Expression patterns of CD33 and CD15 predict outcome in patients with acute myeloid leukemia.

Expression patterns of CD33 and CD15 in normal/reactive bone marrow (n = 13) and in leukemic blasts from patients with acute myeloid leukemia (n = 129) were determined using multiparameter flow cytometry and a standard panel of triple antibody combinations. Five patterns, corresponding to the consecutive stages of myeloid differentiation, were identified [I: CD33-/CD15- (n = 18), II: CD33+/CD15- (n = 43), III: CD33+/CD15 heterogeneous (n = 10), IV: CD33+/CD15+ (n = 50), V: CD33-/CD15+ (n = 8)]. Patients with pattern II had the highest relapse rate and shortest median overall survival (OS, 8 months), but they were also the oldest (median age 72 years) and had the highest frequency of unfavorable cytogenetic aberrations.

Healthy children with frequent fractures: how much evaluation is needed?

Objective: We performed a case-control study to determine whether occult bone disease is associated with a history of frequent fractures in children.

Methods: Healthy children with > or = 2 incidences of low-energy fractures were recruited (n = 68). Children with no history of fractures served as control subjects (n = 57).

[Selected psychosocial factors in 15-year-old current smokers and ex-smokers].

The aim of the paper was the study selected differences between 15-year-old adolescent current smokers and ex-smokers with regard to: self-efficacy, family relations, school psychosocial environment and perception of peer smoking. The anonymous survey was carried out in 2006, within HBSC study (Health Behaviour in School-aged Children), using a representative sample of 2287 persons in the mean age 15.7 years.

[Body mass, self-esteem and life satisfaction in adolescents aged 13-15 years].

Unlabelled: The aim of the study was to analyse the relationships between objective body mass index and subjective body image, life satisfaction and self-esteem of adolescents.

Material And Methods: the study was carried in 5 regions in Poland, on the sample of over 8,000 pupils aged 13-15 yrs, from randomly chosen 112 lower secondary schools. School nurses measured the height and weight of pupils, calculated the BMI and qualified overweight pupils (BMI> or =85 percentile) to the obese group (n = 953).

Common problems in critically ill obstetric patients, with an emphasis on pharmacotherapy.

Pharmacological treatment of critically ill obstetric patients can be especially challenging due to the complexity of caring for 2 patients, with a paucity of research to support practice. This review will provide practitioners with primary recommendations for management of the critical illnesses most commonly encountered in pregnancy and will discuss the scientific and clinical merit of these recommendations.

The KIDSCREEN-52 quality of life measure for children and adolescents: psychometric results from a cross-cultural survey in 13 European countries.

Objective: This study assesses the reliability and validity of the European KIDSCREEN-52 generic health-related quality of life (HRQoL) questionnaire for children and adolescents.

Research Design: The KIDSCREEN-52, which measures HRQoL in 10 dimensions, was administered to a representative sample of 22,827 children and adolescents (8 to 18 years) in 13 European countries. Psychometric properties were assessed using the Classical Test Theory approach, Rasch analysis, and structural equation modeling (SEM).

Dexamethasone-induced apoptosis in acute lymphoblastic leukemia involves differential regulation of Bcl-2 family members.

Background And Objectives: The mechanism of glucocorticoid -induced apoptosis is not fully understood and early predictive assays based on apoptotic markers for clinical outcome in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) are scarce. The aim of this study was to characterize the involvement of Bcl-2 family members and caspase activation in dexamethasone(Dex)-induced apoptosis in ALL.

Design And Methods: Primary childhood ALL samples, the pre-B ALL cell line RS(4;11), and the T-ALL cell line CCRF-CEM were used.

[Towards a better assessment of child and adolescent mental health status. Polish version of strengths and difficulties questionnaire. Experiences from two population studies].

Background: There is a need for a brief validated instrument, that could be used in Poland in population studies to monitor mental health problems in children and adolescents. Goodman's Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) has been used in epidemiological studies in many countries, to our knowledge, not yet in Poland. SDQ has 25 items and a supplement on the impact of these difficulties for the child and the family.

Rats' choices between one and two delayed reinforcers.

Rats chose between alternatives that differed in the number of reinforcers and in the delay to each reinforcer. A left leverpress led to two reinforcers, each delivered after a fixed delay. A right leverpress led to one reinforcer after an adjusting delay.

Dendritic cell regeneration in the bone marrow of children treated for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Dendritic cells (DC) play a pivotal role in coordinating functions of the immune system. Little is known about DC levels in the bone marrow (BM) of patients receiving cytostatic treatment. We investigated DC levels by flow cytometry in BM at diagnosis, during and post-treatment in 76 children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).

Choice in a successive-encounters procedure and hyperbolic decay of reinforcement.

Pigeons responded in a successive-encounters procedure that consisted of a search state, a choice state, and a handling state. The search state was either a fixed-interval or mixed-interval schedule presented on the center key of a three-key chamber. Upon completion of the search state, the choice state was presented, in which the center key was off and the two side keys were lit.

