Superior vena cava obstruction [SVCO] in patients with advanced non small cell lung cancer [NSCLC]

To report on prognostic and treatment factors influencing the response of SVCO and related survival outcomes in advanced non small cell lung cancer. From November 2008 through December 2011, 18 consecutively diagnosed NSCLC patients with SVCO were included in this study. The patient, tumor and treatment related factors were analyzed. Median overall survival [OS], Kaplan -Meier survival plots, T-test, Cox Proportional Hazards models were generated by multiple covariates [MVA] and analyzed on SPSS software [version 19.0; SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL]. Thirteen patients [72%] had presented with SVCO before the pathological diagnosis of underlying lung malignancy, while 5 [28%] progressed to SVCO after initiating treatment with chemotherapy. Twelve [68%] patients achieved subjective relief from the obstruction at the completion of palliative radiation therapy. Treating oncologists preferred 4 Gy per fraction in 11 [62%], while the median biologically equivalent dose delivered was 28 Gy. Six [33%] patients received chemotherapy during the course of treatment. Median OS of the entire cohort was 3 +/- 1.85mths and 1-year survival rate of 7%. Univariate analysis confirmed that SVCO patients with good performance score [p=0.02], and partial response to chemotherapy [p= 0.001] have superior OS. However, Cox regression modeling for MVA demonstrated only good performance SVCO patients [p = 0.05] have a better OS. RT effectively relieves SVCO but overall poor survival associated in our clinical scenario needs to be improved with multimodality approach. Adjuvant chemotherapy is to be considered after initial radiation therapy in good performance patients

Effect of acute tritiated water [HTO] exposure on Maze learning in adult Swiss albino mice

Brain is the most important organ as it controls and co- ordinates all the activities of our body. Reports on neuroethological investigations in mice particularly associated with learning and memory after radiation exposure are very scanty. Hence, present investigation is an attempt to examine the effects of low dose tritiated water [HTO] acute exposure on adult Swiss albino mice in the light of behavioral parameters. Swiss albino adult male mice were trained in a Hebb William's Maze, model D. When the mice had learned the Maze, they were injected with tritiated water and then the same batch [pre learned mice] again tested for memory retention. Our results clearly show that the adult mice learned the Maze in ten trials. On day ten of the experiment mice were injected with dose 111.0 kBq/gm. bd. wt. tritiated water. Immediately after the exposure, the mice started taking relatively more time to reach the goal which continued till trials 11, 12 and 13 of the experiment. However, after this, a reversal in the learned performance was observed in most of the experimental mice whereby the learned activity returned to a near normal on trials 14 and 15. From 16[th] trial onwards, the performance of the irradiated mouse was found to be even superior over the prelearned mice though, their pattern did not show the steady state as was evident just prior to HTO injection. The findings from our experiments signify that the possible alterations in behaviour in adult Swiss albino mice after low doses of acute tritiated water exposure cannot be safely ruled out

Lipoid proteinosis in two Indian brothers - a case report from South Bengal

Lipoid proteinosis is a rare autosomal recessive disorder with variable phenotype, caused by defect in extracellular matrix protein-1 and is characterized by deposition of periodic acid-Schiff-positive, diastase resistant material in skin, mucous membrane and internal organs. There are only few reports regarding lipoid proteinosis in literature and in this part of the world. Here, we report a case of lipoid proteinosis in a 29-year-old male with positive family history and widespread distribution involving skin and internal organs. Histopathological finding was consistent with clinical diagnosis of lipoid proteinosis