Estimation of boron intake and its relation with bone mineral density in free-living Korean female subjects.

In this study, the status of boron intake was evaluated and its relation with bone mineral density was examined among free-living female subjects in Korea. Boron intake was estimated through the use of the database of boron content in frequently consumed foods by Korean people as well as measuring bone mineral density, taking anthropometric measurements, and surveying dietary intake of 134 adult females in order to relatively evaluate the intake of boron as a nutrient to supplement the low level of calcium intake and to verify its relationship with bone mineral density. Average age, height, and weight of the subjects were respectively 40.84 years, 157.62 cm and 59.70 kg. Also, average bone mineral density of lumbar spine L1-L4 and average bone mineral density of the femoral neck were 0.92 g/cm(2) and 0.80 g/cm(2), respectively. Their average intakes of energy and boron per day were 6,538.53 kJ and 926.94 microg. Intake of boron through vegetables, fruits, and cereals accounted for 61.72% of the overall boron intake. The food item that contributed most to their daily boron intake was rice. Also, 65.41% of overall boron intake was from 30 varieties of other food items, such as soybean paste, soybeans, red beans, watermelons, oriental melons, pears, Chinese cabbage Kimchi, soybean sprouts and soybean milk, etc. Boron intake did not show significant relation to bone mineral density in lumbar vertebra and femoral region. In summary, the average daily intake of boron was 926.94 microg and did not display significant relation to bone mineral density in 134 free-living female subjects. The continuous evaluation of boron consumption by more diverse targets will need to be conducted in the future.

Low-dose lenograstim to enhance engraftment after autologous stem cell transplantation: a prospective randomized evaluation of two different fixed doses.

BACKGROUND: G-CSF is used to enhance hematopoietic recovery after autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT), but the optimal dose of G-CSF during engraftment has not been established. The medical cost of ASCT is a serious financial burden in developing countries, and G-CSF is the most costly drug used in this procedure. We evaluated whether a lower, vial-size fitted dose of lenograstim is clinically equivalent to a higher fixed dose. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: A prospective randomized study was performed on 33 patients (11 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, 8 multiple myeloma, 14 breast cancer) undergoing ASCT. Patients were randomly administered 100 micro g or 250 micro g lenograstim daily starting on the next day of ASCT, with a minimum infusion of 3 x 10(6) CD34+ cells per kg. RESULTS: For both lenograstim doses, median time to neutrophil engraftment was 9 days and median time to PLT engraftment was 11 days. Episodes of clinically documented infections were 10 per 379 patient-days in the 100 microg per day group and 10 per 320 patient-days in the 250 microg per day group. There were no between-group differences in requirements for transfusion of RBCs or PLTs. Duration of hospitalization was 16 days for the 100 microg per day group and 17 days for the 250 microg per day group. Daily lenograstim dose per patient's body weight and total amount of lenograstim used during ASCT were both significantly lower in the 100 microg per day group. CONCLUSION: Administration of 100 microg per day of lenograstim showed comparable clinical efficacy to 250 microg per day lenograstim for immediate hematopoietic recovery after ASCT. Use of the lower dose was associated with lower overall lenograstim usage and lower cost.

[Isolation and culture of pig hepatocyte in large scale for the application of bioartificial liver system].

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Acute hepatic failure is a serious problem. Its mortality reaches up to 80%. Only liver transplantation has been accepted as a definite treatment for patients with hepatic failure but shortage of donor organs is the main obstacle of this approach. A possible solution to this problem is a bioartificial liver system, perfusion of patients blood to isolated hepatocyte. In this study, we performed the isolation and culture of pig hepatocyte in large scale for the application of bioartificial liver system. METHODS: Hepatocyte isolation was performed by two-step collagenase method via portal vein perfusion in 10 kg female pigs. After that, we compared the functional differences of the spheroid culture to the monolayer culture of hepatocyte. The viability and the function of hepatocyte were assessed using trypan-blue exclusion test and the measurement of the rate of ureagenesis and ammonia removal. RESULTS: The average viability and yield of hepatocyte were 86.8 +/- 8.0 % and 7.8 +/- 5.4 X 10(9), respectively. The spheroid culture was superior to the monolayer culture in functional aspect of hepatocyte, and their differences, especially for ammonia removal, were more apparent in parallel with culture time. CONCLUSIONS: For hepatocyte isolation, we obtained sufficient viability and yield of hepatocyte for clinical usage of bioartificial liver system. The function of hepatocyte seems to be better in the spheroid culture than in the monolayer culture. Further studies are needed for application of bioartificial liver system in clinical setting.