Dynamics of human foveal development after premature birth.

Purpose: To determine the dynamic morphologic development of the human fovea in vivo using portable spectral domain-optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT).

Design: Prospective, observational case series.

Participants: Thirty-one prematurely born neonates, 9 children, and 9 adults.

[Quantitative analysis of corneal subbasal nerve plexus with in vivo confocal laser scanning microscopy].

Background: An analysis of the corneal subbasal nerve plexus (SNP) allows an evaluation of the peripheral neuropathy in cases of degenerative diseases. In order to study the SNP structures quantitatively the automatically calculated morphological and topological parameters are required.

Methods: In vivo confocal laser scanning microscopy (Heidelberg Retina Tomograph II/Rostock Cornea Module) was performed in healthy volunteers as well as patients with severe diabetic neuropathy.

Increasing the thermostability of sucrose phosphorylase by a combination of sequence- and structure-based mutagenesis.

Sucrose phosphorylase is a promising biocatalyst for the glycosylation of a wide variety of acceptor molecules, but its low thermostability is a serious drawback for industrial applications. In this work, the stability of the enzyme from Bifidobacterium adolescentis has been significantly improved by a combination of smart and rational mutagenesis. The former consists of substituting the most flexible residues with amino acids that occur more frequently at the corresponding positions in related sequences, while the latter is based on a careful inspection of the enzyme's crystal structure to promote electrostatic interactions.

Extended-field irradiation and intracavitary brachytherapy combined with cisplatin and amifostine for cervical cancer with positive para-aortic or high common iliac lymph nodes: results of arm II of Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 0116.

Objectives: Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 0116 was designed to test the ability of amifostine (Ethyol; MedImmune LLC, Gaithersburg, MD), a cytoprotective agent, to reduce the acute toxicity of combined therapy with extended-field irradiation, brachytherapy, and cisplatin chemotherapy in patients with cervical cancer with para-aortic or high common iliac disease. This report presents the results of part 2.

Materials And Methods: Radiation Therapy Oncology Group 0116 was a 2-part trial.

Evaluation of the automated collection and extended storage of apheresis platelets in additive solution.

Background: Collecting apheresis platelets (PLTs) into additive solution has many potential benefits. The new Trima software (Version 6.0, CaridianBCT) allows automated addition of PLT additive solution (PAS) after collection, compared to Trima Version 5.

Transpiration modulates phosphorus acquisition in tropical tree seedlings.

Several experiments were conducted with tropical tree and liana seedlings in which transpiration ratio and leaf phosphorus to carbon ratio (P:C) were measured. Transpiration ratio was expressed as kg H(2)O transpired g(-1) C incorporated into plant biomass, and leaf P:C as mg P g(-1) C. Leaf P:C was positively correlated with transpiration ratio across 19 species for plants grown under similar conditions (R(2) = 0.

Responses of legume versus nonlegume tropical tree seedlings to elevated CO2 concentration.

We investigated responses of growth, leaf gas exchange, carbon-isotope discrimination, and whole-plant water-use efficiency (W(P)) to elevated CO(2) concentration ([CO(2)]) in seedlings of five leguminous and five nonleguminous tropical tree species. Plants were grown at CO(2) partial pressures of 40 and 70 Pa. As a group, legumes did not differ from nonlegumes in growth response to elevated [CO(2)].

Radiation Therapy Oncology Group 0247: a randomized Phase II study of neoadjuvant capecitabine and irinotecan or capecitabine and oxaliplatin with concurrent radiotherapy for patients with locally advanced rectal cancer.

Purpose: To evaluate the rate of pathologic complete response (pCR) and the toxicity of two neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (chemoRT) regimens for Stage T3-T4 rectal cancer in a randomized Phase II study.

Methods And Materials: Patients with Stage T3 or T4 rectal cancer of <12 cm from the anal verge were randomized to preoperative RT (50.4 Gy in 1.

Induction and reversal of crassulacean acid metabolism in Calandrinia polyandra: effects of soil moisture and nutrients.

