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.

Implementing shared decision-making in nutrition clinical practice: a theory-based approach and feasibility study.

Background: There are a growing number of dietary treatment options to choose from for the management of many chronic diseases. Shared decision making represents a promising approach to improve the quality of the decision making process needed for dietary choices that are informed by the best evidence and value-based. However, there are no studies reporting on theory-based approaches that foster the implementation of shared decision making in health professions allied to medicine.

Treatment of delirium in supportive and palliative care.

Purpose Of Review: The past few years have witnessed increased research into delirium treatment and related issues, leading to better management (e.g. improved detection) and better understanding of phenomenology and pathophysiology.

Factors predicting overall success: a review of 747 microsurgical vasovasostomies.

Objectives: Advances in surgical techniques have improved the outcome of microsurgical vasovasostomy (VV). We performed a retrospective analysis of surgical procedures to determine outcomes and predictors of VV success, to develop Kaplan-Meier Curves for predicting VV outcomes and to evaluate the use of alpha-glucosidase (AG) to predict outcomes.

Patients And Methods: We undertook a retrospective analysis of 747 modified 1-layer microsurgical VV procedures performed between 1984 and 2000.

Urinary PSA: a potential useful marker when serum PSA is between 2.5 ng/mL and 10 ng/mL.

Introduction: Our objective was to evaluate the usefulness of urinary prostate specific antigen (PSA) in the differential diagnosis of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer.

Methods: We undertook a prospective study and obtained informed consent from 170 men. They provided blood samples to measure serum PSA and 50 mL of first-voided urine to measure urinary PSA.

Membrane-type-1 matrix metalloproteinase, matrix metalloproteinase 2, and tissue inhibitor of matrix proteinase 2 in prostate cancer: identification of patients with poor prognosis by immunohistochemistry.

Overexpression of the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) 2 is associated with poor prognosis in many tumor types. Membrane-type-1 MMP (MMP14) activates MMP2 using pro-MMP2 specific inhibitor, tissue inhibitor of matrix proteinase 2 (TIMP2), as a receptor. We evaluated, by immunohistochemistry on 189 T3N0-2M0 prostate cancer (Pca) cases, the influence of MMP2, MMP14, and TIMP2 expression, individually and in association, on Pca disease-free survival (DFS).

Direct effect of macrophage migration inhibitory factor on sperm function: possible involvement in endometriosis-associated infertility.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) on sperm capacitation, a maturational process that occurs in the female reproductive tract and enables spermatozoa to become fully competent at fertilizing the oocyte.

Design: Incubation of Percoll-washed spermatozoa with varying concentrations of human recombinant MIF or fetal cord serum (positive control).

Setting: Human reproduction research laboratories.

Abnormal interleukin 1 receptor types I and II gene expression in eutopic and ectopic endometrial tissues of women with endometriosis.

Interleukin-1 (IL1) is believed to play a central role in the immuno-inflammatory process associated with endometriosis. IL1 triggers cell activation via its receptor type I (IL1R1), but its receptor type II (IL1R2) is known instead as a scavenger that buffers the cytokine's effects. Our previous studies have shown increased expression of IL1R1 in active endometriotic implants compared to normal and endometriosis women-derived endometrial tissues, and a simultaneous decrease in IL1R2 expression at the protein level.

2beta-(N-substituted piperazino)-5alpha-androstane-3alpha,17beta-diols: parallel solid-phase synthesis and antiproliferative activity on human leukemia HL-60 cells.

Leukemia is the most common cancer affecting children. A steroid possessing a methylpiperazine nucleus was recently reported to inhibit the proliferation of HL-60 leukemia cells. To speed up the development of this promising potential new drug, we generated libraries of analogues using parallel solid-phase organic synthesis (SPOS).

Risk and benefits from consuming salmon and trout: a Canadian perspective.

Recent reports on the presence of persistent organic chemicals in wild and farmed salmon have left consumers and health professionals confused regarding the safety of regular fish consumption. The objectives of this study were (1) to compare concentrations of key contaminants and the essential nutrients omega-3 fatty acids between farmed and wild salmon and trout, and (2) to balance risks and benefits from regularly consuming these species. Concentrations of mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins and furans as well as omega-3 fatty acids were determined in fillets from farmed salmon and trout bought in various markets located in Quebec, Canada, as well as in fillets from wild salmonids obtained from fishermen and various Canadian agencies.

Chemical synthesis and biological activities of 16alpha-derivatives of 5alpha-androstane-3alpha,17beta-diol as antiandrogens.

In our efforts to develop compounds with therapeutic potential as antiandrogens, we synthesized a series of 5alpha-androstane-3alpha,17beta-diol derivatives with a fixed side-chain length of 3-methylenes at C-16alpha, but bearing a diversity of functional groups at the end. Among these, the chloride induced the best antiproliferative activity on androgen-sensitive Shionogi cells. Substituting the OH at C-3 by a methoxy group showed the importance of the OH.

Frequency and patterns of early recanalization after vasectomy.

Background: Our understanding of early post-vasectomy recanalization is limited to histopathological studies. The objective of this study was to estimate the frequency and to describe semen analysis patterns of early recanalization after vasectomy.

Methods: Charts displaying serial post-vasectomy semen analyses were created using the semen analysis results from 826 and 389 men participating in a randomized trial of fascial interposition (FI) and an observational study of cautery, respectively.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by vaginal radical trachelectomy in bulky stage IB1 cervical cancer: case report.

