Human autologous liver transplantation is possible due to an adequate suppression of the body's immune response. This also causes a higher hepatitis infection rate, making hepatitis prevention very ...important.
We describe our experience with hepatitis B virus vaccination in 140 adult liver transplant recipients, transplanted from 1986 to 1994 with more than one year of follow-up. Excluded were those who had hepatitis B surface antigens or antibodies to those antigens before the transplant. The vaccination schedule was 0-1-2 months with a double dose of recombinant vaccine.
The total response rate (surface antigen antibodies > 10 U) was 40% (56/140); the rate was 47.7% in men and 26% in women. At the end of the study, only 17.1% (24/140) of the patients had antibodies > 10 U. The response rate was higher in patients with antibodies to hepatitis B core antigen (66.6%) than in those lacking antibodies (31.7%), and more long lasting (42.4% vs 11.2%). The response rate in 116 patients with booster doses was 12.9%. Six correctly vaccinated patients (4.28%) acquired new hepatitis B virus infections after the operation.
The total response rate in these patients is much lower than in the general population, and there is a rapid decline of titers, probably due to immunosuppression. The role of booster doses in these patients should be clarified.
Spanish vessels fish for the Argentine hake, Merluccius hubbsi both in Falkland Islands Conservation Zones and in high seas waters along the shelf edge to the north of the islands. Data are collected ...by the Falkland Islands Fisheries Department, Instituto Español de Oceanografía and Asociación Nacional de Armadores de Buques Congeladores de Pesca de Merluza. Data from these three sources were combined, with the aim of producing assessments of M. hubbsi. There was no relationship between abundance indices for Falkland Islands waters and high seas areas, suggesting little interaction between the populations in the two areas. Virtual population analysis suggested that the spawning stock biomass in Falklands waters declined from approximately 60,000 t in 1987 to about 15,000 t in the early 1990s but has since made a partial recovery to approximately 20,000 t. However, low recruitment levels are, apparently, impeding the recovery of the population. The abundance trend contrasts with a continued decline suggested by assessments of the population in Argentine waters, implying some independence of the adult populations in the two areas. Nonetheless, it is likely that recruitment to the population is affected by processes not explained by the available data.
We assessed if a 17-item score capturing adherence to a traditional Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) was associated with better health-related quality of life among older Spanish men and women with ...overweight or obesity harboring the metabolic syndrome. We analyzed baseline data from 6430 men and women (age 55-70 years) participating in the PREDIMED-Plus study. PREDIMED-Plus is a multi-centre randomized trial testing an energy-restricted MedDiet combined with promotion of physical activity and behavioral therapy for primary cardiovascular prevention compared to a MedDiet alone. Participants answered a 36-item questionnaire about health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and a 17-item questionnaire that assessed adherence to an MedDiet. We used ANCOVA and multivariable-adjusted linear regression models to compare baseline adjusted means of the quality of life scales according to categories of adherence to the MedDiet. Higher adherence to the MedDiet was independently associated with significantly better scores in the eight dimensions of HRQoL. Adjusted differences of > = 3 points between the highest and the lowest dietary adherence groups to the MedDiet were observed for vitality, emotional role, and mental health and of > = 2 points for the other dimensions. In conclusion, this study shows a positive association between adherence to a MedDiet and several dimensions of quality of life.
p14/p16 and p15 gene expression was assessed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction in purified plasma cells (PC) from 52 patients with symptomatic multiple myeloma (MM) and seven with smoldering ...MM in order to clarify the impact of these genes on the proliferative activity of tumor cells and patients' outcome. p15 expression was lower in symptomatic MM than in smoldering SMM (-1.80 vs.1.51,p=0.026); similar results were observed for p14/p16. MM patients whose PC displayed high p15 and/or p14/p16 expression had a lower percentage of S-phase PC than the remaining cases (1.79%+/-1.35 vs. 3.04%+/-1.42, p=0.028), favorable prognostic factors and longer survival (100% vs. 49%at 2.5 years; p=0.007).
The purpose of the study was to test the immunological and clinical effects of infusions of dendritic cells pulsed with autologous tumor lysate in patients with advanced cancer.
Peripheral blood ...mononuclear cells from 15 patients with metastatic cancer (melanoma in 10, lung cancer in 2, renal cell carcinoma in 1, sarcoma in 1, breast cancer in 1) were harvested by leukapheresis after mobilization with GM-CSF (5 microg/kg/day s.c. for 4 days). Mononuclear cells were separated and cultured in GM-CSF (1000 U/ml) and interleukin-4 (1000 U/ml) for 7 days. Phenotype was assessed by 2-color flow cytometry and immunocytochemistry. On day 6, dendritic cells were pulsed with 1 g of fresh autologous tumor lysate for 24 h and infused intravenously. Interleukin-2 (6 million IU), interferon a (4 million IU) and GM-CSF (400 microg) were injected s.c. daily for 10 days beginning on the day of dendritic cell infusion. Treatment was repeated every 21 days for 3 courses.
The morphology, immunocytochemistry and phenotype of cultured cells was consistent with dendritic cells: intense positivity for HLA-DR and CD86, with negativity for markers of other lineages, including CD3, CD4, CD8 and CD14. More than 5 x 10(7) dendritic cells were injected in all patients. Nine patients developed >5 mm delayed type cutaneous hypersensitivity reactions to tumor lysate+/-GM-CSF after the first immunization (larger than GM-CSF in all cases). Median delayed type cutaneous hypersensitivity to lysate +/- GM-CSF was 3 cm after the third immunization. One melanoma patient with skin, liver, lung and bone metastases had a partial response lasting 8 months (followed by progression in the brain). Seven patients had stable disease for >3 months, and 7 had progression.
Infusion of tumor lysate-pulsed dendritic cells induces a strong cell-mediated antitumor immune reaction in patients with advanced cancer and has some clinical activity.
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