Pyridoxine induced neuropathy by subcutaneous administration in dogs

To construct a sensory neuropathy model, excess pyridoxine (150 mg/kg s.i.d.) was injected subcutaneously in dogs over a period of 7 days. During the administrations period, the dogs experienced body weight reduction and proprioceptive loss involving the hindquarters. After pyridoxine administration was completed, electrophysiological recordings showed that the M wave remained at a normal state, but the H-reflex of the treated dogs disappeared at 7 days. The dorsal funiculus of L4 was disrupted irregularly in the axons and myelin with vacuolation. The dorsal root ganglia of L4, and sciatic and tibial nerves showed degenerative changes and vacuolation. However, the lateral and ventral funiculi of L4 showed a normal histopathologic pattern. Although this subcutaneous administration method did not cause systemic toxicity and effectively induced sensory neuropathy, this study confirmed the possibility of producing a pyridoxine-induced sensory neuropathy model in dogs with short-term administration

The intratumoral administration of ferucarbotran conjugated with doxorubicin improved therapeutic effect by magnetic hyperthermia combined with pharmacotherapy in a hepatocellular carcinoma model

BACKGROUND: Local hyperthermia of tumor in conjunction with chemotherapy is a promising strategy for cancer treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of intratumoral delivery of clinically approved magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) conjugated with doxorubicin to simultaneously induce magnetic hyperthermia and drug delivery in a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: HCC cells expressing luciferase were implanted into the flank of BALB/c-nu mice (n = 19). When the tumor diameter reached 7–8 mm, the animals were divided into four groups according to the injected agents: group A (normal saline, n = 4), group B (doxorubicin, n = 5), group C (MNP, n = 5), and group D (MNP/doxorubicin complex, n = 5). Animals were exposed to an alternating magnetic field (AMF) to receive magnetic hyperthermia, and intratumoral temperature changes were measured. Bioluminescence imagings (BLIs) were performed before treatment and at 3, 7, and 14 days after treatment to measure the tumoral activities. The relative signal intensity (RSI) of each tumor was calculated by dividing the BLI signal at each time point by the value measured before treatment. At day 14 post-treatment, all tumor tissues were harvested to assess the apoptosis rates by pathological examination. RESULTS: The rise in temperature of the tumors was 1.88 ± 0.21°C in group A, 0.96 ± 1.05°C in B, 7.93 ± 1.99°C in C, and 8.95 ± 1.31°C in D. The RSI of the tumors at day 14 post-treatment was significantly lower in group D (0.31 ± 0.20) than in group A (2.23 ± 1.14), B (0.94 ± 0.47), and C (1.02 ± 0.21). The apoptosis rates of the tumors were 11.52 ± 3.10% in group A, 23.0 ± 7.68% in B, 25.4 ± 3.36% in C, and 39.0 ± 13.2% in D, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The intratumoral injection of ferucarbotran conjugated with doxorubicin shows an improved therapeutic effect compared with doxorubicin or ferucarbotran alone when the complex is injected into HCC tissues exposed to AMF for magnetic hyperthermia. This strategy of combining doxorubicin and MNP-induced magnetic hyperthermia exhibits a synergic effect on inhibiting tumor growth in an HCC model

Differentiation of Foot-and-Mouth Disease-Infected pigs from Vaccinated Pigs Using Antibody-Detecting Sandwich ELISA

The presence of serum antibodies for nonstructural proteins of the foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) can differentiate FMDV-infected animals from vaccinated animals. In this study, a sandwich ELISA was developed for rapid detection of the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) antibodies; it was based on an Escherichia coli-expressed, highly conserved region of the 3ABC nonstructural protein of the FMDV O/TW/99 strain and a monoclonal antibody derived from the expressed protein. The diagnostic sensitivity of the assay was 98.4%, and the diagnostic specificity was 100% for naïve and vaccinated pigs; the detection ability of the assay was comparable those of the PrioCHECK and UBI kits. There was 97.5, 93.4 and 66.6% agreement between the results obtained from our ELISA and those obtained from the PrioCHECK, UBI and CHEKIT kits, respectively. The kappa statistics were 0.95, 0.87 and 0.37, respectively. Moreover, antibodies for nonstructural proteins of the serotypes A, C, Asia 1, SAT 1, SAT 2 and SAT 3 were also detected in bovine sera. Furthermore, the absence of cross-reactions generated by different antibody titers against the swine vesicular disease virus and vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) was also highlighted in this assay's specificit

A Case of Cushing's Syndrome Presenting as Endometrial Hyperplasia

We describe here the case of a 39-year-old woman with a cortisol-producing adrenal adenoma and she presented with endometrial hyperplasia and hypertension without the specific characteristics of Cushing's syndrome. The patient had consulted a gynecologist for menometrorrhagia 2 years prior to her referral and she was diagnosed with endometrial hyperplasia and hypertension. Her blood pressure and the endometrial lesion were refractory despite taking multiple antihypertensives and repetitive dilation and curettage and progestin treatment. On admission, the clinical examination revealed mild central obesity (a body mass index of 22.9 kg/m2, a waist circumference of 85 cm and a hip circumference of 94cm), but there was no hirsutism and myopathy. She showed impaired glucose tolerance on an oral glucose tolerance test. The biochemical hypercortisolemia together with the prolactin and androgen levels were evaluated to explore the cause of her anovulation. Adrenal Cushing's syndrome was confirmed on the basis of the elevated urinary free cortisol (454 µg/24h, normal range: 20-70) with a suppressed ACTH level (2.0 pg/mL, normal range: 6.0-76.0) and the loss of circadian cortisol secretion. A CT scan revealed a 3.1 cm, hyperechoic, well-marginated mass in the left adrenal gland. Ten months post-adrenalectomy, the patient had unintentionally lost 9 kg of body weight, had regained a regular menstrual cycle and had normal thickness of her endometrium

