Post-cancer fatigue is not associated with immune activation or altered cytokine production.

BACKGROUND: Prolonged fatigue after cancer treatment is common. The pathophysiology of such post-cancer fatigue (PCF) is unknown, although cross-sectional studies suggest increased pro-inflammatory cytokine production. This study investigated the association between cytokine levels and fatigue from the time of treatment to 12 months later. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A representative nested case-control series was derived from a prospective cohort of women treated for early-stage breast cancer, including 13 PCF cases and 15 matched control subjects who recovered uneventfully. Serum levels and in vitro production of the cytokines interleukin (IL)-1α, IL-2, interferon (IFN)-γ, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-ß were measured by multiplex immunoassay in longitudinally collected samples. In addition, serum levels of neopterin and the anti-inflammatory regulators, IL-1 receptor antagonist, sIL-6R, and sTNF-rII, were assayed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Flow cytometric analysis of activated leukocyte subsets was performed. RESULTS: No significant differences in any of these parameters were found between cases and control subjects. Cytokine levels and symptoms showed no clear correlation pattern. CONCLUSION: The findings in this well-characterised subject group argue against the notion that PCF is mediated by peripheral inflammation.

Evaluating degradation rates of chlorinated organics in groundwater using analytical models.

The persistence and fate of organic contaminants in the environment largely depends on their rate of degradation. Most studies of degradation rate are performed in the lab where chemical conditions can be controlled precisely. Unfortunately, literature values for lab degradation studies often are orders of magnitude higher than for field-generated studies, calling into question the relevance of lab-generated values for characterizing the persistence of organic contaminants in the environment. Complicating analysis of this ostensible disparity between lab and field degradation values, field-generated values often do not account for effects of adsorption. Modeling with a newly derived analytical solution for first-order degradation coupled with advective losses and adsorption to solve for degradation constants is insensitive to uncertainties in field properties. Application to field data shows that accounting for advection and adsorption greatly affects the value of calculated degradation constants compared to disappearance constants, which do not account for these phenomena. In fact, degradation constants, calculated using these analytical solutions and field data, are in the range reported for lab-generated data. Using these analytical solutions, for the sulfate-reducing field conditions documented for this site, perchloroethene, trichloroethene, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, 1,1-dichloroethane, and chloroethane all degraded with half-lives ranging from 5 to 115 d. Consistent with other studies of sulfate-reducing conditions, cis-1,2-dichloroethene did not chemically degrade at a measurable rate. When nonaqueous phase 1,1-dichloroethane is present, down-gradient concentrations vary in an annual sinusoidal pattern, apparently because of seasonal variation in dilution from groundwater recharge.

Dietary fat reduction behaviors in college students: relationship to dieting status, gender and key psychosocial variables.

The primary objectives were to assess dietary fat reduction/avoidance behaviors within a sample of college students, and to assess the strength of the relationship between self reported fat avoidance and a number of variables including body mass index (BMI), self-esteem, and responses to the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) and Eating Attitudes Test (EAT). A total of 210 female and 114 male undergraduate students were administered a food habits questionnaire (which assessed four dietary fat reduction behaviors), the EDI, the dieting subscale of the EAT, and the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory. Measured heights and weights were used to compute BMI. Thirty-eight percent of the females and 13% of the males reported that they had dieted with the express purpose of losing weight in the past 12 months. The finding that females in general and female dieters in particular, scored higher on the EAT dieting subscale, and relied on three of the four dietary fat reduction behaviors to a greater extent than did males, supports the assertion that women rely heavily on dietary fat avoidance as a method to reduce caloric intakes. In females, the finding that a greater degree of fat avoidance was associated with significantly lower levels of self-esteem and higher scores on the EAT and on six of the eight EDI subscales suggested that fat avoidance may be a predictor of eating pathology and/or psychosocial problems in college-aged women.

Unique distribution of the anion exchange protein in the sea lamprey, Petromyzon marinus.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the distribution of the anion exchange protein in the sea lamprey. Southern blots showed that genomic DNA of juvenile lampreys possesses several regions that are similar to segments of the AE gene from other vertebrates. However, physiological experiments examining rapid anion fluxes across the red blood cell (rbc) membrane and molecular experiments examining mRNA transcript levels both indicated that the anion exchange protein is absent in sea lamprey rbcs. In contrast, lamprey kidney, skeletal muscle, liver and heart tissue all appeared to possess mRNA transcripts for an AE protein. Further evidence for the presence of an AE protein in kidney tissue was obtained from Western blots. In order to evaluate the impact of the apparent rbc anion exchange limitations, the bicarbonate permeability of lamprey rbcs was also evaluated using mass spectrometry. The bicarbonate permeability of the lamprey rbc membrane was an order of magnitude lower than that of trout rbcs. Taken together, these results indicate that the gene for the AE protein is indeed present in lampreys, but it is not expressed in the rbc. Moreover, the process of CO2 transport in lamprey probably does not involve bicarbonate transport across the rbc membrane.

