Role of thoracic radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy in limited stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC). A randomized multicenter phase III trial.

We initiated a prospective randomized multicenter trial to clarify the role of radiotherapy in the treatment of the primary tumor in small cell lung cancer stage limited disease. Patients were randomized to receive only chemotherapy (n = 27), or chemotherapy and radiotherapy of 30 Gy (n = 34) or chemotherapy and radiotherapy of 50 Gy (n = 30). Radiotherapy was administered after the third chemotherapy cycle.

Activation of sodium transport in human erythrocytes by beta-adrenoceptor stimulation in vivo.

Beta-adrenoceptor stimulation in vivo shifts potassium into the cells. To examine whether human erythrocytes participate in this process, we measured, along with serum or plasma potassium, the concentrations of potassium and sodium in erythrocytes. Beta-adrenoceptor stimulation was obtained by infusion of either fenoterol or hexoprenaline into 6 volunteers at rest or by endogenous amines provoked in 14 volunteers during ergometric exercise.

[Neo-adjuvant chemotherapy of head and neck cancer].

Pre-operative chemotherapy with vincristine, moderately high doses of methotrexate plus "rescue", and bleomycin for six weeks was administered to 26 patients with untreated carcinoma of the head and neck. Treatment was well tolerated and compliance was very good. Objective side effects necessitated ending treatment in ten patients.

Ferritin in erythrocytes and plasma of patients with iron overload.

Erythrocyte and plasma ferritin was followed in 13 patients with iron overload undergoing phlebotomies for at least 6 months in comparison with untreated patients and normal males. Plasma ferritin was widely scattered with an average of only twice the normal, whereas erythrocyte ferritin was highly elevated to about twelve times the normal (p less than 0.0001).

Expression of transferrin receptors and intracellular ferritin during terminal differentiation of human monocytes.

Human blood monocytes when cultured on hydrophobic Teflon membranes differentiate into mature macrophages. The expression of transferrin receptors was monitored by monoclonal antibody (OKT9) binding as detected by immunoperoxidase staining. Whereas monocytes were negative, an increasing percentage of macrophages, starting from day 2 in culture, labelled with the antitransferrin receptor antibody as these cells undergo differentiation.

Transfer of Tris buffer and effects on K+ loss in human red blood cells and reconstituted ghosts.

The rate of volume changes of human red blood cells in the presence of Tris-HCl is pH-dependent. At 37 degrees C, t 1/2 is 25-30 min at pH 7.4 and 10-20 min at pH 8.

Erythrocyte and plasma ferritin in normal subjects, blood donors and iron deficiency anemia patients.

Ferritin concentration has been determined with an immunoradiometric assay in plasma and washed sedimented erythrocytes after hypotonic lysis. There was a gradual decrease of plasma ferritin in the sequence normal males, normal females, blood donors and patients with iron deficiency anemia. Erythrocyte ferritin remained unchanged in normal males and females and in blood donors, but dropped significantly in the anemic patients.

[The problem of the cellular receptor for cardiac glycosides (author's transl)].

This review concerns the Na+, K+ -ATPase as well as the Na+, K+ -pump in the intact membrane and the highly specific inhibition of this transport system by cardiac glycosides. The interaction between glycoside and enzyme and the regulation of the kinetics of glycoside binding by ATP, K+, Na+, Mg2+ and Ca2+ are described. Emphasis is placed on the significance of the Na+, K+ -pump as the pharmacological receptor for cardiac glycosides.

The current concept for the cardiac glycoside receptor.

This brief review emphasizes the significance of the Na+,K+-ATPase or the Na+,K+ pump of the intact membrane as the pharmacological receptor for cardiac glycosides. The properties of transport enzyme and the regulation of glycoside binding are described. An outline is given of the problems encountered and of the progress made in attempting to correlate the inotropic action of cardiac glycosides with the binding of these drugs to the heart muscle and with the inhibition of the Na+,K+ pump.

[Severe and prognostically unfavourable forms of tick-borne encephalitis (early-summer meningo-encephalitis) in Freiburg (author's transl)].

Eight patients with proven tick-borne encephalitis (early-summer meningo-encephalitis; central European encephalitis) were treated in 1979. The disease ran a severe course in four: one died after six weeks of coma and pneumonia with right-heart failure. Another patient is in coma for more than 40 weeks.

Effects of Mg and Ca on the side dependencies of Na and K on ouabain binding to red blood cell ghosts and the control of Na transport by internal Mg.

The effect of alteration in the concentration of internal Mg on the rate of ouabain binding to reconstituted human red blood cell ghosts has been evaluated as well as the effect of Mgi on Na:Na compared to Na:K exchange. It was found that the dependence of the rate of ATP-promoted ouabain binding on the combined presence of Nai and Ko which occurs at high [Mg]i is lost when the concentration of Mgi is lowered. The sensitivity of the external surface for Ko is also changed since Ko can now inhibit the ouabain binding rate in the absence of Nai; on the other hand Nao at low [Mg]i can stimulate ouabain binding indicating that the relative affinity of the outside surface for Nao has either increased or that for Ko has decreased or both.

Comparison of the side-dependent effects of Na and K on orthophosphate-, UTP-, and ATP-promoted ouabain binding to reconstituted human red blood cell ghosts.

This paper is concerned with analyzing the sidedness of action of various determinants which alter the rate of ouabain binding to human red blood cell ghosts. Thus, ouabain binding promoted by orthophosphate (Pi) and its inhibition by Na are shown to be due to inside Pi and inside Na. External K inhibits Pi-promoted ouabain binding and Nao acts to decrease the effectiveness of Ko.

Side-dependent effects of internal versus external Na and K on ouabain binding to reconstituted human red blood cell ghosts.

The side-dependent effects of internal and external Na and K on the ouabain binding rate, as promoted by inside MgATP, has been evaluated utilizing reconstituted human red blood cell ghosts. Such ghost systems provide the situation where [Na]i, [K]i, [Na]o, and [K]o can each be varied under conditions in which the others are either absent or fixed at constant concentrations. It was found that, in the presence of Ko, increasing either [Na]i or [K]i resulted in decreasing the rate at which ouabain was bound.