Disease-specific Hospitalizations Among 5-Year Survivors of Hepatoblastoma: A Nordic Population-based Cohort Study.

Introduction: The long-term risk of somatic disease in hepatoblastoma survivors has not been thoroughly evaluated in previous studies. In this population-based study of 86 five-year HB survivors, we used inpatient registers to evaluate the risk for a range of somatic diseases.

Methods: In total, 86 five-year survivors of hepatoblastoma were identified in the Nordic cancer registries from 1964 to 2008 and 152,231 population comparisons were selected.

Mutations in PDLIM3 and MYOZ1 encoding myocyte Z line proteins are infrequently found in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), characterized by ventricular dilation and decreased systolic function, is estimated to be of genetic origin in up to 50% of cases. In the present study, we investigated the role of two genes, encoding the Z line proteins PDZ and LIM domain protein 3 (PDLIM3) and myozenin-1 (MYOZ1), in the etiology of DCM. The coding regions of PDLIM3 and MYOZ1 were first amplified from the genomic DNA of 185 unrelated DCM patients by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), followed by denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) analysis.

Fire fighters: a study of stress and coping.

Fifty-eight non-professional fire fighters, 91% of all firefighters from different industries who participated in a hotel fire rescue operation, were investigated by means of a structured self-report questionnaire about their stress experience during and after the rescue action. Together with 57 professional fire fighters, they participated in rescuing hotel guests confined for as much as three hours in a 12 storeyed hotel building on fire. Fourteen persons (11%) died, 114 guests survived.