Preventing diabetic foot ulcer recurrence in high-risk patients: use of temperature monitoring as a self-assessment tool.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a temperature monitoring instrument to reduce the incidence of foot ulcers in individuals with diabetes who have a high risk for lower extremity complications.

Research Design And Methods: In this physician-blinded, randomized, 15-month, multicenter trial, 173 subjects with a previous history of diabetic foot ulceration were assigned to standard therapy, structured foot examination, or enhanced therapy groups. Each group received therapeutic footwear, diabetic foot education, and regular foot care.

Adverse events from systemic therapies for psoriasis are common in clinical practice.

Background: Patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis frequently require systemic treatment and these medications may be associated with adverse effects. Little is known about the frequency of these events when systemic agents are used in true clinical practice.

Objective: To determine the frequency of adverse events associated with various systemic psoriasis therapies.

Frequent cannabis use among 14/15 years old in Northern Ireland.

The relatively high levels of cannabis use among young people is a cause of concern because of the positive relationship between its early onset use, antisocial behaviours and associated lifestyle. Amongst a survey of 3919 young people at school year 11 in Northern Ireland (aged 14/15 years) 142 reported daily cannabis use. These young people also reported particularly high levels of legal and illegal drug use and accounted for a high proportion of use of hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin for the full school cohort.

Phylogenetic relationships, host affinity, and geographic structure of boreal and arctic endophytes from three major plant lineages.

Although associated with all plants, fungal endophytes (microfungi that live within healthy plant tissues) represent an unknown proportion of fungal diversity. While there is a growing appreciation of their ecological importance and human uses, little is known about their host specificity, geographic structure, or phylogenetic relationships. We surveyed endophytic Ascomycota from healthy photosynthetic tissues of three plant species (Huperzia selago, Picea mariana, and Dryas integrifolia, representing lycophytes, conifers, and angiosperms, respectively) in northern and southern boreal forest (Québec, Canada) and arctic tundra (Nunavut, Canada).

Nutrient cycling by fish supports relatively more primary production as lake productivity increases.

Animals can be important in nutrient cycling in particular ecosystems, but few studies have examined how this importance varies along environmental gradients. In this study we quantified the nutrient cycling role of an abundant detritivorous fish species, the gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum), in reservoir ecosystems along a gradient of ecosystem productivity. Gizzard shad feed mostly on sediment detritus and excrete sediment-derived nutrients into the water column, thereby mediating a cross-habitat translocation of nutrients to phytoplankton.

Internal mammary artery and vein: recipient vessels for free tissue transfer to the head and neck in the vessel-depleted neck.

Background: Microvascular free tissue transfer is a standard reconstructive option for postablative defects of the head and neck. However, the success of this surgery requires suitable recipient vessels in the cervical region. This form of reconstruction can be particularly challenging in the vessel-depleted neck.

Brief report: School exclusion drug use and delinquency in adolescence.

Fifty-one young people aged 14-15 years considered to be at a high risk to substance abuse and exhibiting antisocial behavior, primarily because they longer attended mainstream school, participated in this research by completing a questionnaire to measure drug use and delinquent behaviour. The findings suggest that many of them may have already developed a high propensity to drug abuse and antisocial behaviour compared with their peers in mainstream education. As they were all excluded from school, they were not accessing school based prevention programmes delivered to their contemporaries at school suggesting that additional and specialized resources are required to fully meet their needs.

Regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 expression in pancreatic cancer cells by Sp proteins.

Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR2/KDR) is an important mediator of angiogenesis, and VEGFR2 mRNA is expressed in several pancreatic cancer cell lines. Deletion analysis of the VEGFR2 promoter in Panc-1, AsPC-1, and MiaPaCa-2 pancreatic cancer cells shows that the proximal region of the promoter is primarily responsible for VEGFR2 expression, and two GC-rich sites at -58 and -44 are critical elements in all three cell lines. Panc-1, AsPC-1, and MiaPaCa-2 cells also express Sp1, Sp3, and Sp4 proteins which bind to the GC-rich region of the VEGFR2 promoter in electrophoretic mobility shift and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays.

Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 expression is induced by 17beta-estradiol in ZR-75 breast cancer cells by estrogen receptor alpha/Sp proteins.

Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 kinase insert domain receptor (VEGFR2/KDR) is critical for angiogenesis, and VEGFR2 mRNA and protein are expressed in ZR-75 breast cancer cells and induced by 17beta-estradiol (E2). Deletion analysis of the VEGFR2 promoter indicates that the proximal GC-rich region is required for both basal and hormone-induced transactivation, and mutation of one or both of the GC-rich motifs at -58 and -44 results in loss of transactivation. Electrophoretic mobility shift and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays show that Sp1, Sp3, and Sp4 proteins bind the GC-rich region of the VEGFR2 promoter.

