Magnetic resonance studies of laryngeal tumors implanted in nude mice: effect of treatment with bleomycin and electroporation

Recently, a new type of cancer treatment has been introduced that combines pulsed electric fields (PEF) with anticancer drugs. The proposed mode of action is that PEF create transient pores in the membranes which allow entry of drugs into the cells. This method increases cytotoxicity of some anticancer drugs like bleomycin (BLM) by 2-3 orders of magnitude, which, in turn, reduces systemic drug dosage without decreasing efficacy. In the present study, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to determine changes in apparent water self-diffusion coefficients (ADC) and spin-lattice (T(1)) and spin-spin (T(2)) relaxation times that occur in an animal laryngeal tumor (HEp-2 cells) model with BLM delivered by PEF. A Bruker 14 Tesla (600 MHz) wide-bore spectrometer with micro-imaging capability was used to generate all the data. Mice carrying approximately 8 mm tumors were treated with several combinations of drug and PEF. All measurements were made on tumor samples excised from mice 24 and 48 hours after treatment with (i) saline, intratumor injection (i.t.), (ii) BLM, i.t., (iii) saline with PEF, and (iv) BLM, i.t., followed by PEF. Although T(1) does not differ between the controls (i, ii, and iii) and full treatment (iv) 6.72 +/- 0.20 s vs. 6.31 +/- 1.7 s, T(2) for (iv) at 24 hours is significantly different from the controls 52.4 +/- 0.91 ms vs. 46.5 +/- 1.54 ms. T(2) differences between treatment and controls disappear at 48 hours. ADC increases significantly from 24 to 48 hours (7.31 +/- 0.16 x 10(-6) to 8.28 +/- 0.28 x 10(-6) cm(2)/sec, p = 0.05). Longer T(2) values may reflect early apoptosis and tumor death when the tumor is structurally less dense. Higher ADC's, associated with the periphery of the tumors and the central region, may indicate loose structural organization and necrosis resulting from the combination treatment.     

Aggregation Properties of Sodium Hyaluronate with Alkanediyl-alpha,omega-bis(dimethylalkylammonium Bromide) Surfactants in Aqueous Sodium Chloride Solution

Lysine, which is an amino acid with a basic side group, is present in biological fluids and its role in the biological calcification process was investigated. It was found to inhibit the crystal growth rate of hydroxyapatite (HAP), in solutions supersaturated only with respect to this calcium phosphate salt and this rate reduction was attributed to adsorption and further blocking of the active growth sites on the crystal surface. The crystallization kinetics were interpreted in terms of the Langmuir adsorption model. The apparent order of the crystallization reaction was found to be n=2, suggesting a surface diffusion controlled spiral growth mechanism. Kinetic results of HAP crystallization were obtained using the constant composition method where the concentration of the reactants is kept constant during the course of the crystal growth experiment. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.     

Carbon-13 NMR signals of some benzodiazepine drugs

Some carbon-13 NMR signal assignments of diazepam, flurazepam, clonazepam and chlordiazepoxide have been revised and the assignments of nitrazepam are reported. The assignments of the various resonances were made by considering the changes in chemical shifts produced by the change of substituents and also by comparison with the chemical shifts of model compounds.     

Photochemical transformations—II : Organic iodides—II: citronellyl iodide, 2,3-dihydro-6(z)-farnesyl and 2,3-dihydro-6(e)-farnesyl iodides

Experimental parameters governing π-electrons participation during photolysis of citronellyl iodide have been investigated. Photoproducts resulting from irradiation of 2,3-dihydro-6(Z)- and 2,3-dihydro-6(E)-farnesyl iodides have been characterised.     

Azulenes and related substances—XII A new azulene synthesis—guaiazulene and Se-Guaiazulene

The new method of azulene synthesis, described in the preceding communication, has been extended to the synthesis of guaiazulene and Se-guaiazulene.     

Effects of gemini surfactants on egg phosphatidylcholine bilayers in the fluid lamellar phase

The influence of 1,4-butanediamonium-N,N'-dialkyl-N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl dibromides (CmA, m = 7-16 is the number of alkyl carbons) on the egg yolk phosphatidylcholine (EYPC) bilayer thickness and lipid surface area at the bilayer-aqueous phase interface is studied using X-ray diffraction on fluid lamellar CmA + EYPC + H2O phases as a function of CmA:EYPC and H2O:EYPC molar ratios and the alkyl chain length m. At the constant CmA:EYPC = 0.4 and H2O:EYPC = 18 molar ratios, the CmA induced bilayer thickness decrease shows a minimum and the lipid surface area increase a maximum at the alkyl chain length m = 9. The obtained results are discussed in the context of a structural perturbation model of the cut-off effect in biological potencies of surfactants which occurs when increasing the alkyl substituent chain length above the critical value.     

Highly efficient epoxidation method of olefins with hydrogen peroxide as terminal oxidant, bicarbonate as a co-catalyst and oxodiperoxo molybdenum(VI) complex as catalyst

A combination of the newly synthesized and structurally characterized compound, [MoO(O2)2(saloxH)](saloxH2= salicylaldoxime) as catalyst, H2O2 as terminal oxidant and NaHCO3 as co-catalyst when stirred in CH3CN (10 cm3) at room temperature (rt) shows a very pronounced efficiency epoxidation of olefinic compounds, the method being green and economical.     

A comparison of threshold estimation methods in children 6-11 years of age

Estimating detection threshold for auditory stimuli in children can be problematic because of lapses in attention and the time limits usually imposed by scheduling restrictions or fatigue. Data reported here were collected to compare the stability of threshold estimation procedures in testing children ages 6 to 11 in a three-alternative, forced-choice paradigm. Stimuli consisted of a 1-kHz tonal signal and a Gaussian noise masker, bandpass filtered between 500-2,000 Hz and presented at 25-dB spectrum level. The signal was either presented for 400 ms in the presence of a continuous masker (simultaneous masking) or for 10 ms just prior to a 400-ms masker (backward masking). For each masking paradigm the 79% correct threshold was assessed via each of three procedures: 3-down, 1-up adaptive staircase (Levitt), maximum likelihood estimation (MLE), and method of constant stimuli. Percent correct was measured at the end of the study for a signal 10 dB above the previously determined threshold in order to estimate the most appropriate psychometric function asymptote for fitting data collected via the method of constant stimuli. Both the MLE and Levitt procedures produced equally stable threshold estimates for both conditions and age groups. This was the case despite considerable variability in backward-masking thresholds.