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Biomedical subjects

P Preis

Publications and source records attributed to P Preis.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

Treatment of lymphangioleiomyomatosis by ovariectomy, interferon alpha 2b and tamoxifen--a case report.

The gender-specific prevalence of lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) in premenopausal women suggests a hormonal etiology. Despite the antiestrogenic treatment (ovariectomy, tamoxifen) this disease is often refractory to therapy and almost inevitably leads to the patient's death. We describe a case where the antiproliferative effect of systemically applied interferon alpha 2b was successfully employed in addition to ovariectomy and the patient reached complete remission.

Adult

Determination of plasma free fatty acids, free cholesterol, cholesteryl esters, and triacylglycerols directly from total lipid extract by capillary gas chromatography.

An accurate capillary gas chromatographic method using different internal standards for determining free fatty acids, cholesterol, cholesteryl esters, and triacylglycerols in plasma and other biological sources is described. It is designed to give information about species composition and, consequently, more detailed information about changes in lipid metabolism of patients suffering from metabolic disorders. After plasma extraction the lipids, except phospholipids, are directly examined without any further derivatization. For free fatty acid determination the programmed temperature vaporizer (PTV) injector was heated from 40 degrees C (sample introduction) to 190 degrees C. In a second gas chromatographic run the PTV-injector system was heated from 60 degrees C (sample introduction) to 400 degrees C, enabling the determination of free cholesterol, cholesteryl esters, and triacylglycerol species, differing in the number of carbon atoms. Evaluation of the values obtained resulted in coefficients of variation (%) of 1.0-2.8, 2.0, 1.29-2.24, and 2.8, for free fatty acid standards, plasma free fatty acids, cholesterol and cholesteryl ester standards, and plasma total cholesterol, respectively. Free fatty acids, cholesterol, and cholesteryl esters were not influenced by storage of plasma at -24 degrees C up to 4 days prior to extraction. The results of the gas chromatographic method and the enzymatic methods correlated well. Determination by gas chromatography yielded higher total cholesterol and lower triacylglycerol values than those values obtained by enzymatic methods.

Adult

Pirarubicin (4'-o-tetrahydropyranil-adriamycin) for treatment of advanced breast cancer. A Clinical Phase II study.

In a phase II study, 77 patients with metastatic breast cancer were treated with pirarubicin, 70 mg/m2 iv every 3 weeks. Most of them had received prior hormonal (n = 39) and/or chemotherapeutic drug treatment for advanced disease, including anthracycline-containing regimens in 17. After a median of 5.5 treatment cycles (range 1-14), objective tumor response was seen in 22/71 (31%) evaluable patients (4CR, 18 PR). Stable disease occurred in 34 (48%) patients, whereas the tumor progressed in 15 (21%). Significant hematologic toxicity (WHO grade III-IV) requiring interval and/or dose adjustments was observed in 41 (58%) patients. Other treatment-related side effects were generally mild, and included alopecia in 52 (73%), nausea and/or emesis in 50 (70%), and stomatitis and diarrhea in 3 patients each. There was no treatment-related death, nor was there any evidence of cardiac toxicity thus far. In summary, the early results of this trial suggest that pirarubicin is an active and rather well tolerated drug in pretreated patients with advanced breast cancer.

Adult

VMCP chemotherapy with or without interferon-alpha-2 in newly diagnosed patients with multiple myeloma.

Fifty-two previously untreated patients with multiple myeloma were randomized to either a combination of recombinant interferon (rIFN) alpha-2 and chemotherapy or chemotherapy alone. Patients were treated with vincristine, melphalan, cyclophosphamide and prednisolone every 4-6 weeks. In the combined treatment arm rIFN was administered concurrently with chemotherapy as well as during chemotherapy free intervals. The combined regimen effected 17/21 (80.9%) responses as compared to 19/27 (70.4%) responses in VMCP treated patients. Addition of rIFN to chemotherapy did not enhance hematologic toxicity. These findings suggest a somewhat higher rate of objective response in the VPMC + rIFN group, although a significant improvement in median survival by adding rIFN to conventional first line polychemotherapy in myeloma patients has not yet been achieved.

Adult

[Oncogenes].

Within a very short time the application of molecular biology to cancer research has resulted in an essential change and extension of our knowledge of transformation processes and tumor development. For the first time these mechanisms can be understood in a causal manner and causal cancer therapy seems to be possible in the near future. In this manuscript an attempt is made to give a brief survey of the influence of oncogenes on carcinogenesis. An account is given of the origin of viral oncogenes, viral mechanisms of cell transformation and activation of cellular oncogenes. Additionally, kinetics and targets of tumor proteins are discussed. The complexity and diversity of genetic regulation of growth and differentiation is discussed in some well known diseases such as chronic myeloid leukemia, Burkitt lymphoma, retinoblastoma and acute myeloid leukemia.

Animals

CSF cytology of a patient with conversion of an acute lymphatic leukemia to an acute eosinophilic leukemia.

The course of leukemic disease in a male adolescent with meningeal leukemia is described. The bone marrow aspirates showed a conversion from an acute lymphatic leukemia to an eosinophilic leukemia. Four weeks after the peripheral shift of phenotype two different cell clones were detected in one CSF smear. While under ultrahigh dose araC therapy the patient died 3 months after conversion. Possible explanation for the shift of phenotype and the peculiar leptomeningeal infiltration are discussed.

Adolescent

Acute-phase-proteins and parameters of humoral immunity in patients with advanced Hodgkin's disease.

Serum concentrations of acute-phase-proteins C-reactive protein (CRP), alpha 1-antitrypsin (AAT), alpha 1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) as well as levels of immunoglobulins G, A and M and of complement components C3 and C4 were evaluated in 15 patients with advanced (stages III and IV) Hodgkin's disease. Of these patients 9 suffered from B symptoms including pruritus, night sweats and fever. While all patients had highly increased concentrations of CRP and AAT and 11 patients also had elevated levels of AGP in their sera, these concentrations were significantly (P less than 0.001) reducible by the administration of chemotherapy. Patients with B symptoms also had significantly higher concentrations of CRP (P less than 0.02), AAT (P less than 0.05) and AGP (P less than 0.05) in their sera than patients without. Plasmapheresis which was performed in 3 patients did not achieve a long-lasting reduction of serum concentrations of any acute-phase-protein tested. Complement components C3 and C4 exhibited a similar behaviour as acute-phase-proteins in that they were elevated in patients with B symptoms and reducible by the administration of chemotherapy (P less than 0.001 and P less than 0.02, respectively). We conclude that serum concentrations of CRP, AAT and AGP can serve as useful markers for the assessment of tumour activity in patients with advanced Hodgkin's disease. Whereas the concentrations of immunoglobulins G and A in patients were comparable to normal controls, IgM was significantly (P less than 0.05) reduced in patients who had received chemotherapy, but not in those who were newly diagnosed and had not received any treatment. Thus, chemotherapy lowered serum concentrations of IgM without influencing levels of IgG and IgA.

Acute-Phase Proteins

[Lack of effect of aging on dopaminergic inhibition of aldosterone and prolactin increase].

Because of the decreased dopamine concentration in the elderly brain an alteration of the dopaminergic suppression of aldosterone and prolactin incretion was postulated. In contrast, the application of the dopamine D2-antagonist metoclopramide showed no significant difference as to the blockade of this dopaminergic suppression in two groups of patients with a mean age of 40 and 80 years. Subsequently aldosterone and prolactin incretion was equally stimulated in both groups.

Adult