Long-Term Evaluation of Spinal Cord Stimulation in Patients With Painful Diabetic Polyneuropathy: An Eight-to-Ten-Year Prospective Cohort Study.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the long-term effects of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) in patients with painful diabetic polyneuropathy (PDPN).

Materials And Methods: This prospective cohort study was the eight-to-ten-year follow-up of a previously performed pilot and randomized controlled trial on the effects of SCS in PDPN, initiated by the multidisciplinary pain center of Maastricht University Medical Center+. The study population consisted of a subgroup of patients who still used SCS treatment ≥ eight years after implantation (n = 19).

Influence of fractionation and fluence rate in photodynamic therapy with Photofrin or mTHPC.

Various schedules of fractionated photodynamic therapy (PDT), delivered at two different light fluence rates, were investigated in the RIF1 tumor model in an attempt to minimize the development of hypoxia during PDT and thereby improve tumor response relative to single treatments. The photosensitizers Photofrin and meta-tetrahydroxyphenylchlorin (mTHPC) were used in combination with either interstitial or superficial illumination. For both methods of illumination, equal volumetric light doses gave similar tumor responses, as measured by tumor regrowth times and number of cures.

Enhancement of photodynamic therapy by mitomycin C: a preclinical and clinical study.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) using Photofrin was used in combination with a hypoxic toxin (mitomycin C, MMC) to treat four patients with recurrent skin metastasis of a mammary carcinoma. In preclinical experiments an additive effect was found for the combination of MMC and PDT for treating subcutaneous RIF1 tumours in mice. When interstitial PDT was combined with a low dose of MMC (administered 15 min before illumination), the Photofrin dose or light dose could be reduced by a factor of 2 in order to obtain equivalent cure rate or growth delay.

Vascular perfusion and hypoxic areas in RIF-1 tumours after photodynamic therapy.

The influence of photodynamic therapy (PDT) on vascular perfusion and the development of hypoxia was investigated in the murine RIF-1 tumour. Image analysis was used to quantify changes in perfusion and hypoxia at 5 min after interstitial Photofrin-mediated PDT. The fluorescent stain Hoechst 33342 was used as an in vivo marker of functional vascular perfusion and the antibody anti-collagen type IV as a marker of the tumour vasculature.

Mechanisms for optimising photodynamic therapy: second-generation photosensitisers in combination with mitomycin C.

Mechanisms for improving photodynamic therapy (PDT) were investigated in the murine RIF1 tumour using meso-tetrahydroxyphenylchlorin (m-THPC) or bacteriochlorin a (BCA) as photosensitisers and comparing these results with Photofrin-mediated PDT. The 86Rb extraction technique was used to measure changes in perfusion at various times after interstitial PDT. Non-curative combinations of light doses with m-THPC and BCA PDT markedly decreased vascular perfusion.

Reduced chaperone-like activity of alpha A(ins)-crystallin, an alternative splicing product containing a large insert peptide.

alpha-Crystallin is a multimeric protein complex which is constitutively expressed at high levels in the vertebrate eye lens, where it serves a structural role, and at low levels in several non-lenticular tissues. Like other members of the small heat shock protein family, alpha-crystallin has a chaperone-like activity in suppressing nonspecific aggregation of denaturing proteins in vitro. Apart from the major alpha A- and alpha B-subunits, alpha-crystallin of rodents contains an additional minor subunit resulting from alternative splicing, alpha A(ins)-crystallin.

Photosensitizing efficacy of MTHPC-PDT compared to photofrin-PDT in the RIF1 mouse tumour and normal skin.

The new photosensitizer, meso-tetrahydroxyphenylchlorin (mTPHC) was compared with Photofrin in the murine RIF1 tumour and in normal mouse skin. A range of mTHPC or Photofrin doses were given at intervals of 1 hr to 7 days before illumination. mTHPC-PDT resulted in much higher tumour phototoxicity with longer regrowth delays and more cures.

Changes in perfusion of mouse tumours after photodynamic therapy.

The influence of photodynamic therapy (PDT) on vascular perfusion was investigated in 2 s.c. mouse tumours, a radiation-induced fibrosarcoma (RIF I) and a squamous-cell carcinoma (SCCVII).

Temperature dependence of glucocorticoid binding in sensitive and refractory murine leukaemia cells.

The validity of in vitro assays in predicting the susceptibility of leukaemic cells to glucocorticoid-mediated lysis was evaluated in a panel of six murine leukaemia cell lines. In this panel susceptibility to glucocorticoids ranged from highly sensitive to fully resistant. The panel was screened for specific 3H-dexamethasone binding in whole cells and for activation of cytosolic receptors in cell lysates.