Krankheitsprognose,psychosoziale Belastung und Einstellung von Melanompatienten zu unterstützenden psychotherapeutischen Maßnahmen

Zusammenfassung Bei 205 Melanompatienten im Stadium I und II wurden das Ausma? der psychosozialen Belastung und der sozialen Unterstützung sowie die Einstellung der Patienten zu unterstützenden Gespr?chsangeboten erhoben. 59% der Patienten fanden zus?tzliche unterstützende Gespr?che mit dem behandelnden Dermatologen, 20% mit einem Psychotherapeuten sinnvoll. Patienten, die starke Angst vor einem Fortschreiten des Tumors ?u?erten und die sich über die Erkrankung nicht ausreichend aufgekl?rt fühlten, wünschten Gespr?che mit dem behandelnden Arzt. Patienten, die sich psychosozial st?rker belastet fühlten und sozial weniger Unterstützung durch ihr soziales Umfeld angaben, befürworteten Unterstützung durch einen Psychotherapeuten. Auch eine ungünstige Prognose scheint das Interesse an psychotherapeutischer Unterstützung zu verst?rken. Eingegangen am 13. Januar 1995 Angenommen am 23. August 1995     

Complement component C5a predicts restenosis after superficial femoral artery balloon angioplasty.

PURPOSE: To investigate whether balloon angioplasty of the superficial femoral artery (SFA) increases serum levels of C5a and whether C5a predicts risk of restenosis. METHODS: C5a antigen was measured at baseline and 8 hours after intervention in 131 consecutive patients (76 women; median age 72 years) with intermittent claudication who underwent successful primary SFA balloon angioplasty. Patients were followed for a median 10 months [interquartile range (IQR) 6 to 14] for the occurrence of >50% restenosis by duplex ultrasound. RESULTS: Median C5a levels increased significantly from 39.7 ng/mL (IQR 27.8 to 55.0) at baseline to 53.8 ng/mL (IQR 35.6 to 85.1, p<0.001) 8 hours post intervention. During the follow-up period, 70 (53%) patients developed restenosis. Increasing levels of C5a (quartiles) at baseline were significantly associated with an increased risk for restenosis (p=0.0092). Adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) for restenosis with increasing quartiles of baseline serum C5a levels were 1.24 (0.60 to 2.58), 1.93 (0.95 to 3.93), and 2.08 (1.02 to 4.21), respectively, compared to the lowest quartile. This effect was independent of nonspecific inflammation as reflected by plasma levels of C-reactive protein. CONCLUSION: Inflammatory mechanisms play a major role in the development of restenosis after angioplasty. The complement component C5a exerts strong chemotactic and proinflammatory effects. Enhanced complement activation prior to PTA, as measured by higher levels of C5a, was significantly associated with restenosis after SFA balloon angioplasty. Pathways of complement inhibition thus may be worth investigating with respect to improving patency rates.     

Syntheses of Novel Pyridazinomorphinans by Inverse Electron Demand Cycloaddition and their Binding to μ and κ Receptors

A number of novel pyridazinomorphinans have been synthesized by the inverse electron demand Diels-Alder reaction of various 3,6-disubstituted 1,2,4,5-tetrazines with enamines derived from dihydrocodeinone and with codeinone. Reduction of some of the pyridazinomorphinans did not furnish the expected pyrroloepoxymorphinans; in all cases investigated reductive cleavage of the epoxybridge was observed to yield dihydropyridazino- or pyrrolomorphinans. The structures of all new compounds were assigned by the spectral data, that of the cycloadduct of codeinone was additionally verified by X-ray crystallography. Compounds 5a, 8, 11a , and 16 have been evaluated for their affinity at μ and κ opioid receptors in radioligand binding assays. Their ability to inhibit [³H]DAMGO binding at μ and [³H]U 69.593 binding at κ receptors, respectively as compared to codeine has been found to be lower.     

