New age care. It's time to focus on the need-driven, market niche of Alzheimer's and dementia specialty care.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to John Moore.
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How tumors access and spread via the lymphatics is not understood. Although it is clear that dissemination via the blood system involves hemangiogenesis, it is uncertain whether tumors also induce lymphangiogenesis or simply invade existing peritumoral vessels. To address the issue we quantitated tumor lymph vessels in archival specimens of head and neck cancer by immunostaining for the recently described lymphatic endothelial marker LYVE-1, the vascular endothelial marker CD34, and the pKi67 proliferation marker, correlating lymph vessel density and proliferation index with clinical and pathological variables. Discrete "hotspots" of intratumoral small proliferating lymphatics were observed in all carcinomas, and a high intratumoral lymph vessel density was associated with neck node metastases (n = 23; P = 0.027) and an infiltrating margin of tumor invasion (P = 0.046) in the oropharyngeal subgroup. Quantitation of the lymphangiogenic growth factor vascular endothelial growth factor C by real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry revealed higher levels of mRNA in tumor tissue than in normal samples (n = 8; P = 0.017), but no obvious correlation with intratumoral lymphatics. Our results provide new evidence that proliferating lymphatics can occur in human cancers and may in some cases contribute to lymph node metastasis.
OBJECTIVE: Evidence from animal studies, case reports, and phase I studies suggests that hemopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) can be effective in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). It is unclear, however, if depletion of T cells in the stem cell product infused after high-dose chemotherapy is beneficial in prolonging responses by reducing the number of infused autoreactive T cells. This pilot multicenter, randomized trial was undertaken to obtain feasibility data on whether CD34 selection (as a form of T cell depletion) of an autologous stem cell graft is of benefit in the HSCT procedure in patients with severe, refractory RA. METHODS: Thirty-three patients with severe RA who had been treated unsuccessfully with methotrexate and at least 1 other disease-modifying agent were enrolled in the trial. The patients received high-dose immunosuppressive treatment with 200 mg/kg cyclophosphamide followed by an infusion of autologous stem cells that were CD34 selected or unmanipulated. Safety, efficacy (based on American College of Rheumatology [ACR] response criteria), and time to recurrence of disease were assessed on a monthly basis for up to 12 months. RESULTS: All patients were living at the end of the study, with no major unexpected toxicities. Overall, on an intent-to-treat basis, ACR 20% response (ACR20) was achieved in 70% of the patients. An ACR70 response was attained in 27.7% of the 18 patients who had received CD34-selected cells and 53.3% of the 15 who had received unmanipulated cells (P = 0.20). The median time to disease recurrence was 147 days in the CD34-selected cell group and 201 days in the unmanipulated cell group (P = 0.28). There was no relationship between CD4 lymphopenia and response, but 72% of rheumatoid factor (RF)-positive patients had an increase in RF titer prior to recurrence of disease. CONCLUSION: HSCT can be performed safely in patients with RA, and initial results indicate significant responses in patients with severe, treatment-resistant disease. Similar outcomes were observed in patients undergoing HSCT with unmanipulated cells and those receiving CD34-selected cells. Larger studies are needed to confirm these findings.
The continuous intrathecal infusion of drugs with implantable and programmable pumps is commonly used for the treatment of otherwise intractable pain and spasticity. There is now a consensus that it is possible to use mixtures of two or even three drugs in selected cases. The calculation of the parameters of the pump is easy for a single drug, but it becomes more complicated for a combination of two or three drugs. This paper offers some algebraic formulae that make easier and faster the calculation of the following values: the flow of the pump, the volume of each drug solution to be added to the final mixture, the concentration of each drug in the mixture and the duration of the infusion. These values are determined from the desired quantity of each drug to be infused in 24h, the concentration of each drug solution and the volume of the reservoir. It is essential that the drugs do not react with one another, that they will remain stable in the reservoir at body temperature and that they are safe for a long-term infusion.
