Surgical palliation for malignant disease requiring locoregional control.

Background: Surgical palliation of cancer is best defined as procedures performed with non-curative intent to improve quality of life or control symptoms of advanced malignancy. Soft tissue involvement of advanced malignancies may produce symptoms such as pain, bleeding, or odor that significantly reduce quality of life. Literature on outcomes of palliative resection of soft tissue malignancy for local or regional control is lacking.

Survey field methods for expanded biospecimen and biomeasure collection in NSHAP Wave 2.

Objectives: The National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project is a nationally representative, longitudinal survey of older adults. A main component is the collection of biomeasures to objectively assess physiological status relevant to psychosocial variables, aging conditions, and disease. Wave 2 added novel biomeasures, refined those collected in Wave 1, and provides a reference for the collection protocols and strategy common to the biomeasures.

Elevated C-reactive protein as a predictor of patient outcomes following palliative surgery.

Background And Objectives: Optimal surgical decision-making and informed consent for palliative procedures is limited by a lack of appropriate outcomes data. Elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) may help guide patient selection for palliative surgery.

Methods: Procedures to palliate symptoms of advanced cancer were identified from a prospective palliative surgery database.

Continuity and innovation in the data collection protocols of the second Wave of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project.

Background: The second Wave (W2) of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP), a nationally representative, longitudinal survey of older adults now between the ages of 62 and 90, conducted approximately 3,400 interviews. Selected coresidential romantic partners as well as W1 panel nonrespondents were selected for W2. Data collection included in-person questionnaires, up to 15 biomeasures, and a post-interview questionnaire.

Directed self-assembly of nanorod networks: bringing the top down to the bottom up.

Self-assembled electrodeposited nanorod materials have been shown to offer an exciting landscape for a wide array of research ranging from nanophotonics through to biosensing and magnetics. However, until now, the scope for site-specific preparation of the nanorods on wafers has been limited to local area definition. Further there is little or no lateral control of nanorod height.

The palliative triangle: improved patient selection and outcomes associated with palliative operations.

Objectives: To examine the outcomes of patients managed with the palliative triangle method and to evaluate factors associated with effective patient selection.

Design: Patients receiving a procedure to palliate symptoms of advanced cancer were identified prospectively from all surgical palliative care consultations and observed for at least 90 days or until death.

Setting:   Academic surgical oncology service.

The controlled fabrication and geometry tunable optics of gold nanotube arrays.

Arrays of vertically aligned gold nanotubes are fabricated over several square centimetres which display a geometry tunable plasmonic extinction peak at visible wavelengths and at normal incidence. The fabrication method gives control over nanotube dimensions with inner core diameters of 15-30 nm, wall thicknesses of 5-15 nm and nanotube lengths of up to 300 nm. It is possible to tune the position of the extinction peak through the wavelength range 600-900 nm by varying the inner core diameter and wall thickness.

High-performance biosensing using arrays of plasmonic nanotubes.

We show that aligned gold nanotube arrays capable of supporting plasmonic resonances can be used as high performance refractive index sensors in biomolecular binding reactions. A methodology to examine the sensing ability of the inside and outside walls of the nanotube structures is presented. The sensitivity of the plasmonic nanotubes is found to increase as the nanotube walls are exposed, and the sensing characteristic of the inside and outside walls is shown to be different.

Toward self-assembled ferroelectric random access memories: hard-wired switching capacitor arrays with almost Tb/in.(2) densities.

We report on the successful fabrication of arrays of switchable nanocapacitors made by harnessing the self-assembly of materials. The structures are composed of arrays of 20-40 nm diameter Pt nanowires, spaced 50-100 nm apart, electrodeposited through nanoporous alumina onto a thin film lower electrode on a silicon wafer. A thin film ferroelectric (both barium titanate (BTO) and lead zirconium titanate (PZT)) has been deposited on top of the nanowire array, followed by the deposition of thin film upper electrodes.

Phase I and pharmacokinetic study of the cytotoxic ether lipid ilmofosine administered by weekly two-hour infusion in patients with advanced solid tumors.

Purpose: A Phase I trial was performed to determine the dose-limiting toxicity and maximum tolerated dose, and to describe the pharmacokinetics of the alkyl-lysophospholipid, ilmofosine, when administered as a weekly 2-h infusion in patients with solid tumors.

Experimental Design: Thirty-nine patients were entered into a trial of ilmofosine administered weekly for 4 weeks followed by a 2-week rest period. Dose escalation occurred in 10 levels from 12 to 650 mg/m(2).

Understanding coeliac disease: symptoms and long-term risks.

Coeliac disease is a chronic, potentially life-threatening condition affecting as many as one in 300 men and women in the (UK). The Coeliac Society currently has more than 36,000 members. Essentially, coeliac disease is a complication of the gastrointestinal tract.

Nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome in a black child.

Nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome (NBCCS) is rare in black persons. We describe an 11-year-old black boy with NBCCS who presented with exotropia and a painful, expanding, cystic mass in the left posterior alveolar ridge. Further examination revealed odontogenic keratocysts with palmar and plantar pitting.

Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy: evaluation of insertion by an endoscopy nurse practitioner.

Objective: To evaluate the success rate and complications of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) insertion performed with an endoscopy nurse practitioner, rather than a second doctor, carrying out percutaneous gastric puncture.

Design: A prospective evaluation of one nurse'e performance.

Setting: The endoscopy unit in a district general hospital.

High-density-lipoprotein cholesterol and types of alcoholic beverages consumed among men and women.

Objectives: Differences by sex in the relationship between high-density-lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and consumption of alcoholic beverages were examined in 1516 individuals.

Methods: Questionnaires and blood-sample data from cross-sectional surveys were analyzed.

Results: Both beer and liquor were independently associated with increased HDL cholesterol in the total group, in men, and in women after covariates were controlled for.

The first assistant role in PEG tube insertion.

Nurses are under pressure to take on junior doctors' tasks. Expansion of the nurse's role should be of benefit to patients and professionally appropriate. The development of the first assistant role in PEG may be an avenue for expanding nursing.

A phase II trial of ilmofosine in non-small cell bronchogenic carcinoma.

We have conducted a study of ilmofosine (1-hexadecylthio; 2-methoxyethyl-rac-glycero-3-phosphocholine) in non-small cell bronchogenic carcinoma, using a schedule of continuous infusion for 5 days and a dose of 300 mg/m2/day. Toxicities were gastrointestinal (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea), fatigue and liver function abnormalities. These were severe and resulted in the removal of some patients from study.

Prior and current health characteristics of postmenopausal estrogen replacement therapy users compared with nonusers.

Objective: Our purpose was to investigate whether selection of healthy women for postmenopausal estrogen therapy may confound observational studies of estrogen use and cardiovascular disease risk.

Study Design: Data were obtained from baseline (1981 to 1984) and follow-up (1990 to 1992) health surveys of two cohorts randomly selected from communities in southeastern New England. At follow-up postmenopausal women > or = 40 years old were categorized as current users (n = 70) or nonusers (n = 772) of noncontraceptive estrogen.

Cross-sectional relationship between diet and physical activity in two southeastern New England communities.

The hypothesis that health promotive diets associated with higher levels of habitual physical activity confound the relationship between regular physical activity and health has not been well explored in epidemiologic studies. We evaluated self-reported physical activity, Willett Food Frequency dietary data, sociodemographic and physiologic factors cross-sectionally for 2,004 household survey participants in two southeastern New England communities. We compared the dietary habits of sedentary participants (n = 964) to those of moderately active (n = 600) and very active (n = 440) participants after adjusting for age, gender, education, smoking status, year of survey, and total calories.

Phase I trial of ilmofosine as a 24 hour infusion weekly.

Ilmofosine, an ether lipid derivative of lysophosphatidylcholine has antineoplastic activity in vitro and in vivo. Maximum efficacy in preclinical models is associated with prolonged exposure to the drug. In a Phase I trial of a weekly 2 hour infusion schedule of ilmofosine, a syndrome of lethargy, diminished performance status, and mild hepatotoxicity was dose-limiting at 550 mg/m2.

Nutrition and health practices of diabetic and nondiabetic men and women from two southeastern New England communities.

Diabetes occurs in at least 13 million persons in the United States and is a major cause of morbidity and premature mortality. Diet is the cornerstone of diabetes management, and the purpose of this investigation was to examine dietary intakes and health practices among diabetic and nondiabetic individuals from a recently surveyed population-based sample from two communities in southeastern New England. Data were collected during cross-sectional home health surveys conducted in random population samples of two New England communities during 1987-1988, 1989-1990, and 1992-1993.

Dietary differences in smokers and nonsmokers from two southeastern New England communities.

Objective: Previous studies based on 24-hour dietary recall data have shown that smokers tend to consume less healthful diets than nonsmokers. We tested this hypothesis using data from food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) in a group of men and women.

Design: Characteristics of smokers and nonsmokers were compared using data collected from a cross-sectional household health survey.

Prevalence of hypertension, dyslipidemia, and dyslipidemic hypertension.

Background: It has been proposed that dyslipidemic hypertension is part of a distinct metabolic syndrome related to insulin resistance. This paper describes the prevalence and cross-sectional relations of dyslipidemic hypertension in a population-based sample of men and women.

Methods: In two southeastern New England communities, 11,199 randomly selected participants were evaluated as part of a cross-sectional surveillance program of coronary heart disease risk factors between 1981 and 1990.

Prevalence of cardiovascular and renal complications in older adults with normal or impaired glucose tolerance or NIDDM. A population-based study.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of CVD and renal disease by glucose tolerance status in a population-based study.

Research Design And Methods: The study consisted of 991 men and 1243 women, aged 50-89 yr, living in the upper-middle class community of Rancho Bernardo, CA. All participants received a standard OGTT between 1984 and 1987.