Detecting acute human immunodeficiency virus infection using 3 different screening immunoassays and nucleic acid amplification testing for human immunodeficiency virus RNA, 2006-2008.

Background: The yield of nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT) after routine screening for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibody to detect acute HIV infection (AHI) may vary with different HIV-antibody assays.

Methods: From April 24, 2006, through March 28, 2008, patients underwent routine HIV-antibody screening using a first-generation assay at 14 county sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics and 1 community clinic serving homosexual patients in Los Angeles; using a second-generation rapid test at 3 municipal STD clinics in New York; and using a third-generation assay at 80 public health clinics in Florida. To identify AHI, seronegative specimens were pooled for NAAT, followed by individual NAAT of specimens with positive findings.

Kidney transplantation in children with bladder augmentation or ileal conduit diversion.

Introduction: Various congenital and acquired diseases of the lower urinary tract can lead to chronic renal failure requiring renal replacement therapy.

Aim: The aim of the study was to assess problems and results of kidney transplantation in children with significant lower urinary tract dysfunction.

Materials And Methods: Between 1984 and 2007, there were 33 kidney transplantations in children with end-stage renal disease and severe lower tract dysfunction out of 539 kidney transplantations performed in our department.

The molecular phylogeny of uterine serpins and its relationship to evolution of placentation.

Uterine serpins (USs), designated as SERPINA14, are expressed in the endometrium in response to progesterone. All species identified as having USs exhibit epitheliochorial placentation and are in the Ruminantia and Suidae orders of the Laurasiatheria superorder. The objective was to identify US genes in species within and outside Laurasiatheria and evaluate whether evolution of the US gene was associated with development of the epitheliochorial placenta.

Influence of Dermanyssus gallinae (poultry red mite) invasion on the plasma levels of corticosterone, catecholamines and proteins in layer hens.

The results of studies conducted in 2006 revealed that mass red mite (Dermanyssus gallinae) invasions cause somatic stress which may be responsible for the pathophysiological mechanism of decreased egg production, lower humoral immunity and higher mortality in layer hens. The aim of this study was to validate the above research results, to investigate whether in addition to somatic stress, red mite invasions cause psychogenic stress due to the activation of the sympatho-adrenomedullar system, and to determine the level of stress resulting from red mite infestations in comparison with a short, 1.5 h period of acute immobilisation stress.

Can we really close the loop and how soon? Accelerating the availability of an artificial pancreas: a roadmap to better diabetes outcomes.

Development of a closed-loop artificial pancreas has been a long-time goal that could transform diabetes management. The primary limitation until recent years was the lack of a robust and portable continuous glucose sensor. There has been significant progress over the past 5 years in the development and commercialization of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices.

Effects of medical training scenarios on heart rate variability and motivation in students and simulated patients.

Context: Research regarding the experience of stress during medical training scenarios using standardised patients (SPs) has been primarily qualitative and has focused on the SPs. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively evaluate stress and motivation in both students and SPs during these scenarios by measuring heart rate variability (HRV) and administering the German version of the Questionnaire on Current Motivation (QCM).

Methods: A total of 44 medical students (23 women, 21 men) participated in two medical history-taking training scenarios.

The effect of continuous glucose monitoring in well-controlled type 1 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE The potential benefits of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) in the management of adults and children with well-controlled type 1 diabetes have not been examined. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A total of 129 adults and children with intensively treated type 1 diabetes (age range 8-69 years) and A1C <7.0% were randomly assigned to either continuous or standard glucose monitoring for 26 weeks.

Prospective randomized trial of paravertebral block for patients undergoing breast cancer surgery.

Background: The goal of the current study was to evaluate the effect of regional anesthesia using paravertebral block (PVB) on postoperative pain after breast surgery.

Methods: Patients undergoing unilateral breast surgery without reconstruction were randomized to general anesthesia (GA) only or PVB with GA and pain scores assessed.

Results: Eighty patients were randomized (41 to GA and 39 to PVB with GA).

