Chitosan - Whey protein as efficient delivery system for squalene: Characterization and functional food application.

Squalene, a triterpenoid compound possessing excellent bioactivities, is not being utilized as a functional food ingredient due to its high susceptibility to oxidation. In the present study, the feasibility of chitosan-whey protein as an efficient wall material for squalene encapsulation using spray drying technique was attempted for functional food applications. The encapsulation efficiency of the squalene powder was found to be 75.4 ±â€¯0.22% whereas other physico-chemical properties such as moisture content, flowability, solubility, peroxide value, etc. have shown satisfactory results. The thermogravimetric analysis showed that chitosan-whey protein was able to retain the thermal stability of squalene up to a temperature of 422 °C. Furthermore, the functional food application of the encapsulated squalene in a bakery product (cake) exhibited significantly (p < 0.05) better properties in terms of oxidative stability, sensory attributes than that of cake with pure squalene and control treatment. Hence, it can be concluded that emulsification of squalene in chitosan-whey protein and its subsequent encapsulation by spray drying can be a potential process to produce oxidatively stable encapsulates for the development of functional foods.

Primary hyperoxaluria in a pediatric dental patient: case report.

A case is presented in which primary hyperoxaluria and oxalosis in a 14-year-old Caucasian female were diagnosed. Generalized root resorption resulted in a remarkable mobility of her maxillary central and lateral incisors, although no bone loss was noted. The management of the patient's dental concerns in this rare heritable metabolic disorder consisted of removing the maxillary incisor teeth and placing two sequential prostheses, which the patient tolerated well. A history of trauma to the maxillary incisors was ruled out, so this case adds previously unreported information to our knowledge about the effect of oxaluria on teeth and oral tissues.

The controversial treatment of anterior commissure carcinoma of the larynx.

There are two basic approaches to the appropriate therapy for carcinoma of the anterior commissure. The dilemma of whether to treat by primary irradiation or by conservative surgery is not yet solved. In this study, 67 patients were treated between 1967 and 1987 for anterior commissure carcinoma of the larynx. Radiation was used with 47 patients and conservation surgery with 20 patients. Initial lesion control was achieved with 72% of the patients treated by primary irradiation. Conservation surgery, when used as a primary treatment modality, achieved local control in 90% of the patients. The new techniques of reconstruction of the larynx enhance the surgeon's ability, strengthen his conviction to proceed to enlarged partial laryngectomies, and thus improve the oncologic control of the anterior commissure carcinoma as well.

Acute coronary events following cisplatin-based chemotherapy.

Six patients with no previous signs or symptoms suggestive of coronary artery disease developed acute coronary ischemia/infarction shortly after cis-diamine-dichloroplatinum II (cisplatin) -based chemotherapy. In two patients this was the sole chemotherapeutic agent used. One patient underwent coronary angiography which disclosed no pathology, but following which, while on a calcium channel blocking agent regimen, he had an uneventful course of chemotherapy with cisplatin. Documentation of cisplatin-related vascular events is important in view of the growing number of patients who undergo cisplatin-based chemotherapy.

Characterization of the molecular weights of bovine molar, rat incisor, and other phosphophoryns.

The phosphophoryns show anomalous behavior in solution, and are easily degraded during extraction. They appear in varied forms in the teeth of different species and differ in the teeth of the same species in a developmental and age dependent fashion. This set of properties has made the characterization of the phosphophoryns by biochemical means a difficult and controversial subject. Bovine molar phosphophoryn, bPP, has been characterized in detail by a variety of physical methods, and then compared with the PP from other species by DEAE-HPLC, gel electrophoresis, and immunological cross reactivity. The possible existence of a proPP biosynthetic precursor has been investigated by rat incisor organ culture and examination of the 32P and 14C labeled products. These studies all show marked differences in the Mr values for the PP from teeth of different species, even when they are antigenically cross-reactive.

Localization of phosphophoryn in rat incisor dentin using immunocytochemical techniques.

