Swallowing function in patients with base of tongue cancers treated with primary surgery and reconstructed with a modified radial forearm free flap.

Objective: To report swallowing outcomes and biomechanical properties of the base of the tongue (BOT) and the posterior pharyngeal wall (PPW) in patients who undergo surgical reconstruction with the beavertail modification of radial forearm free flap after primary resection of BOT cancer.

Design: Prospective cohort study with a 1-year minimum follow-up performed between October 1, 2001, and August 31, 2005.

Setting: Tertiary care facility.

Assessing the impact of socio-economic status on cancer survival in New South Wales, Australia 1996-2001.

Objective: To assess the impact of socio-economic status (SES) on cancer survival in the state of New South Wales (NSW), Australia.

Methods: Patients diagnosed with one of 13 major cancers during 1992-2000 in NSW were followed-up to the end of 2001. The effect of SES on survival was estimated for each individual cancer and all 13 cancers combined using multivariable modeling.

Gaps in optimal care for lung cancer.

Purpose: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in Australia, but little is known about how Australian patients with this disease are managed.

Methods: Lung cancer patients diagnosed from November 1, 2001 to December 31, 2002 were identified through the population-based New South Wales Central Cancer Registry. Information was collected on diagnosis, staging, referrals, and treatment.

Collaborative Behavioral Management for Drug-Involved Parolees: Rationale and Design of the Step'n Out Study.

This article describes the rationale, study design, and implementation for the Step'n Out study of the Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies. Step'n Out tests the relative effectiveness of collaborative behavioral management of drug-involved parolees. Collaborative behavioral management integrates the roles of parole officers and treatment counselors to provide role induction counseling, contract for pro-social behavior, and deliver contingent reinforcement of behaviors consistent with treatment objectives.

Calmodulin binding to the polybasic C-termini of STIM proteins involved in store-operated calcium entry.

Translocation of STIM1 and STIM2 from the endoplasmic reticulum to the plasma membrane is a key step in store-operated calcium entry in the cell. We show by isothermal titration calorimetry that calmodulin binds in a calcium-dependent manner to the polybasic C-termini of STIM1 and STIM2, a region critical for their translocation to the plasma membrane ( K D < or = 1 microM in calcium). HSQC NMR spectroscopy shows this interaction is in the fast exchange regime.

Central laboratory versus point of care testing in intraoperative monitoring of parathyroid hormone levels: cost comparison.

Objectives: To examine the cost of central laboratory-based intraoperative parathyroid hormone (PTH) during parathyroid surgery compared with a point of care-based PTH testing system.

Methods: Based on a retrospective analysis of intraoperative PTH testing in 50 parathyroid surgeries, a cost comparison between the current testing system at a university-affiliated tertiary care facility (Elecsys 1010, Roche Diagnostics, Basel, Switzerland) and a theoretical model using the QuiCK-intraoperative intact PTH system (Nichols Institute Diagnostics, San Juan Capistrano, CA) was generated.

Results: The cost per surgery of central laboratory-based PTH testing was $129.

Methods of functional outcomes assessment following treatment of oral and oropharyngeal cancer: review of the literature.

Objective: The purpose of this article is to review and document the differing methods of functional outcome measurements following treatment for oral and oropharyngeal carcinoma.

Study Design: Literature review.

Methods: Articles were identified using the MEDLINE database search engine.

Heavy metal adsorbents prepared from the modification of cellulose: a review.

A number of industries currently produce varying concentrations of heavy metal laden waste streams with significant consequences for any receiving environmental compartment. In recent years, increasing emphasis has been placed on environmental impact minimisation and resulting from this the range and capability of natural and prepared materials capable of heavy metal removal has seen steady development. In particular considerable work has been carried out on the use of both natural materials and their modifications.

What is the role of cerebrospinal fluid ferritin in the diagnosis of subarachnoid haemorrhage in computed tomography-negative patients?

Background: Spectrophotometry of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for bilirubin is the recommended method for investigation in suspected cases of subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH), when a computed tomography (CT) of the head is negative for blood. There is a potential need for a simpler alternative. Measurement of CSF ferritin might fulfil this need.

The spectrum of human immunodeficiency virus-associated cancers in a South African black population: results from a case-control study, 1995-2004.

The effect of the evolving HIV epidemic on cancer has been sparsely documented in Africa. We report results on the risk of cancer associated with HIV-1 infection using data from an ongoing study. A case-control analysis was used to estimate the relative risk (odds ratio, OR) of cancer types known to be AIDS defining: Kaposi's sarcoma (n = 333), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL, n = 223) and cancers of the cervix (n = 1,586), and 11 cancer types possibly associated with HIV infection: Hodgkin lymphoma (n = 154), cancers of other anogenital organs (n = 157), squamous cell cancer of the skin (SCC, n = 70), oral cavity and pharynx (n = 319), liver (n = 83), stomach (n = 142), leukemia (n = 323), melanoma (n = 53), sarcomas other than Kaposi's (n = 93), myeloma (n = 189) and lung cancer (n = 363).

Objective and subjective scar aesthetics in minimal access vs conventional access parathyroidectomy and thyroidectomy surgical procedures: a paired cohort study.

Objective: To determine if performing parathyroidectomy surgery through minimal access (MA) incisions has any notable aesthetic or quality-of-life impact on patients compared with conventional access (CON) techniques.

Design: Paired cohort with (1) a prospective MA incision and scar cohort and (2) a sex- and age-matched (within 3 years) retrospective CON incision and scar cohort.

Setting: Tertiary care center.

HIV/AIDS case managers and client HIV status disclosure: perceived client needs, practices, and services.

