A study of pediatric brain tumors and their association with epilepsy and anticonvulsant use.

Objectives: To evaluate the risk of childhood brain tumor occurrence in relation to epilepsy and anticonvulsant use.

Study Design: As part of a multicenter case-control study of pediatric brain tumors, maternal report on epilepsy occurrence before diagnosis of her child's brain tumor was collected for 540 cases and compared with 801 control children. Mothers also reported on any long-term (> or = 2 weeks) use of medications by her child before the date of tumor diagnosis (or a comparable reference date for controls) and these medications were classified according to whether they contained barbiturates.

Trends in the stage specific incidence of prostate carcinoma in the Detroit metropolitan area, 1973-1994.

Background: Much of the recent increase in prostate carcinoma incidence has been attributed to screening with prostate specific antigen (PSA). Controversy exists as to whether this screening will ultimately impact prostate carcinoma mortality. Until adequate time elapses since PSA screening became widespread, or a randomized trial of PSA screening is completed, the effect of PSA screening on prostate carcinoma mortality cannot be determined.

Head injury as a risk factor for brain tumors in children: results from a multicenter case-control study.

We evaluated the risk of brain tumor occurrence in relation to previous head injury in a population-based case-control study of 540 children with a primary brain tumor and 801 control children. The risk of a brain tumor among children with a previous head injury that resulted in medical attention was slightly elevated when compared with children with no reported head injury [odds ratio (OR) = 1.4; 95% confidence limits (CL) = 1.

Trends in cancer incidence among children in the U.S.

Background: This report provides results of an analysis of temporal trends in childhood cancer incidence in the U.S. stratfied by age, sex, and to a lessor extent, race, within common histologic subtypes.

Brain tumor risk in children in relation to use of electric blankets and water bed heaters. Results from the United States West Coast Childhood Brain Tumor Study.

The possible relation between the occurrence of brain tumors in children and exposure to electric blankets or electrically heated water beds was investigated in a multicenter, population-based case-control study conducted on the West Coast of the United States. Information on maternal exposure during pregnancy or direct exposure to the subject child was collected by in-person interview from the mothers of 540 case children and 801 control children. Cases were 19 years of age or younger and were diagnosed between 1984 and 1991.

Pulmonary histoplasmosis.

Histoplasmosis is a common infection in the central United States and is acquired through inhalation of airborne spores. The majority of infected persons have an asymptomatic, self-limiting illness. Clinical pneumonia occurs in those with exposure to a large number of infecting spores.

Enhanced metabolism of 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine in Down syndrome cells: a contributing factor to the superior event free survival of Down syndrome children with acute myeloid leukemia.

Down syndrome (DS) children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have significantly higher event-free survival (EFS) rates compared with non-DS children when treated with protocols containing 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine (ara-C). Sensitivity and metabolism of ara-C was examined in myeloblasts from DS and non-DS patients with AML, DS infants with the transient myeloproliferative disorder, and Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines with and without trisomy 21. DS myeloblasts were approximately 10-fold more sensitive to ara-C (measured by the 3-[4,5-dimethyl-thiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) colorimetric sensitivity assay), compared with non-DS myeloblasts, following exposure to ara-C for 72 hours.

Missed lung cancer at CT: imaging findings in nine patients.

Purpose: To assess the imaging findings and course of lung cancers missed on computed tomographic (CT) scans.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective review of CT scans was performed on nine patients who underwent CT examination for various clinical indications and in whom a lung cancer had been missed. Subspecialty chest radiologists determined whether retrospectively identified lesions were missed due to observer error or technical failure.

Increasing incidence of adenocarcinomas and carcinoid tumors of the small intestine in adults.

Malignant neoplasms of the small intestine are relatively rare and have received little study. We report on trends in the age-adjusted, sex-, and race-specific incidence rates of adenocarcinomas and carcinoid tumors of the small intestine in the United States from 1973 through 1991. Data were derived from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program of the National Cancer Institute.

The "WAM" score: sensitivity and specificity of a user friendly biological screening test for alcohol problems in trauma patients.

