Health disparities in infants with hypertrophic pyloric stenosis.

Background: This study investigates whether health disparities exist in infants with hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (HPS), to identify factors affecting definitive treatment, and if more morbidity occurs.

Methods: A 6-year retrospective analysis was performed on infants with HPS. Analysis of variance was used to evaluate the impact of socioeconomic factors on disease severity and hospitalization.

Midkine Mediates Intercellular Crosstalk between Drug-Resistant and Drug-Sensitive Neuroblastoma Cells In Vitro and In Vivo.

Resistance to cytotoxic agents has long been known to be a major limitation in the treatment of human cancers. Although many mechanisms of drug resistance have been identified, chemotherapies targeting known mechanisms have failed to lead to effective reversal of drug resistance, suggesting that alternative mechanisms remain undiscovered. Previous work identified midkine (MK) as a novel putative survival molecule responsible for cytoprotective signaling between drug-resistant and drug-sensitive neuroblastoma, osteosarcoma and breast carcinoma cells in vitro.

The role of nerve growth factor in caspase-dependent apoptosis in human BE(2)C neuroblastoma.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to determine if nerve growth factor (NGF) stimulation induces apoptosis in the BE(2)C neuroblastoma cell line in vitro.

Methods: The LPCX retroviral vector was used to achieve stable transduction of NGF complementary DNA into BE(2)C neuroblastoma cells. Wild-type and NGF-transduced cells were then incubated with varying concentrations of NGF for varying periods.