Background: We present 3 young women with bulky stage IB1 cervical cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by laparoscopic pelvic node dissection and vaginal radical trachelectomy.

Cases: In the last year, we have treated 3 young women with large cervical lesions who wished to preserve fertility with induction chemotherapy followed by fertility-sparing surgery. They all had lesions measuring 3 to 4 cm and felt to be too big to safely undergo a radical trachelectomy.

Cholinergic involvement in vascular and glucoregulatory actions of insulin in rats.

This study was designed to test the glucose metabolic and vasodilator actions of insulin in rats and its relation to cholinergic system-dependent mechanisms. The first group of rats had pulsed Doppler flow probes and intravascular catheters implanted to determine blood pressure, heart rate, and regional blood flows. Insulin sensitivity was assessed by the euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp technique carried out in the absence or presence of atropine.

Docosahexaenoic acid reduces levodopa-induced dyskinesias in 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine monkeys.

Objective: The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a polyunsaturated fatty acid (omega-3), on levodopa-induced dyskinesias (LIDs) in parkinsonian 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-treated monkeys.

Methods: We explored the effect of DHA in two paradigms. First, a group of MPTP monkeys was primed with levodopa for several months before introducing DHA.

Fatty acid composition of wild and farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).

The goal of this study was to examine the FA composition of wild and farmed Atlantic salmon (AS) and rainbow trout (RT). FA profiles were obtained by GC/FID. Results showed that lipid and n-3 highly unsaturated FA contents of farmed and wild AS were similar.

Effect of the APOC3 Sst I SNP on fasting triglyceride levels in men heterozygous for the LPL P207L deficiency.

Lipoprotein lipase (LPL) plays a major role in triglyceride (TG)-rich lipoprotein catabolism. A mutation at codon 207 (P207L) in the exon 5 of the LPL gene has been associated with 50% reduction in postheparin plasma LPL activity and significant increase in plasma TG levels in heterozygous individuals with low HDL. However, heterogeneity in fasting TG concentrations among these carriers suggests that other factors may be involved in the expression of this hypertriglyceridemic state.

Laparoscopically assisted vaginal radical hysterectomy.

Young patients affected by an early-stage invasive cancer of the cervix are usually treated by surgery. Abdominal radical hysterectomy with pelvic lymphadenectomy is the most widely used technique. With the advent of more conservative surgical approaches, laparoscopy has gained acceptance in gynecologic oncology, opening the way for radical vaginal surgery for cervical cancer.

Vaginal radical trachelectomy: a valuable fertility-preserving option in the management of early-stage cervical cancer. A series of 50 pregnancies and review of the literature.

Objective: To report the obstetrical results following vaginal radical trachelectomy (VRT), a fertility-preserving surgery in the treatment of early-stage cervical cancer.

Methods: Retrospective review of our first 72 patients treated by a laparoscopic pelvic lymphadenectomy followed by a VRT from October 1991 to October 2003 with regards to their reproductive function.

Results: Patients' median age was 32 years old (21-42) and 53 (74%) were nulligravida.

Delayed vasectomy success in men with a first postvasectomy semen analysis showing motile sperm.

Objective: To determine the frequency of and factors associated with delayed vasectomy success in men with first postvasectomy semen analysis showing motile sperm.

Design: Descriptive study.

Setting: One hospital-based family planning clinic and two private clinics from the Quebec City area, Canada.

Elevated levels of macrophage migration inhibitory factor in the peripheral blood of women with endometriosis.

Objective: To evaluate the concentrations of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) in the peripheral blood of normal women and patients with endometriosis.

Design: Retrospective study using ELISA to measure peripheral blood MIF.

Setting: Gynecology clinic and human reproduction research laboratory.

Solid-phase synthesis of model libraries of 3alpha,17beta-dihydroxy-16alpha-(aminoethyl-N-substituted)-5alpha-androstanes for the development of steroidal therapeutic agents.

The solid-phase synthesis of 16alpha-derivatives of 5alpha-androstane-3alpha, 17beta-diol with one, two or three levels of molecular diversity was accomplished using the diethylsilyloxy linker. Libraries with one level of diversity (10 members) and two levels of diversity (40 members) were synthesized in a parallel fashion in good yields and acceptable HPLC purities for the majority of library members. Compounds with three levels of diversity (15 pools) were realized in a split and pool fashion to allow further deconvolution by the positional scanning method.

Lymph node metastases in low-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to review our experience on lymphatic dissemination in patients with low-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma.

Methods: All cases diagnosed as low-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma or endolymphatic stromal myosis before October 2003 and who had lymph node sampling at some point in their evolution were retrieved from the files of the pathology and gynecologic oncology departments of l'Hotel-Dieu de Quebec University Hospital (HDQ).

Results: Fifteen patients with either limited lymph node biopsies or a complete lymph node dissection at some point in the course of their disease were found.

Functional characterization of SIX3 homeodomain mutations in holoprosencephaly: interaction with the nuclear receptor NR4A3/NOR1.

Holoprosencephaly (HPE) is a relatively common brain malformation resulting in an incomplete separation of the two cerebral hemispheres. A number of mutations in different genes have been linked to this malformation, including three missense mutations in the homeodomain of the transcription factor SIX3. In this study, we investigated the functional consequences of these SIX3 mutations with respect to the ability of the protein to interact with and stimulate the transcriptional activity of the nuclear receptor NOR1 (NR4A3).