[New investigations in suspected Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Analysis of 14-3-3 protein and T-tau in cerebrospinal fluid for safer diagnosis].

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a prion disease characterized by rapid neurodegeneration that leads to the death of the patient within months to a few years. Since the disease is transmissible, there is an obligation in Sweden to report possible CJD cases to the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control. To make a diagnosis of CJD is difficult, especially early in the course of the disease when the clinical features may be very vague and heterogeneous.

Cellular parameters for track structure modeling of radiation hazard in space.

Based on irradiation with 45 MeV/u N and B ions and with Co-60 gamma rays, cellular parameters of Katz's track structure model have been fitted for the survival of V79-379A Chinese hamster lung fibroblasts. Cellular parameters representing neoplastic transformations in C3H10T/1/2 cells after their irradiation with heavy ion beams, taken from earlier work, were also used to model the radiation hazard in deep space, following the system for evaluating, summing and reporting occupational exposures proposed in 1967 by a subcommittee of NCRP. We have performed model calculations of the number of transformations in surviving cells, after a given fluence of heavy charged particles of initial energy 500 MeV/u, penetrating thick layers of cells.

Frequency, predictors, and expenditures for pediatric insurance claims for complementary and alternative medical professionals in Washington State.

Background: This study describes the frequency, predictors, and expenditures for the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in an insured pediatric population.

Methods: Washington state requires CAM-licensed medical professional coverage in private health insurance. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of services provided to children in 2002 by conventional professionals, chiropractors, naturopathic physicians, acupuncturists, and massage therapists.

Toward a definition of a threshold for harmless doses to the anal-sphincter region and the rectum.

Purpose: To investigate dysfunction caused by unwanted radiation to the anal-sphincter region and the rectum.

Methods And Materials: A questionnaire assessing bowel symptoms, sexual function, and urinary symptoms was sent to 72 patients with clinically localized prostatic adenocarcinoma treated by external beam radiation therapy at the Radiumhemmet, Karolinska Hospital, in Stockholm, Sweden, 2-4 years after treatment. The mean percentage dose-volume histograms for patients with and without the specific symptom were calculated.

The effect of standard lumbar discectomy on segmental motion: 5-year follow-up using radiostereometry.

We measured the effects of lumbar discectomy on segmental motion over a period of 5 years. Twenty-four patients with lumbar disc herniation were treated by standard lumbar discectomy at the L4-L5 or L5-S1 level. Peroperatively, tantalum markers were inserted into L4, L5, and the sacrum.

Assessment of atrial regional and global electromechanical function by tissue velocity echocardiography: a feasibility study on healthy individuals.

Background: The appropriate evaluation of atrial electrical function is only possible by means of invasive electrophysiology techniques, which are expensive and therefore not suitable for widespread use. Mechanical atrial function is mainly determined from atrial volumes and volume-derived indices that are load-dependent, time-consuming and difficult to reproduce because they are observer-dependent.

Aims: To assess the feasibility of tissue velocity echocardiography (TVE) to evaluate atrial electromechanical function in young, healthy volunteers.

Functional diagnosis of coronary stenosis using tissue tracking provides best sensitivity and specificity for left circumflex disease: experience from the MYDISE (myocardial Doppler in stress echocardiography) study.

Aims: To evaluate the diagnostic capacity of quantitative analysis of segmental longitudinal myocardial displacement images (tissue tracking, TT) during dobutamine stress echocardiography for the detection of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).

Methods And Results: TT-generated colour-coded maps of systolic segmental longitudinal displacement were obtained by post-processing of echocardiographic data from 105 patients with CAD and 90 low risk individuals selected from MYDISE database. Quantitative analysis of the distribution pattern of segmental displacement during dobutamine stress was most successful when a ratio of basal (high amplitude) to apical (low amplitude) colour-coded displacement bands (B/A ratio) was employed.

Electromechanical coupling, uncoupling, and ventricular function in patients with bundle branch block: a tissue-Doppler echocardiographic study.

Background: Left bundle branch block (LBBB) is associated with impaired left ventricular (LV) function and increased morbidity and mortality, especially in patients with structural heart diseases. The mechanisms are poorly understood.

Subjects And Methods: Subjects with isolated LBBB (n=20), right bundle branch block (RBBB, n=20), and controls (C, n=20) were studied with standard two-dimensional (2D), and color-encoded tissue-Doppler echocardiography (TDE).

Influence of overall treatment time and radiobiological parameters on biologically effective doses in cervical cancer patients treated with radiation therapy alone.

The aim of the study was to examine the influence of overall treatment time (OTT) on the value of calculated biological effective doses (BEDs) for different biological variables. These variables were: tumour proliferation rate, different cell radiosensitivity (alpha=0.2, 0.

Triceps denervation as a predictor of elbow flexion contractures in C5 and C6 tetraplegia.

Objective: To determine whether the existence of elbow flexion contractures in persons with C5 or C6 tetraplegia is related to a lack of residual voluntary triceps function and triceps denervation (ie, lower motoneuron damage).

Design: A retrospective study of impairment data from 74 arms to identify the incidence of elbow flexion contractures and the contributing factors toward this deformity.

Setting: Five spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation centers in the United States, 1 in England, and 1 in Australia.

Uptake of radionuclides by vegetation at a High Arctic location.

Radionuclide levels in vegetation from a High Arctic location were studied and compared to in situ soil concentrations. Levels of the anthropogenic radionuclide 137Cs and the natural radionuclides 40K, 238U, 226Ra and 232Th are discussed and transfer factor (TF) values and aggregated transfer (Tag) values are calculated for vascular plants. Levels of 137Cs in vegetation generally followed the order mosses > lichen > vascular plants.

