Fetal cerebellar damage in fetuses with severe anemia undergoing intrauterine transfusions.

Objective: To evaluate radiologic findings and outcomes of cerebellar injuries in fetuses with severe anemia due to RhD alloimmunization undergoing intrauterine transfusions.

Methods: Imaging of multiplanar neurosonography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were reviewed. Pregnancy outcomes were recorded.

Serum clusterin as a tumor marker and prognostic factor for patients with esophageal cancer.

Background: Recent studies have revealed that clusterin is implicated in many physiological and pathological processes, including tumorigenesis. However, the relationship between serum clusterin expression and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is unclear.

Methods: The serum clusterin concentrations of 87 ESCC patients and 136 healthy individuals were examined.

Vitamin D deficiency and cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal women: contributions from human and nonhuman primate studies.

Objective: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death among American postmenopausal women and all adult Americans. The medical community and the lay community have recently become intrigued with vitamin D and its potential role in reducing the risk of CVD. Research findings from multiple retrospective studies, few prospective studies, and recent nonhuman primate studies have been inconsistent and conflicting.

Sleep disorders in adult sickle cell patients.

Study Objectives: While sleep apnea has been studied in children with sickle cell disease (SCD), little is known about sleep disorders in adult sickle cell patients. The objective of this study was to evaluate sleep disordered breathing and its polysomnographic characteristics in adult patients with sickle cell disease.

Methods: The analysis cohort included 32 consecutive adult SCD patients who underwent a comprehensive sleep evaluation and overnight polysomnography in an accredited sleep center after reporting symptoms suggesting disordered sleep or an Epworth Sleepiness Scale score ≥ 10.

Current management of locally advanced head and neck cancer: the combination of chemotherapy with locoregional treatments.

This review will discuss the evolution of the role of chemotherapy in the treatment of locally advanced head and neck cancer (HNC), over the last few decades. Studies were identified by searching PubMed electronic databases. Surgery followed by radiotherapy (RT) or definitive RT are potentially curative approaches for locally advanced HNC.

Current clinical trials testing combinations of immunotherapy and radiation.

Preclinical evidence of successful combinations of ionizing radiation with immunotherapy has inspired testing the translation of these results to the clinic. Interestingly, the preclinical work has consistently predicted the responses encountered in clinical trials. The first example came from a proof-of-principle trial started in 2001 that tested the concept that growth factors acting on antigen-presenting cells improve presentation of tumor antigens released by radiation and induce an abscopal effect.

Contouring variations and the role of atlas in non-small cell lung cancer radiation therapy: Analysis of a multi-institutional preclinical trial planning study.

Purpose: To quantify variations in target and normal structure contouring and evaluate dosimetric impact of these variations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cases. To study whether providing an atlas can reduce potential variation.

Methods And Materials: Three NSCLC cases were distributed sequentially to multiple institutions for contouring and radiation therapy planning.

Optimizing patient positioning for intensity modulated radiation therapy in hippocampal-sparing whole brain radiation therapy.

Purpose: Sparing the hippocampus during whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT) offers potential neurocognitive benefits. However, previously reported intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) plans use multiple noncoplanar beams for treatment delivery. An optimized coplanar IMRT template for hippocampal-sparing WBRT would assist in clinical workflow and minimize resource utilization.

A Randomized, Double-blind, Vehicle-controlled Trial of Luliconazole Cream 1% in the Treatment of Interdigital Tinea Pedis.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of luliconazole cream 1% applied once daily for 14 days in patients with interdigital tinea pedis.

Design: Multicenter, randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, vehicle-controlled study.

Setting: Private dermatology clinics and clinical research centers in the United States and Central America.

Caring for women with HIV: Unique needs and challenges.

Women infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have unique needs. Treatment recommendations are the same for men and women, but in women, fertility desires, pregnancy, contraception, and aging must be taken into account in their medical care.

Exploration and confirmation of the latent variable structure of the Jefferson scale of empathy.

