Exploring the Barriers to Social Support Interactions: A Qualitative Study of Young Adult Cancer Patients and Young Adult Supporters.

This study explores the reasons why young adults (ages 18-39) struggle to provide or avoid providing support to young adult cancer patients. The study also explores young adult cancer patients' perceptions of why they have not received support from individuals who did not provide support. A total of 722 reasons were collected through online surveys and analyzed: 438 were provided by young adults who knew a young adult with cancer ( = 131), and young adult cancer patients ( = 111) provided 284 reasons why they believe they did not receive support.

Environmental influences on mare reproductive loss syndrome: Do they fit with a toxin as the causative agent?

Mare Reproductive Loss Syndrome (MRLS) is the term given to abortions in mares associated with Eastern Tent caterpillars (ETC; Malacosoma americanum). This paper aims to examine if the hypothesis for a toxin as the cause of MRLS holds up to testing using Westerman's Correlates of Causal Strength of Evidence (WCCSE) and fits with known environmental factors that influence the occurrence of MRLS. Using WCCSE all correlates fit with a toxin as a potential causative agent.

Neurodevelopmental Outcomes of Children Born to Opioid-Dependent Mothers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Children born to opioid-dependent mothers are at risk of adverse neurodevelopment. The magnitude of this risk remains inconclusive.

Objective: To conduct a meta-analysis of studies that assessed neurodevelopmental outcomes of children aged 0 to 12 years born to opioid-dependent mothers, compared with children born to nonopioid-dependent mothers, across general cognitive, language, motor, and social-emotional domains.

Hip stem fatigue: : The implications of increasing patient mass.

General trends of increasing body mass index have been observed in many western countries along with an increasing demand for joint replacement. Standards have been developed for testing the fatigue properties of femoral stems; however, the loads that these apply are based on a historic patient weight and may not be valid in the current patient population. Several fatigue tests were conducted using distally fixed titanium alloy stems positioned according to the ISO standard but with a cyclic load based on a current 75th percentile patient sample.

Prevalence, level and distribution of Salmonella in shipments of imported capsicum and sesame seed spice offered for entry to the United States: observations and modeling results.

In response to increased concerns about spice safety, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) initiated research to characterize the prevalence and levels of Salmonella in imported spices. 299 imported dried capsicum shipments and 233 imported sesame seed shipments offered for entry to the United States were sampled. Observed Salmonella shipment prevalence was 3.

Prevalence, serotype diversity, and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella in imported shipments of spice offered for entry to the United States, FY2007-FY2009.

In response to increased concerns about spice safety, the U.S. FDA initiated research to characterize the prevalence of Salmonella in imported spices.

Lasting effects on body weight and mammary gland gene expression in female mice upon early life exposure to n-3 but not n-6 high-fat diets.

Exposure to an imbalance of nutrients prior to conception and during critical developmental periods can have lasting consequences on physiological processes resulting in chronic diseases later in life. Developmental programming has been shown to involve structural and functional changes in important tissues. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether early life diet has a programming effect on the mammary gland.

Development of the caffeine withdrawal symptom questionnaire: caffeine withdrawal symptoms cluster into 7 factors.

Background: Habitual caffeine consumers who abstain from caffeine experience withdrawal symptoms such as headache, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, mood disturbances, and flu-like symptoms (Juliano and Griffiths, 2004). The caffeine withdrawal syndrome has been documented across many experimental studies; however, little is known about how withdrawal symptoms co-vary during a discrete episode. Furthermore, a validated measure of caffeine withdrawal is lacking.

High cancer risk and increased mortality in patients with Peutz-Jeghers syndrome.

Background: Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS) is associated with an increased cancer risk. As the determination of optimal surveillance strategies is hampered by wide ranges in cancer risk estimates and lack of data on cancer-related mortality, we assessed cancer risks and mortality in a large cohort of patients with PJS.

Methods: Dutch PJS patients were included in this cohort study.

Embryotoxicant-specific transcriptomic responses in rat postimplantation whole-embryo culture.

Rat postimplantation whole-embryo culture (WEC) is a promising alternative test for the assessment of developmental toxicity. Toxicogenomic-based approaches may improve the predictive ability of the WEC model by providing a means to identify compound-specific mechanistic responses associated with embryotoxicity in vivo. Furthermore, alterations in gene expression may serve as a sensitive, objective, and robust marker, which precedes the observation of classical developmental toxicity endpoints in time.

Multiple anxiogenic drugs recruit a parvalbumin-containing subpopulation of GABAergic interneurons in the basolateral amygdala.

The basolateral amygdala is a nodal structure within a distributed and interconnected network that regulates anxiety states and anxiety-related behavior. Administration of multiple anxiogenic drugs increases cellular responses (i.e.

Transcriptomics analysis of retinoic acid embryotoxicity in rat postimplantation whole embryo culture.

Rodent postimplantation whole embryo culture (WEC) is a classical alternative test to study developmental toxicants. Here, we have successfully applied transcriptomics to monitor early responses in WEC after exposure to the embryotoxicant retinoic acid (RA). We demonstrated that RA exposures ranging from 2 to 24h affect RA-responsive genes in individual embryos.

Assessing the role of the medial preoptic area in ethanol-induced hypothermia.

