Final Report of the Intergroup Randomized Study of Combined Androgen-Deprivation Therapy Plus Radiotherapy Versus Androgen-Deprivation Therapy Alone in Locally Advanced Prostate Cancer.

Purpose: We have previously reported that radiotherapy (RT) added to androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) improves survival in men with locally advanced prostate cancer. Here, we report the prespecified final analysis of this randomized trial.

Patients And Methods: NCIC Clinical Trials Group PR.

Psychotropic PRN use among older people's inpatient mental health services.

Concerns have been expressed about the use of antipsychotics with older people, particularly in those who have dementia. Pro re nata (PRN) psychotropic medications including antipsychotics are commonly used to manage disturbed and distressed behaviour. This audit aimed to understand the use of PRN psychotropic medications in older people's inpatient mental health services and the quality of prescriptions and nursing documentation associated with this.

Medicine use in older people's inpatient mental health services.

The aims of this audit were to establish the range and volumes of medicines used in older people's mental health settings and to explore the safety of the prescribing habits through the application of the revised Beers criteria. An audit of all patients on all selected wards (both functional and organic) for current prescriptions of all drugs routinely prescribed on the census day was undertaken on 11 wards in three Mental Health NHS Trusts in the North West of England. Data were collected on 154 patients in 11 different inpatient settings in three Mental Health Trusts.

Potential hazard to human health from exposure to fragments of lead bullets and shot in the tissues of game animals.

Background: Lead is highly toxic to animals. Humans eating game killed using lead ammunition generally avoid swallowing shot or bullets and dietary lead exposure from this source has been considered low. Recent evidence illustrates that lead bullets fragment on impact, leaving small lead particles widely distributed in game tissues.

High-power diode-bar end-pumped Nd:YLF laser at 1.053 microm.

We describe efficient cw operation of a Nd:YLF laser end pumped by two beam-shaped 20-W diode bars on the 1.053-microm transition. Fundamental transverse-mode operation with output power of 11.

In vitro comparison of conventional film and direct digital imaging in the detection of approximal caries.

Objectives: To compare the diagnostic accuracy of conventional film, unenhanced direct digital and inversion grayscale direct digital imaging in the detection of approximal caries.

Methods: 150 approximal surfaces of extracted permanent molars and premolars were selected for the study on the basis of varying lesion depth. The teeth were radiographed using Ektaspeed Plus film; digital images were made with a Schick CMOS-APS sensor.

The effects of BID length and shape on the surface area and volume of tissue exposed during dental radiography.

Using projection geometry, algebraic formulas, and different beam indicating devices (BIDs), the surface area and volume of tissue exposed for a hypothetical patient was determined. Combinations of 4 BID lengths and shapes were used: 4-inch (10.2 cm.

Changing attitudes in dementia care and the role of nurses.

Dementia care has been seen as a low priority, but with an estimated 700,000 people in the UK with dementia and an ageing population this is changing. The Alzheimer's Society will be holding events this week to raise awareness of dementia, sending a strong message to policy makers that dementia is a serious health issue. Nurses have also become active in fighting the old degenerative model of dementia and promoting the concept of person-centred care.

Comparison of panoramic radiography and panoramic digital subtraction radiography in the detection of simulated osteophytic lesions of the mandibular condyle.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare panoramic temporomandibular joint radiography, unenhanced and color-enhanced digital-subtraction radiography with respect to detectability of simulated osteophytic lesions of the mandibular condyle.

Methods: Three dry human skulls with no obvious temporomandibular joint pathology were selected. Four sizes of bone chips were placed on the anterior aspect of the condyle at medial, central, and lateral locations.

Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor stimulates ureteric bud outgrowth and enhances survival of ureteric bud cells in vitro.

Development of epithelial organs requires co-ordinated interactions between epithelial and mesenchymal tissues. Studies using null mutant mice have indicated that the ret receptor and its ligand, glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), are crucial for initiation of development of the metanephric kidney. However, the role of this signalling system in other branching organs has not been analysed.

A molecular and genetic analysis of renalglomerular capillary development.

The adult kidney is highly vascular and receives about 20% of the cardiac output, yet the mode of development of the glomerular capillaries is not fully understood. At the inception of nephrogenesis the condensed metanephric mesenchyme contains no patent capillaries. However, in this current study we detected vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA and protein in uninduced mouse E11 metanephric mesenchyme and in cell lines from this tissue.

Experimental investigation of resonant enhancement of the acoustic interaction of optical pulses in an optical fiber.

The acoustic interaction of optical pulses in optical fibers is investigated directly by time-resolved pump-probe measurements of the transmission of a fiber Sagnac-loop interferometer. Resonant enhancement of the refractive-index change deltan(ac) induced by the acoustic waves is observed when the repetition frequency of the pulse train is close to a vibrational eigenfrequency of the fiber. For standard fiber deltan(ac) is enhanced by a factor of ~3 at the 465-MHz eigenmode frequency, and this factor increases to ~10 when the polymer jacket is removed from the fiber.

