Monitoring response to radiotherapy in human squamous cell cancer bearing nude mice: comparison of 2'-deoxy-2'-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose (FDG) and 3'-[18F]fluoro-3'-deoxythymidine (FLT).

Objective: The uptake of 3'-[18F]fluoro-3'-deoxythymidine (FLT), a proliferation marker, was measured before and during fractionated radiotherapy to evaluate the potential of FLT-positron emission tomography (PET) imaging as an indicator of tumor response compared to 2'-deoxy-2'-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose (FDG).

Materials And Methods: Nude mice bearing established human head and neck xenografts (HNX-OE; nu/nu mice) were locally irradiated (three fractions/week; 22 Gy) using a 150-kVp unit. Multiple FDG- and FLT-PET scans were acquired during treatment.

Assessing the introduction of universal human papillomavirus vaccination for preadolescent girls in The Netherlands.

A persistent infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) is a prerequisite for the development of cervical cancer. Clinical trials with HPV-vaccines have been very successful in preventing persistent HPV16/18 infections, the two most oncogenic HPV-genotypes. We assessed the introduction of universal HPV-vaccination for preadolescent girls in the Dutch National Immunization Programme.

Haemodynamic changes in the second half of pregnancy: a longitudinal, noninvasive study with thoracic electrical bioimpedance.

Objective: Maternal cardiovascular adaptations to pregnancy are necessary for an adequate fetomaternal circulation. However, the time course of physiological haemodynamic changes during the second half of pregnancy remains unclear. Various methods, invasive and noninvasive, are described to measure these changes.

Serum CA-125 in relation to adnexal dysplasia and cancer in women at hereditary high risk of ovarian cancer.

Purpose: Serum CA-125 level is commonly used as indicator for ovarian cancer recurrence. However, its value for the prediction of neoplastic lesions is unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate whether CA-125 concentrations are indicative of adnexal dysplasia and cancer in women at hereditary high risk of ovarian/tubal cancer.

Activated intrinsic apoptosis pathway is a key related prognostic parameter in acute myeloid leukemia.

Purpose: By parallel assessment of multiple apoptosis-related transcripts, we aimed to refine the current concept of apoptosis resistance in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and identify the combination of genes best predicting overall survival (OS).

Patients And Methods: The reverse transcriptase multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification technique was used for simultaneous quantification of 31 apoptosis-related transcripts in viable (7AAD-/AnnexinV-) blasts (CD45dim) from bone marrow aspirates of 120 newly diagnosed AML patients. By forward selection, a prognosis-predicting gene expression profile was constructed.

Cost-effectiveness of human papillomavirus testing after treatment for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia.

Objective: To compare current cytological follow up of women treated for high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) with follow up by high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) testing together with cytology.

Design: A cost-effectiveness modelling study.

Setting: Gynaecology clinics in the Netherlands.

The contribution of HPV18 to cervical cancer is underestimated using high-grade CIN as a measure of screening efficiency.

In one geographical area, 14 high-risk human papillomavirus types in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN2/3; n=139) and cervical squamous cell carcinoma (SCC; n=84) were analysed. HPV18 was more prevalent in SCC than CIN2/3 (OR 9.8; 95% confidence interval: 2.

High-risk HPV type-specific clearance rates in cervical screening.

We assessed clearance rates of 14 high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) types in hrHPV-positive women with normal cytology and borderline/mild dyskaryosis (BMD) in a population-based cervical screening cohort of 44,102 women. The 6-month hrHPV type-specific clearance rates, that is, clearance of the same type as detected at baseline, in women with normal and BMD smears were 43% (95% confidence interval (CI) 39-47) and 29% (95% CI 24-34), respectively. Corresponding 18-month clearance rates were markedly higher, namely 65% (95% CI 60-69) and 41% (95% CI 36-47), respectively.

Anti-inflammatory agents and monoHER protect against DOX-induced cardiotoxicity and accumulation of CML in mice.

Cardiac damage is the major limiting factor for the clinical use of doxorubicin (DOX). Preclinical studies indicate that inflammatory effects may be involved in DOX-induced cardiotoxicity. Nepsilon-(carboxymethyl) lysine (CML) is suggested to be generated subsequent to oxidative stress, including inflammation.

Human papillomavirus testing on self-sampled cervicovaginal brushes: an effective alternative to protect nonresponders in cervical screening programs.

Women not attending cervical screening programs are at increased risk of cervical cancer. We investigated in these nonresponders to what extent offering self-sampling devices for cervicovaginal brushes for high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) testing would induce participation and, if so, what the yield of precursor (i.e.

HPV16 and increased risk of recurrence after treatment for CIN.

Objective: Addition of high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) testing to post-treatment monitoring policies of women treated for high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) may improve the effectiveness of detecting recurrent/residual disease. Recent studies have shown that HPV type 16 confers an increased risk of high-grade CIN and cervical cancer. This study aimed to find out whether the post-treatment CIN3 rate is increased in HPV16-positive women treated for CIN3.

Regional underreporting of associated congenital anomalies in cleft patients in the Netherlands.

Objective: The Dutch Cleft Palate Association (DCPA) registers all patients with cleft lip or palate and associated congenital anomalies in the Netherlands. The aim of this study was to assess if early registration of cleft patients leads to underreporting of associated congenital anomalies and, if so, whether reregistration is necessary.