The KIDSCREEN-27 quality of life measure for children and adolescents: psychometric results from a cross-cultural survey in 13 European countries.

Objective: To assess the construct and criterion validity of the KIDSCREEN-27 health-related quality of life (HRQoL) questionnaire, a shorter version of the KIDSCREEN-52.

Methods: The five-dimensional KIDSCREEN-27 was tested in a sample of 22,827. For criterion validity the correlation with and the percentage explained variance of the scores of the KIDSCREEN-52 instrument were examined.

Testing the structural and cross-cultural validity of the KIDSCREEN-27 quality of life questionnaire.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to assess the structural and cross-cultural validity of the KIDSCREEN-27 questionnaire.

Methods: The 27-item version of the KIDSCREEN instrument was derived from a longer 52-item version and was administered to young people aged 8-18 years in 13 European countries in a cross-sectional survey. Structural and cross-cultural validity were tested using multitrait multi-item analysis, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and Rasch analyses.

Interaction between PAMAM 4.5 dendrimer, cadmium and bovine serum albumin: a study using equilibrium dialysis, isothermal titration calorimetry, zeta-potential and fluorescence.

Binding of Cd(2+) by PAMAM 4.5 dendrimer was studied by equilibrium dialysis, isothermal titration calorimetry and zeta-potential measurement. The following binding parameters were obtained: n=23.

The epidemiology of non-fatal injuries among 11-, 13- and 15-year old youth in 11 countries: findings from the 1998 WHO-HBSC cross national survey.

The primary objective was to present a cross-country comparison of injury rates, contexts and consequences. The research design was the analysis of data from the 1998 cross-national Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey and 52955 schoolchildren from 11 countries, aged 11, 13 and 15 years, completed a self-administrated questionnaire. A total of 41.

Species differences between rats and pigeons in choices with probabilistic and delayed reinforcers.

An adjusting-delay procedure was used to study rats' choices with probabilistic and delayed reinforcers, and to compare them with previous results from pigeons. A left lever press led to a 5-s delay signaled by a light and a tone, followed by a food pellet on 50% of the trials. A right lever press led to an adjusting delay signaled by a light followed by a food pellet on 100% of the trials.

[Does second-hand smoking get children's and adolescents' quality of life worse?].

The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between second-hand smoking and health-related quality of life in children and adolescents (HRQL). Data was obtained through KIDSCREEN survey conducted in Poland in 2003. The subsample of 1045 school-children aged 10-16 yrs was selected.

Evaluation of an intensive insulin protocol for septic patients in a medical intensive care unit.

Objective: Intensive insulin therapy to normalize blood glucose may improve outcome in intensive care unit patients. We prospectively evaluated the implementation of an intensive insulin protocol in medical intensive care patients to identify and overcome obstacles that this complex therapy creates.

Design: This prospective, quality assessment study was designed to establish a standard protocol for glucose control in critically ill patients.

Choice between single and multiple reinforcers in concurrent-chains schedules.

Pigeons responded on concurrent-chains schedules with equal variable-interval schedules as initial links. One terminal link delivered a single reinforcer after a fixed delay, and the other terminal link delivered either three or five reinforcers, each preceded by a fixed delay. Some conditions included a postreinforcer delay after the single reinforcer to equate the total durations of the two terminal links, but other conditions did not include such a postreinforcer delay.

Prognostic significance of biochemical heterogeneity of catecholaminergic clones in neuroblastoma.

Background/purpose: Genetic heterogeneity of neuroblastic tumors leads to biochemical changes that manifest themselves in different symptoms and clinical courses, which may vary from spontaneous regression and remission to progression with fatal outcome.

Methods: To test the hypothesis that ratios of dopamine (DA) to noradrenaline and of DA to vanillylmandelic acid reflect the composition of adrenergic clones and tumor heterogeneity, we determined urinary DA/noradrenaline and DA/vanillylmandelic acid ratios that presumably reflect DA-beta-hydroxylase (DBH) activity and the prognostic values thereof.

Results: Based on catecholamine metabolism, 4 model situations were defined: (a) complete block of DBH in all cells; (b) block of DBH in some cells; (c) a different enzymatic block; and (d) normal DBH activity in the population of tumor-forming cells.

[Alpha-tocopherol levels in mothers of children with cleft lip or with cleft lip and palate].

Objectives: Environmental factors may play equally critical role as genes in facial embryogenesis. It was suggested that cleft palate occurring in association with cleft lip may result from environmental factors that affect development of both the lip and the palate. Cleft lip forms from the third through seventh week of embryonic development.

High natural radiation exposure in radon spa areas: a detailed field investigation in Niska Banja (Balkan region).

The measurement campaigns have been done in the rural community of Niska Banja, a spa town located in southern Serbia, to evaluate population exposure to natural radioactivity. After a screening survey in 200 houses, annual radon and thoron concentrations were measured in 34 houses, and in 2004 a detailed investigation was carried out at six houses with elevated indoor radon concentrations. The paper presents the results of these detailed measurements.