Antiviral prophylaxis and the Epstein Barr virus-related post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder.

Epstein Barr virus (EBV) infection has been associated with the post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) in up to 8% of transplant recipients. Primary EBV infection and the use of antilymphocyte preparations appear to increase the incidence of PTLD. Experimental evidence suggests that the antiviral prophylaxis used by many transplant programs may influence the development of this post-transplant complication.

Frameshift mutations in Salmonella induced by the extracts of medicinal herbs Lannea edulis (Sond.) Engl. and Monotes glaber Sprague.

Lannea edulis and Monotes glaber have been prescribed for various affectations in the traditional medical practice of Zimbabwe and other parts of Africa. Mutagenicity testing using Salmonella typhimurium strains TA97a, TA98, and TA100, indicated that the aqueous extracts of these plants induced frameshift mutations in Salmonella. The extract of L.

Renal dysfunction due to an arteriovenous fistula in a transplant recipient.

Arteriovenous fistulae (AVF) occur after percutaneous renal biopsy in up to 18% of patients. Fistulae may remain asymptomatic or lead to hematuria, hypertension, and/or renal insufficiency. The identification of an AVF has traditionally been made with angiography; however, ultrasonography, which is less invasive and nonnephrotoxic, has become a valuable tool in the localization of a postbiopsy fistula.

Palliative care.

Though many of the treatment strategies used in palliative care have never been subjected to clinical trial, it has been argued that advances in palliative care have outstripped those in many other specialties. This article is not a comprehensive review of therapeutic options, nor even of recent advances in this topic, but concentrates on the latest developments and controversies in the pharmacological treatment of four frequent and important symptoms: neuropathic pain, anorexia and cachexia, intestinal obstruction, and breathlessness. It is difficult to perform blinded, randomised trials in patients with advanced disease and poor performance status, yet it is these patients who may gain most from the adoption of new well evaluated treatment strategies.

Comparison of postoperative mortality and morbidity in VA and nonfederal hospitals.

We compared postoperative mortality and morbidity rates in the Veterans Health Administration (VA) to those in nonfederal hospitals, using multivariate analysis to adjust for the patient characteristics of age, diagnosis, comorbidity, and severity of illness. We used a total of 544,000 patient discharge records (330,000 nonfederal and 214,000 VA) from 1987 through 1988 and compared 118 surgical procedures or procedure groups composed of 314 individual surgical procedures. We found no significant differences in postoperative mortality rates between the VA and nonfederal hospital systems for 110 of 118 surgical procedures or procedure groups.

Hepatitis C virus in renal disease.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the most frequent cause of liver disease in dialysis and renal transplant recipients. Approximately 20% to 30% of the dialysis population is infected with HCV. HCV is also recognized as a cause of membranoproliferative and membranous glomerulonephritis.

The therapeutics of dyspnoea.

In summary, our current understanding of the therapeutics of dyspnoea is inadequate and leaves plenty of room for improvement. Rationalization of the management of this symptom has the potential to improve the quality of life of countless patients with both malignant and non-malignant disease. To date, research studies addressing this issue are sparse.

Mitoxantrone and cytosine arabinoside as treatment for acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) at first recurrence.

A total of 107 patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) were referred to the ICRF Department of Medical Oncology at St Bartholomew's Hospital between August 1986 and July 1989. Of those referred, 92 (87%) were treated with remission induction chemotherapy comprising: Adriamycin, cytosine arabinoside (ara-C) and 6-thioguanine if aged < 60 years (57 patients) or mitoxantrone (MTN) and ara-C if aged > 60 years (35 patients). Of those treated, 54 (58%) entered complete remission (CR).

Expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 in kidney allograft rejection.

VCAM-1, a leukocyte adhesion molecule expressed by cytokine-activated endothelial cells in culture, may mediate mononuclear leukocyte infiltration in vessels and interstitium in solid organ allograft rejection. Using the avidin-biotin immunoperoxidase technique and an affinity-purified rabbit polyclonal antisera to recombinant human VCAM (rVCAM Ab) which works in methyl Carnoy's fixed tissues, we studied the expression of this molecule in biopsies of transplanted kidneys (N = 34) with and without features of rejection and allograft nephrectomies (N = 17) as well as nontransplanted control tissues (N = 26). The rVCAM Ab showed a population of reactive endothelial cells limited to sites of prominent subendothelial leukocytic cell infiltration in arteries and veins, and occasional peritubular capillaries (PTC) in rejecting allografts.

De novo amyloidosis in a renal allograft: a case report and review of the literature.

Recurrent amyloidosis is an uncommon but well-documented event in up to 26% of renal allograft recipients transplanted for amyloid renal disease. Both primary and secondary amyloidoses recur. De novo primary and secondary amyloid have not been previously reported.

