Conventional Ultrafiltration During Elective Cardiac Surgery and Postoperative Acute Kidney Injury

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Fluorimetric determination of activity and isoenzyme composition of N-acetyl-beta-D-hexosaminidase in seminal plasma of fertile men and infertile patients with secretory azoospermia.

BACKGROUND: The activity and isoenzyme composition of N-acetyl-beta-D-hexosaminidase (EC.3.2.1.52) in seminal plasma of fertile and infertile men have been evaluated. However, no data are available on the isoenzyme content in seminal plasma from patients with secretory azoospermia. METHODS: The activity and isoenzyme composition of seminal plasma from 15 normozoospermic controls and 18 patients with secretory azoospermia were determined by fluorimetric methods. 4-Methylumbelliferil-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-beta-D-glucopyranoside and 4-methylumbelliferil-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-beta-D-glucopyranoside-6-sulfate were used as fluorigenic substrates. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to evaluate the diagnostic efficiency of the assays. RESULTS: No significant difference was found in total enzyme activity between the two groups, while isoenzyme A activity was significantly lower (p=0.004) and the ratio between total enzyme activity and isoenzyme A activity was significantly higher (p=0.04) in azoospermic patients compared to controls. The diagnostic efficiency of these evaluations was low (< or =75.7%). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings show that the isoenzyme composition of N-acetyl-beta-D-hexosaminidase in seminal plasma from patients with secretory azoospermia is significantly different from controls, but this difference does not represent a useful marker of secretory azoospermia. The fluorimetric assays are simple and rapid methods for evaluating the isoenzyme composition.     

Examination of the effects of hemodynamic and pharmacologic interventions on coronary collateral flow in a patient during cardiac catheterization

The vasomotor response of native human collateral vessels to pharmacologic or hemodynamic vasodilatory stimuli is not well known. We describe a case where retrograde collateral flow velocity was measured both at baseline and following selected hemodynamic and pharmacologic interventions. This index case represents the first in a series of potential human physiologic studies designed to address questions pertaining to control of collateral blood supply in humans. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Epithelial inclusion cysts after radial keratotomy

Two patients underwent bilateral radial keratotomy procedures and developed epithelial inclusion cysts as a postoperative complication. Metal blades were used for the corneal incisions; this might be related to the development of the cysts.     

Mono- and bi-allelic expression of insulin-like growth factor II gene in human muscle tumors

Insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) is a mitogen for manycell types and an important modulator of muscle growth and differentiation.IGF-II gene is prevalently expressed during prenatal developmentand its gene activity is regulated by genomic imprinting, inthat the allele inherited from the father is active and theallele inherited from the mother is inactive in most normaltissues. IGF-II expression is activated in several types ofhuman neoplasms and an alteration of IGF-II imprinting has beendescribed in Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome and Wilms' tumour.Here we show that monoallelic expression of IGF-II gene is conservedin normal adult muscle tissue whereas two or more copies ofactive IGF-II alleles, arising by either relaxation of imprintingor duplication of the active allele, are found in 9 out of 11(82%) rhabdomyo-sarcomas retaining heterozygosity at 11p15,regardless of the histological subtype. Since IGF-II has beenindicated as an autocrine growth factor for rhabdomyosarcomacells, these findings strongly suggest that acquisition of adouble dosage of active IGF-II gene is an important step forthe initiation or progression of rhabdomyosarcoma tumorigenesis.Among different types of muscle tumors, relaxation of imprintingseems to arise prevalently in rhabdomyosarcomas, since we havedetected only one case of partial reactivation of the maternalIGF-II allele out of 7 lelomyosarcomas tested.     

Phase II Trial of Fludarabine Phosphate in Multiple Myeloma Using a Loading Dose and Continuous Infusion Schedule

A phase II trial of fludarabine phosphate using a bolus and continuous infusion regimen in previously treated multiple myeloma was performed. No responses were observed in eleven patients. There was no significant non-hematologic toxicity noted. Fludarabine phosphate is inactive in multiple myeloma using this schedule.