Fetus in fetu and fetaform teratoma in 2 neonates: an embryologic spectrum?

Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe the imaging and pathologic findings of 2 cases of complex neonatal abdominal masses and to discuss the probable common embryologic etiology of fetus in fetu (FIF) and fetaform teratomas.

Methods: Two male neonates had complex cystic abdominal masses, 1 of which was diagnosed prenatally, and both had abdominal sonography. One patient also had abdominal computed tomography.

Highly attenuated smallpox vaccine protects rabbits and mice against pathogenic orthopoxvirus challenge.

The possible reemergence of smallpox through bioterrorism requires the preparation of adequate stockpiles of vaccine. Dryvax, the only US-licensed vaccinia virus smallpox vaccine, has an unacceptable safety profile in the pre-event setting. LC16m8 is a Japanese-licensed attenuated vaccinia virus strain that has been safely used in over 50,000 persons.

The comorbid state of psoriasis patients in a university dermatology practice.

Background: Psoriasis treatment is frequently complicated by the various types and severities of disease as well as the large number of therapies available. Another critical consideration in treatment planning is the presence of comorbid diseases.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relative prevalence of major comorbid disease states in patients with psoriasis and to identify significant predictors of these concurrent diseases in such patients.

Isolated regulatory domains of cGMP-dependent protein kinase Ialpha and Ibeta retain dimerization and native cGMP-binding properties and undergo isoform-specific conformational changes.

Molecular mechanisms that provide for cGMP activation of cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG) are unknown. PKGs are dimeric; each monomer contains a regulatory (R) and catalytic (C) domain. In this study, isolated recombinant R domains of PKGIalpha-(Delta349-670) and PKGIbeta-(Delta364-685) containing the dimerization and autoinhibitory subdomains and two allosteric cGMP-binding sites were expressed in Sf9 cells.

Nuclear hyperfine interaction of rotating hydrogen: a spectroscopic investigation of hydrogen-OCS van der Waals complexes.

The rotational spectra of five weakly bonded hydrogen-OCS complexes (paraH(2), orthoH(2), HD, orthoD(2), and paraD(2)) are measured. Hyperfine structure is resolved and analyzed in all except the complex with paraH(2), where I=0. For the two j=1 species, orthoH(2)-OCS and paraD(2)-OCS, nuclear hyperfine coupling constants are found to be d(a)=21.

Predicting components of closed road driving performance from vision tests.

Purpose: Mild cataracts can interfere with visually dependent everyday activities, although they only minimally affect static visual acuity. This study compared the effects of simulated cataracts with that of optical blur on driving performance and determined the extent to which acuity could account for variations in driving performance either alone or in combination with supplementary vision tests.

Methods: Closed road driving performance was measured in 24 young, normally sighted subjects under five binocular acuity levels, four produced by different levels of optical blur (6/4.

Structure and energy difference of two isomers of He-CH3F.

The intermolecular potential surface of He-CH(3)F is investigated through ab initio calculations and microwave and millimeter-wave spectroscopies. The intermolecular potential is calculated at the fourth-order Møller-Plesset level with a large basis set including bond functions. Three minimums exist, the deepest of which is at the carbon end of the C-F axis and has a depth of 46.

Response consistency in young adolescents' drug use self-reports: a recanting rate analysis.

Aims: To assess the reliability of drug use reports by young respondents, this study examined the extent of recanting previous drug use reports within an ongoing longitudinal survey of adolescent drug use. Here, recanting was defined as a positive report of life-time drug use that was subsequently denied 1 year later. The covariates of recanting were also studied.

The rotational spectrum and dynamical structure of LiOH and LiOD: a combined laboratory and ab initio study.

Millimeter wave rotational spectroscopy and ab initio calculations are used to explore the potential energy surface of LiOH and LiOD with particular emphasis on the bending states and bending potential. New measurements extend the observed rotational lines to J=7<--6 for LiOH and J=8<--7 for LiOD for all bending vibrational states up to (03(3)0). Rotation-vibration energy levels, geometric expectation values, and dipole moments are calculated using extensive high-level ab initio three-dimensional potential energy and dipole moment surfaces.

Home monitoring of foot skin temperatures to prevent ulceration.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of at-home infrared temperature monitoring as a preventative tool in individuals at high risk for diabetes-related lower-extremity ulceration and amputation.

Research Design And Methods: Eighty-five patients who fit diabetic foot risk category 2 or 3 (neuropathy and foot deformity or previous history of ulceration or partial foot amputation) were randomized into a standard therapy group (n = 41) or an enhanced therapy group (n = 44). Standard therapy consisted of therapeutic footwear, diabetic foot education, and regular foot evaluation by a podiatrist.