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Impact of hemoglobin level and use of recombinant erythropoietin on efficacy of preoperative chemoradiation therapy for squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity and oropharynx.

PURPOSE: We assessed the influence of hemoglobin level and r-HuEPO administration on response to chemoradiotherapy, locoregional tumor control, and overall survival in patients treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and surgery for a squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity or oropharynx. METHODS AND MATERIALS: The 191 study patients were treated with mitomycin C (15 mg/m(2) day 1), 5-fluorouracil (750 mg/m(2)/day, days 1-5), and radiotherapy (50 Gy in 25 fractions weeks 1-5), followed by resection of the primary tumor bed and neck dissection at the General Hospital Vienna, Austria, between November 1989 and October 1998 for a T2-4, N0-3, M0 SCC of the oral cavity or oropharynx. Starting in May 1996, patients with a low hemoglobin (Hgb) before or during chemoradiotherapy received r-HuEPO 10,000 IU/kg s.c. 3-6 times/week until the week of surgery. RESULTS: On multivariate analysis, Hgb level and use of r-HuEPO were independent prognostic factors for response to chemoradiotherapy and locoregional tumor control (p < 0.01). Pathologic response to neoadjuvant therapy was also predictive of locoregional control (p < 0.001). Patients with a pretreatment Hgb > or = 14.5 g/dL had significantly higher complete response, locoregional control, and survival rates than the patients with a pretreatment Hgb < 14.5 g/dL who did not receive r-HuEPO (p < 0.05). The response, control, and survival rates in patients with a pretreatment Hgb < 14.5 g/dL given r-HuEPO were significantly higher than in low Hgb patients not given r-HuEPO (p < or = 0.001) and equivalent to patients with a pretreatment Hgb > 14.5 g/dL (p > or = 0.3). CONCLUSION: Low pretreatment Hgb is a negative prognostic factor for oral cavity and oropharyngeal SCCA patients, but was completely abrogated by r-HuEpo administration during neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Randomized trials of radiation and/or chemotherapy with or without r-HuEPO for patients whose Hgb level is either low at the start of therapy or is anticipated to become low during therapy are indicated.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗

Erythrocyte-aggregating relapsing fever spirochete Borrelia crocidurae induces formation of microemboli.

The African relapsing fever spirochete Borrelia crocidurae forms aggregates with erythrocytes, resulting in a delayed immune response. Mice were infected with B. crocidurae and monitored during 50 days after infection. Spirochetes were observed extravascularly at day 2 after infection. Two days later, inflammatory responses, cell death, and tissue damage were evident. The pathologic responses in lungs and kidneys were similar, whereas the symptoms in the brains were delayed, with a less pronounced inflammatory response. Microemboli were found in the blood vessels, possibly a result of the erythrocyte aggregation. The B. crocidurae invasion emerged more rapidly than has been described for Lyme disease-causing Borrelia species. In addition to erythrocyte rosetting, the presence of extravascular B. crocidurae indicates a novel route for these bacteria to propagate and cause damage in the mammalian host. The histopathologic findings in this study may explain the clinical manifestations of human relapsing fever.

Animals↗

Neoadjuvant versus adjuvant systemic treatment in breast cancer: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Interest in the use of preoperative systemic treatment in the management of breast cancer has increased because such neoadjuvant therapy appears to reduce the extent of local surgery required. We compared the clinical end points of patients with breast cancer treated preoperatively with systemic therapy (neoadjuvant therapy) and of those treated postoperatively with the same regimen (adjuvant therapy) in a meta-analysis of randomized trials. METHODS: We evaluated nine randomized studies, including a total of 3946 patients with breast cancer, that compared neoadjuvant therapy with adjuvant therapy regardless of what additional surgery and/or radiation treatment was used. Fixed and random effects methods were used to combine data. Primary outcomes were death, disease progression, distant disease recurrence, and loco-regional disease recurrence. Secondary outcomes were local response and conservative local treatment. All statistical tests were two-sided. RESULTS: We found no statistically or clinically significant difference between neoadjuvant therapy and adjuvant therapy arms associated with death (summary risk ratio [RR] = 1.00, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.90 to 1.12), disease progression (summary RR = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.91 to 1.07), or distant disease recurrence (summary RR = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.83 to 1.06). However, neoadjuvant therapy was statistically significantly associated with an increased risk of loco-regional disease recurrences (RR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.04 to 1.43), compared with adjuvant therapy, especially in trials where more patients in the neoadjuvant, than the adjuvant, arm received radiation therapy without surgery (RR = 1.53, 95% CI = 1.11 to 2.10). Across trials, we observed heterogeneity in the rates of complete clinical response (range = 7%-65%; P for heterogeneity of <.001), pathologic response (range = 4%-29%; P for heterogeneity of <.001), and adoption of conservative local treatment (range = 28%-89% in neoadjuvant arms, P for heterogeneity of <.001). CONCLUSIONS: Neoadjuvant therapy was apparently equivalent to adjuvant therapy in terms of survival and overall disease progression. Neoadjuvant therapy, compared with adjuvant therapy, was associated with a statistically significant increased risk of loco-regional recurrence when radiotherapy without surgery was adopted.

