Ocular damage due to chlorhexidine versus eyeshield thermal injury.

Background: Ocular damage may occur from a number of mechanisms during laser use.

Objective: To review issues relevant to ocular protection during laser resurfacing.

Methods: The authors were consulted to evaluate the thermal energy transferred from the outer to the inner (ie, corneal contact) surface of stainless steel eyeshields following direct exposure to the carbon dioxide (CO2) resurfacing laser beam.

Clinical trial designs for cytostatic agents: are new approaches needed?

Preclinical data suggest that some new anticancer agents directed at novel targets demonstrate tumor growth inhibition but not tumor shrinkage. Such cytostatic agents may offer clinical benefits for patients in the absence of tumor shrinkage. In addition, lower doses of some of these agents may be just as effective as higher doses, implying that toxicity may not be an ideal end point for dose finding.

Short-pulse carbon dioxide laser resurfacing of the neck.

Background: Carbon dioxide (CO(2)) laser resurfacing of the face has become an increasingly popular procedure. However, laser resurfacing of the neck has been largely avoided because of fears of scarring or pigmentation changes.

Objective: Our purpose was to evaluate the efficacy of treatment and incidence of complications after short-pulse CO(2) laser resurfacing of the neck.

Occlusive dressing versus oxygen mist therapy following CO2 laser resurfacing.

Background: Oxygen is an essential element for collagen synthesis and reepithelialization. The use of topical oxygen after CO2 laser resurfacing has not been studied.

Objective: To compare the rate and quality of healing in wounds treated with an oxygen mist to those treated with occlusive dressing following CO2 laser resurfacing.

Risk assessment of renal cortical scarring with urinary tract infection by clinical features and ultrasonography.

Aims: To address some of the issues in the ongoing debate over the optimal diagnostic imaging following childhood urinary tract infection (UTI), by determining the risk of missing renal cortical scarring which would be detected on a technetium-99m dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) gold standard if ultrasound alone were used, factoring for clinical features (upper or lower tract), UTI recurrence, and age group (infants, preschool, or school age).

Methods: Details of UTI clinical features and recurrence were recorded for 990 children with a proven UTI, and their DMSA and ultrasound results were compared for each kidney.

Results: The risks of missing DMSA scarring varied between 0.

New guidelines to evaluate the response to treatment in solid tumors. European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer, National Cancer Institute of the United States, National Cancer Institute of Canada.

Anticancer cytotoxic agents go through a process by which their antitumor activity-on the basis of the amount of tumor shrinkage they could generate-has been investigated. In the late 1970s, the International Union Against Cancer and the World Health Organization introduced specific criteria for the codification of tumor response evaluation. In 1994, several organizations involved in clinical research combined forces to tackle the review of these criteria on the basis of the experience and knowledge acquired since then.

Phase I clinical trial design in cancer drug development.

The past decade has seen the publication of a number of new proposals for the design of phase I trials of anticancer agents. The purpose of these proposals has been to address ethical concerns about treating excessive numbers of patients at subtherapeutic doses of a new agent and to increase the overall efficiency of the process while enhancing the precision of the recommended phase II dose. In early 1998, a workshop of phase I investigators was held under the sponsorship of Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute (Wallingford, CT) to review the experience to date with novel phase I methodologies, with a particular focus on their efficiency and safety.

Lack of effects of nose-only inhalation exposure on testicular toxicity in male rats.

Reductions in testicular mass, sperm motility, and mating frequency have been attributed to the stresses caused by confinement of Sprague-Dawley male rats in nose-only inhalation exposure tubes. Testicular changes, including an increase in testicular atrophy, have been detected at an increased incidence in male rats used in inhalation studies as compared with rats of the same age and strain used in oral toxicity studies. This study was designed to determine whether nose-only exposure of male rats caused testicular toxicity under conditions of cooling of the exposure room and appropriate acclimation to the exposure tubes.

Delayed infections following full-face CO2 laser resurfacing and occlusive dressing use.

Background: Carbon dioxide (CO2) laser resurfacing has become an increasingly popular procedure for the treatment of facial rhytides and solar damage. Yet despite ongoing advancements in laser technology, CO2 laser resurfacing is still a risk-laden procedure that may lead to complications such as infection. Occlusive dressings increase the healing rate and decrease pain intensity in patients who receive full face laser resurfacing.

Developmental toxicity studies of four fragrances in rats.

Four fragrances, 6-acetyl-1,1,2,4,4,7-hexamethyltetraline (AHTN), 1,3,4,6,7,8-hexahydro-4,6,6,7,8,8-hexamethylcyclopenta-gamma-2-ben zopyran (HHCB), musk ketone and musk xylene were tested for developmental toxicity in Sprague-Dawley rats (25/group, 3 groups/fragrance, 2 fragrances/corn oil control). Dosages tested were HHCB: 50, 150, 500 mg/kg per day; AHTN: 5, 15, 50 mg/kg per day; musk ketone: 15, 45, 150 mg/kg per day; musk xylene: 20, 60, 200 mg/kg per day. All dosages tested exceeded multiples of the estimated maximal daily human dermal exposure.

