Incision length correlates with patient weight, height, and gender when using a minimal-incision technique in total hip arthroplasty.

Minimal-incision technique in total hip arthroplasty (THA) has been previously defined as requiring an incision of 10 cm or less. A higher complication rate for overweight or muscular patients has been demonstrated when this arbitrary cutoff is used. The purpose of this study was to perform minimal-incision technique surgery without a specific incision length cutoff on a cohort of nonselected, consecutive THA patients to determine if patient height, weight, body mass index, gender, type of femoral fixation, and/or age correlated with incision length.

Fine mapping of a major QTL influencing morphine preference in C57BL/6 and DBA/2 mice using congenic strains.

C57BL/6J (B6) and DBA/2J (D2) mice differ in behaviors related to substance abuse, including voluntary morphine consumption and preference in a two-bottle choice paradigm. Two major quantitative trait loci (QTL) for morphine consumption and preference exist between these strains on chromosomes (Chrs.) 6 and 10 when the two-bottle choice involves morphine in saccharin vs quinine in saccharin.

Quantitative trait locus for seizure susceptibility on mouse chromosome 5 confirmed with reciprocal congenic strains.

Multiple quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping studies designed to localize seizure susceptibility genes in C57BL/6 (B6, seizure resistant) and DBA/2 (D2, seizure susceptible) mice have detected a significant effect originating from midchromosome 5. To confirm the presence and refine the position of the chromosome 5 QTL for maximal electroshock seizure threshold (MEST), reciprocal congenic strains between B6 and D2 mice were created by a DNA marker-assisted backcross breeding strategy and studied with respect to changes in MEST. A genomic interval delimited by marker D5Mit75 (proximal to the acromere) and D5Mit403 (distal to the acromere) was introgressed for 10 generations.

Synthesis and calculated properties of some 1,4-bis(amino)anthracene-9,10-diones.

The synthesis of a number of 1,4-bis(amino)anthracene-9,10-diones containing chlorine or sulfur which are related to the anti-cancer drugs Ametantrone and Mitoxantrone are reported. 1,4-Dichloro-2,3-dihydro-5,8-dihydroxyanthracene-9,10-dione reacts readily with a series of alkylamines to yield the corresponding 1,4-bis(alkylamino)-5,8-dichloroanthracene-9,10-dione after oxidation. The subsequent reaction of the products with ethanethiol or thiophenol gives the corresponding 1,4-bis(alkylamino)-5,8-bis(sulfanyl)anthracene-9,10-dione in good yield.

AKT activation and response to interferon-beta in human cancer cells.

Significant growth inhibition and induction of apoptosis by IFN-beta in cancer cells including colorectal cancer cells have been observed. We and others have previously reported the Stat 1 induction of TRAIL is a crucial step in the IFN-beta induced apoptosis pathway. However, when evaluating the sensitivity of a panel of colorectal cancer cell lines, we found no clear correlation between activation of the Jak/Stat signaling pathway and response to interferon.