Predictors of health-related quality of life in Serbian patients with head and neck cancer.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to identify predictors of the Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in patients with head and neck cancers (HNCs). MATERIAL AND METHODS: In total, 345 patients with HNCs were interviewed. A self-report questionnaire was administered to collect data about demographic characteristics, health status, smoking, alcohol consumption habits, and HRQoL. It were used the EORTC Instruments - Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30-questions (QLQ-C30), Quality of Life Questionnaire - Head and Neck Module 35-questions (QLQ-H&N 35) and OHIP-14 instrument for HRQoL assessments. Clinical information and treatment data were collected from medical records. RESULTS: Five groups of HRQoL predictors were identified: demographic, socioeconomic, behavioral, psychophysical, and clinical/treatment. These HRQoL predictors had a strong (i.e., age, level of social support and social contact, level of education, depression, fatigue, presence of gastrostomy, comorbidities, and use of pain medications and supplements), a moderate (i.e., marital status, smoking, sexuality problems, time since diagnosis, presence of tracheostomy, and side effects outcomes of radio and chemotherapy) and a small impact (i.e., employment/financial difficulties, tumor site and stage, and surgical procedure). CONCLUSIONS: Study identified nineteen predictors that had significant, moderate and small impact on the HRQoL of patients with HNCs. Some of the predictors, like levels of social support and social contact, depression, and comorbidities could be targets for innervations to improve HRQoL.

A pilot study on transcriptome data analysis of folliculogenesis in pigs.

Three different stages of pig antral follicles have been studied in a granulosa-cell transcriptome analysis on nylon microarrays (1152 clones). The data have been generated from seven RNA follicle pools and several technical replicates were made. The objective of this paper was to state the feasibility of a transcriptomic protocol for the study of folliculogenesis in the pig. A statistical analysis was chosen, relying on the linear mixed model (LMM) paradigm. Low variability within technical replicates was hence checked with a LMM. Relevant genes that might be involved in the studied process were then selected. For the most significant genes, statistical methods such as principal component analysis and unsupervised hierarchical clustering were applied to assess their relevance, and a random forest analysis proved their predictive value. The selection of genes was consistent with previous studies and also allowed the identification of new genes whose role in pig folliculogenesis will be further investigated.

Suppression of adjuvant arthritis by kappa-opioid receptor agonist: effect of route of administration and strain differences.

It is well established that kappa-opioid receptor agonists exert antiinflammatory and antihyperalgesic effects during nonspecific inflammation as well as suppressive effects on the development of humoral and cell-mediated immune responses to foreign antigens. The aim of this study was to investigate the ability of the kappa-opioid receptor agonist MR 2034 to modulate adjuvant arthritis in the rat. In the first series of experiments, treatments of Wistar rats were performed using several routes of drug administration: intraperitoneal (ip), intracaudal (ic), intracerebroventricular (icv) and intraplantar (ipl). MR 2034 significantly suppressed joint swelling after ip and ic treatment, slightly reduced inflammation after ipl treatment, and did not produce any effect after icv treatment. In the second series of experiments, the suppressive effect of ip injected MR 2034 was investigated using Wistar, Dark August (DA) and Lewis rats. In Wistar rats, MR 2034 significantly decreased the incidence of adjuvant arthritis, and suppressed mean joint score and aggregate joint score. Similarly, in DA rats treated with MR 2034, mean arthritic score was significantly suppressed, but other clinical parameters were not affected. In Lewis rats, however, ip treatment with MR 2034 failed to produce any suppressive effect on joint disease and even potentiated the initial development of arthritis. These data suggest that immunosuppressive and antiinflammatory action of MR 2034 markedly depend on the route of drug administration and strain susceptibility to opioids.

Opioid receptor-mediated suppression of humoral immune response in vivo and in vitro: involvement of kappa opioid receptors.

The selective kappa opioid receptor agonist MR 2034 exerted pronounced suppression of plaque-forming cell (PFC) response following intraperitoneal (i.p.) administration in the rat. Pretreatment with preferential kappa and mu opioid receptor antagonists MR 2266 and naloxone, respectively, revealed that this effect was mediated mainly by kappa, and to a low extent by mu opioid receptors. Intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) administration of quaternary naltrexone (QNtx) moderately attenuated, whereas i.p. given QNtx completely prevented the suppressive effect of MR 2034, suggesting a peripheral mechanism of action, and only minor involvement of brain opioid receptors. MR 2034 markedly decreased the PFC response of spleen cells obtained from in vivo immunized rats, treated in vitro with the opiate. The immunosuppressive action of MR 2034 in vitro was completely and partially blocked by equimolar concentrations of MR 2266 and naloxone, respectively. Antagonists alone produced stimulation of PFC following i.p. administration in the rat, but did not affect PFC response upon in vitro treatment. These results suggest that peripheral kappa opioid receptors down-regulate primary humoral immune response in the rat, and that this effect may be produced by direct interference with plasma cell activity.

The microsurgical removal of intramedullary spinal hemangioblastomas. Report of twelve cases and a review of the literature.

From 1969 to 1975, 12 patients were operated upon at the Kantonsspital Zürich by the senior author (MGY) for intramedullary spinal hemangioblastoma with the help of microtechnique. The purpose of this paper is to describe in detail the surgical technique and the results, and to comment on the historical, clinical, pathological, and radiological aspects of spinal hemangioblastoma and the complex of von Hippel-Lindau's Disease (multiple angiomatosis of retina, central nervous system, and viscera) with which it is associated.

Arteriovenous malformations of vein of Galen: microsurgical treatment.

The surgical technic used at the neurosurgical clinic in Zürich in eradicating arteriovenous malformations of the vein of Galen is described. It is based on experience with nine cases. The surgical approach is made posteriorly. The right occipital lobe is retracted laterally from the falx cerebri. The multiple feeding vessels demonstrated in the angiogram are occluded; first, on the right side, then the left, and finally beneath the malformation. The draining vein of Galen is not occluded or removed. The use of the operating microscope is essential.

Microsurgical pterional approach to aneurysms of the basilar bifurcation.

The authors describe a microsurgical frontolateral pterional approach to aneurysms of the basilar bifurcation. Results of surgery in 38 patients are presented.

Arteriovenous malformations of the anterior and the middle portions of the corpus callosum: microsurgical treatment.

The arterio-venous malformations of the corpus callosum are distinct clinical and surgical entities. Review of literature reveals 45 documented cases of which 32 were treated surgically. The authors (M.G.Y.) had 18 such patients of which eight involved the anterior and the middle portions of the corpus callosum. (No. 8 involved the whole callosum). The patients were in the younger age group. Headache and stiffness of the neck were the common presenting features. Seizures were rare and there was a paucity of localizing neurological signs. These AVMs are supplied mainly by the pericallosal arteries and occasionally by branches of the posterior cerebral artery. The drainage is by septal veins, the inferior sagittal sinus and the superior sagittal sinus. Radical excision of these AVMs in the anterior and the middle portions of the corpus callosum was accomplished without operative mortality and with minimal morbidity. Radical removal of these anomalies with microsurgical techniques is the treatment of choice.

Arteriovenous malformations of the splenium of the corpus callosum: microsurgical treatment.

Ten patients with arteriovenous malformations (AVM) involving the splenium of the corpus callosum are presented. All were treated by microsurgical techniques with no mortality and minimal morbidity. The diagnosis and operative technique is described, and these AVMs are compared with those involving the anterior and the middle portions of the corpus callosum.