Measurement of the refractive-index modulation generated by electrostriction-induced acoustic waves in optical fibers.

The refractive-index modulation generated in optical fibers by electrostriction-induced acoustic waves is investigated directly by a pump-probe measurement technique in a 1-km-long fiber Sagnac-loop interferometer. Pump pulses propagating unidirectionally around the loop generate transverse acoustic waves that produce a time-dependent relative phase shift for the probe pulses. The consequent interferometer transmission changes are used as a measure of the acoustic interaction.

Deregulation of cell survival in cystic and dysplastic renal development.

Various aberrations of cell biology have been reported in polycystic kidney diseases and in cystic renal dysplasias. A common theme in these disorders is failure of maturation of renal cells which superficially resemble embryonic tissue. Apoptosis is a feature of normal murine nephrogenesis, where it has been implicated in morphogenesis, and fulminant apoptosis occurs in the small, cystic kidneys which develop in mice with null mutations of bcl-2.

The hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF) receptor, met, transduces a morphogenetic signal in renal glomerular fibromuscular mesangial cells.

Previous studies have demonstrated that hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF) is secreted by mesenchymal cells and that it elicits motility, morphogenesis and proliferation of epithelia expressing the met receptor. We now report that HGF/SF may act as an autocrine factor in fibromuscular renal mesangial cells. These cells mechanically support glomerular endothelia, control the rate of plasma ultrafiltration and are implicated in the pathogenesis of a variety of chronic renal diseases.

Roles of hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor and the met receptor in the early development of the metanephros.

Several lines of evidence suggest that hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF), a soluble protein secreted by embryo fibroblasts and several fibroblast lines, may elicit morphogenesis in adjacent epithelial cells. We investigated the role of HGF/SF and its membrane receptor, the product of the c-met protooncogene, in the early development of the metanephric kidney. At the inception of the mouse metanephros at embryonic day 11, HGF/SF was expressed in the mesenchyme, while met was expressed in both the ureteric bud and the mesenchyme, as assessed by reverse transcription PCR, in situ hybridization, and immunohistochemistry.

TGF-β1 Inhibits Growth and Branching Morphogenesis In Embryonic Mouse Submandibular and Sublingual Glands in Vitro: (Salivary glands/extracellular matrix/epithelium/mesenchyme/organ culture).

Members of the TGF-β superfamily of polypeptides are key regulators in developmental processes. Several studies have shown that expression of TGF-β mRNA and protein are developmentally regulated and that both are prominently expressed in tissues undergoing epithelial-mesenchymal interactions such as branching morphogenesis. It has been shown that TGF-β1 protein is present in E 14 mouse submandibular glands at a time when branching is already establihsed.

Gravity in mammalian organ development: differentiation of cultured lung and pancreas rudiments during spaceflight.

Organ culture of embryonic mouse lung and pancreas rudiments has been used to investigate development and differentiation, and to assess the effects of microgravity on culture differentiation, during orbital spaceflight of the shuttle Endeavour (mission STS-54). Lung rudiments continue to grow and branch during spaceflight, an initial result that should allow future detailed study of lung morphogenesis in microgravity. Cultured embryonic pancreas undergoes characteristic exocrine acinar tissue and endocrine islet tissue differentiation during spaceflight, and in ground controls.

The effect of pulmonary function of local and loco-regional irradiation for breast cancer.

Eighty-five patients treated with loco-regional radiotherapy to the breast/chest wall and cervico-axillary nodes, and 16 patients treated with local radiotherapy to the breast/chest wall alone for breast cancer were enrolled in a prospective study to measure the effects of treatment on pulmonary function during the acute phase (10 weeks after completing irradiation) and during the late phase (12 months after completing irradiation). Baseline pulmonary function values were obtained from all patients immediately prior to commencing radiotherapy. Twenty-two patients (25.

Growth and Morphogenesis of Embryonic Mouse Organs on Non-Coated and Extracellular Matrix-Coated Biopore Membrane: (organ-culture/growth/morphogenesis/extracellular matrix/Biopore).

Embryonic mouse salivary glands, pancreata, and kidneys were isolated from embryos of appropriate gestational age by microdissection, and were cultured on Biopore membrane either non-coated or coated with type I collagen or Matrigel. As expected, use of Biopore membrane allowed high quality photomicroscopy of the living organs. In all organs extensive mesenchymal spreading was observed in the presence of type I collagen or Matrigel.

Extracellular matrix and growth factors in branching morphogenesis.

The unifying hypothesis of the NSCORT in gravitational biology postulates that the ECM and growth factors are key interrelated components of a macromolecular regulatory system. The ECM is known to be important in growth and branching morphogenesis of embryonic organs. Growth factors have been detected in the developing embryo, and often the pattern of localization is associated with areas undergoing epithelial-mesenchymal interactions.