OKT3 monoclonal antibody reversal of renal and hepatic rejection in pediatric patients.

The monoclonal antibody OKT3 was previously shown to be superior to conventional high-dose steroid therapy for reversal of acute rejection of renal allografts. Furthermore, OKT3 was effective in reversing acute renal or hepatic allograft rejection that was resistant to treatment with steroids, anti-thymocyte globulin, or both. Our analysis demonstrates that OKT3 is also effective in pediatric patients in reversing acute rejection of renal allografts (rescue treatment) or hepatic allografts (primary or rescue treatment).

Chemical consequences of incorporation of 5-fluorouracil into DNA as studied by NMR.

The cytotoxic analogue of thymine, 5-fluorouracil (Uf), is known to be incorporated into DNA in biological systems. This abnormal base has been synthetically incorporated into short DNA oligomers. The ionization of the N-3 proton of this base within DNA oligomers was measured by observation of the 19F chemical shift at varying pH values.

[Use of medroxyprogesterone in human hepatic cirrhosis].

The effect of medroxyprogesterone in 14 patients with hepatic cirrhosis demonstrated with histological technics was studied. Eight of the 14 patients were controlled over a period of one year and three months. Six of this eight patients presented subjective clinical improvement and the ascitis disappeared in 5/7 cases, so that the doses of lactona could be diminished.

Sequential combination chemotherapy with methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil in advanced colorectal carcinoma.

Twenty patients bearing advanced colorectal carcinoma, confirmed by histology, were evaluated after undergoing a sequential chemotherapeutic schedule which consisted of methotrexate, 200 mg/m2 in intravenous infusion during 4 h followed 1 h later by 5-fluorouracil, 600 mg/m2 in intravenous bolus. Twenty hours after ending the MTX administration, leucovorine, 14 mg/m2, was given intramuscularly every 6 h, in 8 doses. Courses were repeated every 15 days.

[Clinical aspects of sudden deafness].

Sudden deafness is a disease of multifactorial genesis. The cause remains as ever unknown. In addition to the vascular theory, the possibility of a perilymphatic fistula due to rupture of the oval or the round window membranes has gained more significance.

The language of pain: affective descriptors of pain are a better predictor of psychological disturbance than pattern of sensory and affective descriptors.

The language used by chronic benign pain patients to characterize their pain complaint was analyzed to determine the best predictor of psychiatric disturbance. Using the 78 adjectives provided by the McGill Pain Questionnaire, the number of affective descriptors used was the best predictor of psychiatric disturbance. Addition of sensory descriptors either to augment the total number of descriptors used (magnitude) or as a pattern of sensory greater than affective or sensory less than affective failed to increase predictive strength.

[Critical study of dacryorrhinostomy (author's transl)].

Dacryorrhinostomy is a last-chance operation for severe palpebral and canalicular damage which can lead to loss of tissue. The reconstruction of a delicate tube remains a gamble because of the absence of normal structures. The multiplicity of the procedures proposed clearly demonstrates the difficulty in obtaining a functional result.