Colony-stimulating factors for chemotherapy-induced febrile neutropenia: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

PURPOSE: Current treatment for febrile neutropenia (FN) includes hospitalization for evaluation, empiric broad-spectrum antibiotics, and other supportive care. Clinical trials have reported conflicting results when studying whether the colony-stimulating factors (CSFs) improve outcomes in patients with FN. This Cochrane Collaboration review was undertaken to further evaluate the safety and efficacy of the CSFs in patients with FN. METHODS: An exhaustive literature search was undertaken including major electronic databases (CANCERLIT, EMBASE, LILACS, MEDLINE, SCI, and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register). All randomized controlled trials that compare CSFs plus antibiotics versus antibiotics alone for the treatment of established FN in adults and children were sought. A meta-analysis of the selected studies was performed. RESULTS: More than 8,000 references were screened, with 13 studies meeting eligibility criteria for inclusion. The overall mortality was not influenced significantly by the use of CSF (odds ratio [OR] = 0.68; 95% CI, 0.43 to 1.08; P = .1). A marginally significant result was obtained for the use of CSF in reducing infection-related mortality (OR = 0.51; 95% CI, 0.26 to 1.00; P = .05). Patients treated with CSFs had a shorter length of hospitalization (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.63; 95% CI, 0.49 to 0.82; P = .0006) and a shorter time to neutrophil recovery (HR = 0.32; 95% CI, 0.23 to 0.46; P < .00001). CONCLUSION: The use of the CSFs in patients with established FN caused by cancer chemotherapy reduces the amount of time spent in hospital and the neutrophil recovery period. The possible influence of the CSFs on infection-related mortality requires further investigation.     

Influence of murine mast cell growth factor (c-kit ligand) on colony formation by mouse marrow hematopoietic progenitor cells.

Purified natural and recombinant murine mast cell growth factor (MGF, a c-kit ligand) were evaluated alone and in combination with other cytokines for effects in vitro on colony formation by multipotential (CFU-GEMM), erythroid (BFU-E) and granulocyte-macrophage (CFU-GM) progenitor cells from BDF1 mouse bone marrow. Both preparations stimulated Epo-dependent CFU-GEMM and enhanced Epo-dependent BFU-E colony numbers and size. MGF had some stimulating activity for CFU-GM. When used in combination with plateau concentrations of pokeweed mitogen mouse spleen cell conditioned medium or granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (CSF), MGF enhanced in greater than additive fashion colony formation by CFU-GM. MGF also enhanced the size of colonies formed, an enhancement greatest for colonies containing granulocytes and macrophages. MGF did not enhance Macrophage-CSF stimulated colony numbers or size. MGF seems to be an early acting cytokine with preferential effects on the growth of more immature hematopoietic progenitor cells.     

FM sonography in diffuse liver disease: prospective assessment and blinded analysis

FM sonography - a signal-processing technique that uses frequency and phase information as well as amplitude data - shows promise in evaluation of patients with diffuse liver disease. In a prospective blinded review of 37 patients with biopsy-proved liver disease and 42 healthy volunteers, FM sonography was clearly superior to traditional amplitude-based (AM) sonography in distinguishing healthy from diseased subjects. Statistically significant differences were seen in accuracy (FM, 98.7%; AM, 84.8%), sensitivity (FM, 97.3%; AM, 70.3%), and negative predictive value (FM, 97.7%; AM, 78.8%). Our data also suggest that current FM sonographic techniques cannot differentiate among histologic findings associated with different hepatic parenchymal abnormalities. It is unclear, therefore, whether FM imaging can reduce the numbers of patients who require biopsy for diagnosis or the frequency of biopsy procedures in patients with known disease.     

