Effectiveness and safety of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 versus local bone graft in primary lumbar interbody fusions.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Objective: To compare clinical outcomes, fusion rates, and rates of complications in posterior lumbar interbody fusions (PLIFs) and transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion procedures with either recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) and local bone graft (LBG) or LBG alone used as graft material.

Summary Of Background Data: rhBMP-2 is often used in PLIF and transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion procedures, but is associated with complications.

Enhanced anger superiority effect in generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder.

People are typically faster and more accurate to detect angry compared to happy faces, which is known as the anger superiority effect. Many cognitive models of anxiety suggest anxiety disorders involve attentional biases towards threat, although the nature of these biases remains unclear. The present study used a Face-in-the-Crowd task to investigate the anger superiority effect in a control group and patients diagnosed with either generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) or panic disorder (PD).

Protection by methylproamine of irradiated human keratinocytes correlates with reduction of DNA damage.

Purpose: The therapeutic ratio for ionising radiation treatment of tumour is a trade-off between normal tissue side-effects and tumour control. Application of a radioprotector to normal tissue can reduce side-effects. Here we study the effects of a new radioprotector on the cellular response to radiation.

Organizational and individual factors associated with breakdown of residential placements for people with intellectual disabilities.

Background: People with intellectual disabilities (IDs) whose behaviour challenges services are at increased risk of placement breakdown. Most previous research has tended to focus on the role of individual characteristics in predicting breakdown. A small number of studies have suggested that service variables may impact on intervention effectiveness and hence placement breakdown.

Radioprotection by DNA ligands.

Molecular studies on the mechanism of radioprotection by Hoechst 33342 have suggested that radioprotective activity might be improved by addition of electron-donating substituents to the ligand. This paper reports the results of experiments with proamine, in which the ethoxy group of Hoechst 33342 has been replaced with a dimethylamino group. Clonogenic survival studies with V79 cells confirmed the expectation of increased radioprotective activity of proamine.

Aphidicolin synchronization of mouse L cells perturbs the relationship between cell killing and DNA double-strand breakage after X-irradiation.

Mouse L cells were synchronized in early S-phase by two 12 h incubations in medium containing aphidicolin (2 micrograms/ml), separated by 8 h in drug-free medium. The relationship between X-ray-induced cell killing and DNA double-strand breakage was then examined for cells that had entered S-phase, G2-phase, mitosis, and G1-phase following release from aphidicolin and was compared to the response of asynchronous cultures. Aphidicolin-synchronized cells showed cycle phase-dependent changes in their dose-responses for both killing and DNA dsb.

Enhanced induction by X-irradiation of DNA double-strand breakage in mitotic as compared with S-phase V79 cells.

A marked enhancement of X-ray-induced DNA double-strand breakage was demonstrated for mitotic Chinese hamster (V79) cells compared with S-phase cells or asynchronous cultures, which can explain the high radiosensitivity of mitotic cells. However, mitotic cells required twice the level of DNA double-strand breakage to produce a lethal lesion of that required for S-phase or asynchronous cells, suggesting that repair in mitotic cells is less error prone.