An audit of continuous EEG monitoring in the neurological-neurosurgical intensive care unit.

Purpose: The use of long-term continuous EEG (cEEG) monitoring in neurological-neurosurgical intensive care units (NSICU) has witnessed an exponential increase. We decided to do an audit of the long-term cEEG monitoring in our NSICU over the past 7 years (2005-2011). The study was performed to determine technical and staffing consideration for the future.

Multiple ischemic strokes after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma with a radiographic and pathological correlate.

Introduction: Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) is a widely used form of therapy in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. We report the first pathological data from an autopsy case of multiple cerebral emboli occurring during TACE.

Methods: A Medline search for previous cases of cerebral embolism and TACE revealed 11 other cases.

Immediate consequences of respiratory events in sleep disordered breathing.

Background: In obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome, immediate physiological consequences of events have a dual role: censoring artifacts and gauging physiological significance. Newer airflow monitors may have changed the relative importance of these functions. The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency and hierarchy of occurrence of oxygen desaturation, EEG arousal and heart rate changes as immediate consequences of respiratory events.

Differential recruitment of caspase 8 to cFlip confers sensitivity or resistance to Fas-mediated apoptosis in a subset of familial lymphoma patients.

Resistance to Fas-mediated apoptosis (FMA) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of hematologic malignancies. Recently, a collaborative study showed that germline Fas mutations represent a genetic risk factor for the development of Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Here, we report that transformed B cell lines from familial lymphoma patients show a range of sensitivity to Fas-mediated apoptosis with lymphocytes from two patients with a marked resistance to Fas-, but not p53-mediated cell death.

BRCA1 and BRCA2 germline mutations in lymphoma patients.

Mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 tumor suppressor genes are associated with an increased risk for breast and ovarian cancers as well as other types of malignancies. The observation of a germline BRCA1 mutation in an index case with a lymphoid neoplasm in the setting of a family history of breast cancer prompted us to explore the role of BRCA germline mutations as lymphoma susceptibility alleles. A panel of 286 DNA samples from Jewish lymphoma patients was analyzed for the three most frequent BRCA1 and BRCA2 germline mutations in those of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, and compared to a cohort of 5010 DNA samples from healthy controls.

A636P is associated with early-onset colon cancer in Ashkenazi Jews.

Background: Hereditary predisposition to colorectal cancer most often manifests itself as familial adenomatous polyposis from mutations of APC, or hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer, resulting from mutations of MSH2, MLH1, MSH6, or other genes. Previously, we described a rare founder mutation MSH2*1906C > G in Ashkenazi Jews that was found in 8 of 1,345 individuals (0.6%) of Ashkenazi descent with colorectal cancer.

Frequency of CHEK2*1100delC in New York breast cancer cases and controls.

Background: The 1100delC CHEK2 allele has been associated with a 1.4-4.7 fold increased risk for breast cancer in women carrying this mutation.