Indoor air VOC concentrations in suburban and rural New Jersey.

Indoor VOC air concentrations of many compounds are higher than outdoor concentrations due to indoor sources. However, most studies have measured residential indoor air in urban centers so the typical indoor air levels in suburban and rural regions have not been well characterized. Indoor VOC air concentrations were measured in 100 homes in suburban and rural areas in NJ to provide background levels for investigations of the impact from subsurface contamination sources.

Deep cervical plexus block for the treatment of cervicogenic headache.

Background: Cervicogenic headache descriptors include its unilateral nature, "signs and symptoms linking it to the neck," and trauma of the neck. Since the pain often occurs over the C2 or C3 nerve root, we used a modification of the deep cervical block technique for treatment of this refractory type headache.

Objective: To determine the efficacy of a modified deep cervical block for treatment of cervicogenic headache.

The effects of learning on event-related potential correlates of musical expectancy.

Musical processing studies have shown that unexpected endings in familiar musical sequences produce extended latencies of the P300 component. The present study sought to identify event-related potential (ERP) correlates of musical expectancy by entraining participants with rule-governed chord sequences and testing whether unexpected endings created similar responses. Two experiments were conducted in which participants performed grammaticality classifications without training (Experiment 1) and with training (Experiment 2).

Chronic intraventricular administration of 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium as a progressive model of Parkinson's disease.

Animal models of Parkinson's disease (PD) that more closely exhibit the chronic neuropathology seen in the human condition are needed in order to reveal processes involved with progressive neurodegeneration and for testing potential interventions for retarding dopamine (DA) neuronal loss. Here we describe the recently developed chronic rat model of PD in which 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium ion (MPP(+)) is infused chronically into the lateral cerebral ventricle. We review features of this model that include loss of nigral DA neurons, swollen and abnormal mitochondria, striatal inclusion-like bodies and microgliosis.

Physical function assessment tools in pediatric rheumatology.

Pediatric rheumatic diseases with predominant musculoskeletal involvement such as juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and juvenile dermatomyositis(JDM) can cause considerable physical functional impairment and significantly affect the children's quality of life (QOL). Physical function, QOL, health-related QOL (HRQOL) and health status are personal constructs used as outcomes to estimate the impact of these diseases and often used as proxies for each other. The chronic, fluctuating nature of these diseases differs within and between patients, and complicates the measurement of these outcomes.

Bcl-2 expression predicts local relapse for early-stage breast cancer receiving conserving surgery and radiotherapy.

Background: This study was undertaken to evaluate the prognostic significance of Bcl-2, a apoptosis-related protein, in patients with early stage breast cancer treated with breast conservation treatment (BCT).

Methods: After obtaining IRB approval, 504 patients with early stage breast cancer treated with BCT were entered in this study. The paraffin specimens were constructed into tissue micro-arrays with two-fold redundancy, processed and stained for Bcl-2 antibody.

Clinical resolution of glycogenic hepatopathy following improved glycemic control.

Glycogenic hepatopathy is an underrecognized complication of long-standing poorly controlled diabetes mellitus. It is characterized by abnormal glycogen accumulation in hepatocytes, elevated liver enzymes and hepatomegaly. This is a distinct entity from other causes of hepatomegaly and elevated liver enzymes in diabetics such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Glucose monitoring in acute care: technologies on the horizon.

Current glucose monitoring technology appears inadequate for the management of diabetic surgical and in critically ill patients requiring intensive insulin therapy. Subcutaneous sensors measure interstitial fluid glucose, and this technology has not yet been shown to provide the timely and accurate measurements necessary for intravenous insulin administration in surgical and critical care patients on intensive insulin therapy. Technologies under development that may be more suitable for surgical and intensive care unit patients are the automated intermittent type glucose monitors and central catheter glucose monitors.

Emotion knowledge in young neglected children.

Young neglected children may be at risk for emotion knowledge deficits. Children with histories of neglect or with no maltreatment were initially seen at age 4 and again 1 year later to assess their emotion knowledge. Higher IQ was associated with better emotion knowledge, but neglected children had consistently poorer emotion knowledge over time compared to non-neglected children after controlling for IQ.

Ionized magnesium and gestational age.

Objective: Investigation of magnesium (Mg) homeostasis has re-emerged as an area of interest in preterm born neonates who are at risk for brain pathology. However, data regarding the association between the biologically active ionized form of Mg and gestational age (GA) at an early stage of life in newborn infants are controversial.

Methods: We evaluated the total and ionized Mg electrolyte (TMg and IMg) as well as the calcium (TCa and ICa) and pH in the cord blood and on day 2 of life in 22 neonates born at different gestational ages (< 32, 32-34 and > or =35 week) without magnesium tocolysis and absence of serious complications during pregnancy and delivery.

High-performance liquid chromatography separation of aminopterin-polyglutamates within red blood cells of children treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Aminopterin (AMT), like the related compound methotrexate (MTX), is a drug with anticancer and antiinflammatory efficacy that works by interfering with synthetic reactions dependent on the vitamin folic acid. Red blood cell (RBC) precursors will accumulate antifolates like AMT and MTX through the same mechanism by which they take up folate. Intracellular folate and antifolates are then metabolized to polyglutamates that remain within the mature RBCs.

The hepatocyte growth factor system as a regulator of female and male gonadal function.

The hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) system comprises HGF, its receptor (the c-met tyrosine kinase), HGF activator (HGFA) protein, and HGFA inhibitor (HAI). The components of the HGF system have been identified in a plethora of tissues to include the ovary and testis. In its traditional context, the HGF system works via paracrine- and autocrine-mediated feedback in which HGF (of mesenchymal origin) binds and activates c-met (within epithelial cells); target cells then respond to HGF via any number of morphogenic and functional changes.

