Results of Pancreatic Blood Shunting into the Systemic Blood Flow in Insulin-Dependent Diabetics

A new surgical method of treating patients with unstable insulin-dependent diabetes (IDD) has been developed-that of surgically shunting pancreatic blood into the systemic blood flow with the purpose of creating a more optimal interaction of subcutaneously administered insulin and pancreas-secreted glucagon.The long term results of the operation depend on the patency of a splenorenal anastomosis. This has been studied by following up 137 patients over periods from half a year to three years. Anastomotic patency was determined by renal and splenic venography and celiacy arteriography, which revealed a patent anastomosis in 114 patients, and an obliterated one in 23.Patients with patent anastomoses showed a lowering of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA_lc) from 13.3±0.03% to 9.3±0.6%, p<0.05, a decrease of the injected insulin dose from 0.97±0.04 to 0.72±0.03 U/ kg, p<0.05, disappearance or considerable abatement of pain in the lower extremities, and of hypoglycemia. Improvement of clinical status was accompanied by an increase of glucagon in the systemic blood stream from 60.8±10.1 to 91.5±9.4 pg/ml, p<0.05, a rise of tissue oxygen pressure, PO₂, from 49.2±2.4 to 58.1±1.9 mm Hg, p<0.05. In patients with oblivious anastomoses postoperative HbA_lc levels did not change from preoperative values: 12.9±0.4% and 12.8±0.7%, p<0.05, respectively; the insulin dose remained the same-0.91 ±0.07 U/kg and 0.85±0.07 U/kg, p<0.05, no rise of the systemic blood glucagon content was noted, and former complaints continued.The suggested method is not an alternative for insulin therapy, but considerably enhances its potential.     

羟甲基戊二酰辅酶A还原酶抑制剂的研究进展

目的：介绍ＨＭＧＣｏＡ 还原酶抑制剂类药的研究进展,为临床合理用药提供参考。方法：以国内外发表的论文为基础,经分析,归纳,从药理作用、体内过程、临床应用、副作用及产品发展概况等方面介绍洛伐他汀、普伐他汀、辛伐他汀、氟伐他汀及西伐他汀等药品。结果与结论：大量资料表明,ＨＭＧＣｏＡ 还原酶抑制剂是一类疗效显著、毒副作用少,耐受性好的理想降血脂药物,该类药的问世为治疗高胆固醇血症开辟了新途径。     

1141644472Surface Enhanced Laser Desorption and Ionization (SELDI) mass spectrometry for investigation of human embryo conditioned IVF culture medium

Background:  Fetal programming is the notion that adverse environmental conditions in utero can cause short term survival adaptations that may have long-term consequences, such as chronic disease in subsequent lifetime. Recently, some authors reported that the increase of allergy prevalence in childhood may be linked with fetal immune development. In this regard, literature survey inspired to study the influence of two conjugated linoleic acid (CLA)-isomers (c9,t11 and t10,c12) on parameters of the immune system in pregnancy.
Methods:  Lymphocytes from allergic and non-allergic mothers, cord blood of their newborns, and the decidual layer of term placentae were isolated and cultured for 2 days and supplemented or not with relevant allergens, c9,t11 CLA, t10,c12 CLA or linoleic acid, respectively. Expression of CD69 (activation marker) and CD71 (transferrin receptor; proliferation marker) on B and T lymphocytes and T helper cell type 1 (Th1) and Th2 cytokines in culture supernatant were analyzed.
Results:  Both CLA isomers led to an increase of the IFN-γ/IL-10 ratio in supernatants of peripheral maternal and cord blood cells from allergic patients and non-allergic-control. CLA supplementation decreased IL-10 secretion of peripheral maternal and decidual lymphocytes and the portion of CD71⁺ maternal B cells. Linoleic acid induced a similar effect.
Conclusion:  An immunological effect of CLA on maternal and fetal lymphocyte responses could be demonstrated. It would be expected that further investigations could reveal differences in effects of CLA and linoleic acid.     

