CCL21 Chemokine Therapy for Lung Cancer.

Lung cancer remains a challenging health problem with more than 1.1 million deaths worldwide annually. With current therapy, the long term survival for the majority of lung cancer patients remains low, thus new therapeutic strategies are needed.

The role of failure modes and effects analysis in showing the benefits of automation in the blood bank.

Background: Failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) is a risk management tool used by the manufacturing industry but now being applied in laboratories.

Study Design And Methods: Teams from six South Korean blood banks used this tool to map their manual and automated blood grouping processes and determine the risk priority numbers (RPNs) as a total measure of error risk.

Results: The RPNs determined by each of the teams consistently showed that the use of automation dramatically reduced the RPN compared to manual processes.

Relationship between social support and quality of life in childbearing women during the perinatal period.

Objective: To explore demographic and social support predictors of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) (mental and physical) for childbearing women in the perinatal period.

Design: Longitudinal.

Sample: Three public hospitals in metropolitan Brisbane, Australia.

Association between postoperative troponin levels and 30-day mortality among patients undergoing noncardiac surgery.

Context: Of the 200 million adults worldwide who undergo noncardiac surgery each year, more than 1 million will die within 30 days.

Objective: To determine the relationship between the peak fourth-generation troponin T (TnT) measurement in the first 3 days after noncardiac surgery and 30-day mortality.

Design, Setting, And Participants: A prospective, international cohort study that enrolled patients from August 6, 2007, to January 11, 2011.

Outcome trajectories in extremely preterm infants.

Objective: Methods are required to predict prognosis with changes in clinical course. Death or neurodevelopmental impairment in extremely premature neonates can be predicted at birth/admission to the ICU by considering gender, antenatal steroids, multiple birth, birth weight, and gestational age. Predictions may be improved by using additional information available later during the clinical course.

Risk factors for post-neonatal intensive care unit discharge mortality among extremely low birth weight infants.

Objective: The study goal was to evaluate maternal and neonatal risk factors associated with post-neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) discharge mortality among extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants.

Study Design: This is a retrospective analysis of ELBW (<1000 g) and <27 weeks' gestational age infants born in the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Neonatal Research Network sites between January 2000 and June 2007. Infants were tracked until death or 18 to 22 months' corrected age.

Management and outcomes of laryngeal injuries in the pediatric population.

Objectives: Pediatric laryngeal trauma is an uncommon event. The purpose of this study was to identify outcomes following surgical procedures for pediatric laryngeal trauma, and to provide an in-depth review of the literature.

Methods: The National Trauma Data Bank was utilized to identify pediatric laryngeal trauma incidents with admission years 2002 through 2006.

Association of antenatal corticosteroids with mortality and neurodevelopmental outcomes among infants born at 22 to 25 weeks' gestation.

Context: Current guidelines, initially published in 1995, recommend antenatal corticosteroids for mothers with preterm labor from 24 to 34 weeks' gestational age, but not before 24 weeks due to lack of data. However, many infants born before 24 weeks' gestation are provided intensive care.

Objective: To determine if use of antenatal corticosteroids is associated with improvement in major outcomes for infants born at 22 and 23 weeks' gestation.

Taiwanese fathers' experiences of having their child diagnosed with a developmental disability.

Background: Receiving a diagnosis of a developmental disability in a child can be a crisis event for parents. Gender differences in parental roles are worth considering when exploring the impact of having a child with a disability. However, most studies on this topic have focused on the mother's experience, and little is known about what the father goes through as the parent of a child diagnosed with a disability.

Identification of extremely premature infants at high risk of rehospitalization.

Objective: Extremely low birth weight infants often require rehospitalization during infancy. Our objective was to identify at the time of discharge which extremely low birth weight infants are at higher risk for rehospitalization.

Methods: Data from extremely low birth weight infants in Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Neonatal Research Network centers from 2002-2005 were analyzed.

In-region versus out-of-region hospitalizations at the end of life among older rural residents: the relationship between personal and system-related factors.

Background: Even though a large segment of the population lives in rural areas, relatively little attention has been paid in the literature to date to hospital use at the end of life among rural residents. The objective of this study was to examine factors associated with in- or out-of-region hospitalizations at the end of life among older rural residents.

Methods: The study included all community-dwelling adults aged 65 or older living in rural regions of a mid-Western Canadian province who had died in fiscal years 2003-04 to 2005-06, as determined from Vital Statistics data (N = 5,550).

Bloodstream infections in very low birth weight infants with intestinal failure.

Objective: To examine pathogens and other characteristics associated with late-onset bloodstream infections (BSIs) in infants with intestinal failure (IF) as a consequence of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).

Study Design: Infants weighing 401-1500 g at birth who survived for >72 hours and received care at Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Neonatal Research Network centers were studied. The frequency of culture-positive BSI and pathogens were compared in infants with medically managed NEC, NEC managed surgically without IF, and surgical IF.

Nursing home adverse events: further insight into highest risk periods.

Introduction: Adverse events (AEs) occur frequently in nursing homes (NHs). Although the literature identifies several AE risk factors, the effect of resident transition on AE risk is less well defined. This article is the first to describe how AE risk varies across several NH transition periods and to define the most vulnerable junctures of an NH stay.

