CAN'T MISS--conquer any number task by making important statistics simple. Part 1. Types of variables, mean, median, variance, and standard deviation.

Healthcare quality improvement professionals need to understand and use inferential statistics to interpret sample data from their organizations. In quality improvement and healthcare research studies all the data from a population often are not available, so investigators take samples and make inferences about the population by using inferential statistics. This three-part series will give readers an understanding of the concepts of inferential statistics as well as the specific tools for calculating confidence intervals for samples of data.

Phenylpiperidine selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors interfere with multidrug efflux pump activity in Staphylococcus aureus.

Structural variants of phenylpiperidine selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (P-SSRIs) inhibited the function of two unique Staphylococcus aureus multidrug efflux pumps. The most active compound was the paroxetine isomer NNC 20-7052, which had an IC(50) for ethidium, acriflavine, and pyronin Y efflux of 9, 53, and 18% of its MIC, respectively, against the NorA pump. The unbalanced effect of NNC 20-7052 on the efflux of different substrates suggests the possibility that P-SSRIs function by a physical interaction with NorA.

The effects of adjuvant chemotherapy on bone density in postmenopausal women with early breast cancer.

Purpose: Adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer can have adverse effects on bone. We investigated the effects of adjuvant chemotherapy on bone mineral density in postmenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer.

Methods: We performed a chart review of all our breast center patients who had spine or hip bone density measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at our institution after treatment for stage I or II breast cancer.

Quantitative electroencephalography in OCD patients treated with paroxetine.

The effectiveness of drugs that have a specific effect on the activity of the serotonergic neurotransmitter systemhas changed the outlook for patients suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). With a response rate of about 70% to such compounds and the great amount of brain imaging studies conducted over the past decades, an understanding of the biochemical nature and origins of OCD is beginning to unfold. Convergent data including ethological and experimental observations, clinico-pathological findings and different imaging methods have implicated the basal ganglia along with the cortical and related thalamic structures to be involved in the pathophysiology of OCD.

Detection of tumor-specific genetic alterations in bone marrow from early-stage breast cancer patients.

Detection of genetic markers associated with early breast cancer may prove clinically relevant for identifying patients at increased risk for relapse. Loss of heterozygosity (LOH), a specific genetic aberration, commonly occurs during breast cancer initiation and metastasis. Early detection of tumor metastasis to bone marrow (BM) using conventional histochemical techniques has been limited because of suboptimal efficiency and sensitivity.

Stanniocalcin-1: a novel molecular blood and bone marrow marker for human breast cancer.

Purpose: Very few tumor molecular markers have been identified that are highly specific for breast cancer cells when applied to blood and bone marrow (BM). Stanniocalcin (STC)-1 is a recently discovered human gene that has been implicated in cellular calcium homeostasis and resistance to hypoxia and is located on chromosome 8p in a region associated with amplification in breast cancer. We investigated STC-1 mRNA as a potential molecular marker for detection of breast cancer metastasis in the blood and BM.

Quantitative characterization of specific genomic promoters using agarose gel electrophoresis.

Over the past decade a large number of studies have focused attention on the role of nucleosomes as negative and positive regulators of specific nuclear functions. Due to the lack of an analytical method to determine the higher order conformation of the nucleosomal arrays that encompass specific genetic loci (e.g.

Ventilatory efficiency during exercise in healthy subjects.

When evaluating dyspnea in patients with heart or lung disease it is useful to measure the quantity of ventilation needed to eliminate metabolically produced CO2 (i.e., the ventilatory efficiency).

Effects of prior stress on LPS-induced cytokine and sickness responses.

It has recently been reported that exposure to inescapable tailshock (IS) enhances the release of proinflammatory cytokines following bacterial challenge. However, it is not known whether the level of potentiation of proinflammatory cytokines is sufficient to exaggerate any of the physiological processes that are regulated by these cytokines. Thus, LPS was administered and fever, activity, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) responses, and proinflammatory cytokine release were assessed during both the light and dark phases of the light cycle following IS.

Tumor characteristics predictive of sentinel node metastases in 105 consecutive patients with invasive lobular carcinoma.

Background: Identification of nodal metastases in invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) is difficult. Sentinel node (SN) biopsy offers a potential advantage. This study reports the feasibility of SN identification and predictors of SN metastases for ILC.

The time has come to change the algorithm for the surgical management of early breast cancer.

Hypothesis: If the sentinel lymph nodes (SNs) draining a primary invasive breast cancer are free of tumor, then axillary lymph node dissection is not necessary for management of disease.

Design And Intervention: In July 2000, we reported our initial experience of a small cohort of patients who underwent axillary lymph node dissection only if their SNs were involved with metastases. We now report outcome data for all patients who underwent breast conservation and sentinel lymph node dissection without completion axillary lymph node dissection between October 1, 1995, and April 30, 1999.

Effectiveness of preprinted order forms in promoting perioperative beta-blocker use.