Methods: The DCPA registration of the birth cohort 1997 to 2001 was compared with the medical files of these cleft patients for prevalence, type, and moment of registration of associated congenital anomalies.

Classification of multiple sclerosis patients by latent class analysis of magnetic resonance imaging characteristics.

Background: Disease heterogeneity is a major issue in multiple sclerosis (MS). Classification of MS patients is usually based on clinical characteristics. More recently, a pathological classification has been presented.

Cross-sectional comparison of an automated hybrid capture 2 assay and the consensus GP5+/6+ PCR method in a population-based cervical screening program.

In this cross-sectional study, clinical performances of the hybrid capture 2 assay using an automated instrument (i.e., rapid capture system) (hc2-RCS) and the high-risk human papillomavirus GP5+/6+ PCR-enzyme immunoassay (EIA) test were compared using cervical scrape specimens from 8,132 women that participated in a population-based screening trial.

Diurnal mood variation in major depressive disorder.

Depression disturbs mood, but a clear picture of diurnal mood rhythms in depression has yet to emerge. This study examined variations in positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA), two dimensions of mood that generate diurnal patterns among healthy individuals. Repeated measurements of NA and PA in daily life were obtained over 6 days from 47 depressed outpatients and 39 healthy individuals using the Experience Sampling Method.

Microvessel density and p53 in detecting cervical cancer by FDG PET in cases of suspected recurrence.

Purpose: Cervical cancer is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer in women worldwide. About one-third of patients experience recurrent disease. A better chance of survival might be achieved by the early detection of recurrent cervical cancer.

Human papillomavirus type-specific 18-month risk of high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia in women with a normal or borderline/mildly dyskaryotic smear.

Introduction: High-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) DNA testing is an increasingly used instrument in cervical cancer prevention along cervical cytology. The inclusion of hrHPV testing in cervical screening requires efficient management as many hrHPV infections are transient. We investigated the potential value of hrHPV genotyping in normal and borderline/mildly dyskaryotic (BMD) smears.

High concordance of results of testing for human papillomavirus in cervicovaginal samples collected by two methods, with comparison of a novel self-sampling device to a conventional endocervical brush.

A user-friendly self-sampling method for collecting representative cervical cell material would lower the threshold for women to respond to the invitation for cervical screening. In the present article, we introduce such a device; we have evaluated its sensitivity and specificity to detect high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), via high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) detection and liquid-based cytology (LBC), compared to endocervical brush samples obtained by gynecologists. Women who had a cervical smear reading of moderate dyskaryosis or worse or a repeat equivocal Pap smear result in the cervical screening program (n=64) and healthy volunteers (n=32) took a self-obtained sample at home prior to their visit to the gynecological outpatient department.

Mood reactivity to daily negative events in early adolescence: relationship to risk for psychopathology.

Emotional responses to negative daily experiences in young adolescents may provide important clues to the development of psychopathology, but research is lacking. This study assessed momentary mood reactivity to daily events as a function of risk profile in a school sample, ages 11-14. High-risk (HR, n=25) and low-risk (LR, n=106) subgroups completed frequent self-reports of mood and events for 5 days.

Low prevalence of (pre) malignant lesions in the breast and high prevalence in the ovary and Fallopian tube in women at hereditary high risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

To analyse the prevalence of (pre) malignant lesions occurring in breast and adnexal tissue at prophylactic surgery in women at hereditary high risk of breast and/or ovarian cancers. Tissue was obtained from 85 women who underwent prophylactic bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (pBSO) and from 59 women who underwent prophylactic mastectomy (pM). Control tissue samples were obtained from women undergoing breast reduction surgery (N = 99) or adnexal surgery for benign reasons (N = 72).

Analysing the effect of candidate genes on complex traits: an application in multiple sclerosis.

The conventional approach of candidate gene studies in complex diseases is to look at the effect of one gene at a time. However, as the outcome of chronic diseases is influenced by a large number of alleles, simultaneous analysis is needed. We demonstrate the application of multivariate regression and cluster analysis to a multiple sclerosis (MS) dataset with genotypes for 489 patients at 11 candidate genes selected on their involvement in the immune response.

Determination of viral load thresholds in cervical scrapings to rule out CIN 3 in HPV 16, 18, 31 and 33-positive women with normal cytology.

An increased high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) viral load in cervical scrapings has been proposed as a determinant for high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and cervical cancer (> or =CIN 2), but data so far for HPV types different from HPV 16 are limited and inconsistent. In addition, a viral load threshold to distinguish hrHPV positive women without > or =CIN 2 still has not been defined. Here, we used baseline cervical scrapings of women with normal cytology participating in a large population-based cervical screening trial (i.

Presence of high-risk human papillomavirus DNA in penile carcinoma predicts favorable outcome in survival.

There is evidence that a subset of penile carcinomas is caused by infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV). However, extensive studies on the possible influence of HPV infection on clinical outcome of penile cancer are lacking. This investigation is aimed to examine the prevalence of high-risk HPV in a large series of penile squamous-cell carcinomas (SCCs) and to determine the relationship between HPV and survival.

The influence of the time interval between monoHER and doxorubicin administration on the protection against doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity in mice.

Purpose: Despite its well-known cardiotoxicity, the anthracyclin doxorubicin (DOX) continues to be an effective and widely used chemotherapeutic agent. DOX-induced cardiac damage presumably results from the formation of free radicals by DOX. Reactive oxygen species particularly affect the cardiac myocytes because these cells seem to have a relatively poor antioxidant defense system.