Radiofrequency ablation after breast lumpectomy added to extend intraoperative margins in the treatment of breast cancer (ABLATE): a single-institution experience.

Background: Breast-conserving surgery is often preferred to treat early-stage breast cancer. This method aims to minimize repeat excision and local recurrence rates. The ABLATE Registry expands this to multiple centers with a total accrual goal of 250.

Walking drawings and walking ability in children with cerebral palsy.

Objectives: To investigate whether drawings of the self walking by children with cerebral palsy (CP) were associated with walking ability and illness perceptions.

Method: This was an exploratory study in 52 children with CP (M:F = 28:24), mean age 11.1 years (range 5-18), who were attending tertiary level outpatient clinics.

Leptin protects host cells from Entamoeba histolytica cytotoxicity by a STAT3-dependent mechanism.

The adipocytokine leptin links nutritional status to immune function. Leptin signaling protects from amebiasis, but the molecular mechanism is not understood. We developed an in vitro model of ameba-host cell interaction to test the hypothesis that leptin prevents ameba-induced apoptosis in host epithelial cells.

The Drosophila melanogaster Genetic Reference Panel.

A major challenge of biology is understanding the relationship between molecular genetic variation and variation in quantitative traits, including fitness. This relationship determines our ability to predict phenotypes from genotypes and to understand how evolutionary forces shape variation within and between species. Previous efforts to dissect the genotype-phenotype map were based on incomplete genotypic information.

SEM evaluation of demineralized dentin treated with professional-strength NaF topical pastes.

Purpose: To qualitatively explore the effects of prescription-strength topical NaF pastes on patent tubules in a pH cycling model comprising remineralization and demineralization phases.

Methods: 3 mm diameter dentin cores were extracted from bovine teeth, mounted in acrylic rods, ground and polished, and initially demineralized in 10 mL unstirred 50% citric acid (pH = 1.2) for 2 minutes to remove the smear layer and expose the dentin tubules.

Histopathological evaluation of anterior lamellar corneal tissue-on/-off storage conditions on DSAEK donor tissue after storage in organ culture.

Purpose: To compare the quality of corneal endothelium of precut Descemet-stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK) tissue when transported with and without the anterior lamellar corneal tissue (ALCT) when organ-culture corneal storage methods are used.

Methods: After microkeratome-assisted excision of anterior corneal lamella, five pairs of corneas (10 eyes) were stored either with the ALCT on the stroma (five eyes) or with ALCT off the stroma (five eyes) in organ-culture medium. Three pairs (six matched corneas) were left in the transport medium for 24 h prior to the microkeratome cut.

Utility of ultrasound and MRI in prenatal diagnosis of placenta accreta: a pilot study.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate transabdominal pelvic ultrasound and MRI for the prenatal diagnosis of placenta accreta.

Materials And Methods: A historical cohort pilot study was performed at our institution to identify women at risk of placenta accreta who had undergone both prenatal ultrasound and MRI. Findings at ultrasound and MRI were compared with the final diagnosis, which was established with clinical findings at delivery and pathologic examination of specimens.

Structural, biochemical, cellular, and functional changes in skeletal muscle extracellular matrix with aging.

The extracellular matrix (ECM) of skeletal muscle is critical for force transmission and for the passive elastic response of skeletal muscle. Structural, biochemical, cellular, and functional changes in skeletal muscle ECM contribute to the deterioration in muscle mechanical properties with aging. Structural changes include an increase in the collagen concentration, a change in the elastic fiber system, and an increase in fat infiltration of skeletal muscle.

In situ remineralisation of eroded enamel lesions by NaF rinses.

Objective: The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the remineralisation of eroded enamel by NaF rinses in an intra-oral model.

Methods: Serving as their own control, subjects (N=80) participated in a randomised, four-leg (20 subjects/leg), 28-day, parallel design study. In each leg, each participant wore a customised orthodontic bracket attached to a mandibular molar that contained one tooth block having an initial erosive lesion (0.

