Significance of measurement of tumor marker in primary breast cancer

We investigated a prognosis in the presence or absence of preoperative marker abnormality for 371 cases with primary breast cancer that we experienced in our department this time. 60 (16%) of 371 cases showed the abnormality of the tumor marker and 25 (41.7%) of 60 patients had a recurrence. The positive rate of the marker was 8.1% in CA 15 3, 6.7% in CEA, 4.1% in NCC ST 439, and each rate of recurrence was 56.7%, 48.0%, 33.3%. Rate of recurrence in the negative cases was 12.7%, 13.9, 15.0% respectively and recognized a significant difference statistically (p <0.001) . Of 11 cases (3.8%) shown CA 15 3 abnormal high level, 3 cases (27.2%) had recurrence when we examined in 0 3 metastases to lymph nodes according to markers. 281 cases (96.2%) was normal range in CA15 3. Only 15 cases (5%) had recurrence. It showed a significant difference statistically (p <0.05) . For the cases shown abnormality of the preoperative CA 15 3, careful serial observations are necessary

Treatment responses and their predictors in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with biological agents

Biological agents represent an important advancement in for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but there is a subset of patients who do not improve despite therapy. This study aimed to determine the efficacy of biological agents for RA and to identify clinical factors that are associated with their response. We studied 98 patients with RA who started an initiating biological agent which was selected from infliximab, etanercept, adalimumab and tociliximab at 4 medical institutions. Etanercept was the most frequently used biological agent followed by infliximab although there was a difference in the selection of the biological agents among medical institutions. We found that etanercept achieved the highest treatment response, remission rate and drug survival rate. A high disease activity in the baseline disease activity score-c-reactive protein (CRP) was shown to be a negative predictor of the treatment response, and high patient global assessment was significantly less likely to achieve a good response. At week 4, decreases in 28 swollen joint counts and CRP were useful as predictors for sustaining the efficacy up to week 48. These data demonstrate that assessments of the disease activity at baseline and the early treatment response may be useful in predicting the efficacy and drug survival rate of biological agents

Thermal history of ureilite, Pecora Escarpment 82506 deduced from cation distribution and diffusion profile of minerals

PCA82506 is relatively unshocked compared with most ureilites. Large unshocked pigeonite and olivine crystals were studied by means of single crystal X-ray diffraction, analytical TEM, optical microscope and an electronprobe. The chemical compositions of the PCA82506 pigeonites are (Ca)_6(Mg)_(Fe)_, while the average olivine core composition is (Fa)_. A region about 50 micrometer apart from the olivine rim is reduced by the carbonaceous (C) matrix. From the diffusion profiles of olivine crystals, a cooling rate of 10-15℃/h is estimated by the computer simulation method of MIYAMOTO et al. (Proc. Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf., 16th, Pt. 1,D116,1985). The cell dimensions of the PCA82506 pigeonite determined from 23 reflections are : a, 9.6649(9); b, 8.8719(6); c, 5.2134(5)A; and β, 108.51(6)°. The site occupancy factors are M1 (Mg 0.064,Fe 0.936) and M2 (Ca 0.116,Mg 0.568,Fe 0.316). This cation distribution gives an equilibrium temperature of 800℃ by plotting the K value of PCA82506 on the distribution isotherm of SAXENA et al. (Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 21,194,1974). The PCA82506 pigeonites may have cooled more rapidly than terrestrial pigeonites from the Isle of Mull and almost as rapid as the most rapidly cooled mare basalts

Enhanced ex vivo Maturation of Peripheral Blood Monocyte-derived Dendritic Cells Pre-treated with Muramyl Dipeptide Analog [MDP-Lys(L18)]

Recently, immune therapy that uses dendritic cells (DCs) has been attempted in many facilities. The results, however, has not been satisfactory. Therefore, DC therapy in which systemic administration of several cytokines (IL-2, etc.) is also used has been attempted. However, systemic administration of cytokines has limitations due to their side effects. Therefore, we decided to focus on romurtide (muramyl dipeptide-Lys, NopiaTM) which is a glycopeptide of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis cell wall skeleton that has a potential enhancement anti-tumor effects. It is well known that muramyl dipeptide modulates the functions of monocyte/macrophages, but its effects on DCs are poorly documented. To determine whether romurtide enhances DC maturation. We examined the effects of romurtide on the expression surface molecules, cytokine secretion, and antigen- presenting function of human monocyte-derived immature DCs (iDCs). We found that romurtide markedly up-regulated the expression of CD83 and CD86 but not human leukocyte antigen-DR (HLA-DR), and stimulated the production of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and IL-12 by human DCs in a dose-dependent manner. In an allogeneic mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR), romurtide-treated DCs enhanced antigen-presenting function compared with untreated DCs. Similar results were obtained for DCs from cancer-bearing patients. Altogether, our results demonstrate that romurtide triggers the maturation and activation of monocyte-derived iDCs. As this immunomodulator has been approved for use in humans, it could be a useful adjunct to boost the efficacy of DC-based vaccines designed against tumors

Emission Spectra of Pyridine, Tetrahydrofuran, Thiophene, Thiophenol and Ethanethiol by Controlled Electron Impact

Bands of only fragment species (H, CH, CN, CO, CO^+, C_2, CS, CS_2^+, SH^+, C_4H_2^+) were observed in the spectra (220-550 nm) under electron impact excitation except for thiophenol, which showed a board band of parent species in the 260-330 nm region. The emission intensities of CN, CO and CO^+, which have to be produced with the scission of two skeletal bonds, showed non-linear dependence on the electron-beam current