Dietary polyamines promote the growth of azoxymethane-induced aberrant crypt foci in rat colon

We have examined whether dietary polyamines influence the formation and initial growth of azoxymethane (AOM)-induced aberrant crypt foci (ACF) in rat colon. Effects of a combination of dietary polyamines at three dose levels (putrescine: 50, 280, 740 nmol/g; spermidine: 10, 261, 763 nmol/g; spermine: 1, 31, 91 nmol/g) in the polyamine-poor AIN-76A diet were studied in animals in two different experimental situations: animals treated with AOM alone and animals treated with AOM + difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), a specific inhibitor of endogenous polyamine synthesis. In both experimental situations, dietary polyamines enhanced the growth of ACF, expressed as the number of large ACF (foci with three or more aberrant crypts, ACF > or = 3), whereas the formation of ACF, expressed as the number of ACF, was apparently not altered. In animals treated with AOM alone, maximal growth enhancing effect on ACF was nearly obtained with the median level of dietary polyamine. In rats fed a low polyamine diet, basic AIN-76A, DFMO reduced the growth of AOM-induced ACF by 83%. This inhibitory effect of DFMO was counteracted by dietary polyamines in a dose- dependent manner, and it was abolished at the highest level of polyamines. In conclusion, it was demonstrated that dietary polyamines are able to enhance the growth of AOM-induced ACF. Further, dietary polyamines reversed the DFMO-caused inhibition of ACF growth, probably by compensating for the DFMO-reduced endogenous polyamine synthesis.      

Cellular Targeting in Autoimmunity

Many biologic agents that were first approved for the treatment of malignancies are now being actively investigated and used in a variety of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and Sjogren??s syndrome. The relatively recent advance of selective immune targeting has significantly changed the management of autoimmune disorders and in part can be attributed to the progress made in understanding effector cell function and their signaling pathways. In this review, we will discuss the recent FDA-approved biologic therapies that directly target immune cells as well as the most promising investigational drugs affecting immune cell function and signaling for the treatment of autoimmune disease.     

Removal of giant trichobezoars of the stomach in children

The removal of trichobezoars of the stomach in children is discussed. This disease occurs as a rule in individuals with mental or some borderline abnormality which is attended by trichophagy and usually requires prolonged treatment. This determines the high probability of recurrent trichobezoar. With each repeated operation on the stomach in such cases the techniques become more and more difficult, injurious, and is a risk for the patient. All the known methods of endoscopic removal of bezoars cannot be used to remove trichobezoars because of their strength. The authors suggest a new endoscopic method by means of which trichobezoars of any size can be removed. It was successfully applied in the treatment of two patients with this disease who were thus free of an injurious operative intervention.     

The use of sodium nitroprusside in the treatment of heart failure in critically ill children

Sodium nitroprusside was used in 18 children aged 1 to 13 years with clinical and hemodynamic signs of low cardiac output syndrome secondary to septic pancarditis, lung edema, thromboembolism of pulmonary artery branches. Central and peripheral hemodynamics has been studied by impedance plethysmography prior to and during the first day of sodium nitroprusside infusion. A considerable improvement of hemodynamic parameters and the patients' conditions has been established. Effective dosages and indications for the drug use in children have been elaborated.     

Ambulatory anesthesia in surgical practice in children

A brief historical overview of the stages of development of outpatient surgery and anesthesiology is provided. It displays features of pre-selection and evaluation of patients for pediatric ambulatory surgery, the relation to the problems of preoperative fasting, anesthesia with concomitant diseases, the relative and absolute contraindications to outpatient surgeries in children. The research discusses the need and form of administration of sedative drugs in premedication in children of different ages, their influence on the recovery time after anesthesia. Compares methods of induction and maintenance of anesthesia, the possible use of volatile and intravenous anesthetics in ambulatory surgery in children, the advantages and disadvantages of given methods, as well as options for their combination with regional blocks. Pays attention to the postoperative analgesia and control of postoperative nausea and vomiting, consider their side effects.