Strength training increases the size of the satellite cell pool in type I and II fibres of chronically painful trapezius muscle in females.

While strength training has been shown to be effective in mediating hypertrophy and reducing pain in trapezius myalgia, responses at the cellular level have not previously been studied. This study investigated the potential of strength training targeting the affected muscles (SST, n = 18) and general fitness training (GFT, n = 16) to augment the satellite cell (SC) and macrophage pools in the trapezius muscles of women diagnosed with trapezius myalgia. A group receiving general health information (REF, n = 8) served as a control.

Self-reported ethnicity and genetic ancestry in relation to oral cancer and pre-cancer in Puerto Rico.

Background: Hispanics are known to be an extremely diverse and genetically admixed ethnic group. The lack of methodologies to control for ethnicity and the unknown admixture in complex study populations of Hispanics has left a gap in understanding certain cancer disparity issues. Incidence rates for oral and pharyngeal cancer (OPC) in Puerto Rico are among the highest in the Western Hemisphere.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug or glucosamine reduced pain and improved muscle strength with resistance training in a randomized controlled trial of knee osteoarthritis patients.

Objectives: To investigate the effect of 12 weeks of strength training in combination with a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), glucosamine, or placebo on muscle cross-sectional area (CSA), strength (primary outcome parameters), and function, power, pain, and satellite cell number (secondary outcome parameters) in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA).

Design: Double-blinded, randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Hospital.

Progressive resistance training and cancer testis (PROTRACT) - efficacy of resistance training on muscle function, morphology and inflammatory profile in testicular cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy: design of a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Standard treatment for patients with disseminated germ cell tumors is combination chemotherapy with bleomycin, etoposide and cisplatin (BEP). This treatment is highly effective, but the majority of patients experience severe adverse effects during treatment and are at risk of developing considerable long-term morbidity, including second malignant neoplasms, cardiovascular disease, and pulmonary toxicity. One neglected side effect is the significant muscular fatigue mentioned by many patients with testicular cancer both during and after treatment.

Effect of carotenoid supplementation on plasma carotenoids, inflammation and visual development in preterm infants.

Objective: Dietary carotenoids (lutein, lycopene and β-carotene) may be important in preventing or ameliorating prematurity complications. Little is known about carotenoid status or effects of supplementation.

Study Design: This randomized controlled multicenter trial compared plasma carotenoid levels among preterm infants (n=203, <33 weeks gestational age) fed diets with and without added lutein, lycopene and β-carotene with human milk (HM)-fed term infants.

In situ remineralization of white-spot enamel lesions by 500 and 1,100 ppm F dentifrices.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the remineralization potential of three silica-containing NaF dentifrice systems in an intraoral model. Subjects (N = 30) in this randomized, three-phase, 28-day, crossover study served as their own control. Each participant wore a customized orthodontic appliance attached to a mandibular molar and contained one tooth block with caries-like lesion.

Sympathetic and parasympathetic responses to social stress across adolescence.

Many transformations that occur in adolescence are related to emotion and emotion regulation, yet very little is known about the autonomic underpinnings of these changes. The aim of the study was to document age-related differences in autonomic responses to social stress and relations to emotion regulation. Ninety-nine female adolescents engaged in a paced breathing and a spontaneous speech task while electrocardiography measurements were taken.

Prospective validation of the ABCD2 score for patients in the emergency department with transient ischemic attack.

Background: The ABCD2 score (Age, Blood pressure, Clinical features, Duration of symptoms and Diabetes) is used to identify patients having a transient ischemic attack who are at high risk for imminent stroke. However, despite its widespread implementation, the ABCD2 score has not yet been prospectively validated. We assessed the accuracy of the ABCD2 score for predicting stroke at 7 (primary outcome) and 90 days.

In vitro remineralization of human and bovine white-spot enamel lesions by NaF dentifrices: A pilot study.

