Bone Marrow

Antibodies continuously secreted by plasma cells play a central role in humoral immune protection of the organism. These plasma cells are generated during the germinal center reaction, and it is likely that they here acquire the potential to develop into long-lived cells. To achieve longevity, these cells require factors provided by the microenvironment. Indeed, only a few of the plasmablasts arising during an immune response will differentiate into mature plasma cells, which may survive for decades in specialized survival niches in the bone marrow.

Heterozygous mutations of the human telomerase RNA template gene (TERC) have been described in patients with acquired aplastic anemia and the autosomal dominant form of dyskeratosis congenita (DKC). Patients with mutations in both TERC alleles have not yet been reported. Here, we report a patient with DKC who inherited 2 distinct TERC sequence variants from her parents; a deletion (216_229del) in one and a point mutation (37A>G) in the other allele of the TERC gene. Her marrow was hypocellular and showed an abnormal clone [46, XX t(7;21)(q34;q22)].

A neurophysiological hypothesis for hypnosis is suggested. Frequently, a hypnotic state is considered close to sleep. Experiments show that it closer to wakefulness, that attention is present and, at times, increased. Physiological changes under hypnosis, changes in suggestibility, conditionability, memory, visceral and endocrine changes, are outlined.

This study provided a differential comparison of the efficacy of standardized instruction in hypnosis or active cognitive strategy for provision of relief from procedurally induced pain and anxiety. Subjects were instructed to self-direct in the use of strategies during medical procedures. Twenty pediatric oncology patients participated in the study. They were not informed that hypnosis was one of the strategies. Subjects were screened for hypnotizability and randomly assigned to treatments. Demographic data were collected.

Children with cancer often have difficulty coping with the invasive medical procedures that are part of diagnosis and treatment. Bone marrow aspirations and lumbar punctures are painful and cause some children severe anxiety and distress. The increased risk and expense of general anesthesia and the relative ineffectiveness of sedatives and anxiolytics has prompted clinicians to examine nonpharmacologic methods for controlling pain and distress.

Pain and anxiety are closely associated with bone marrow aspirates and biopsies. To determine whether hypnosis administered concurrently with the procedure can ameliorate these morbidities, the authors randomly assigned 80 cancer patients undergoing bone marrow aspirates and biopsies to either hypnosis or standard of care. The hypnosis intervention reduced the anxiety associated with procedure, but the difference in pain scores between the two groups was not statistically significant.

Information available on the mutagenicity of a large number of indigenous drugs commonly employed in the Siddha and Ayurveda systems of medicine is scanty. In this context, the current investigation on plumbagin, 5-hydroxy-2methyl-1,4-napthoquinone, an active principle in the roots of Plumbago zeylanica used in Siddha and Ayurveda for various ailments, was carried out; 16 mg/kg b.w. (LD(50)) was fixed as the maximum dose.

Tinospora cordifolia is one of the indispensable medicinal plants used in veterinary folk medicine/Ayurvedic system of medicine for the treatment of diverse diseases and recommended for improving the immune system by means of body resistance. In the current study, we evaluated the genotoxic risk of the aqueous extract of T. cordifolia (TC) in a battery of four different genotoxicity tests viz., Ames, in vitro chromosome aberration (CA), rodent bone marrow micronucleus (MN), and Comet assay.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Leptadenia reticulata (Retz) Wight & arn is mentioned in the ancient ayurvedic literature as an immune booster and rejuvenator. AIMS OF THE STUDY: To investigate, the effects of different forms of the extract of Leptadenia reticulata [Aqueous extract (JAE), Padavashesha kashaya (JPK) and Tarpana kashaya (JTK)] to alleviate the experimental immunosuppression induced by the immunotoxicant chromate (VI) in vitro.

Cinnamic acid (C9H8O2), is a major constituent of the oriental Ayurvedic plant Cinnamomum cassia (Family: Lauraceae). This phenolic acid has been reported to possess various pharmacological properties of which its antioxidant activity is a prime one. Therefore it is rational to hypothesize that it may ameliorate myelosuppression and oxidative stress induced by cyclophosphamide, a widely used chemotherapeutic agent.