肠源性内毒素血症与肝病

近年来,肠源性内毒素血症(intestinal endotoxemia,IETM)与肝病的关系日益受到重视.临床观察表明,各种急、慢性肝炎、肝硬变和重型肝炎患者内毒素血症(endotoxemia,ETM)发生率有不同程度升高.内毒素与肝损害之间存在着密切的关系[1-3].二者可互为因果,从而对肝病的发生发展产生重要影响.特别是内毒素作用于肝脏后,引起多种细胞因子分泌与释放,导致肝脏损害进一步加重,甚至出现黄疸、出血、肾功能衰竭与肝性脑病等肝功能衰竭临床综合征.     

差示分光光度法测定制剂中硝苯啶的含量

利用硝苯啶溶液对光不稳定的性质,在波长350nm处测其光照前后的吸收度差值(△A),△A与硝苯啶乙醇溶液浓度在10～60μg/ml范围内呈线性关系。使用本法对硝苯啶片进行了含量测定,并对其类似物进行了干扰试验,排除了组分的干扰。该法的精密度日内为1.3％,日间为1.9％,平均回收率为99.96％。方法简便、快速,不需色谱等分离手段即可达到分析目的,专一性、重复性均较好,是分析硝苯啶制剂的一种新途径。     

芳香稠环取代酰氯的合成

芳香稠环取代酰氯的合成胡文祥恽榴红张连锋（国防科工委军事医药研究发展中心，北京１００１０１；军事医学科学院毒物药物研究所，北京１００８５０）许多高效药物和激素用量甚少，分布全身代谢后血药浓度更低，并且它们又往往不含强烈的发色基团，因此在药代...     

AS-1 red cells for neonatal transfusions: a randomized trial assessing donor exposure and safety

BACKGROUND: Despite recent optimism about the use of erythropoietin therapy to treat the anemia of prematurity, very-low-birth-weight infants who are severely ill receive multiple red cell (RBC) transfusions. Many physicians transfuse relatively fresh RBCs to newborn infants, exposing them to multiple donors and possibly increasing their risk of acquiring transfusion-transmitted infections. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: A randomized, single-blind clinical trial was conducted to determine, as the primary endpoint, whether RBCs collected from one dedicated donor and stored for < or = 42 days in AS-1 storage media could safely supply all small-volume RBC transfusions (15 mL/kg/dose) needed by very-low-birth-weight infants (0.6-1.3 kg) during the first 84 days of life. Secondary endpoints were the assessment of the possible adverse clinical and biochemical effects of transfusing AS- 1 RBCs stored for < or = 42 days. Control infants received identical nursery care, except they received fresh RBCs stored < or = 7 days in CPDA-1. RESULTS: Infants transfused with AS-1 RBCs were exposed to a mean of 1.6 donors,-compared with an exposure to 3.7 donors for infants given CPDA-1 RBCs (p < 0.05). Neither clinical transfusion reactions nor the results of multiple laboratory tests were significantly different in infants who received slow transfusions (15 mL/kg) of AS-1 RBCs stored for < or = 42 days and in infants who received the same volume of CPDA-1 RBCs stored < or = 7 days. CONCLUSION: AS-1 RBCs, usually from only one dedicated donor, can safely supply all RBCs needed by most very-low-birth-weight infants-a practice that decreases donor exposure and likely increases transfusion safety.     

