Clinical applications of geometrical field matching in radiotherapy based on a new analytical solution.

A new analytical formalism has been published recently that provides all the parameters necessary for geometrical field matching in radiotherapy. The present work applies the general expressions for craniospinal irradiation, breast irradiation with a supraclavicular half-field, and breast irradiation with a supraclavicular full-field. We also explore the formalism as a tool to analyze and compare different techniques.

Clinical effectiveness of antiarrhythmic treatment after electrical cardioversion in patients without structural heart disease.

Introduction And Objectives: The aim was to investigate the clinical effectiveness of using antiarrhythmic drugs after electrical cardioversion in patients without structural heart disease, including their effect on the maintenance of sinus rhythm.

Methods: In total, 528 patients with persistent atrial fibrillation but without significant structural heart disease who underwent successful electrical cardioversion at 96 Spanish hospitals were followed up for 1 year. Patients were assessed at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months.

Response to repeated phlebotomies in patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

Regardless of type, uncontrolled diabetes represents a serious disruption of fuel homeostasis with consequences throughout the body. This may hamper the applicability of predeposited autologous blood transfusion in diabetic patients because metabolic changes are expected as a consequence of repeated bleeding. We undertook this study to determine whether the presence of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) influences the erythropoietin (EPO) response to repeated phlebotomies with respect to normal subjects.

Automated latex agglutination immunoassay of serum ferritin with a centrifugal analyzer.

A considerable demand for convenient, rapid, inexpensive assays of ferritin in serum has been generated in recent years in hospital laboratories and blood banks. We describe a simple and rapid particle-enhanced turbidimetric immunoassay suitable for routine application in a Monarch 2000 centrifugal analyzer with commercially available reagents. This fully automated assay (y) requires no pretreatment of sample, and correlation with a two-step sandwich ELISA (x) is excellent (y = 1.

Lipoprotein heterogeneity in end-stage renal disease.

Fifteen patients on chronic maintenance hemodialysis without any additional known cause for dyslipidemia were arbitrarily divided into two groups based on fasting plasma triglyceride levels. The hypertriglyceridemic patients (plasma triglyceride levels above 170 mg/dl, N = 7) also had decreased high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels and decreased post-heparin plasma lipoprotein lipase activity compared to the normotriglyceridemic patients (N = 8). All lipoprotein fractions collected by density gradient ultracentrifugation were triglyceride-enriched in the hypertriglyceridemic patients.

Pattern of hyperlipoproteinemia in human nephrotic syndrome: influence of renal failure and diabetes mellitus.

Forty-two patients with the nephrotic syndrome were grouped according to the absence or presence of renal failure and/or diabetes mellitus. All patients had a similar degree of hypoalbuminemia and urinary protein losses. A lipid and apoprotein pattern was generated in serum and ultracentrifugally isolated lipoproteins.

Relationship between hepatic lipid peroxidation and fibrogenesis in carbon tetrachloride-treated rats: effect of zinc administration.

1. Lipid peroxidation and hepatic fibrogenesis were investigated in 25 carbon tetrachloride-treated rats and in 25 control animals. Rats were further divided into two groups to receive either a standard diet or one supplemented with zinc.

Low density lipoprotein receptor levels and the response to dietary and pharmacological intervention in polygenic hypercholesterolemia.

To assess its hypolipidemic predictive value, maximally induced low density lipoprotein receptor activity was measured in vitro in peripheral blood lymphocytes from 20 polygenic hypercholesterolemic patients prior to their recruitment into a rigorous dietary and pharmacological treatment program. The patients in the diet program demonstrated significant beneficial changes in plasma, LDL and HDL cholesterol concentrations. After 12 weeks, those patients who had not had reductions in LDL cholesterol to within the reference range, had cholestyramine and/or bezafibrate supplements to the diet for a further six weeks.

[The seroprevalence of Listeria infections without clinical sign in a population of pregnant women from the Reus area].

We describe the results of a study of asymptomatic Listeria monocytogenes serum prevalence in a population of pregnant women in the Reus area. The study includes newborn exam and correlation with laboratory data obtained by an indirect immunofluorescence method recently developed. The incidence of anti-Listeria antibody carriers was high (12%) but in no cases spontaneous abortions or fetal malformations were associated to high titers.

Glutathione-S-transferase activity in human superficial transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder. Comparison with healthy controls.

Glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activity and glutathione (GSH) content have been studied in human urinary bladder (UB) specimens obtained from healthy controls (HC) (n = 8) and from patients with superficial transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) (n = 9), either in TCC and in adjacent normal (ANE) tissues of the same patient. The GST activity was significantly higher in TCC in comparison with ANE (ten fold) and with HC (five fold). This activity was also significantly higher in HC than in ANE (two fold).

Toxicity of lovastatin in rats with experimentally induced nephrotic syndrome.

The effect of lovastatin on the hyperlipidemia induced in rats with experimental nephrotic syndrome was investigated; toxicity and the effects on common blood chemistry parameters were also assessed. Hyperlipoproteinemia in this particular model is associated with an increase in hepatic synthesis of lipoproteins, and treatment with lovastatin could be the most suitable, since the drug inhibits cellular cholesterol synthesis. Lovastatin treatment resulted in a considerable reduction in plasma cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

Low density lipoprotein metabolism in rats with puromycin aminonucleoside-induced nephrotic syndrome.

With puromycin aminonucleoside-induced nephrotic syndrome (NS) in rats, twofold elevated levels of lipoproteins were observed. These levels were not related to proteinuria or to plasma albumin levels. Ultrastructural lesions induced in the kidneys by puromycin aminonucleoside were consistent with NS, while there was little or no hepatic involvement.

Concentrations of lipids and apolipoproteins in patients with clinically well-controlled insulin-dependent and non-insulin-dependent diabetes.

The triglyceride and cholesterol content of total, very-low-, intermediate-, low-, and high-density lipoproteins, and of apolipoproteins (apo) Al, All, B, Cll, Clll, and E were determined in plasma from 107 patients with clinically well-controlled diabetes and from 66 age- and weight-matched healthy normal subjects. The diabetic patients were separated into two groups: those with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM, type 1, n = 24) and those with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM, type 2, n = 83). The latter group contained two subgroups: those treated by diet (type 2d, n = 42) or by insulin (type 2i, n = 41).