Patterns of glial development in the human foetal spinal cord during the late first and second trimester

Summary Although the presence of radial glia, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and microglia has been reported in the human foetal spinal cord by ten gestational weeks, neuroanatomic studies employing molecular probes that describe the interrelated development of these cells from the late first trimester through the late second trimester are few. In this study, immunocytochemical methods using antibodies to vimentin and glial fibrillary acidic protein were used to identify radial glia and/or astrocytes. An antibody to myelin basic protein was used for oligodendrocytes and myelin; and, an antibody to phosphorylated high and medium molecular weight neurofilaments identified axons. Lectin histochemistry usingRicinus communis agglutinin-I was employed to identify microglia. Vibratome sections from 35 human foetal spinal cord ranging in age from 9–20 gestation weeks were studied. By 12 gestational weeks, vimentin-positive radial glia were present at all three levels of the spinal cord. Their processes were easily identified in the dorsal two-thirds of cord sections, and reaction product for vimentin was more intense at cervical and thoracic levels than lumbosacral sections. By 15 gestational weeks, vimentin-positive processes were radially arranged in the white matter. At this time, glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive astrocytes were more obvious in both the anterior and anterolateral funiculi than in the dorsal funiculus, and the same rostral to caudal gradient was seen for glial fibrillary acidic protein as it was for vimentin. Myelin basic protein expression followed similar temporal and spatial patterns.Ricinus communis agglutinin-I labelling revealed more microglia in the white matter than in grey matter throughout the spinal cord from 10–20 gestational weeks. By 20 gestational weeks, the gradients of glial fibrillary acidic protein and vimentin expression were more difficult to discern. White matter contained more microglia than grey matter. These results suggest that astrocytes as well as oligodendrocytes follow anterior-to-posterior and rostral-to-caudal developmental patterns in the human foetus during middle trimester development.     

Pneumothorax and other lung diseases: effect of altered resolution and edge enhancement on diagnosis with digitized radiographs

Prior studies have shown that pneumothorax is one of the more difficult entities to diagnose with digitized radiography. This study was designed to test whether increasing resolution from 1.25 to 2.5 line pairs per millimeter (lp/mm) and image processing (edge enhancement from unsharp masking) would increase accuracy and confidence in the diagnosis of pneumothorax, as well as normal cases and other forms of lung disease. Conventional radiographs were digitized with use of a laser reader and then reformatted as film hard copy. Eleven observers read 35 cases reformatted in three different ways (1.25 lp/mm, 2.5 lp/mm, 1.25 lp/mm unsharp mask). The images with finer resolution (2.5 lp/mm) and unsharp mask images were superior to those with coarser resolution (1.25 lp/mm) for the diagnosis of pneumothorax. There was no difference in diagnostic accuracy for normal patients. For abnormalities other than pneumothorax, the unsharp mask images were significantly worse. Confidence in the diagnosis of pneumothorax and other abnormalities was highest with the finest resolution (2.5 lp/mm).     

Sensitivity of helium beam-modulator design to uncertainties in biological data

The goal in designing beam-modulating devices for heavy charged-particle therapy is to achieve uniform biological effects across the spread-peak region of the beam. To accomplish this, the linear-quadratic model for cell survival has been used to describe the biological response of the target cells to charged-particle radiation. In this paper, the sensitivity of the beam-modulator design in the high-dose region to the values of the linear-quadratic variables alpha and beta has been investigated for a 215-MeV/u helium beam, and implications for higher LET beams are discussed. The major conclusions of this work are that, for helium over the LET range of 2 to 16 keV/mu, uncertainties in measuring alpha and beta for a given cell type which are of the order of 20% or less have a negligible effect on the beam-modulator design (i.e., on the slope of the spread Bragg peak); uncertainties less than or equal to 10% in the dose-averaged LET at each depth are unimportant; and, if the linear-quadratic variables for the tumor differ from those used in the beam-modulator design by a constant factor between about 0.5 and 3, then the resultant nonuniformity in the photon-equivalent dose delivered to the tumor is within +/- 25%. It is also shown that for any ion, if the nominal values of alpha or beta used by the beam-modulator design program differ from their actual values by a constant factor, then the maximum errors possible in the beam-modulator design may be characterized by two limiting depth-dose curves such that the ratio of the dose at the proximal end of the spread Bragg curve to the dose at the distal end of the spread peak is given by alpha distal/alpha prox for the steepest curve, and square root of beta distal/beta prox for the flattest curve.     