Early nutrition mediates the influence of severity of illness on extremely LBW infants.

To evaluate whether differences in early nutritional support provided to extremely premature infants mediate the effect of critical illness on later outcomes, we examined whether nutritional support provided to "more critically ill" infants differs from that provided to "less critically ill" infants during the initial weeks of life, and if, after controlling for critical illness, that difference is associated with growth and rates of adverse outcomes. One thousand three hundred sixty-six participants in the NICHD Neonatal Research Network parenteral glutamine supplementation randomized controlled trial who were alive on day of life 7 were stratified by whether they received mechanical ventilation for the first 7 d of life. Compared with more critically ill infants, less critically ill infants received significantly more total nutritional support during each of the first 3 wk of life, had significantly faster growth velocities, less moderate/severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia, less late-onset sepsis, less death, shorter hospital stays, and better neurodevelopmental outcomes at 18-22 mo corrected age.

Response to the challenges of pandemic H1N1 in a small island state: the Barbadian experience.

Background: Having been overwhelmed by the complexity of the response needed for the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic, public health professionals in the small island state of Barbados put various measures in place to improve its response in the event of a pandemic

Methods: Data for this study was collected using Barbados' National Influenza Surveillance System, which was revitalized in 2007. It is comprised of ten sentinel sites which send weekly notifications of acute respiratory illness (ARI) and severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) to the Office of the National Epidemiologist. During the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, meetings of the National Pandemic Planning Committee and the Technical Command Committee were convened.

Improving psychosocial care for improved health outcomes.

The core of healthcare quality is continuous improvement of processes and results. For cancer patients, psychosocial care can affect overall outcomes. In this article, we outline the efforts that a national comprehensive cancer center is using to bring psychosocial care to the same level of awareness, importance, and integration as clinical care.

Seizures in extremely low birth weight infants are associated with adverse outcome.

Objective: To examine risk factors for neonatal clinical seizures and to determine the independent association with death or neurodevelopmental impairment (NDI) in extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants.

Study Design: A total of 6499 ELBW infants (401-1000 g) surviving to 36 weeks postmenstrual age (PMA) were included in this retrospective study. Unadjusted comparisons were performed between infants with (n = 414) and without (n = 6085) clinical seizures during the initial hospitalization.

The role of ZEB1 in the inflammation-induced promotion of EMT in HNSCC.

Objectives: To determine the role of ZEB1 in the inflammation-induced promotion of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).

Study Design: A molecular biology study. Real-time quantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), Western blot analysis, and immunohistochemical staining of human HNSCC tissue sections were used to determine how inflammation affects the transcriptional repressor, ZEB1.

Retrospective review of 99 patients with secondary alveolar cleft repair.

Purpose: The purpose of the present review was to evaluate the protocol and technique used in a large population of patients with cleft lip and palate when secondary grafting is performed during the early mixed dentition stage, as determined by eruption of the central incisor. In the United States, most investigators have recommended alveolar grafting at the 9- to 11-year age range or before eruption of the permanent canines.

Materials And Methods: An institutional review board-approved chart review of 99 patients undergoing alveolar cleft bone grafting during a 7-year period at a single institution was performed.

Mitochondrial DNA transmission, replication and inheritance: a journey from the gamete through the embryo and into offspring and embryonic stem cells.

Background: Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) encodes key proteins associated with the process of oxidative phosphorylation. Defects to mtDNA cause severe disease phenotypes that can affect offspring survival. The aim of this review is to identify how mtDNA is replicated as it transits from the fertilized oocyte into the preimplantation embryo, the fetus and offspring.

Assessing agreement between point of care and pathology laboratory results for INR: experiences from the Point of Care Testing in General Practice Trial.

Aims: To assess the level of agreement between international normalised ratio (INR) results obtained from pathology laboratories and point of care testing (PoCT) devices used in a general practice setting.

Methods: INR pathology results were collected from multiple pathology laboratories and CoaguChek S PoCT devices over a 6 month period. Agreement was assessed using both clinically relevant agreement and the Bland Altman method.

Recovery from total hip replacement surgery: "it's not just physical".

In this grounded theory study we explored the process of recovery following total hip replacement (THR) surgery from the perspective of the older adult. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 patients aged more than 65 years who had been discharged from hospital for a period of 4 to 6 months following THR surgery. Findings showed that three distinct but interrelated processes constitute the physical, psychological, and social recovery process: reclaiming physical ability, reestablishing roles and relationships, and refocusing self.

Surgical treatment of femoroacetabular impingement: a systematic review of the literature.

Unlabelled: The surgical treatment of femoroacetabular impingement has become more common, yet the strength of clinical evidence to support this surgery is debated. We performed a systematic review of the literature to (1) define the level of evidence regarding hip impingement surgery; (2) determine whether the surgery relieves pain and improves function; (3) identify the complications; and (4) identify modifiable causes of failure (conversion to total hip arthroplasty). We searched the literature between 1950 and 2009 for all studies reporting on surgical treatment of femoroacetabular impingement.