Antineoplastic Agents↗

Therapy associated changes in childhood tumors.

Contemporary treatment regimens for the common solid tumors of childhood have led to increased numbers of post-treatment pathologic specimens from survivors. Current therapeutic strategies for childhood cancers in North America require an accurate pathologic diagnosis and stratify patients based on combinations of clinical, biological, and pathologic features. In several tumor systems, the pathologic response to therapy also modifies the treatment regimen. Accurate pathologic interpretation of such specimens is critical in providing useful prognostic information for therapeutic decisions. Standardized handling of post-therapy pathologic specimens, appropriate use of molecular and genetic studies, consideration of the differential diagnoses, and assessment of the potential biologic significance of therapy-induced pathologic changes are, therefore, critical for patient management and determination of treatment protocols.

Adolescent↗

Extremity osteosarcoma in childhood: prognostic value of radiologic imaging.

PURPOSE: To evaluate previously described radiologic prognostic factors in extremity osteosarcoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 47 pediatric patients, available images were evaluated for seven prognostic factors at diagnosis and seven additional factors after preoperative chemotherapy. These factors were correlated with histopathologic response and clinical outcome. The association of histopathologic response and outcome was also evaluated. RESULTS: Metastases at presentation and a > 20-cm-diameter soft-tissue mass were predictive of a poor outcome but occurred in few patients. Factors most predictive of < 90% tumor necrosis after chemotherapy included an increase or no change in soft-tissue mass size and increased bone destruction. Although a significant relationship (P < .05) was found between histopathologic response and outcome, no factors predictive of histopathologic response were also predictive of outcome. The accuracy of pathologic response in predicting outcome was 66%. CONCLUSION: Radiologic studies are of only limited use in predicting which patients with extremity osteosarcoma will have a poor response to chemotherapy or a poor outcome, and are not useful in predicting a good response or outcome.

Adolescent↗

Kennedy disease in an Italian kindred.

An X-linked adult-onset neurogenic muscular atrophy, chiefly proximal, with late involvement of the distal musculature and medulla oblongata was present in 4 members of a single kindred. Associated in all patients were gynecomastia, impotence and essential tremor. Frederickson type IV hyperlipemia was present in 1 patient. Hormonal stimulation tests in 2 patients elicited a borderline low testicular response in the younger of the 2 and a pathological response in the older patient. On the evidence of these and previously reported cases, Kennedy disease would appear to be characterized by an X-linked proximal neurogenic amyotrophy of adult onset and by a testicular endocrine deficit.

Aged↗

Neoadjuvant intra-arterial chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder: results and followup.

The long-term results of regional chemotherapy plus intra-arterial cisplatin with or without doxorubicin as an adjuvant before cystectomy and urinary diversion in patients with invasive transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder were evaluated. A total of 27 patients with T3aNxMo (8), T3bNxMo (14) and T4NxMo (5) disease participated in a phase II trial completed in 1985. Of the patients 19 received cisplatin and doxorubicin intra-arterially, and cyclophosphamide intravenously, and the remaining 8 received 70 to 100 mg. per m.2 cisplatin intra-arterially. A total of 19 patients underwent cystectomy after chemotherapy. Patients in this group had a pathological complete response (no evidence of disease after surgical restaging) or the presence of residual disease at operation that could (surgical complete response) or could not (pathological partial response) be completely resected. Of the 19 patients undergoing cystectomy surgical complete response was observed in 47.4%, pathological complete response in 26.3% and pathological partial response in 26.3%. At a median followup of 27 months for the group 66% of the patients with a surgical complete response, 100% with a pathological complete response and 40% with a pathological partial response were alive with no evidence of disease. The over-all survival for patients with a pathological or surgical complete response is 76.9%. In the patients not operated upon because of persistent or advanced disease after chemotherapy survival was brief (less than 4 months). Prolonged survival in patients achieving a pathological or surgical complete response with neoadjuvant chemotherapy occurs, and this modality may have a role in patients with invasive tumors.

