Quality of life in patients with brain metastases treated with a palliative course of whole-brain radiotherapy.

Background: The primary objective of this study was to assess whether there was an improvement in quality of life for patients with brain metastases as measured 1 and 2 months after a course of whole-brain radiotherapy. The secondary objective was to assess the level of agreement between patient and proxy quality of life scores.

Methods And Materials: Sixty patients with brain metastases and their proxy completed the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Brain (FACT-BR) questionnaire independently.

Dexamethasone for the prophylaxis of radiation-induced pain flare after palliative radiotherapy for bone metastases: a pilot study.

Purpose: To investigate the efficacy of dexamethasone as a prophylactic adjuvant analgesic to decrease pain flare and to assess its safety and tolerance of dexamethasone.

Materials And Methods: Patients treated with a single 8 Gy for bone metastases took 8 mg dexamethasone before the radiation treatment. The Brief Pain Inventory was administered at baseline and then daily for 10 days after radiation.

Heart rate as a predictor of posttraumatic stress disorder in children.

Objective: This study indexed the relationship between resting heart rates (HRs) after injury and subsequent posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children.

Method: Children aged between 7 and 12 years who were hospitalized after traumatic injury (n=76) had their resting HR assessed after injury and were assessed for PTSD 6 months after injury (n=62).

Results: Full/subsyndromal PTSD was diagnosed in 27% of children.

Human CD4+ regulatory T cells express lower levels of the IL-7 receptor alpha chain (CD127), allowing consistent identification and sorting of live cells.

Although quantitative identification and viable enrichment of natural regulatory T cells (T-regs) in humans are problematic, such steps would greatly facilitate the analysis of these cells in disease states. In an attempt to identify markers that are sensitive and specific for human T-regs, we analyzed the expression of fourteen intracellular and cell surface markers on human CD4(+) cells. Many markers were partially selective for CD25(hi) T-regs, but consistent and specific discrimination of functional T-regs was only made possible by focus on CD127, the alpha chain of the IL-7 receptor.

Increased carotid intima-media thickness in HIV patients is associated with increased cytomegalovirus-specific T-cell responses.

Objectives: HIV-infected subjects are at increased risk for myocardial infarction. The mechanism of this increased risk remains unclear. Since cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection has been associated with accelerated atherosclerosis in the transplant population and immune responses against CMV may be altered by HIV disease, we hypothesized that enhanced T-cell responses against CMV would be associated with increased atherosclerosis in subjects with HIV.

Review of patterns of practice and patients' preferences in the treatment of bone metastases with palliative radiotherapy.

Introduction: Since the 1980s, randomized clinical trials showed that single fraction radiotherapy (RT) provided equal pain relief as multiple fractions of RT in the treatment of bone metastases.

Materials And Methods: Using Medline, a literature search was conducted on patterns of practice among radiation oncologists and patients' preferences of dose fractionations for the treatment of bone metastases.

Results And Discussion: Fifteen studies on international patterns of practice published between 1966 and May 2006 were identified.

Protective immunity to cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis in AIDS is associated with CMV-specific T cells that express interferon- gamma and interleukin-2 and have a CD8+ cell early maturational phenotype.

To determine potential correlates of immune recovery from AIDS-related cytomegalovirus retinitis (CMVR), multiparameter flow cytometry was used to characterize CMV-specific T cells from subjects with CMVR. Individuals with active retinitis were compared with those who had been clinically immunorestored by antiretroviral therapy and had > or =2 years of ophthalmologic follow-up without anti-CMV therapy or retinitis reactivation or progression. In comparison with patients with active retinitis, immunorestored patients had higher circulating CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells expressing interleukin-2 and interferon- gamma in response to combined CMV pp65 and IE1 peptide pool stimulation.

Perfluorinated contaminants in sediments and aquatic organisms collected from shallow water and tidal flat areas of the Ariake Sea, Japan: environmental fate of perfluorooctane sulfonate in aquatic ecosystems.

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), such as perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoate (PFOA), perfluorononanoate (PFNA), perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHS), and perfluorooctane sulfonamide (PFOSA) are widely distributed in aquatic ecosystems. Despite studies reporting the occurrence of PFCs in aquatic organisms, the fate of PFCs in tidal flat and marine coastal ecosystems is not known. In this study, we determined concentrations of PFOS, PFOA, PFNA, PFHS, and PFOSA in sediments; benthic organisms, including lugworm, mussel, crab, clam, oyster, and mudskipper fish from tidal flat; and shallow water species, such as filefish, bream, flounder, shark, finless porpoise, gull, and mallard collected from the Ariake Sea, Japan.

