Double blind, placebo controlled study of nedocromil sodium in asthma

After a two week baseline, 209 asthmatic children (mean age 10 years, range 6-17) were randomly allocated to receive 4 mg nedocromil sodium (n = 110) or placebo (n = 99) four times daily for 12 weeks in addition to their current treatment. The children completed daily diary cards and visited the clinic at four week intervals. Statistically significant differences in favour of nedocromil sodium were seen for clinician assessment of asthma severity and diary card symptom scores, pulmonary function and inhaled beta 2 bronchodilator use. Total symptom score decreased by 50% from baseline in the nedocromil sodium group and by 9% in the placebo group during the final four weeks. Nedocromil sodium was considered very or moderately effective by 78% of children/parents (placebo 59%) and 73% of clinicians (placebo 50%). Nausea, headache and sleepiness, and dyspnoea led to withdrawal of one child from nedocromil sodium and placebo treatments, respectively. Reports of sore throat and headache were marginally greater with the nedocromil sodium treatment. It is concluded that nedocromil sodium was both effective and safe in the treatment of asthma in children.     

Endometrial secretory proteins enhance early embryo development

Purpose To evaluate the role of endometrial stromal cells and their secretory proteins in early embryo development, two-celled CB6F1 mouse embryos were cultured alone or cocultured with human endometrial stromal cells in various culture conditions.Results The percentage of embryo blastocyst formation, hatching, and outgrowth was significantly greater in (1) coculture with endometrial stromal cells than in a cell-free control when both coculture and control were carried out in protein-free medium or in RPMI 1640 plus 10% fetal calf serum; (2) coculture with hormone (i.e., progesterone plus relaxin)-treated cells than in coculture with hormone-nontreated cells; and (3) media supplemented with isolated endometrial secretory proteins than in media supplemented with BSA (0.35%). Embryo development was not found to be significantly different in coculture and in media supplemented with endometrial secretory protein.Conclusion Our data provides credence to the theory that endometrial stromal cells enhance embryo development by secreting specific proteins that are beneficial to embryo growth in vitro.Presented at the 48th Annual Meeting of the American Fertility Society, New Orleans, Louisiana, October 31–November 5, 1992.     

尼群的平对麻醉犬冠脉流量、心肌耗氧量、二氧化碳产生率的影响

尼群的平20μg/kg iv显著降低麻醉犬血压的过程,冠状窦流量明显增加。持续3h,冠状窦氧含量增加,氧摄取率、心肌耗氧量、二氧化碳产生率降低,持续了3h以上,说明该剂适用于高血压伴心肌缺血。     

Clinical relevance of immunological dissection in T-ALL: a report on 20 cases with stem cell (CD7+, CD4-, CD8-, CD1-) phenotype.

In a prospective study on 44 cases of T-cell origin acute lymphoblastic leukemia, 20 patients were found to display an immature immunophenotype (CD7+, CD4-, CD8-, CD1-) and were classified as T-stem cell leukemia (T-SCL). Twenty-four patients expressed CD4 and/or CD8 antigens on their blast cells, designated T acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). The T-SCL subset showed a significantly higher median age, a more frequent incidence of extramedullary leukemia, a morphology L1 in most cases, and a poor response to treatment in terms of either complete remission rate or median survival duration. In addition, significant differences between the two groups were found in evaluating the number of days of blast disappearance from peripheral blood, of CR achievement, and of neutrophils and platelets recovery. We conclude that T-SCL represents a distinct clinical entity, characterized by a poor response to ALL conventional chemotherapy. Alternative therapeutic approaches should be developed for patients suffering from this form of leukemia, to modify its severe prognosis.     

Acute promyelocytic leukaemia: epidemiology and risk factors. A report of the GIMEMA Italian archive of adult acute leukaemia

Abstract: Acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL) exhibits peculiar epidemiological, clinical, cytogenetic and molecular features, compared to the other acute myeloid leukaemias (AML). Data on epidemiology and occupational risk factors for APL desumed from the GIMEMA archive are reported and compared with those of the other AML. An exploratory case-case study was designed on AML patients from 56 haematology centres in Italy. Overall, 4296 patients older than 15 yr with a new diagnosis of acute leukaemia were recorded between July 1992 and July 1997. Of these, 335 were classified as APL, and 2894 as other AML. The median age of APL patients was 43 compared to 59 yr for the other AML (p< 0.00001). In order to identify peculiar risk factors for APL development, different parameters were compared in the 2 groups. After adjusting by age no significant differences were observed with regard to education, lifetime prevalence of cancer among siblings and previous diseases in the patient's history. Occupational exposure as a possible risk factor for APL showed no increased risk compared to other AML among farmers, builders and leather workers. A significant association was found in electricians (OR = 4.4, 95% CI = 2.0–9.7) and a weak association was found in wood workers (OR = 3.2, 95% CI = 0.8–10.8). The proportion of APL with respect to other AML was significantly higher in the north east of Italy compared to the rest of the country (OR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.3–2.2). These data confirm the younger age of APL patients compared to the other AML. A possible role of electromagnetic fields is suggested by the higher risk of APL in electrical workers and in the more industrialized areas of the country.