Aged↗

Vindesine-ifosfamide-platinum (VIP) induction chemotherapy in surgically staged IIIA-N2 non-small-cell lung cancer: a prospective study. Leuven Lung Cancer Group.

PURPOSE: In the pioneer data from the Memorial-Sloan-Kettering group, preoperative mitomycin-C-vindesine-platinum (MVP) induction chemotherapy in N2-NSCLC was accompanied with substantial pulmonary toxicity. In this study, the efficacy and toxicity of three-drug VIP induction chemotherapy, the pathologic response in resection specimens, the early survival and relapse patterns are examined. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between June 1995 and March 1997, 39 consecutive patients with pathology proven N2-NSCLC were treated with three cycles of VIP induction, followed by definitive locoregional treatment (resection and mediastinal dissection or radical radiotherapy). Several patients had unfavorable prognostic characteristics with respect to clinical and biological findings, tumor location and bulk of disease. RESULTS: The response rate to chemotherapy was 59% (95% Confidence Interval 34-75). Twenty-three responding patients had radical locoregional treatment: radical radiotherapy in four, resection in 19. Downstaging was present in nine of the 19 resection specimens, with two pathologic complete responses. The median survival time (MST) of all patients is 19 months, with a projected two-year survival of 49%. In patients responsive to chemotherapy who received definitive local treatment, the MST is not yet reached, and the projected two-year survival is 57%. Relapses were mainly distant, with isolated brain relapse as a disturbing finding. The main toxicity's were leukopenia and vomiting, but they were manageable. In contrast with MVP, no severe pulmonary toxicity occurred. CONCLUSIONS: VIP is a suitable induction regimen for N2-NSCLC, demonstrating a good activity and very acceptable toxicity.

Adult↗

Preoperative chemoradiation for extraperitoneal T3 rectal cancer: acute toxicity, tumor response, and sphincter preservation.

PURPOSE: To evaluate whether or not an intermediate dose of preoperative external radiation therapy intensified by systemic chemotherapy could improve the tumor response, sphincter preservation, and tumor control. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Between March 1990 and December 1995, 83 consecutive patients with resectable extraperitoneal adenocarcinoma of the rectum were treated with preoperative chemoradiation: bolus i.v. mitomycin C (MMC), 10 mg/m2, Day 1 plus 24-h continuous infusion i.v. 5-fluorouracil (5FU) 1000 mg/m2, Days 1-4, and concurrent external beam radiotherapy (37.8 Gy). All but 2 patients had T3 disease. Surgery was performed 4-6 weeks after the end of chemoradiation. RESULTS: Total Grade 3-4 acute toxicity during chemoradiation was observed in 11 (13%) patients: hematological Grade 3 toxicity was recorded in 8 (10%) patients, and Grade 4 toxicity was recorded in 2 (2%) patients. Grade 3 diarrhea was seen in 2 (2%) patients. No patient had major skin or urological acute toxicity. Two patients had no surgery: 1 died before surgery from septic complications after Grade 4 hematological toxicity; 1 refused surgery and is still alive after 6 years. There was no postoperative mortality and the overall perioperative morbidity rate was 25%. The analysis of tumor response involved 81 patients. Overall, 9% (7) of 81 patients had a complete pathologic response. Comparing the stage at the diagnostic workup with the pathologic stage, tumor downstaging was observed in 46 (57%) patients. We had 7 (9%) pT0, 5 (6%) pT1, 33 (41%) pT2, and 36 (44%) pT3. Nodal status downstaging was detected in 46 patients (57%). No evidence of nodal involvement was observed in 59 patients (73%). The incidence of tumor response was affected significantly by the number of quarters of rectal circumference involved (p = 0.03) and, marginally, by the length of the tumor (p = 0.09). The distance between the lower pole of the tumor and the anorectal ring had no influence. Of the patients, 63 (78%) had a sphincter-saving surgical procedure. In 12 (44%) of 27 patients candidate for an APR, the sphincter was preserved, as it was in 19 (95%) of 20 probable candidates. Lengthening of the distance between the anorectal ring and the lower pole of the tumor > 20 mm was observed in 21 patients (26%). Of 63 patients, 4 (6%) had moderate soilage after the sphincter-saving procedure. CONCLUSION: Preoperative combined modality therapy seems to afford some potential advantages in nonrandomized trials: patients are able to tolerate higher chemotherapy doses and they experience a lower acute toxicity. Tumor downstaging and resectability rates are high; sphincter preservation is feasible. Larger T3 tumors remained less influenced by this treatment; thus, taking into account the low toxicity rate recorded, a more aggressive schedule should be applied in these resectable tumors.

