Early Palliative Care for the Geriatric Patient with Cancer.

Older adults with cancer present with complex multidimensional problems. Therefore, early integration of palliative care for the older adult with cancer is important, and a multidisciplinary team approach is critical for optimum care. The importance of incorporating geriatric and palliative concerns in assessment, as well as early involvement of the multidisciplinary team, is discussed as a manner of addressing the needs of older adults with cancer.

Severity of burn injury and sepsis determines the cytokine responses of bone marrow progenitor-derived macrophages.

Background: Although thermal injury and sepsis result in enhanced monocytopoiesis, the functional characteristics of macrophages that develop in the microenvironment of burn and sepsis are unknown. Here we compare cytokine responses of bone marrow progenitor-derived macrophages (BMO) and peritoneal macrophages (PMO) after graded levels of thermal injury and sepsis.

Methods: Mice were randomly divided into sham (S), burn (B), and burn sepsis (BS) groups.

Mifepristone-induced cervical ripening: structural, biomechanical, and molecular events.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the structural, biomechanical, and biochemical effects of mifepristone-induced progesterone withdrawal on the rat cervix to identify possible mechanisms by which mifepristone incites cervical ripening.

Study Design: After the administration of mifepristone, cervical tensile strength was determined by the cervical creep method. With polarized light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, collagen organization and microstructure were quantified.