Immunoscintigraphy of bone sarcomas--results in 5 patients

The feasibility of using the murine monoclonal antibody, TP-1, for clinical immunoscintigraphy was examined in a pilot study involving 5 patients with bone sarcomas. 131I-labelled F(ab')2 antibody fragments were injected in doses of 0.8-1.0 mg (90-130 MBq), and the accumulation of radioactivity was examined by scintigraphy, and assessed by direct measurements on biopsied tumour and normal tissue. One osteosarcoma patient had a primary tumour in the femur, whereas the other 4 had single lung metastases detected by other diagnostic methods. Immunoscintigraphy of the femoral primary was optimally visualised after 22 h. In 2 patients, the method failed to detect lung metastasis, in 1 of the cases possibly related to less than optimal methodological conditions. In 2 other patients, increased accumulation of radioactivity indicated one and three lung tumours, in addition to the single metastasis observed by X-ray and CT scanning, tumours that were later confirmed and removed surgically. The concentration of radioactivity in tumour and normal tissues 44-72 h after antibody injection could be measured in 4 patients. The tumour to blood ratios were in the range of 1.2-4.2, compared to 0.1-0.8 for various normal tissues. The results indicate that immunoscintigraphy with TP-1 antibody fragments have a potential for early detection of lung metastases in patients with bone sarcoma.     

Red blood cell glutathione status in patients with gastrointestinal malignancies treated with 5-fluorouracil

As an alternative to surgical splenectomy, partial splenic embolization was performed in seven children for hypersplenism manifested by splenomegaly, thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, and erythrocyte hemolysis. Within a few days, platelet and leukocyte counts rose significantly in all patients and were maintained in six of seven patients during a follow-up period of 9 to 69 months. Spleen size and abdominal distention also decreased significantly in all children. There were no infectious complications.     

Progressive bronchial obstruction during the acute stage of respiratory tract infection in asthmatic children

To study the time-course of infectious asthma, we retrospectively examined FEV1 from 5 days before to 10 days after the onset of illness in 31 asthmatic children (20 boys and 11 girls), aged 8 to 12 years. Infections were confirmed by a rise of at least fourfold in serum compliment fixation titers (respiratory syncytial virus, adenovirus, and Mycoplasma pneumoniae) and hemoagglutination inhibition titers (parainfluenza virus types 1, 2, and 3). All the patients had 20 percent or more fall in FEV1 from baseline value during acute phase, but were clinically tolerable and required minimum or no bronchodilators. Regardless of infectious agent, FEV1 began to fall on the first disease day or the previous day, and deteriorate for the first few days. Mean(SD) maximum fall in FEV1 ranged from 39(12) percent to 45(20) percent. Thereafter, FEV1 began to improve and returned to the preillness level by the seventh to tenth day. These results suggest that progressive bronchial obstruction may be inevitable during the acute stage of any infectious asthma.     

Seismic response of structures with supplemental damping

This paper presents a review of supplemental damping devices used for the control of the seismic response of structures. The mechanical properties of these devices are discussed and considerations in the design of energy absorbing systems are presented.     

DNA flow cytometric analysis in patients with operable non-small cell lung carcinoma

Fresh surgical specimens of tumors from 60 patients with previously untreated non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) who underwent radical surgery between January 1991 and October 1992 were investigated by means of flow-cytometry. The nuclear DNA measurement was carried out using a Facscan (Becton, Dickinson, USA). Analysis of the DNA content was performed in all 60 patients whilst cell cycle analysis was possible in 41 cases (68.3%). Forty-two of the 60 cases (70%) were aneuploid and 18 (30%) were diploid. The overall mean value of DNA index was 1.5. Diploid NSCLC were compared with aneuploid tumors: no significant differences in age distribution, sex ratio, histology and staging were found between the two groups (P > 0.05). An S-phase proportion of more than 10% was found in 30 out of 41 patients (73.2%). Early cancer deaths were reported in four patients (6.6%): the aneuploidy rate was very close in these patients (75%) and in the remaining surviving patients (69.6%). An S-phase proportion of more than 10% was found in 100% of early cancer deaths and in 70.2% of the remaining cases; such a difference seems of some importance although it was not statistically significant (P = 0.071). In conclusion, flow-cytometry studies seem to be a useful tool in the understanding of the biological behavior of patients with NSCLC. In the present prospective report there were no significant correlations between DNA measurements and clinical outcome, however, these results suggest that a high S-phase proportion should be seen as a possible prognostic indicator.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Zooplankton population in the river tigris: Effects of samarra impoundment

