No abstract available.
Biological Products*

Background. Ultrasound remains to be an ideal imaging tool for the diagnosis of various conditions in the body. However, the cost and unavailability of the commercial acoustic gel continue to hamper the tool's diagnostic value in low-resource communities.

Objectives. The study aims to investigate the feasibility of extracts of common Philippine succulents as ultrasound acoustic gel, based on image quality parameters, organoleptic characteristics, spreadability, pH, and viscosity.

Methods. Aloe Vera, common houseleek, burro's tail, snake plant, echeveria, crown of thorns, panda plant, and jade plant were extracted and filtered before subjecting them for a physical evaluation. The evaluation analyzed the organoleptic characteristics, spreadability, pH, and viscosity of the formulated gels. The commercial acoustic gel was used as the reference gel. Three experienced ultrasonographers blindly evaluated a total of 243 images obtained using the formulated gels based on four image quality parameters.

Results. The formulated gels had optimal appearance, texture, homogeneity, and pH value. However, all of the extracts had a lower viscosity than the commercial reference gel. The extract obtained from the burro's tail exhibited the highest viscosity among the tested extracts. There was no significant difference in the image quality parameters among the commercial and formulated gels.

Conclusion. The extracts obtained from the succulents are feasible as an acoustic gel for ultrasound imaging based on the physical and image quality analyses. The tested plants are readily available and easy to produce compared to commercial acoustic gel.

No abstract available.
Biological Therapy* ; Crohn Disease*

No abstract available.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Biological Factors

Biological behavior of malignant tumors has been assessed by morphological grading, clinical staging, and estimating other tumor markers. Recently DNA ploidy measured by flow cytometry and image analyser has been suggested as an additional useful indicator of the tumor behavior. In order to extract useful tumor cell-specific information in ovarian mucinous tumors, DNA contents and other morphologic parameters were measured by image analysis and DNA ploidy was also measured by flow cytometry. In all cases of cystadenoma, DNA diploidies were observed. In borderline malignancy, DNA diploidies were chiefly observed except one case of polyploidy. In true malignancy, DNA aneuploidies were observed except one case of polyploidy and two cases of diploidies by image analysis, and except four cases of diploides and one cas of polyploidy by flow cytometry. The statistical significance were observed in DNA ploidy pattern by image analysis. In nuclear areas, perimeters and major axis, statistical significance were not observed. These results suggest that DNA ploidy pattern are more or less independent parameter as an additional useful indicator of the histological grade of malignancy and that image analysis are better than flow cytometry in detecting DNA aneuploidy.
Tumor Markers, Biological

Primary mixed germ cell tumor is a very rare tumor in the cranial cavity. It is composed of varying combination of germ cell neoplasms, such as germinoma, embryonal carcinoma, choriocarcinoma and teratoma. The authors experienced a case of mixed germ cell tumor developing in the floor of the third ventricle, in a twelve years old boy. He was admitted to the hospital, because of headache, eyeball pain, diplopia and vomiting. Brain CAT scan revealed a round tumor density in the floor of the third ventricle. Tumor marker study, preoperatively checked, revealed beta-HCG, 439.8 mIU/ml and alpha-fetoprotein, under 20 ng/ml. On operation, there was a dark brown firm mass up to 3.0 cm in the third ventricle, that invaded into the foramen Monro. With microscopic examination, this tumor is composed chiefly of germinoma, with embryonal carcinomatous region, choriocarcinomatous region and focal mature teratomatous region. The authors diagnosed this case as mixed germ cell tumor.
Tumor Markers, Biological

No abstract available.
Biological Clocks* ; Periodicity*

At the blood transfusion and heamatology centre of Ho Chi Minh city, we performed phenotyping for 158 cases of acute leukemia diagnosed from 04/98 to 10/1998. Basing on these results, we go further to monitor residual disease depending on the presence of aberant antigens and DNA content. The enumeration of progenitor cell CD34+ also performed for leukemia patient during the bone marrow transplantation
Hematologic Diseases ; Biological Markers

The HPLC method described herein has sufficient sensitivity to determine the pharmacokinetic parameters of nifedipine in plasma. A single dose cross study was carried out in volunteers comparing the test sustained release nifedipine formulation to Adalat retard tablets. Pharmacokenetic variables were calculated from the nifedipine plasma concentration data and evaluated statistically. The results showed the test formulation to be bioequivalent to the reference tablets.
Nifedipine ; Biological Availability ; tablets

Preliminary investigation of methionyl-glycyl-funtumin (MGF) in experimental immunodeficiency model using Cyclophosphamide (CY) showed that MGF did not to have an immunostimulant activity at the dose of 30g/kg. A potent toxicity of CY has been observed when associated with MGF in the model. The result could help to further study on this subject
Cyclophosphamide ; Biological Sciences