Platelet dysfunction in acute megakaryoblastic leukemia.

Platelet function profiles were studied in 3 patients with megakaryoblastic leukemia. All patients had a moderate decrease in platelet counts with abnormal platelet retention. One patient who developed hemorrhagic diathesis had prolonged bleeding time.

Acute gangrene of the scrotum and penis in four hematologic patients. The usefulness of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in one case.

We describe four cases of Fournier's gangrene complicating the postchemotherapy aplastic phase (polymorphonuclear cells [PMN] less than 500/microliter) in three patients with acute leukemia and one patient with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Blood and local cultures from two patients contained Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and local cultures from another patient grew both P. aeruginosa and Proteus rettgeri.

Plasma cyclic nucleotide levels in acute leukemia patients.

To verify the clinical usefulness of extracellular cyclic nucleotide determination as a tumor marker, plasma cyclic AMP (cAMP) and cyclic GMP (cGMP) levels were measured in 70 normal subjects and 173 acute leukemia patients studied in different stages of their disease. Mean plasma cAMP levels were similar in leukemic and normal subjects, although in 48 patients in the active stage of the disease, first diagnosis, or relapse, the cAMP values were below the normal range, and most of these patients failed to respond to chemotherapy. Plasma cGMP levels were markedly elevated in untreated patients, normalized in all patients who attained complete remission, and increased promptly to pretreatment values in patients who relapsed, suggesting that their determination may be useful to monitor the patients' response to treatment.

Thromboembolic and other events following valve replacement in a pediatric population treated with antiplatelet agents.

To determine if anticoagulation therapy is necessary after valve replacement with the St. Jude Medical prosthesis in young subjects, 30 consecutive patients were studied. They ranged in age from 4 to 20 years, and each had undergone valve replacement some time between February, 1982, and June, 1984.

A family of fibronectin mRNAs in human normal and transformed cells.

Previously, two fibronectin mRNAs, generated by alternative splicing of the extra domain (ED) and type III connecting segments (IIICS) sequences, have been described in a human transformed cell line and in human liver, respectively. We now report on a family of fibronectin mRNAs identified by Northern blotting analysis in two normal human fibroblast strains (HEL 299 and Flow 7000) and five transformed cell lines (8387 and HT-1080, fibrosarcomas; G-361, melanoma; JEG-3, choriocarcinoma; and RD, rhabdomyosarcoma). Seven different fibronectin mRNA forms with electrophoretic mobilities ranging between 8.

Relationship between circulating plasminogen activators and tumor development in mice.

Plasminogen activators (PAs) present in the plasma of BALB/c mice and produced in vitro by murine tumor cell cultures (B77-3T3, SR-BALB, AA6) have been characterized using electrophoretic-zymographic techniques. BALB/c mouse plasma contains a main PA activity with an approximate molecular weight of 88,000 and pI 6.3, inhibited by anti-human tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) serum, here defined as murine t-PA.

Thrombosis prevention with ticlopidine after femoropopliteal thromboendarterectomy.

Fifty patients submitted to thromboendarterectomy in the femoropopliteal district for obstructive arterial disease of the lower limbs, documented angiographically, were randomly allocated to treatment with ticlopidine (500 mg/day) (T) or a placebo (P) in double-blind conditions. The treatment was started as soon as possible after the surgical intervention and was continued for six months or until a clinically evident reocclusion occurred. There were 46 patients available for assessment, 23 in each treatment group both of which were comparable in preoperative characteristics and type of surgery.

Diagnosis and treatment of fungal infections in patients with hematologic malignancies.

A diagnosis of deep-seated mycosis was made in 54 patients with hematologic malignancies, severe neutropenia and fever, based on a set of clinical and laboratory criteria. Standardized antifungal treatment was started in 31 patients who seven days after onset of fever had not responded to antibiotics; the fungal infection was cured in 13, all of whom had a simultaneous remission of neutropenia, whereas the other 18 who did not respond to antifungal treatment, all had a falling or static neutrophil count. None of the 23 patients who were given no or inadequate antifungal treatment survived regardless of the neutrophil count and/or phase of the hematologic disease.

