Long-term results of first-line sequential high-dose carboplatin, etoposide and ifosfamide chemotherapy with peripheral blood stem cell support for patients with advanced testicular germ cell tumor

OBJECTIVE: Standard chemotherapy shows relatively low long-term survival in patients with poor-risk testicular germ cell tumor (GCT). First-line high-dose chemotherapy (HD-CT) may improve the result. High-dose carboplatin, etoposide, ifosfamide chemotherapy followed by autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) was investigated as first-line chemotherapy in patients with advanced testicular GCT. METHODS: Fifty-five previously untreated testicular GCT patients with Indiana 'advanced disease' criteria received three cycles of bleomycin, etoposide and cisplatin (BEP) followed by one cycle of HD-CT plus PBSCT, if elevated serum tumor markers were observed after three cycles of the BEP regimen. RESULTS: Thirty patients were treated with BEP alone, because the tumor marker(s) declined to normal range. Twenty-five patients received BEP and HD-CT. One patient died of rhabdomyolysis due to HD-CT. Three and six (13% and 25%) out of 24 patients treated with BEP and HD-CT achieved marker-negative and marker-positive partial responses, respectively. The other patients achieved no change. Fifteen (63%) are alive and 14 (58%) are free of disease at a median follow-up time of 54 months. Severe toxicity included treatment-related death (4%). CONCLUSIONS: HD-CT with peripheral stem cell support can be successfully applied in a multicenter setting. HD-CT demonstrated modest anticancer activity for Japanese patients with advanced testicular GCT and was well tolerated. This regimen might be examined for further investigation in randomized trials in first-line chemotherapy for patients with poor-risk testicular GCT.     

The effect of seamustard on blood lipid profiles and glucose level of rats fed diet with different energy composition

Recently, Korean people are consuming seaweeds almost 3.5 times more now than three decades ago. It is well known that seaweeds contain lots of soluble dietary fiber in addition to micronutrients such as β-carotene, iodine and some bioactive components. Seaweeds are considered to be effective for preventing chronic diseases including obesity, diabetes mellitus, atherosclerosis, cancer or constipation. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of seamustard intake on body weight gain, blood glucose level and lipid profiles in rats fed diets with different energy nutrient composition. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (average initial weight 103.7 g) were divided into groups for two experiments as follows; Control, M2.5 & M5 groups (Exp. I) and M5, M10, HCM5, HCM10, HFM5 & HFM10 groups (Exp. II). The rats were fed diet and water ad libitum for 4 weeks. In general, there was no significant difference in blood glucose and triglyceride concentration among groups. In Exp. I, serum LDL-cholesterol level of rats fed diet with 5% seamustard powder (M5) was significantly lower than that of control group, while HDL-cholesterol level, TC/LDL ratio and weight of adrenal gland were higher. In Exp. II, food intake, body weight gain and EER of high fat diet with 10% seamustard group (HFM10) were the lowest among groups. Except gastrocnemius muscle, all organ weights of HFM10 group were the lowest. Fecal cholesterol excretion and serum LDL-cholesterol concentration of HFM10 group were the highest, while serum HDL-cholesterol level was the lowest among groups. Interestingly, HDL-cholesterol concentration was the highest in HCM5 group among groups. From these results, it was suggested that seamustard intake might be more effective for body weight control, but not for improving blood lipid profiles in high fat diet than in high carbohydrate diet.     

自发性高血压大鼠颈动脉血管平滑肌中抑癌基因P53和原癌基因c-jun、c-fos、c-myc mRNA表达的研究

目的探讨自发性高血压大鼠颈动脉中抑癌基因P53和原癌基因c-jun、c-fos、c-myc mRNA的表达.方法用逆转录聚合酶链式反应检测两种基因的表达水平.正常雄性大鼠作为对照组.结果 SHR颈动脉中,抑癌基因P53和原癌基因c-jun、c-fos、c-myc均有高表达,较WKY差异有显著性(P<0.05).结论自发性高血压大鼠颈动脉组织中抑癌基因P53和原癌基因c-jun、c-fos、c-myc均有高表达,癌基因的活化可能与自发性高血压大鼠颈动脉血管重构有关.     