Adenocarcinoma↗

Preoperative radiotherapy for muscle-invasive bladder carcinoma. Long term follow-up and prognostic factors for 338 patients.

BACKGROUND: This study was performed to determine the importance of various potential prognostic factors in a large cohort of patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder who were treated relatively uniformly at a single institution. METHODS: Between 1960 and 1983, 338 patients with muscle-invasive bladder carcinoma received preoperative radiotherapy (50 Gy in 25 fractions) followed 4-6 weeks later with radical cystectomy. Lymph node sampling was performed only when suspicious adenopathy was encountered. Ninety-eight percent of the patients completed the treatment as planned. The median followup for those living was 90 months. RESULTS: Actuarial 5-year pelvic control, disease free, and overall survival rates were 84, 51, and 44%, respectively, for all patients, and 88, 58, and 50%, respectively, for those who treatment completed. The overwhelming majority of failures were from distant metastases (43% at 5 years). The pathologic complete response rate was 42%, and downstaging was seen in 65% of the patients. Univariate actuarial analyses revealed clinical stage, clinical perivesical extension, tumor size, pretreatment hemoglobin level, pretreatment blood urea nitrogen (BUN) concentration, results of intravenous pyelography, sex, age, pathologic response, and pathologic complete response, correlated with disease outcome. A Cox proportional hazards model showed pathologic response (P < 0.0001), clinical stage (P = 0.01), hemoglobin level (P < 0.02), pathologic complete response (P < 0.05), and BUN concentration (P < 0.05), were correlated significantly with pelvic control. When only pretreatment factors were analyzed, clinical stage, hemoglobin level, and BUN concentration remained the only factors predictive of pelvic control. Similar results were obtained when overall survival was used as the endpoint, except that pathologic complete response and BUN concentration were replaced by sex as significant covariates. A Cox proportional hazards model using disease free status as the endpoint revealed pathologic response and tumor size to be independent predictors of patient outcome. Restricting this analysis only to pretreatment factors showed that pretreatment hemoglobin and tumor size were the only factors correlated with disease free status. CONCLUSIONS: The most significant prognostic factor was pathologic response, which correlated highly with all disease endpoints investigated. The most consistently significant pretreatment factors were hemoglobin level and clinical stage, although tumor size, sex, and BUN concentration also were independent predictors of patient outcome. These factors should be considered in patients receiving radiotherapy for bladder preservation.

Carcinoma, Transitional Cell↗

Surgical implants. Psychological responses.

Coping with stress is a process. The perceived degree of stress and methods of coping may, therefore, change as one progresses through an experience. This may increase the difficulty a nurse has in attempting to understand the patients' responses. We need to learn more about these psychological processes as they relate to implants so that more effective nursing approaches may be developed. Perioperative nurses must understand the mechanisms underlying psychologic responses to surgery as we do those underlying physiologic and pathologic responses. The framework presented can be used as a guide to assess and understand patients' psychologic responses to surgical implants. It may also stimulate questions and investigation of patients' responses to surgical implantation.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Cisplatin-cyclophosphamide versus carboplatin-cyclophosphamide in advanced ovarian cancer: a randomized phase III study of the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group.

PURPOSE: Given the potential for improved tolerance, a trial was initiated to compare the toxicity and efficacy of a standard regimen of cisplatin-cyclophosphamide (75 mg/m2 and 600 mg/m2, respectively) with an experimental regimen of carboplatin-cyclophosphamide (300 mg/m2 and 600 mg/m2, respectively) in women with postoperative macroscopic residual ovarian cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between 1985 and 1989, 447 (417 eligible) patients were randomized. Treatment arms were well balanced; most patients had stage III (82%), grade 3 (54%) tumors with bulky residual (greater than 2 cm in 59%), and good performance status (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group [ECOG] 0 or 1, 77%). Response was assessed after six 4-week cycles. RESULTS: The treatments were equally deliverable, with 76% of patients completing their allocated regimen. The reported reasons for failure to complete treatment differed; toxicity/refusal predominated on the cisplatin arm, and progressive disease predominated on the carboplatin arm (P = .0092). Cisplatin-treated patients were more likely to develop neuropathy and nephropathy, and carboplatin patients experienced myelosuppression, particularly thrombocytopenia. Efficacy was similar, with no significant differences for the cisplatin and carboplatin arms in clinical response rate (57% v 59% in those with measurable disease), pathologic response rate (52% v 54% in those suitable for relaparotomy), time to progression (median, 56 v 58 weeks), or overall survival (median, 100 weeks v 110 weeks). Time to progression and survival were predicted by residual disease size, performance status, and treatment center (with those treated at centers that accrued more patients doing better). CONCLUSION: Neither regimen is optimal in that relapse remains the norm. It may be inappropriate to expect that any single regimen can be an effective therapy for all patients with advanced ovarian cancer. Both cisplatin and carboplatin are likely to have a role in future treatment strategies.

