Impact of obesity on perinatal outcomes among asthmatic women.

Background: Only one study has investigated the combined effect of maternal asthma and obesity on perinatal outcomes; however, it did not consider small-for-gestational age and large-for-gestational age infants.

Objectives: To examine the impact of obesity on perinatal outcomes among asthmatic women.

Methods: A cohort of 1386 pregnancies from asthmatic women was reconstructed using three of Quebec's administrative databases and a questionnaire.

Tangled in the breast cancer web: an evaluation of the usage of web-based information resources by breast cancer patients.

This study describes Internet use by breast cancer patients highlighting search patterns and examining the impact of web-based information on the clinical encounter. From September 2011 to January 2012, breast cancer patients at a cancer center completed a survey. Answers were closed and open-ended.

Breakdown of immune privilege and spontaneous autoimmunity in mice expressing a transgenic T cell receptor specific for a retinal autoantigen.

Despite presence of circulating retina-specific T cells in healthy individuals, ocular immune privilege usually averts development of autoimmune uveitis. To study the breakdown of immune privilege and development of disease, we generated transgenic (Tg) mice that express a T cell receptor (TCR) specific for interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein (IRBP), which serves as an autoimmune target in uveitis induced by immunization. Three lines of TCR Tg mice, with different levels of expression of the transgenic R161 TCR and different proportions of IRBP-specific CD4⁺ T cells in their peripheral repertoire, were successfully established.

Population-based outcomes of boost versus salvage radiosurgery for brain metastases after whole brain radiotherapy.

Purpose: We conducted a retrospective population-based study to examine the survival outcomes in patients with brain metastases treated with salvage stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), compared to boost SRS, after previous whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT).

Methods And Materials: From January 2000 to June 2011, 191 patients treated with WBRT and SRS for brain metastases in British Columbia were studied. Patients were divided into a boost cohort and a salvage cohort.

Template-based breast IMRT planning for increased workload efficiency.

Background: To be less resource intensive, we developed a template-based breast IMRT technique (TB-IMRT). This study aims to compare resources and dose distribution between TB-IMRT and conventional breast radiation (CBR).

Methods: Twenty patients with early stage breast cancer were planned using CBR and TB-IMRT.

Influence of smoking status on treatment outcomes after post-operative radiation therapy for non-small-cell lung cancer.

Background And Purpose: The role of post-operative radiotherapy in patients with resected non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is unclear. Modifiable factors, like smoking, may help guide therapy. We retrospectively evaluated the impact of smoking on control in patients undergoing post-operative radiation therapy (PORT) for NSCLC.

Breast-conserving therapy after previous irradiation for lymphoma.

There is an increased risk of breast cancer in patients who have undergone radiation treatment for lymphoma. While this usually precludes further radiotherapy (RT), we report five women who received irradiation for lymphoma and who subsequently received breast-conserving therapy between 1995 and 2007 for early-stage breast cancer. There was an overlap between the two treatment fields in all patients.