Effectiveness of structured psycho-oncological counseling for relatives of lung cancer patients based on the CALM approach-study protocol of a randomized controlled trial.

Background: The high incidence combined with the high lethality and bad prognosis of lung cancer highlight the need for psycho-oncological care for both patients and their relatives. While psychological interventions for relatives might be helpful, further research on the impact of specific interventions is necessary. Therefore, this trial aims to evaluate structured psycho-oncological counseling for relatives of lung cancer patients based on the Managing Cancer And Living Meaningfully (CALM) approach compared to usual care.

Operads for complex system design specification, analysis and synthesis.

As the complexity and heterogeneity of a system grows, the challenge of specifying, documenting and synthesizing correct, machine-readable designs increases dramatically. Separation of the system into manageable parts is needed to support analysis at various levels of granularity so that the system is maintainable and adaptable over its life cycle. In this paper, we argue that operads provide an effective knowledge representation to address these challenges.

Identification of podocin (NPHS2) gene mutations in African Americans with nondiabetic end-stage renal disease.

Background: Podocin, encoded by NPHS2 and mapped to 1q25.2, is an integral membrane protein exclusively expressed in glomerular podocytes. Mutations in the NPHS2 gene cause autosomal-recessive nephrotic syndrome and have been associated with proteinuria in several populations.

Effect of murine interferon alpha/beta on tumour-induced suppressor function.

T-lymphocyte-mediated immunosuppression has been described in several animal models and in man. In animal models. T-cell-mediated immunosuppression can hasten the development of cancers, permit the growth of tumors in immunocompetent hosts, and inhibit otherwise effective antitumor immunotherapy.

Shared T cell-defined antigens on independently derived tumors.

We report that a subset of tumors independently derived from a cloned line of contact-inhibited, non-tumorigenic murine fetal fibroblasts confer cross-protective immunity against each other in vivo. Concordant with the in vivo cross-protection, cytolytic T cell clones from mice immunized with one of these tumor lines specifically lyse the three other lines in the same set but do not cross-react with either the nontumorigenic parental line or another similarly derived tumor line representing a different antigenic profile. This and other recent evidence for shared expression of tumor rejection Ag contrasts with the antigenic diversity previously described for chemical- and radiation-induced tumors.