胞瘤及牙源性角化囊肿中ICAM-1和VCAM-1的表达

目的探讨细胞间黏附分子-1(ICAM-1)和血管细胞黏附分子-1(VCAM-1)在成釉细胞瘤(AB)及牙源性角化囊肿(OKC)中的表达及其与AB、OKC病理学特征的关系。方法对38例AB、10例OKC、7例正常口腔黏膜(NOM)组织进行免疫组织化学SP法检测,结合病例病理特征进行分析。结果ICAM-1和VCAM-1在AB、OKC和NOM3组表达组间比较,具有显著统计学差异(P<0.05)。ICAM-1在AB中的阳性率达65.2%,显著高于NOM(14.3%),OKC(60.0%)与NOM未见显著统计学差异。VCAM-1在AB中的阳性血管数也显著高于OKC和NOM。ICAM-1和VCAM-1表达与AB的组织病理分型、年龄、性别和发生部位无明显相关性(P>0.05)。结论细胞黏附分子ICAM-1和VCAM-1与AB及OKC的发生、发展及细胞分化与增殖有关。     

Modern approaches to the treatment of breast cancer

Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer death in women in this country. Until recently, the traditional treatment has been radical surgery with or without radiation therapy for patients with primary breast cancer, and palliative endocrine therapy followed by chemotherapy for patients with advanced disease. These treatments have met with limited effectiveness in terms of eradicating the disease. Studies in the past decade have given cause for optimism for breast cancer patients. Adjuvant systemic therapy after local treatment appears promising for certain subsets of patients with primary breast cancer. The development of estrogen receptor assays has markedly changed our approach to the disease and improved patient care. Estrogen receptor is an important prognostic factor and is useful in planning appropriate therapy for patients with primary breast cancer as well as those with advanced disease. Further research is urgently needed to improve the dismal survival of certain women with this common malignancy.     

Genomic changes associated with antigenic variation of visna virus durig persistent infection.

Visna virus undergoes antigenic change during persistent infection of sheep. Antigenic variants of visna virus were compared by using the genomic RNA and analyzing the large RNase T1-resistant oligonucleotides. Mutants isolated from a persistently infected sheep contained a small number of changes in their oligonucleotide patterns when compared with parental virus. To determine whether the changes in the nucleotide structure were clustered in one region of the genome, we determined the order of the oligonucleotides of the parental and mutant RNAs along the genome with respect to the 3' polyadenylylated end. All but one difference between the parental strain and the antigenic mutant used for mapping were located within 2 kilobases from the 3' terminus. Nucleotide sequence analyses showed that several of the oligonucleotides that differed in the parental and mutant RNAs could be accounted for by single base changes.     

Influence of ionic strength on the binding of sodium aurothiosulphate to human serum albumin

The effect of ionic strength on the binding of aurothiosulphate to human serum albumin has been studied at 37 degrees and neutral pH by equilibrium dialysis in unbuffered solutions. The effect of ionic strength is more pronounced on the lower association constants K2-K4 than on the high association constant K1. Furthermore a reduction in the number of lower affinity binding sites is observed at low ionic strength. The main ionic strength dependence on the association constants agrees with the Debye-Hückel theory. The extrapolated values of K1 and the sum of K2 to K4 at zero ionic strength are 7.6 X 10(5) M-1 and 1.1 X 10(5) M-1, respectively. It is shown that the observed changes in pH of the albumin solutions during dialysis contains valuable information of the aurothiosulphate-albumin interaction. A molecular binding mechanism is discussed.     

Impaired insulin receptor binding and postbinding defects of adipocytes from normal and diabetic pregnant women

To evaluate the relative contribution of insulin binding and postbinding defects of glucose utilization in peripheral tissue during normal and diabetic pregnancy, we have studied the in vitro insulin action of isolated adipocytes from eight nondiabetic pregnant women and nine pregnant women with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus who were undergoing cesarian section. The pregnant women were compared with a matched group of normal nonpregnant women undergoing gynecologic surgery. Insulin binding to adipocytes measured at tracer insulin concentration was reduced by 45% (P less than 0.01) in normal pregnant women and by 30% (P less than 0.02) in pregnant women with diabetes. In contrast, no changes were found between the three groups in insulin binding to pure monocytes and erythrocytes. The glucose transport system in fat cells from both groups of pregnant women was characterized by impaired maximal (P less than 0.05) and half-maximal (P less than 0.05) response to insulin. When fat cell glucose metabolism was studied, pregnant diabetic women exhibited decreased basal lipogenesis (P less than 0.05) and decreased maximal responses of lipogenesis and glucose oxidation to insulin stimulation (P less than 0.05). Similar but less pronounced abnormalities were seen in glucose metabolism of adipocytes from nondiabetic pregnant women. In conclusion, both in late normal and diabetic pregnancy, insulin binding to adipocytes is significantly reduced and accompanied by decreased insulin sensitivity and reduced maximal insulin responsiveness of glucose transport and by impaired basal and maximally insulin-stimulated glucose metabolism.     

Is there need for both intravenous urography and voiding cystography in the evaluation of children with recurrent urinary tract infections?

Summary In a prospective study 33 children (aged 6–14 years) consecutively referred for recurrent urinary tract infections (RUTI), underwent intravenous urography (IVU) as well as voiding cystography (VC). Seven children had unilateral and two children had bilateral renal scarring, while ten children had unilateral and six children had bilateral vesico-ureteral reflux (VUR). Following normal IVU VUR was demonstrated in 22% of the ureters, but in all cases of low grade. In abnormal IVU, i.e. renal scarring or dilatation of the ureters, VC showed high grade VUR in 54% of the ureters. Based on these results and the current theories on the significance of patient age and the grade of VUR, we conclude that in case of a normal IVU in children with RUTI and age of at least 6 years, there is no reason to supplement the pre-treatment evaluation with VC.     

Epidemiology of juvenile chronic arthritis: risk dependent on sibship, parental income, and housing.

OBJECTIVE: We studied the socioeconomic background of children with juvenile chronic arthritis (JCA) diagnosed during the years 1988-91 in Denmark. The working hypothesis is that JCA may be triggered by one or several different infectious agents and that the amount of exposure to infectious agents in infancy and childhood affects the risk of JCA. METHODS: In this case-control study, we investigated socioeconomic variables prior to disease onset from national registers, primarily the Fertility Database of Statistics Denmark, in a national cohort of all 220 known cases of JCA fulfilling the EULAR criteria incident during the years 1988-91, identified from national and local diagnosis registers. There were 4 controls per case, matched for sex, age, and county of residence. Socioeconomic variables as risk factors were quantified by odds ratios, which are equivalent to relative risks of contracting JCA if exposed to a risk factor. RESULTS: Three socioeconomic variables were significantly and mutually independently associated with the risk of developing JCA during the following year. An only child had a risk of JCA 1.6 times that of a child with siblings. Children whose parents had a high income had a relative risk of 1.9. Children living in an urban flat had a risk 2.7 times that of children living on a farm. We found no space-time clustering of cases and no cyclical variations of incidence rates. CONCLUSION: The absence of clustering and of seasonal variation does not support a theory of triggering by infection. The hitherto unreported effects of the socioeconomic variables on the risk of JCA are of the same order of magnitude as reported for certain HLA alleles. Our findings do not lend full support to either of the 2 mechanisms, that growing up under either hygienic or unhygienic conditions increases the risk of JCA, and lack an obvious biological explanation.