Activity of standard and investigational cytotoxic drugs in primary cultures of tumor cells from patients with kidney and urinary bladder carcinomas

PURPOSE: In vitro tumor models could support the process of development of new cytotoxic drugs and selection of suitable drugs for the individual patient. We investigated whether the testing of tumor cells from patients with kidney or urinary bladder carcinoma by fluorometric microculture cytotoxicity assay (FMCA) could provide clinically relevant data for these tumor types. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 45 tumor samples from patients with kidney or urinary bladder carcinoma were compared with 247 samples of other tumor types with respect to sensitivity to 8 standard and 6 investigational cytotoxic drugs in the FMCA, a 72 hour assay based on the concept of total cell kill. In bladder carcinomas, sensitivity to standard drugs was correlated to various tumor characteristics. RESULTS: The technical success rate for kidney and bladder carcinomas was high; approximately 90% of the samples could be analyzed successfully. Kidney carcinomas were highly resistant to standard drugs and bladder carcinomas essentially as sensitive as carcinomas of the breast and ovary but with a steeper dose-response relationship. In bladder carcinoma there was no clear relationship between tumor stage, grade, ploidy, mitoses or p53 expression and drug sensitivity. Except for suramin, kidney carcinomas were poorly sensitive to the investigational drugs CdA, gemcitabine, paclitaxel, vinorelbine and topotecan. In bladder carcinomas paclitaxel, gemcitabine and suramin showed promising activity. CONCLUSIONS: The FMCA seems suitable for cytotoxic drug sensitivity testing of urinary tract carcinomas. This technique may have a role in new drug development in these tumor types.     

腹腔镜手术与腹膜后大血管损伤

腹腔镜手术因其创伤小、患者痛苦少、术后恢复快等优点而在腹部盆腔疾病的诊断和治疗中得到广泛应用,但由其所引起的技术性并发症亦引起了腹腔镜医师的极大重视。我们仅对腹腔镜手术中腹膜后大血管损伤（ｍａｊｏｒｒｅｔｒｏｐｅｒｉｔｏｎｅａｌｖａｓｃｕｌａｒｉｎｊｕｒｙ,ＭＲＶＩ）作一简要综述。一、腹腔镜手术中ＭＲＶＩ的流行病学所谓腹腔镜手术中ＭＲＶＩ,是指在腹腔镜手术中使用穿刺针及穿刺套管暴力盲穿或器械操作不当而损伤腹主动脉、下腔静脉、门静脉、髂总动静脉及髂内外动静脉等腹膜后大血管,引起的一系列临床症状及…     

Clinical and epidemiological aspects of respiratory syncytial virus lower respiratory tract infections

This paper has analyzed respiratory syncytial virus lower respiratory tract infections in 201 hospitalized children. In children with wheezing, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was significantly higher in those with pneumonia than with syndroma pertussis, while the white blood cell (WBC) count was significantly lower in patients with bronchitis than in those with bronchiolitis and syndroma pertussis. Bronchodilatators were applied in 75.6% and corticosteroids in 20% of patients. Ten patients were ventilated. Fatal disease outcome was observed in one infant. Twelve consecutive-year study of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections showed that 27.3% of these diseases were bronchiolitis and pneumonia.     

More than just a health issue: a review of current issues in the care of enterally-fed children living in the community

There are increasing numbers of children with a disability living in the community who require enteral tube feeds to optimize their nutritional status. Whilst there appears to be evidence of health gains, for some children there may also be serious and unintended social deprivations resulting from the need to be tube fed. This paper reviews the literature on support for children who are tube fed and makes a case for more coordinated and effective support services for families who are tube feeding a child at home. It is argued that national guidance should be developed which clarifies the position of all non-parent carers and staff who are willing to administer enteral tube feeds. Such guidance should also ensure that enterally-fed children have the same rights to educational and social services as other children and that families are given the opportunity to make informed decisions about the implications of enteral feeding prior to it being established.     

Morphology of conjunctival progressive nevus

Structural features of 59 progressive nevuses of the conjunctiva were studied. The proliferation of the epithelium and melanocytes is partially compensated by spontaneous regression of the nevus structures. The growth of a nevus is structurally similar to tumor growth, but the nevuses lack the melanocyte dysplasia, the main sign of malignant degeneration. The immune reactions are involved in the tissue restructuring of the growing nevus. Permanent foci of photoelastosis reflect the significance of ultraviolet exposure as a factor of risk of the nevuses progress.     

Lipoma of the Uterus

Lipoma of the uterus is a rare condition usually developing in postmenopausal women. Clinical symptoms and physical signs are similar to those found in leiomyomas. The histiogenesis of these lesions is still unclear. We report a case of a pure intramural lipoma of the uterus illustrating characteristic morphological and histological findings. Additional immunohistochemical studies underline the lipomatous but not leiomyomatous nature of the tumor.     

Two outbreaks of typhoid fever related to the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Two outbreaks of typhoid fever caused by Salmonella typhi of the same phagotype (A, biotype II) and antibiotic susceptibility are reported. Both occurred during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first outbreak appeared among the refugees from the town of Jajce. The second outbreak appeared among the inhabitants in the village of Vidosi near Livno. This report describes main clinical, epidemioloigcal and laboratory findings for 22 patients treated in Split University Hospital, Croatia, in the period November 1992–January 1993. Possible epidemiological connections between those two outbreaks are discussed.     

Huge colloid cyst of the third ventricle associated with calcification in the cyst wall

Giant or huge colloid cysts of the third ventricle up to of more than 3 cm in diameter are extremely rare. The patient presented with symptoms of increased intracranial pressure, including headache, vomiting, and papilledema. Computerized tomographic (CT) scan revealed a hypodense, huge colloid cyst of the third ventricle associated with calcification in the cyst wall. Both hypodensity and calcification are uncommon roentgenological findings for colloid cysts of the third ventricle. The patient was operated on by the transcortical/transventricular approach and the colloid cyst was completely excised.     

Ureaplasma urealyticum infection in newborns: Three case reports

We report three newborns with different manifestations ofUreaplasma urealyticum infection; a term newborn with acute neonatal pneumonia and two very low birth weight infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia and osteomyelitis of the femur, respectively. The association ofU. urealyticum with acute and chronic respiratory disease in term and preterm newborns has recently been reported. Our two cases are similar to other case reports from the literature, but we were unable to find any previous reports of osteomyelitis due toU. urealyticum in the premature babies. Isolation ofU. urealyticum in pure culture from the blood was considered to be related to local infection in all three patients. All patients were cured by erythromycin.     

Dead-time correction in dynamic radionuclide studies by computer

Several methods for the measurement of dead time and for evaluation of the dependencies required to correct dynamic studies for dead-time losses are described. Two program variants were written to produce time-activity curves in the selected areas of interest of the dynamic studies with computer's correction of dead-time losses; these variants are part of the system of programs for complex processing of scintigraphic studies set up for a Clincom instrument. The first variant performs correction on the basis of the registered count rate in the whole image, while the second variant makes use of the additional reference source positioned on the periphery of the camera visual field.