Pretreatment effects on the uptake/retention kinetics of L-dopa in Harding-Passey melanoma.

Malignant melanoma cells possess a unique biochemical pathway that converts L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-dopa) to the biopigment melanin. Selective cytotoxic incorporation of exogenous L-dopa into melanoma cells in vivo may provide a means of designing specific chemotherapeutic agents useful in the treatment of this disease. Using the Harding-Passey murine melanotic tumor model, a preferential uptake of [3H]L-dopa by the tumor was characterized.

Characterization of a new primary human pancreatic tumor line.

A primary human pancreatic tumor line (BxPC-3) has been established from a biopsy specimen of a histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the body of the pancreas. Tumorigenicity was proven by xenograft in athymic nude mice. Upon re-establishment of tumor xenografts in tissue culture, the epithelial tumor cells retained their original morphology.

Postoperative respiratory complications in patients with Hodgkin's disease: relationship to the size of the mediastinal tumor.

Postoperative respiratory complications were investigated in patients with Hodgkin's disease, stages I-III, presenting with a mediastinal mass. By measuring the ratio between the widest diameter of the mediastinal mass and the width of the thorax at T5-6 (mediastinal thoracic ratio, MTR) in a PA chest X-ray, patients were divided into three groups: I: MTR less than 0.35 (41 patients); II: MTR 0.

Simultaneous evaluation of a pancreas-specific antigen and a pancreatic cancer-associated antigen in pancreatic carcinoma.

A pancreas cancer-associated antigen (PCAA) and a pancreas-specific antigen (PaA) were simultaneously quantitated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays in serum specimens from 51 normal controls, 76 pancreatic cancers, 194 nonpancreatic cancers, and 22 benign pancreatic diseases. Primary immunological reagents used in the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were our polyclonal antibodies produced in rabbits against purified PCAA and PaA. Results revealed discordance of these two markers in pancreatic cancer, suggesting that the presence of these two biochemically and immunologically distinct pancreas proteins in patients' serum may reflect different biological aspects of cancer.

Skin pressure measurements on various mattress surfaces in cancer patients.

Twenty-eight patients with histologically proven carcinoma were studied on two dynamic and six static mattress surfaces to determine which mattress surface would provide the least skin surface pressure at the sacrum, dorsal spine, trochanter and heels. Measurements were taken with an especially designed inflatable bladder, and the mean of the maximum skin surface pressures was determined for the static and dynamic surfaces in the inflated and deflated state. Using less than or equal to 32 mm Hg as the skin surface pressure at which the arteriolarcapillary blood flow is interrupted, we concluded that the mud gel bed generally tended to record the lowest skin surface pressure for all of the sites.