Prevalence of Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients before and after Treatment.

: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is common not only in the general population but even more so in patients with tumors of the head and neck region. Untreated, it leads to reduced quality of life, increased daytime sleepiness, and other comorbidities. The aim of this study was to determine the difference in the occurrence of OSA in the patient population with head and neck tumors compared with the general population as represented by the Trend cohort of the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP), and to assess the influence of tumor treatment.

Does fair play reduce concussions? A prospective, comparative analysis of competitive youth hockey tournaments.

Background/aim: To determine if Boys Bantam and Peewee and Girls U14 sustain fewer concussions, head hits, 'other injuries' and penalties in hockey tournaments governed by intensified fair play (IFP) than non-intensified fair play (NIFP).

Methods: A prospective comparison of IFP, a behaviour modification programme that promotes sportsmanship, versus control (non-intensified, NIFP) effects on numbers of diagnosed concussions, head hits without diagnosed concussion (HHWDC), 'other injuries', number of penalties and fair play points (FPPs). 1514 players, ages 11-14 years, in 6 IFP (N=950) and 5 NIFP (N=564) tournaments were studied.

Endogenous Androgens and Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin in Women and Risk of Metabolic Syndrome and Type 2 Diabetes.

Context And Objectives: The association of endogenous androgens and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) with metabolic syndrome (MetS) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) mostly 23562 refers to small and selected study samples with immunoassay-based measurements. Thus, we investigated the association of hormone levels with MetS and T2DM in women from a large population-based sample.

Design, Setting, And Participants: A total of 2077 women from the Study of Health in Pomerania were assessed at baseline (N = 3160, 1997-2001) and 5-year follow-up (N = 1711, 2002-2006).

Exploitation of puddles for breakthroughs in claustrum research.

Since its first identification as a thin strip of gray matter enclosed between stretches of neighboring fiber bundles, the claustrum has been considered impossible to study by many modern techniques that need a certain roominess of tissue for their application. Known as the front wall, vormauren in German from 1822, and still called avant-mur in French, we here propose a means for breaking into and through this wall, by utilizing the instances where the claustral tissue itself has broken free into more spacious dimensions. This has occurred several times in the evolution of modern mammals, and all that needs be done is to exploit these natural expansions in order to take advantage of a great panoply of technological advances now at our disposal.

Discovery of small molecule inhibitors that interact with γ-tubulin.

Recent studies have shown an overexpression of γ-tubulin in human glioblastomas and glioblastoma cell lines. As the 2-year survival rate for glioblastoma is very poor, potential benefit exists for discovering novel chemotherapeutic agents that can inhibit γ-tubulin, which is known to form a ring complex that acts as a microtubule nucleation center. We present experimental evidence that colchicine and combretastatin A-4 bind to γ-tubulin, which are to our knowledge the first drug-like compounds known to interact with γ-tubulin.

A novel DR beta 1*03 allele identified by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism.

This report describes a new MHC class II allele, HLA-DR beta 1*0306, discovered in a 31-year-old Norwegian male. The allele typed serologically as DRw52 (DR3) and amplified in PCR using DR52-associated group primers. This product could not be identified using established restriction digests, however.

The development of a purification procedure for saxitoxin-induced protein.

A simple economical procedure for purifying saxitoxin-induced protein (SIP) from crude extracts of the small shore crab, Hemigrapsus oregenesis, was developed. (NH4)2SO4 precipitation, chymotrypsin digestion, heat treatment, gel filtration and ion-exchange-chromatography procedures were evaluated in purifying SIP. An enzyme immunoassay was used to determine the SIP yield and relative purity at each step of three procedures, thus permitting an assessment of the conditions required for maximum recovery.