Autologous tumor lysate/Bacillus Calmette-Guérin immunotherapy as an adjuvant to conventional breast cancer therapy.

INTRODUCTION: Autologous tumor cell vaccines rely on the concept of preserving an individual's own tumorigenic makeup, expressing its unique set of tumor-associated antigens as well as antigenic elements from the surrounding stroma. These autologous tumor characteristics are usually presented with an immune adjuvant in the hopes of enhancing an immune response. METHODS: The autologous vaccine we used was composed of tumor cells combined with BCG and formalin. Animal safety and toxicity were evaluated using mice tumors for the immunotherapy. A small number of patients with advanced stage breast cancer were recruited for an uncontrolled study, using the vaccine solely or combined with chemotherapy/radiotherapy. RESULTS: The immunotherapy had shown to be safe in mice and humans. Upon a 5-year follow-up, the survival rate was 60 % for the combined treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that the combined treatment could be a feasible and safe therapeutic strategy. However, further controlled studies should be conducted.

Electron microscopic immunocytochemical detection of PSD-95, PSD-93, SAP-102, and SAP-97 at postsynaptic, presynaptic, and nonsynaptic sites of adult and neonatal rat visual cortex.

Membrane-associated guanylate kinases (MAGUKs) assemble protein complexes at sites of cell-cell contact. At excitatory synapses in brain, MAGUKs localize to the postsynaptic density (PSD) and interact with N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptors and downstream signaling proteins. However, NMDA receptors are not restricted to the PSDs, as electron microscopic immunocytochemical (EM-ICC) results indicate that NMDA receptors also occur at nonsynaptic portions of dendrites, perhaps functioning as reserves for rapid insertion into synaptic membranes in response to appropriate synaptic activity. NMDA receptors also occur in axons, at least in part to support glutamate-dependent enhancement of transmitter release. In this study, a systematic EM-ICC survey was performed to determine whether the distributions of four neuronal MAGUKs-PSD-95, PSD-93, SAP-102, and SAP-97-resemble that of NMDA receptors. Quantitative analysis revealed that the density of PSD-95 over thick PSDs of asymmetric axo-spinous synaptic junctions is 2-3-fold the level in the immediately adjacent cytoplasm of spines and terminals, while symmetric synapses show no association with PSD-95. Similarly, all four MAGUKs occur over PSDs of spines. However, we also detected MAGUK immunoreactivity, albeit more diffusely, along presynaptic membranes and in the cytoplasm of axons and dendritic shafts. In fact, the overall distribution of PSD-95 within the neuropil is equally prevalent along plasma membranes (including synaptic portions) as in the cytoplasm, away from plasma membranes. These results suggest that MAGUKs have dual roles: to maintain receptors at synapses and to regulate shuttling of receptors between nonsynaptic and synaptic sites.

Prevalencia de staphylococcus aureus en manipuladores de alimentos de una universidad de la región metropolitana / Prevalence of staphylococcus aureus in food handlers at a university of the metropolitan region

Nose, throat,hands and nail samples from 87 food handlers were obtained for microbiological examination. Fifty seven subjects (65.5 percent) were carriers of staphylococcus aureus. Enterotoxigenic staphylococcus aureus was found in 36 subjects (41 percent). The most frequently found enterotoxin was type B (18 samples) followed by type D (12 samples). Men had a higher frequency of contamination than women (83 and 57 percent of positive samples respectively). In conclusion, the frequency of staphylococcus aureus contamination among food handlers is high and shoud prompt personal and environmental hygienic measures

Calidad sanitaria del queso de cabra artesanal, comuna de Til Til, Región Metropolitana / Sanitary quality of handmade goat cheese, county of Til Til, Metropolitan Region

Los resultados obtenidos demostraron los graves problemas de higiene que afectan la elaboración del queso. Entre las variables que se discuten en este trabajo cabe destacar que el 88% de las viviendas no cuentan con agua potable, el 70.8% de los manipuladores que elaboran queso, presentan deficiencias notorias en su higiene personal y el 74% de los quesos se elaboran en espacios abiertos. En cuanto a la condición higiénica global de cada cabrería, se determinó que sólo el 22% son aceptables. Un 40.7% presentó un alto riesgo de contaminación del producto. Los análisis microbiológicos realizados a las muestras del queso mostraron que el 32% contienen Staphylococus aureus coagulasa positiva. Todas las muestras presentaban coliformes totales y fecales (N.M.P.), con límites de recuentos mínimos de 1,1 por 1000 y 9,3 por 100, respectivamente. Estudios serológicos indican que no habría brucelosis en el ganado caprino de la zona y por lo tanto los quesos elaborados con leche de cabra no estarían contaminados con brucelas. El análisis de coeficientes de correlación entre el grado de contaminación del producto y la condición de saneamiento e higiene, dado por los puntajes de las respectivas calificaciones, evidenció grados de asociación relativamente alto y estadísticamente significativos, especialmente entre contaminación con coliformes fecales e higiene en la elaboración de quesos (r=0,568)