Valuation of open space and conservation features in residential subdivisions.

Conservation subdivision design has been promoted as a way to protect ecologically sensitive areas while maintaining housing densities comparable to standard subdivisions, but many developers and planners question the appeal of conservation design to consumers. This study was conducted to compare economic aspects of conservation subdivision design to standard subdivision design in the midwestern United States. Three methods were used to determine the value homebuyers have for embedded conservation features in residential areas: transactional analyses (to indicate the value homebuyers have expressed for such features in the past); hedonic analyses (to determine the proportion of present value of homes attributable to such features); and contingent valuation (to examine willingness to pay according to homebuyers' preferred features, an indicator of potential future investment).

A prospective study of cigarette smoking and risk of incident hypertension in women.

Objectives: We undertook this study to prospectively evaluate whether cigarette smoking was associated with an increased risk of developing hypertension.

Background: Smoking is a well-recognized risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Few prospective cohort studies have examined the relationship between smoking and hypertension.

Blood pressure measures and risk of chronic kidney disease in men.

Background: High blood pressure (BP) has been associated with a decrease in kidney function. However, it remains unclear which BP measure best predicts impaired kidney function.

Methods: We compared systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), pulse pressure (PP) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) in predicting risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Eight-year change in body mass index and subsequent risk of cardiovascular disease among healthy non-smoking men.

Objective: To determine how change in BMI over 8 years is associated with risk of subsequent cardiovascular disease (CVD) among middle aged men.

Methods: Prospective cohort study among 13,230 healthy men (aged 51.6+/-8.

Molecular profiling of hematopoietic stem cells.

Gene expression profiling using microarrays is a powerful method for studying the biology of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Here, we present methods for activating HSCs with the chemotherapeutic drug 5-Fluorouracil, isolating HSCs from whole bone marrow, and performing microarray analysis. We also discuss quality control criteria for identifying good arrays and bioinformatics strategies for analyzing them.

Prostaglandin E2 regulates vertebrate haematopoietic stem cell homeostasis.

Haematopoietic stem cell (HSC) homeostasis is tightly controlled by growth factors, signalling molecules and transcription factors. Definitive HSCs derived during embryogenesis in the aorta-gonad-mesonephros region subsequently colonize fetal and adult haematopoietic organs. To identify new modulators of HSC formation and homeostasis, a panel of biologically active compounds was screened for effects on stem cell induction in the zebrafish aorta-gonad-mesonephros region.

A functional fatiguing protocol and deceleration time of the shoulder from an internal rotation perturbation.

Context: Muscular fatigue impedes sensorimotor function and may increase the risk of shoulder injury during activity. The effects of fatigue on the sensorimotor system of the shoulder have been studied with various results. Deceleration times have been used to study neuromuscular control of the shoulder; however, no studies involving the effects of fatigue on deceleration times have been reported.

Evidence for diversity in transcriptional profiles of single hematopoietic stem cells.

Hematopoietic stem cells replenish all the cells of the blood throughout the lifetime of an animal. Although thousands of stem cells reside in the bone marrow, only a few contribute to blood production at any given time. Nothing is known about the differences between individual stem cells that dictate their particular state of activation readiness.

Blood pressure measures and risk of total, ischemic, and hemorrhagic stroke in men.

Objective: To evaluate which blood pressure measure is the best predictor of risk of total, ischemic, and hemorrhagic stroke.

Methods: The authors used a prospective cohort study among 11,466 men followed for incident stroke during a median of 19.4 years in the Physicians' Health Study.

Homocysteine and risk of developing hypertension in men.

In cross-sectional studies, elevated homocysteine levels are associated with higher blood pressure, but it remains unclear whether plasma homocysteine is a risk factor for hypertension. In a prospective nested case-control study, participants who developed hypertension (n=396) had significantly higher levels of baseline plasma homocysteine (12.6 mol/l) than matched controls (11.

Effect of age on blood pressure parameters and risk of cardiovascular death in men.

Background: Elevated blood pressure (BP) is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), but it remains unclear which component-alone or in combination-is the best predictor. We sought to determine which BP parameters are important predictors of CVD death across a wide age range.

Methods: We used a prospective cohort study design with 53,163 men followed for cause-specific death during a median of 5.

Activation of stat3 in primary tumors from high-risk breast cancer patients is associated with elevated levels of activated SRC and survivin expression.

Purpose: Constitutive activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) protein has been observed in a wide variety of tumors, including breast cancer, and contributes to oncogenesis at least in part by prevention of apoptosis. In a study of 45 patients with high-risk breast cancer enrolled in a phase II neoadjuvant chemotherapy trial with docetaxel and doxorubicin, we evaluated the levels of Stat3 activation and potentially associated molecular biomarkers in invasive breast carcinoma compared with matched nonneoplastic tissues.

Experimental Design: Using immunohistochemistry and image analysis, we quantified the levels of phospho-Stat3 (pY-Stat3), phospho-Src (pY-Src), epidermal growth factor receptor, HER2/neu, Ki-67, estrogen receptor, Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, Survivin, and apoptosis in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections from invasive carcinomas and their paired nonneoplastic parenchyma.

Persistent activation of stat3 signaling induces survivin gene expression and confers resistance to apoptosis in human breast cancer cells.

Purpose: Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) protein is persistently activated in breast cancer and promotes tumor cell survival. To gain a better understanding of the role of constitutive Stat3 signaling in breast cancer progression, we evaluated the expression profile of potential Stat3-regulated genes that may confer resistance to apoptosis.

Experimental Design: Stat3 signaling was blocked with antisense oligonucleotides in human MDA-MB-435s breast cancer cells and Affymetrix GeneChip microarray analysis was done.

Differential mRNA processing in hematopoietic stem cells.

