Mucositis, also referred to as mucosal barrier injury, is one of the most debilitating side effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment. Clinically, mucositis is associated with pain, bacteremia, and malnutrition. Furthermore, mucositis is a frequent reason to postpone chemotherapy treatment, ultimately leading towards a higher mortality in cancer patients. According to the model introdu...

Sixty cancer patients who were undergoing radiation therapy to the pelvis of at least 4,000 cGy in 20 fractions over four weeks were randomized to take or not take Metamucil. Results were analyzed for the presence of radiation-induced diarrhea in two groups: patients taking Metamucil (n = 30) or not taking Metamucil (n = 30). The Murphy Diarrhea Scale was developed to assist in the synthesis of...

The Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NCX) is a bidirectional transporter that is controlled by membrane potential and transmembrane gradients of Na+ and Ca2+. To reveal the functional role of NCX on gastrointestinal motility, we have previously used NCX1 and NCX2 heterozygote knockout mice (HET). We found that NCX1 and NCX2 play important roles in the motility of the gastric fundus, ileum and distal colon. ...

Actas Dermosifiliogr. 2007;98:372-6 373 To the Editor: We describe a 57-year-old man with multiple basal cell carcinomas on the scalp, where he had undergone radiation therapy in childhood. He consulted for a pearly mass adjacent to a violaceous mass of 5 cm that was poorly defined, indurated, asymptomatic, and with several peripheral nodules (Figure 1), but no local or regional lymph node enla...

Exposure of tumor cells to ionizing radiation causes compensatory activation of multiple intracellular survival signaling pathways to maintain viability. In human carcinoma cells, radiation exposure caused an initial rapid inhibition of protein tyrosine phosphatase function and the activation of ERBB receptors and downstream signaling pathways. Radiation-induced activation of extracellular regu...

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The effect of the aqueous (aq) seed extract of Aframomum melegueta. K. Schum. (Zingiberaceae) on castor oil-induced diarrhea, intestinal fluid secretion, and gastrointestinal transit was investigated in the study. Castor oil (10 ml/kg, p.o.) induced copious diarrhea in all rats 3 h after treatment. Furthermore, it produced a significant increase in the volume of intestinal fluid secretion in ra...

Background: Quantification of radiation-induced apoptosis in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) has been proposed as a possible screening test for cancer-prone individuals and also for the prediction of normal tissue responses after radiotherapy. Materials and Methods: The neutral version of the comet assay (single-cell gel electrophoresis) was used 24, 48, 72 hours after irradiation ...