Antitumor effects of ajulemic acid (CT3), a synthetic non-psychoactive cannabinoid.

One of the endogenous transformation products of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is THC-11-oic acid, and ajulemic acid (AJA; dimethylheptyl-THC-11-oic acid) is a side-chain synthetic analog of THC-11-oic acid. In preclinical studies, AJA has been found to be a potent anti-inflammatory agent without psychoactive properties. Based on recent reports suggesting antitumor effects of cannabinoids (CBs), we assessed the potential of AJA as an antitumor agent. AJA proved to be approximately one-half as potent as THC in inhibiting tumor growth in vitro against a variety of neoplastic cell lines. However, its in vitro effects lasted longer. The antitumor effect was stereospecific, suggesting receptor mediation. Unlike THC, however, whose effect was blocked by both CB(1) and CB(2) receptor antagonists, the effect of AJA was inhibited by only the CB(2) antagonist. Additionally, incubation of C6 glioma cells with AJA resulted in the formation of lipid droplets, the number of which increased over time; this effect was noted to a much greater extent after AJA than after THC and was not seen in WI-38 cells, a human normal fibroblast cell line. Analysis of incorporation of radiolabeled fatty acids revealed a marked accumulation of triglycerides in AJA-treated cells at concentrations that produced tumor growth inhibition. Finally, AJA, administered p.o. to nude mice at a dosage several orders of magnitude below that which produces toxicity, inhibited the growth of subcutaneously implanted U87 human glioma cells modestly but significantly. We conclude that AJA acts to produce significant antitumor activity and effects its actions primarily via CB(2) receptors. Its very favorable toxicity profile, including lack of psychoactivity, makes it suitable for chronic usage. Further studies are warranted to determine its optimal role as an antitumor agent.

Health insurance coverage and outcome following acute myocardial infarction. A community-wide perspective.

BACKGROUND: Several studies have suggested that type of medical insurance coverage is associated with hospital utilization rates and receipt of selected diagnostic or treatment approaches. To our knowledge no studies, however, have examined the relation between medical insurance coverage and short-term outcomes following acute myocardial infarction (AMI) from a multihospital, community-wide perspective. OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between medical insurance coverage and in-hospital case-fatality rates as well as length of hospital stay following AMI. METHODS: The study sample consisted of 3735 residents of the Worcester, Mass, metropolitan area hospitalized with validated AMI during 1986, 1988, 1990, 1991, and 1993 at all metropolitan Worcester hospitals. Data were obtained from the review of medical records. Patients were stratified into 5 medical insurance groups for purposes of analysis: private or commercial (n = 711), Medicaid (n = 101), Medicare (n = 1991), health maintenance organization (n = 741), and self-pay or other (n = 191). Crude and multivariable-adjusted analyses were used to examine the relation between medical insurance coverage and length of hospital stay and in-hospital case-fatality rates following AMI. RESULTS: In-hospital case-fatality rates during the period under study were 7.7%, 11.9%, 21.4%, 9.3%, and 10.0% in the 5 medical insurance groups, respectively. After adjusting for several factors that may affect in-hospital mortality, relative to the referent group of private or commercial insurance patients (odds ratio, 1.0), the multivariable-adjusted odds for dying during the acute hospitalization were 0.87 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.56-1.36) for health maintenance organization patients, 1.22 (95% CI, 0.55-2.68) for Medical patients, 1.25 (95% CI, 0.85-1.84) for Medicare patients, and 1.21 (95% CI, 0.60-2.44) for self-pay or other patients. The mean length of hospitalization after excluding patients with a prolonged hospitalization was 10.1 days for private or commercial insurance patients, 9.4 days for health maintenance organization patients, 10.9 days for Medicaid patients, 11.1 days for Medicare patients, and 9.8 days for self-pay or other patients. No significant differences in the average duration of hospitalization were seen between the medical insurance groups after controlling for potential confounding variables. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this population-based study suggest that patient insurance status is not significantly associated with either length of hospital stay or short-term mortality following AMI. Other demographic and clinical prognostic factors appear to be more important predictors of short-term outcome in this patient population.

[Chylous ascites]. / Ascite chilosa.

Starting from one case of chylous ascites of their own observation, the authors attempt an etiological classification of this clinical entity, taking into account pertinent published material and the fact that in many instances chylous ascites is nothing more than a symptom. The authors then proceeds to a critical review of diagnostic and therapeutical resources; in that respect, they stress the extreme difficulties often encountered both in diagnosing the condition and in trying to correct it.

[Bacterial pollution in the hospital and bacteriological control of the hospitalier staff (author's transl)]. / Inquinamento batterico dell'ambiente e controllo batteriologico del personale ospedaliero.

The Authors report the results of the researches made in their Hospital, about the bacteriological control of some departments and services, and of the staff that works there. After pointing out the scanty presence of pathogeneus germs in their hospitalier place, they augur a constant and repeated prophylactic sanitary control, whether of the structures, or the hospitalier staff, to avoid the possibility of diffusion of these germs in persons, already predisposed, since suffering from the most various diseases.