Based on a weighted aggregation of three biological alcohol markers (gamma-glutamyltransferase, blood alcohol and mean corpuscular volume), this study presents a screening instrument for alcohol problems in trauma patients. The sex-specific performance of this instrument was explored on 1088 male and 352 female patients, 18 years or older, admitted with blunt or penetrating trauma during a 30-month period to a regional level one trauma center in Seattle, Washington (USA). The sum of the differentially weighted alcohol markers ("WAM"), determined from one blood sample, formed a "score continuum" ranging from 0 to 24.

Childhood brain tumor occurrence in relation to residential power line configurations, electric heating sources, and electric appliance use.

To assess the relation between childhood brain tumor occurrence and exposure to potential sources of residential magnetic fields, a population-based case-control study of incident brain tumors was conducted in the Seattle, Washington, area at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center from 1989 to 1994 among children younger than age 20 years who were diagnosed from 1984 to 1990. The specific aims were to evaluate whether proximity to high-current residential power lines, as defined by the Wertheimer-Leeper code, or use of electric appliances or electric heating sources by the mother while pregnant or by the child before diagnosis were associated with increased risks of brain tumor occurrence. The mothers of 133 cases and 270 controls (recruited by random digit dialing) participated.

Age-related decrease in vulnerability to excitatory amino acids in the nucleus basalis.

The present study investigated the effects of nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM) lesions in young (3 months), adult (9 months), and aged (24 months) rats by injections of either NMDA or AMPA upon performance of a delayed alternation task on a T maze. During phase 1 of testing, the interchoice interval (ICI) was 5 s and each rat was given 10 trials per day during phase 2, the ICI was 30 s across 10 trials per day; during phase 3, the ICI was 5 s across 20 trials per day. Analyses of variance revealed (a) a significant effect of age during phase 1 (i.

Atypical manifestations of pulmonary atelectasis.

Recognizing atelectasis has always been a challenge. Atypical patterns further our knowledge of this subject. The lung has two mechanisms to help keep the lobes inflated: collateral ventilation and trapped nitrogen both tend to inflate the lungs when the airways are obstructed.

Pulmonary complications after bone marrow transplantation.

Many of the pulmonary complications that we have described have a nonspecific radiographic appearance. The most crucial information for proper interpretation of the chest radiographs is the chronologic onset of radiographic abnormalities after transplantation. Before and immediately after engraftment, local peripheral opacities accompanied by a surrounding rim of edema are regarded as fungal infections, and therapy with granulocyte transfusions and amphotericin B is initiated.

Non-sarcoid granulomatous disease with involvement of the lungs.

Pulmonary granulomatous disease can severely damage the lungs and represents a rather uniform response of the lungs to a multitude of different stimuli. Histologically, granulomatas can be broadly classified as either hypersensitivity-type or foreign-body-type. A wide variety of infectious and non-infectious etiologies discussed in this review have been identified as causes of granulomatous inflammation of the lungs.

Solitary pulmonary nodules: determining the likelihood of malignancy with neural network analysis.

Purpose: To test a neural network in differentiation of benign from malignant solitary pulmonary nodules.

Materials And Methods: Neural networks were trained and tested on the characteristics of 318 nodules. Predictive accuracy of the network was judged for calibration and discrimination.

Incidence of cancer in children in the United States. Sex-, race-, and 1-year age-specific rates by histologic type.

Background: Rates of cancer in children usually are presented in 5-year age groups, despite large variations of incidence within these groups. The purpose of this report is to provide histology-specific incidence rates within single-year age groups, stratified by sex and race, among children.

Methods: Data from the National Cancer Institute's SEER Program were used to calculate incidence rates among children younger than 15 years of age at diagnosis.

The pathophysiology of airways disease.

More than 10 million airway branches exist in the normal human lung. Radiographic visualization is < 1% of this total. Many diseases affect the airways, each pathologic insult ultimately resulting in obstruction to airflow.

Childhood cancer occurrence in relation to power line configurations: a study of potential selection bias in case-control studies.

Several case-control studies have reported positive associations between childhood cancer and proximity to high-current residential power lines as defined by the Wertheimer-Leeper code. We conducted a study to evaluate whether or not differential nonparticipation of controls as a function of socioeconomic status is likely to account for the observed associations. We assessed the relation of annual family income to the Wertheimer-Leeper code in a sample of 392 households in western Washington state, and we evaluated the magnitude of bias that could occur from differential participation of low- and high-income eligible controls.