Mild, moderate, or severe pain categorized by patients with cancer with bone metastases.

Purpose: To examine how patients categorize their pain with the two commonly employed scales.

Methods And Materials: Patients with bone metastases referred to an outpatient palliative radiotherapy clinic were asked to rate their current pain on a numerical scale of 0-10 (0 = no pain, 10 = worst pain possible) and a categorized scale: none, mild, moderate and severe.

Results: Two hundred and seventeen patients were enrolled in the study.

Neutralizing antibody responses against autologous and heterologous viruses in acute versus chronic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection: evidence for a constraint on the ability of HIV to completely evade neutralizing antibody responses.

Acute human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is associated with the rapid development of neutralization escape mutations. The degree to which viral evolution persists in chronic infection has not been well characterized, nor is it clear if all patients develop high-level neutralization antibody escape. We therefore measured neutralizing antibody responses against autologous and heterologous viruses in a cohort of acutely and chronically infected subjects (n = 65).

Safety and immunogenicity of Towne cytomegalovirus vaccine with or without adjuvant recombinant interleukin-12.

The Towne, human cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccine is safe and immunogenic but has not prevented infection at doses tested to date. We administered 3000 pfu Towne CMV vaccine, with or without adjuvant recombinant interleukin-12 (rhIL-12), to CMV-seronegative healthy volunteers and then measured CMV gB-specific IgG titers and CMV-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell proliferation and IFNgamma expression after stimulation with whole viral lysate and immunodominant peptide CMV antigens. Adjuvant rhIL-12 at doses up to 2 microg were well-tolerated and associated with (1) dose-related increases in peak anti-CMV gB IgG titers (though not in sustained titers), (2) dose-related increases in the weak CMV viral lysate-specific CD4+ T cell proliferation responses induced by vaccine alone after 360 days of follow-up, and (3) decreases in the very robust CMV IE-specific peak CD4+ T cell and Day 360 CD8+ T cell proliferation responses induced by the vaccine alone.

Mass loading and fate of perfluoroalkyl surfactants in wastewater treatment plants.

Wastewater treatment plants have recently been identified as a significant pathway for the introduction of perfluoroalkyl surfactants (PASs) to natural waters. In this study, we measured concentrations and fate of several PASs in six wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in New York State. We also monitored and measured matrix effects (ionization suppression and enhancement) by postcolumn infusion and standard additions.

The independent effect of drug resistance on T cell activation in HIV infection.

Objective: Antiretroviral-treated individuals with drug-resistant HIV experience slower CD4 cell count declines than untreated individuals, independent of degree of viremia. As immune activation independently predicts disease progression, we hypothesized that patients with drug-resistant viremia would have less immune activation than patients with wild-type viremia, independent of plasma HIV RNA levels and that these differences would not be explained by a direct drug effect of protease inhibitors.

Methods: Percentages of activated (CD38/HLA-DR) T cells were compared between untreated participants with wild-type viremia and antiretroviral-treated participants with drug-resistant viremia, after adjusting for plasma HIV RNA levels among other factors associated with T cell activation.

Occurrence of perfluoroalkyl surfactants in water, fish, and birds from New York State.

Concentrations of perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and several other perfluoroalkyl surfactants (PASs) were determined in nine major water bodies (n = 51) of New York State (NYS). These PASs were also measured in the livers of two species of sport fish (n = 66) from 20 inland lakes in NYS. Finally, perfluorinated compounds were measured in the livers of 10 species of waterfowl (n = 87) from the Niagara River region in NYS.

Antigen-specific T cell responses induced by Towne cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccine in CMV-seronegative vaccine recipients.

Background: Towne cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccine is safe and immunogenic, though its protective efficacy has yet to be optimized.

Objective: Describe antigen-specific T cell responses to Towne vaccination.

Study Design: 3000 pfu Towne CMV vaccine were given to 12 CMV-seronegative volunteers.

Phenotypic, functional, and kinetic parameters associated with apparent T-cell control of human immunodeficiency virus replication in individuals with and without antiretroviral treatment.

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-mediated immune response may be beneficial or harmful, depending on the balance between expansion of HIV-specific T cells and the level of generalized immune activation. The current study utilizes multicolor cytokine flow cytometry to study HIV-specific T cells and T-cell activation in 179 chronically infected individuals at various stages of HIV disease, including those with low-level viremia in the absence of therapy ("controllers"), low-level drug-resistant viremia in the presence of therapy (partial controllers on antiretroviral therapy [PCAT]), and high-level viremia ("noncontrollers"). Compared to noncontrollers, controllers exhibited higher frequencies of HIV-specific interleukin-2-positive gamma interferon-positive (IL-2(+) IFN-gamma(+)) CD4(+) T cells.

