White matter reorganization after surgical resection of brain tumors and vascular malformations.

Background And Purpose: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and white matter tractography (WMT) are promising techniques for estimating the course, extent, and connectivity patterns of the white matter (WM) structures in the human brain. In this study, DTI and WMT were used to evaluate WM tract reorganization after the surgical resection of brain tumors and vascular malformations.

Methods: Pre- and postoperative DTI data were obtained in 6 patients undergoing surgical resection of brain lesions.

Can school income and racial/ethnic composition explain the racial/ethnic disparity in adolescent physical activity participation?

Objective: Our goal was to determine if racial/ethnic disparities in adolescent boys' and girls' physical activity participation exist and persist once the school attended is considered.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of 17,007 teens in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Using multivariate linear regression, we examined the association between adolescent self-reported physical activity and individual race/ethnicity stratified by gender, controlling for a wide range of sociodemographic, attitudinal, behavioral, and health factors.

Comparison of diffusion tensor imaging measurements at 3.0 T versus 1.5 T with and without parallel imaging.

The diffusion properties of biological tissues are independent of magnetic field strength. Field strength, however, does affect the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and artifacts of diffusion-weighted (DW) images, which ultimately will influence the quantitative and spatial accuracy of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). In this article, the effects of field strength on DTI are reviewed.

Frequent tanning bed use, weight concerns, and other health risk behaviors in adolescent females (United States).

Objective: To examine the association between tanning bed use and weight concerns, health risk behaviors, and peer influence.

Methods: The Growing Up Today Study (GUTS) is an ongoing prospective cohort study of adolescents established in 1996. In 1999, a total of 6,373 adolescent females ages 12-18 (offspring of participants in the Nurses Health Study 2) completed the survey.

Myelin water fraction in human cervical spinal cord in vivo.

The noninvasive discrimination of myelin disease from axonal loss and other pathologic confounds remains an unsolved problem in multiple sclerosis but may be possible through magnetic resonance quantitation of the intramyelinic water compartment. Technical challenges have limited the study of this approach in the spinal cord, a common site of involvement in multiple sclerosis. This technical note reports the test-retest reproducibility of a short T2-based estimate of myelin content in human spinal cord in vivo.

Evaluation of acid phosphatase as a confirmation test for Clostridium perfringens isolated from water.

Aims: To evaluate testing for acid phosphatase as an alternative method for the confirmation of Clostridium perfringens isolated from water.

Methods And Results: Sixty-two reference strains of Clostridium were tested for their ability to produce acid phosphatase, as well as reduction of sulfite on tryptose sulfite cycloserine agar (TSC) and production of fluorescence in TSC supplemented with 4-methylumbelliferylphosphate (MUP). Additionally 155 environmental presumptive C.

The effects of verbal information on children's fear beliefs about social situations.

Two experiments explored the role of verbal information in changing children's fear-related beliefs about social situations. In Experiment 1, 118 6- to 8- and 12- to 13-year-olds heard positive, negative, or no information about individuals' experiences of three social situations. Fear beliefs regarding each situation were assessed before and after this manipulation.

Is conditioning a useful framework for understanding the development and treatment of phobias?

Despite the prevalence of therapeutic interventions based on conditioning models of fear acquisition, conditioning has been seen by many as a poor explanation of how fears develop: partly because research on conditioning has become less mainstream and models of learning have become increasingly more complex. This article reviews some of what is now known about conditioning/associative learning and describes how these findings account for some early criticisms of conditioning models of fear acquisition. It also describes how pathways to fear such as vicarious learning and fear information can be conceptualised as forms of associative learning that obey the same learning rules.

A two-phase study model for the standardization of HER2 immunohistochemical assay on invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast.

Objectives: To develop and verify a standardized protocol for HER2 immunohistochemical assays on invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast in Thailand.

Material And Method: A two-phase study approach was employed. In the Phase One, after verifying the proposed protocol that adopted the HercepTest procedure using readily available primary antibodies, CB11 and A0485, Lab 1 performed the HER2 immunohistochemical staining for 137 cases of invasive ductal carcinoma twice with two types of the antibody.

Principal diffusion direction in peritumoral fiber tracts: Color map patterns and directional statistics.

The ability of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to probe the ultrastructural properties of biological tissues presents new possibilities for DTI-based tissue characterization, with the potential for greater pathologic specificity than conventional imaging methods. This is urgently needed in the diagnosis and treatment of cerebral neoplasms, where clinical decisions depend on the ability to discriminate tumor-involved from uninvolved tissue, a major shortcoming of conventional imaging. Several investigators have attempted to make this determination on the basis of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) or the fractional anisotropy (FA), with mixed results.

Is the meta-analysis of correlation coefficients accurate when population correlations vary?

One conceptualization of meta-analysis is that studies within the meta-analysis are sampled from populations with mean effect sizes that vary (random-effects models). The consequences of not applying such models and the comparison of different methods have been hotly debated. A Monte Carlo study compared the efficacy of Hedges and Vevea's random-effects methods of meta-analysis with Hunter and Schmidt's, over a wide range of conditions, as the variability in population correlations increases.

Advances in locally constrained k-space-based parallel MRI.