Salmonella enterica serotype Bredeney has emerged as the third most commonly identified serotype among human clinical isolates referred to the Irish National Salmonella Reference Laboratory in the years 1998 to 2000. A collection of 112 isolates of S. enterica serotype Bredeney collected during the period 1995 to 1999 from animal, food, and human sources from both Ireland and Northern Ireland were studied. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), and DNA amplification fingerprinting (DAF) were performed on all isolates. Plasmid profiles were examined on a subset of 33 isolates. A high proportion (74%) of isolates were susceptible to all antimicrobial agents tested. Resistance to both sulfonamide and trimethoprim was observed in 21% of isolates, and resistance to multiple (five) antimicrobial agents was observed in a single isolate (0.9%). Eight different PFGE patterns were obtained, with 87% of isolates grouping as PFGE type A. PFGE type A was predominant in animals, food, and humans. There was good overall concordance between the groups identified by PFGE and DAF. Overall results indicate that most S. enterica serotype Bredeney isolates in Ireland and Northern Ireland from animal and human sources are clonally related.
At the request of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), the National Toxicology Program organized an independent and open peer review to evaluate the scientific evidence on low-dose effects and nonmonotonic dose-response relationships for endocrine-disrupting chemicals in mammalian species. For this peer review, "low-dose effects" referred to biologic changes that occur in the range of human exposures or at doses lower than those typically used in the standard testing paradigm of the U.S. EPA for evaluating reproductive and developmental toxicity. The demonstration that an effect is adverse was not required because in many cases the long-term health consequences of altered endocrine function during development have not been fully characterized. A unique aspect of this peer review was the willing submission of individual animal data by principal investigators of primary research groups active in this field and the independent statistical reanalyses of selected parameters prior to the peer review meeting by a subpanel of statisticians. The expert peer-review panel (the panel) also considered mechanistic data that might influence the plausibility of low-dose effects and identified study design issues or other biologic factors that might account for differences in reported outcomes among studies. The panel found that low-dose effects, as defined for this review, have been demonstrated in laboratory animals exposed to certain endocrine-active agents. In some cases where low-dose effects have been reported, the findings have not been replicated. The shape of the dose-response curves for reported effects varied with the end point and dosing regimen and were low-dose linear, threshold-appearing, or nonmonotonic. The findings of the panel indicate that the current testing paradigm used for assessments of reproductive and developmental toxicity should be revisited to see whether changes are needed regarding dose selection, animal-model selection, age when animals are evaluated, and the end points being measured following exposure to endocrine-active agents.
BACKGROUND: Pulmonary vein stenosis is a recognized complication of catheter ablation of arrhythmias emanating from the pulmonary vein; however, there is little information on secondary effects of pulmonary vein stenosis on lung tissue. METHODS AND RESULTS: A 55-year-old man with a history of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation refractory to antiarrhythmic medication had radiofrequency ablation in April 2003 and July 2003. Although these procedures were successful in resolving the patient's arrhythmia, they were complicated by the development of pulmonary vein stenosis of all four veins and pulmonary hypertension requiring patch annuloplasty of the pulmonary veins in October 2003. The patient was referred to our center for pulmonary vein stent placement in December 2003, June 2004, and August 2004, each time for recurrent hemoptysis. Due to persistent hemoptysis over the next several months, the patient underwent left lower lung lobectomy in September 2005. Microscopic examination of the lung showed marked medial thickening and intimal hyperplasia of large and small pulmonary veins and arteries, as well as focal organizing thrombi in the small arteries. The lung tissue showed extensive hemosiderin deposition indicative of prior hemorrhage. CONCLUSION: Chronic pulmonary vein stenosis after radiofrequency ablation of atrial fibrillation results in irreversible venous and arterial morphologic changes throughout the lung, including areas both close to, and remote from, the site of catheter ablation. Because there are persistent pathological changes remote from the ablation site causing the pulmonary hypertension, stenting the site of ablation to reopen large pulmonary veins may not be effective in treating the pulmonary hypertension.