Regresión tumoral espontánea. A propósito de dos casos

Two cases of spontaneous tumor regression (STR) occurring in a patient with non Hodgkin lymphoma and in another patient with squamous carcinoma of the lung are presented. Both cases fulfill the criteria of STR defined by Everson and Cole. Recent results obtained in basic and clinical studies have indicated that immunological mechanisms could play an important role in STR. The mediator effects more frequently referred are: 1) generation of antineoplastic cytotoxic cells; 2) production of immunoregulatory cytokines by lymphocytes and monocytes, and 3) possible cross reaction between tumor and bacterial antigens. These mechanisms of action are discussed in relation to the presented case

Multiple cycles of dose-intensive chemotherapy with repeated stem cell support as induction treatment in metastatic breast cancer: a feasibility study

The purpose of this trial was to study feasibility and tolerance of a dose-intensive multicyclic alternating induction chemotherapy with repeated stem cell support in a series of 43 metastatic breast cancer patients. Anthracycline-naive patients (n = 21) received cyclophosphamide 2.5 g/m2 plus doxorubicin 80 mg/m2 alternating every 14 days with paclitaxel 200-350 mg/m2 plus cisplatin 120 mg/m2. Patients who had previously received anthracyclines (n = 22) received cisplatin 120 mg/m2 plus etoposide 600 mg/m2 alternating with paclitaxel 200-350 mg/m2 plus ifosfamide 8 g/m2. Peripheral blood stem cells were infused after every course except the first, with a median CD34+ dose of 2.1 ´ 106/kg per cycle. Positive selection of CD34+ cells was performed in good mobilizers. The median number of cycles administered was six (4-8), and the time interval between them was 17 days. Median summation dose intensities (SDI) actually administered for the CA-TP and PE-TI protocol were 4.95 and 4.69, respectively (87% of scheduled SDI). There were 15 complete (35%) and 21 partial responses (49%), for an overall response rate of 84% (95% CI, 73%-95%). Infection or neutropenic fever occurred in 50% of the cycles. There was one treatment-related death. After a median follow-up of 26 months, the median event-free-survival was 12 months (95% CI: 10-14) and overall survival was 31 months. These high dose-intensity induction treatments seem to be feasible with sequential stem cell support

A MIQE-Compliant Real-Time PCR Assay for Aspergillus Detection

PMCID: PMC3393739This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

La nécropole néolithique de la Feixa del Moro (Juberri, Andorre): Examen et nouvelles données

At the beginning of the 1980s, a series of archaeological interventions carried out by what was previously called the 'Servei d'Investigacions Arqueológiques del Patrimoni Artistic Nacional d'Andorra' in a Pyrenean valley in Andorra allowed the investigation of the Feixa del Moro site. In a high-altitude area below a series of abandoned terraces, several dwellings and burial structures were located, all of them with chronologies ranging between the Early and the Middle Neolithic (from the mid 5th millennium to the early 4th millennium cal. BC). The distinctiveness of this site does not only lie in its geographical location, nor in the kind of structures discovered, but also in the very good state of preservation of the human bone material recovered from the burials, making Feixa del Moro one of the reference sites for the Neolithic in the Pyrenees and, in general, the Western Mediterranean. So far, sites with a similar conservation of both bones and burial structures are really uncommon. Moreover, the concentration in so small an area, and in the same stratigraphic unit, of such a diversity of evidence, including burials, silos and hearths, is yet more unusual. There are no similar sites in Andorra, or even in the entire Pyrenees. The only other burial site of comparable chronology discovered in the area is the Segudet site, and only a few high-altitude Neolithic dwelling sites are known. Even if cist burials are quite common in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula and in Southern France, Feixa del Moro is the first that has been found at high altitude. The archaeological work undertaken between 1983 and 1985 provided a picture of a farming community belonging to the so-called 'Sepulcros de fosa' Culture, established in the very heart of the Pyrenees and, thus, highlighted the complexity of Neolithic settlement patterns, even in mountainous zones. At the same time, several analyses of the archaeological materials were already carried out, making Feixa del Moro a reference site for archaeological research even now. Nevertheless, three decades later, new methodologies and the technical advances available are allowing archaeologists to refine old interpretations, to reopen old debates and to carry out new analyses that can improve our understanding of the past. In this respect, since 2011, within the research project 'Aproximación a las primeras comunidades neolíticas del NE peninsular a través de sus prácticas funerarias' (HAR2011-23149), funded by the Spanish Ministry for the Economy and Competitiveness, a group of interdisciplinary researchers have begun to study several Neolithic burial contexts in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, among which Feixa del Moro. Following this perspective, in this paper, we present the outcome of the new analyses carried out on the burial goods and of the biochemistry and radiocarbon analyses carried out on the human bone material from the three cist burials of Feixa del Moro, with the aim of better understanding the early farming communities who settled in the Pyrenees. Since the last archaeological work carried out in the 1990s, large quantities of data have been lost. This has produced a certain degree of confusion and misunderstanding that has been repeated in other studies undertaken a posteriori on the site by other scholars. Some of these interpretations need to be revised. That it is why, within the current research project, we are not only bringing in new analyses, but also re-examining all the old written and graphic information available, as well as the state of the conserved archaeological material. The data presented in this paper resume all the available information on the Feixa del Moro site, correcting old mistakes and bias, updating the 1980s archaeological registers and presenting new analyses as well. Our aim is to ensure that Feixa del Moro remains a reference site for the Pyrenean and Western Mediterranean Neolithic. At the same time, we wish to encourage other researchers to undertake new analyses and to embrace new perspectives in order to improve our understanding of Neolithic societies

