Light drinking versus abstinence in pregnancy - behavioural and cognitive outcomes in 7-year-old children: a longitudinal cohort study.

Objective: To assess whether light drinking in pregnancy is linked to unfavourable developmental outcomes in children.

Design: Prospective population-based cohort.

Setting: UK.

Masquerade without a mass: an unusual cause of severe acute pancreatitis.

After excluding the typical causes, the underlying etiology of severe acute pancreatitis is often elusive; tumors are on the differential but may be difficult to prove in the absence of a discrete mass on imaging. In this report, we describe the case of an elderly woman with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma masquerading as acute pancreatitis. To our knowledge, only twelve other cases of pancreatic B-cell lymphoma presenting as acute pancreatitis have been described.

The clinical significance of isolated traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Background: Mild traumatic brain injury is a clinical diagnosis predicated on a patient's neurologic status and encompasses a variety of pathologies on computed tomography. We wondered whether isolated traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (iSAH) without other intracranial pathologic diagnosis is a more benign form of minor head injury that does not warrant extensive (and expensive) observation and follow-up.

Methods: This is a retrospective review of patients identified prospectively via a trauma registry during a period of 7 years, who had the computed tomographic finding of iSAH on admission scan and a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of 13 or greater.

The shifting landscape of metastatic breast cancer to the CNS.

The improved survival following the diagnosis of breast cancer has potentially altered the characteristics and course of patients presenting with CNS involvement. We therefore sought to define our current cohort of breast cancer patients with metastatic disease to the CNS in regard to modern biomarkers and clinical outcome. Review of clinical and radiographic records of women presenting to a tertiary medical center with the new diagnosis of CNS metastatic disease from breast cancer.

Activation, exhaustion, and persistent decline of the antimicrobial MR1-restricted MAIT-cell population in chronic HIV-1 infection.

Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are an evolutionarily conserved antimicrobial MR1-restricted T-cell subset. MAIT cells are CD161(+), express a V7.2 TCR, are primarily CD8(+) and numerous in blood and mucosal tissues.

Asthma in children born after infertility treatment: findings from the UK Millennium Cohort Study.

Study Question: Is asthma more common in children born after subfertility and assisted reproduction technologies (ART)?

Summary Answer: Yes. Asthma, wheezing in the last year and anti-asthmatic medication were all more common in children born after a prolonged time to conception (TTC). This was driven specifically by an increase in children born after ART.

Effects of pregnancy planning, fertility, and assisted reproductive treatment on child behavioral problems at 5 and 7 years: evidence from the Millennium Cohort Study.

Objective: To examine the effects of pregnancy planning, time to conception (TTC), and assisted reproductive technologies (ART) on child behavior.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Not applicable.

The prognostic significance of traumatic brainstem injury detected on T2-weighted MRI.

Object: Magnetic resonance imaging is frequently used to evaluate patients with traumatic brain injury in the acute and subacute setting, and it can detect injuries to the brainstem, which are often associated with poor outcomes. This study was undertaken to determine which MRI and clinical factors provide prognostic information in patients with traumatic brainstem injuries.

Methods: The authors performed a retrospective analysis of cases involving patients admitted to a Level I trauma center who were identified in a prospective database as having suffered traumatic brainstem injury identified on MRI.

Persistent effects of women's parity and breastfeeding patterns on their body mass index: results from the Million Women Study.

Objective: To explore the long-term effects of women's childbearing patterns on their body mass index.

Design: Cross-sectional analysis.

Setting: Population-based study of UK women.

The radiological spectrum of pulmonary lymphoproliferative disease.

Pulmonary lymphoproliferative disorders (LPD) are characterised by abnormal proliferation of indigenous cell lines or infiltration of lung parenchyma by lymphoid cells. They encompass a wide spectrum of focal or diffuse abnormalities, which may be classified as reactive or neoplastic on the basis of cellular morphology and clonality. The spectrum of reactive disorders results primarily from antigenic stimulation of bronchial mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) and comprises three main entities: follicular bronchiolitis, lymphoid interstitial pneumonia and (more rarely) nodular lymphoid hyperplasia.

Distribution of the h-index in radiation oncology conforms to a variation of power law: implications for assessing academic productivity.

Leaders of academic institutions evaluate academic productivity when deciding to hire, promote, or award resources. This study examined the distribution of the h-index, an assessment of academic standing, among radiation oncologists. The authors collected h-indices for 826 US academic radiation oncologists from a commercial bibliographic database (SCOPUS, Elsevier B.

Breastfeeding and educational achievement at age 5.

Our aim was to investigate whether the duration of breastfeeding, at all or exclusively, is associated with educational achievement at age 5. We used data from a prospective, population-based UK cohort study, the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). 5489 children from White ethnic background born at term in 2000-2001, attending school in England in 2006, were included in our analyses.

Organ donation and priority points in Israel: an ethical analysis.

Israel's rates of organ donation have been one of the lowest among developed countries. An attempt to change this has led to the introduction of a pioneering new law, the Organ Transplant Act 2008, which came into effect in January 2010 and sets out principles underlying a new policy in relation to the allocation of organs for transplantation. According to this policy, a person can gain priority points by signing a donor card, making a nondirected organ donation during their lifetime, or as a result of a first-degree relative signing a donor card, or consenting to procurement of organs after death.

