BACKGROUND: Anatomically, the right common iliac artery crosses the left iliac vein and its accompanying lymphatics. We hypothesized that this situation could lead to a predominance of edema, telangiectasis, and venous varicosities on the left lower extremities of older persons. METHODS: To test this hypothesis, a research assistant who was blinded to the study goals examined 215 predominantly elderly residents of North Carolina homes for the aged and disabled. RESULTS: Among these subjects, 17.7 percent had predominantly left-sided edema, and 5.7 percent had predominantly right-sided edema (P < 0.001). When the 88 subjects with pitting edema greater than 3 mm were studied, 34.5 percent showed a left-sided predominance, and 6.9 percent showed a right-sided predominance (P < 0.001). In contrast, no significant difference was found in the lateralization of venous varicosities or of telangiectasis. CONCLUSIONS: Asymmetric edema is common and is usually left-sided in older persons. Compression of the left common iliac vein and its accompanying lymphatics by the right iliac artery, rather than overt clinical disease, might explain the majority of asymmetric edema seen in clinical practice.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Cesalin--an anti-neoplastic protein.

An anti-neoplastic protein was isolated from the endosperm of the seeds of Caesalpinia gilliesii by extraction with water, dialysis and precipitation by ammonium sulfate or acidification. The precipitated protein mixture was separated by column chromatography into three principal proteins, one of which, termed cesalin, inhibited the growth of Walker 256 carcinosarcoma. There is an associated carbohydrate with the cesalin that can be largely removed by chromatography on hydroxyl apatite; the remaining carbohydrate (about 0.3%) is a hexosan. Cesalin, molecular weight 110,000, migrates as a single component by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis at pH 8.3, but in a denaturing system containing sodium dodecyl sulfate three bands were observed. The correspond to protein sub-units of approximately 30,000 daltons. Anti-tumor tests in rats showed 70-80% inhibition of Walker 256 growth at a dose of 80 microgram/kg/day of cesalin.

Animals↗