In this article, several theoretical and methodological developments regarding k-space-based, locally constrained parallel MRI (pMRI) reconstruction are presented. A connection between Parallel MRI with Adaptive Radius in k-Space (PARS) and GRAPPA methods is demonstrated. The analysis provides a basis for unified treatment of both methods.

Breast-feeding and overweight in adolescence: within-family analysis [corrected].

Background: Previous reports have found associations between having been breast-fed and a reduced risk of being overweight. These associations may be confounded by sociocultural determinants of both breast-feeding and obesity. We addressed this possibility by assessing the association of breast-feeding duration with adolescent obesity within sibling sets.

Weight concerns and weight control behaviors of adolescents and their mothers.

Objective: To assess the association between weight concerns and weight control practices of adolescents and their mothers.

Design And Participants: Cross-sectional study of 5331 adolescent girls and 3881 adolescent boys (age range, 11.8-18.

Postural hallucinations? An unusual presentation of anaemia.

The case of a 14 year old girl is reported, referred to Child Psychiatry with tearfulness and possible auditory hallucinations. Closer questioning revealed a history of low energy, sleeping excessively without refreshment, exertional dyspnoea, and poor growth. Psychologically, there was no evidence of low mood or negative cognitions despite the inexplicable tearfulness.

Association of consumption of fried food away from home with body mass index and diet quality in older children and adolescents.

Objectives: Rates of overweight have increased dramatically among children in the United States. Although an increase in consumption of food prepared away from home has paralleled overweight trends, few data exist relating food prepared away from home to change in BMI in children. The goals of this study were to (1) examine the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between consumption of fried foods away from home (FFA) and BMI and (2) examine the cross-sectional associations between intake of FFA and several measures of diet quality.

Lymphoid neogenesis in chronic rejection: evidence for a local humoral alloimmune response.

Recent advances indicate that, in various chronic inflammatory disorders, the activation of the immune system is triggered locally rather than in lymphoid organs. In this study, we have evaluated whether the humoral alloimmune response involved in chronic rejection is elicited within the graft. We used the rat aortic interposition model and microdissected the adventitia of the graft.

Exposure to the mass media, body shape concerns, and use of supplements to improve weight and shape among male and female adolescents.

Objective: To assess the prevalence and correlates of products used to improve weight and shape among male and female adolescents.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted of 6212 girls and 4237 boys who were 12 to 18 years of age and enrolled in the ongoing Growing Up Today Study. The outcome measure was at least weekly use of any of the following products to improve appearance, muscle mass, or strength: protein powder or shakes, creatine, amino acids/hydroxy methylbutyrate (HMB), dehydroepiandrosterone, growth hormone, or anabolic/injectable steroids.

Family dinner and adolescent overweight.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine both cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between frequency of family dinner and overweight status in a large sample of 9- to 14-year-old children.

Research Methods And Procedures: We studied a cohort of 7784 girls and 6647 boys, 9 to 14 years of age at baseline in 1996, participating in the Growing Up Today Study. From annual mailed surveys, we calculated BMI from self-reported height and weight and assessed frequency of family dinner over the previous year.

Overexpression of LMO4 induces mammary hyperplasia, promotes cell invasion, and is a predictor of poor outcome in breast cancer.

The zinc finger protein LMO4 is overexpressed in a high proportion of breast carcinomas. Here, we report that overexpression of a mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV)-Lmo4 transgene in the mouse mammary gland elicits hyperplasia and mammary intraepithelial neoplasia or adenosquamous carcinoma in two transgenic strains with a tumor latency of 13-18 months. To investigate cellular processes controlled by LMO4 and those that may be deregulated during oncogenesis, we used RNA interference.

I don't like it because it eats sprouts: conditioning preferences in children.

Although little is known about how preferences develop in childhood, work in adults suggests that evaluative responses to stimuli can be acquired through classical conditioning. In two experiments children were exposed to novel cartoon characters, that were either consistently paired with a picture of a disliked food (Brussels sprouts) or a liked food (ice cream). Relative preferences for these stimuli (and others) were measured before and after these paired presentations (Experiment 1): preferences for the cartoon character paired with Brussels sprouts decreased, whereas preferences for the character paired with ice cream increased.

Diffusion tensor imaging of the corticospinal tract before and after mass resection as correlated with clinical motor findings: preliminary data.

Background And Purpose: The role of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in neurosurgical planning and follow-up is currently being defined and needs clinical validation. To that end, we sought correlations between preoperative and postoperative DTI and clinical motor deficits in patients with space-occupying lesions involving the corticospinal tract (CST).

Methods: DTI findings in four patients with masses near the CST and not involving motor cortex were retrospectively reviewed and compared with contralateral motor strength.

Correlates of stress fractures among preadolescent and adolescent girls.

Objective: Although stress fractures are a source of significant morbidity in active populations, particularly among young female athletes, the causes of stress fractures have not been explored among females <17 years of age or in the general population. The purpose of this study was to examine correlates of stress fractures in a large, population-based, national, cohort study of preadolescent and adolescent girls.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of data from 5461 girls, 11 to 17 years of age, in the Growing Up Today Study, an ongoing longitudinal study of the children of registered female nurses participating in Nurses' Health Study II, was performed.