Food preservatives sodium sulfite and sorbic acid suppress mitogen-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells

Antioxidant preservatives prolong the quality of food and ensure the nutritional adequacy, palatability and safety of many processed foods and beverages. Effects of sodium sulfite (E221) and sorbic acid (E200) were investigated in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) which were purified from blood of healthy donors. Cells were stimulated with the mitogen phytohaemagglutinin in vitro, which induces proliferation of T-cells and the production of Th1-type cytokines like interferon-γ. The latter triggers enzyme indoleamine (2,3)-dioxygenase, which degrades tryptophan, and GTP cyclohydrolase I, which leads to increased neopterin production, in monocyte-derived macrophages. Sodium sulfite and sorbic acid suppressed both these biochemical changes in a dose-dependent way (P < 0.01 at 1 mM sodium sulfite and 50 mM sorbic acid). Data demonstrate a suppressive influence of sodium sulfite and sorbic acid on the activated Th1-type immune response.     

Effect of maternal and infant covariates on sibship correlation in birth weight

Birth weight on 12,644 singleton infants from 6,196 sibships born in Maryland between 1980 and 1984 were used to estimate the effects of nine maternal and infant covariates on the sibship correlation in birth weight. Assuming a homogeneous correlation across all families, the estimated intraclass correlation was 0.4664 (+/- 0.0099). This high sibship correlation makes it possible to predict, with reasonable accuracy, the birth weight of a child given information on previous sibs, as well as covariates on the mother and/or infant pertinent to a given pregnancy. The reduction in variance associated with incorporating information on the nine covariates used here was approximately equal to that obtained by conditioning on a single previous sib. Testing for heterogeneity in correlation among different groups of families showed that a crude measure of parity (first live birth vs. other), time between births, mother's marital status, and maternal age at the birth of the last child significantly influenced the sibship correlation in birth weight.     

A successful treatment of an intrarenal arteriovenous fistula by percutaneous embolization

A 37-year-old woman patient, known to have poorly controlled arterial hypertension that was diagnosed following a cerebrovascular accident at the age of 15 years, was referred to our outpatient clinic for investigation in 1987. An intrarenal arteriovenous fistula was diagnosed by selective renal angiography. Embolization of the fistula was performed using four 15-mm/5-cm coils, which induced thrombosis and obstructed the fistula. The vascularization of the affected kidney improved immediately. During the following 4 months, the antihypertensive treatment was stopped gradually, and the patient remained normotensive. This is an unusual case of a large intrarenal arteriovenous fistula, whose etiology was not clear, that was successfully treated by percutaneous embolization.     

Inverse Planning – a Comparative Intersystem and Interpatient Constraint Study

PURPOSE: To compare commercial treatment-planning systems (TPS) for inverse planning (IP) and to assess constraint variations for specific IMRT indications. MATERIAL AND METHODS: For IP, OTP, XiO and BrainSCAN were used and step-and-shoot intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) delivery was assumed. Based on identical constraints, IP was performed for a prostate, head and neck, brain, and gynecologic case. IMRT plans were compared in terms of conformity/homogeneity, dose-volume histograms (DVHs), and delivery efficiency. For ten patients each of a class of indications, constraint variations were evaluated. RESULTS: IMRT plans were comparable concerning minimum target dose, homogeneity, conformity, and maximum doses to organs at risk. Larger differences were seen in dose gradients outside the target, monitor units, and segment number. Using help structures proved efficient to shape isodoses and to reduce segmentation workload. For IMRT class solutions, IP constraint variations depended on anatomic site. CONCLUSION: IP systems requiring doses as input and having objective functions based on physical parameters had a very similar performance. Constraint templates can be established for a class of IMRT indications.     

Clonazepam in the long-term treatment of patients with unipolar depression, bipolar and schizoaffective disorder.

The value of a long-term treatment with clonazepam in the prophylaxis of affective disorder is discussed controversially in the scientific literature. Altogether there are only a few reports on the use of this compound as a mood stabilizer, most of them describing patients suffering from bipolar affective disorder. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate clonazepam as a phase prophylactic medication in affective disorder. We conducted a retrospective chart review in 34 out-patients of our lithium clinic (15 suffering from unipolar depression, 15 from bipolar disorder, four from schizoaffective disorder), who had been treated with clonazepam as a long-term medication. Clonazepam was either given as monotherapy, or as in the case of lithium non-responders, as adjunctive therapy. Patients with unipolar depression had significantly (P=0.026) less depressive episodes after initiation of treatment with clonazepam. Patients with bipolar disorder did not benefit from this therapy. Neither manic/hypomanic phases nor depressive episodes were reduced in this group of patients. Interestingly, clonazepam also reduced affective phases in our four schizoaffective patients on a trend level. Our results indicate that patients with unipolar depression may benefit from a maintenance treatment with clonazepam. Due to methodological limitations our results need to be replicated in controlled double-blind randomized clinical trials.     

Switching from Tacrolimus to Sirolimus Halts the Appearance of New Sebaceous Neoplasms in Muir-Torre Syndrome

Little is known about the effects of immunosuppression on patients with hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC). We describe a kidney transplant recipient with unrecognized Muir-Torre syndrome in whom the administration of a tacrolimus-based regimen led to the eruption of multiple sebaceous tumors. The patient was later found to harbor an MSH2 mutation. Switching to a sirolimus-based regimen resulted in arrest of the disease. When the patient was switched back to tacrolimus, new facial lesions rapidly appeared. Switching again to sirolimus resulted again in halting the appearance of new lesions. This finding is in line with the known antiangiogenic activity of sirolimus and reports on the regression of cutaneous Kaposi's sarcoma in kidney transplant recipients switched from another immunosuppressive regimen to sirolimus. Further studies on the potential use of sirolimus for the treatment of de novo tumors in immunosuppressed kidney transplant recipients with HNPCC are warranted.     

Infradian biorhythms of enzymuria in man?

The temporal courses of dipeptidyl peptidase IV gamma-glutamyltransferase and alanine aminopeptidase were followed over 70 days in the morning urine of 15 healthy persons. Subsequent to basic statistical analysis a two-step procedure was performed, including spectral analysis and the fit of a cosine function by non-linear regression. The excretion of the 3 enzymes followed an infradian biorhythm with a mean period length of 10.04 for dipeptidyl peptidase IV, 13.34 for gamma-glutamyltransferase and 10.17 for alanine aminopeptidase. In addition to the basic rhythmic process described by the fitted cosine functions, in most of the enzyme patterns steap peaks of very high excretory activity appeared which was verified in repeated measurements. These infradian biorhythms with changes in the range of 100% and more, as well as their interindividual variations, have to be considered in assessing the excretion of enzymes.