No abstract available.
Electrocardiography* ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial* ; Hemodynamics*

No abstract available.
Dermatomyositis*

No abstract available.
Animals ; Catalase* ; Glutathione* ; Lung* ; Rats*

No abstract available.
Budesonide* ; Humans

No abstract available.

Some variables can influence the efficiency of leukocyte removal filter for red cell concentrates. We performed this study to evaluate whether the filtration efficiency for platelet concentrates(PCs) can be influenced by bedside filter(PXL8K, Pall Corporation, USA) used, platelet storage time and transient stopping of platelet agitation, and to measure the amount of cytokines released from donor leukocytes in PCs during the storage time. In addition, we examined the effect of leukocyte reduction by filtration before the storage of PCs on the subsequent generation of cytokines. Any of the above mentioned variables did not make significant differences. From day 1 to day 5, there were significant increases in IL-1 beta (<1 vs. 8.6 pg/mL, p<0.05), IL-8 (<10 vs. 455.3 pg/mL, p<0.05) and TNF-alpha (<4 vs. 16.6 pg/mL, p<0.05) in unflltered PCs, whereas no increased revels of cytokines were found in the cases of prestorage filtration.
Blood Platelets* ; Cytokines ; Dihydroergotamine ; Filtration* ; Humans ; Interleukin-1beta ; Interleukin-8 ; Leukocytes* ; Tissue Donors ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

No abstract available.
Eosinophils* ; Histamine*

To investigate the influence of first six-month mean for serum biochemical markers, albumin, cholesterol, triglyceride, inorganic phosphate, BUN, creatinine, on survival in hemodialysis, we retrospectively analyzed the 57 patients who were monitored from the start of HD for more than 6 months between January 1988 and December 1995. Exclusion criteria were as follows: transfer to CAPD, transplantation or another dialysis center, HD for less than 6 months, non-compliant, death due to malignant disease, accident and self-withdrawal. The patients were divided into two groups according to the demographic characteristics and the median value of first six-month mean for serum biochemical markers. The mean age was 46.7+/-11.7 year, male-to female ratio was 1.6:1, diabetics were 12 (21.1%), and mean follow-up duration was 39.0+/-26.4 months. Among them 30 patients (52.6%) were died. Diabetic patients had significantly lower 1 year (63.6 vs. 88.8%, p<0.05) and 3 year survival rate (19.1 vs. 62.2%, p<0.05) than non-diabetic patients. Low serum albumin(<3.5g/dl), low serum cholesterol(<130mg/dl) and low serum P (<5.0mg/dl) groups were significantly lower 1 and 3 year survival rate than high serum albumin (63.6 vs. 97.0%; 25.5 vs. 74.6%, p<0.05), cholesterol (71.4 vs. 88.0%; 38.1 vs. 60.8%, p<0.05) and p (71.9 vs. 96.3% ; 47.1 vs. 62.9%, p<0.05) groups, respectively. There were no differences in survival rate according to sex, BUN, TG, and creatinine. By Cox's proportional hazard model, low serum albumin(odds ratio 1.98), cholesterol(odds ratio 1.60), and P(odds ratio 2.09) group were independent risk factors for early death. Low serum albumin level at the start of HD maintained during the follow-up period. Cholesterol and P showed similar results. In conclusion, basal serum biochemical markers associated with visceral protein depletion such as low serum albumin, cholesterol and P seem to be early predictors of mortality in hemodialysis patients.
Biomarkers* ; Cholesterol ; Creatinine ; Dialysis ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Mortality ; Peritoneal Dialysis, Continuous Ambulatory ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Renal Dialysis* ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Serum Albumin ; Survival Rate ; Triglycerides

Imatinib mesylate is a selective Bcr/Abl kinase inhibitor and an effective anticancer agent for Bcr/Abl-positive chronic myelogenous leukemia. Most patients in chronic phase maintain durable responses; however, many in blast crisis fail to respond, or relapse quickly. Mutations within the BCR/ABL kinase domain are the most commonly identified mechanism associated with relapse. To overcome the imatinib resistance in CML, many investigators have tried to clarify molecular mechanism for imatinib resistance in cells of patients who failed to respond to imatinib. Our aim was to invesitigate underlying mechanism for imatinib resistance in SR-1 cells, which were derived from a CML patient in blast crisis. We detected the new mutation of BCR/ABL, resulting in premature termination and loss of BCR/ABL fusion protein expression, which might be possible mechanism for the resistance to imatinib in SR-1 cells.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Base Sequence ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm/*genetics ; Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl/chemistry/*genetics ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid/*genetics ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Mutagenesis, Insertional/*genetics ; Nucleotides/genetics ; Piperazines/*pharmacology ; Point Mutation/*genetics ; Pyrimidines/*pharmacology ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

PURPOSE: To assess the toxicity and tumor response induced by DCVac/IR(R) dendritic cell (DC) immunotherapy combined with irradiation for refractory colorectal cancer patients with multiple liver metastases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between May 2004 and November 2006, applicants from a pool of refractory colorectal cancer patients with multiple liver metastases were enrolled. The patients were registered after having signed the informed consent form, which had been approved by the Institutional Review Board from the Dong-A University and Busan National University Hospital. DCs were obtained from peripheral blood of each patient, and then cultured in vitro. A total of 6x10(6) DCs were packed into a vial (DCVac/IR(R), 0.5 ml) at the convenience of each patient's schedule. On the day before and on the day of each vaccination, each patient received a 4 Gy radiation dose to the target tumor. On the day of vaccination, the indicated dose of autologous DCs was injected into the irradiated tumor using ultrasound-guided needle injection procedures. A total of four vaccinations were scheduled at three 2-week intervals and one 4 week interval at the Dong-A University and Busan National University Hospital. If the tumor status was deemed to be stable or responding to therapy, an additional vaccination dose or two was approved at 4 week intervals beyond the fourth immunization. A tolerance test for DCs was conducted by injecting a range of doses (3x10(6) to 12x10(6) DCs) after the 3rd injection. Moreover, the maximal tolerable dose was applied to additional patients. Treatment safety was evaluated in all patients who had at least one injection. Treatment feasibility was evaluated by the 10th week by assessing the response of patients having at least 4 injections. For systemic toxicities, the evaluation was performed using the National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria, whereas adverse effects were recorded using common WHO toxicity criteria. RESULTS: Of the 24 registered patients, 22 received the DCs injections. Moreover, of the 14 patients that applied for the tolerance test, only 11 patients completed it because 3 patients withdrew their testing agreement. A grade 3 or more side effect, which was possibly related to the DC injection, did not occur in additional patients. The 12x10(6) DC injection was identified as the maximum tolerable dose, and was then injected in an additional 8 patients. Patients tolerated the injection fairly well, with no fatal side effects. In order to assess the feasibility of DC immunotherapy, the response was evaluated in other hepatic lesions outside of the targeted hepatic lesion. The response evaluation was performed in 15 of the 17 patients who received at least 4 injections. Stable and progressive disease was found in 4 and 11 patients, respectively. CONCLUSION: The DC-based immunotherapy and radiotherapy is theoretically synergistic for the local control and systemic control. The DCVac/IR(R) immunotherapy combined with irradiation was tolerable and safe in the evaluated cases of refractory colorectal cancer with multiple liver metastases. Future work should include well designed a phase II clinical trials.
Appointments and Schedules ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Consent Forms ; Dendritic Cells ; Ethics Committees, Research ; Humans ; Immunization ; Immunotherapy ; Liver ; National Cancer Institute (U.S.) ; Needles ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Radiation Dosage ; Vaccination