The role of transvaginal sonography as compared with endorectal sonography in the evaluation of rectal cancer: preliminary study

Summary We carried out a preliminary study on the efficacy of endovaginal sonography (EVS) in the evaluation of rectal cancer. The study included 12 women with endoscopically documented rectal cancer, 10 of which were treated surgically. We found that EVS evidenced metastasized lymph nodes (7/9) and infiltration of the rectovaginal space more clearly; moreover, this technique can also be performed in cases of stenosing cancer. Endorectal sonography (ERS) evidenced infiltration of the rectal wall but was less accurate both in detecting metastasized lymph nodes (6/9) and for exploration of the rectovaginal space. We concluded that the two methods complement one another and improve ultrasonographic staging of rectal cancer.     

Health impacts of family planning

Among the many effects of family planning is the influence ithas on mortality and morbidity in women and children throughthe mechanism of changing the number and spacing of children.There is a complex set of relationships between mother's age,parity, birth spacing and infant and child mortality and morbidity.Much effort has been put into untangling this web in the hopeof identifying clear causal connections, but for the most parton the basis of inadequate data. Rather than attempt to establishthe relative importance of child spacing as a cause of decreasesin mortality, this paper takes as its starting point that thereis a connection, and presents some possible causal mechanismswhich explain how short birth intervals and child mortalitycould be related. In addition the most frequently cited hypotheses-maternaldepletion and sibling competition-a third is examined-birthcrowding which, it is suggested, influences the pattern of thetransmission of infectious diseases and, in turn, mortality. In the field of maternal mortality, the data which could beused to quantify the benefits of family planning are in evenshorter supply; however, the causal connections are rather moreeasily identified. The final section combines parity-specificdata on maternal mortality with evidence of changes in fertilitypatterns brought about by family planning to assess how successfulwe can hope to be in reducing through birth control the numberof women who die in childbirth.     

Neuroanatomical phenotypes in the reeler mouse

The reeler mouse (Reln) has been proposed as a neurodevelopmental model for certain neurological and psychiatric conditions and has been studied by qualitative histochemistry and electron microscopy. Using magnetic resonance microscopy (MRM), we have quantitated for the first time the neuromorphology of Reln mice at a resolution of 21.5 microm. The neuroanatomical phenotypes of heterozygous and homozygous mutant Reln mice were compared to those of wild type (WT) littermates using morphometry and texture analysis. The cortical, hippocampal, and cerebellar phenotypes of the heterozygous and homozygous mutant Reln mice were confirmed, and new features were revealed. The Reln(rl/rl) mice possessed a smaller brain, and both Reln(rl/+) and Reln(rl/rl) mice had increased ventricles compared to WT controls. Shape differences were found between WT and Reln(rl/rl) brains, specifically in cerebellum, olfactory bulbs, dorsomedial frontal and parietal cortex, certain regions of temporal and occipital lobes, as well as in the lateral ventricles and ventral hippocampus. These findings suggest that certain brain regions may be more severely impacted by the Reln mutation than others. Gadolinium-based active staining demonstrated that layers of the hippocampus were disorganized in Reln(rl/rl) mice and differences in thickness of these layers were identified between WT and Reln(rl/rl) mice. The intensity distributions characteristic to the dorsal, middle, and ventral hippocampus were altered in the Reln(rl/rl), especially in the ventral hippocampus. These differences were quantified using skewness and modeling the intensity distributions with a Gaussian mixture. Our results suggest that structural features of Reln(rl/rl) brain most closely phenocopy those of patients with Norman-Roberts lissencephaly.     

Recovery of T cell subsets after autologous bone marrow transplantation is mainly due to proliferation of mature T cells in the graft

In 22 patients with malignancies, treated with high-dose chemoradiotherapy and autologous bone marrow transplantation (BMT), peripheral blood T cell subsets and functions were studied. In ten cytomegalovirus (CMV)-negative patients, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells (representing T cells of the helper/inducer phenotype and T cells of the suppressor/cytotoxic phenotype, respectively), recovered slowly and simultaneously. In 12 CMV-positive patients, however, CD8+ T cells recovered more rapidly than CD4+ T cells and rose to increased counts. No T cells with an immature phenotype (CD1+, OKT6+) were observed. Lymphocyte stimulation by herpes simplex virus infected fibroblasts (and by CMV-infected fibroblasts in CMV-positive patients) in contrast remained high and even increased after BMT in both groups. These data indicate that T cell recovery after autologous BMT is mainly due to proliferation of mature T cells present in the BM graft and not to generation of new T cells from T cell precursors.     

Identification and characterization of a low-affinity granulocyte- macrophage colony-stimulating factor receptor on primary and cultured human melanoma cells

Hematopoietic growth factor receptors are present on cells of normal nonhematopoietic tissues such as endothelium and placenta. We previously demonstrated functional human granulocyte-macrophage colony- stimulating factor (GM-CSF) receptors on small cell carcinoma of the lung cell lines, and others have reported that certain solid tumor cell lines respond to GM-CSF in clonogenic assays. In the current study, we examine human melanoma cell lines and fresh specimens of melanoma to determine whether they have functional GM-CSF receptors. Scatchard analyses of 125I-GM-CSF equilibrium binding to melanoma cell lines showed a mean of 542 +/- 67 sites per cell with a kd of 0.72 +/- 0.14 nmol/L. Cross-linking studies in the melanoma cell line, M14, showed a major GM-CSF receptor species of 84,000 daltons. Under the conditions tested, the M14 cells did not have a proliferative response to GM-CSF in vitro, nor was any induction of primary response genes detected by Northern analysis in response to GM-CSF. Studies to determine internal translocation of the receptor-ligand complex indicated less than 10% of the 125I-GM-CSF internalized was specifically bound to receptors. Primary melanoma cells from five surgical specimens had GM-CSF receptors; Scatchard analysis was performed on one sample, showing 555 sites/cell with a kd of 0.23 nmol/L. These results indicate that human tumor cells may express a low-affinity GM-CSF receptor protein that localizes to the cell surface and binds ligand, but lacks functional components or accessory factors needed to transduce a signal.