Tax needn't be taxing, but in the case of organ donation it might be.

Petersen and Lippert-Rasmussen argue that, while a tax credit scheme to encourage organ donation would be costly, the increased number of organs for transplantation would lead to other savings in the healthcare system. In the present work some calculations are provided and it is suggested that, even given optimistic assumptions, the cost to the state of implementing the system as proposed would be high and unlikely to garner the support of politicians and policymakers.

Effects of gestational age at birth on health outcomes at 3 and 5 years of age: population based cohort study.

Objective: To investigate the burden of later disease associated with moderate/late preterm (32-36 weeks) and early term (37-38 weeks) birth.

Design: Secondary analysis of data from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS).

Setting: Longitudinal study of infants born in the United Kingdom between 2000 and 2002.

HLA B*5701-positive long-term nonprogressors/elite controllers are not distinguished from progressors by the clonal composition of HIV-specific CD8+ T cells.

To better understand the qualitative features of effective human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-specific immunity, we examined the TCR clonal composition of CD8(+) T cells recognizing conserved HIV p24-derived epitopes in HLA-B*5701-positive long-term nonprogressors/elite controllers (LTNP/EC) and HLA-matched progressors. Both groups displayed oligoclonal HLA-B5701-restricted p24-specific CD8(+) T-cell responses with similar levels of diversity and few public clonotypes. Thus, HIV-specific CD8(+) T-cell responses in LTNP/EC are not differentiated from those of progressors on the basis of clonal diversity or TCR sharing.

Early term and late preterm birth are associated with poorer school performance at age 5 years: a cohort study.

Objective: To compare school performance at age 5 years in children born at full term (39-41 weeks gestation) with those born at early term (37-38 weeks gestation), late preterm (34-36 weeks gestation), moderately preterm (32-33 weeks gestation) and very preterm (<32 weeks gestation).

Design: Population-based cohort (UK Millennium Cohort Study).

Participants: Seven thousand six hundred and fifty children born in 2000-2001 and attending school in England in 2006.

The assessment of the quality of reporting of meta-analyses in diagnostic research: a systematic review.

Background: Over the last decade there have been a number of guidelines published, aimed at improving the quality of reporting in published studies and reviews. In systematic reviews this may be measured by their compliance with the PRISMA statement. This review aims to evaluate the quality of reporting in published meta-analyses of diagnostic tests, using the PRISMA statement and establish whether there has been a measurable improvement over time.

Parkinson's disease: an inquiry into the etiology and treatment.

Parkinson's disease affects over one million people in the United States. Although there have been remarkable advances in uncovering the pathogenesis of this disabling disorder, the etiology is speculative. Medical treatment and operative procedures provide symptomatic relief only.

A human memory T cell subset with stem cell-like properties.

Immunological memory is thought to depend on a stem cell-like, self-renewing population of lymphocytes capable of differentiating into effector cells in response to antigen re-exposure. Here we describe a long-lived human memory T cell population that has an enhanced capacity for self-renewal and a multipotent ability to derive central memory, effector memory and effector T cells. These cells, specific to multiple viral and self-tumor antigens, were found within a CD45RO(-), CCR7(+), CD45RA(+), CD62L(+), CD27(+), CD28(+) and IL-7Rα(+) T cell compartment characteristic of naive T cells.

Method for minimizing observer variation for the quantitation of high-resolution computed tomographic signs of lung disease.

Objectives: This study aimed to describe a method of reducing interobserver variation associated with the visual quantitation of high-resolution computed tomographic (HRCT) signs of airways and interstitial lung disease (ILD).

Methods: The HRCT scans of 2 cohorts of patients with airways disease (n = 144) and ILD (n = 109) were evaluated by 2 observers. Selected signs of airways disease were evaluated: (1) bronchial wall thickness and (2) the extent of the decreased attenuation.

Breastfeeding is associated with improved child cognitive development: a population-based cohort study.

Objective: To assess the association between breastfeeding and child cognitive development in term and preterm children.

Study Design: We analyzed data on white singleton children from the United Kingdom Millennium Cohort Study. Children were grouped according to breastfeeding duration.

Effects of age and cortical infarction on EEG dynamic changes associated with spike wave discharges in F344 rats.

Rodent models of absence seizures are used to investigate the network properties and regulatory mechanisms of the seizure's generalized spike and wave discharge (SWD). As rats age, SWDs occur more frequently, suggesting aging-related changes in the regulation of the corticothalamic mechanisms generating the SWD. We hypothesized that brain resetting mechanisms - how the brain "resets" itself to a more normal functional state following a transient period of abnormal function, e.

Unbiased molecular analysis of T cell receptor expression using template-switch anchored RT-PCR.

A detailed knowledge of the principles that guide clonal selection within the memory and effector T cell pools is essential to further our understanding of the factors that influence effective T cell-mediated immunity and has direct implications for the rational design of vaccines and immunotherapies. This unit provides methods for the unbiased quantification and characterization of all expressed T cell receptor (TCR) gene products within any defined T cell population. The approach is based on a template-switch anchored reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and is optimized for the analysis of antigen-specific T cells isolated directly ex vivo.