We studied the distribution of the phosphophoryn present in rat incisors by immunolocalization and histochemical techniques. The polyclonal antibody used reacts with both phosphorylated and de-phosphorylated phosphophoryn. Technical problems encountered in immunostaining and in preparing sections from mineralized dentin were resolved by use of peroxidase-conjugated protein A as the "second antibody" in indirect immunostaining reactions and by surface etching of partially demineralized sections. Staining with anti-rat incisor alpha-phosphophoryn antibody showed light staining over the odontoblasts and proximal odontoblastic processes, no stain over the predentin, dense staining over the intertubular dentin, and no stain over the mantle dentin. In the intertubular dentin the stain intensity was directly related to the distribution of mineral. These findings were directly corroborated by staining with Stains All. The mineralization of dentin and the distribution of phosphophoryn within the dentin may be much less uniform than previously supposed.

Two classes of dentin phosphophoryns, from a wide range of species, contain immunologically cross-reactive epitope regions.

An immunological species comparison, using a monospecific rabbit polyclonal antibody directed against rat incisor alpha-phosphophoryn, has been undertaken to assess the similarity in epitope regions among various dentin phosphophoryns (PP) that were prepared from human, monkey, bovine, ovine, and echinoderm teeth. Dentin extracellular matrix proteins were extracted with a standard method using 0.5 M EDTA in the presence of enzyme inhibitors. Final phosphophoryn purification was performed on DEAE ion exchange HPLC. Cross-reactivity of the polyclonal antibody was examined by enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) and dot-blot. The results of this investigation demonstrate a cross-reactivity of the rat-alpha-phosphophoryn antibody (anti-RIPP) with at least one phosphophoryn component in each dentin studied, indicating the existence of similar antigenic determinants among these proteins. It would seem that these epitope regions have been strongly conserved since the epitope region is also present in the phosphoprotein of echinoderm teeth. No cross-reactivity was found with phosvitin (a phosphoserine-rich phosphoprotein), rat serum albumin, bovine serum albumin, or collagen type IV. However, a new and distinct second cross-reactive phosphophoryn, not calcium ion-precipitable, was found in the EDTA insoluble fraction from the teeth. These results indicate that dentin phosphophoryns are specific phenotypic markers for odontoblast expression. Because of the species cross-reactivity, the polyclonal anti-RIPP antibody may be a useful probe in studying the distribution of phosphophoryns in other species, such as human teeth.

Significance of specific Epstein-Barr virus IgA and elevated IgG antibodies to viral capsid antigens in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients.

The feasibility of using elevated Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) specific-IgG antiviral capsid antigen (VCA) and IgA anti-VCA antibody levels as an aid in diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) was analyzed by determination of serum antibody titers to EBV in 54 NPC patients, 114 healthy blood donors, and 40 family members by the immunoperoxidase assay (IPA). No significant difference was found in the prevalence rate of EBV IgG anti-VCA antibodies (titer greater than or equal to 20) between the patient group and the control and family groups (100% vs 92% and 90%, respectively). The prevalence rate of elevated EBV IgG anti-VCA titers (greater than or equal to 80, greater than or equal to 160, greater than or equal to 320, greater than or equal to 640) was significantly higher in the NPC patients than in controls. For example, at an IgG titer of greater than or equal to 320, the prevalence rate was 82% in the NPC patient group and 1.7% in the controls (P less than 0.0001). The prevalence of EBV IgA anti-VCA antibodies (greater than or equal to 10) was significantly higher in the NPC patients than in control and family groups (82% vs 6.1% and 0%, respectively). The prevalence rate for elevated EBV IgA anti-VCA (greater than or equal to 20) was found to be significantly higher (P less than 0.0001) in NPC patients than in the control group (70% vs. 1.7%). A significantly high proportion (P = 0.0004) of NPC patients who had serum EBV IgA anti-VCA titers of less than 20 had elevated IgG titers to VCA greater than or equal to 320 (21% vs 1.7% among controls). It appears that testing for IgG antibodies at a serum dilution of 1:320 and for IgA antibodies at a dilution of 1:20 by the IPA technique comprises the best combination for the differentiation between NPC patients and health controls (91% vs 3.4%), and it is suggested that these be used as screening markers for NPC patients.

