No abstract

The release of cisplatin (CDDP) encapsulated in temperature-sensitive unilamellar liposomes to murine SCC VII carcinoma by localized hyperthermia and the effects of the treatment on tumor growth were studied. A transition temperature of the temperature-sensitive liposomes containing cisplatin (LIP-CDDP) was 41 degrees C. Twenty-four hours after injection of LIP-CDDP, the heated tumors (42 degrees C, 60 min) contained 3.3 times more CDDP than the unheated tumors receiving free CDDP. Although the uptake of liposome-associated CDDP by liver was approximately threefold greater at 1.5 h after injection than uptake of free CDDP, it decreased about 50% over a 24-h period. No difference in uptake of the two forms of CDDP by kidney was observed. The combination of LIP-CDDP and localized heating at 42 or 43 degrees C was more effective relative to the amount of CDDP in delaying tumor growth than that of free CDDP and hyperthermia. Treatment with LIP-CDDP plus local heating resulted in a dose-modifying factor of 5.3 when compared with free CDDP and no hyperthermia. The dose-modifying factor was 2.8 when treatment with LIP-CDDP and heat was compared with treatment with free CDDP and heat. Thus CDDP could be released selectively from the temperature-sensitive liposomes by heat and resulted in both a greater uptake of the drug and a delay in tumor growth.

An 87-year-old womandied of rapidly progressive pneumoniadue to Aeromonas hydrophila shortly after a neardrowning event. Autopsy showed necrotizing pneumonia and postmortem cultures of both blood and lung revealed the organism. Fulminant pneumonia should be considered in patients of a near-drowning event.

No abstract

Weretrospectively analyzed 20 cases of renal infarction to identify the problems in tentatively diagnosing renal infarction. The subjects consisted of 12 outpatients and 8 inpatients whose diagnosis was confirmed by renal scintigram and/or contrast computedtomography.Renal infarction was tentatively diagnosed in only 4 of the 12 outpatients. Causes of hospitalization were cerebral emboli in 5 cases, peripheral emboli in the extremities in 2 cases and one case involved percutaneous transmitral commissurotomy. On initial urinalysis, ll cases (55 %) showed less than 2+ hematuria using dipsticks to test for occult blood. The mean lactic dehydrogenase value was as high as 2,096 IU while the meanaspartate aminotransferase and meanalanine aminotransferase were 83.1 IU and 78.6 IU. Abdominal ultrasonography revealed abnormalities in only one of 18 cases. In conclusion, since only a moderate degree ofhematuria was seen in about half the cases and it was difficult to detect renal abnormalities by ultrasonography, a tentative diagnosis of renal infarction may be difficult in some cases.