[en] Postoperative complications seriously threaten graft and patient survival. Prompt diagnosis and treatment of these complications is of critical importance. In clinical differentiation of rejection from hepatic dysfunctions such as biliary obstruction, studies of allograft perfusion and bile flow with radionuclides are helpful. Cholescinti-graphy is specially used to diagnose bile leakage. Focal fluid collections such as biliomas, hematomas and seromas are seen with relative frequency after liver transplantation. Directed fine needle aspiration differentiates all these cases and is able to document infection. (author). 25 refs.; 5 figs.; 1 tab

No abstract available

[en] Radiation induced grafting of acrylic acid onto polypropylene surfaces by mutual radiation technique yields products which are especially suitable for making compounds with aluminium. Polypropylene can be used, for instance, as plates or foils, onto which grafting may be performed by a continuous or a discontinuous process. From these grafted plates or foils compounds have been made with aluminium, and their properties have been investigated in various tests. (author)

[en] This study concerns the possible suitability of gamma camera scintigraphy after injection of ¹¹¹In-labelled autologous thrombocytes as an early diagnostic method for the initial events of kidney graft rejection. The maintenance of cell function and viability after cell labelling appeared to be essential for the adequate interpretation of the results of subsequent in vivo measurements. Thrombocytes labelled according to the described procedure showed a normal collagen induced aggregation pattern and normal behaviour in vivo. A small group of individuals with well functioning kidneys, transplanted 4 - 6 months before, served as a control group. The transplanted kidneys could always be located on the scintigram taken 24 hours after ¹¹¹In-thrombocyte injection. Increased accumulation of radioactive thrombocytes in the graft was observed in patients with clinical and biochemical signs of graft rejection. After adequate therapy, this accumulation decreased towards normal values. Concomitantly a reduced survival of circulating labelled platelets was found in periods with high kidney radioactivity and vice versa. However, in order to assess the value of the technique as an early indication of graft rejection more frequent measurements (i.e. 2 - 3 times a day) are necessary. A method using a portable crystal detector is now under investigation. Finally, it might be possible with this method to discriminate between various clinical courses (i.e. the type of rejection) after transplantation. (author)

No abstract available

No abstract available

[en] The radiation-induced grafting technique is one of the popular methods in practise for the surface modification of polymeric materials. In this study, the industrial polyethylene (PE) filter cartridge was modified via a simultaneous radiation induced grafting process by employing gamma irradiation at dose of 25 kGy whereby the Glycidyl Methacrylate (GMA) was grafted onto the surface material. This was followed by subsequent chemical functionalization with the amine group by epoxy group ring-opening, which originates from GMA. Both the unmodified and modified filter cartridges have been characterized by measuring the contact angles on their surfaces using the advanced mode contact angle method through an optical contact angle (OCA) instrument in order to identify the changes in the hydrophilicity. the result from the contact angle analysis revealed the modified filter cartridge to have a more hydrophilic surface in comparison to the unmodified filter cartridge. (author)

[en] A series of π-electrons incorporated graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) photocatalysts were prepared using a facile copolymerization strategy, allowing aromatic rings to be grafted into the (g-C₃N₄) network. The photocatalyst activity of aromatic rings grafted samples in the photoreduction elimination reaction of U(VI) was significantly enhanced, which was more efficient than that achieved by pristine g-C₃N₄. In addition, the anthracene-grafted g-C₃N₄ showed excellent U(VI) removal properties, 99% of U(VI) was eliminated within 30 min of visible light irradiation, and the samples still showed the high photoreduction activity after 3 reaction cycles. On the basis of the experimental and characterization analysis, the enhanced photoreduction activity could be attributed to accelerating the electron transportation of π-electrons incorporated. (author)

