Expression of AML1/ETO mRNA was observed in bone marrow cells from 49 untreated leukemic patients, and continuously detected during different periods after chemotherapy (12 cases) or bone marrow transplantation (8 cases). The results showed that AML1/ETO mRNA could be expressed in cells from AML-M(2), AML-M(4) and MDS-RAEB-T patients. The positive expression changed into negative at different duration in patients who achieved complete remission either by chemotherapy (9 cases), allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (5 cases) and autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (1 case), and they were sustained in complete remission status. In chemotherapeutic group, patients whose AML1/ETO expression turning from negative (2 cases) or faint positive (1 case) to positive relapsed later. Two patients treated with Allo-BMT showed continuously positive results and died of GVHD and relapse, respectively. These observations suggest that AML1/ETO chimeric mRNA could disappeared after chemotherapy or bone marrow transplantation. The patients have a great probability to relapse if the results of RT-PCR are continuously positive or change from negative to positive. Regular detection is necessary for leukemic patients.

BACKGROUNDMulti-detector computed tomography (MDCT) has already been the first line investigation method for diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE). Reducing the amount of contrast medium used during CT scanning could decrease the incidental rate of adverse reactions. Our study amied to evaluate the image quality of pulmonary arteries using 64 slice multi-detector CT with small volumes of contrast media injection.

METHODSForty nonconsecutive patients without PE or other lung diseases were randomly assigned to two groups. Group A underwent CT scanning with 16 x 1.25 mm collimation and a 70 ml contrast injection, while group B had CT with 64 x 0.625 mm collimation and 20 ml of contrast injection. Two readers independently depicted the segmental and subsegmental pulmonary arteries. Reasons we could not analyze the pulmonary artery or that led to misdiagnosis of pulmonary embolism were evaluated, including the degree of contrast enhancement of the main pulmonary artery, and factors that caused misdiagnosis of PE (flow-related artifacts, partial volume artifact, beam-hardening artifacts and enhancement of pulmonary vein). The independent samples t-test, Mann-Whitney U test and Pearson chi-square test were applied.

RESULTSThere were no significant differences in image quality of segmental and subsegmental arteries between the two groups. No significant difference was found for factors that made pulmonary arteries non-analyzable or in the misdiagnosis of PE, except the degree of contrast enhancement.

CONCLUSION64 x 0.625 mm collimation with 20 ml contrast injection could depict the pulmonary arteries well.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Angiography ; methods ; Contrast Media ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pulmonary Embolism ; diagnostic imaging ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; methods ; Ultrasonography

BACKGROUNDUse of neoadjuvant chemotherapy necessitates assessment of response to cytotoxic drugs. The aim of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for evaluating clinical responses to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer patients.

METHODSWe examined patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy for primary breast cancer between October 2007 and September 2008. Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI was used to examine breast tumors prior to and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The MRI examination assessed tumors using Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST). The Miller-Payne grading system was used as a histopathological examination to assess the effect of the treatment. We examined the relationship between the results of RECIST and histopathological criteria. In addition, we used time-signal intensity curves (MRI T-SI) to further evaluate the effects of neoadjuvant chemotherapy on tumor response.

RESULTSMRI examination of patients completing four three-week anthracycline-taxanes chemotherapy treatment revealed that no patients had complete responses (CR), 58 patients had partial responses (PR), 29 patients had stable disease (SD), and four with progressive disease (PD). The effectiveness of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (CR + PR) was 63.7% (58/91). The postoperative histopathological evaluations revealed the following: seven G5 (pCR) cases (7.7%), 39 G4 cases (42.9%), 16 G3 cases (17.6%), 23 G2 cases (25.3%), and six G1 cases (6.6%). The effectiveness (G5 + G4 + G3) was 68.1% (62/91). MRI T-SI standards classified 53 responding cases, 29 stable cases, and nine progressing cases. These results indicated that the treatment was 58.2% effective (53/91) overall.

CONCLUSIONSDynamic contrast-enhanced MRI and histopathological standards were highly correlated. Importantly, MRI T-SI evaluation was found to be useful in assessing the clinical effectiveness of neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Adult ; Aged ; Anthracyclines ; therapeutic use ; Antineoplastic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Breast Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Contrast Media ; chemistry ; Female ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; methods ; Middle Aged ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; Taxoids ; therapeutic use

BACKGROUNDMesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) transplantation may partially restore heart function in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The aim of this study was to explore the beneficial effects of MSCs modified with heme xygenase-1 (HO-1) on post-infarct swine hearts to determine whether the induction of therapeutic angiogenesis is modified by the angiogenic cytokines released from the implanted cells.

METHODSIn vitro, MSCs were divided into four groups: (1) non-transfected MSCs (MSCs group), (2) MSCs transfected with the pcDNA3.1-Lacz plasmid (Lacz-MSCs group), (3) MSCs transfected with pcDNA3.1-hHO-1 (HO-1-MSCs group), and (4) MSCs transfected with pcDNA3.1-hHO-1 and pretreatment with an HO inhibitor, tin protoporphyrin (SnPP) (HO-1-MSCs + SnPP group). Cells were cultured in an airtight incubation bottle for 24 hours, in which the oxygen concentration was maintained at < 1%, followed by 12 hours of reoxygenation. After hypoxia/reoxygen treatment, ELISA was used to measure transforming growth factor (TGF-β) and fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2) in the supernatant. In vivo, 28 Chinese mini-pigs were randomly allocated to the following treatment groups: (1) control group (saline), (2) Lacz-MSCs group, (3) HO-1-MSCs group, and (4) HO-1-MSCs + SnPP group. About 1 × 10(7) of autologous stem cells or an identical volume of saline was injected intracoronary into porcine hearts 1 hour after MI. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) assay and postmortem analysis were assessed four weeks after stem cell transplantation.

