Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome in children with sepsis: role of genetic factors.

This review summarizes current knowledge on the impact of genetic markers on susceptibility, severity, and outcome of acute inflammatory disorders in children, with a special focus on systemic infections. A 14-year-old child with Neisseria meningitides bacteremia, complicated by septic shock and multiple organ dysfunction, is discussed as an exemplary case, and linked to the application of genetic epidemiology and the study of common disorders in children. The current pertinent literature is comprehensively reviewed and limitations and future directions are discussed.

Impact of aprotinin on adverse clinical outcomes and mortality up to 12 years in a registry of 3,337 patients.

Background: Recent studies have suggested increased renal complications and long-term mortality with aprotinin use in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) patients. However, these studies have been criticized for including multiple centers and different dosing strategies. We analyzed prospectively collected registry data from a single center hospital utilizing a full-dose aprotinin regimen to evaluate if aprotinin was associated with increased mortality and adverse outcomes compared with Amicar.

Gene and cell therapy for chronic ischaemic heart disease.

Viable treatment options are becoming available for the 'no-option' patient with chronic ischaemic heart disease. Instead of revascularising the highly diseased epicardial coronary arteries, scientists and clinicians have been looking at augmenting mother nature's way of providing biological bypass in an attempt to provide symptomatic relief in these patients. The novel use of gene and cell therapies for myocardial neovascularisation has exploded into a flurry of early clinical trials.

Prospective assessment of computer-aided detection in interpretation of screening mammography.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to prospectively assess the usefulness of computer-aided detection (CAD) in the interpretation of screening mammography and to provide the true sensitivity and specificity of this technique in a clinical setting.

Subjects And Methods: Over a 26-month period, 5,016 screening mammograms were interpreted without, and subsequently with, the assistance of the iCAD MammoReader detection system. Data collected for actionable findings included dominant feature (calcification, mass, asymmetry, architectural distortion), detection method (radiologist only, CAD only, or both radiologist and CAD), BI-RADS assessment code, associated histopathology for those undergoing biopsy, and tumor stage for malignant lesions.

Repeated direct endomyocardial transplantation of allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells: safety of a high dose, "off-the-shelf", cellular cardiomyoplasty strategy.

Background: Efficacy of cellular cardiomyoplasty seems to occur in a dose-related manner. However, the safety of multiple transendomyocardial transplantation procedures to administer high cell dosages has not been previously reported. The aims of this study were to assess the short- and intermediate-term results of a repeated cell administration strategy and evaluate the safety of an "off-the-shelf" allogeneic mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) source.

Dissociation of ERK and Akt signaling in endothelial cell angiogenic responses to beta-amyloid.

Cerebrovascular deposits of beta-amyloid (Abeta) peptides are found in Alzheimer's disease and cerebral amyloid angiopathy with stroke or dementia. Dysregulations of angiogenesis, the blood-brain barrier and other critical endothelial cell (EC) functions have been implicated in aggravating chronic hypoperfusion in AD brain. We have used cultured ECs to model the effects of beta-amyloid on the activated phosphorylation states of multifunctional serine/threonine kinases since these are differentially involved in the survival, proliferation and migration aspects of angiogenesis.

Drug insight: New antiemetics in the management of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.

Nausea and vomiting remain among the most feared side effects of chemotherapy for cancer patients. Significant progress has been made in the last 15 years in developing more effective and better-tolerated measures to minimize chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV). During the 1990s, the selective 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor antagonists were first introduced for the treatment of CINV, and resulted in more effective and better tolerated treatment of CINV.