Retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND) for malignant phenotype Leydig cell tumours of the testis: a 10-year experience.

Retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND) is a prognostic, palliative, and potentially therapeutic procedure for patients with malignant phenotype Leydig cell tumours of the testis. We reviewed the records of patients diagnosed with malignant phenotype Leydig cell tumours of the testis treated by RPLND. Modified template dissection was performed in all cases with extra-template excision of tumour mass in Stage II disease. Routine clinico-radiological follow-up was performed. Six open RPLNDs (1 re-do procedure) were performed on 5 patients diagnosed with Stage I (n = 3) and Stage II (n = 2) malignant phenotype Leydig cell tumour of the testis. Median age = 63 years (range = 55-72). Median peri-operative blood loss = 1500 ml (range = 500-1500 ml). Median operating time = 6 h (range = 4.5-6.5). Two patients with Stage II disease developed post-operative complications of acute kidney injury (n = 1) and pneumonia (n = 1). Median length of stay was 8 days (range = 6-11). RPLND specimens from patients with Stage I were tumour-free, whilst patients with Stage II disease had evidence of metastatic tumour. At latest follow-up (median = 13 months, range = 7-22), no patient with Stage I disease had radiological evidence of recurrence, however the two patients with Stage II disease had died due to tumour recurrence at 13 months and 36 months. RPLND for malignant phenotype Leydig cell testicular tumours appears to be well tolerated. Despite surgery, overall outcomes for Stage II appear to be poor due to the disease phenotype. Larger prospective multi-centre studies are required to determine the definitive criteria for surgery in Stage I disease

Supersymmetric Many-particle Quantum Systems with Inverse-square Interactions

The development in the study of supersymmetric many-particle quantum systems with inverse-square interactions is reviewed. The main emphasis is on quantum systems with dynamical OSp(2|2) supersymmetry. Several results related to exactly solved supersymmetric rational Calogero model, including shape invariance, equivalence to a system of free superoscillators and non-uniqueness in the construction of the Hamiltonian, are presented in some detail. This review also includes a formulation of pseudo-hermitian supersymmetric quantum systems with a special emphasis on rational Calogero model. There are quite a few number of many-particle quantum systems with inverse-square interactions which are not exactly solved for a complete set of states in spite of the construction of infinitely many exact eigen functions and eigenvalues. The Calogero-Marchioro model with dynamical SU(1,1|2) supersymmetry and a quantum system related to short-range Dyson model belong to this class and certain aspects of these models are reviewed. Several other related and important developments are briefly summarized.Comment: LateX, 65 pages, Added Acknowledgment, Discussions and References, Version to appear in Jouranl of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical (Commissioned Topical Review Article

Solid-state-concentration effects on the optical absorption and emission of poly(p-phenylene vinylene)-related materials

We present measurements of the optical absorption and emission properties of poly(p-phenylene vinylene) (PPV)-related materials focusing on the differences between molecules isolated by dispersion in an inert host and concentrated molecular films. Optical absorption spectra, photoluminescence (PL) spectra, PL efficiency, and time-resolved PL spectra of dilute blends of PPV oligomers with 2-5 phenylene-phenyl rings are compared with those of dense oligomer and polymer films. In dilute oligomer-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) blends with high PL efficiency, the PL decay is exponential, independent of both temperature and oligomer length. This implies that the fundamental radiative lifetime of PPV oligomers is essentially independent of oligomer length. Concentrated spin-cast oligomer films and polymers have a faster and strongly temperature-dependent PL decay that approaches that of the dilute oligomer results at low temperature. The differences in PL decay correspond to changes in PL efficiency. The efficiency of the oligomer-PMMA blend is high and only weakly temperature dependent, whereas that of concentrated films is lower and strongly temperature dependent, decreasing by more than a factor of 3 from 10 to 350 K. The quenching of the PL efficiency in concentrated films is due to migration to extrinsic, impurity related centers as opposed to an intrinsic intermolecular recombination process. The PL spectrum of a dilute oligomer blend redshifts substantially, both as the excitation energy is decreased and as the emission time increases. This spectral redshift is due to disorder-induced site-to-site variation and not to diffusion to lower-energy sites. In contrast, no spectral shift with excitation energy or emission time was observed for dense oligomer films

