cAMP-mediated autophagy inhibits DNA damage-induced death of leukemia cells independent of p53.

Autophagy is important in regulating the balance between cell death and survival, with the tumor suppressor p53 as one of the key components in this interplay. We have previously utilized an model of the most common form of childhood cancer, B cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BCP-ALL), to show that activation of the cAMP signaling pathway inhibits p53-mediated apoptosis in response to DNA damage in both cell lines and primary leukemic cells. The present study reveals that cAMP-mediated survival of BCP-ALL cells exposed to DNA damaging agents, involves a critical and p53-independent enhancement of autophagy.

Clinical value of fully automated p16/Ki-67 dual staining in the triage of HPV-positive women in the Norwegian Cervical Cancer Screening Program.

Background: More accurate biomarkers in cervical cytology screening could reduce the number of women unnecessarily referred for biopsy. This study investigated the ability of p16/Ki-67 dual staining to predict high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) in human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive women from the Norwegian Cervical Cancer Screening Program.

Methods: Automated p16/Ki-67 dual staining was performed on liquid-based cytology samples from 266 women who were HPV-positive at their secondary screening.

Psychosocial distress during pregnancy and the risk of infantile colic: a follow-up study.

Aim: To examine the association between psychosocial exposures during pregnancy and the risk of infantile colic.

Methods: The study included 378 infants and was conducted as a substudy of the Danish National Birth Cohort from 1997 to 1999, with prenatal data collected twice during pregnancy. A diary with a record for postpartum weeks 4-8 was used to quantify the amount of the infants' crying and fussing.

[Infantile colic--an assessment of possible risk factors].

Infantile colic is defined as crying or fussing for more than three hours a day for more than three days a week. The aetiology is unknown, although many hypotheses have been examined: allergy, type of feeding, the development of the gastrointestinal tract, the development of the central nervous system, and the mother/infant relationship. The frequency varies between 8% and 40% in industrialised countries.

[Prognosis for infants with birth weights less than 1,501 g treated in a central hospital].

The mortality, morbidity and major sequelae for children with very low birth weight (< 1501 grams) born in the county of Ringkoebing, from 1981 to 1990 were reviewed retrospectively. Ventilator treatment was not used in the neonatal period. Neonatal survival was 63% (143 of 227 infants); the excess mortality compared with contemporary investigations was found in the group 1251-1500 grams and was mainly due to respiratory distress syndrome, which, in the whole population, was an important factor in 62% of neonatal deaths.