Calandrinia polyandra Benth. (Montiaceae), an annual succulent herb endemic to Australia, is an exemplary facultative crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) plant as demonstrated by continuous whole-plant lifetime CO2 exchange measurements under controlled conditions in the laboratory. Reduced soil water availability induced a shift from solely daytime CO2 fixation to dark CO2 fixation.

Longitudinal Quality-of-Life Analysis of RTOG 94-05 (Int 0123):A Phase III Trial of Definitive Chemoradiotherapy for Esophageal Cancer.

Background: Longitudinal quality of life (QoL) was compared for patients with esophageal cancer receiving definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT) with conventional-dose (CD) vs. high-dose (HD) radiotherapy as used in the RTOG phase III 94-05 trial (Intergroup 0123).

Methods: Between June 12, 1995, and July 1, 1999, 236 patients with cT1-4NxM0 esophageal cancer were randomized to CD CRT (50.

Speeding decisions. Social security's information exchange program.

The Social Security Administration has plenty of reasons to streamline its records request process-more than 15 million reasons each year, in fact. That's why it has been pioneering information exchange projects with the private sector, including use of the Nationwide Health Information Network.

Maternal endometrial oedema may increase perinatal mortality of cloned and transgenic piglets.

The perinatal mortality of cloned animals is a well-known problem. In the present retrospective study, we report on mortality of cloned transgenic or non-transgenic piglets produced as part of several investigations. Large White (LW) sows (n = 105) received hand-made cloned LW or minipig blastocysts and delivered either spontaneously or after prostaglandin induction followed by either Caesarean section or vaginal birth.

Phylogeny, adaptive radiation, and historical biogeography in Bromeliaceae: insights from an eight-locus plastid phylogeny.

Premise: Bromeliaceae form a large, ecologically diverse family of angiosperms native to the New World. We use a bromeliad phylogeny based on eight plastid regions to analyze relationships within the family, test a new, eight-subfamily classification, infer the chronology of bromeliad evolution and invasion of different regions, and provide the basis for future analyses of trait evolution and rates of diversification.

Methods: We employed maximum-parsimony, maximum-likelihood, and Bayesian approaches to analyze 9341 aligned bases for four outgroups and 90 bromeliad species representing 46 of 58 described genera.

Mandible reconstruction with patient-specific pre-bent reconstruction plates: comparison of a transfer key method to the standard method--results of an in vitro study.

Purpose: Patient-specific mandible reconstruction plates may be pre-bent to facilitate the surgical procedure. A method using transfer keys (TK) for repositioning pre-bent plates was compared with the standard method on mandibular models to evaluate its feasibility.

Method: Ten mandible models were used to pre-bend reconstruction plates.

Development, evaluation, and application of an in silico model for antimalarial drug treatment and failure.

Pharmacological mechanism-based modeling was refined and used to develop an in silico model of antimalarial drug treatment validated against clinical and field data. We used this approach to investigate key features of antimalarial drug action and effectiveness, with emphasis on the current generation of artemisinin combination therapies. We made the following conclusions.

A Phase II study of a paclitaxel-based chemoradiation regimen with selective surgical salvage for resectable locoregionally advanced esophageal cancer: initial reporting of RTOG 0246.

Purpose: The strategy of definitive chemoradiation with selective surgical salvage in locoregionally advanced esophageal cancer was evaluated in a Phase II trial in Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG)-affiliated sites.

Methods And Materials: The study was designed to detect an improvement in 1-year survival from 60% to 77.5% (α = 0.

Drought-stress-induced up-regulation of CAM in seedlings of a tropical cactus, Opuntia elatior, operating predominantly in the C3 mode.

Immediately after unfolding, cotyledons of the tropical platyopuntoid cactus, Opuntia elatior Mill., exhibited a C(3)-type diel CO(2) exchange pattern characterized by net CO(2) uptake in the light. Significant nocturnal increases in titratable acidity typical of crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) were not detected at this early developmental stage.

