Perforated colorectal neoplasms: correlation of clinical, contrast enema, and CT examinations

Results of clinical, contrast enema (CE), and computed tomographic (CT) examinations in 39 patients with perforated colorectal neoplasms were retrospectively reviewed. Twenty patients were toxemic at initial presentation, but in only four patients was the diagnosis of perforated colorectal neoplasm initially suspected clinically. CE study was performed in 22 patients and enabled the diagnosis of perforated neoplasm in 11 cases, neoplasm alone in eight, and neither neoplasm nor perforation in three. CT was performed in 38 patients and enabled the diagnosis of perforated neoplasm in 36; pericolic phlegmon but no mass lesion was evident in two. In 16 patients, CT also demonstrated metastatic disease. Because of its reliability in establishing the diagnosis and staging the extent of the inflammatory and neoplastic disease, CT is indicated in cases of suspected or proved perforated colorectal neoplasm and in cases in which CE study findings are indeterminate or suggestive of perforated neoplasm.     

Quality of life of pancreatic transplant recipients.

OBJECTIVE--To comprehensively assess and compare pancreas/kidney transplant recipients' quality of life. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS--This quasi-experimental comparative study of 31 successful and 13 failed pancreas transplant recipients collected data from persons who had received pancreas and kidney transplants > or = 6 mo prior at a university tertiary care center. Physical and social function, symptoms, mental state, and sense of well-being of the recipients were assessed. RESULTS--Groups did not differ significantly regarding age, gender, marital status, onset or length of diabetes, comorbidity, type of prior dialysis, current kidney function, length of time since transplant, physical activity, symptom burden, emotional state, feelings of well-being, and present quality of life and health. A significant time by group interaction occurred for quality of life (P = 0.0013) and health (P = 0.0001). The successful group indicated that both quality of life and health were significantly better than in the past, and continued improvement was expected. The unsuccessful group did not have this perception. Members of the failed group were significantly more satisfied with their social support. The unsuccessful group's major concerns related to diabetes, not immunosuppression. CONCLUSIONS--Recipients of successful pancreas transplants perceived their improvement in health and quality of life to be significantly greater than the unsuccessful recipients.     

Adrenal carcinoma tumor progression and penultimate cell surface oligosaccharides.

Many previous studies have implicated cell surface saccharides, and sialylglycoconjugates in particular, as important mediators of tumor cell metastasis. In this report, we have used three different specific sialidases and a highly sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic sialic acid assay to probe the cell surfaces of several murine adrenal carcinoma variants. In contrast to several earlier studies on other metastatic variants, we find no significant differences in the overall levels of cell surface or total cellular sialic acid among three Y1 murine adrenal carcinoma variants with widely different metastatic phenotypes. However, using highly purified, linkage-specific sialyltransferases, in conjunction with V. cholerae sialidase, to probe the cell surface saccharide topography of specific penultimate oligosaccharides, we do find striking differences in oligosaccharide structures underlying the sialic acid moieties. Two tumorigenic and metastatic variants (F2 and F4) contain about 6-fold more penultimate Gal beta 1----4GlcNAc sialylation sites than a related tumorigenic but nonmetastatic variant (HSR) when CMP-[3H]-N-acetylneuraminic acid and the Gal beta 1----4GlcNAc alpha 2,6 sialyltransferase are used to probe the adrenal carcinoma cell surfaces. The metastatic variants also are found to contain 4- to 4.5-fold more Gal beta 1----3GalNAc sialylation sites than the nonmetastatic variant when the Gal beta 1----3GalNAc alpha 2,3 sialyltransferase is used as a cell surface probe. Earlier work, which used the same sialyltransferase probes on sialidase-treated murine melanoma variants (A. Passaniti and G. W. Hart, J. Biol. Chem., 263: 7591-7603, 1988), also showed similar quantitative differences in penultimate structures between metastatic variants. However, in contrast to the adrenal carcinoma cells, the highly metastatic melanoma cells have severalfold lower levels of sialylatable penultimate Gal beta 1----4GlcNAc and Gal beta 1----3GalNAc saccharides compared to their nonmetastatic counterparts. Thus, while the precise structural alterations or surface accessibilities of penultimate saccharides appear to be cell type dependent, these results suggest that pronounced changes in penultimate cell surface sialo-oligosaccharide moieties occur during progression to a malignant phenotype in two widely different tumor systems. These types of alterations in the underlying penultimate oligosaccharide structures of cell surface sialoglycoconjugates may be a common feature of highly metastatic cells arising from very different tumor cell types.     

Metallothionein in rat lung during postnatal development

Zn and Cu concentration, content, and distribution in lung were quantitated in neonatal and adult Lewis rats. Total lung Cu and Zn content rose dramatically during postnatal development, paralleling increases in lung and body weight. Cu concentration was 2-fold higher in adult lung than in neonatal lung whereas Zn concentration was unaffected by developmental age. A Cu-containing protein with an approximate molecular weight of 10,000 Da was identified immunologically as metallothionein (MT). At term, native MT concentration in the lung was 4-fold higher than in adult lungs. By day 4 postpartum, MT concentration was reduced by half and reached a level characteristic of the adult by 7 days postpartum. MT was localized in nuclear and cytoplasmic compartments of positive lung cells by immunofluorescent techniques; initially, nuclear MT staining was more intense than cytoplasmic staining.     

Keratan sulphate in rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and inflammatory diseases.

Serum concentrations of antigenic keratan sulphate determined by an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with a monoclonal antibody were studied in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), osteoarthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, other inflammatory diseases, and a large control group of women without arthritis. Mean keratan sulphate concentrations were low in 117 women with RA compared with 227 female control subjects matched for age drawn from a community survey. There were significant correlations between serum keratan sulphate concentrations in patients with RA and serum C reactive protein and the erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Serum keratan sulphate concentrations were also low in 29 men and women with ankylosing spondylitis and 29 patients with arthritis and high concentrations of C reactive protein. In 98 women undergoing an operation for benign breast disease there were decreases in serum keratan sulphate concentrations after the operation which correlated with doses in serum C reactive protein. No differences were found in keratan sulphate concentrations in 137 women with osteoarthritis compared with controls. Within the group with osteoarthritis there were no differences for the various joint groups and there was no obvious correlation with radiographic severity or progression. These findings suggest serum keratan sulphate is unlikely to be useful as a diagnostic marker in osteoarthritis or RA but indicate a role for inflammation in the regulation of cartilage loss.