The management of extramedullary disease in acute leukemia with therapeutic radiations

The authors reviewed 181 patients who received local radiation therapy for the prevention or control of extramedullary disease resulting from acute leukemia. 126 had acute lymphocytic leukemia and 55 had acute granulocytic leukemia. They were treated over a 18-year period of time with different forms of chemotherapy. Most had not received prophylactic CNS radiation therapy. Patients were evaluated for local control until death or hematologic relapse intervened. More than 80% of patients with clinical ALL meningeal leukemia had a successful response to doses over 1000 rads. This same response was not apparent in AML. More than 80% of clinical non-CNS extra medullary leukemia was controlled with doses of 600 rads or greater. Only one patient with extra-medullary relapse is still alive. The authors feel that lower preventative doses of radiation to the CNS are compatible with similar control rates, based on their own data and other suggestive data.

Anaerobic vibrio-like organisms cultured from blood: Desulfovibrio desulfuricans and Succinivibrio species

Two unusual anaerobic vibrio-like organisms were recovered from blood cultures of two patients. One isolate was identified as Desulfovibrio desulfuricans. It appeared to be the cause of a 24-h episode of fever, chills, and profuse perspiration. This is apparently the first documented report of human infection due to this organism. The second isolate was a Succinivibrio species. It has rarely been described as a cause of bacteremia. The clinical significance of the organism remains unclear.

Diet and endocrine-related cancer

In women, dietary modification and life style affect the risk of breast cancer and may alter the hormonal status, while in experimental animals diet can alter the incidence of induced mammary tumors. In this study, a high fat diet increased the incidence of DMBA-induced tumors in rats while this increase in incidence was lowered and the effect of a high fat diet obliterated by an anti-prolactin during CB154. Premenopausal Japanese women had a higher estradiol level than their Caucasian counterpart. In Japanese but not Caucasian breast cancer patients, the estradiol decreased. When nurses were transferred from the Western to a vegetarian diet, the menstrual cycle was shortened, while their prolactin and testosterone decreased. Data indicate that dietary factors influence tumor incidence and hormone profile in rat mammary cancer and the hormonal status in women.

3H-deoxythymidine incorporation in graft-versus-host disease in the Norway rat. I. Liquid scintillation studies

Graft-versus-host-disease was produced in newborn Brown Norway (BN) rats with an intravenous (iv) injection of adult allogeneic Lewis (L) lymph node cells (experimental) and the response was compared to littermates injected with adult syngeneic BN cells (control). By 4 days the reaction in the spleen of experimental animals was such that the spleen index was 1.70 and 2.58 on day 7, and continued to increase until death. A one hour iv pulse of tritiated deoxythymidine (3HdT) administered to experimental and control animals revealed a whole organ peak incorporation of 3HdT on day 6 in experimental spleens. A second larger peak occurred on day 10 in the experimental spleen as compared to a single peak at days 6 or 7, respectively, in the experimental mesenteric and combined superficial lymph nodes. However, analysis of the incorporation of 3HdT with respect to organ weight revealed a peak incorporation in animals receiving L cells on day 4--6 with a second smaller peak on day 10 in the experimental spleen and again a single peak on day 5 or 6 in the lymph nodes. Total 3HdT incorporation within both experimental lymph node compartments became less than controls by day 15 even though experimental nodes had a larger mass. 3HdT incorporation per milligram tissue weight decreased in all tissue compartments of experimental animals by day 13--14. The contribution of donor and host cell proliferation to the various peaks observed is discussed.

3H-deoxythymidine incorporation in graft-versus-host disease in the Norway rat. II. Autoradiographic studies

A sequential analysis was made of various areas within the lymph nodes and spleen of newborn Brown Norway (BN) rats suffering from graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) subsequent to an allogeneic injection of adult Lewis (L) lymph node cells (experimental). One micron thick autoradiographs were compared between such experimental and control littermates having received the same number of syngeneic adult BN cells. Both experimental and control animals received tritiated deoxythymidine (3HdT) one hour before killing. The autoradiographs revealed a 2.25 and 2.50 times higher thymidine labeling index of lymphocytes in the deep cortex of mesenteric lymph nodes and white pulp of the spleen, respectively, for experimental animals. The experimental effect occurred within one day. The majority of the labeled cells in experimental animals were large lymphoblasts with prominent nucleoli. The labeling index within these areas remained significantly higher than control values until day 8 in the spleen and through day 14 within the lymph nodes. However, differences in labeled cells present in high powered microscopic fields reached a peak on day 3 within compartments in experimental animals but fell significantly below control values by day 9 owing to a pronounced disappearance of both small and large lymphocytes from these areas, and a decreased intensity of individual cell labeling as the reaction progressed. In contradistinction the concentration of labeled cells present in high powered microscopic fields of lymph nodes' medulla became 3.13 times controls by day 4. Most of these labeled cells contained a more basophilic cytoplasm than those found in the deep cortex and some were distinctly plasma cell precursors. In contrast to the deep cortex their concentration remained approximately three times control values until death. The data indicates that the major proliferative events within the spleen and lymph nodes in neonatal rat GVHD are initially restricted to donor cell localization areas of these tissue compartments. Subsequently the GVHD-related events may be attributed to other areas and possibly cell types. Thus any proliferation contributing to splenomegaly in the latter stages of GVHD appears to occur in the red pulp and that contributing to lymph node enlargement a medullary response.

Small bowel extracts in the inhibition of tumour growth

Results presented in this paper confirm earlier experiments which showed that microsomal extract of small bowel, preincubated with tumour cells, resulted in complete inhibition of tumour growth. However, experiments in vitro have shown that this effect is due to direct cytotoxicity of the extract and that (a) it is not specific for the small bowel; (b) it is not specific for tumour cells; and (c) the activity is predominantly in the mitochondrial fraction.

Increased prothrombin time and metabolic changes with high serum aluminum levels following long-term exposure to Bayer-process alumina

Serum aluminum levels twice to three times those in controls were found in 30 of 36 workers in a factory in an atmosphere of alumina dust. Inorganic phosphate and total alkaline phosphatase levels were within normal range, with no clinical evidence of phosphate depletion syndrome. Serum intestinal alkaline phosphatase, acid phosphatase and adenosine triphosphate levels were significantly reduced in the group with high levels of aluminum. The finding that the mean prothrombin time was significantly prolonged is of particular interest with respect to beneficial antithrombogenic effect.