Review of non‐positron emission tomography functional imaging of primary musculoskeletal tumours: Beyond the humble bone scan

Bone and soft tissue tumours are rare neoplasms. There are five major roles of imaging in the management of primary musculoskeletal tumours, that is, to differentiate between benignity and malignancy, to evaluate for local tumour extension, to screen for metastases, to judge the effect of chemotherapy, and to monitor for recurrence. To accomplish this, multiple modalities are required because no single examination is able to complete all these tasks. These modalities include plain radiography, CT, MRI, conventional nuclear medicine as well as positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. Elsewhere, PET imaging has been discussed at length, because it is likely to be superior in the assessment of bone and soft tissue tumours over conventional nuclear medicine procedures. However, conventional nuclear medicine may be of value when PET is unavailable. In this review, an overview of anatomical imaging will be given and the role of non‐PET functional imaging will be discussed in detail. A variety of illustrative cases will be presented.     

止泻散敷脐治疗婴幼儿腹泻100例

0　引言　腹泻乃小儿最常见病 ,尤以 2岁以下婴幼儿最为常见 .年龄越小 ,发病率越高 ,且多在夏、秋季发病 .小儿患病后惧怕打针 ,服药以及输液 ,给治疗带来一些困难 . 12 a来 ,我们用自拟的止泻散敷脐治疗婴幼儿泄泻 ,效果良好 .1　对象和方法1.1　对象　 1998- 0 6 / 1999- 10婴幼儿腹泻发病高峰期门诊病例 10 0 (男 6 6 ,女 34 )例 ,年龄 2月龄～ 5岁 .肠炎 5 8例 ,单纯消化不良 42例 . 6 7例曾多次治疗 ,33例初诊 .凡接受治疗之患儿 ,一律停止用其他药物 .1.2　方法　药物组成 :川椒 12 g,干姜 12 g,小茴香 12 g,白芷 2 0 g,吴茱萸 5 g,…     

In vitro and in vivo antifungal activities of the eight steroid saponins from Tribulus terrestris L. with potent activity against fluconazole-resistant fungal pathogens

Antifungal activity of natural products is being studied widely. Saponins are known to be antifungal and antibacterial. We have isolated eight steroid saponins from Tribulus terrestris L. , namely TTS-8, TTS-9, TTS-10, TTS-11, TTS-12, TTS-13, TTS-14 and TTS-15. TTS-12 and TTS-15 were identified as tigogenin-3-O-β-D-xylopyranosyl（1→ 2）-[-β-D-xylopyranosyl（ 1 → 3 ） 3-β- D-glucopyranosyl （ 1 → 4 ）- 1- α-L-rhamnopyranosyl （ 1 → 2 ） 3-β-D-galactopyranoside and tigogenin-3-O-β-D-glucopyranpyranosyl（1→2）-[-β-D-xylopyranosyl（1→ 3）3-β-D-glucopyranosyl（1→4）-β-D-galactopyranoside, respectively. The in vitro antifungal activities of the eight saponins against six fluconazole-resistant yeasts, Candida albicans, Candida glabrata, Candida para psilosis , Candida tropicalis , Candida krusei , and Cryptococcus neo f ormans were studied using microbroth dilution assay. The results showed that TTS-12 and TTS-15 were very effective against several pathogenic candidal species and C. neoformans in vitro. It is noteworthy that TTS-12 and TTS-15 were very active against fluconazole-resistant C. albicans （MIC80 = 4.4, 9.4 mg/ml）, C. neoformans （MIC80 =10.7, 18.7 mg/ml） and inherently resistant C. krusei （MIC80 =8.8, 18.4 mg/ml）. So in vivo activity of TTS-12 in a vaginal infection model with fluconazole-resistant C. albicans was studied in particular. Our studies revealed TTS-12 also showed in vivo activities against fluconazole-resistant yeasts. In conclusion, steroid saponins TTS-12 and TTS-15 from Tribulus terrestris L. have significant in vitro antifungal activity against fluconazole-resistant fungi, especially TTS-12 also showed in vivo activity against fluconazole-resistant C. albicans.     

Predictors of a positive baseline bone scan in breast cancer

The aim of this retrospective study was to determine the predictors of a positive bone scan in female patients with breast carcinoma. The participants were 126 females with newly diagnosed breast carcinoma and a baseline bone scan. Patients who had started treatment before their bone scan were excluded. Bone scans were assessed as ‘no metastases’ or ‘definite skeletal metastases’ without knowledge of the patient's predictor variables. Those with ‘possible metastases’ were correlated with other available imaging and clinical information, and recategorized as ‘no metastases’ or ‘definite skeletal metastases’. Results were compared with predictor variables. Significant predictors were increasing age, a higher histopathological grading and positive progesterone receptor status following a forward-stepwise logistic regression analysis. Axillary nodal status, tumour size and oestrogen receptor status did not correlate with a positive bone scan. Not every patient needs a staging bone scan. This study is important because it predicts the need for baseline scintigraphy for specific patients in whom skeletal metastases are more likely to be present or to develop. The findings are particularly valuable in times of worldwide resource scarcity and evolving surgical practice.     

Simian immunodeficiency virus infection of CD4+CD8+ T cells in a macaque with an unusually high peripheral CD4+CD8+ T lymphocyte count

We assessed the possible role in vivo CD4(+) CD8(+) T cells as a viral reservoir for simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), in a macaque with 50% CD4(+) CD8(+) T cells in peripheral blood. During primary infection (day 14) of this rhesus macaque with the pathogenic SIVmac251 strain, proviruses were detected at similar frequencies in CD4(+) CD8(+) T cells (1/10) and CD4(+) T cells (1/10) and at a lower frequency in CD8(+) T cells (1/800). On day 235, no viral DNA was detected in CD8(+) cells, despite the persistent high viral load, indicating that CD8(+) cells do not constitute a reservoir during the chronic phase of SIV infection. Infection induced early lymphopenia of CD4(+), CD4(+) CD8(+), and CD8(+) cells; only the CD8(+) cell population returned to initial levels and expanded further. We found that CD4(+) CD8(+) T cells expressed the costimulatory CD28 molecule less and were more prone to die in vitro after phytohemagglutinin/interleukin 2 stimulation than were CD4(+) T cells. Taken together, massive death of CD4(+) CD8(+) T cells during acute stages of SIV infection may explain why CD8(+) T cells did not represent a major reservoir for SIV at the onset of infection.