RESULTSPost hypoxia/reoxygenation in vitro, TGF-β in the supernatant was significantly increased in the HO-1-MSCs ((874.88 ± 68.23) pg/ml) compared with Lacz-MSCs ((687.81 ± 57.64) pg/ml, P < 0.001). FGF-2 was also significantly increased in the HO-1-MSCs ((1106.48 ± 107.06) pg/ml) compared with the Lacz-MSCs ((853.85 ± 74.44) pg/ml, P < 0.001). In vivo, at four weeks after transplantation, HO-1 gene transfer increased the capillary density in the peri-infarct area compared with the Lacz-MSCs group (14.24 ± 1.66/HPFs vs. 11.51 ± 1.34/HPFs, P < 0.001). Arteriolar density was also significantly higher in HO-1-MSCs group than in the Lacz-MSCs group (7.86 ± 2.00/HPFs vs. 6.45 ± 1.74/HPFs, P = 0.001). At the same time, the cardiac function was significantly improved in the HO-1-MSCs group compared with the Lacz-MSCs group ((53.17 ± 3.55)% vs. (48.82 ± 2.98)%, P < 0.05). However, all these effects were significantly abrogated by SnPP.

CONCLUSIONMSCs provided a beneficial effect on cardiac function after ischemia/reperfusion by the induction of therapeutic angiogenesis, and this effect was amplified by HO-1 overexpression.

Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Cell Differentiation ; genetics ; physiology ; Heme Oxygenase-1 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology ; enzymology ; metabolism ; Myocardial Reperfusion Injury ; enzymology ; metabolism ; Swine ; Swine, Miniature

OBJECTIVETo analyze the clinical features, diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer associated paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis (PLE).

METHODSThe clinical data of 7 cases of patients with lung cancer associated PLE out of 8927 patients of lung cancer from January 2000 to May 2010 was analyzed retrospectively. All the patients were male, aging from 41 to 54 years with a mean of 48 years. The data including history, physical examination, laboratory tests, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up were collected and analyzed.

RESULTSAll the 7 patients had smoking history. All 7 patients had varying short-term memory loss, 6 had epilepsy, 4 had different degrees of mental disorders, and 2 had syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone. Malignancies were screened and detected by chest X-ray or CT scan, while the pathological diagnoses were obtained through biopsy or transbronchial needle aspiration through electronic bronchoscope (5/7), biopsy of supraclavicular lymph nodes (1/7) and open pulmonary lobectomy (1/7). The pathological diagnosis included small cell lung cancer in 6 cases, adenocarcinoma of lung in 1 case. During the follow-up, 1 patient was lost, and the mean time of follow-up of the remaining 6 patients was about 11.5 months (ranged from 4 to 21 months). Four patients received early immunosuppressive treatment in terms of corticosteroids, only slight relief of neurological symptoms was seen in 2 patients. However, after chemotherapy (6/6), radiation (3/6), or surgical removal of the tumor (1/6), complete remission (3/6, with negative anti-Hu antibody) or partial remission (3/6, 2 of whom with positive anti-Hu antibody) of neurological symptoms were observed. Till October 2010, 3 patients with poorer tumor stag died ( survival were 4, 10, and 14 months respectively), while the other 3 patients with negative anti-Hu antibody and relative better tumor stag were still in the follow-up (the period were 5, 15, and 21 months).

CONCLUSIONSPLE is a rare disease. In comparison with immunosuppressive therapy, chemotherapy, radiation or surgical removal of the tumor could provide better remission of the neurological symptoms. Positive serum anti-Hu antibody, poorer tumor stag, and together with poorer response to treatments seem to indicate a poorer prognosis.

Adult ; Carcinoma, Small Cell ; complications ; Humans ; Limbic Encephalitis ; etiology ; therapy ; Lung Neoplasms ; complications ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies

Objective: Moxifloxacin (MFX) shows good activity against and can be a possible antibiotic therapy to treat infection; however, other studies have shown a lower or no activity. We aimed to evaluate MFX activity against using zebrafish (ZF) model . Methods: A formulation of labeled with CM-Dil was micro-injected into ZF. Survival curves were determined by recording dead ZF every day. ZF were lysed, and colony-forming units (CFUs) were enumerated. Bacteria dissemination and fluorescence intensity in ZF were analyzed. Inhibition rates of MFX and azithromycin (AZM, positive control) were determined and compared. Results: Significantly increased survival rate was observed with different AZM concentrations. However, increasing MFX concentration did not result in a significant decrease in ZF survival curve. No significant differences in bacterial burdens by CFU loads were observed between AZM and MFX groups at various concentrations. Bacterial fluorescence intensity in ZF was significantly correlated with AZM concentration. However, with increasing MFX concentration, fluorescence intensity decreased slightly when observed under fluorescence microscope. Transferring rates at various concentrations were comparable between the MFX and AZM groups, with no significant difference. Conclusion MFX showed limited efficacy against using ZF model. Its activity needs to be confirmed.
Animals ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; pharmacology ; Disease Models, Animal ; Moxifloxacin ; pharmacology ; Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous ; drug therapy ; Mycobacterium abscessus ; drug effects ; Zebrafish