People living with HIV/AIDS often need assistance in deciding whether or how to disclose their HIV status to others, and case managers are in a unique position to offer this assistance. The current study surveyed 223 case managers providing services to people living with HIV/ AIDS in NewYork State. The survey was conducted anonymously, and case managers were sampled at the agency level.

Anti-fibrinolytic use for minimising perioperative allogeneic blood transfusion.

Background: Concerns regarding the safety of transfused blood have led to the development of a range of interventions to minimise blood loss during major surgery. Anti-fibrinolytic drugs are widely used, particularly in cardiac surgery and previous reviews have found them to be effective in reducing blood loss and the need for transfusion. Recently, questions have been raised regarding the comparative performance of the drugs and the safety of the most popular agent, aprotinin.

Liver cancer and hepatitis B and C in New South Wales, 1990-2002: a linkage study.

Background/aims: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) incidence has increased in Australia in the past 20-30 years. We conducted a community-based linkage study to examine the characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma with particular reference to hepatitis B and C infections.

Methods: Hepatocellular carcinoma cases (n=2,072) notified to the New South Wales (NSW) Central Cancer Registry from 1990 to 2002 were probabilistically linked to HBV and HCV diagnoses notified to NSW Health.

Pathology reporting of resected colorectal cancers in New South Wales in 2000.

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which pathology reporting of colorectal cancers notified to the New South Wales Central Cancer Registry during 2000 conformed to guidelines promulgated by the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Methods: De-identified reports for 2233 resected specimens of primary invasive colorectal carcinoma were coded according to a standardized system to compile information on 28 clinical and pathology features. An overall score for each report was calculated by computing the number out of 13 essential features specified in the guidelines for which data had been recorded explicitly and unambiguously in the report.

Integrating multiple programme and policy approaches to hepatitis C prevention and care for injection drug users: a comprehensive approach.

Background: New York State is home to an estimated 230,000 individuals chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and roughly 171,500 active injection drug users (IDUs). HCV/HIV co-infection is common and models of service delivery that effectively meet IDUs' needs are required. A HCV strategic plan has stressed integration.

Misclassification of colorectal cancer stage and area variation in survival.

We previously investigated the impact of health area of residence on colon and rectal cancer survival by estimating area-specific relative excess risk of death (RER), stratified by stage at diagnosis. The aims of this study were to quantify errors in colorectal cancer stage obtained from an Australian population-based cancer registry and assess the potential impact of errors in stage on these estimates. For a subset of cases, we compared the cancer registry stage with that from a survey of treating surgeons.

Working toward recovery: the interplay of past treatment and economic status in long-term outcomes for drug-involved offenders.

Research on the relationship between employment and substance use tends to focus on employment lowering use. It is also potentially the case, however, that lowered substance use among addicts may lead to better employment and thus to greater long-term abstinence. In this article, we utilize complementary elements of three mainstream criminological approaches to suggest how therapeutic community-based treatment of drug user(s) during the transition from prison to community may lower clients' levels of substance use and thus increase their likelihood of better economic outcomes.

Differences in prevalence of prescription opiate misuse among rural and urban probationers.

We compared the prevalence of prescription opiate misuse among 2 cohorts of felony probationers (N = 1525). Multiple logistic regression was utilized to determine the independent correlates of prescription opiate misuse among rural (n = 782) and urban (n = 743) probationers participating in an HIV-intervention study. After adjustment for differences in demographic and drug use characteristics, rural participants were almost five times more likely than their urban counterparts to have misused prescription opiates.

Translational research in the pharmaceutical industry: from theory to reality.

Translational research is the collaboration between scientists and clinicians to identify novel targets and develop biomarkers that increase confidence in rationale and therefore help select the mechanisms that are most likely to lead to breakthrough therapies. Here, we describe examples of the utility of linked preclinical and clinical biomarkers to measure pharmacological effects, to estimate clinical dose range, to determine efficacy, and to determine differentiation compared with existing therapies. The use of pharmacogenomics to identify novel drug targets and define enriched patient subpopulations is also discussed.

Gender differences in the media interviews of Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Does gender make a difference in the way politicians speak and are spoken to in public? This paper examines perspective in three television interviews and two radio interviews with Bill Clinton in June 2004 and in three television interviews and two radio interviews with Hillary Clinton in June 2003 with the same interviewers. Our perspectival approach assumes that each utterance has a dialogically constructed point of view. Earlier research has shown that markers of conceptual orality and literacy as well as referencing (name and pronoun use for self and other reference) do reflect perspective.

Concordance with national guidelines for colorectal cancer care in New South Wales: a population-based patterns of care study.

Objective: To investigate predictors of evidence-based surgical care in a population-based sample of patients with newly diagnosed colorectal cancer.

Design, Patients And Setting: Prospective audit of all new patients with colorectal cancer reported to the New South Wales Central Cancer Registry between 1 February 2000 and 31 January 2001.

Main Outcome Measures: Concordance with seven guidelines from the 1999 Australian evidence-based guidelines for colorectal cancer; predictors of guideline concordance; the mean proportion of relevant guidelines followed for individual patients.

Cutting Edge: Chemokine receptor CCR4 is necessary for antigen-driven cutaneous accumulation of CD4 T cells under physiological conditions.

Dual expression of chemokine receptor CCR4 and E-selectin ligand is characteristic of skin-tropic CD4 T cells from blood, lymphoid organs, and the skin itself. A strong and specific correlation exists among CCR4, its ligand CCL17/TARC, and the cutaneous lymphocyte-homing process. Nevertheless, whether CCR4 function is required for skin-specific trafficking remains an open question, which we address in this study.