Characterization of anti-endothelial cell antibodies in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

IgG anti-endothelial antibodies (AEA), as measured by ELISA or immunoblotting technique could be detected in serum samples of 56 out of 64 patients with SLE (88%) and mainly occurred in monomeric form. AEA were not cell specific, because the binding reactivity was absorbed partially by both fibroblasts and peripheral blood mononuclear cells. No correlation was found between the presence of AEA and anti-nuclear antibodies. Immunoblotting revealed reactivity of AEA against endothelial antigens ranging in size from 15 to 200 kD. AEA titres were significantly higher in patients with joint or skin abnormalities, compared with patients without these abnormalities. A significant correlation was found between nephritis in SLE and the presence of AEA reactivity against endothelial membrane antigens of 38, 41 and 150 kD. These data show that the pattern of AEA reactivity in serum of SLE patients is heterogeneous, and suggest that AEA against a limited number of antigens may be involved in the pathogenesis of nephritis in SLE.     

Assessment of HIV-1 entry inhibitors by MLV/HIV-1 pseudotyped vectors

Background  

Murine leukemia virus (MLV) vector particles can be pseudotyped with a truncated variant of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) envelope protein (Env) and selectively target gene transfer to human cells expressing both CD4 and an appropriate co-receptor. Vector transduction mimics the HIV-1 entry process and is therefore a safe tool to study HIV-1 entry.     

The Role of the Calcium Channel α2δ-1 Subunit in Skeletal Muscle

Journal of Muscle Research and Cell Motility -     

Non-Hodgkin's lymphomas presenting with gastrointestinal involvement

Summary Between 1978 and 1983 a total of 33 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) involving the gastrointestinal tract were seen in our institution. Pathological classification was performed according to Kiel. Low grade NHL was diagnosed in 17, high grade NHL in 16 patients. The most frequent histological entity was lymphoplasmocytoid immunocytoma (11 patients). The most common sites of origin were the stomach (23 patients) and the ileocecal region (6 patients). The majority of patients presented with stage I and II disease (20 of 33 patients). As a rule primary therapy consisted of surgery with curative intent. Most of the patients received additional chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Patients with limited disease and complete tumour resection showed long-term survival from 12+ to 57+ months (mean 32.9+ months). Patients with advanced disease (stage III and IV) and only palliative surgery or with lymphoblastic lymphoma had a probability of survival of less than 12 months.Abbreviations NHL non-Hodgkin's lymphoma - IC lymphoplasmocytoid immunocytoma - CC centrocytic lymphoma - CB/CC centroblastic/centrocytic lymphoma - CB centroblastic lymphoma - IB immunoblastic lymphoma - LB lymphoblastic lymphoma - NWDL nodular well-differentiated lymphocytic lymphoma - NPDL nodular poorly differentiated lymphocytic lymphoma - NM nodular mixed lymphoma - NH nodular histiocytic lymphoma - DWDL diffuse well-differentiated lymphocytic lymphoma - DPDL diffuse poorly differentiated lymphocytic lymphoma - DM diffuse mixed lymphoma - DH diffuse histiocytic lymphoma - DU diffuse undifferentiated lymphoma - CT computerized tomography - GI gastrointestinal     

Detection of allelic loss within the β1-interferon gene in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia using differential PCR

Summary Deletion of the short arm of chromosome 9p involving the 1-interferon (IFN) gene has been implicated in the process of malignant transformation in lymphomas and acute lymphoblastic leukemias. Since cytogenetic analysis is frequently unsuccessful in clinical samples, we used a recently described differential PCR technique to detect losses within the 1-IFN gene in 86 acute leukemias. Using differential PCR, no 1-IFN deletion was detected in 44 acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and eight control samples. However, five of 42 acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) probes (12%) exhibited loss of the 1-IFN gene (three common ALL, two T-ALL). Cytogenetic analysis was performed independently in three of these five cases and revealed abnormalities of chromosome 9p in two samples. Two of five T-ALL cases exhibited a loss within the 1-IFN gene, compared with 3/29 c-ALLs, suggesting a predominance of IFN gene loss in T-ALLs. These data indicate that PCR can be used for rapid detection of gene dosage phenomena in clinical leukemia samples.