Delivery of high doses of radiation to thoracic region, particularly with non-small cell lung cancer patients, becomes difficult due to subsequent complications arising in the lungs of the patient. Radiation-induced pneumonitis is an early event evident in most radiation exposed patients observed within 2–4 months of treatment and leading to fibrosis later. Several cytokines and inflammatory molecules interplay in the vicinity of the tissue developing radiation injury leading to pneumonitis and fibrosis. While certain cytokines may be exploited as biomarkers, they also appear to be a potent target of intervention at transcriptional level. Initiation and progression of pneumonitis and fibrosis thus are dynamic processes arising after few months to year after irradiation of the lung tissue. Currently, available treatment strategies are challenged by the major dose limiting complications that curtails success of the treatment as well as well being of the patient’s future life. Several approaches have been in practice while many other are still being explored to overcome such complications. The current review gives a brief account of the immunological aspects, existing management practices, and suggests possible futuristic approaches.

Cultured OMEC have the potential to act as autografts for ocular surface reconstruction in patients with bilateral ocular surface disease and can prove to be particularly beneficial to ameliorate the mucin deficiency state in dry eye associated with OSD.

BackgroundOvarian cancer is the second most common cancer among women and the leading cause of death among gynecologic malignancies. In recent years, infrared (IR) spectroscopy has gained attention as a simple and inexpensive method for the biomedical study of several diseases. In the present study infrared spectra of normal and malignant ovarian tissues were recorded in the 650 cm-1 to 4000 cm-1 region.MethodsPost surgical tissue samples were taken from the normal and tumor sections of the tissue. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) data on twelve cases of ovarian cancer with different grades of malignancy from patients of different age groups were analyzed.ResultsSignificant spectral differences between the normal and the ovarian cancerous tissues were observed. In particular changes in frequency and intensity in the spectral region of protein, nucleic acid and lipid vibrational modes were observed. It was evident that the sample-to-sample or patient-to-patient variations were small and the spectral differences between normal and diseased tissues were reproducible.ConclusionThe measured spectroscopic features, which are the spectroscopic fingerprints of the tissues, provided the important differentiating information about the malignant and normal tissues. The findings of this study demonstrate the possible use of infrared spectroscopy in differentiating normal and malignant ovarian tissues.

Acquired capillary hemangioma of the eyelid in adults is uncommon. The authors report an unusual case of acquired capillary hemangioma in a 12-year-old pubertal girl. The importance of development of such vascular lesions at puberty, due to hormonal changes and increased estrogen levels, is highlighted.

Deleterious effects of ionising radiation leading to significant morbidity and mortality have been studied elaborately. A range of synthetic, semisynthetic and herbal compounds have been screened as radiation countermeasure agents and a number of promising radiation countermeasure agents are under development. Amifostin is the only drug which has been approved by the United State Food and Drug Administration (US-FDA), but that too for use in a defined population under strict medical supervision. Granulocyte Colony Stimulating Factor/filgrastim, γ-tocotrienol, genistein are at an advanced stage of development and are tested on higher animal models as per required norms of FDA. Herbal compounds are also considered very safe and of high value as radiation countermeasure agents owing to various properties like antioxidant, immunomodulation activity etc. Histone deacetylase inhibitors such as Trichostatin A, Diallyl sulphide, Sulforaphane are being viewed as very promising radiomitigating agents by our laboratory and active research in the same direction is going on. Infusion of hematopoietic stem cells and growth factors are in practice as potent therapeutics. This review gives an overview on various radioprotectors, radiomitigators and therapeutic agents either available or under development currently.