Resveratrol inhibits rhabdomyosarcoma cell proliferation.

Rhabdomysarcoma is the most common soft tissue tumour in children under the age of 15. Although the introduction of multimodal treatment programmes, including chemotherapy, radiation therapy and excision have increased the overall survival, the chemotherapeutic agents currently used for the treatment of rhabdomyosarcoma exhibit considerable toxicity. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects and possible mechanism(s) of action of resveratrol on human embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (RD) cells.

Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase mutation (677C-->T) negatively influences plasma homocysteine response to marginal folate intake in elderly women.

Individuals who are homozygous for the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) 677C --> T mutation have depressed serum folate (SF) and elevated plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) concentrations, which may affect folate requirements and increase the risk for coronary artery disease. A controlled metabolic study (14 weeks) using a depletion/repletion protocol was performed in women (aged 60 to 85 years, N = 33) to provide age-specific data on the effects of the MTHFR mutation on SF and tHcy status. Subjects consumed a moderately folate-deplete diet (118 microg/d) for 7 weeks, followed by 7 weeks of folate repletion with 200 or 415 microg/d provided as two different treatments.

Folate absorption in women with a history of neural tube defect-affected pregnancy.

Background: The risk of neural tube defects (NTDs) is significantly reduced by supplemental folic acid. NTD risk may be associated with impaired absorption of polyglutamyl folate, the primary form of naturally occurring food folate, and of folic acid in supplements or fortified food. Stable-isotope methods provide the specificity needed to test this hypothesis.

Genistein induces apoptosis and topoisomerase II-mediated DNA breakage in colon cancer cells.

The present study was undertaken to determine if (a) genistein induces topo II-mediated DNA damage in HT-29 colon cancer cells; and (b) if this damage is required to induce apoptosis. DNA damage was evaluated using the comet assay. Apoptosis was determined by the ethidium bromide/acridine orange staining technique.

Plasma homocyst(e)ine concentrations in pregnant and nonpregnant women with controlled folate intake.

Objective: To assess the effects of folate intake and pregnancy on plasma total homocyst(e)ine concentrations in women during the second trimester of pregnancy compared with young, healthy nonpregnant women.

Methods: The diet provided either 450 or 850 microg of folate per day. These levels are approximately the current (400 microg/day) and previous (800 microg/day) Recommended Dietary Allowances for folate in pregnant women.

The problem scar.

Through deeper understanding of the physiology of wound healing and physico-chemical principles of scarring, biomedical science facilitates the development of new strategies in treatment and prevention of problem scars. It is important for practicing physicians and surgeons to be better aware of the full range of available techniques to control scar formation, and for any medical intervention to be planned in such a way that potential problems are apprehended and minimized or avoided. This article describes the clinical applications of recent research in scar control in order to provide such guidance.

Neural-tube defects are associated with low concentrations of cobalamin (vitamin B12) in amniotic fluid.

While folate supplementation reduces the risk of recurrent neural-tube defects (NTD), both folate and cobalamin deficiencies may be independent risk-factors for neural-tube defects. Folate-dependence and impaired remethylation of homocysteine are implicated as mechanisms for NTD. There are few references reported for folate, cobalamin, homocysteine and methionine in the fetal compartment.

Nitrogen mustard up-regulates Bcl-2 and GSH and increases NTP and PCr in HT-29 colon cancer cells.

We hypothesized that unexplained increases in nucleoside triphosphates (NTP) observed by 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) after treatment of tumours by DNA-damaging agents were related to chemotherapy-induced up-regulation of the bcl-2 gene and DNA damage prevention and repair processes. To test this hypothesis, we treated HT-29 cells with 10(-4) M nitrogen mustard (HN2) and performed sequential perchloric acid extractions in replicate over 0-18 h. By reference to an internal standard (methylene diphosphonic acid), absolute changes in 31P-detectable high-energy phosphates in these extracts were determined and correlated with changes in bcl-2 protein levels, cell viability, cell cycle, apoptosis and total cellular glutathione (GSH) (an important defence against DNA damage from alkylating agents).

Cystathionine-beta-synthase deficiency: detection of heterozygotes by the ratios of homocysteine to cysteine and folate.

Elevated total plasma homocysteine (tHcy) is recognized as an independent risk factor for occlusive vascular disease. However, it is not known how much of the observed hyperhomocysteinemia in patients with vascular disease is due to heterozygosity for cystathionine-beta-synthase (CbetaS) deficiency, because a clinically useful screening method is unavailable. To determine this, parents of children who are homozygous for CbetaS deficiency (affected with homocystinuria) and a control population were compared for tHcy, total plasma cysteine (tCys), plasma folate, and plasma vitamin B12.

Multimodal-therapy breast salvage in the urban poor with locally advanced cancer.

Objectives: To determine whether economically disadvantaged urban women with locally advanced breast cancer (American Joint Committee on Cancer stages IIB to IIIB) have rates of response to sequential neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radiation, breast salvage rates, overall survival rates, and disease-free survival rates comparable with those previously reported in other socioeconomic groups and to compare these variables in different ethnic groups within the study population.

