No abstract

Intrathoracic extramedullary haematopoiesis (EMH) is a rare entity that is usually asymptomatic. A 44 year old man with alpha-thalassaemia is described who developed dyspnoea and massive left sided haemothorax. The haemoglobin disorder was established by Hgb H staining and haemoglobin electrophoretic studies. The DNA analysis revealed it to be a case of double heterozygous terminal codon mutation with the genotype CS / T . Computed tomographic scanning and magnetic resonance imaging of the thorax showed multiple paravertebral masses which were found by thoracoscopic biopsy to be extramedullary haematopoiesis. Although no additional sclerosing pleurodesis or low dose radiation therapy was given, the lung expanded well and there has been no recurrence of haemothorax to date.

CYFRA 21-1 assay may be a useful tumor marker for discriminating benign from malignant pleural effusion, especially in those of non-small cell lung cancer. The combined use of CEA and CYFRA 21-1 assay in the malignant effusion may increase the diagnostic yield compared with CEA or CYFRA 21-1 alone.

In asthma patients, acupuncture treatment may result in immediate improvement of FEV1, but the degree of improvement is less than that from inhalation bronchodilator.

No abstract

Bronchodilation was produced in normal subjects by inhalation of high doses of a quaternary parasympatholytic agent (glycopyrrolate), and responses were compared with those of atropine and a placebo. Both drugs induced significant increases in specific airway conductance (SGaw) and forced expiratory flows, but the effects of glycopyrrolate were sustained significantly longer (greater than 6 h). Whereas atropine produced an increased heart rate (26%) and severe dry mouth in all subjects, these symptoms were absent with glycopyrrolate and placebo. Therefore, glycopyrrolate produces significant bronchodilation of long duration but free of the side effects of muscarinic blockade that characterize atropine inhalation.

No abstract

Metastasis is the leading cause of death in patients with cervical cancer. In this report, we establish novel fluorescent HeLa tumor metastasis models to determine whether HeLa transfected with the enhanced red fluorescent protein (DsRed2) gene in vitro and xenotransplanted through subcutaneous, intraperitoneal, or intravenous route into SCID mice would permit the detection of tumor micro-metastasis in vivo. Our results showed that DsRed2 insertions did not interfere the tumorigenic properties of HeLa cells. We also demonstrated that DsRed2-transduced HeLa cells maintained stable high-level DsRed2 expressions during their growth in vivo. DsRed2 fluorescence clearly demarcated the primary seeding place and readily allowed for the visualization of distant micro-metastasis and local invasion at the single-cell level. Lung metastasis, the major cause of cervical carcinoma related death, was found in all three models. However, intravenous injections of the HeLa-DsRed2 cells established tumor foci in the lung, while subcutaneous and intraperitoneal injections only established lung metastasis at single-cell levels. The DsRed2 tagged HeLa cancer model allowed detection and investigation of physiologically relevant patterns of cancer invasion and metastasis in vivo.