Quality of life and voice: study of a Brazilian population using the voice-related quality of life measure.

Objective: The goal of the present study was to characterize a large population of Brazilian individuals using the Brazilian Portuguese version of the Voice-Related Quality of Life (V-RQOL) Measure.

Patients And Methods: We studied a population of 2,214 Brazilian subjects who completed the V-RQOL questionnaire consisting of 10 questions from two domains: physical functioning and social-emotional functioning. The subjects were divided into two groups according to the presence of vocal complaints: group 1, with vocal complaints (1,304 individuals); group 2, without vocal complaints (910 individuals).

Age and origin of major Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome (SLOS) mutations in European populations.

Background: Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome (SLOS) (MIM 270 400) is an autosomal recessive multiple congenital anomalies/mental retardation syndrome caused by mutations in the Delta7-sterol reductase (DHCR7, E.C.1.

Preparation and characterization of PLGA particles for subcutaneous controlled drug release by membrane emulsification.

Uniformly sized microparticles of poly(D,L-lactic-co-glycolic) (PLGA) acid, with controllable median diameters within the size range 40-140 microm, were successfully prepared by membrane emulsification of an oil phase injected into an aqueous phase, followed by solvent removal. Initially, simple particles were produced as an oil in water emulsion, where dichloromethane (DCM) and PLGA were the oil phase and water with stabiliser was the continuous phase. The oil was injected into the aqueous phase through an array type microporous membrane, which has very regular pores equally spaced apart, and two different pore sizes were used: 20 and 40 microm in diameter.

Endovascular intervention in the treatment of congenital heart disease in adults.

Over the last years, endovascular intervention have become an important part of treatment in patients with congenital heart disease particularly for residual defects after surgery done in infancy. These transcatheter procedures can be described as dilatation of stenotic sites (angioplasty, endovascular stenting and valvuloplasty) or as a closure of anomalous openings (device closure defects and vascular embolisation). Balloon valvuloplasty, without or with stent, is the procedure of choice in adults with pulmonary valve stenosis, pulmonary arteries stenosis, bicuspid aortic valve stenosis without calcification, aortic re-coarctation.

Surgical therapy for osteonecotic lesions of the jaws in patients in therapy with bisphosphonates.

Objective: Surgical therapy to improve the symptoms and the lesions in osteonecrosis (ON) of the jaws in patients in therapy with bisphosphonates.

Design: to evaluate the patient's therapeutic protocols, performance status, and factors promoting ON to prevent surgical failure.

Materials And Methods: 18 patients affected by osteonecrotic lesions of the jaws associated to BF, were treated by surgery.

Integrated therapy of kidney cancer.

Historically, treatment options for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) have been limited because of inherent tumor resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The only approved drug for RCC in the past 30 years has been high-dose interleukin-2. Its benefit is observed in a small percentage (20%-25%) of highly selected good performance status RCC patients.

Very late multivessel thrombosis of bare metal stents with concomitant patent drug-eluting stents after withdrawal of aspirin.

Very late stent thrombosis occurs in both drug eluting stent and bare metal stent. Withdrawal of antiplatelet therapy appears to be a potent correlate of late stent thrombosis that leads in majority of cases to acute myocardial infarction or death. A case is reported of very late bare metal stents thrombosis (33 months) in two different vessels after aspirin discontinuation because of a prostatectomy in patient treated simultaneously with bare metal stents and paclitaxel eluting stents, found patent.

Distraction osteogenesis in the surgical treatment of craniostenosis: a comparison of internal and external craniofacial distractor devices.

Purpose: To compare the practical difficulties of external and internal craniofacial distraction devices used in craniofacial advancement in terms of technical surgical limitations and patients' discomfort.

Materials And Methods: This study involved analysis of the pertinent literature and personal experience on the treatment of patients affected with syndromic craniosynostoses treated with craniofacial distraction advancement.

