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The comet assay is a single-cell gel electrophoresis technique that measures DNA damage in individual cells. Since radiation produces 3-4 times more DNA damage in well-oxygenated cells compared with hypoxic cells, this assay can quantify the fraction of radiation-resistant hypoxic cells found in many solid tumours. This paper summarizes our results with 73 accessible metastatic tumours irradiated with palliative intent. Hypoxic fractions ranged from 0.0 to 0.67 with a mean of 0.15; 62% of these advanced tumours showed a hypoxic fraction0.05. Comparisons between two sequential aspirates in 33 tumours gave a slope of 0.92 (r2 = 0.88), suggesting that a single aspirate is generally representative of the tumour. A limitation, however, is that the hypoxic fraction could not be measured in clinical samples given a conventional dose of 2 Gy.

This study compared the effect of Picolax when administered for large bowel preparation in combination with preoperative fasting on body weight, haemoglobin concentration, haematocrit, and cardiovascular variables with matched subjects who were fasted before surgery. Picolax resulted in significantly greater weight loss, increases in haemoglobin concentration combined with cardiovascular changes suggesting hypovolaemia in the Picolax group. Intravenous fluid replacement is recommended in patients receiving Picolax.

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Cysteamine (beta-mercaptoethylamine HCl) administration to rats induces a hypergastrinemia and a reduction in gastric tissue somatostatin content. The possibility that this reduction may contribute to the elevated gastrin levels has been investigated in the isolated perfused rat stomach. Cysteamine (1 mM) rapidly increased immunoreactive gastrin release to levels ranging between 41% and 125% above basal. Increasing the dose to 10 mM caused a 1148% increase in immunoreactive gastrin. Secretion of somatostatinlike immunoreactivity did not change. Perfusion of gastric inhibitory polypeptide (1 nM) induced a sustained increase in somatostatinlike immunoreactivity secretion and a transient rise in gastrin. Addition of 10 mM cysteamine during gastric inhibitory polypeptide perfusion caused a 300% increase in immunoreactive gastrin. These levels were lower than in response to cysteamine alone. The results demonstrate that cysteamine can stimulate immunoreactive gastrin secretion without any change in somatostatinlike immunoreactivity release. When somatostatinlike immunoreactivity secretion is stimulated by an agent such as gastric inhibitory polypeptide, the cysteamine-induced release of immunoreactive gastrin is attenuated, suggesting the presence of a functional linkage between somatostatin and gastrin under these conditions.

The Mediterranean Sea (MS), is extremely sensitive to rising sea-levels (SL) as attested by drowned archeological remains from the Roman Period [2]. Due to the absence of coral reefs, evidence for recent and Holocene SL change has so far mainly been restricted to coastal cores [1] archeological remains [2] and submerged speleothem deposits. Vermetid reefs are an extremely sensitive high resolution carbonate archive [3,4] and they are mainly formed in the lower intertidal zone by gregarious and sessile gastropods belonging to the genus Dendropoma (family Vermetidae). Since their interval of growth is restricted to the tidal zone, they can be used as precise SL proxies (about ±0.1 m in low range tidal areas).Here, we report new SL data covering two time-windows: between 2,380 and 1,520 years cal BP and during the last 300 yrs. These data have been obtained from two quasi-stable areas of the Western MS: S. Vito Lo Capo (N Sicily, Italy) and Cabo de Gata (SE Spain), opening new perspectives to understand the response of the global changes on this semienclosed basin