The aim of this feasibility study was to evaluate the in vitro remineralization effects of four dentifrice systems using microhardness and fluoride uptake analyses. In vitro testing for the potential remineralization of the white-spot lesions in bovine and human enamel was performed using a 10-day pH cycling model. The study involved the following NaF silica-based dentifrices: 1) placebo (0 ppm F), 2) 500 ppm F, 3) 1150 ppm F, and 4) 500 ppm F plus functionalized tricalcium phosphate (fTCP).

Influence of sex on outcomes of stenting versus endarterectomy: a subgroup analysis of the Carotid Revascularization Endarterectomy versus Stenting Trial (CREST).

Background: In the randomised Carotid Revascularization Endarterectomy versus Stenting Trial (CREST), the primary endpoint did not differ between carotid artery stenting and carotid endarterectomy in patients with symptomatic and asymptomatic stenosis. A prespecified secondary aim was to examine differences by sex.

Methods: Patients who were asymptomatic or had had a stroke or transient ischaemic attack within 180 days before random allocation were enrolled in CREST at 117 clinical centres in the USA and Canada.

Differential effects of reasoning and speed training in children.

The goal of this study was to determine whether intensive training can ameliorate cognitive skills in children. Children aged 7 to 9 from low socioeconomic backgrounds participated in one of two cognitive training programs for 60 minutes/day and 2 days/week, for a total of 8 weeks. Both training programs consisted of commercially available computerized and non-computerized games.

Sequenced response of extracellular matrix deadhesion and fibrotic regulators after muscle damage is involved in protection against future injury in human skeletal muscle.

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that remodeling of skeletal muscle extracellular matrix (ECM) is involved in protecting human muscle against injury. Biopsies were obtained from medial gastrocnemius muscles after a single bout of electrical stimulation (B) or a repeated bout (RB) 30 d later, or 30 d after a single stimulation bout (RBc). A muscle biopsy was collected from the control leg for comparison with the stimulated leg.

Correlation of macroscopic and microscopic pathology in risk reducing salpingo-oophorectomy: implications for intraoperative specimen evaluation.

Objective: A minority of risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy (RRSO) specimens from BRCA mutation carriers will contain clinically occult carcinoma that is detectable only using a specialized pathologic evaluation protocol. Although intraoperative detection of cancer may alter immediate surgical management, technical complications impairing pathologic diagnosis may result if fresh tissue dissection and frozen sections are performed on unselected RRSO specimens. We hypothesize that macroscopic specimen findings may predict which RRSO specimens contain cancer and therefore may guide selection of specimens for intraoperative pathologic evaluation.

Safety of stenting and endarterectomy by symptomatic status in the Carotid Revascularization Endarterectomy Versus Stenting Trial (CREST).

Background And Purpose: The safety of carotid artery stenting (CAS) and carotid endarterectomy (CEA) has varied by symptomatic status in previous trials. The Carotid Revascularization Endarterectomy Versus Stenting Trial (CREST) data were analyzed to determine safety in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients.

Methods: CREST is a randomized trial comparing safety and efficacy of CAS versus CEA in patients with high-grade carotid stenoses.

Relationship between walk tests and parental reports of walking abilities in children with cerebral palsy.

Objectives: To test the strength of association between 2 clinic-based measures of walking ability, the 1-minute walk test (1MWT) and the six-minute walk test (6MWT), and the parental report of usual walking performance, measured by the ABILOCO-Kids logit score, in children with cerebral palsy (CP).

Design: Observational study.

Setting: Tertiary level outpatient clinics.

Myogenic response of human skeletal muscle to 12 weeks of resistance training at light loading intensity.

There is strong evidence for enhanced numbers of satellite cells with heavy resistance training. The satellite cell response to very light muscle loading is, however, unknown. We, therefore, designed a 12-week training protocol where volunteers trained one leg with a high load (H) and the other leg with a light load (L).