Divergent Functional Effects of Sazetidine-A and Varenicline During Nicotine Withdrawal

Smoking is the largest preventable cause of death in the United States. Furthermore, a recent study found that <10% of quit attempts resulted in continuous abstinence for 1 year. With the introduction of pharmacotherapies like Chantix (varenicline), a selective α4β2 nicotinic partial agonist, successful quit attempts have significantly increased. Therefore, novel subtype-specific nicotinic drugs, such as sazetidine-A, present a rich area for investigation of therapeutic potential in smoking cessation. The present studies examine the anxiety-related behavioral and functional effects of the nicotinic partial agonists varenicline and sazetidine-A during withdrawal from chronic nicotine in mice. Our studies indicate that ventral hippocampal-specific infusions of sazetidine-A, but not varenicline, are efficacious in reducing nicotine withdrawal-related anxiety-like phenotypes in the novelty-induced hypophagia (NIH) paradigm. To further investigate functional differences between these partial agonists, we utilized voltage-sensitive dye imaging (VSDi) in ventral hippocampal slices to determine the effects of sazetidine-A and varenicline in animals chronically treated with saline, nicotine, or undergoing 24 h withdrawal. These studies demonstrate a functional dissociation of varenicline and sazetidine-A on hippocampal network activity, which is directly related to previous drug exposure. Furthermore, the effects of the nicotinic partial agonists in VSDi assays are significantly correlated with their behavioral effects in the NIH test. These findings highlight the importance of drug history in understanding the mechanisms through which nicotinic compounds may be aiding smoking cessation in individuals experiencing withdrawal-associated anxiety.     

Tumorigenic potential of circulating prostate tumor cells

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have received intense scientific scrutiny because they travel in the bloodstream and are therefore well situated to mediate hematogenous metastasis. However, the potential of CTCs to actually form new tumors has not been tested. Popular methods of isolating CTCs are biased towards larger, more differentiated, non-viable cells, creating a barrier to testing their tumor forming potential. Without relying on cell size or the expression of differentiation markers, our objective was to isolate viable prostate CTCs from mice and humans and assay their ability to initiate new tumors. Therefore, blood was collected from transgenic adenocarcinoma of the mouse prostate (TRAMP) mice and from human patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (PCa). Gradient density centrifugation or red cell lysis was used to remove erythrocytes, and then leukocytes were depleted by magnetic separation using CD45 immunoaffinity beads. CTCs fractions from TRAMP mice and PCa patients were verified by immunocytochemical staining for cytokeratin 8 and EpCAM, and inoculated into immunodeficient mice. TRAMP tumor growth was monitored by palpation. Human tumor growth formation was monitored up to 8 months by ultrasensitive PSA assays performed on mouse serum. We found viable tumor cells present in the bloodstream that were successfully isolated from mice without relying on cell surface markers. Two out of nine immunodeficient mice inoculated with TRAMP CTCs developed massive liver metastases. CTCs were identified in blood from PCa patients but did not form tumors. In conclusion, viable CTCs can be isolated without relying on epithelial surface markers or size fractionation. TRAMP CTCs were tumorigenic, so CTCs isolated in this way contain viable tumor-initiating cells. Only two of nine hosts grew TRAMP tumors and none of the human CTCs formed tumors, which suggests that most CTCs have relatively low tumor-forming potential. Future studies should identify and target the highly tumorigenic cells.     

The association of Triatoma maculata (Ericsson 1848) with the gecko Thecadactylus rapicauda (Houttuyn 1782) (Reptilia: Squamata: Gekkonidae): a strategy of domiciliation of the Chagas disease peridomestic vector in Venezuela?

Objective

To investigate the bioecological relationship between Chagas disease peridomestic vectors and reptiles as source of feeding.

Methods

In a three-story building, triatomines were captured by direct search and electric vacuum cleaner search in and outside the building. Then, age structure of the captured Triatoma maculata (T. maculata) were identified and recorded. Reptiles living in sympatric with the triatomines were also searched.

Results

T. maculata were found living sympatric with geckos (Thecadactylus rapicauda) and they bit residents of the apartment building in study. A total of 1 448 individuals of T. maculata were captured within three days, of which 74.2% (1 074 eggs) were eggs, 21.5% were nymphs at different stages, and 4.3% were adults.

Conclusions

The association of T. maculata and T. rapicauda is an effective strategy of colonizing dwellings located in the vicinity of the habitat where both species are present; and therefore, could have implications of high importance in the intradomiciliary transmission of Chagas disease.