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) maintain tissue homeostasis by rapidly responding to environmental changes. Although this function is well understood, the molecular mechanisms governing this characteristic are largely unknown. We used a sequenced-based strategy to explore the role of both transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation in HSC biology.

Nuchal cord management and nurse-midwifery practice.

Nuchal cord, or cord around the neck of an infant at birth, is a common finding that has implications for labor, management at birth, and subsequent neonatal status. A nuchal cord occurs in 20% to 30% of births. All obstetric providers need to learn management techniques to handle the birth of an infant with a nuchal cord.

JNC 7 category and risk of cardiovascular death in men: are there differences by age?

The authors evaluated the seventh report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC 7) blood pressure classification scheme on the risk of cardiovascular disease death and whether the association varies by age. In a prospective cohort study, 53,163 apparently healthy participants aged 39-85 years were followed for 5.7 years.

Cholesterol and the risk of ischemic stroke.

Background And Purpose: Large epidemiological studies have not established cholesterol levels as a risk factor for ischemic stroke, but recent clinical trials have demonstrated a reduction in the ischemic stroke rate for patients taking HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors ("statins"). The goal of this study was to evaluate whether total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), triglycerides, and the TC:HDL ratio are risk factors for ischemic stroke in apparently healthy men enrolled in the Physicians' Health Study.

Methods: We used a nested case-control study design and matched 296 ischemic stroke cases with an equal number of controls on age, tobacco use, and follow-up time.

Satisfaction with onychomycosis treatment. Pulse versus continuous dosing.

The purpose of this study, which involved two dermatology clinics and two podiatric medical clinics, was to determine whether a difference exists in patient-reported satisfaction and compliance between continuous terbinafine therapy and pulse-dose itraconazole therapy for the treatment of toenail onychomycosis. Patients in this multicenter, open-label, cross-sectional study had previously completed treatment with either oral terbinafine or oral itraconazole for toenail onychomycosis. Patients were interviewed by telephone to assess clinical outcomes, compliance, and satisfaction with treatment; clinical data were collected by medical chart review.

Constitutive activation of Stat3 in human prostate tumors and cell lines: direct inhibition of Stat3 signaling induces apoptosis of prostate cancer cells.

Signal transducers and activators of transcription (STATs) were identified originally as key components of cytokine signaling pathways. More recently, constitutive activation of STAT proteins has been detected in a wide variety of human tumor specimens and tumor cell lines. Here, we examined the activation of one STAT family member, Stat3, in human prostate cancer cell lines and primary prostate tumors.

Roles of activated Src and Stat3 signaling in melanoma tumor cell growth.

Activation of protein tyrosine kinases is prevalent in human cancers and previous studies have demonstrated that Stat3 signaling is a point of convergence for many of these tyrosine kinases. Moreover, a critical role for constitutive activation of Stat3 in tumor cell proliferation and survival has been established in diverse cancers. However, the oncogenic signaling pathways in melanoma cells remain to be fully defined.

Higher prevalence of smoking in patients diagnosed as having obstructive sleep apnea.

Nightly nicotine withdrawal as well as other respiratory and pulmonary effects of smoking may result in sleep-disordered breathing, especially obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). We hypothesize that there is higher prevalence of smoking in patients with OSA. We also hypothesize that smoking is an independent risk factor for OSA.

Transverse patterning reveals a dissociation of simple and configural association learning abilities in rats with 192 IgG-saporin lesions of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis.

This experiment tests the hypothesis that the cholinergic nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM) is necessary for complex or configural association learning, but not elemental or simple association learning. Male Long-Evans rats with bilateral 192 IgG-saporin lesions of the NBM (n = 12) and sham-operated controls (n = 8) were tested in the transverse patterning problem, which provides a test of both simple and configural association learning. Rats were trained in phases to concurrently solve first one, then two, and finally three different visual discriminations; Problem 1 (A+ vs B- sign) and Problem 2 (B+ vs C-) could be solved using simple associations, whereas solving Problem 3 (C+ vs A-) required the ability to form configural associations.

Adenosine rinse in human orthotopic liver transplantation: results of a randomized, double-blind trial.

Objective: The study was aimed at determining whether the vasodilator, adenosine, shown to produce dramatic improvement in liver graft and animal acute and long-term survival, would be beneficial in human liver transplantation.

Methods: A prospective, randomized, double-blind trial of an adenosine rinse preservation solution in human orthotopic liver transplantation (OLTX) was conducted in 43 consecutive transplants. Intraoperative and postoperative care was performed by a single transplant team utilizing a quadruple drug immunosuppressive protocol, with complete 5-year patient follow-up.

Constitutive activation of Stat3 by the Src and JAK tyrosine kinases participates in growth regulation of human breast carcinoma cells.

Constitutive activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) proteins has been detected in a wide variety of human primary tumor specimens and tumor cell lines including blood malignancies, head and neck cancer, and breast cancer. We have previously demonstrated a high frequency of Stat3 DNA-binding activity that is constitutively-induced by an unknown mechanism in human breast cancer cell lines possessing elevated EGF receptor (EGF-R) and c-Src kinase activities. Using tyrosine kinase selective inhibitors, we show here that Src and JAK family tyrosine kinases cooperate to mediate constitutive Stat3 activation in the absence of EGF stimulation in model human breast cancer cell lines.

Stat3-mediated Myc expression is required for Src transformation and PDGF-induced mitogenesis.

Signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) proteins perform key roles in mediating signaling by cytokines and growth factors, including platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). In addition, Src family kinases activate STAT signaling and are required for PDGF-induced mitogenesis in normal cells. One STAT family member, Stat3, has been shown to have an essential role in cell transformation by the Src oncoprotein.