Dietary modifications for enhanced cancer therapy.

Tumours depend on nutrients supplied by the host for their growth and survival. Modifications to the host's diet can change nutrient availability in the tumour microenvironment, which might represent a promising strategy for inhibiting tumour growth. Dietary modifications can limit tumour-specific nutritional requirements, alter certain nutrients that target the metabolic vulnerabilities of the tumour, or enhance the cytotoxicity of anti-cancer drugs. Recent reports have suggested that modification of several nutrients in the diet can alter the efficacy of cancer therapies, and some of the newest developments in this quickly expanding field are reviewed here. The results discussed indicate that the dietary habits and nutritional state of a patient must be taken into account during cancer research and therapy.

Fructose uptake in Bifidobacterium longum NCC2705 is mediated by an ATP-binding cassette transporter.

Recently, a putative ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transport system was identified in Bifidobacterium longum NCC2705 that is highly up-regulated during growth on fructose as the sole carbon source. Cloning and expression of the corresponding ORFs (bl0033-0036) result in efficient fructose uptake by bacteria. Sequence analysis reveals high similarity to typical ABC transport systems and suggests that these genes are organized as an operon. Expression of FruE is induced by fructose, ribose, or xylose and is able to bind these sugars with fructose as the preferred substrate. Our data suggest that BL0033-0036 constitute a high affinity fructose-specific ABC transporter of B. longum NCC2705. We thus suggest to rename the coding genes to fruEKFG and the corresponding proteins to FruE (sugar-binding protein), FruK (ATPase subunit), FruF, and FruG (membrane permeases). Furthermore, protein-protein interactions between the components of the transporter complex were determined by GST pulldown and Western blot analysis. This revealed interactions between the membrane subunits FruF and FruG with FruE, which in vivo is located on the external side of the membrane, and with the cytoplasmatic ATPase FruK. This is in line with the proposed model for bacterial ABC sugar transporters.

Aciduria D-glicérica. A propósito de un caso y revisión de la bibliografía / D-glyceric acidemia: case report and literature review

Introducción: Las acidemias orgánicas son un grupo de enfermedades caracterizadas por la excreción aumentada de ácidos orgánicos en la orina. Dentro de este grupo se encuentra la aciduria D-glicérica, trastorno infrecuente y del que hay pocos casos referidos en la bibliografía médica. Caso clínico: Presentamos el caso de una niña de 2 meses de edad, que acudió a nuestra consulta por la presencia de crisis generalizadas con un patrón electroencefalográfico (EEG) de brote-supresión y posterior retraso psicomotor. Al realizar el cribado de enfermedades metabólicas, se detectaron valores de ácido D-glicérico en orina de 216 m mol/mol creatinina (valores normales: <26), compatibles con aciduria D-glicérica. Las imágenes obtenidas mediante resonancia magnética craneal (hipoplasia del cuerpo calloso y atrofia generalizada) no mostraron hallazgos específicos. En su evolución, la paciente presentó un retraso psicomotor moderado-grave, una diparesia espástica y una epilepsia resistente a fármacos. La aciduria D-glicérica es una entidad con una clínica muy heterogénea; en algunas ocasiones se presenta como un hallazgo casual en pacientes asintomáticos u oligosintomáticos, y en otras en niños con profunda encefalopatía. Se han descrito casos con respuesta parcial a una dieta restringida en fructosa, aunque dicha mejoría clínica no se produjo en el presente caso. Esta etiología se debería plantear en el diagnóstico diferencial de los niños que presenten una encefalopatía progresiva, EEG tipo salva-supresión, hipotonía y epilepsia multifocal (AU)

Introduction: Organic acidemias are a group of diseases characterized by the increased excretion of organic acids in urine. That group includes D-glyceric acidemia, an uncommon disorder, with only a scarce number of cases reported in medical literature. Clinical case: We present the case of a two-month old girl brought to our surgery suffering from generalised seizures with an electroencephalic burst-suppression pattern and subsequent psychomotor retardation. After testing for metabolic diseases D-glyceric acid values in urine of 216 m mol/mol creatinine (nv: <26) compatible with D-glyceric aciduria were objectified. Cranial MR images were obtained (hypoplasia of corpus callosum and generalised atrophy) and did not reveal any specific findings. As the condition progressed, the patient showed moderate-severe psychomotor retardation, spastic diparesis and drug-resistant epilepsy. D-glyceric acidemia is an entity with very heterogeneous clinical manifestations, which in some cases appears as achance finding in asymptomatic or oligosymptomatic patients and in other cases appears in children with profound encephalopathy. There are reports of cases that show a partial response to fructose-restricted diets, but that clinical improvement did not occur in the case of our patient. This a etiology should be considered in the differential diagnosis of children who present with progressive encephalopathy, a burst suppression-type EEG, hypotonia and multifocal epilepsy (AU)

A simple spot test for the detection of fructose deficiency in semen.

The concentration of fructose in seminal plasma is an important variable that should be measured in the assessment of fertility status. The current method requires the boiling of diluted seminal plasma with resorcinol. The present study offers a new two-point spot test which uses the metol method. The results of analysis of 104 seminal plasma samples are in excellent correlation with the resorcinol method. The reported method is easy to use, inexpensive, and can be introduced into any laboratory.

[Tuberculosis of seminal vesicle. A contribution to differential diagnosis of fructose deficiency in spermatic fluid (author's transl)]. / Die Samenblasentuberkulose. Ein Beitrag zur Differentialdiagnose des Fruktosemangels im Spermaplasma.

The functional condition of seminal vesicles can be judged on the basis of spermatic fructose. In dealing with the causes of fructose deficiency, one must distinguish between androgen-dependent and androgen-refractory deficiencies. The main causes of androgenic-refractory fructose deficiency are specific and unspecific inflammations of the masculine adnexa. The example of spermatocystic tuberculosis demonstrates the importance which must be given to specific inflammation of the masculine adnexa, during fertility-consultation hours.