Comparison of three severity scores for critically ill cancer patients.

OBJECTIVE: To compare three scoring systems, the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II, the Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) II and a modified Mortality Probability Model II (ICU cancer mortality model, ICMM) for their prognostic value for mortality during hospital stay in a group of cancer patients admitted to a medical ICU. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Medical ICU of a tertiary care hospital. PATIENTS: Two hundred forty-two consecutive cancer patients admitted to the ICU. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Variables included in APACHE II, SAPS II and the ICMM scores as well as demographic data were assessed during the first 24 h of stay in the ICU. Hospital mortality was measured; it was 44%. Calibration for all three scoring systems was acceptable, SAPS II yielded a significantly superior discrimination between survivors and non-survivors. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves were 0.776 for APACHE II, 0.825 for SAPS II and 0.698 for the ICMM. CONCLUSION: The SAPS II was superior to APACHE II and ICMM. The newly developed ICMM does not improve mortality prediction in critically ill cancer patients.

Immunohistochemical localization of androgen and oestrogen receptors in canine hair follicles.

Skin biopsies from seven different body sites were obtained from 21 dogs of different breeds (short, normal, long hair), which were presented for euthanasia. Commercially available polyclonal antibodies were used for the immunohistochemical detection of androgen and oestrogen receptors. Both receptors showed a similar distribution in canine skin, with specific intranuclear staining. In the epidermis, the percentage of androgen receptor (AR)-positive cells, but not that of oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive cells, was significantly higher in samples from the thorax and the flank. In the dermal papilla, the percentage of ER-positive (but not AR-positive) cells was significantly lower in biopsies from the flank. No significant difference was found for both receptors between the locations in the outer root sheath, among the three different hair types, between sex and between intact and castrated dogs.

Ninhydrin sweat test: a simple method for detecting antibodies neutralizing botulinum toxin type A.

Approximately 5% of patients with cervical dystonia receiving repeated botulinum neurotoxin A (BoNT/A) injections develop secondary loss of treatment benefit. Currently available tests to directly detect neutralizing BoNT/A antibodies (BoNT/A-AB) are either expensive or time consuming. To establish a simple, clinically useful test for antibody detection, we adapted the ninhydrin sweat test (NST). Eighteen dystonic patients with secondary nonresponse and clinically suspected BoNT/A-AB formation were tested for BoNT/A-AB in the mouse diaphragm test (MDT). In addition, the size of the anhidrotic area was determined by the NST 21 days after an intradermal dose of 10 U Dysport into the hypothenar region of the left palm. In nine patients, positive BoNT-AB titers were found in the MDT. There was a significant correlation between the BoNT/A-AB titers and the anhidrotic area (Spearman's rho = -0.9, P < 0.0001). Both tests provided comparably good results with respect to qualitative antibody detection. In the clinical situation of secondary nonresponse to BoNT/A therapy, the economical NST may be a helpful tool to detect neutralizing BoNT/A-AB.