Value of CT scanning in the diagnosis of CNS mycotic involvement: report of 3 cases.

Fungal infections of the CNS are becoming an increasingly serious problem in immunosuppressed patients. We describe three patients with malignant blood disease who in the course of systemic fungal infection presented cerebral involvement. The nature, site and extent of the cerebral involvement were defined by computed tomography (CT).

Relationship between multiple forms of plasminogen activator in human breast tumors and plasma and the presence of metastases in lymph nodes.

Plasminogen activators (PAs), a family of proteases active in blood coagulation, may play an important role in cancer. Indeed, blood coagulation disorders, such as altered fibrinogen and fibrin metabolism and increased incidence of vascular thrombosis, are common in patients with advanced malignant disease. Different types of human tumors are known to contain high levels of PA.

Selective PF4 release in vitro induced by heparin and related glycosaminoglycans (GAGs)--correlation with beta-TG release and platelet aggregation.

We studied human platelet aggregation and beta-TG/PF4 release induced by heparin and related GAGs in vitro both in normal PRP and in PRP after aspirin. In our experimental conditions, heparin and related GAGs always caused PF4 release in vitro from normal platelets, whether or not there was measurable platelet aggregation in the aggregometer. Significant beta-TG release was induced only by the mucosal heparin preparation (which also induced platelet aggregation in some citrated PRP).

Unusual bone marrow hyperplasia in a case of thalassemia intermedia.

A case of beta thalassemia intermedia is described. Beside the typical hematologic picture and extramedullary erythropoiesis in the liver always present in such a clinical form, atypical masses due to foci of erythropoiesis were found at paravertebral, parasternal and subcostal sites. The size of these masses caused problems in differential diagnosis; they have been solved by computerized axial tomography.

Studies on transformation markers and tumorigenicity in segregant clones from a human hybrid line.

Thirty segregant clones were back-selected in 8AG or 5BUdR media from a non-tumorigenic human intraspecific hybrid line (HeLa TK- X fibroblasts HPRT-) displaying a high plasminogen activator (PA) level, a disorganized fibronectin (FN) matrix and anchorage-independence. These clones exhibited a widely modulated expression of the above markers concomitantly with different degrees of chromosome loss. Out of six representative segregant clones tested in nude mice, two were found to re-express tumorigenicity.

Abnormal platelet function in a case of megakaryoblastic leukaemia.

A platelet function study in a patient with megakaryoblastic leukaemia is reported. The abnormalities of the platelet function suggest a probable platelet membrane injury and a platelet release defect. The reduced platelet half-life and the non changing splenohepatic ratio confirm the clinical and histological features of the systemic disease.

Reduction of plasma levels of betathromboglobulin and platelet factor 4 during hemodialysis: a possible role for a short acting inhibitor of platelet aggregation.

Plasma levels of the platelet markers betathromboglobulin and platelet factor 4 are elevated in patients with chronic renal failure, and their levels in hemodialysis patients increase further during exposure to the dialysis membrane. The effectiveness of a short acting inhibitor of platelet aggregation in reducing the blood levels of betathromboglobulin and platelet factor 4 was assessed by means of a double blind cross over study. A statistically significant reduction of betathromboglobulin and platelet factor 4 levels was observed during treatment with the platelet inhibitor.

Expression of transformation markers and suppression of tumorigenicity in human cell hybrids.

Somatic human cell hybrids produced by fusion of HeLa cells and diploid fibroblasts were analysed in a study designed to test the coordinate expression of transformation markers and tumorigenicity. The great majority of these hybrids displayed a finite lifespan in culture, but some of them inherited from the HeLa parent the capability to grow as permanent cell lines. Hybrids from both groups all had a plasminogen activator activity 20 to 100-fold higher and a cloning efficiency in semisolid medium 2 to 10-fold lower than the HeLa parent.