[en] Objectives: Allogeneic bone-marrow transplantation (BMT) is an established treatment for many haematological malignancies. Unfortunately, most patients lack an HLA geno typically identical sibling and require an alternative donor, such as an HLA-haploidentical mismatched related donor, an HLA phenotypically matched or partially mismatched unrelated donor or an HLA-similar cord blood stem cell donor. However, these types of BMT increase the risk of graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), graft failure, delayed immuno reconstitution and fatal infection that observed after a sibling matched donor. Many centers are exploring the possibility of using donors other than matched sibling. Our approach has been to employ T-cell depleted mismatched haploidentical familial donor BMT to solve the problem of GvHD, a highly immuno- and myelo-suppressive conditioning regimen to reduce the incidence of graft failure and relapse, a graft inoculum plus G-CSF donor mobilized peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) to overcome the host-versus-graft barrier. Patients and methods: Thirty-six patients (25 male, 11 female; median age 22 years, range 2-51) were treated with an allogeneic T-depleted haploidentical three loci mismatched bone-marrow and G-CSF mobilized PBSC transplantation from a familiar donor (18 siblings, 17 parents and 1 cousin) between March 1993 and June 1995. All had high-risk or advanced stage acute myeloid (12) or acute lymphoid (24) leukaemia; 18 were in haematological complete remission (CR) and 18 in chemo resistant relapse. Patients were conditioned with 8 Gy single dose TBI administered on day -5 at an instantaneous dose-rate of 13.4-31.7 cGy/min/midplane and average of 6.7-12.12 cGy/min/midplane. Shields were used to reduce the lung dose to 7 Gy in the first 23 cases and to 6 Gy in the last 13. 10 mg/Kg thiotepa were administered on day -4, 5 mg/Kg rabbit ATG from day -4 to day -1, 60 or 50 mg/Kg/cyclophosphamide on days -3 and -2. Bone-marrow and PBSC were infused on day 0. T-cells were depleted by the soybean agglutinin E rosetting technique. No post-transplant immunosuppressive therapy was given. Results: Six patients rejected the graft; 2 died of aplasia but 4 engrafted after a second T-depleted transplant from a different HLA-incompatible familiar donor. The other 30 had a primary sustained full donor type engraftment with a neutrophil reconstitution at a mean of 11 days post-transplant. Seven patients transplanted in CR are alive, 5 in CR, 2 in relapse, at a median of 14 months (range 9-23). Three patients transplanted in relapse are also alive in CR at 23, 30 and 34 months post-transplant. Six died from GvHD, 8 interstitial pneumonia (3 CMV, 5 idiopathic), 2 other viral infections and 8 relapses. Conclusions: Early and sustained engraftment can be achieved and the incidence of GvHD reduced in haploidentical mismatched patients if a sufficiently large T-depleted inoculum is infused. Although the outcome depended, to an extent, on the stage of the disease, we feel that the results are encouraging enough to warrant modifying this regimen in an attempt to reduce the death rate

[en] Purpose: To evaluate the impact of the use of radiotherapy to preserve the renal graft in patients with recurrent graft rejection that failed to respond to medical treatment and identify risk factors to predict the probability of graft loss. Material and Methods: Between June 1989 and December 1995, 53 renal graft recipients were treated at our institution after experiencing several episodes of rejection. Rejection was defined as an unexplained, consecutive, daily rise in serum creatinine. Each episode was confirmed with renal biopsy. Patients who experienced rejection were initially treated with solu medrol bolus and prednisone. Patients with steroid-resistant or recurrent rejection received OKT3, polyclonal antilymphocyte antibody, FK506, or mycophenolate mofetil. Those who failed to respond to medical treatment were referred for radiotherapy. Treatment consisted of a dose of 600 cGy given in 3 or 4 fractions using 6 MV photons, AP or AP/PA. All patients underwent ultrasound kidney localization; a 2 cm margin was given around the kidney. Results: Median follow-up from the date of transplant to the last follow-up was 22 months (range 1-83 months), the median time from the date of transplant to the initiation of radiotherapy was 3 months, and the median time from the initiation of radiotherapy to the last follow up was 10 months (range 0.1 to 64 months). Of these 34 men and 19 women, median age of 3), Ninety-one percent were cadaveric transplant recipients., human leukocyte antigen matching on HLA-A and HLA-B (zero antigens in 26 patients/one or two shared antigens in 27 patients), HLA-DR locus (zero antigens in 34 patients/one or two shared antigens in 19 patients), transplant panel-reactive antibodies at transplantation (median PRA-Curr of 3% and median PRA-Max of 8%), number of acute rejection episodes, interval from the date of the transplant to the first rejection (median 1 month, range 5 days to 68 months), serum creatinine levels at the time of the first radiation treatment (median 4, range 1-22), number of transplants (one transplant in 77 %), and concomitant immunosuppressive therapy. Independent factors by the Cox regression model were: Sex (P=0.005), Creatinine levels (P=0.000), HLA-DR (P=0.05), PRA-Max > 70% (P=0.014). Each factor was scored using the integral coefficients to generate four different groups. The overall actuarial graft survival from the initiation of RT was 83% at 1 month, 60% at 1 year and 36% at 5 years. The Kaplan-Meier survival analyzed by groups seems to produce an interpretable separation of the risk factors for graft loss. The number of rejections of pre-RT range from 1-6 (median 2) and post-RT range from 0-3 (median 0). Conclusions: Our experience indicates that radiation therapy provides effective treatment for acute refractory renal allograft rejection. The response to radiation therapy in patients treated with acute refractory renal graft rejection can be predicted by a new scoring system