Diagnosis delay of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

OBJECTIVES: to study the clinical features of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy with emphasis on diagnosis delay. METHODS: an observational descriptive retrospective study was performed using medical records of patients with diagnosis of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy given in the period from 1989 to 2000 at the neuropediatric out-patient clinic of a University Hospital. RESULTS: immunohistochemical results or deletion on the dystrophin gene confirmed the diagnosis of the 78 boys included in this study. Parents had noticed the first symptoms since the median age of two years. The final diagnosis was reached at a median age of seven. CONCLUSIONS: diagnosis age is closer to the age of ambulation loss than that of the first symptoms. There is a marked delay for the diagnosis of this disease in our setting.

Pentacyclic triterpenes from Chrysobalanaceae species: cytotoxicity on multidrug resistant and sensitive leukemia cell lines

Plants are known as important source in the search for new anti-cancer agents. Cytotoxicity-guided fractionation of leaves and fruits from Licania tomentosa Bench and leaves from Chrysobalanus icaco L. resulted in the isolation of betulinic, oleanolic and pomolic acids. These triterpenoids inhibited the growth and induced apoptosis of K562, an erythroleukemia cell line. Most importantly, they also inhibited the proliferation of Lucena 1, a vincristine-resistant derivative of K562 that displays several multidrug resistance (MDR) characteristics. Taken together, our findings emphasize the anti-tumor activity of these triterpenes on leukemia cell lines and call attention to their potential as anti MDR agents.