Curcumin-induced HDAC inhibition and attenuation of medulloblastoma growth in vitro and in vivo.

Background: Medulloblastoma is the most common brain tumor in children, and its prognosis is worse than for many other common pediatric cancers. Survivors undergoing treatment suffer from serious therapy-related side effects. Thus, it is imperative to identify safer, effective treatments for medulloblastoma.

Cytokine load in prestorage leukoreduced PRBC transfusions in premature infants.

Objective: Despite the high frequency of packed red blood cell (PRBC) transfusions given to premature neonates, there has been no previous investigation in this population to determine whether small-volume PRBC transfusions using prestorage leukoreduction techniques (1) provide a cytokine load in the transfusate and (2) if there is a load, whether that load alters serum cytokine levels after transfusion.

Study Design: In all, 27 PRBC units, which were leukoreduced at the time of donation, were followed for cytokine analysis for the duration of the unit's shelf life (1 to 42 days). Infants who received transfusion from these units had cytokines measured pre and post-transfusion.

Long-term effects of immunization with recombinant lipoprotein outer surface protein a on serologic test for lyme disease.

Immunization with recombinant lipoprotein outer surface protein A vaccine is known to interfere with some serologic tests for Lyme disease. We tested sera from 152 vaccine recipients by using in-house and commercial Western blot assays and found that vaccination caused interference in up to 25% of recipients and can persist for over 6 years.