茶色素对冠心病及高血压病病人血小板功能的影响

目的：探索茶色素对冠心病、高血压病病人血小板功能的影响。方法：冠心病病人３６例（男性２１例，女性１５例；年龄６４±ｓ４ａ）；高血压病病人３０例（男性１８例，女性１２例；年龄５８±８ａ）。采用茶色素２５０ｍｇ，ｐｏ，ｔｉｄ，３０ｄ为一个疗程。结果：治疗后ＴＸＢ２下降，６－ｋｅｔｏ－ＰＧＰ１α上升，ＴＸＢ２／６－ｋｅｔｏ－ＰＧＦ１α比值下降（Ｐ＜０．０１或Ｐ＜０．０５），ＧＭＰ－１４０下降（Ｐ＜０．０５），ＰａｇＴ，ＰａｄＴ下降（Ｐ＜０．０５）。结论：茶色素具有降低血小板表面活性作用，抑制血小板聚集和粘附，抗血栓形成，改善微循环，对冠心病和高血压病病人起到积极的防治作用。     

Estimation of average flow in ungated 3D phase contrast angiograms

Three dimensional (3D) phase contrast angiograms contain velocity data, which is discarded after the reconstruction of the projections. In extension to earlier work on velocity quantification with ungated 2D phase data, this paper shows that a useful estimate of the average velocity and flow rate can be extracted from ungated 3D phase contrast angiograms. Simulations and experiments in a phantom and in vivo were performed. For pulsatile flow and strong spin saturation, an over-estimation of the flow rate at the net in-flow end of the imaging volume and underestimation at the net out-flow end was observed. Imaging at lower RF tip angles yielded flow rates close to the correct value within the entire imaging volume. In contrast to ungated 2D experiments, the flow rates determined by repeated 3D experiments showed no variation.     

Spinal anaesthesia in a child with Job''s syndrome, pneumatoceles and empyema

We present a case of acute bowel obstruction in an immunocompromised child, who also had lobar pneumonia and a giant unilateral pneumatocele. She was successfully managed with subarachnoid anaesthesia for exploratory laparotomy to relieve a colonic obstruction. This proved to be a safe alternative to general anaesthesia with tracheal intubation in this patient and should be considered in infants and children in selected cases whenever a contraindication to general anaesthesia exists.     

Central circulation in rats with different tolerance to acute blood loss

Study of the dynamics of cardiac output in rats with different tolerance to acute massive blood loss showed that the pumping ability of the heart remains intact during the entire posthemorrhagic period in all high-resistant and in 65% low-resistant rats. In 35% rats that were low-resistant to blood loss, the cardiac output deficiency syndrome developed after cessation of bleeding against the background fall in arterial pressure and a decrease in the hepatic blood flow, which are the signs of rapid variant of the dysfunction produced by acute blood loss. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 126, No. 10, pp. 384–388, October, 1998     

Effect of hepatitis C antibody screening in blood donors on post-transfusion hepatitis in Taiwan

A national screening programme for antibody to hepatitis C virus (HCV) in blood donors in Taiwan began in July 1992 using a second-generation immunoassay. To study the impact of this screening on post-transfusion hepatitis in Taiwan, a prospective study on post-transfusion hepatitis, that was started in 1987, was continued. As of June 1994, 245 patients who received a blood transfusion after July 1992 had completed a follow-up period for more than 6 months post-transfusion. Of them, seven (2.8%) recipients developed acute post-transfusion hepatitis. The hepatitis in six cases could not be attributed to infection by hepatitis A, B, C, D, E viruses or cytomegalovirus (CMV) or Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). The remaining patient seroconverted to both IgG and IgM anti-CMV. All seven patients recovered in 6 months without development of chronicity, and the mean peak alanine aminotransferase level was lower compared with that of the cases before anti-HCV screening (i.e. pre-July 1992). These results indicate that the current anti-HCV screening has effectively interrupted HCV transmission through blood transfusion in Taiwan.     

猪血中脱色球蛋白的制备及其功能性研究

比较了几种拆分剂分离猪血红细胞中血红蛋白的效果，其中羧甲基淀粉（ＣＭＳ）得到最佳效果。脱色球蛋白的功能性实验证实其有良好的起泡和乳化性能，氨基酸分析显示其赖氨酸和组氨酸的含量较高，适合作为婴儿的营养强化剂。