Case Control Study of Chronic Bronchitis in glass Bangle Workers

Eighty-nine cases of chronic bronchitis were matched against167 asymptomatic controls from the glass bangle industry ofFirozabad. Factors of age, social status, smoking habit andduration of exposure were studied. Duration of exposure wasfound to be a factor contributing significantly to the causationof disease. Requests for reprints should be addressed to: Dr B. N. Gupta, Division of Epidemilogy, Industrial Toxicology Research Centre, Mahatma Gandhi Marg, Lucknow P.O. Box 80, 226001, India     

Therapeutic efficacy of miconazole on deep-seated fungal infections in the respiratory tract system

We evaluated the therapeutic efficacy of miconazole (MCZ, Florid-F inj.), a new antifungal agent for parenteral use, in deep-seated fungal infections of respiratory tract system. A daily dose of 400-1,800 mg of MCZ was given intravenously for 12-38 days (mean: 23.4 days) to 7 patients: 2 patients with pulmonary aspergillosis, 1 patient with bronchial aspergillosis, 1 patient with pulmonary candidiasis and 3 patients with candidemia. One additional patient with pulmonary aspergillosis received three instillations of 20 mg of MCZ into the thoracic cavity. The clinical effects were excellent in 1, good in 4 and poor in 3 patients. The efficacy rate was 100% in 5 cases with respiratory fungal infections but 3 cases with candidemia did not respond well to the treatment. Four strains each of Aspergillus sp. and Candida sp. were identified as causative organisms. Seven of the 8 strains were eradicated by administration of MCZ. Side effects observed were irritation and heat in a leg in 1 patient, hyperlipoidemia in 2 patients and eosinophilia in 1 patient. The adverse reactions disappeared after the completion of the therapy. From the above results, we conclude that MCZ is one of the most useful antifungal agents for parenteral use as a first choice on deep-seated fungal infections in the respiratory tract.     

Wortmannin-mediated inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activity triggers apoptosis in normal and neoplastic B lymphocytes which are in cell cycle

The B cell functional response following ligation of surface(s) lgM is dependent upon the differentiation stage of the populationstudied: cross-linking slgM promotes proliferation of restingtonsillar follicular mantle (FM) B lymphocytes but induces apoptosisin the susceptible Epstein- Barr virus genome-negative Burkittlymphoma (BL) cell line Ramos (Ramos-BL). This study investigateswhether phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (Pl3-kinase), which hasbeen reported to be intimately involved in the regulation ofcellular growth, plays a role in the regulation of these sig-promoted B cell responses, and uses the selective and irreversibleinhibitor of Pl3-kinase activity, wortmannin (Wm). In Ramos-BLB cells, at 8 h post-treatment, Wm triggers a transient increasein apoptosis of 16 ± 6.9% with a concomitant cellularloss of 16 ± 6.1% from the G₁ phase of cell cycle; [³H]thymidineincorporation also decreases by 33 ± 5.0%, from 37,274c.p.m. ± 10% to 25,127 c.p.m. ± 4.0%. Moreover,at 72 h culture, Wm inhibits anti-lgM-induced FM B lymphocytelevels of [³H]thymidine incorporation typically by 47% and triggers80% apoptosis from the G₀G₁ phase of cell cycle. Ramos-BL Bcells exhibit high basal levels of Pl3-kinase activity, as determinedby immunoprecipitation with antibody to the p85 regulatory subunitof Pl3-kinase and ³²P incorporation into phosphatidylinositol,which is not significantly affected by anti-lgM stimulation;by contrast, anti-lgM stimulates significant Pl3-kinase activityover negligible basal levels in FM B lymphocytes. Pre-treatmentwith Wm inhibits Pl3-kinase activity in both cell types. Takentogether these data indicate that in Ramos-BL B cells slgM-triggeredgrowth arrest and apoptosis is Pl3- kinase independent, whereasPl3-kinase activity is critical for slgM-triggered mitogenesisof FM B lymphocytes. Thus Pl3-kinase plays a pivotal role inthe regulation of both normal and neoplastic B lymphocyte progressionthrough the cell cycle, such that if this Pl3-kinase-dependentpathway is inhibited these cells default to apoptosis.     

