Pancreatic tumors are the gastrointestinal cancer with the worst prognosis in humans and with a survival rate of 5% at 5 years. Nowadays, no chemotherapy has demonstrated efficacy in terms of survival for this cancer. Previous study focused on the development of a new therapy by non thermal plasma showed significant effects on tumor growth for colorectal carcinoma and glioblastoma. To allow targeted treatment, a fibered plasma (Plasma Gun) was developed and its evaluation was performed on an orthotopic mouse model of human pancreatic carcinoma using a MIA PaCa2-luc bioluminescent cell line. The aim of this study was to characterize this pancreatic carcinoma model and to determine the effects of Plasma Gun alone or in combination with gemcitabine. During a 36 days period, quantitative BLI could be used to follow the tumor progression and we demonstrated that plasma gun induced an inhibition of MIA PaCa2-luc cells proliferation in vitro and in vivo and that this effect could be improved by association with gemcitabine possibly thanks to its radiosensitizing properties.

This study compared indirect blood pressure measurements using a non-invasive method, high-definition oscillometry (HDO), with direct measurements using a radio-telemetry device in awake cats. Paired measurements partitioned to five sub-ranges were collected in six cats using both methods. The results were analysed for assessment of correlation and agreement between the two methods, taking into account all pressure ranges, and with data separated in three sub-groups, low, normal and high ranges of systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure. SBP data displayed a mean correlation coefficient of 0.92 ± 0.02 that was reduced for low SBP. The agreement level evaluated from the whole data set was high and slightly reduced for low SBP values. The mean correlation coefficient of DBP was lower than for SBP (ie, 0.81 ± 0.02). The bias for DBP between the two methods was 22.3 ± 1.6 mmHg, suggesting that HDO produced lower values than telemetry. These results suggest that HDO met the validation criteria defined by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine consensus panel and provided a faithful measurement of SBP in conscious cats. For DBP, results suggest that HDO tended to underestimate DBP. This finding is clearly inconsistent with the good agreement reported in dogs, but is similar to outcomes achieved in marmosets and cynomolgus monkeys, suggesting that this is not related to HDO but is species related. The data support that the HDO is the first and only validated non-invasive blood pressure device and, as such, it is the only non-invasive reference technique that should be used in future validation studies.

The relationship between high fish consumption and low mortality following coronary heart disease (CHD) and low incidence of breast cancer was first mentioned 3 decades ago. The fishes of interest are rich in omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3 LC-PUFAs), especially eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which could be the active nutrients. The current consensus about cardioprotection is that omega-3 LC-PUFAs would mainly exert antiarrhythmic effects. One of the proposed mechanisms is that circulating non-esterified LC-PUFAs partition into cardiac cells membrane phospholipids and exert a direct effect on ionic channels and/or modify intracellular calcium homeostasis. In another hypothesis, changes in the metabolism of phosphoinositides would be involved and lead to the differential activation of PKC isoforms. As compared to the mechanisms proposed for the cardioprotective effects of omega-3 LC-PUFAs, less is known about the molecular mechanisms involved in breast cancers prevention. Some proposed mechanisms such as the modulation of phosphoinositides metabolism and/or modulation of intracellular calcium homeostasis, are common to both pathologies. Other hypotheses involve the alteration of the cellular redox status induced by highly peroxidizable polyunsaturated fatty acids (FA), or the modulation of gene expression, both phenomena being tightly linked to apoptosis. In this review, we report and compare some proposed mechanisms for the involvement of omega-3 LC-PUFAs in both cardiac and breast cancer protection. Deliberately, we chose to discuss only the mechanisms, which are less described in other reviews such as ionic channels in cancer, calcium homeostasis, PKC activation or matrix metalloproteinases in both cancer and cardiac models. The leitmotiv along this review is that cardio- and cancero-protective effects use common pathways. Comparison of the cellular effects might therefore help to highlight the "protective" pathways.

1 Torsade de Pointes (TdP) is a well-described major risk associated with various kinds of drugs. However, prediction of this risk is still uncertain both in preclinical and clinical trials. We tested 45 reference compounds on the model of isolated canine Purkinje fibres. Of them, 22 are clearly associated and/or labelled with a risk of TdP, and 13 others are drugs with published clinical evidence of QT prolongation, with only one or two exceptional cases of TdP. The 10 remaining drugs are without reports of TdP and QT prolongation. 2 The relevance of different indicators such as APD 90 increase, reverse use dependency, action potential triangulation or effect on V max was evaluated by comparison with available clinical data. Finally, a complex algorithm called TDPscreent and based on two subalgorithms corresponding to particular electrophysiological patterns was defined. 3 This latter algorithm enabled a clear separation of drugs into three groups: (A) drugs with numerous or several reports (42 cases) of TdP, (B) drugs causing QT prolongation and/or TdP only, the latter at a very low frequency (p2 cases), (C) drugs without reports of TdP or QT prolongation. 4 The use of such an algorithm combined with a database accrued from reference compounds with available clinical data is suggested as a basis for testing new candidate drugs in the early stages of development for proarrhythmic risk prediction.

The aim of the present study as to investigate whether increased central hypervolemia induced by tail suspension (TS) in the rat is an appropriate model of cardiovascular deconditioning (CVD). First, the physiological relationship between central venous pressure (CVP) and extracellular fluid volume (ECFV) was studied. TS (20 degrees) increased CVP (5.8 +/- 0.7 vs. 2.8 +/- 0.8 mmHg; P < 0.01). After 24 h of TS, CVP had returned to control range while ECFV was reduced by 19%. CVP kinetics during 24 h of TS was not affected by either reduction (-20%) or augmentation (/35%) of the ECFV. The normalization of CVP is likely to be a consequence of ECFV reduction, which itself is reduced by increased urinary excretion of water and sodium. Second, recovery from TS was studied. Resumption of the horizontal position was shown to be associated with a significant increase of heart rate (HR) and a slight reduction of blood pressure (BP); there was an apparent delay between increased HR and reduced BP. This imbalance between HR and BP is compatible with CVD. A model of simulated orthostatism (SO) was developed to further investigate the responses of HR and BP. Interestingly, SO (90 degrees rotation) in the normal rat was associated with significant tachycardia and a slight increase of BP. This pattern remained stable for at least 3 h. In rats that were tail suspended for 48 h, episodes of hypotension and bradycardia (5 +/- 1 in 3 h) suggested a defect in adaptation to increased hydrostatic pressure. In conclusion, TS appears to be an appropriate model of CVD. Reduction process. Return to horizontal position in TS rats induced a tachycardia with minimal effects on BP; this pattern is close to that observed in humans assuming upright posture. SO in previously TS rats disclosed episodes of hypotension and bradycardia that deserve further investigation.