Disappearance Of Catecholamine Fluorescence From The Adrenergic Nerves In Arterial Grafts In Rats: An Experimental Fluorescence Histochemical Study

The disappearance of catecholamine fluorescence from the noradrenaline-containing sympathetic nerve fibres after arterial transplantation was studied using a femoral artery graft sutured to rat carotid artery. Glyoxylic acid-induced fluorescence was used to demonstrate adrenergic nerves histochemically. At six hours the network of fibres had started to degenerate, and catecholamine fluorescence from the adrenergic nerves had almost completely disappeared within 24 hours of grafting. Control specimens from normal femoral arteries showed a dense network of fluorescent adrenergic nerves. Based on observations of the relatively rapid liberation of catecholamines from the degenerating adrenergic nerves, we suggest that catecholamines liberated from degenerating adrenergic nerves may have an important role in early vasospasm in microvascular and coronary bypass surgery.     

Inflammation and immunosuppression in severe acute pancreatitis

Acute pancreatitis(AP) is a common disease,which usually exists in its mild form.However,in a fifth of cases,the disease is severe,with local pancreatic complications or systemic organ dysfunction or both.Because the development of organ failure is the major cause of death in AP,early identification of patients likely to develop organ failure is important.AP is initiated by intracellular activation of pancreatic proenzymes and autodigestion of the pancreas.Destruction of the pancreatic parenchyma first indu...     

Familial resemblance and diversity in bone mass and strength in the population are established during the first year of postnatal life

Familial resemblance and diversity in bone structure and strength in adulthood are determined in part during growth. Whether these characteristics are established during gestation or shortly after birth is not known. Total‐body, lumbar spine, and femoral neck size and mass and indices of tibial bending strength and distal radial compressive strength were measured using bone densitometry and quantitative computed tomography in 236 girls at 18.5 years of age. Among them, 219, 141, and 105 girls had crown‐heel length (CHL) and weight recorded at birth and at 6 and 12 months of age, and then height and weight were recorded at 3, 5, 10, 13, and 15 years of age in 181, 176, 127, 111, and 228 girls, respectively. Of these girls, 101 and 93 girls also had bone structure assessed at 11 and 13 years of age, respectively. Similar bone measurements were made once in 78 mother‐father pairs. CHL and weight at birth did not correlate or did so weakly with bone traits in girls at 18 years of age. By contrast, CHL at 6 months correlated with the height, bone traits, and strength at puberty and at 18 years of age (r = 0.24–0.56, p < .001) in girls and with their parents' height and bone traits (r = 0.15–0.37, p < .05). When the girls' CHL at 6 months was stratified into quartiles, the absolute and relative differences in bone traits observed at puberty (～11.5 years) were maintained as these traits tracked during the ensuing 7 years. Similarly, weight at 6 months correlated with the girls' bone traits at puberty and 18 years of age (r = 0.22–0.55, p < .05). During puberty and at 18 years of age, the girls' bone traits correlated with the corresponding traits in their parents (r = 0.32–0.43, p < .01). It is concluded that familial resemblance in bone structural strength and the position of an individual's bone traits relative to others in adulthood are likely to be established during the first year of life. Thus susceptibility to bone fragility late in life has its antecedents established early in life. © 2010 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research     

Scintigraphy in prediction of the salivary gland function after gland-sparing intensity modulated radiation therapy for head and neck cancer

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To evaluate salivary gland scintigraphy in prediction of salivary flow following radiation therapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twenty patients diagnosed with head and neck cancer were treated with intensity modulated radiation therapy with an intention to spare the salivary gland function. The total quantitative saliva secretion was measured prior to and 6 and 12 months after therapy, and the function of the major salivary glands was monitored using Tc-99m-pertechnetate scintigraphy. Two models were designed for prediction of the post-treatment salivary flow: an average model, based on the average proportions of saliva produced by each of the four major glands in healthy subjects, and an individual model, based on saliva produced by each gland as measured by scintigraphy prior to therapy. These models were compared with volume-based (Lyman) normal tissue complication probability models using two published sets of model parameters. RESULTS: The D(50) for the parotid and the submandibular gland function assessed at 6 and 12 months after radiotherapy was approximately 39Gy. The scintigraphy-based individual model predicted well the measured post-treatment saliva flow rates. The correlation coefficient between the predicted stimulated and the measured saliva flow rate was 0.77 (p<0.0001) at 6 months and 0.55 (p=0.034) at 12 months after completion of radiotherapy. The relative changes in unstimulated and stimulated salivary flow rates showed similar dependency on the cumulative radiation dose. CONCLUSIONS: Salivary gland function assessed by scintigraphy prior to radiotherapy is useful in prediction of the residual salivary flow after radiotherapy.     

Treatment Results of Nasopharyngeal Cancer a nationwide survey from Finland

The nationwide experience of treating nasopharyngeal cancer in Finland during the period 1980-1989 was reviewed. Of the 107 patients included in the present analysis, 13 were treated palliatively only, and three had metastatic disease at their first clinical presentation, whereas the rest (n = 91) were treated with radical radiotherapy, of whom, 8 patients received adjuvant chemotherapy after radiotherapy. The 5-year actuarial survival rates of these 91 patients was 52%, and by the UICC stage they were classified as follows: stage I 75% (n = 12), stage II 60% (n = 5), stage III 59% (n = 34), and stage IV 38% (n = 40). According to the Cox's stepwise proportional hazard model the most important factors influencing favourable survival were the total dose of radiotherapy expressed in terms of Biologically Effective Dose (BED) with a time factor, a small size of the primary tumour and a high performance status according to the WHO scale, whereas the most important factors influencing the local control analysis were the total dose of radiotherapy (expressed in BED) and the cervical lymph node status.