FETAL SCALP BLOOD SAMPLING

Fetal scalp blood sampling (FSBS), in conjunction with fetal heart rate monitoring, is a method of fetal surveillance that may avoid cesarean delivery of the healthy fetus or indicate the need for immediate delivery of a compromised fetus. Some researchers have recently begun to question the efficacy of FSBS. In this article, three nurse-midwives discuss FSBS as a tool in assessing fetal well-being during labor and consider whether FSBS is a nurse-midwifery procedure.     

Study on the lymphatic flow of the lower gastric region for radical lymphadenectomy in advanced lower gastric cancer

A prognosis of patients with a curative resected advanced cancer of the lower gastric region was worse than that of the other region of the stomach. The 5 year survival rate was only 47.3%. One of the main reasons was that a rate of lymph node recurrence was higher. In this point of view, we studied on lymphatic flow of the lower gastric region using an activated carbon particle (CH40). Lymph nodes were stained black soon after the injection of CH40 into the lower gastric wall at laparotomy. The black stained rate of an each regional lymph node was as follows. 3. 58%, 4. 17%, 5. 50%, 6. 25%, 1. 21%, 7. 58%, 8. 83%, 9. 58%, 11. 17% and 12. 33% in case of injection into the greater curvature and and 4. 31%, 6. 100%, 8. 25%, 9. 25%, 14V and 56% in case of injection into the lesser curvature. The stained rate was relatively high in 12 and 14V lymph node which we had not routinely dissected. The rates of lymph nodes stained black were related to those of cancer metastasis. The results suggest that lymphadenectomy of 12 for the cancer at the lesser curvature and that of 14V for the cancer at the greater curvature might make a prognosis of lower gastric cancer better.     

Laser-induced fluorescence studies of the biodistribution of carotenoporphyrins in mice.

The biodistribution of two recently developed tumour markers, trimethylated (CP(Me)3) and trimethoxylated (CP(OMe)3) carotenoporphyrin, was investigated by means of laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) after i.v. injection into 38 tumour-bearing (MS-2 fibrosarcoma) female Balb/c mice. At 3, 24, 48 or 96 h after administration, the carotenoporphyrin fluorescence was measured in tumoral and peritumoral tissue, as well as in the abdominal, thoracic and cranial cavities. The fluorescence was induced by a nitrogen laser-pumped dye laser, emitting light at 425 nm, and analysed by a polychromator equipped with an image-intensified CCD camera. The fluorescence was evaluated at 490, 655 and 720 nm: the second and third wavelengths represent the carotenoporphyrin (CP)-related peaks, whereas the first one is close to the peak of the tissue autofluorescence. The tumour and the liver were the two tissue types showing the strongest carotenoporphyrin-related fluorescence, whereas the cerebral cortex and muscle consistently exhibited weak substance-related fluorescence. In most tissue types, the fluorescence intensities decreased over time. A few exceptions were observed, notably the liver, in which the intensity remained remarkably constant over the time period investigated.     

Bone mineral density in patients with atopic dermatitis

With the aim of evaluating the systemic effect of glucocorticoids (GCs), we measured bone mineral density (BMD) in 29 adult patients with chronic atopic dermatitis. BMD was measured in the lumbar spine and in the left femoral neck using dual–energy X–ray absorptiometry (DEXA). In the right calcaneus. BMD was measured using broad–spectrum ultrasound attenuation (BUA). For BMD, the patients with dermatitis did not differ from healthy controls. We did not find any statistically significant correlation between BMD and single risk factors, such as the barrier function of the skin (P = 0.08), the duration of the dermatitis (P = 0.58), and the use of oral GCs (P = 0.27) and potent topical GCs (P = 0.10). However, selected patients with severe disease, needing topical GCs of higher potency than hydrocortisone (HC), had lower values for lumbar BMD than the patients who had not used these preparations (–1.0 vs. +0.1 SD; P = 0.026). The lower lumbar BMD in this group could be explained by a long-term systemic effect of GCs.