Analysis of fluorotelomer alcohols, fluorotelomer acids, and short- and long-chain perfluorinated acids in water and biota.

Fluorotelomer alcohols and fluorotelomer acids have been proposed as a source of the perfluorinated carboxylic acids found in remote marine locations. To examine the sources and fate of perfluorinated acids in the environment, a method to determine a wide range of poly- and perfluorinated acids in environmental and biological matrices is needed. In this study, a method has been developed to measure a suite of neutral and acidic fluorochemicals including, fluorotelomer alcohols, fluorotelomer acids, and short- and long-chain perfluorinated acids, in water and biological samples.

Proglucagon-derived peptides: mechanisms of action and therapeutic potential.

Glucagon is used for the treatment of hypoglycemia, and glucagon receptor antagonists are under development for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Moreover, glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 and GLP-2 receptor agonists appear to be promising therapies for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and intestinal disorders, respectively. This review discusses the physiological, pharmacological, and therapeutic actions of the proglucagon-derived peptides, with an emphasis on clinical relevance of the peptides for the treatment of human disease.

Glucagon-like peptide-1 stimulates human insulin promoter activity in part through cAMP-responsive elements that lie upstream and downstream of the transcription start site.

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is a peptide hormone secreted from the enteroendocrine L-cells of the gut and which acts primarily to potentiate the effects of glucose on insulin secretion from pancreatic beta-cells. It also stimulates insulin gene expression, proinsulin biosynthesis and affects the growth and differentiation of the islets of Langerhans. Previous studies on the mechanisms whereby GLP-1 regulates insulin gene transcription have focused on the rat insulin promoter.

Phylogeny and biogeography of the freshwater crayfish Euastacus (Decapoda: Parastacidae) based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA.

Euastacus crayfish are endemic to freshwater ecosystems of the eastern coast of Australia. While recent evolutionary studies have focused on a few of these species, here we provide a comprehensive phylogenetic estimate of relationships among the species within the genus. We sequenced three mitochondrial gene regions (COI, 16S, and 12S) and one nuclear region (28S) from 40 species of the genus Euastacus, as well as one undescribed species.

Standardization of cytokine flow cytometry assays.

Background: Cytokine flow cytometry (CFC) or intracellular cytokine staining (ICS) can quantitate antigen-specific T cell responses in settings such as experimental vaccination. Standardization of ICS among laboratories performing vaccine studies would provide a common platform by which to compare the immunogenicity of different vaccine candidates across multiple international organizations conducting clinical trials. As such, a study was carried out among several laboratories involved in HIV clinical trials, to define the inter-lab precision of ICS using various sample types, and using a common protocol for each experiment (see additional files online).

Perfluorinated compounds in aquatic organisms at various trophic levels in a Great Lakes food chain.

Trophic transfer of perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and other related perfluorinated compounds was examined in a Great Lakes benthic foodweb including water-algae-zebra mussel-round goby-smallmouth bass. In addition, perfluorinated compounds were measured in livers and eggs of Chinook salmon and lake whitefish, in muscle tissue of carp, and in eggs of brown trout collected from Michigan. Similarly, green frog livers, snapping turtle plasma, mink livers, and bald eagle tissues were analyzed to determine concentrations in higher trophic-level organisms in the food chain.

An innovative rapid response radiotherapy program to reduce waiting time for palliative radiotherapy.

Background: Waiting for radiation therapy (RT) in Ontario has been a major problem for the past decade. In 1996, the Toronto-Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Centre (TSRCC) initiated a Rapid Response Radiotherapy Program (RRRP) to provide timely palliative RT for symptom relief of patients with terminal cancer.

Purpose: This study reviews the clinical activity of the RRRP over the past 8 years to evaluate if we are meeting the objectives of the program.

Social cognition in Tourette's syndrome: intact theory of mind and impaired inhibitory functioning.

Although associations between social cognition involving theory of mind and non-social executive skills have frequently been reported, dissociations in performance have also been found. The present study was designed to examine social and non-social cognition in uncomplicated Tourette Syndrome (TS). Adult TS participants without comorbid diagnoses were compared to matched healthy control participants on social cognition measures involving theory of mind and empathy, and on non-social executive tasks.