Peritoneal interleukin-10 increases with decrease in activated CD4+ T lymphocytes in women with endometriosis

This study was performed to determine whether peritoneal T cells are suppressed in the CD4+ or CD8+ T cell subpopulation and whether they are Th1 or Th2 predominant in women with endometriosis. Immune cells in the peritoneal fluid (PF) were obtained from women undergoing laparoscopy for endometriosis or tubal ligation. Three-colour flow cytometry was utilized for immunophenotyping of peritoneal fluid mononuclear cells (PFMC). Concentrations of interleukin (IL)-4, IL-5 and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) produced by PFMC with and without mitogen stimulation and concentrations of IL-10 and IL-12 were measured in PF. The peritoneal T lymphocytes were predominantly of the Th1 type that produced much more IFN-gamma but less IL-4 or IL-5 in women with or without endometriosis. The decrease in peritoneal lymphocytes was significant in the HLA-DR+ CD4+ CD3+ subpopulation and the concentrations of peritoneal IL-10 and IL-12 were significantly elevated in women with early stage endometriosis. There was impaired IL- 5 production by PFMC after phytohaemagglutinin stimulation in women with advanced stage endometriosis. We concluded that the activated peritoneal CD4+ Th1 cells from the women with endometriosis were decreased in number. The suppression of these T cells may be due to the elevation of IL-10 and IL-12 in the peritoneal fluid.      

莨菪类药物对大鼠胃粘膜损伤的影响

本文观察了莨菪类药物(东茛菪碱、樟柳碱、山茛菪碱)对大鼠三种实验性胃溃疡的影响,并对其作用机制进行了初步的探讨。结果表明:莨菪类药物有对抗大鼠应激性胃溃疡、药物性胃溃疡及慢性胃溃疡的作用,且有量效依赖关系;对胃液和血液等各项生化指标分析表明,这类药物有抑制胃酸分泌、降低胃蛋白酶活性、增强胃粘液屏障,提高血清胃泌素浓度的作用。提示这些结果可能与其抗溃疡效应有关。     

Roundtable Discussion: “No One Can Condemn You to a C‐Section!”

Abstract: The stories in this Roundtable Discussion are related by two women whose babies were born recently in Canadian hospitals. Each woman had undergone a cesarean delivery for her first child, and whereas Sophia delivered her second baby by vaginal birth after a cesarean (VBAC), Marie was unable to find a practitioner or hospital that would allow her to have a VBAC for her second birth. The women describe how they feel about their choices and experiences. Their two accounts and the issues that they raise are discussed in commentaries by a family physician, midwife, doula, and obstetrician. (BIRTH 37:3 September 2010)     

Understanding Maternal Breastfeeding Confidence: A Gadamerian Hermeneutic Analysis of Women's Stories

Our aim in this Gadamerian hermeneutic study was to understand maternal breastfeeding confidence and its meaning through listening to women's voices describing their experiences within the context of the United States. We asked 13 women, aged 23 to 42 years, who had breastfed a child within the last 2 years to tell us their breastfeeding stories. Women experienced maternal breastfeeding confidence as a dynamic interaction between their expectations, their infant^’s breastfeeding behavior, and sources of support. They described experiences that enhanced or diminished their confidence. Health professionals can use these findings to plan approaches that promote and support maternal breastfeeding confidence.     

Women's ways of knowing in nursing and critical thinking.

The purpose of this longitudinal qualitative study was (1) to extend the work of Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, and Tarule by interviewing female university nursing students to determine their "way of knowing" according to the Women's Ways of Knowing (WWK) schema and (2) to determine what relationship this way of knowing might have with critical thinking when accumulating a specific body of knowledge such as nursing. Interviews were conducted with 21 sophomore nursing students. Fourteen were reinterviewed their junior year, and 10 were interviewed or participated in a focus group their senior year. The procedural knowledge categories of separate and connected knowing became the focus of data analysis through the constant comparative method. Procedures for connected knowing were illuminated. Connected knowing was found to be congruent with nursing and the ways these women wanted to be as nurses. Separate knowing was found to be incongruent with nursing except for critical thinking purposes. Contrary to the notion that critical thinking is principled rather than procedural, procedural knowing, according to WWK, became the principle on which these women based their nursing actions, moving them to constructed knowers and caring, critical thinkers as they experienced nursing education.     

