A randomized trial comparing cisplatin plus 5-fluorouracil with or without levamisole in operable gastric cancer

OBJECTIVES: To determine the effectiveness and toxicity when levamisole was added to the adjuvant combination chemotherapy in patients with operable gastric cancer. METHODS: After en bloc resection of gastric cancer without gross or microscopic evidence of residual disease from April 1991 to December 1992, 100 patients were randomized to 6 months of 5-fluorouracil 1,000 mg/m2/day administered as continuous infusion for 5 days, cisplatin 60 mg/m2/day as intravenous infusion for 1 day with or without levamisole (50 mg every eight hours P.O for a period of three days every 2 weeks for 6 months). This chemotherapy treatment was begun within 2 to 4 weeks after the surgery. The chemotherapy consisted of discrete 5-day courses administered at 4-weeks intervals. All 100 patients are assessable. RESULTS: The fifty patients were assigned to each treatment group. There was no statistical difference and no bias in the distribution of characteristics of the 100 evaluable patients between the two groups. A total of 274 courses of treatment were given in the levamisole group and 260 courses of treatment in non-levamisole group. Eleven patients in each group did not finish planned 6 courses of treatment mainly due to non-compliance. At median follow up of 39 months, 32 patients relapsed 19 in the levamisole group and 13 in the non-levamisole group (p = 0.284). Twenty five patients died of relapsed diseases, 15 in the levamisole group and 10 in the non-levamisole group. The levamisole group tended to show more risk of overall death rate and recurrence than the non-levamisole group. However, this result was not statistically significant at 3 years. The treatment was well tolerated in both treatment groups. The grade 2-3 toxicities were nausea/ vomiting (levamisole, non-levamisole group; 31.7%, 29.3% of treatment courses respectively), diarrhea (7.6%, 8.4%), mucositis (11.6%, 12.3%), and leukopenia (9.8%, 9.6%). CONCLUSION: Levamisole had negative effects on disease-free survival and overall survival when added to adjuvant combination chemotherapy of cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil in patients with operable gastric cancer. Both treatment arms were generally well tolerated and the toxicity profile was similar with or without levamisole.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ZINC AND IRON STATUS BEFORE AND AFTER ZINC TREATMENT IN CHILDREN WITH ANOREXIA / 营养学报

A comprehensive evaluation of zinc and iron nutritional status was conducted in 203 children aged 2-7 years with anorexia. 147 of them took 3-7 mg of zinc sulfate?kg-1?d-1 for 60 days. The purpose of the study were to explore the relationship between zinc supplementation and the nutritional status of iron.Nutritional survey by 3-day-record method pre-and post zinc treatment showed that the average intakes of energy, protein, zinc, iron before treatment were 994kcal/d, 30.8g/d, 4.9mg/d, 7.6mg/d and were only 71%, 68%, 49%, 76% of RDA respectively. After treatment they reached 91%, 89%, 70%, 113% of RDA.There were significant positive correlations between zinc contents in serum or hair and hemoglobin (HB) or serum ferritin (SF) of the children with anorexia. After administration of zinc , the iron status of the children improved in some and fell in others. There were significant differences in some indices between the two groups before treatment. By stepwise discriminant analysis, a discriminant equation was obtained;Y = 3.591 - 0.175X1- 0.0152X2- 0.144X3+ 0.706X4(X1 = age, X2 = hair zinc,X3 = Hb, X4 = growth)If Y0, iron status may improve.

INVESTIGATION OF MATERNAL IRON STATUS IN GRAVIDA AND THE FETAL IRON STORE / 营养学报

Eight parameters about iron nutrition were observed longitudinally in eighty pregnant women from the first trimester to delivery. Their nutrients intake were recorded at the same time. It was noted that serum iron store (ferritin) decreased markedly in the course of pregnancy and the incidence of iron deficiency increased. Total iron intake was closely related to the variation of these parameters, the degree of iron deficiency in pregnant women and the content of cord ferritin. Iron in maternal serum is correlated to ferritin in the cord blood. It suggested that natural food abundant in iron, or food fortified with iron should be taken in early pregnancy to prevent iron deficiency of mothers.

AN EXPLORATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MATERNAL NUTRITIONAL STATUS AND THE FETAL DEVELOPMENT II. THE VARIATION OF MATERNAL SERUM NUTRIENTS LEVELS AND ITS RELATION TO CORD BLOOD AND FOOD INTAKE / 营养学报

The biochemical study of the nutritional status of 101 healthy pregnant women and cord blood samples showed that maternal serum protein, albumin, hemoglobin (Hb), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn) and calcium (Ca) were decreased, and serum transferrin and copper (Cu) were increased in the course of gestation.Correlation coefficients and stepwise regression analysis suggested that the concentrations of serum protein, Fe, Zn, Ca,Hb were positively correlated with the intake of calories, proteins, animal foods (especially fish and meats), Ca and vitamin C.The concentration of cord blood Ca,Zn and Fe were found highly related to the maternal serum levels in the late stage of pregnancy (P