Administration of ethanol produces hypothermia. The preoptic area/anterior hypothalamus (POA/AH) contains warm- and cold-sensitive neurons that are important for temperature regulation. The present study evaluated the effect of ethanol on Fos immunoreactivity (Fos-ir) in the medial preoptic area (MPOA) and the effect of lesions to the MPOA on ethanol-induced hypothermia.

The antiepileptic primidone impairs male rat sexual behavior.

Many antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) produce sexual impairments. Of commonly prescribed AEDs, primidone produces the greatest impairments. Here we examined the effects of primidone on male rat sexual behavior.

Contamination of handpieces during pulpotomy therapy on primary teeth.

Purpose: The purpose of this in vivo study was to determine the potential for internal bacteriol contamination of low-speed handpiece/ contraangle systems.

Methods: Clinical contamination was measured for 24 pulpotomies on primary first or second molar teeth from 20 subjects. The investigators used microbiologic analysis to determine the extent of bacterial contamination from the patient's saliva using enriched trypticase soy agar (ETSA) plates.

Application of a metabolizing system as an adjunct to the rat whole embryo culture.

Rodent post-implantation whole embryo culture (WEC) is a validated and widely used method in both mechanistic studies and as a screening test for developmental toxicants. Since metabolism is lacking in the WEC because of the developmental stage of the embryo, pro-teratogenic compounds are not detected. We investigated the inclusion of an in vitro metabolizing system as a pre-incubation step in the existing WEC.

STK11 status and intussusception risk in Peutz-Jeghers syndrome.

Background: Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS) is caused by germline STK11 mutations and characterised by gastrointestinal polyposis. Although small bowel intussusception is a recognised complication of PJS, risk varies between patients.

Objective: To analyse the time to onset of intussusception in a large series of PJS probands.

Nasal polyposis in Peutz-Jeghers syndrome: a distinct histopathological and molecular genetic entity.

Background: Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS) is an autosomal dominant hamartomatous polyposis syndrome of the gastrointestinal tract, caused by a germline STK11/LKB1 mutation. Nasal polyposis was described in the original report by Peutz. Recently, a molecular-genetic association between nasal polyposis and PJS has been reported.

Frequency and spectrum of cancers in the Peutz-Jeghers syndrome.

Background: Although an increased cancer risk in Peutz-Jeghers syndrome is established, data on the spectrum of tumors associated with the disease and the influence of germ-line STK11/LKB1 (serine/threonine kinase) mutation status are limited.

Experimental Design: We analyzed the incidence of cancer in 419 individuals with Peutz-Jeghers syndrome, and 297 had documented STK11/LKB1 mutations.

Results: Ninety-six cancers were found among individuals with Peutz-Jeghers syndrome.

LKB1 exonic and whole gene deletions are a common cause of Peutz-Jeghers syndrome.

Background: LKB1/STK11 germline mutations cause Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS). The existence of a second PJS locus is controversial, the evidence in its favour being families unlinked to LKB1 and the low frequency of LKB1 mutations found using conventional methods in several studies. Exonic and whole gene deletion or duplication events cannot be detected by routine mutation screening methods.

Phenacetin acts as a weak genotoxic compound preferentially in the kidney of DNA repair deficient Xpa mice.

Chronic use of phenacetin-containing analgesics has been associated with the development of renal cancer. To establish genotoxicity as a possible cause for the carcinogenic effect of phenacetin, we exposed wild type and DNA repair deficient Xpa-/- and Xpa-/-/Trp53+/- mice (further referred as Xpa and Xpa/p53 mice, respectively), carrying a reporter lacZ gene, to 0.75% (w/w) phenacetin mixed in feed.

Relationship between UV-induced mutant p53 patches and skin tumours, analysed by mutation spectra and by induction kinetics in various DNA-repair-deficient mice.

Clusters of p53 immunopositive epidermal keratinocytes (so-called p53 patches, clones or foci) are found in sun or ultraviolet (UV) light-exposed skin. We investigated to what extent these p53 patches are genuine precursors of skin carcinomas in chronically irradiated hairless (SKH1) mice. The mutation spectra of exons 5-8 of the p53 gene of laser-micro-dissected mutant p53 patches and carcinomas were therefore compared.

Mutation analysis of three genes encoding novel LKB1-interacting proteins, BRG1, STRADalpha, and MO25alpha, in Peutz-Jeghers syndrome.

Mutations in LKB1 lead to Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS). However, only a subset of PJS patients harbours LKB1 mutations. We performed a mutation analysis of three genes encoding novel LKB1-interacting proteins, BRG1, STRADalpha, and MO25alpha, in 28 LKB1-negative PJS patients.

Dose-dependent effects of UVB-induced skin carcinogenesis in hairless p53 knockout mice.

Exposure to (solar) UVB radiation gives rise to mutations in the p53 tumor suppressor gene that appear to contribute to the earliest steps in the molecular cascade towards human and murine skin cancer. To examine in more detail the role of p53, we studied UVB-induced carcinogenesis in hairless p53 knock-out mice. The early onset of lymphomas as well as early wasting of mice interfered with the development of skin tumors in p53 null-mice.

Relative frequency and morphology of cancers in STK11 mutation carriers.

Background & Aims: There is limited data on the spectrum and risk for cancer associated with germline serine/threonine protein kinase 11 (STK11) mutations that cause Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS).

Methods: We analyzed the incidence of cancer in 240 individuals with PJS possessing germline mutations in STK11.

Results: Fifty-four cancers were found among carriers.