The influences of the Samarra impoundment on the ecology of the downstream sector of the river Tigris are investigated. Zooplankton were collected monthly from July 1987 to July 1988. It was found that zooplankton were most abundant during high river discharges in March. During the month of low river discharge, September, the zooplankton population was greatly reduced immediately below the barrage and remained so to the last downstream station. Several factors seem to explain such differences. The high discharge from the impoundment was found to be the dominating factor and may flush the small backwaters in which zooplankton were abundant, thus increasing the population in the river. Zooplankton species vary in their ability to sustain populations in the river, variations which are due mainly to species-specific characteristics.     

Reproducibility of functional transcranial Doppler sonography in determining hemispheric language lateralization

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Since functional transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (fTCD) allows convenient and fully automated quantification of language lateralization, it seems ideal for longitudinal studies of perfusion changes during deterioration as well as recovery of language functions. However, during serial examinations, the technical, stochastic, and physiological variabilities of cerebral blood flow velocities (CBFV) have to be considered. Therefore, before fTCD is accepted as a tool for evaluation of changes in lateralization in the diseased state, its reliability in healthy subjects needs to be determined. METHODS: We performed fTCD during a word generation task based on a previously validated technique with automated calculation of the averaged CBFV differences in the middle cerebral arteries providing an index of lateralization (LI). RESULTS: (1) The accuracy of the LI as assessed by the confidence interval was better than 1% of the mean hemispheric difference. (2) On repeated examination, LIs obtained from 10 subjects showed a high test-retest reproducibility (Pearson product moment correlation coefficient r = 0.95, P < 0.0001). (3) On 10 repeated assessments of LI in the same subject, no practice effects were detected. CONCLUSIONS: Functional TCD is a suitable and very robust tool for the longitudinal quantitative measurement of cerebral language lateralization.     

Differential activity of the G protein beta5 gamma2 subunit at receptors and effectors

The G protein beta5 subunit differs substantially in amino acid sequence from the other known beta subunits suggesting that beta gamma dimers containing this protein may play specialized roles in cell signaling. To examine the functional properties of the beta5 subunit, recombinant beta5 gamma2 dimers were purified from baculovirus-infected Sf9 insect cells using a strategy based on two affinity tags (hexahistidine and FLAG) engineered into the N terminus of the gamma2 subunit (gamma2HF). The function of the pure beta5 gamma2HF dimers was examined in three assays: activation of pure phospholipase C-beta in lipid vesicles; activation of recombinant, type II adenylyl cyclase expressed in Sf9 cell membranes; and coupling of alpha subunits to the endothelin B (ETB) and M1 muscarinic receptors. In each case, the efficacy of the beta5 gamma2HF dimer was compared with that of the beta1 gamma2HF dimer, which has demonstrated activity in these assays. The beta5 gamma2HF dimer activated phospholipase C-beta with a potency and efficacy similar to that of beta1 gamma2 or beta1 gamma2HF; however, it was markedly less effective than the beta1 gamma2HF or beta1 gamma2 dimer in its ability to activate type II adenylyl cyclase (EC50 of approximately 700 nM versus 25 nM). Both the beta5 gamma2HF and the beta1 gamma2HF dimers supported coupling of M1 muscarinic receptors to the Gq alpha subunit. The ETB receptor coupled effectively to both the Gi and Gq alpha subunits in the presence of the beta1 gamma2HF dimer. In contrast, the beta5 gamma2HF dimer only supported coupling of the Gq alpha subunits to the ETB receptor and did not support coupling of the Gi alpha subunit. These results suggest that the beta5 gamma2HF dimer binds selectively to Gq alpha subunits and does not activate the same set of effectors as dimers containing the beta1 subunit. Overall, the data support a specialized role for the beta5 subunit in cell signaling.