Analysis of the effect of temporal filtering in myocardial tissue velocity imaging.

Signal filtering to reduce random noise may compromise the reliability of tissue velocity measurements. This study evaluates the influence of temporal filters on time and velocity variables derived from myocardial tissue velocity images acquired in 15 healthy individuals at a high frame rate (142-184 Hz). Different time and velocity variables from the basal septum were analyzed offline before and after temporal filtering from 20 to 60 milliseconds in 10-millisecond steps using software enabling retrieval of myocardial Doppler velocity and 2-dimensional information from different cardiac locations during the same cardiac cycle.

Distribution of left ventricular longitudinal peak systolic strain and impact of low frame rate.

The myocardium has complex 3-D motion that is frequently described using ultrasound (US) Doppler techniques that are limited to recording velocities in one dimension only. Studies using 3-D tagged magnetic resonance show that the myocardium has strain components with varying angles throughout the myocardium. Despite this, there seems to be a belief that the left ventricular longitudinal strain distribution should be homogeneous.

Statistical methods for clinical verification of dose-response parameters related to esophageal stricture and AVM obliteration from radiotherapy.

The purpose of this work is to provide some statistical methods for evaluating the predictive strength of radiobiological models and the validity of dose-response parameters for tumour control and normal tissue complications. This is accomplished by associating the expected complication rates, which are calculated using different models, with the clinical follow-up records. These methods are applied to 77 patients who received radiation treatment for head and neck cancer and 85 patients who were treated for arteriovenous malformation (AVM).

Myocardial velocities measured during adenosine, dobutamine and supine bicycle exercise: a tissue Doppler study in healthy volunteers.

Background: Dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) quantified by tissue Doppler (TVI) have improved the diagnostic capacity of the procedure. Quantification of other stress modalities, e.g.

Tissue motion imaging of the left ventricle--quantification of myocardial strain, velocity, acceleration and displacement in a single image.

Aims: Several methods of parametric imaging of left ventricular function including tissue velocity imaging (TVI) and strain rate imaging (SRI) have previously been presented, however, they have the limitation that they can, respectively, portray only one physiological myocardial parameter. The aims of this pilot study were to implement and validate tissue motion imaging (TMI) for the first time, a visualization technique which permits acceleration, velocity, displacement and strain to be interpreted quantitatively or semi-quantitatively in a single image.

Methods And Results: TMI is achieved by the color coding of temporal tissue velocity integrals.

Biologically effective doses in radiotherapy of cervical carcinoma*.

Presented study evaluates biologically effective dose (BED) in patients receiving low-medium dose-rate (LDR/MDR) brachytherapy (BRT) plus external beam radiotherapy (XRT) based on tumor cell proliferation values in cancer of the cervix patients. This study includes 229 patients treated entirely by radiotherapy at the Centre Oncology in Krakow. Doses to Point A were estimated for total treatment for each brachytherapy insertion.

Left ventricular isovolumic velocity and duration variables calculated from colour-coded myocardial velocity images in normal individuals.

Aims: To describe the normal myocardial velocity profile during the isovolumic contraction and relaxation period at four different locations within left ventricular base and to establish normal age and gender related isovolumic time and velocity values.

Methods And Results: In 49 healthy individuals (26 women/23 men) in age groups 21-49 and 50-76 years, tissue velocity profiles and 2D-data were acquired at high temporal resolution (90-147 frames/s) for a subsequent off-line analysis using software enabling retrieval of myocardial Doppler velocity and 2D/anatomical M-mode information from different cardiac locations during the same cardiac cycle. The obtained velocity curves during the isovolumic contraction and relaxation period were usually biphasic and displayed clear regional differences in their respective positive and negative maximal velocities.

Improvement of cardiac function after haemodialysis. Quantitative evaluation by colour tissue velocity imaging.

Background: Overhydration and accumulation of uraemic toxins may influence the myocardial function in haemodialysis (HD) patients. To evaluate cardiac function and the effects of fluid and solute removal during a single session of HD, colour tissue velocity imaging (TVI) was used. This new technique, which is less load dependent than conventional echocardiography, allows an objective quantitative assessment of myocardial contractility, contraction and relaxation.

Concurrent and long-term predictors of older adults' use of community-based long-term care services: the Caregiver Health Effects Study.

Objective: This study examined concurrent and long-term associations between caregiver-related characteristics and the use of community long-term care services in a sample of 186 older adults caring for a disabled spouse.

Method: We used two waves of data from the Caregiver Health Effects Study, an ancillary study of the Cardiovascular Health Study. Caregiver-related need variables as predictors of service use were of primary interest and included caregiving demands, caregiver mental and physical health, and mastery.

Determination and clinical verification of dose-response parameters for esophageal stricture from head and neck radiotherapy.

The purpose of this work is to determine the parameters and evaluate the predictive strength of the relative seriality model. This is accomplished by associating the calculated complication rates with the clinical follow-up records. The study is based on 82 patients who received radiation treatment for head and neck cancer.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of the New South Wales adult drug court program.

In New South Wales, Australia, a cost-effectiveness evaluation was conducted of an adult drug court (ADC) program as an alternative to jail for criminal offenders addicted to illicit drugs. This article describes the program, the cost-effectiveness analysis, and the results. The results of this study reveal that, for the 23-month period of the evaluation, the ADC was as cost-effective as were conventional sanctions in delaying the time to the first offense and more cost-effective in reducing the frequency of offending for those outcome measures selected.

Mobilisation of heavy metals by deicing salts in a roadside environment.

The seasonal variations of some selected heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn) and principal anions in soil solutions were monitored as a function of distance from the road at two field sites in Sweden. During the winter, the conductivity, concentrations of dissolved sodium and chloride increased dramatically due to the application of deicing agents (i.e.