Human phagocytic cell responses to Scedosporium apiospermum (Pseudallescheria boydii): variable susceptibility to oxidative injury

Scedosporium apiospermum (Pseudallescheria boydii) is an emerging opportunistic filamentous fungus that causes serious infections in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised patients. To gain insight into the immunopathogenesis of infections due to S. apiospermum, the antifungal activities of human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs), mononuclear leukocytes (MNCs), and monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) against two clinical isolates of S. apiospermum were evaluated. Isolate SA54A was amphotericin B resistant and was the cause of a fatal disseminated infection. Isolate SA1216 (cultured from a successfully treated localized subcutaneous infection) was susceptible to amphotericin B. MDMs exhibited similar phagocytic activities against conidia of both isolates. However, PMNs and MNCs responded differently to the hyphae of these two isolates. Serum opsonization of hyphae resulted in a higher level of superoxide anion (O(2)(-)) release by PMNs in response to SA54A (amphotericin B resistant) than that seen in response to SA1216 (amphotericin B susceptible; P < 0.001). Despite this increased O(2)(-) production, PMNs and MNCs induced less hyphal damage to SA54A than to SA1216 (P < 0.001). To investigate the potential mechanisms responsible for these differences, hyphal damage was evaluated in the presence of antifungal oxidative metabolites as well as in the presence of a series of inhibitors and scavengers of antifungal PMN function. Mannose, catalase, superoxide dismutase, dimethyl sulfoxide, and heparin had no effect on PMN-induced hyphal damage to either of the two isolates. However, azide, which inhibits PMN myeloperoxidase activity, significantly reduced hyphal damage to SA1216 (P < 0.01) but not to SA54A. Hyphae of SA1216 were slightly more susceptible to oxidative pathway products, particularly HOCl, than those of SA54A. Thus, S. apiospermum is susceptible to antifungal phagocytic function to various degrees. The selective inhibitory pattern of azide with respect to hyphal damage and the parallel susceptibility to HOCl suggests an important difference in susceptibilities to myeloperoxidase products that may be related to the various levels of pathogenicity and amphotericin B resistance of S. apiospermum.     

Correlation between in vitro and in vivo antifungal activities in experimental fluconazole-resistant oropharyngeal and esophageal candidiasis

Oropharyngeal and esophageal candidiasis (OPEC) is a frequent opportunistic mycosis in immunocompromised patients. Azole-resistant OPEC is a refractory form of this infection occurring particularly in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients. The procedures developed by the Antifungal Subcommittee of the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) are an important advance in standardization of in vitro antifungal susceptibility methodology. In order to further understand the relationship between NCCLS methodology and antifungal therapeutic response, we studied the potential correlation between in vitro susceptibility to fluconazole and in vivo response in a rabbit model of fluconazole-resistant OPEC. MICs of fluconazole were determined by NCCLS methods. Three fluconazole-susceptible (FS) (MIC, /=64 microgram/ml) isolates of Candida albicans from prospectively monitored HIV-infected children with OPEC were studied. FR isolates were recovered from children with severe OPEC refractory to fluconazole, and FS isolates were recovered from those with mucosal candidiasis responsive to fluconazole. Fluconazole at 2 mg/kg of body weight/day was administered to infected animals for 7 days. The concentrations of fluconazole in plasma were maintained above the MICs for FS isolates throughout the dosing interval. Fluconazole concentrations in the esophagus were greater than or equal to those in plasma. Rabbits infected with FS isolates and treated with fluconazole had significant reductions in oral mucosal quantitative cultures (P < 0.001) and tissue burden of C. albicans in tongue, soft palate, and esophagus (P < 0.001). In comparison, rabbits infected with FR isolates were unresponsive to fluconazole and had no reduction in oral mucosal quantitative cultures or tissue burden of C. albicans versus untreated controls. We conclude that there is a strong correlation between in vitro fluconazole susceptibility by NCCLS methods and in vivo response to fluconazole therapy of OPEC due to C. albicans.