The Notes section welcomes the following types of contributions: (1) practical innovations or solutions to everyday practice problems, (2) substantial updates or elaborations on work previously published by the same authors, (3) important confirmations of research findings previously published by others, and (4) short research reports, including practice surveys, of modest scope or interest. Notes should be submitted with AJHP's manuscript checklist. The text should be concise, and the number of references, tables, and figures should be limited.

The essential histone variant H2A.Z regulates the equilibrium between different chromatin conformational states.

Explaining the determinants involved in regulating the equilibrium between different chromatin structural states is fundamental to understanding differential gene expression. Histone variant H2A.Z is essential to chromatin architecture in higher eukaryotes but its role has not yet been explained.

Minimal effects from developmental exposure to St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) in Sprague-Dawley rats.

Increasing widespread use of St. John's Wort (SJW, Hypericum perforatum) has led to concerns about its use in pregnant women. Behavioral and physiological alterations resulting from developmental treatment were investigated in Sprague-Dawley rats exposed to diets containing 0, 180, 900, 1800 or 4500ppm SJW beginning on gestational day 3 and ending at offspring weaning on postnatal day (PND) 21.

Surgical management of breast cancer in the elderly patient.

Background: Breast cancer in the older woman is a major health issue and therapeutic challenge. This study asked if presentation, surgical treatment, and outcome of breast cancer are different in elderly women compared with their younger counterparts.

Methods: There were 816 women < 70 years (younger) and 190 > or = 70 years (older) treated surgically for breast carcinoma between January 1992 and April 2000.

Microsatellite alterations detected in the serum of early stage breast cancer patients.

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy affecting women. Advances in screening have resulted in an increasing trend towards detecting earlier stage tumors associated with a longer disease-free survival. Because of this prolonged latency period, it is critical to identify patients early in their disease course who are at increased risk for recurrence, whereby treatment decisions may be altered accordingly based on more precise information.

Blue versus hot: learning the techniques with dye and isotopes.

Intraoperative lymphatic mapping and sentinel node (SN) biopsy has generated a tremendous amount of interest in the field of surgical oncology since its introduction for patients with early-stage melanoma. The SN concept has been applied recently to many solid tumors, including melanoma, breast cancer, thyroid cancer, gynecological malignancies, and colorectal cancers. Although the concept of intraoperative lymphatic mapping and SN biopsy has been validated in multiple single-institution studies as well as multicenter trials, there is still much discussion as to which mapping technique is easier to learn.

Taxol-induced ceramide generation and apoptosis in human breast cancer cells.

Purpose: Taxol has emerged as a valuable antimitotic chemotherapeutic agent, particularly in advanced breast and ovarian cancers. Although much is known about cytotoxic mechanisms, the effectiveness of Taxol cannot be solely explained by microtubular interaction. This study was undertaken to determine whether ceramide generation plays a role in Taxol-induced apoptosis.

[Serious life events and congenital malformations. A national study with a complete follow-up].

Introduction: Emotional stress during organogenesis could, in theory, cause congenital malformations by increasing the level of cortisone, but documentation is lacking. We undertook a follow-up study to test the hypothesis that psychosocial stress increases the prevalence of malformations, in particular malformations of the cranial neural crest.

Material And Methods: We defined serious life events as the death or first hospital admission for cancer or acute myocardial infarction of partners or children.

Intraoperative lymphatic mapping and sentinel lymph node dissection in breast cancer.

Because the tumor status of the regional lymph nodes is the most important prognostic factor in patients with early-stage breast cancer, accurate histopathologic assessment of these nodes is essential for optimal management, including the selection of candidates for adjuvant systemic therapies. Intraoperative lymphatic mapping using a vital blue dye, with or without a radiocolloid, can identify the first axillary node to receive lymphatic drainage from a primary breast carcinoma. Focused histopathologic assessment of this sentinel node can be used to determine the tumor status of the entire axillary basin.

Sensitivity of a S. cerevisiae RAD27 deletion mutant to DNA-damaging agents and in vivo complementation by the human FEN-1 gene.

We have investigated the sensitivity to DNA-damaging agents of a strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae containing a deletion of the RAD27 gene. The mutant strain is sensitive to a number of alkylating agents that modify DNA at a variety of positions, including one that produces primarily phosphotriesters. In contrast, the mutant strain is not sensitive to the oxidizing agent hydrogen peroxide.

Factors affecting sentinel node localization during preoperative breast lymphoscintigraphy.

Unlabelled: Variable success rates for identifying axillary (AX) sentinel nodes in breast cancer patients using preoperative lymphoscintigraphy have been reported. We evaluated the effects of age, weight, breast size, method of biopsy, interval after biopsy, and imaging view on the success of sentinel node identification and on the kinetics of radiopharmaceutical migration.

Methods: Preoperative breast lymphoscintigraphy was performed in consecutive breast cancer patients from February 1998 to December 1998.