Avaluació del Programa Audiència Pública de nois i noies de Barcelona : informe

Sol·licitant de l’informe: Institut Municipal d'Educació (Barcelona)Podeu consultar la versió resum de l'Informe d'avaluació del Programa Audiència Pública de Nois i Noies de Barcelona a: http://hdl.handle.net/11703/10606

Особенности фармакотерапии специфических и неспецифических инфекций респираторного тракта в лечебных учреждениях Самарской области

Irrational administration of antimicrobials, incorrect regimens and dosing provide occurrence of adverse effects with minimal therapeutic results and development of drug resistance including anti-tuberculosis drugs. The study was designed to detect information sources on drug therapy used by general practitioners and TB specialists, to establish stereotypical models of antibacterial drug administration in prevalent upper and lower airway diseases at the Samara region and to substantiate the supposition about unreasonable empiric administration of anti-tuberculosis drugs in a respiratory patient without microbiological confirmation as a probable cause of drug resistant tuberculosis. A cross-sectional study based on a special questionnaire was performed in 425 general practitioners in primary care facilities, hospitals and in TB specialists at the Samara region. The questionnaire contained several clinical situations and their solving and the respondents should choose the most suitable ones. Results demonstrated that majority of the practitioners (80 %, or 340 / 425 cases) widely use advertising information regarding antimicrobials. Several doctors (1.7 %) chose antibacterial drugs to treat acute respiratory viral infection, 0.8 to 1.6 % of doctors certainly decided to administer anti-tuberculotics in non-TB respiratory diseases such as acute bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, communityacquired pneumonia and acute tonsillitis, and approximately one fifth of the practitioners thought to administer antituberculotics in these diseases (18.4 % (78 / 425) – rifampicin, 21.2 % (90 / 425) – isoniasid).Нерациональное назначение антибактериальных средств и неверно выбранные схемы и дозировки способствуют развитию побочных эффектов (при минимальном терапевтическом эффекте) и возникновению лекарственной устойчивости к препаратам основных групп антибиотиков, в т. ч. и к противотуберкулезным препаратам. В цели исследования входило определить источники информации по схемам лечения, используемым врачами общей лечебной сети и фтизиатрами противотуберкулезной службы, выявить стереотипные модели назначения антибактериальных препаратов, используемых в Самарской области для лечения наиболее распространенных заболеваний верхних и нижних дыхательных путей, и обосновать положение о том, что возможными предпосылками возникновения лекарственной устойчивости к противотуберкулезным препаратам может служить бездоказательное эмпирическое назначение таких препаратов при наличии у больного симптомов респираторного заболевания с неподтвержденной туберкулезной этиологией. Одномоментное исследование, в основе которого лежало применение специально разработанного вопросника, было проведено среди 425 врачей первичного медицинского звена, терапевтов стационаров и фтизиатров противотуберкулезных учреждений Самарской области. Вопросник содержал описание нескольких клинических ситуаций, респонденты должны были выбрать наиболее подходящие для этих ситуаций ответы. Результаты исследования показали, что рекламная информация по назначению антибиотиков, предоставляемая фармацевтическими компаниями, широко – в 80 % (340 / 425) случаев – используется большинством врачей. Небольшая группа врачей (1,7 %) выбрала назначение антибиотиков для лечения острого респираторного заболевания; от 0,8 % до 1,6 % врачей указали, что непременно назначат противотуберкулезные препараты для лечения четырех заболеваний дыхательных путей нетуберкулезной этиологии (острого бронхита, хронической обструктивной болезни легких, внебольничной пневмонии и острого тонзиллита), примерно пятая часть врачей не исключает назначения противотуберкулезных препаратов (18,4 %, (78 / 425) – Рифампицин; 21,2 % (90 / 425) – Изониазид) при лечении перечисленных заболеваний

Ifosfamide/etoposide alternating with high-dose methotrexate: evaluation of a chemotherapy regimen for poor-risk osteosarcoma

