Comparative ozone responses of cutleaf coneflowers (Rudbeckia laciniata var. digitata, var. ampla) from Rocky Mountain and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks, USA.

Cutleaf coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata L. var. digitata) is native to Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) and an ozone bioindicator species.

Changes in adjuvant therapy utilization in stage I seminoma: are they enough to prevent overtreatment?

Objective: To determine if utilization of surveillance or adjuvant chemotherapy has increased compared with that of adjuvant radiotherapy (ART) in clinical stage I seminoma (CSIS) and to estimate the impact of this utilization trend on secondary malignancies.

Methods: The National Cancer Data Base, a web-based data analysis tool was examined for first-course adjuvant therapy management in CSIS from 2000 to 2008. We assessed the utilization in academic vs community practice settings and changes in tumor stage.

A Single Surgeon's Experience with Open, Laparoscopic, and Robotic Partial Nephrectomy.

Objective. To report the perioperative outcomes of patients treated with partial nephrectomy by a single surgeon using three surgical modalities-open, laparoscopic, and robotic. Methods.

Dual immunofluorescence staining of proteoglycans in human temporal bones.

Objectives/hypothesis: Immunofluorescence staining methods have been developed to study the distribution of macromolecules in archival formalin-fixed celloidin-embedded human temporal bone tissues. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of utilizing this approach to evaluate the codistribution of more than one molecule of interest in a single tissue section.

Study Design: Retrospective study of proteoglycan codistribution in archival human temporal bone tissues.

Assessing the risk of foliar injury from ozone on vegetation in parks in the U.S. National Park Service's Vital Signs Network.

The risk of ozone injury to plants was assessed in support of the National Park Service's Vital Signs Monitoring Network program. The assessment examined bioindicator species, evaluated levels of ozone exposure, and investigated soil moisture conditions during periods of exposure for a 5-year period in each park. The assessment assigned each park a risk rating of high, moderate, or low.

Absence of correlation between symptoms and rhythm in "symptomatic" atrial fibrillation.

Background: Symptoms are widely used as a means of assessment and follow-up of patients with atrial fibrillation. This study assessed the correlation between symptoms and cardiac rhythm in patients being evaluated for operative therapy for atrial fibrillation.

Methods: Seven days of preoperative continuous outpatient home electrocardiographic monitoring was performed on 50 patients with symptomatic atrial fibrillation.

Intraoperative epicardial electrophysiologic mapping and isolation of autonomic ganglionic plexi.

Background: Autonomic ganglionic plexi (GPs) have been implicated as triggers in lone atrial fibrillation (AF). The purpose of this study was to describe the technique and results of epicardial electrophysiologic mapping and the early effects of GP isolation.

Methods: Intraoperative epicardial electrophysiologic mapping was performed on 41 consecutive patients during a stand-alone minimally invasive operation for AF.

Ability of static and statistical mechanics posturographic measures to distinguish between age and fall risk.

Traditional posturographic analysis and four statistical mechanics techniques were applied to center-of-pressure (COP) trajectories of young, older "low-fall-risk" and older "high-fall-risk" individuals. Low-fall-risk older adults were active 3 days per week in a cardiac rehabilitation program, while high-fall-risk older adults were diagnosed with perilymph fistula. Subjects diagnosed with perilymph fistula must have experienced two of the following vestibular findings: constant disequilibrium, positional vertigo and/or a positive fistula test.

The long-term effects of carbon dioxide on natural systems: issues and research needs.

Research on the responses of plants to increasing levels of carbon dioxide has largely assessed physiological, phenotypic, and community-level effects. Little attention has been directed to investigating the possibility that escalating levels of carbon dioxide may serve as a selection pressure altering the genetic diversity of plant populations. Plant populations exposed to elevated levels of heavy metals or ozone have been shown to undergo selection, and it is reasonable to consider that populations experiencing long-term exposure to escalating levels of carbon dioxide may show similar responses.