A preliminary study to determine the effect of an infusion of cryopreserved autologous lymphocytes on immunocompetence and viral load in HIV-infected patients.

Therapeutic measures aimed at boosting the immunity of HIV-infected patients are a critical component of strategies for effective therapy of HIV and AIDS. To improve immunocompetence in patients with progressive disease, autologous lymphocytes that were collected and cryopreserved earlier in the course of HIV-infection were reinfused. None of the 12 patients receiving cell infusions experienced any adverse effects. Improvements in immunologic parameters (CD4+ counts, CD8+ counts, or both; HIV-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) activity; or viral load) were seen in seven patients. Restoration of the CD4+ count to the level recorded at the time of cell harvest was achieved in two patients with less advanced disease. Plasma HIV RNA was reduced by >0.5 logs in two of the four patients tested. These preliminary results suggest that cellular immunotherapy using cryopreserved autologous lymphocytes has the potential to improve some measures of immunity in patients with HIV/AIDS and warrants further investigation.

Bicarbonate permeability and immunological evidence for an anion exchanger-like protein in the red blood cells of the sea lamprey, Petromyzon marinus.

Physiological and immuno-blotting experiments were used to determine whether the red blood cell membrane of a primitive vertebrate, the sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus, contained a counterpart similar to the vertebrate anion exchange protein known as AE1 or band 3. Results of the physiological experiments which measured CO2 production after adding H14CO3- to the extracellular saline, indicated significant transmembrane bicarbonate movement in lamprey blood which unlike that in most vertebrates, was insensitive to inhibition by 4,4' diisothiocyanatostilbene-2,2' disulfonic acid. The present study also showed that lamprey red blood cells possess acetazolamide-sensitive carbonic anhydrase which is an important component of CO2 production by vertebrate red blood cells. Polyclonal immunoglobulins against a 12 amino acid domain in the C-terminus of the mouse AE1 recognized a trout red blood cell membrane protein with a relative molecular mass of 97 kDa, but failed to immunoreact with any membrane proteins from the red blood cells of lamprey. Antibodies against trout AE1 immunoreacted with trout red blood cell membrane proteins of approximately 97 kDa, 200 kDa and > 200 kDa. Interestingly, only a 200-kDa membrane protein from the red blood cells of the primitive lamprey immunoreacted with the trout anti-AE1 immunoglobulin proteins. Therefore, lamprey red blood cells appear to possess an AE1-like protein that may be physiologically different than that in most other vertebrates.

Children's creative thinking and color discrimination.

60 children in Grades 3 through 6 from two schools were administered the Farnsworth Munsell 100-Hue Test and teachers provided a measure of different aspects of each child's creative thinking on the Williams Scale of Children's Divergent Thinking. Fluency and imagination scores were positively associated with color discrimination. While other dimensions of creative thinking did not correlate with color discrimination, some correlations suggested thematic connections between color discrimination and other manifestations of creative thinking as evaluated by teachers. Color discrimination was also positively associated with age, as older children differentiated between small differences in colors better than younger children. As intelligence or other variables may be relevant, further study is needed.

Effects of skirting on processing characteristics of Targhee wool.

Ninety mature Targhee ewes were randomly allocated to nine lots. Lots were randomly assigned to three fleece preparation treatments: 1) nonskirted (control); 2) bellies removed, in which bellies and topknots were removed on the shearing floor; and 3) skirted, in which bellies and topknots were removed and remaining fleece was thrown on a table and lightly skirted. Bellies and topknots composed about 6 to 7% of the fleece weight. An additional 6.6% was removed when fleeces were skirted. Top fiber diameters were not affected (P greater than .10) by skirting. Although not significant (P greater than .10), percentage yield, vegetable content, percentage of noilage, top fiber length, and yellowness indexes tended to be most desirable for skirted lots and least desirable for unskirted lots. Lots with bellies removed were intermediate. Removal of bellies reduced vegetable contamination by 8.4%, with an additional reduction of about .5% by further skirting. Skirting reduced the number of fibers less than 25.4 mm (P less than .10) by 42%. Minimal colored fiber contamination of top was observed. One colored fiber per 15 g of top was detected in two lots of the treatment with bellies removed. All other lots contained no colored fibers. All wools evaluated were well below industry limits set for use in high-quality white or pastel fabrics. All skirted lots of wool evaluated in this study had improved processing characteristics for all processing traits evaluated.