Maturation of human spermatozoa (from selected epididymides of prostatic carcinoma patients) with respect to their morphology and ability to undergo the acrosome reaction

Spermatozoa were recovered form three regions of the epididymisof six prostatic carcinoma patients. After washing and incubatingfor 3 h in Ham's F-10 medium, with or without 5 µM A23187for the last 30 min, spermatozoa were tested for vitality byhypotonic swelling and permeated with methanol to detect theacrosome with peanut agglutinin. Whereas the extent of spontaneousacrosome reactions was similar for spermatozoa from all regionsof the duct, 17 and 28% of spermatozoa from all regions of theduct, 17 and 28% of spermatozoa from the corpus and cauda epididymidisrespectively, responded to stimulation by A23187 with acrosomereactions but there was no stimulation by A23187 of spermatozoafrom the efferent ducts. The percentage of morphologically normalspermatozoa increased stepwise towards the distal regions, withabnormalities being mostly enlarged heads in more proximal regions:they were largely absent form the cauda epididymidis. Spermhead swelling was similarly observed in cynomolgus monkey spermatozoafrom the caput epididymidis but not the more distal regions.These forms were not observed when spermatozoa were fixed beforesmearing, indicating that they were artefacts of sperm preparation.The changes in the susceptibility of non-fixed epididymal spermatozoato produce morphological artefacts and the gain in their acrosomalresponse to ionophore demonstrate maturational changes of spermatozoain the human epididymis.     

Ineffectiveness of sun awareness posters in dermatology clinics

Background Although sun awareness posters have been used in doctors’ offices and clinics for decades to promote sun protective behaviour, there is no evidence of their usefulness. Objectives To investigate whether sun awareness posters lead to inquiry of skin cancer and sun protection measures. Method Patients considered at risk for skin cancer seen at a dermatology clinic were randomly asked to complete a questionnaire designed to assess the effectiveness of three different sun awareness posters placed in patient rooms. The posters were selected on the basis of their catchy slogan and eye‐appealing images, and included those featuring parental interest, sex appeal and informative advice. Results Only half of the patients noticed the posters (50.6%). The poster with sex appeal garnered the most attention (67.8%), followed by the informative poster (49.2%) and the parental interest poster (35.8%) (P < 0.001). Although patients who noticed the sun awareness poster inquired about cutaneous cancers and sun protection practices twice as often as those who did not notice the poster, only one‐tenth of such inquiries were attributed to the poster (～5% of the target population). As reported in the questionnaire, the posters themselves were less effective than the advice of physicians in influencing patient attitudes towards sun protection measures. Conclusion Organizations that produce and disseminate posters should consider beyond focus groups when they design their posters and should consider field testing their products to ensure that they are reaching the targeted audience and are having the expected beneficial effect, otherwise their posters are simply decorative.     

Follicular fluid of women with endometriosis stimulates the proliferation of endometrial stromal cells

The peritoneal environment in endometriosis is known to have growth- promoting effects on endometrial cells. To investigate whether follicular fluid, a contributor to the peritoneal fluid, stimulates endometrial cell proliferation, we incubated endometrial stromal cells in culture with various dilutions of follicular fluid obtained from women with or without endometriosis undergoing oocyte retrieval for in- vitro fertilization. Cell proliferation assays were performed using follicular fluid from 28 women (without endometriosis, n = 13; with endometriosis, n = 15) in eight different endometrial stromal cell culture set-ups. Cell proliferation was assessed by a colorimetric method. Maximum cell proliferation was detected when endometrial cells were incubated with 50% dilution of follicular fluid for 48 h. Follicular fluid from women with endometriosis induced significantly higher cell proliferation than follicular fluid from women without endometriosis (P < 0.05). Our findings indicate that follicular fluid contents may contribute to the growth-promoting factors in the peritoneal fluid of women with endometriosis.      

Differential effects of antigens from L. braziliensis isolates from disseminated and cutaneous leishmaniasis on in vitro cytokine production

Background  

Disseminated leishmaniasis is an emerging infectious disease, mostly due to L. braziliensis, which has clinical and histopathological features distinct from cutaneous leishmaniasis.