Personalized case driven parental education informatics in the NICU.

Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) are foreign and intimidating to parents of premature infants. The high levels of anxiety and stress they can produce needs to be reduced by thoughtful advice from healthcare providers (HCPs), to educate parents about their child's condition. Unfortunately time constraints often limit HCPs to only a few minutes with each baby's parents daily--only enough to convey critical information at a high level and with limited depth.

Phase 2B trial of aminopterin in multiagent therapy for children with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Purpose: Aminopterin offers advantages over the related antifolate, methotrexate, including greater potency, complete bioavailability, and more consistent accumulation and metabolism by patients' blasts. This current trial was done to document the toxicity of the aminopterin within a multiagent therapeutic regimen for children with newly diagnosed ALL.

Experimental Design: Patients at high risk of relapse were non-randomly assigned to therapy including oral aminopterin 4 mg/m(2), in two doses 12 h apart, in place of methotrexate 100 mg/m(2) in four divided doses.

Quality of life in children with systemic lupus erythematosus: a review.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in children is a chronic multisystem disease with wide ranging effects on their quality of life (QOL). While SLE's impact on different arenas of life and well-being has been extensively examined in the adult population, its effect on children has not received adequate attention. This review discusses the multidimensional aspect of QOL, the biopsychosocial implications of SLE, factors complicating QOL measurement in the affected population, and the different generic and disease-specific scales used for measuring QOL and related constructs.

Assessing model accuracy using the homology modeling automatically software.

Homology modeling is a powerful technique that greatly increases the value of experimental structure determination by using the structural information of one protein to predict the structures of homologous proteins. We have previously described a method of homology modeling by satisfaction of spatial restraints (Li et al., Protein Sci 1997;6:956-970).

A pilot study of the efficacy of heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback in patients with fibromyalgia.

Unlabelled: Fibromyalgia (FM) is a non-inflammatory rheumatologic disorder characterized by musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, depression, cognitive dysfunction and sleep disturbance. Research suggests that autonomic dysfunction may account for some of the symptomatology of FM. An open label trial of biofeedback training was conducted to manipulate suboptimal heart rate variability (HRV), a key marker of autonomic dysfunction.

Identification of previously unrecognized antiestrogenic chemicals using a novel virtual screening approach.

The physiological roles of estrogen in sexual differentiation and development, female and male reproductive processes, and bone health are complex and diverse. Numerous natural and synthetic chemical compounds, commonly known as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), have been shown to alter the physiological effects of estrogen in humans and wildlife. As such, these EDCs may cause unanticipated and even undesirable effects.

Relationship between self-reported task persistence and history of quitting smoking, plans for quitting smoking, and current smoking status in adolescents.

The task persistence construct has previously been measured primarily behaviorally (e.g., with a mirror-tracing task, or breath holding), and only in adults.

The anatomy of the exposures that occurred around the World Trade Center site: 9/11 and beyond.

The attack on the World Trade Center (WTC) resulted in a new era of awareness on terrorism in the United States and the issues surrounding the potential for acute and/or long-term health outcomes caused by personal exposures to toxicants released during a terrorist event or an accident. The aftermath of the collapse yielded a situation usually not encountered in environmental health science: a large population's exposure to a previously uncharacterized complex mixture of airborne gases and particles, and re-suspendable particles (>2.5 microm in diameter).

Delayed neurotoxicity associated with therapy for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Most children diagnosed today with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) will be cured. However, treatment entails risk of neurotoxicity, causing deficits in neurocognitive function that can persist in the years after treatment is completed. Many of the components of leukemia therapy can contribute to adverse neurologic sequelae, including craniospinal irradiation, nucleoside analogs, corticosteroids, and antifolates.

Schizophrenia with obsessive compulsive features.

While the obsessive compulsive (OC) phenomena in schizophrenia have been described over the years, the condition has received increasing attention in recent years. The clinical and biological significance of OC symptoms in schizophrenia, however, still remain controversial. Although OC symptoms in schizophrenia were once thought to occur rarely and were associated with more benign clinical courses, recent studies have shown greater prevalence rate and poor outcome.

Intrauterine neutrophil activation is associated with pulmonary haemorrhage in preterm infants.

Background: Clinical and experimental studies showing lung damage associated with biologically active neutrophil derivatives suggests the possibility that intrauterine neutrophil activation may predispose to the development of pulmonary haemorrhage in extremely low birthweight infants early after birth.

Objectives: To assess neutrophil functional activity in cord blood from extremely low birthweight infants who subsequently developed severe pulmonary haemorrhage.

Methods: Neutrophil functional activity was evaluated in the cord blood of preterm neonates (gestational age <28 weeks and weight <800 g) who developed pulmonary haemorrhage (n = 6) and in controls who did not (n = 6).

Selection of feline leukemia virus envelope proteins from a library by functional association with a murine leukemia virus envelope.

Libraries of feline leukemia virus subgroup A (FeLV-A)-derived envelope (Env) proteins with random peptides incorporated into the cell-targeting region were screened for productive gene delivery to the PC-3 human prostate cell line. In order to increase the efficiency of recovering and testing functional clones, the screen was performed in the presence of a replication-competent 4070A Env-expressing virus under conditions of viral interference. The Env proteins resulting from this library screen were able to mediate gene delivery to 4070A-infected human PC-3, DU145 prostate and TE671 rhabdomyosarcoma cells in the presence, but not absence, of 4070A helper virus.