Adult↗

Experimental acute hepatic encephalopathy: relationship of pathological cerebral vasodilation to increased intracranial pressure.

In clinical reports of encephalopathy and pediatric trauma, acute brain swelling has been postulated to be secondary to vasodilation of the cerebrovascular bed. Eight adult cats were studied to determine whether such pathological vasodilation was present in an experimental model of hepatic encephalopathy. All animals were anesthetized, ventilated, and monitored for intracranial pressure (ICP), arterial pressure, heart rate, arterial blood gases, temperature, and blood ammonia content. The regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured at three cortical sites by the hydrogen clearance technique. The intravenous infusion of ammonium acetate was used to produce blood ammonia levels comparable to those observed in severe Reye's syndrome. All experimental animals showed a significant increase in ICP as well as rCBF to a mean of 79.5 +/- 7.3 ml/100 g/minute. This represents a mean increase in %rCBF to 252% of control. The mean calculated cerebrovascular resistance (CVR) was noted to fall to 55 +/- 4.7% of control CVR values (p less than 0.001). This relative vasodilation was diffuse with no significant difference between hemispheres or lobes studied. Such a vasodilation, as shown by a marked fall in the resistance of the cerebrovascular bed, is a pathological response in light of the rising ICP. This suggests that pathological cerebral vasodilation may be an important cause of increased ICP in the brain suffering an acute generalized insult.

Acute Disease↗

Wound healing: an overview of acute, fibrotic and delayed healing.

Acute wounds normally heal in a very orderly and efficient manner characterized by four distinct, but overlapping phases: hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation and remodeling. Specific biological markers characterize healing of acute wounds. Likewise, unique biologic markers also characterize pathologic responses resulting in fibrosis and chronic non-healing ulcers. This review describes the major biological processes associated with both normal and pathologic healing. The normal healing response begins the moment the tissue is injured. As the blood components spill into the site of injury, the platelets come into contact with exposed collagen and other elements of the extracellular matrix. This contact triggers the platelets to release clotting factors as well as essential growth factors and cytokines such as platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta). Following hemostasis, the neutrophils then enter the wound site and begin the critical task of phagocytosis to remove foreign materials, bacteria and damaged tissue. As part of this inflammatory phase, the macrophages appear and continue the process of phagocytosis as well as releasing more PDGF and TGF beta. Once the wound site is cleaned out, fibroblasts migrate in to begin the proliferative phase and deposit new extracellular matrix. The new collagen matrix then becomes cross-linked and organized during the final remodeling phase. In order for this efficient and highly controlled repair process to take place, there are numerous cell-signaling events that are required. In pathologic conditions such as non-healing pressure ulcers, this efficient and orderly process is lost and the ulcers are locked into a state of chronic inflammation characterized by abundant neutrophil infiltration with associated reactive oxygen species and destructive enzymes. Healing proceeds only after the inflammation is controlled. On the opposite end of the spectrum, fibrosis is characterized by excessive matrix deposition and reduced remodeling. Often fibrotic lesions are associated with increased densities of mast cells. By understanding the functional relationships of these biological processes of normal compared to abnormal wound healing, hopefully new strategies can be designed to treat the pathological conditions.

Animals↗

[Transesophageal atrial stimulation is useful in supraventricular arrhythmias].

The results of transoesophageal atrial stimulation (TAS) were retrospectively evaluated in 22 patients (13 women, nine men, mean age forty-five years), in whom the method was used in the process of diagnosing or specifying supraventricular arrhythmias. The patients were tested for corrected sinus node recovery time, the response to incremental stimulation and burst pacing. TAS resulted in a pathological outcome in 11 patients (50%). Among 14 patients suffering from unprovoked palpitations suspicious of tachyarrhythmias TAS was able to induce a pathological response in 10 patients (71%). In five of eight patients (63%) with inducible SVT, this arrhythmia had not previously been observed. TAS was able to induce atrial fibrillation in four of eight patients with an accessory pathway. Typical symptoms rather than a prior pathological electrocardiography (12-lead ECG, Holter-monitoring, exercise-ECG) was able to predict the outcome of TAS (p < 0.05). We conclude that TAS is a safe and suitable supplement in the evaluation of supraventricular arrhythmias; primarily among patients with characteristic symptoms.