Objective: To reaffirm the underlying components of the JSE by using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and to confirm its latent variable structure by using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

Methods: Research participants included 2,612 medical students who entered Jefferson Medical College between 2002 and 2012. This sample was divided into two groups: Matriculants between 2002 and 2007 (n=1,380) and be-tween 2008 and 2012 (n=1,232).

Intrauterine lidocaine for pain control during laminaria insertion: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To determine if intrauterine administration of 5 cc of 2% lidocaine in addition to paracervical block reduces pain during laminaria insertion, when compared with paracervical block and saline placebo.

Study Design: This was a randomized, double blind placebo-controlled trial. Women presenting for abortion by dilation and evacuation (D&E) at 14-24 weeks gestational age were randomized to receive an intrauterine instillation of either 5 mL of 2% lidocaine or 5 mL of normal saline, in addition to standard paracervical block with 20 cc of 0.

Postinterview communication with residency applicants: a call for clarity!

The residency match is an increasingly competitive process. Communication from medical student applicants to programs varies, and the effect this has on their rank status is unclear. We assessed how obstetrics and gynecology program directors interpret and act on postinterview communication initiated by applicants by conducting an anonymous cross-sectional web-based survey of allopathic obstetrics and gynecology program directors.

Association of breast arterial calcification with stroke and angiographically proven coronary artery disease: a meta-analysis.

Objective: We conducted a meta-analysis of the current literature to deduce the strength of association between breast arterial calcification (BAC) and coronary artery disease (CAD) and/or stroke.

Methods: PubMed, Google Scholar, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Ovid were searched for English-language literature up to August 2013 using the terms "breast arterial calcification," "breast vascular calcification," "coronary artery disease," "coronary heart disease," "cardiovascular disease," "abnormal coronary angiography," and "stroke.

Ovarian leydig cell hyperplasia: an unusual case of virilization in a postmenopausal woman.

Objective. To report an unusual case of ovarian Leydig cell hyperplasia resulting in virilization in a postmenopausal woman. Methods.

Genomic prostate cancer classifier predicts biochemical failure and metastases in patients after postoperative radiation therapy.

Purpose: To test the hypothesis that a genomic classifier (GC) would predict biochemical failure (BF) and distant metastasis (DM) in men receiving radiation therapy (RT) after radical prostatectomy (RP).

Methods And Materials: Among patients who underwent post-RP RT, 139 were identified for pT3 or positive margin, who did not receive neoadjuvant hormones and had paraffin-embedded specimens. Ribonucleic acid was extracted from the highest Gleason grade focus and applied to a high-density-oligonucleotide microarray.

microRNA alterations driving acute and late stages of radiation-induced fibrosis in a murine skin model.

Purpose: Although ionizing radiation is critical in treating cancer, radiation-induced fibrosis (RIF) can have a devastating impact on patients' quality of life. The molecular changes leading to radiation-induced fibrosis must be elucidated so that novel treatments can be designed.

Methods And Materials: To determine whether microRNAs (miRs) could be responsible for RIF, the fibrotic process was induced in the right hind legs of 9-week old CH3 mice by a single-fraction dose of irradiation to 35 Gy, and the left leg served as an unirradiated control.

Excess Maternal Weight Gain and Large for Gestational Age Risk among Women with Gestational Diabetes.

Objective: To determine whether, among women with gestational diabetes (GDM), gestational weight gain above Institute of Medicine (IOM) guidelines increases the risk of large for gestational age (LGA) neonates.

Study Design: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of singleton term pregnancies with GDM delivered at University of North Carolina Women's Hospital, Chapel Hill, NC from January 2002 to May 2010. We used Poisson regression modeling to estimate LGA risk (birth weight > 90th percentile for gestational age), by body mass index class and adherence to 2009 IOM weight gain guidelines.

Large prostate gland size is not a contraindication to low-dose-rate brachytherapy for prostate adenocarcinoma.

Purpose: Prostate volume greater than 50cc is traditionally a relative contraindication to prostate seed implantation (PSI), but there is little consensus regarding prostate size and clinical outcomes. We report biochemical control and toxicity after low-dose-rate PSI and compare outcomes according to the prostate size.

Methods And Materials: A total of 429 men who underwent low-dose-rate PSI between 1998 and 2009 were evaluated.