Naltrexone and brief counseling to reduce heavy drinking in hazardous drinkers.

The present study examined the utility of daily naltrexone for decreasing alcohol drinking in hazardous drinkers. Forty-one participants participated in a 10-week trial and received 30 min of brief counseling on the first and second week of treatment, as well as a daily dose of 50 mg of naltrexone throughout the trial. Overall, naltrexone-treated participants did not show the same degree of improvement on drinking outcomes as placebo-treated participants.

Botulinum toxin type B in upper-limb poststroke spasticity: a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Objective: To determine whether botulinum toxin type B (BTX-B) is effective in controlling upper-limb spasticity.

Design: A single-site, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial and open-label study.

Setting: Outpatient.

Clinicians' and patients' experiences and satisfaction with unscheduled, nighttime, Internet-based video conferencing for assessing acute medical problems in a nursing facility.

Videoconferencing between patients and their physicians can increase patients' access to healthcare. Unscheduled videoconferencing can benefit patients with acute medical problems but has not been studied extensively. We conducted a clinical trial of unscheduled, nighttime videoconferencing in a nursing home, where on-call physicians usually provide care by telephone from remote locations.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1-derived lentivirus vectors pseudotyped with envelope glycoproteins derived from Ross River virus and Semliki Forest virus.

Ross River virus (RRV) and Semliki Forest virus (SFV) are two alphaviruses that have a high degree of amino acid homology, as well as a very broad host range. We show here that envelope glycoproteins derived from both viruses can pseudotype human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-derived lentivirus vectors. Both RRV and SFV glycoproteins considerably expand the host range of the lentivirus vector, and vectors can be efficiently concentrated by ultracentrifugation.

A retrospective analysis comparing patients 70 years or older to patients younger than 70 years with non-small-cell lung cancer treated with surgery at Indiana university: 1989-1999.

Surgery remains the cornerstone of therapy for medically operable patients with early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, there are few reports on the short-term morbidity and long-term survival following surgery in elderly patients with NSCLC. The surgical experience in 280 patients with NSCLC at Indiana University from 1989-1999 are reported with a comparison of patients who are >or= 70 years versus < 70 years of age.

Total colpocleisis with high levator plication for the treatment of advanced pelvic organ prolapse.

Objectives: Our purpose was (1). to report long-term objective and subjective outcome data after total colpocleisis with high levator plication and (2). to compare operative morbidity of total colpocleisis in patients with prior versus concurrent hysterectomy.

Anatomic distribution of periprostatic adipose tissue: a mapping study of 100 radical prostatectomy specimens.

Background: Because the prostatic capsule is often indistinct, recognition of extraprostatic extension by carcinoma depends heavily on the identification of carcinoma cells in the periprostatic adipose tissue. However, the distribution of adipose tissue along the prostatic surfaces has not been studied extensively.

Methods: The authors analyzed the periprostatic adipose tissue in specimens from 100 patients treated with radical retropubic prostatectomy and bilateral pelvic lymphadenectomy for prostatecarcinoma.

Prognostic importance of lymph node tumor burden in melanoma patients staged by sentinel node biopsy.

Background: The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between nodal tumor burden and the outcomes of recurrence and survival in sentinel node-positive melanoma patients.

Methods: We reviewed a series of sentinel node-positive patients with primary cutaneous melanoma treated with completion lymph node dissection (CLND). Microscopic nodal tumor deposits were counted and measured with an ocular micrometer.

Detection of ecotropic replication-competent retroviruses: comparison of s(+)/l(-) and marker rescue assays.

Guidelines for testing gene therapy products for ecotropic replication-competent retrovirus (Eco-RCR) have not been delineated as they have for amphotropic viruses. To evaluate biologic assays that can detect these viruses, we compared an S(+)/L(-) assay and a marker rescue assay designed specifically for Eco-RCR detection. Moloney murine leukemia virus (Mo-MuLV) obtained from the American Type Culture Collection was used as the positive control.