Design: Prospective, nonrandomized, case series.

Setting: Urban county hospital.

The role of lymphadenectomy in cancer, with particular reference to gastric cancer.

Lymphadenectomy has an acknowledged role in the staging of most solid tumors, however, its therapeutic role remains controversial. To date, several prospective, randomized, controlled trials comparing either extended vs. conventional lymphadenectomy (in breast cancer) or prophylactic lymphadenectomy vs observation (in N0 patients with breast cancer or melanoma) have failed to show survival differences between treatment arms.

Long-term follow-up of patients with node-negative breast cancer treated only by regional therapy.

Background: This study examines the potential impact of intercurrent diseases on survival after adjuvant chemotherapy for node-negative (N0) breast cancer in light of 30-year follow-up results in 136 patients with N0 disease receiving only regional therapy at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center between 1958 and 1960.

Resectable gastric carcinoma. An evaluation of preoperative and postoperative chemotherapy.

Patients with locoregional gastric carcinoma often die because of the low rates of curative resection and frequent appearance of distant metastases (mainly peritoneal and hepatic). To evaluate the feasibility of preoperative and postoperative chemotherapy, 25 consecutive previously untreated patients with potentially resectable locoregional gastric carcinoma received two preoperative and three postoperative courses of etoposide, 5-fluorouracil, and cisplatin (EFP). Ninety-eight courses (median, five courses; range, two to five courses) were administered.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves intermittent inhalation of 100% oxygen under a pressure greater than 1 atm. Despite over a century of use in medical settings, hyperbaric oxygen remains a controversial therapy. The last 20 years have seen a clarification of the mechanism of action of hyperbaric therapy and a greater understanding of its potential benefit.

Isolated limb perfusion for localized melanoma of the extremity. A matched comparison of wide local excision with isolated limb perfusion and wide local excision alone.

The therapeutic efficacy of isolated limb perfusion in patients with localized melanoma of the extremity remains controversial. We compared patients treated at the University of Texas M.D.

Isolated limb perfusion for stage I melanoma of the extremity: a comparison of melphalan and dacarbazine (DTIC).

Isolated limb perfusion (ILP) for melanoma of the extremity was first used clinically more than 30 years ago. Although ILP with chemotherapeutic agents has become routine practice in many oncologic centers, few studies have evaluated the therapeutic efficacy of particular agents. Two consecutive groups of 100 patients with stage I extremity melanoma of 1.

Gastric cancer.

The overall cure rate for gastric cancer has changed relatively little in the United States over the past 30 years, largely because patients continue to present for treatment in advanced stages. The paucity of symptoms in early gastric cancer, the low incidence in the general United States population, and the lack of cost-effective screening methods suggest that improvements in early detection are unlikely. Hope for improved survival in late stage cases lies mostly in a better understanding of the pathophysiology and patterns of spread, in evolving techniques for more accurate perioperative staging, and in the gradually improving results of multimodality therapy for local-regional and systemic disease.

In vitro thermo-chemosensitivity screening of spontaneous human tumors: significant potentiation for cisplatin but not adriamycin.

The in vitro thermal enhancement of Adriamycin (ADR) and Cisplatin (CDDP) was investigated in 18 surgical biopsy specimens of human tumors cultured in the Adhesive Tumor Cell Culture System. Experimental conditions were adopted to simulate "therapeutic" trials: (a) temperature of 37.0 degrees C, 40.

Application of MR spectroscopy to the study of tumor biology.

Though MR spectroscopy has long been used to analyze the structure of organic compounds in solution, interest in applying it to the study of biologic systems has been slow in evolving because of past problems with spectral resolution in solids and gels. Renewed interest in this area has been stimulated both by the rapid growth of MR imaging as a clinical tool as well as by improvements in MR spectrometer design and use of sophisticated pulse sequences which have greatly improved the analysis of molecular composition. This review specifically focuses on the application of MR spectroscopy to studying the biology of malignant cells.

Three unresolved issues in the surgical treatment of melanoma.

The authors discuss the results of recent clinical trials on what constitutes an adequate resection margin in primary melanomas of varying thickness, concluding that it is still uncertain whether wider margins reduce the risk of regional cutaneous recurrences. Inherent in the issue of whether or not to perform elective node dissection is the difficulty of identifying patients who might benefit from the procedure. Proponents point to two recent studies, but actually the sample sizes were small.

Multivariate analysis of prognostic factors in regional cutaneous metastases of extremity melanoma.

In 135 patients with regional cutaneous recurrence of extremity melanoma, the prognostic significance of 12 clinical and pathologic variables was analyzed in four alternative Cox stepwise regression models and by single variable analysis. A highly significant fit of the regression (P less than 0.01) identified four factors that particularly influenced survival: the presence of intradermal or mixed (as opposed to purely subcutaneous) metastases (P less than 0.