Prophylactic administration of calf lung surfactant extract is more effective than early treatment of respiratory distress syndrome in neonates of 29 through 32 weeks' gestation.

Objective: Although numerous trials have demonstrated the efficacy of exogenous surfactant for prophylaxis or treatment of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), optimum timing of administration remains controversial. One previous study showed that administration of calf lung surfactant extract immediately following birth, to neonates born before 30 weeks postconceptional age, was preferable to delaying administration until after development of RDS. The current study was designed to test a similar hypothesis for babies born between 29 and 32 weeks gestational age.

Generation of cytotoxic T lymphocytes from peripheral blood of leukaemic patients.

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 13 patients with acute leukaemia were used to establish long-term interleukin-2-dependent cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Cells were grown in RPMI medium containing interleukin-2 (IL-2, 100 U/ml) and 2.5% conditioned medium prepared by activating normal lymphocytes with phytohaemagglutinin.

Comparison of postoperative mortality in VA and private hospitals.

Objective: This study compared unselected VA (Department of Veterans Affairs) and private multi-hospital postoperative mortality rates. In the absence of national standards for postoperative mortality rates and in view of the unique volume and range of surgical procedures studied, the second objective is to help establish national standards through the dissemination of these postoperative mortality norms.

Summary Background Data: Public Law 99-166, Section 204, enacted by Congress December 3, 1985, required that the VA compare postoperative mortality and morbidity rates for each type of surgical procedure it performs with the prevailing national standard and analyze any deviation between such rates in terms of patient characteristics.

CSF somatostatin in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Objective: Because the central administration of somatostatin to experimental animals produces behaviors with some similarities to the compulsions of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and because serotonin reuptake inhibitors have been reported to reduce brain content of somatostatin, the authors examined central somatostatin activity in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Method: CSF for measurement of somatostatin was obtained from 15 drug-free outpatients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and 27 normal volunteers.

Results: The mean CSF somatostatin level was significantly higher in the patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder than in the normal subjects.

The management of recurrent acute myelogenous leukaemia at a single centre over a fifteen-year period.

One hundred and sixty-two patients initially treated at St Bartholomew's Hospital between 1974 and 1988 developed recurrent acute myelogenous leukaemia (AML). In the majority, the intention was to administer intensive chemotherapy again; 22/162 were re-treated palliatively. A second complete remission (CR) was achieved in 50/126 (40%) evaluable patients.

Cerebrospinal fluid immunoreactive somatostatin concentrations in patients with Cushing's disease and major depression: relationship to indices of corticotropin-releasing hormone and cortisol secretion.

To further explore the differential effects of peripherally and centrally derived hypercortisolism on neurohormonal systems implicated in the pathophysiology of mood and cognitive disturbances, we examined the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations of immunoreactive somatostatin (IR-SRIF) in patients with Cushing's disease and major depression and the relationship of these levels to CSF immunoreactive corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) concentrations and urinary free cortisol excretion. In particular, since CSF SRIF levels consistently have been shown to be reduced in depression, we wished to assess whether decreased centrally directed SRIF was more likely a primary or a secondary factor in the hypercortisolism of major depression. CSF SRIF levels were significantly reduced in 11 patients with documented Cushing's disease and in 1 patient with ectopic adrenocorticotropic hormone secretion as compared with both 41 healthy volunteers (19.

Estimates of bacterial productivity in marine sediments and water from a temperate saltmarsh lagoon.

Tritiated thymidine incorporation (TTI) into DNA was used to estimate bacterial productivity in sediment and water samples from two sites in Langebaan Lagoon, South Africa. Routine analysis of isotope dilution showed seasonal variations of approximately threefold in the thymidine precursor pool sizes for bacterial assemblages from each site. Dual label incorporation of [(3)H]-thymidine and (14)C-leucine into DNA and protein, respectively, showed that pelagic but not sediment assemblages were in a balanced state of growth during TTI.

Etoposide in combination with intermediate dose cytosine arabinoside (ID ARA C) given with the intention of further myeloablative therapy for the treatment of refractory or recurrent hematological malignancy.

Thirty-four patients with refractory or recurrent high grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) or acute leukemia were treated with a combination of etoposide, 100 mg/m2 daily, and ara C, 1 g/m2 twice daily, for 5 days (VPARAC). This therapy was given in the anticipation that remissions thus achieved would be 'consolidated' with myeloablative therapy supported by bone marrow transplantation (BMT). The complete remission rate (CR) in patients with NHL was 3/18 (17 per cent) with partial responses (PR) seen in a further four patients, giving an overall response rate of 39 per cent.