Linker histone-like proteins in Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata L) erythrocyte chromatin.

Linker Histone-Like proteins (LHL1 and LHL2) were identified within a linker histone complement of Muscovy duck erythrocyte chromatin. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic patterns of N-bromosuccinimide-cleaved LHL products as well as liquid chromatography-electrospray-ion trap mass spectrometry analyses of trypsin-digested LHL peptides revealed structural similarity of LHL1 to histone H5 and between LHL2 and histone H1 subtypes. Since the LHL proteins were stable in the presence of 2-mercaptoethanol and dithiothreitol that reduce disulfide bonds, it appeared unlikely that this doublet was a thiol-derived product of linker histones.

Current status of the New World screwworm Cochliomyia hominivorax in Venezuela.

The geographical distribution and seasonality of the New World screwworm (NWS), Cochliomyia hominivorax Coquerel (Diptera: Calliphoridae), were monitored through the use of sentinel animals as part of a co-ordinated programme involving veterinarians and farmers, as well as undergraduate students and teachers from veterinary colleges in Venezuela. This surveillance activity made it possible to collect NWS egg masses or larvae from all 23 states in the country and to determine that the rainy season has a strong positive influence on the number of cases of myiasis caused by C. hominivorax in dogs.

Gender and the nocebo response following conditioning and expectancy.

Objective: To investigate the role of Pavlovian conditioning and expectancy and of gender on the nocebo effects.

Methods: Conditioning experiment: Forty-eight healthy male and female volunteers were investigated for 3 days using a standard rotation procedure. Subjects in the experimental group received a salient oral stimulus prior to rotation; subjects in the control group received the stimulus 12 h after rotations on Days 1 and 2; on Day 3, all subjects received the stimulus prior to rotation.

[Self-image, real physician's and ideal physician's image: a comparison of medical students 1981 and 2006].

Background: Due to the new licensing regulations for physicians, social and communicative aspects have attained a central position within medical education. In developing self-reflexive, empathetic and communicative skills, medical students are influenced on the one hand by encounters with real physicians in the role of supervisor or colleague, and on the other by their intra-psychic ideals and role stereotypes. The present study aimed to contrast the self-evaluations of modern medical students with their role stereotypes and ideals, and to further relate these to the evaluations, stereotypes and ideals of medical students in 1981.

Acute skin toxicity following stereotactic body radiation therapy for stage I non-small-cell lung cancer: who's at risk?

Purpose: We examined the rate of acute skin toxicity within a prospectively managed database of patients treated for early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and investigated factors that might predict skin toxicity.

Methods: From May 2006 through January 2008, 50 patients with Stage I NSCLC were treated at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center with 60 Gy in three fractions or 44-48 Gy in four fractions. Patients were treated with multiple coplanar beams (3-7, median 4) with a 6 MV linac using intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and dynamic multileaf collimation.

[Gamma-aminobutyric acid--metabolism and its disorders].

Gamma-aminobutyric acid is a major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system. GABA metabolism is dependent on the activity of three enzymes: glutamic acid decarboxylase, GABA-transaminase and succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase. Decreased activity of these enzymes may cause many neurological syndromes, such as stiff-person syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, anxiety disorders and seizures.

Alcohol withdrawal-induced hippocampal neurotoxicity in vitro and seizures in vivo are both reduced by memantine.

Background: The ethanol withdrawal (EWD) syndrome is typically treated using benzodiazepines such as diazepam. However there is concern that benzodiazepines may not prevent neurotoxicity associated with EWD. Antagonists of glutamate/N-Methyl-D-Aspartate receptors (NMDARs) such as MK801 have been shown to be effective against both EWD-induced neurotoxicity in vitro and seizures in vivo.

Prospective, randomized, double-blind trial of local anesthetic infusion and intravenous narcotic patient-controlled anesthesia pump for pain management after free TRAM flap breast reconstruction.

Background: : This study assessed the efficacy of a continuous infusion pump system for postoperative pain control at muscle-sparing transverse rectus abdominis musculocutaneous (TRAM) flap donor sites.