Treatment of Hailey-Hailey disease (or benign familial pemphigus) using short pulsed and short dwell time carbon dioxide lasers.

Background: Surgical intervention of Hailey-Hailey disease (HHD) may be required to achieve prolonged remission or cure. Excisional surgery, dermabrasion, and continuous carbon dioxide (CO2) laser therapies have been utilized with success, though patients may experience considerable morbidity.

Objective: To evaluate the use of short pulsed and short dwell time CO2 lasers in the treatment of HHD.

Managing diet quality for cheddar cheese manufacturing milk. 2. Pasture v. grain supplements.

The effects of supplementing a basal diet of silage and hay with increasing amounts of harvested spring pasture, or with lupin and wheat, on the composition of milk and the consequent effects on cheese composition and yield were investigated in an indoor feeding study. Milk was collected from five groups of eight cows in mid lactation offered different diets and manufactured into Cheddar cheese on a pilot scale. Milk from cows given the lupin-wheat (LW) and the high pasture level (HP) diets produced low moisture cheese.

Managing diet quality for Cheddar cheese manufacturing milk. 1. The influence of protein and energy supplements.

The effects of supplementing cows' diets with protein and energy on milk composition and the composition and yield of Cheddar cheese were investigated. This research addresses the problems of seasonal reduction in the capacity of cheese curds to expel moisture as observed in parts of south-eastern Australia. Milk was collected from cows offered a basal diet of silage and hay supplemented with different sources and levels of dietary protein and energy.

Anticholinergic toxicity associated with lupine seeds as a home remedy for diabetes mellitus.

We describe a case of sparteine intoxication associated with using a preparation from lupine seeds. A female patient of Portuguese origin presented to the emergency department with classic anticholinergic signs after ingestion of a lupine seed extract. She took the preparation with the belief it represented a cure for her recently diagnosed diabetes.

Lack of developmental neurotoxicity of MN rgp 120/HIV-1 administered subcutaneously to neonatal rats.

The potential for neurotoxic effects was evaluated in rat off-spring after exposure in utero and/or during the neonatal period to a recombinant subunit vaccine of gp120 prepared from the MN strain of HIV-1 (MN rgp 120/HIV-1). Thirty pregnant female rats were given MN rgp120/HIV-1 with alum adjuvant, and 30 rats were given vehicle, once every 3 days from Day 1 of presumed gestation until parturition. One pup/sex/litter from treated and control group dams were given a daily subcutaneous injection, from Day 1 through Day 22 postpartum (PP) of vehicle, MN rgp120/HIV-1, MN rgp120/HIV-1 with alum, or MN rgp120/HIV-1 with QS-21 adjuvant.

Hair removal using the long-pulsed ruby laser.

The long-pulsed ruby laser is a faster, more effective method for the removal of unwanted hair compared to older, temporary techniques like shaving, waxing, and chemical depilation. It is the only laser approved by the FDA for permanent hair removal. Patients experience minimal pain and side effects, observe immediate hair growth delay, an increase in vellus hairs, and have the potential for permanent hair removal.

Measuring response in solid tumors: unidimensional versus bidimensional measurement.

Background: Tumor shrinkage is a common end point used in screening new cytotoxic agents. The standard World Health Organization criterion for partial response is a 50% or more decrease in the sum of the products of two measurements (the maximum diameter of a tumor and the largest diameter perpendicular to this maximum diameter) of individual tumors. However, theoretically, the simple sum of the maximum diameters of individual tumors is more linearly related to cell kill than is the sum of the bidimensional products.

Developing hypothalamic dopaminergic neurones as potential targets for environmental estrogens.

Environmental chemicals which mimic the actions of estrogen have the potential to affect any estrogen responsive tissue. The aim of the present study was to investigate their potential to mimic the effects of 17beta-estradiol (E2) on developing primary rat hypothalamic dopaminergic (DA) neurones maintained in a chemically defined medium. We now show that both E2 and octylphenol (OP), but not the non-aromatizable androgen, dihydrotestosterone, enhanced the uptake of [3H]DA by the cultured cells, whereas they had no effect on the uptake of [14C]GABA.

Variability in the uterotrophic response assay (an in vivo estrogenic response assay) in untreated control and positive control (DES-DP, 2.5 microG/kg, bid) Wistar and Sprague-Dawley rats.

Inclusion of biological outlier values was found to bias the results of rat uterotrophic assays towards false negatives, i.e., not identify uterotrophic effects in treated populations.