Fluorouracil-based chemoradiation with either gemcitabine or fluorouracil chemotherapy after resection of pancreatic adenocarcinoma: 5-year analysis of the U.S. Intergroup/RTOG 9704 phase III trial.

Background: The impact of the addition of gemcitabine to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) chemoradiation (CRT) on 5-year overall survival (OS) in resected pancreatic adenocarcinoma are presented with updated results of a phase III trial.

Methods: After resection of pancreatic adenocarcinoma, patients were randomized to pre- and post-CRT 5-FU versus pre- and post-CRT gemcitabine. 5-FU was provided continuously at 250 mg/m(2)/day, and gemcitabine was provided at 1000 mg/m(2) weekly.

The effect of pathogen reduction technology (Mirasol) on platelet quality when treated in additive solution with low plasma carryover.

Background And Objectives: Pathogen reduction technologies (PRT) for platelets are now compatible with both plasma and platelet additive solutions (PAS). The aim of this study was to examine the effect of PRT on the platelet storage lesion, in the presence of PAS with low plasma carryover.

Materials And Methods: PRT-treated (Mirasol) and untreated buffy coat-derived platelet concentrates prepared in 28% plasma/PAS-IIIM were evaluated using in vitro cell quality parameters on days 1, 2, 5, and 7 post-collection.

The impact of ethnic identity on changes in high risk HIV behaviors in sexually active migrant workers.

Among migrant workers (MWs) in the US, HIV/AIDS prevalence may be as high as 13.5%. This serial cross-sectional study examines associations between Ethnic Identity (EI) in African American and Hispanic MWs and short-term changes in high-risk sexual behaviors.

Estimation of α/β for late rectal toxicity based on RTOG 94-06.

Purpose: To estimate α/β, the parameter ratio from the linear-quadratic (LQ) model, for Grade ≥2 late rectal toxicity among patients treated on Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) protocol 94-06; and to determine whether correcting the rectal dose-volume histogram (DVH) for differences in dose per fraction, based on the LQ model, significantly improves the fit to these data of the Lyman-Kutcher-Burman (LKB) normal-tissue complication probability (NTCP) model.

Methods And Materials: The generalized LKB model was fitted to the Grade ≥2 late rectal toxicity data in two ways: by using DVHs representing physical dose to rectum, and by using a modified approach in which dose bins in the rectal DVH were corrected for differences in dose per fraction using the LQ model, with α/β estimated as an additional unknown parameter. The analysis included only patients treated with the same treatment plan throughout radiotherapy, so that the dose per fraction to each voxel of rectum could be determined from the DVH.

Failure to adhere to protocol specified radiation therapy guidelines was associated with decreased survival in RTOG 9704--a phase III trial of adjuvant chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy for patients with resected adenocarcinoma of the pancreas.

Purpose: In Radiation Therapy Oncology Group 9704, as previously published, patients with resected pancreatic adenocarcinoma received continuous infusion 5-FU and concurrent radiotherapy (5FU-RT). 5FU-RT treatment was preceded and followed by randomly assigned chemotherapy, either 5-FU or gemcitabine. This analysis explored whether failure to adhere to specified RT guidelines influenced survival and/or toxicity.

Cryopreservation of buffy-coat-derived platelet concentrates in dimethyl sulfoxide and platelet additive solution.

Platelets prepared in plasma can be frozen in 6% dimethyl sulfoxide (Me(2)SO) and stored for extended periods at -80°C. The aim of this study was to reduce the plasma present in the cryopreserved product, by substituting plasma with platelet additive solution (PAS; SSP+), whilst maintaining in vitro platelet quality. Buffy coat-derived pooled leukoreduced platelet concentrates were frozen in a mixture of SSP+, plasma and 6% Me(2)SO.

Children hospitalized with 2009 novel influenza A(H1N1) in California.

Objective: To describe clinical and epidemiologic features of 2009 novel influenza A(H1N1) in children.

Design: Analysis of data obtained from standardized report forms and medical records.

Setting: Statewide public health surveillance in California.