Results: One hundred patients who underwent internal craniofacial distraction were analyzed.

Colpocystodefecography in obstructed defecation: is it really useful to the surgeon? Correlating clinical and radiological findings in surgery for obstructed defecation.

Objective: Colpocystodefecography images the pelvic floor with the dynamics of defecation, but various authors claim that it overestimates clinical findings. The aim of this study was to evaluate the pre- and postoperative consistency between clinical and colpocystodefecographic findings in patients undergoing surgery for obstructed defecation. METHOD Between June 2001 and September 2003, 20 patients underwent transvaginal posterior colpoperineorrhaphy and rectal mucosal prolapsectomy with one circular stapler for symptomatic rectocele and concomitant anorectal prolapse.

Diagnosis, management and clinical outcome of bone metastases in breast cancer patients: results from a prospective, multicenter study.

Background: Little information is available about the management and clinical outcome of bone metastases (BM) in breast cancer patients.

Methods: We prospectively studied 459 breast cancer patients with first diagnosis of BM for at least 2 years to collect information about diagnosis, management and clinical outcome.

Results: Two hundred and forty-eight patients (54%) had only BM, 86 (18.

Immediate removal of femoral-sheath following protamine administration in patients undergoing intracoronary paclitaxel-eluting-stent implantation.

Background: Immediate sheath-removal using post-procedural reversal of heparin with protamine reduces groin complications, shortens bed rest and hospital stay after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with bare-metal stents. No data are available with newer and possibly more thrombogenic paclitaxel-eluting stents (PES).

Aim: We assessed the safety and efficacy of post-procedural protamine administration after successful coronary PES implantation in elective PCI and in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS).

Drug-eluting stents for the percutaneous treatment of the anastomosis of the left internal mammary graft to left anterior descending artery.

Background: Data on the treatment of left internal mammary to left anterior descending artery (LIMA-to-LAD) anastomotic disease are scarce and not homogeneous. Both surgery and percutaneous interventions (PCI) have been attempted, but the most effective treatment has not yet been established. In particular, should PCI be performed, the role of stenting seems to be limited by less favorable results than in other subsets of lesions.

Multidimensional gas chromatographic determination of naphthenes, paraffins, olefins, and aromatics in reformed gasolines.

Increasing demand for gasoline, changing regulations concerning the reduction of environmental impact, and new refining technologies have led to the refinement of its composition. Nowadays, gasoline is a complex mixture of different fractions deriving from processes of reforming, cracking, isomerization, and alkylation, with the addition of both oxygenated compounds and butanes. There are regulations governing the mixing of various fractions and it is necessary to analyse the composition of these fractions to ensure that the final composition of commercial gasoline satisfies the required specifications.

Horizontal and vertical ridge augmentation for implant placement in the aesthetic zone.

Lack of sufficient bone to place an implant at the functionally and aesthetically most appropriate position is a common problem, especially in the upper anterior jaw. A surgical technique is proposed to augment the alveolar ridge for vertical and horizontal defects through a localized alveolar osteotomy and interpositional bone graft. Three bone cuts (two vertical and one horizontal) are made in the alveolar bone.

Quality of life: validation of the Brazilian version of the voice-related quality of life (V-RQOL) measure.

The purpose of this prospective study was to perform the Brazilian Voice-Related Quality of Life (V-RQOL) version and to check its psychometric measurement properties and the relationship between vocal self-assessment and the instrument's scores. The translation and validation were performed following the guidelines of the Scientific Advisory Committee of Medical Outcomes Trust. The instrument was administered to 234 patients, 114 with vocal complaints, and 120 without vocal complaints.

Maxillary corticotomy and extraoral orthopedic traction in mature teenage patients: a case report.

Aim: The authors' propose to combine the reverse pull headgear with a Delaire type face mask and a maxillary corticotomy to treat a Class III non-growing patient with maxillary retrusion. The aim of this report is to present two cases in which this treatment strategy was successful.

