[Sacral bone dysgenesis in a child whose mother has diabetes]. / Niedorozwój kosci krzyzowej u dziecka matki chorej na cukrzyce.

We introduced 2.5-year old girl with gait and miction disturbances as a result of sacral bone dysgenesis (only S1 existed) and abnormal position of nerve roots of medulla. The 28-year old mother of the child has been treated for diabetes mellitus type I since she was 15.

Effect of autotransfusion on fibrinolysis in open heart patients.

Autotransfused blood is often used as an alternative to banked blood. The fibrinolytic consequences of autotransfused blood are undefined. This prospective study was designed to determine the effect of intraoperative autotransfused blood on fibrinolysis and other coagulation parameters. Ten consecutive patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) for open-heart procedures were studied. All patients received autotransfused blood intraoperatively and tolerated the procedure. Blood samples were taken preoperatively, intraoperatively, and at 6, 12, and 24 hours postoperatively. Coagulation parameters including prothrombin time (PT), partial thromboplastin time (PTT), fibrinogen, fibrin degradation products, and D-dimer levels were measured at each time point. In addition, the quantity of autotransfused blood and additional standard blood products were recorded. Nonparametric repeated measures analyses with post hoc tests adjusted using the Bonferroni correction were used to analyze the data. Mean PT increased from 13.9 +/- 3.0 seconds preoperatively to 15.7 +/- 1.6 seconds intraoperatively, but then gradually declined to 14.5 +/- 1.1 seconds 24 hours postoperatively. A similar temporal pattern was observed for PTT, which reached a peak of 55.7 +/- 33.0 seconds intraoperatively from a preoperative baseline of 44.0 +/- 15.3 seconds. Adjusted post hoc comparisons of fibrinogen levels indicated a statistically significant difference between preoperative and 6 hour postoperative medians, (p < .0083). Fibrin degradation products had a modest and nonsignificant decrease over the 24-hour study period, (from 12.6 +/- 6.7 mcg/mL preoperatively to 9.0 +/- 1.6 mcg/ml 24 hours postoperatively), while D-dimer levels rose from a baseline of 0.54 +/- 0.09 mcg/mL to 0.98 +/- 0.48 mcg/mL 6 hours postoperatively, but declined nearly to baseline by 24 hours postoperatively, (0.62 +/- 0.11 mcg/mL). We conclude that although autotransfused blood may activate the fibrinolytic pathway, its use remains safe and does not require the use of additional banked blood products.

[Use of salazopyrin in Schonlein-Henoch disease]. / Zastosowanie salazopiryny w chorobie Schonleina-Henocha.

A favourable effect was achieved of treatment with salazopyrin of severe abdominal of Schoenlein-Henoch disease (SH). Salazopyrin was used in two children with generalized form of SH, with paroxysmal abdominal pain and bleeding from the gastrointestinal tract.

DMSO-induced changes in the procoagulant and fibrinolytic activity of B16 melanoma cells: influence on lung colony formation.

In this study DMSO (dimethylsulphoxide) was used as a tool to test the significance of in vitro modifications of procoagulant and fibrinolytic activity of tumor cells for their in vivo metastatic ability. B16 melanoma cells were chosen as the experimental model. After four days' treatment DMSO increased both the procoagulant and fibrinolytic (plasminogen activator) activity of B16 melanoma cells in a dose-related manner. DMSO treated cells showed significantly greater lung colonizing ability than untreated cells. Our results indicate that DMSO treatment in vitro can modulate procoagulant and fibrinolytic activity and the metastatic ability of B16 melanoma cells; however a direct causal relationship between these in vitro and in vivo effects remains to be established.

Alterations in lipid-linked oligosaccharide metabolism in human melanoma cells concomitant with induction of stress proteins.

Challenge of human A375 melanoma cells with sodium arsenite induced the synthesis of stress proteins and stimulated [3H]mannose incorporation into a novel component migrating on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with an apparent molecular mass of 14 kDa (designated M14). Enhanced M14 expression was elicited by heavy metals (zinc, copper, cadmium, and nickel), thiol-reactive agents (iodoacetamide and auranofin), and hyperthermia. The kinetics of M14 induction and recovery from stress were similar to those of the stress proteins, but M14 half-life was only 15 min. Incorporation of [3H]mannose into M14 was inhibited by tunicamycin but not by cycloheximide or actinomycin D. M14 was metabolically labeled with [32P]orthophosphate but not by [35S] methionine or [3H]asparagine. Further studies revealed that M14 was selectively soluble in chloroform/methanol/water (10:10:3) and sensitive to both endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase H digestion and mild acid hydrolysis. The latter released a water-soluble mannose-labeled moiety which eluted from Bio-Gel P-6 in a manner similar to Glc3Man9GlcNAc2. Together, these data suggest that M14 is a lipid-oligosaccharide intermediate of N-linked protein glycosylation and that enhanced expression of this class of molecule in response to chemical insults and hyperthermia is a newly described cellular reaction to stress.

Dissociation between thromboxane generation and metastatic potential in cells from a murine fibrosarcoma. Studies with a selective thromboxane synthase inhibitor.

Since the highly metastatic variant M4 of the mFS6 fibrosarcoma has the peculiar feature of generating larger amounts of immunoreactive thromboxane B2 (TxB2) than the non-metastatic variant (M9), we used the thromboxane synthase inhibitor dazmegrel (UK-38,485) in an effort to influence its metastatic potential. TxB2 formation by tumor cells freshly harvested from the primary tumor could be completely inhibited by drug addition in vitro. TxB2 generation was inhibited with a dose-response curve, 2 microM being the lowest dazmegrel concentration giving 100% inhibition. Chronic treatment of tumor-bearing mice with dazmegrel (150 mg/kg b.w. twice daily by gavage) from the day of tumor-cell implantation until killing of the animals caused a more than 10-fold reduction in serum TxB2 formation; TxB2 generation by tumor cells was also significantly depressed. This treatment, however, did not significantly modify either primary tumor weight or metastasis formation. Our data suggest that selective inhibition of thromboxane generation in either blood or tumor cells does not prevent spontaneous metastasis formation in the murine model studied.

Composition of serum fatty acids in healthy children.

In 81 children aged 0-18 years with normal body weight the serum pattern of fatty acids (FA) were determined by means of gas chromatography. The results show that of the 11 FA determined chromatographically, unsaturated and saturated fatty acids had differences in their distribution in the plasma. A certain regularity of these differences in favour of unsaturated fatty acids was observed. At the same time it was demonstrated that the mean values of unsaturated essential fatty acids (EUFA) increased with the age of a child. These results suggest that the plasma FA pattern may be a valuable supplementary source of information about lipid metabolism disturbances in children.