Comparison of tenofovir plus lamivudine versus tenofovir monotherapy in patients with lamivudine-resistant chronic hepatitis B

Background/Aims:Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) exhibits similar antiviral efficacy against treatment-naïve and lamivudine (LAM)-resistant chronic hepatitis B (CHB). However, there are few clinical reports on the antiviral effects of TDF–LAM combination therapy compared to TDF monotherapy in patients with LAM-resistant CHB. Methods:We investigated the antiviral efficacy of TDF monotherapy vs. TDF–LAM combination therapy in 103 patients with LAM-resistant CHB. Results:The study subjects were treated with TDF alone (n=40) or TDF–LAM combination therapy (n=63) for ≥6 months. The patients had previously been treated with TDF-based rescue therapy for a median of 30.0 months (range, 8–36 months). A virologic response (VR) was achieved in 99 patients (96.1%): 95.0% (38/40) of patients in the TDF monotherapy group and 96.8% (61/63) of patients in the TDF–LAM combination therapy group. The VR rates were not significantly different between the TDF monotherapy and TDF–LAM combination therapy groups (88.9 vs. 87.3% at month 12, and 94.4 vs. 93.7% at month 24, log-rank p=0.652). Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that none of the pretreatment factors were significantly associated with VR. Conclusions:TDF monotherapy was as effective as TDF–LAM combination therapy for maintaining viral suppression in the vast majority of patients with LAM-resistant CHB, which suggests that TDF add-on therapy with LAM is unnecessary

Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy in a Patient with a Preexisting Three-Piece Inflatable Penile Prosthesis

We report a rare case of robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (RARP) in a patient with a preexisting penile prosthesis. In this case, we completed RARP without removing the reservoir by using a deflation-inflation technique, and there were no complications related to the prosthesis. The patient had a negative surgical margin. The preserved three-piece inflatable penile prosthesis continued to function properly in 1 month. Reservoir-preserving RARP is technically feasible and safe. However, it is important to be aware of device-related complications. Long-term studies on the mechanical survival rate and patient satisfaction should be also performed

Nanoparticles prepared from the water extract of Gusuibu (Drynaria fortunei J. Sm.) protects osteoblasts against insults and promotes cell maturation

Our previous study showed that Gusuibu (Drynaria fortunei J. Sm.) can stimulate osteoblast maturation. This study was further designed to evaluate the effects of nanoparticles prepared from the water extract of Gusuibu (WEG) on osteoblast survival and maturation. Primary osteoblasts were exposed to 1, 10, 100, and 1000 μg/mL nanoparticles of WEG (nWEG) for 24, 48, and 72 hours did not affect morphologies, viability, or apoptosis of osteoblasts. In comparison, treatment of osteoblasts with 1000 μg/mL WEG for 72 hours decreased cell viability and induced DNA fragmentation and cell apoptosis. nWEG had better antioxidant bioactivity in protecting osteoblasts from oxidative and nitrosative stress-induced apoptosis than WEG. In addition, nWEG stimulated greater osteoblast maturation than did WEG. Therefore, this study shows that WEG nanoparticles are safer to primary osteoblasts than are normal-sized products, and may promote better bone healing by protecting osteoblasts from apoptotic insults, and by promoting osteogenic maturation

A More Appropriate Cardiac Troponin T Level That Can Predict Outcomes in End-Stage Renal Disease Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome

Purpose: Cardiac troponin T (cTnT), a useful marker for diagnosing acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in the general population, is significantly higher than the usual cut-off value in many end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients without clinically apparent evidence of AMI. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical usefulness of cTnT in ESRD patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Materials and methods: Two hundred eighty-four ESRD patients with ACS were enrolled between March 2002 and February 2008. These patients were followed until death or June 2009. Medical records were reviewed retrospectively. The cut-off value of cTnT for AMI was evaluated using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. We calculated Kaplan-Meier survival curves, and potential outcome predictors were determined by Cox proportional hazard analysis. Results: AMIs were diagnosed in 40 patients (14.1%). The area under the curve was 0.98 in the ROC curve (p<0.001; 95% CI, 0.95-1.00). The summation of sensitivity and specificity was highest at the initial cTnT value of 0.35 ng/mL (sensitivity, 0.95; specificity, 0.97). Survival analysis showed a statistically significant difference in all-cause and cardiovascular mortalities for the group with an initial cTnT ≥0.35 ng/mL compared to the other groups. Initial serum cTnT concentration was an independent predictor for mortality. Conclusion: Because ESRD patients with an initial cTnT concentration ≥0.35 ng/mL have a poor prognosis, it is suggested that urgent diagnosis and treatment be indicated in dialysis patients with ACS when the initial cTnT levels are ≥0.35 ng/mL.ope