Lowering the thyroid dose in screening examinations of the cervical spine.

The first objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that a lower-dose (14.1 mGy thyroid dose) protocol for helical computed tomography (CT) of the entire cervical spine demonstrates equivalent technical adequacy and diagnostic accuracy as the standard-dose protocol (26.0 mGy thyroid dose) used at our institution.

Quantification of clinical consultations in academic emergency radiology.

Rationale And Objectives: The purpose of this study is to quantify the impact of clinical consultation on the workload of an academic emergency radiology section.

Materials And Methods: Data from a 7-day audit (24 h/d) of the number and length of clinical consultations was expressed as the mean number of consultations per 24 hours and consultation minutes per 24 hours. Consultations performed on images acquired from outside institutions were noted.

Bacterial aortitis resulting in rapid development of infective "mycotic" aneurysm.

Aortitis and aneurysms with an infective etiology, though uncommon, must be recognized at imaging so that early medical and surgical intervention can improve survival. We report a case in which serial CT scans illustrate the short-interval development of an infective "mycotic" aneurysm resulting from bacterial aortitis.

Percutaneous biopsy of renal masses: sensitivity and negative predictive value stratified by clinical setting and size of masses.

Objective: The purpose of our retrospective study was to evaluate the sensitivity and negative predictive value of percutaneous biopsy of renal masses stratified by clinical setting and the size of the mass.

Materials And Methods: We categorized 115 consecutive percutaneous biopsies of renal masses in 113 patients into four clinical settings and three groups of mass sizes. The sensitivity and negative predictive value were computed (with 95% confidence intervals [CI]) for each clinical setting and for each size group.

Adverse drug events in ambulatory care.

Background: Adverse events related to drugs occur frequently among inpatients, and many of these events are preventable. However, few data are available on adverse drug events among outpatients. We conducted a study to determine the rates, types, severity, and preventability of such events among outpatients and to identify preventive strategies.

Skin and thyroid dosimetry in cervical spine screening: two methods for evaluation and a comparison between a helical CT and radiographic trauma series.

Objective: The first objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that estimates of radiation dose from an ionization chamber correspond to thermoluminescent dosimeter measurements in patients with suspected cervical spine injury. The second objective was to compare the radiation dose of a protocol using helical CT of the entire cervical spine with that of a protocol using radiography alone.

Subjects And Methods: Thermoluminescent dosimeter measurements of radiation dose to the skin over the thyroid were made in two patient groups: six patients evaluated with CT of the cervical spine and six patients evaluated with radiography.

CD28 costimulation mediates down-regulation of p27kip1 and cell cycle progression by activation of the PI3K/PKB signaling pathway in primary human T cells.

CD28 provides a costimulatory signal that cooperates with the TCR/CD3 complex to induce T cell activation, cytokine production, and clonal expansion. We have recently shown that CD28 directly regulates progression of T lymphocytes through the cell cycle. Although a number of signaling pathways have been linked to the TCR/CD3 and to CD28, it is not known how these two receptors cooperate to induce cell cycle progression.