Fifteen patients with relapsed osteosarcoma were treated with an intensive combination chemotherapy schedule. Ifosfamide 2.5 g m−2 daily and etoposide 150 mg m−2 daily coincidentally for 3 days and high-dose methotrexate 8 g m−2 (with folinic acid rescue) on days 10–14 in a planned 21-day cycle. Feasibility, toxicity and response to this alternative combination for the treatment of relapsed osteosarcoma was assessed. There were 98 evaluable cycles for toxicity and tolerability. The majority of cycles were well tolerated. Haematological toxicity of grade 3/4 (common toxicity criteria) was seen in all courses. Renal tubular loss of electrolytes, particularly magnesium, occurred in 71% of cycles. Thirteen per cent of cycles were repeated within 21 days and 61% within 28 days. In the thirteen patients evaluable for response, a partial response rate of 31% was seen after two cycles. However, patients with stable disease continued on therapy, and an overall consequent response rate of 62% was observed. Four patients were alive with no evidence of disease at 8–74 months. Three are alive with disease (at 8–19 months). There were six deaths, all disease related. This regimen exhibits an encouraging response rate in a group of children with poor prognosis disease, with a tolerable toxicity profile. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig

A highly invasive human glioblastoma pre-clinical model for testing therapeutics

Animal models greatly facilitate understanding of cancer and importantly, serve pre-clinically for evaluating potential anti-cancer therapies. We developed an invasive orthotopic human glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) mouse model that enables real-time tumor ultrasound imaging and pre-clinical evaluation of anti-neoplastic drugs such as 17-(allylamino)-17-demethoxy geldanamycin (17AAG). Clinically, GBM metastasis rarely happen, but unexpectedly most human GBM tumor cell lines intrinsically possess metastatic potential. We used an experimental lung metastasis assay (ELM) to enrich for metastatic cells and three of four commonly used GBM lines were highly metastatic after repeated ELM selection (M2). These GBM-M2 lines grew more aggressively orthotopically and all showed dramatic multifold increases in IL6, IL8, MCP-1 and GM-CSF expression, cytokines and factors that are associated with GBM and poor prognosis. DBM2 cells, which were derived from the DBTRG-05MG cell line were used to test the efficacy of 17AAG for treatment of intracranial tumors. The DMB2 orthotopic xenografts form highly invasive tumors with areas of central necrosis, vascular hyperplasia and intracranial dissemination. In addition, the orthotopic tumors caused osteolysis and the skull opening correlated to the tumor size, permitting the use of real-time ultrasound imaging to evaluate antitumor drug activity. We show that 17AAG significantly inhibits DBM2 tumor growth with significant drug responses in subcutaneous, lung and orthotopic tumor locations. This model has multiple unique features for investigating the pathobiology of intracranial tumor growth and for monitoring systemic and intracranial responses to antitumor agents

Evaluation of seven tumour markers in pleural fluid for the diagnosis of malignant effusions

Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigens 15–3, 19–9 and 72–4 (CA 15–3, CA 19–9 and CA 72–4), cytokeratin 19 fragments (CYFRA 21–1), neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC) were evaluated in pleural fluid for the diagnosis of malignant effusions. With a specificity of 99%, determined in a series of 121 benign effusions, the best individual diagnostic sensitivities in the whole series of 215 malignant effusions or in the subgroup of adenocarcinomas were observed with CEA, CA 15–3 and CA 72–4. As expected, a high sensitivity was obtained with SCC in squamous cell carcinomas and with NSE in small-cell lung carcinomas. CYFRA and/or CA 15–3 were frequently increased in mesotheliomas. Discriminant analysis showed that the optimal combination for diagnosis of non-lymphomatous malignant effusions was CEA + CA 15–3 + CYFRA + NSE: sensitivity of 94.4% with an overall specificity of 95%. In malignant effusions with a negative cytology, 83.9% were diagnosed using this association. The association CYFRA + NSE + SCC was able to discriminate adenocarcinomas from small-cell lung cancers. Regarding their sensitivity and their complementarity, CEA, CA 15–3, CYFRA 21–1, NSE and SCC appear to be very useful to improve the diagnosis of malignant pleural effusions. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig