Interleukin-10 promoter polymorphisms in rheumatoid arthritis and Felty's syndrome

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether promoter polymorphisms associated with variation in interleukin-10 (IL-10) production are relevant to the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or Felty's syndrome (FS). METHODS: DNA was obtained from 44 FS patients, 117 RA patients and 295 controls. The promoter region between -533 and - 1120 was amplified by polymerase chain reaction, and polymorphisms detected by restriction enzyme digest or sequence-specific oligonucleotide probing. RESULTS: We found no significant difference in allele or haplotype frequencies between the groups. CONCLUSION: There is no association between FS or RA and these recently identified IL-10 promoter polymorphisms. Other genetic or environmental factors could explain the alterations in IL-10 levels seen in these conditions.      

Purging of acute myeloid leukemic cells by ether lipids and hyperthermia

Ether lipids (EL) and hyperthermia have been shown to possess a relatively selective cytotoxicity to leukemic cells. In this study, the combined effects of EL (ET-18-OCH3, ET-16-NHCOCH3, or BM 41.440) and hyperthermia on the growth of hematopoietic progenitors, myeloid leukemic cell lines, and leukemic cells obtained from patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) were examined to determine if this combination resulted in a greater selective killing of leukemic cells than that achieved by either EL or heat alone. When the cells were treated simultaneously with EL (50 micrograms/mL) and hyperthermia (42 degrees C) for one hour, the killing of leukemic cell line cells was enhanced considerably. Among the three EL, however, the combination of ET-18-OCH3 and heat seemed to be the most cytotoxic to leukemic cell line cells with no effect on the growth of hematopoietic progenitors. An increase in the duration of treatment with ET-18-OCH3 to four hours with heat added during the last hour resulted in a further reduction of leukemic cell line cells while sparing 50% of hematopoietic progenitors after cryopreservation. The combined treatment with ET-18-OCH3 and heat also inhibited the growth of leukemic progenitors obtained from AML patients by 97% to 100%. These data indicate that the combined treatment with EL and hyperthermia might offer an efficient means to eliminate myeloid leukemic cells in vitro.     

完全腹腔镜Roux—en—Y吻合术式应用于远端胃癌根治术20例

目的探讨完全腹腔镜Roux．en—Y吻合术式应用于远端胃癌根治术的安全性和可行性。方法回顾性分析福建省肿瘤医院腹部外科2012年8月至2013年3月对腹腔镜胃大部切除术后实施完全腹腔镜Roux．en—Y吻合术的20例胃癌患者的术中和术后临床资料。结果20例患者均成功实施完全腹腔镜远端胃癌根治术,无一例中转开腹或中转腹腔镜辅助手术。手术时间（190．8±53．6）min,术中出血量（122．4±57．7）ml,淋巴结清扫数（31．2±5．7）枚,术后病理切缘均为阴性。术后排气时间为（2．6±1．6）d,住院时间为（8．1±2．0）d。有1例术后出现肺部感染,但无吻合术相关并发症发生。结论完全腹腔镜Roux—en—Y吻合术式应用于远端胃癌根治术安全且可行。     

Organ and effective doses in infants undergoing upper gastrointestinal (UGI) fluoroscopic examination

To provide more detailed data on organ and effective doses in digital upper gastrointestinal (UGI) fluoroscopy studies of newborns and infants, the present study was conducted employing the time-sequence videotape-analysis technique used in a companion study of newborn and infant voiding cystourethrograms (VCUG). This technique was originally pioneered [O. H. Suleiman, J. Anderson, B. Jones, G. U. Rao, and M. Rosenstein, Radiology 178, 653-658 (1991)] for adult UGI examinations. Individual video frames were analyzed to include combinations of field size, field center, x-ray projection, image intensifier, and magnification mode. Additionally, the peak tube potential and the mA or mAs values for each segment/subsegment or digital photospot were recorded for both the fluoroscopic and radiographic modes of operation. The data from videotape analysis were then used in conjunction with a patient-scalable newborn tomographic computational phantom to report both organ and effective dose values via Monte Carlo radiation transport. The study includes dose estimates for five simulated UGI examinations representative of patients ranging from three to six months of age. Effective dose values for UGI examinations ranged from 1.17 to 6.47 mSv, with a mean of 3.14 mSv and a large standard deviation of 2.15 mSv. The colon, lungs, stomach, liver, and esophagus absorbed doses in sum were found to constitute between 63 and 75% of the effective dose in these UGI studies. Representing 23-30% of the effective dose, the lungs were found to be the most significant organ in the effective dose calculation. Approximately 80-95% of the effective dose is contributed by the dynamic fluoroscopy segments with larger percentages found in longer studies. The mean effective dose for newborn UGI examinations was not found to be statistically different from that seen in newborn VCUG examinations.     

Derivation of site-specific skeletal masses within the current ICRP age series

The calculation of absorbed dose to the radiosensitive tissues of the skeleton is routinely performed using reference masses provided in publications from the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). These values typically include total skeleton tissue masses by reference subject age, but not by individual bone site at a given age. Site-specific variations in absorbed fractions are known to occur for internal alpha-particle and beta-particle emitters, and in certain medical dose reconstructions, site-specific estimates of marrow dose may be desirable. Furthermore, bone-site-specific tissue masses are required to properly estimate skeletal-averaged absorbed fractions and, more importantly, specific absorbed fractions for internalized radionuclides and radiopharmaceuticals. Reference masses by skeletal site are also needed in the development of ICRP compliant tomographic phantoms, as this organ system is initially segmented from medical images only as a homogeneous tissue region. ICRP reference skeletal masses are assigned based upon several independent data sources, many of which may not be entirely consistent with one another. In this study, a methodology is presented, using data from the various ICRP publications, to derive site-specific skeletal tissue masses for each member of the ICRP age series. Active marrow masses are calculated and differences are shown with respect to ICRP Publications 70 and 89 values. New data for a revised surrogate tissue region for the osteoprogenitor cells within bone marrow is presented with estimates of its total mass throughout the skeleton and for different subject ages.