Role of flow cytometry immunophenotyping in the diagnosis of leptomeningeal carcinomatosis

PURPOSE: To explore the contribution of flow cytometry immunophenotyping (FCI) in detecting leptomeningeal disease in patients with solid tumors. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from 78 patients who received a diagnosis of epithelial-cell solid tumors and had clinical data suggestive of leptomeningeal carcinomatosis (LC) were studied. A novel FCI protocol was used to identify cells expressing the epithelial cell antigen EpCAM and their DNA content. Accompanying inflammatory cells were also described. FCI results (positive or negative for malignancy) were compared with those from CSF cytology and with the diagnosis established by the clinicians: patients with LC (n = 49), without LC (n = 26), and undetermined (n = 3). RESULTS: FCI described a wide range of EpCAM-positive cells with a hyperdiploid DNA content in the CSF of patients with LC. Compared with cytology, FCI showed higher sensitivity (75.5 vs 65.3) and negative predictive value (67.6 vs 60.5), and similar specificity (96.1 vs 100) and positive predictive value (97.4 vs 100). Concordance between cytology and FCI was high (Kp = 0.83), although misdiagnosis of LC did not show differences between evaluating the CSF with 1 or 2 techniques (P = .06). Receiver-operator characteristic curve analyses showed that lymphocytes and monocytes had a different distribution between patients with and without LC. CONCLUSION: FCI seems to be a promising new tool for improving the diagnostic examination of patients with suspicion of LC. Detection of epithelial cells with a higher DNA content is highly specific of LC, but evaluation of the nonepithelial cell compartment of the CSF might also be useful for supporting this diagnosis

Regresión tumoral espontánea. A propósito de dos casos

Two cases of spontaneous tumor regression (STR) occurring in a patient with non Hodgkin lymphoma and in another patient with squamous carcinoma of the lung are presented. Both cases fulfill the criteria of STR defined by Everson and Cole. Recent results obtained in basic and clinical studies have indicated that immunological mechanisms could play an important role in STR. The mediator effects more frequently referred are: 1) generation of antineoplastic cytotoxic cells; 2) production of immunoregulatory cytokines by lymphocytes and monocytes, and 3) possible cross reaction between tumor and bacterial antigens. These mechanisms of action are discussed in relation to the presented case

New evidence of heterogeneity in social anxiety disorder: defining two qualitatively different personality profiles taking into account clinical, environmental and genetic factors

Item does not contain fulltextPURPOSE: To study qualitatively different subgroups of social anxiety disorder (SAD) based on harm avoidance (HA) and novelty seeking (NS) dimensions. METHOD: One hundred and forty-two university students with SAD (SCID-DSM-IV) were included in the study. The temperament dimensions HA and NS from the Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory were subjected to cluster analysis to identify meaningful subgroups. The identified subgroups were compared for sociodemographics, SAD severity, substance use, history of suicide and self-harm attempts, early life events, and two serotonin transporter gene polymorphisms (5-HTTLPR and STin2.VNTR). RESULTS: Two subgroups of SAD were identified by cluster analysis: a larger (61% of the sample) inhibited subgroup of subjects with "high-HA/low-NS", and a smaller (39%) atypical impulsive subgroup with high-moderate HA and NS. The two groups did not differ in social anxiety severity, but did differ in history of lifetime impulsive-related-problems. History of suicide attempts and self-harm were as twice as frequent in the impulsive subgroup. Significant differences were observed in the pattern of substance misuse. Whereas subjects in the inhibited subgroup showed a greater use of alcohol (P=0.002), subjects in the impulsive subgroup showed a greater use of substances with a high-sensation-seeking profile (P<0.001). The STin2.VNTR genotype frequency showed an inverse distribution between subgroups (P=0.005). CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides further evidence for the presence of qualitatively different SAD subgroups and the propensity of a subset of people with SAD to exhibit impulsive, high-risk behaviors