Treatment of acute otitis media: a controlled study of 142 children

Results of the use of ampicillin, penicillin G and symptomatic therapy in the treatment of acute otitis media in 142 children were compared. Antibiotic therapy conveyed significant benefit. No major differences were observed between penicillin and ampicillin, except in the age group under 3 years where ampicillin was associated with the best results. Ampicillin appears to be the drug of choice. Its superiority over symptomatic therapy was statistically significant. Long-term sequelae were not observed in any of the three treatment groups. The relative merits of erythromycin and ampicillin require further study.     

Aspergilosis En Colombia

Resumen Se presentan 15 casos de aspergilosis recolectados en diferentes ciudades del país. Doce fueron casos autopsiados. Los tres restantes se refieren a pacientes en quienes se efectuó una lobectomía pulmonar superior derecha por aspergiloma gigante intracavitario. En los doce primeros existía una enfermedad básica que había alterado seriamente el estado general del paciente; once de ellos habían recibido antibióticos, cinco habían recibido esteroides, y dos, agentes citotóxicos. Se cree que, tanto el estado general del paciente, como la administración de dichas drogas, favorecieron la infección micótica. De los tres casos con aspergiloma intracavitario gigante, se cree que, en uno, la micosis se implantó en una caverna tuberculosa cicatrizada. En los otros dos, la cavidad era un bronquio localmente dilatado y se consideró que no existía una infección tuberculosa.ElAspergillus posee un amplio espectro de patogenicidad. Se le puede observar en lesiones que van desde una localización intrabronquial, acompañada de mínima o nula reacción inflamatoria, hasta casos en los cuales existen lesiones pulmonares necrotizantes con diseminación hematógena a otros órganos (sistema nervioso central, hígado, riñón).     

Morphological comparison ofSqualus blainvillei andS. megalops in the Eastern Atlantic,with notes on the genus

Morphological comparisons are made from the study of 64 specimens belonging to the following species:Squalus acanihias, S. blainvillei, S. megalops andS. acutirostris. The results suggest conspecificity betweenS. acutipinnis andS. megalops. The differences betweenS. blainvillei andS. megalops in the E-Atlantic are stressed. The Indo-Pacific species calledS. blainvillei by Chen et al. (1979) is regarded in this paper as probably an undescribed species. Some consideration on the status of several nominal species and the species grouping withinSqualus are also made.     

异源PDGF-A链表达对CHO细胞生长和转化的作用

用DNA磷酸钙盐沉淀方法把含人PDGF(血小板衍生生长因子)A链cDNA的表达质粒pSV_2neo-A转染CHO细胞(中国仓鼠卵巢细胞),然后经G 418(400-800 μg/ml)筛选分离20个转染细胞株。选出其中At_1和Aot7细胞株所进行的实验结果表明,这些细胞的形态和生长行为均发生明显的变化,PDGF-A链mRNA的表达水平比CHO细胞明显增高,胞质有强阳性的PDGF荧光反应,显示有PDGF样蛋白的合成。这些细胞不但生长速率加快,有高密度持续生长的特性,而且能在软琼脂培基上形成大集落和在裸鼠体内接种形成纤维肉瘤,提示外源PDGF-A链基因的表达有使CHO细胞生长失控和发生细胞恶性转化的作用。     

Impaired local natural killer cell activity in human colorectal carcinomas

Summary The present study was undertaken to study natural killer (NK) cell activity in patients with colorectal cancer at peripheral and local levels. Mononuclear cells were isolated from uninvolved colorectal mucosa, tumor tissue and peripheral blood, and tested against the colon carcinoma cell line CaCo-2 and the erythroleukemia cell line K-562. Peripheral blood NK cell activity from the patients showed similar levels compared with healthy controls, whereas, mononuclear cells of tumor tissue were found to have a significantly decreased NK cell activity compared to the normal intestinal mucosa (P<0.01). No relation was found between the NK cell activity and the advancement of the disease according to the Duke's stage. Interferon- (IFN-) stimulated the NK cell activity of the mononuclear cells from blood, mucosa and tumor. However, the increase of NK cell activity after IFN- stimulation was lower in the tumor compared to the mucosa (P<0.02). The lectin, phytohaemagglutinin, increased the cytotoxicity of mononuclear cells from blood, mucosa and tumor to a similar level. These results suggest that patients with colorectal tumors exhibit a normal NK cell activity in peripheral blood and intestinal mucosa; however, a diminished NK cell activity exists at the tumor level. Although mononuclear cells isolated from the tumor have a normal response to lectin stimulation they show hyporesponsiveness to IFN- stimulation with regard to their NK cell activity.