Clinical efficacy of two forms of intravenous iron--saccharated ferric oxide and cideferron--for iron deficiency anemia.

Over 90% of iron deficiency anemia cases are due to iron deficiency associated with depletion of stored iron or inadequate intake. Parenteral iron supplementation is an important part of the management of anemia, and some kinds of intravenous iron are used. However, few studies have evaluated the clinical efficacy of these drugs. The purpose of this study was to compare and assess the clinical efficacy of two types of intravenous iron injection, saccharated ferric oxide (SFO) and cideferron (CF). Medical records were obtained for 91 unrelated Japanese anemia patients treated with SFO (n = 37) or CF (n = 54) from May 2005 to May 2010 at Gunma University Hospital. Patients treated with blood transfusion, erythropoietin or oral iron were excluded. Hemoglobin (Hb) values measured on day 0, 7 and 14 were used to assess the efficacy of intravenous irons. A significant increase was observed in the mean Hb value by day 14 of administration in both the CF group and SFO group, and the mean Hb increase due to administration of CF for 7 days was comparable to that of SFO for 14 days. Age and sex did not affect improvement of Hb value. CF is fast acting and highly effective compared with SFO for the treatment of iron deficiency anemia. The use of CF may shorten a therapeutic period for iron deficiency anemia, and CF may be feasible for reducing the hospitalization period.

[Alleviation of sadness by pleasant imagery: analyses of subjective and physiological responses].

This study examined whether elicitation of joy or relaxation would reduce intensity of formerly induced sadness by using imagery tasks. Participants (N = 10) imaged a series of four sad scenes successively in the preliminary experiment. Dependent variables were subjective emotional ratings, heart rate, and facial electromyography of the corrugator and the zygomatic muscles. The result indicated that the sadness-imageries increased heart rate, corrugator activity, and zygomatic activity, as well as sad feeling. The procedure of the main experiment (N = 19) was almost the same as that of the preliminary experiment except that the sadness-imageries were followed by one of the 3 emotional imageries, that is, relaxation, neutrality, and joy. The result indicated that the relaxation-imagery marginally significantly decreased the heart rate that had been increased by the sadness-imageries. The joy-imagery reduced sad feeling but increased the zygomatic activity more than the relaxation-imagery. No effect was found on the heart rate. These results suggested that positive emotions alleviate sadness, and that joy and relaxation alleviate different aspects of sadness.

Diffuse bilateral thalamic astrocytomas as examined serially by MRI.

We report the case of a 13-year-old girl with diffuse bilateral thalamic astrocytomas. Incoordination was observed at the onset. Cranial computed tomography (CT) showed enlarged thalami, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed these lesions to be symmetrically enlarged with high intensity on the T2-weighted image. Owing to these atypical findings in the neuroimaging studies, we had difficulty in making the correct diagnosis of a brain tumor. After the diagnosis of diffuse bilateral thalamic astrocytomas was obtained, we performed hyperfractionated radiotherapy followed by chemotherapy. Radiation therapy was effective for a while, but the girl's condition deteriorated again and she died 8 months after admission. Although diffuse bilateral thalamic astrocytomas are difficult to diagnose because they do not resemble most other neoplasms on neuroimaging studies, pediatricians should keep this entity in mind in order to arrive at a precise and prompt diagnosis.

Iodide uptake and experimental 131I therapy in transplanted undifferentiated thyroid cancer cells expressing the Na+/I- symporter gene.

131I therapy is a widely accepted treatment for differentiated thyroid cancers which can accumulate iodide. We evaluated the efficiency of 131I therapy against tumors which are transfected with the Na+/I- symporter (NIS) gene. We transfected the rat NIS cDNA expression vector into malignantly transformed rat thyroid cells (FRTL-Tc) which do not concentrate iodide. The resultant cell line (Tc-rNIS) accumulated 125I 60-fold in vitro. The FRTL-Tc cells formed solid tumors after injection of cells into subcutaneous tissues of Fischer 344 rats. Tumors formed with Tc-rNIS cells accumulated up to 27.3% of total 125I administered, and concentrated 125I 11 to 27-fold in the tumors. Extracorporeal measurement of radioactivity in the tumors revealed that 125I accumulation peaked at 90 min, and decreased to half levels 6 h after the injections. To investigate the effect of 131I administration on the tumor growth, we injected Na131I 2 and 3 weeks after the transplantation of the cells. The Na131I did not change the tumor volume significantly in either the FRTL-Tc or the Tc-rNIS-induced tumors. The short (6 h) effective half life of 131I in the tumors diminished the radiation dose to the tumor cells. However, this approach may prove beneficial in the treatment of radiosensitive cancers, and could be employed diagnostically.

Beneficial effects of coronary venous retroinfusion of superoxide dismutase and catalase on reperfusion arrhythmias, myocardial function, and infarct size in dogs.

The efficacy of coronary venous retroinfusion of superoxide dismutase and catalase was studied in anesthetized closed chest dogs with 90-min left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) occlusion followed by 3-h reperfusion. In group A, superoxide dismutase (2.5 mg/kg) and catalase (2.5 mg/kg) were administered by a 30-min continuous right atrial infusion beginning 15 min before reperfusion and supplemented by a bolus injection of superoxide dismutase (2.5 mg/kg) and catalase (2.5 mg/kg) through the great cardiac vein immediately before reperfusion. The treatment in group B was similar to that in group A, except that the bolus injection was into the right atrium. In the control group (group C), saline was administered in the same manner as in group A. Infarct size, expressed as a percentage of the risk area, was significantly smaller in group A (11.3 +/- 8.9%) than in groups B (31.3 +/- 21.1%) and C (43.0 +/- 16.9%; p less than 0.05). Regional function of the ischemic zone measured by two-dimensional echocardiography exhibited significantly (p less than 0.05) greater recovery after 3-h reperfusion in group A (30.3 +/- 8.4%) versus groups B (12.5 +/- 13.7%) and C (12.1 +/- 11.7%). Moreover, there were significantly fewer postreperfusion ventricular arrhythmias in group A as compared with groups B and C. The results of this study indicate that coronary venous retroinfusion is an effective method for delivery of superoxide dismutase and catalase.

Preventive and therapeutic effects of large-dose nicotinamide injections on diabetes associated with insulitis. An observation in nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice.

This experiment was undertaken to explore a novel method of therapy for insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), using nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice that had symptoms and histologic changes similar to those of human IDDM patients. We examined preventive and therapeutic effects of large-dose nicotinamide administration on diabetes in NOD mice. Eighteen young female NOD mice without glycosuria were randomly divided into two groups; nine received subcutaneous nicotinamide (0.5 mg/g body wt) injections every day and the other nine were maintained as a control group and not injected. After 40 days, all of the mice given nicotinamide showed almost normal glucose tolerance and only mild insulitis on histologic study. On the other hand, marked glycosuria and severe insulitis were observed in six of the nine mice not injected. Four of six NOD mice given nicotinamide from the day of the first occurrence of marked glycosuria displayed a disappearance of glycosuria and an improvement in glucose tolerance during the therapy; however, urine sugar became negative in only one of six mice that received nicotinamide from 1 to 2 wk after the onset of marked glycosuria. These results indicate that nicotinamide has preventive and therapeutic effects on diabetes in NOD mice, and suggest the reversibility of B-cell damage, at least at a very early stage of IDDM.