Methods: : In this prospective, randomized, double-blind trial, a dual-catheter continuous infusion pump system was placed in the muscle-sparing TRAM flap donor-site area in all patients. Bupivacaine (0.

Continuous glucose monitoring and intensive treatment of type 1 diabetes.

Background: The value of continuous glucose monitoring in the management of type 1 diabetes mellitus has not been determined.

Methods: In a multicenter clinical trial, we randomly assigned 322 adults and children who were already receiving intensive therapy for type 1 diabetes to a group with continuous glucose monitoring or to a control group performing home monitoring with a blood glucose meter. All the patients were stratified into three groups according to age and had a glycated hemoglobin level of 7.

Non-resectable hepatic tumors in children - role of liver transplantation.

Background: There is a group of children with primary hepatic tumors which can not be resected by conventional partial liver resection. Total hepatectomy followed by liver transplantation may be the only solution in such cases. Authors reviewed own experience with the liver transplantation for unresectable tumors in children and assessed the possible indications and role of transplantation in these patients.

Anticipatory psychological distress in women scheduled for diagnostic and curative breast cancer surgery.

Background: Psychological distress is a central experience for women facing diagnostic and curative breast cancer surgery.

Purpose: The present study was designed to predict anticipatory distress in 187 women scheduled to undergo excisional breast biopsy or lumpectomy.

Method: Participants completed questionnaires assessing emotional distress and predictors of this distress (surgery type, worry about the surgical procedure, and worry about what the surgeon will find).

[Stereotactic extracranial radiosurgery of liver tumors using respiratory gating--the method presentation].

Radiotherapy has not been widely accepted in the treatment of primary and secondary liver tumors due to its limited efficacy. This is caused by insufficient radiation doses and suboptimal techniques, which were used in the past. However, a present technological progress in radiotherapy has led to the application of modern and sophisticated radiation techniques into the treatment of liver tumors.

Feasibility study of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) treatment planning using brain functional MRI.

The purpose of this work was to study the feasibility of incorporating functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) information for intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) treatment planning of brain tumors. Three glioma patients were retrospectively replanned for radiotherapy (RT) with additional fMRI information. The fMRI of each patient was acquired using a bilateral finger-tapping paradigm with a gradient echo EPI (Echo Planer Imaging) sequence.

State Health Insurance Regulations and the Price of High-Deductible Policies.

This study examines the impact of state regulations on the price of high-deductible family and individual polices in the non-group market. We use a unique and rich data set on actual insurance policies sold through a large internet health insurance distributor to examine the impact of various regulations on policy prices controlling for policy characteristics, demographic characteristics of the purchasers, and state-level demographics. We also use data from a single major insurance firm which provided offer prices for a family policy from a set of randomly selected zip codes.

Characterization of anti-osteopontin monoclonal antibodies: Binding sensitivity to post-translational modifications.

Osteopontin (OPN) is primarily a secreted phosphoglycoprotein found in a variety of tissues and body fluids. It has a wide range of reported functions, many of which are affected by the degree of post-translational modification (PTM) of the protein. These PTMs include phosphorylation, glycosylation, and cross-linking by transglutaminase.

[Sacrospinous colposacrofixation in the treatment of female pelvic organ prolapse (POP)--analysis of the operation course and complications].

Objectives: Richter operation is used for the enterocele and high rectocoele treatment. There are many modifications of the procedure. Alas, not much data concerning complications and the learning curve of Richter operation is currently at our disposal.

[Burch colposuspension--analysis of complications on our own material].

Objectives: Literature describing complications after colposuspension and analyses of the learning curve is scarce. Knowledge concerning this topic may lower the frequency of complications, improve the effectiveness of the procedure and increase patients' satisfaction.

Design: The purpose of the study was to evaluate types and frequency of complications which occur during modified Burch colposuspension and shortly after the procedure (to the moment of admission home), aiming at the optimization of the operative technique.