Matrix proteins of the teeth of the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus.

The teeth of the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus grow continuously. The mineral phase, a high magnesium calcite, grows into single crystals within numerous compartments bounded by an organic matrix deposited by the odontoblasts. Electron microscopic examination of glutaraldehyde-fixed Ethylene Diamine Tetra acetic acid (EDTA) demineralized teeth shows the compartment walls to be organized from multiple layers of cell membrane which might contain cytoplasmic protein inclusions. Proteins extracted during demineralization of unfixed teeth were examined by gel electrophoresis, high performance liquid chromatography, and amino acid analysis. The tooth proteins were acidic, they contained phosphoserine, and they were rich in aspartic acid. By contrast, the proteins of similarly extracted mineralized Aristotle's lantern skeletal elements were nonphosphorylated and were rich in glutamic acid. Vertebrate tooth and bone matrix proteins show similar differences. Surprisingly, an antibody to the principle rat incisor phosphoprotein showed a significant cross-reactivity with the urchin tooth protein, by dot-blot and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay procedures. Thus, the urchin tooth proteins contain epitope regions similar to those which are phenotypic markers of vertebrate odontoblasts. Whether this is an expression of convergent or divergent evolutionary processes, it is likely that the matrix proteins play a similar role in matrix mineralization. The sea urchin tooth may thus be an excellent model for the study of odontoblast-mediated mineral-matrix relationships.

Carcinoma of the nasopharynx. An analysis of 91 cases and a comparison of differing treatment approaches.

Ninety-one patients with malignant epithelial tumors of the nasopharynx seen in our department from 1970 to 1982 were evaluated. The 5- and 10-year actuarial survival rates were 62.0% and 42.0%, respectively. Patients seen from 1970 to 1979 were treated by radiotherapy to the primary site and upper neck, the lower neck being irradiated only in instances of massive disease. Those treated from 1980 to 1982 received elective irradiation of the whole neck, as well as adjuvant chemotherapy (consisting of cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and either 5-fluorouracil or bleomycin) for 6 to 12 months after completion of radiotherapy. Comparison of 3-year actuarial survival (61.4% versus 83.3%) and disease-free survival (49.7 versus 77.0%) rates show significantly improved results (P less than 0.05) for those receiving combined therapy. In addition, significantly fewer (P less than 0.05) distant metastases appeared in the combined therapy group at 18 months. A retrospective analysis comparing those patients who received full-neck irradiation and adjuvant chemotherapy with those who received full-neck irradiation alone showed a significantly improved survival (P less than 0.02) and disease-free survival (P less than 0.05) for those patients with undifferentiated carcinomas, including lymphoepitheliomas, who received adjuvant chemotherapy.

Cutaneous malignant lymphoma: a clinical and pathological study of 13 cases.

Thirteen cases of malignant lymphoma, exclusive of mycosis fungoides, with initial involvement of the skin, were selected from 391 consecutive patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Their clinical course was correlated to histological subtype. All patients (5/5) with 'favourable' histology had single indurated plaques without extracutaneous involvement, and remained in complete remission for at least 5 years after local radiation therapy. In contrast, all those with 'unfavourable' histology not lost to follow-up (7/7) suffered relapse or died within a 2-year period. They generally had multiple skin lesions and extracutaneous involvement at diagnosis or shortly afterwards. We conclude that histological subtype is an important variable in predicting clinical course in those with cutaneous malignant lymphoma.

Malignant lymphoma of the ovary: report of a case and review of the literature.

A case of a 16-year-old girl with lymphoblastic lymphoma confined to the ovaries and the para-aortic lymph nodes, who was treated with intensive radio- and chemotherapy and who is alive and well nine years after treatment, is described. The literature on ovarian involvement by lymphoma is reviewed.

Adenocarcinoma of kidney in seven-year-old child. Eight-year follow-up.

A seven-year-old child with regionally advanced adenocarcinoma of the left kidney is described. It is now eight years since surgery and irradiation, and there is no evidence of disease. Follow-up and review of the literature is presented.