No abstract

The adherence to home-based measurement of FC was fair. Usability scores for the home-based test were high. There was a good correlation with the centrally measured FC by ELISA.

No abstract

Biological activities of flavonoids have been extensively reviewed in literature. The biochemical profile of afzelin, kaempferitrin, and pterogynoside acting on reactive oxygen species was investigated in this paper. The flavonoids were able to act as scavengers of the superoxide anion, hypochlorous acid and taurine chloramine. Although flavonoids are naturally occurring substances in plants which antioxidant activities have been widely advertised as beneficial, afzelin, kaempferitrin, and pterogynoside were able to promote cytotoxic effect. In red blood cells this toxicity was enhanced, depending on flavonoids concentration, in the presence of hypochlorous acid, but reduced in the presence of 2,2'-azo-bis(2-amidinopropane) free radical. These flavonoids had also promoted the death of neutrophils, which was exacerbated when the oxidative burst was initiated by phorbol miristate acetate. Therefore, despite their well-known scavenging action toward free radicals and oxidants, these compounds could be very harmful to living organisms through their action over erythrocytes and neutrophils.

In 1982 we began a prospective controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation and intensive post-remission cheniotherapy for patients with acute myelogenous leukaemia in first complete remission. Fourteen patients, 3 4 5 years of age, who had a n HLA-identical sibling donor, received bone marrow transplantation. Twenty-five patients who either lacked a n HLAidentical sibling or were over 4 5 years of age received intensive consolidation chemotherapy including high-dose cytosine arabinoside with or without adriamycin.The actuarial rate of continued complete remission (CCK) at 3 years was significantly higher in the transplantation group than in the chemotherapy group: 70'x (95% confidence interval 35-91%) compared with 10Vh (95% confidence interval 2-300/,): P = 0.01. However, the actuarial rate of CCK was not significantly different between the transplan-Correspondence: Dr E. Conde. Servicio de Hema tologia. Hospital Nacional 'Marques de Valdecilla'. 39008 Santander, Spain.