An alcoholic extract of Biophytum sensitivum was studied for its immunomodulatory and antitumor activity. The extract was 100% toxic at a concentration of 0.5 mg/ml to Dalton's lymphoma ascites (DLA) and Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) cells. B. sensitivum extract was also found to be cytotoxic towards L929 cells in culture at a concentration of 0.1 mg/ml. Administration of B. sensitivum extrac...

The effects of graded atmospheric O2 concentration (12, 14, 16, 18, and 20.6%) on chick performance and propensity to develop ascites were investigated using commercial male broilers. Chicks were housed in calorimetry chambers for 2 wk with incoming air diluted with N to provide the desired O2 concentration at thermoneutral (TN) ambient temperature. Day 14 body weight, weight gain, feed consump...

Intravenous albumin infusion prevents complications after large-volume paracentesis (LVP), particularly paracentesis-induced circulatory dysfunction (PCD), and improves patient survival. However, albumin is expensive. We compared a low-molecular weight dextran (Dextran-40) with albumin in treating LVP in cirrhotic patients with tense ascites. Sixty-nine cirrhotic patients were included and 96 L...

The mechanism of ascites formation has been a subject of interest for many years and remains a challenge to the investigator. In previous reports (1, 2) on 61 patients with cirrhosis of the liver, it was pointed out that those with ascites have lower values for serum albumin than do those without ascites and that the tendency to diuresis (and the loss of ascites) was correlated with a rise of t...

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease with many genetic factors predisposing to disease susceptibility. The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of CD226 rs727088 and rs763361 polymorphisms and susceptibility to RA in a sample of the Iranian population. Methods: This case-control study was carried out on 100 patients with RA and 104 healthy su...

Phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase (PI3k) is implicated in a wide array of biological and pathophysiological responses. Thus, inhibiting molecules involved in its signal transduction pathway is a possible means of treating cancer. Our previous studies demonstrated that LY294002, a potent and selective PI3k inhibitor, decreases growth of ovarian carcinoma and ascites formation in an athymic mouse xe...

Background: Patients with cirrhosis and tense ascites treated by paracentesis alone have a decrease in effective arterial blood volume after ascites removal. Although intravenous albumin is effective in preventing paracentesis induced decreased arterial blood volume, its clinical use is controversial. As paracentesis induces arteriolar vasodilation which plays a role in the development of decre...

BACKGROUND Patients with cirrhosis and tense ascites treated by paracentesis alone have a decrease in effective arterial blood volume after ascites removal. Although intravenous albumin is effective in preventing paracentesis induced decreased arterial blood volume, its clinical use is controversial. As paracentesis induces arteriolar vasodilation which plays a role in the development of decrea...

Malignant ascites is a common manifestation of advanced cancers, and treatment options are limited. The trifunctional antibody catumaxomab (anti-epithelial cell-adhesion molecule x anti-CD3) represents a targeted immunotherapy for the intraperitoneal (i.p.) treatment of malignant ascites secondary to epithelial cancers. In this phase II/III trial (EudraCT 2004-000723-15; NCT00836654), cancer pa...