Heparin and suramin alter plitidepsin uptake via inhibition of GPCR coupled signaling.

Plitidepsin (Aplidin) is a novel antitumor agent, derived from the mediterranean tunicate Aplidium albicans, and is currently in phase ii clinical trials with evidence of activity in heavily pretreated multiple myeloma, renal cell carcinoma, melanoma and neuroblastoma patients. As compared to its parental compound didemnin B, plitidepsin has shown a better therapeutic index with less bone marrow toxicity, cardiotoxicity and neurotoxicity in patients and a more potent cytotoxic effect in several tumor cell lines. As sensitivity to the drug varies between cell lines and fresh leukemia samples, we performed studies on transport of plitidepsin in leukemia and lymphoma cell lines to determine the mechanism of uptake.

Blunt handlebar injury of the common femoral artery: a case report.

Bicycle handlebar-related blunt trauma to the femoral vessels with resulting arterial injury has been described previously. However, significant injury to the ileofemoral tree with underlying arterial occlusive disease in the face of handlebar-related trauma has not been reported. We present the case of an all-terrain vehicle accident with isolated injury to the common femoral artery in a patient with underlying atherosclerotic disease.

Could implantable cardioverter defibrillators provide a human model supporting the learned helplessness theory of depression?

Affective symptoms were examined retrospectively in 25 patients following placement of implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) which can produce intermittent shocks without warning in response to cardiac ventricular arrhythmias. The number of ICD random, uncontrollable discharge shocks and pre-ICD history of psychological distress (i.e.

The use of metallic stents to bypass ureteral strictures secondary to metastatic prostate cancer: experience with 8 patients.

Purpose: We evaluated the middle term patency, incidence of infection and ability to preserve renal function using metallic stents to bypass ureteral obstruction secondary to metastatic prostate adenocarcinoma.

Materials And Methods: We studied 8 patients with ureteral obstruction secondary to metastatic prostate adenocarcinoma at the pelvic ureter with up to 48 months of followup. Metallic Wallstents* 8 mm.

In vitro generation of soluble suppressor factor in murine chronic graft versus host (GVH) disease.

Veto cells are cells which suppress self directed cytotoxicity (CTX) regardless of the strain of origin of the cytotoxic effector cell. The mechanism by which veto cells inhibit self directed CTX is largely unknown. We have previously described the emergence of a veto cell in murine chronic graft versus host (CGVH) disease both in vivo and in vitro.

Supravital staining of synovial fluid with Testsimplets.

We explored the use of Testsimplet (TS) in synovial fluid (SF) analysis. TS is a glass slide coated with a dry mixture of methylene blue and cresyl violet, which in contact with one drop of SF provides a stained fresh preparation. We applied the TS to the study of 159 SFs of patients with different rheumatic diseases.