聚丙交酯复合乙交酯微球经肝动脉化疗栓塞术治疗肝癌的动物实验

目的：在肝细胞癌动物模型上观察聚丙交酯复合乙交酯（PLcG)微球经肝动脉化疗栓塞术（TACE）治疗肝癌的疗效。方法：在雄性ACI大鼠（15例）肝包膜下植入Morris Hepatoma 3924A肝癌小瘤块（1mm3),移植术中13天时行磁共振检查,再经正中腹切开术和经胃十二指肠动脉逆行插管进行以下介入治疗：治疗组A（40mg PLcG 0.05mg丝裂霉素,4例）,对照组B（0．05mg丝裂霉素＋0．04mg碘化油＋肝动脉结扎,4例）和对照组C（1．5ml生理盐水,7例）,插管术后13天再次行磁共振术观察肝肿瘤体积变化。结果：在C组,肿瘤体积在实验期间增长27．12倍,在B组,肿瘤体积增长3．76倍,而在A组,肿瘤体积仅增长2．87倍。A组与C组肿瘤体积增长率在t检验时均有显著性差异（P＜0．05）,结论：在动物实验中将PLcG微球运用于TACE可明显抑制肝肿瘤生长。     

LASSBio-881: an N-acylhydrazone transient receptor potential vanilloid subfamily type 1 antagonist orally effective against the hypernociception induced by capsaicin or partial sciatic ligation

Background and purpose:

Compound LASSBio-881 is an orally effective antinociceptive that binds to cannabinoid receptors and is active mainly on the neurogenic component of pain models. We investigated whether transient receptor potential vanilloid subfamily type 1 (TRPV1) channels are involved in the effects of LASSBio-881.

Experimental approach:

Modulation of capsaicin (CAP)- and low pH-induced currents was evaluated in TRPV1-expressing Xenopus oocytes. In vivo effects were evaluated in CAP-induced acute and inflammatory changes in nociception, as well as in partial sciatic ligation-induced thermal hypernociception.

Key results:

LASSBio-881 inhibited TRPV1 currents elicited by CAP with an IC₅₀ of 14 µM, and inhibited proton-gated currents by 70% at 20 µM. Functional interaction with CAP was surmountable. Locally applied LASSBio-881 decreased time spent in CAP-elicited nocifensive behaviour by 30%, and given orally it reduced measures of CAP- or carrageenan-evoked thermal hypernociception by 60 and 40% respectively. In addition, LASSBio-881 decreased the paw withdrawal responses to thermal stimuli of animals with sciatic neuropathy 7–11 days after nerve ligation, at a dose of 300 µmol·kg⁻¹·day⁻¹ p.o. At this dose, hyperthermia was not observed within 4 h following oral administration.

Conclusions and implications:

LASSBio-881 is a TRPV1 antagonist that apparently competes with CAP. Accordingly, LASSBio-881 inhibited nociception in models of acute, inflammatory and neuropathic pain presumed to involve TRPV1 signalling. These in vivo actions were not hindered by hyperthermia, a common side effect of other TRPV1 antagonists. We propose that the antinociceptive properties of LASSBio-881 are due to TRPV1 antagonism, although other molecular interactions may contribute to the effects of this multi-target drug candidate.     

Translocation 4; 11 in acute lymphoblastic leukemia: clinical characteristics and prognostic significance

Banded bone marrow chromosome analyses have been done on 83 unselected patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Seven patients, all with non-T, non-B ALL, had a translocation involving the long arms of chromosomes 4 and 11. Five of these patients, 4 children and 1 adult, were first studied at diagnosis, and the t(4;11) (q21;q23) was the only karyotypic abnormality. All 5 presented with a marked leukocytosis (greater than 150 X 10(9)/liter). Four of these 5 patients achieved a complete remission following the same intensive treatment regimen; however, remission duration and survival were very short (medians 2.5 and 8 mo, respectively). The fifth patient is currently receiving induction chemotherapy. The remaining 2 patients, both adults, were studied in relapse only, and had other karyotypic abnormalities in addition to the t(4;11). One of these relapse patients was a female whose clinical presentation and course were similar to those above. The last patient was a male who presented with a leukocyte count of 7 X 10(9)/liter and maintained an initial complete remission for 37 mo. Our data suggest that patients who have a t(4;11) (q21;q23) at the time of diagnosis of ALL have a poor prognosis with conventional therapy and require a new therapeutic approach.