Adolescent↗

Pathogenesis of acute ulceration response (AUR) in hybrid striped bass.

In a previous study, we discovered that acute confinement stress causes rapid ulceration of the fins of hybrid striped bass Morone saxatilis female x M. chrysops male (Noga et al. 1998. Vet Pathol 35:102-107). In this paper, we report the development of a reproducible model for studying this phenomenon in juvenile hybrid striped bass. We also determined how quickly ulceration could develop in acutely stressed fish and documented the sequential light microscopic and ultrastructural changes associated with this response. When hybrid striped bass were subjected to a standardized confinement protocol, the pathological response was extremely rapid (fin ulceration began to develop within 15 min of confinement). Grossly, the distal edges of the fins became blanched, and melanophores aggregated near the basement membrane and dermis after 15 min of confinement. Microscopically, the earliest detectable change in the fins, which occurred within 15 min of confinement, was swelling and loss of microridges of the outermost epidermal cells; this was followed by epidermal erosion. After 30 min of stress, epidermal ulceration developed at the distal edges of the fins. At this time, both necrotic and apoptotic epidermal cells were present. The middle and basal epidermal layers were severely spongiotic and the dermis and hypodermis were edematous. Over longer periods (up to 2 h), lesions were similar but increasingly more severe, progressing from the distal edge of the fin towards the base. The response to acute stress showed a significant correlation between confinement period and severity of the pathological changes (epidermal degeneration, epidermal ulceration and leukocyte infiltration). Also, we demonstrated that epidermal damage was not restricted to the fins but also affected the body skin and eyes. The ventral area of the body and the corneal epithelium of stressed fish were ulcerated; however, skin on the head and operculum was not affected, suggesting a site-specific mode of damage. In stressed fish, epidermal ulceration was found in 67 to 97% of all fins, 88% of skin on the ventrum, and 67% of corneas, while control fish had only very mild epidermal ulceration in the few fish in which it was present (on 5 to 10% of the fins, but not on the ventral skin or corneas). Due to the widespread damage to epidermal tissues of the body surface, we have named this the acute ulceration response (AUR). Our study indicates that acute confinement can rapidly cause significant damage to epidermal and ocular epithelium. AUR might be a primary cause of morbidity in acutely stressed fish.

Analysis of Variance↗

Correlation of immunological responsiveness with lymphocyte changes in chickens infected with Marek's disease.

Several immunological, hematological, and pathological responses associated with Marek's disease were determined. Four-week-old Marek's disease-infected and control chickens were injected with Salmonella pullorum antigen. About one-half of all infected chickens tested were unresponsive to antigenic challenge. Antibody titers in responsive infected chickens were significantly depressed at 1 and 2 weeks post-inoculation when compared to controls. Total white blood cell counts of control and control-antigen chickens were significantly lower than counts in infected chickens. Based on response to antigenic challenge, 24% of the responsive group had leukemia compared to 54% of the unresponsive chickens. The predominant cell populations in these two groups responsible for the mononuclear cell leukemia were large lymphocytes and blast cells. These cell increases were significantly greater in unresponsive chickens. Also, transient increases in the granulocytic elements were observed in some infected chickens. Large fluctuations in hematocrit values were observed in Marek's disease-infected chickens. As many as 30% of the infected chickens were anemic throughout the testing periods. Infected chickens which did not receive antigen had lower incidences of mortality and gross lesions than similarly treated chickens which did receive antigen. In addition, those chickens which were unresponsive to antigenic challenge had a higher mortality rate and increased percentages of gross lesions when compared with responsive chickens.

Agglutination Tests↗

[Neurosonography reveals various etiologies of migraine].

125 patients with migraine were studied by determining the intracerebral blood flow by means of Doppler cranial neurosonography. The findings confirm the presence of certain nonsystematic vascular defects involved in the pathologic response of the synaptic factors of the cerebral blood flow, thus demonstrating the validity of the multiple pathologic arterial segments and the possibility of response to various therapies. The study classifies migraines based on Doppler cerebrovascular neurosonography.

Cerebral Arterial Diseases↗