Background: Several studies suggest the majority of Class III dento-skeletal malocclusions have components of maxillary retrusion.

Informal caregiving burden in advanced non-small cell lung cancer: the HABIT study.

Introduction: This study's aim was to assess economic data regarding the home assistance burden for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients in Italy.

Patients And Methods: One hundred four NSCLC patients in second-line chemotherapy (2LC) or in supportive therapy (ST) were enrolled in 18 Italian oncology departments and were observed for 3 months. The main caregiver's workload was assessed monthly by a task scale; other caregivers' activities were also registered.

The future of anti-EGFR therapy.

We report here on the state of our knowledge of the target--namely, the epidermal growth factor (EGF) and its receptor--and the challenges related to the methods of determination of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and associated molecular pathways. A critical review of the anti-EGFR therapeutic strategies is also outlined. The chimeric anti- EGFR monoclonal antibody cetuximab has been approved for EGFR-expressing colorectal tumors in patients who progress after irinotecan-based chemotherapy in combination with irinotecan and in squamous cell head and neck carcinomas for patients with locally advanced disease in combination with radiation therapy or after failure of platinum-based chemotherapy in recurrent or metastatic disease (FDA).

Adjuvant treatment of high-risk, radically resected gastric cancer patients with 5-fluorouracil, leucovorin, cisplatin, and epidoxorubicin in a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Promising findings obtained using a weekly regimen of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), epidoxorubicin, leucovorin (LV), and cisplatin (PELFw) to treat locally advanced and metastatic gastric cancer prompted the Italian Group for the Study of Digestive Tract Cancer (GISCAD) to investigate the efficacy of this regimen as adjuvant treatment for high-risk radically resected gastric cancer patients.

Methods: From January 1998 to January 2003, 400 gastric cancer patients at high risk for recurrence including patients with serosal invasion (stage pT3 N0) and/or lymph node metastasis (stage pT2 or pT3 N1, N2, or N3), were enrolled in a trial of adjuvant chemotherapies; 201 patients were randomly assigned to receive the PELFw regimen, consisting of eight weekly administrations of cisplatin (40 mg/m2), LV (250 mg/m2), epidoxorubicin (35 mg/m2), 5-FU (500 mg/m2), and glutathione (1.5 g/m2) with the support of filgrastim, and 196 patients were assigned to a regimen consisting of six monthly administrations of a 5-day course of 5-FU (375 mg/m2 daily) and LV (20 mg/m2 daily, 5-FU/LV).

Esophagitis in frail elderly people.

Introduction: We studied the clinical course of elderly patients acutely hospitalized for various diseases, assessing any differences between patients with and without esophagitis.

Study: A case-control study on the presence of esophagitis was conducted on the clinical records of all in-patients undergoing gastroduodenoscopy at Padova Geriatric Hospital from 1997 to 2001. Data were examined on 338 sex-matched patients: 169 with a diagnosis of esophagitis and 169 with a negative endoscopy.

Clinical usefulness of bisphosphonates in oncology: treatment of bone metastases, antitumoral activity and effect on bone resorption markers.

The present article overviews the role of bisphosphonates for the treatment and prevention of bone metastases and their antiangiogenic effects and antitumoral activity. The skeleton is a frequent and clinically relevant site of metastasis in cancer patients. The major events related to bone metastases include bone pain, bone loss, hypercalcemia, spinal cord compression, and fractures.

A possible role of thymidine phosphorylase expression and 5-fluorouracil increased sensitivity in oropharyngeal cancer patients.

Thymidine Pi deoxyribosyltransferase (TP) is an enzyme involved in DNA synthesis up-regulated in tumours and it is also a pro-angiogenic factor. TP cannot activate capecitabine, because capecitabine first needs conversion by carboxylesterase and cytidine deaminase into 5-deoxy-fluorouridine. This compound can be activated by TP to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU).