The functional assessment of the late results of surgical treatment in lung cancer]

Results of a complex clinico-functional examination of 48 patients after resection for lung cancer 8-10 years ago are presented. The satisfactory pumping function of the heart was revealed with practically normal volumes of the cardiac output. Among patients subjected to resection of a lobe of the lung two groups were determined: with relatively satisfactory parameters of the function of external respiration and blood circulation and with a pronounced degree of strain of the functioning of these systems.     

Specificity of arrangement of human chromosomes in the nucleus of a moving cell

Institute of Medical Genetics, Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Moscow. All-Union Mental Health Research Center, Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Moscow. (Presented by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR N. P. Bochkov.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 108, No. 10, pp. 479–481. October, 1989.     

How Do We Make Choices in Salvage Therapy: Panitumumab, Cetuximab, or Regorafenib?

Colorectal cancer is the fourth commonest cancer worldwide. The survival rate is suboptimal for patients with metastatic disease. The introduction of anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) antibodies has remarkably improved clinical outcomes. Two monoclonal antibodies targeting EGFR and one multikinase inhibitor have been approved by the FDA and Health Canada for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer; however, only about 10 % of patients respond to this treatment. Having wild-type KRAS is necessary but not sufficient to derive benefit from EGFR inhibition. Interestingly, patients with certain mutations such as p.G13D represent a cetuximab-sensitive subtype of KRAS mutant metastatic colorectal cancer. A few biomarkers have been identified, but we still do not know the best way to administer drugs. In this article we review the clinical data and expert opinions and summarize the recommendations.     

Nail incorporation kinetics of terbinafine in onychomycosis patients

Patients with toe-nail onychomycosis were treated with terbinafine (250 mg daily, n= 20) for either 6 or 12 weeks in a randomized double-blind study. Plasma and distal nail clippings were taken before initiation of therapy and 1, 6, 12, 18, 24, 36 and 48 weeks thereafter. Analytical data of terbinafine extracted from nail clippings or plasma were obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Nail extracts and isolated HPLC terbinafine peaks were analysed using a combined gas chromatography - mass spectroscopy system (GC-MS) for unequivocal identification of the drug. Terbinafine could be detected in the distal nail in the majority of the patients within 1 week of starling therapy. Maximum terbinafine levels of 0·52 and 1·01 μg;g were measured after 18 weeks in the 6- and 12-week treatment groups, respectively. While plasma levels decreased rapidly after termination of therapy terbinaiine was detected in the nails as long as 36 weeks (6 weeks treatment) and 36 weeks (12 weeks treatment) after termination of therapy at a range of 0·–0·19 μg/g. The drug concentrations measured at all time points are well above the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) tor dermatophytes and other fungi, These data suggest that the drug readies the nail plate rapidly and persists there for several months after cessation of active treatment.     

Phenotypic expression of HA-NA combinations in human-avian influenza A virus reassortants

Summary Human-avian and human-mammalian influenza A virus reassortant clones with the neuraminidase (NA) gene of the A/USSR/90/77 (H1N1) strain and hemagglutinin (HA) genes of H3, H4 and H13 subtypes had been shown in an earlier publication to produce low HA yields in the embryonated chicken eggs. The low HA titers had been shown to be due, at least in part, to the formation of virion clusters at 4°C; the clustering was removed by the treatment with bacterial neuraminidase [Rudneva et al., Arch. Virol (1993) 133: 437–450]. By serial passages of the reassortants in chick embryos non-aggregating variants were selected: the variants produced HA titers of the same order as A/USSR/90/77 parent virus. The assessment of the virus yields by the analysis of the partially purified virus preparations from fixed volumes of the allantoic fluid revealed that actual virion yields of the initial reassortants were lower than the yields of their passaged variants or of the parent viruses. The passaged variant of a reassortant possessing the HA gene of A/Duck/Ukraine/1/63 (H3N2) virus differed from the original (non-passaged) reassortant and from the parent A/Duck/Ukraine/1/63 virus in the reaction with a panel of monoclonal antibodies against H3 hemagglutinin. The data suggest that some HA-NA combinations may lead to an incomplete functional match between HA and NA and to the formation of low-yield reassortants, thus representing a possible limiting factor in the emergence of new HA-NA combinations in natural conditions.