International assessment of functional skills in people with schizophrenia.

Disability is very common in schizophrenia and is related to cognitive impairments, some illness symptoms, and deficits in skills needed to function in the everyday environment (i.g., functional capacity).

Parent perspectives of diabetes management in schools.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate parent reports of the diabetes care support their children receive in school, their concerns about diabetes management in school, and their knowledge of federal laws that protect children with diabetes. In addition, the study explores ethnic and socioeconomic status differences in diabetes management in school.

Methods: An ethnically heterogeneous sample of 309 parents of children with diabetes was recruited from a community-based and a university-based diabetes outpatient clinic.

The cross-cheek depression: surgical cause and effect in the development of the "joker line" and its treatment.

Despite plastic surgeons' best efforts, deformities can be seen following a face lift. One of the most obvious signs of face-lift surgery is the cross-cheek depression or "joker line," which begins as an indentation in the region of the oral commissure and extends laterally and superiorly toward the ear. When this depression develops postoperatively, the face can appear harsh, pulled, and abnormal, creating a visual illusion that the corner of the mouth extends laterally onto the cheek.

Assembly and regulation of acetylcholinesterase at the vertebrate neuromuscular junction.

The collagen-tailed form of acetylcholinesterase (ColQ-AChE) is the major if not unique form of the enzyme associated with the neuromuscular junction (NMJ). This enzyme form consists of catalytic and non-catalytic subunits encoded by separate genes, assembled as three enzymatic tetramers attached to the three-stranded collagen-like tail (ColQ). This synaptic form of the enzyme is tightly attached to the basal lamina associated with the glycosaminoglycan perlecan.

Demographics, Prevalence, and Clinical Features of the Schizo-obsessive Subtype of Schizophrenia.

The schizo-obsessive subtype of schizophrenia has been proposed to describe the condition of patients with chronic psychotic disorders and prominent obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms. These patients differ from others with schizophrenia not only in their psychopathology, but perhaps also in their prognosis and pharmacotherapeutic response. Potent serotonin reuptake blockers, such as clomipramine, fluvoxamine, and fluoxetine, in conjunction with antipsychotics, can prove helpful in improving these patients' OC symptoms.

Patient-perceived outcomes in thigh pain after primary arthroplasty of the hip.

Unlabelled: Thigh pain after arthroplasty first was identified in the joint replacement literature in 1988; little information has been published about the functional status of patients who develop this complication. Eleven patients who reported thigh pain at 2 years after cementless primary total hip arthroplasty were matched with patients who did not report thigh pain on the following characteristics: age, gender, diagnosis, bone type, and surgical procedure (ie, unilateral or bilateral). Preoperative WOMAC function scores were different in these two groups (53.

The role of atypical bacteria in chronic rhinosinusitis.

Objective: This study examines the presence of atypical bacteria in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) by utilizing the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Study Design And Setting: Eleven patients with CRS were prospectively enrolled. DNA was isolated from the mucosa samples and subjected to PCR using oligonucleotides specific for identification of atypical bacteria including: Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Chlamydia pneumoniae, and Legionella pneumophila.

Mechanisms of persistent NF-kappaB activation by HTLV-I tax.

Human T cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) is the causative agent of a fatal malignancy known as adult T cell leukemia (ATL). The HTLV-I Tax protein is thought to play a significant role in the initiation and pathogenesis of HTLV-I-mediated disease. Tax is a potent oncogene that deregulates cellular gene expression by persistently activating signaling pathways such as NF-kappaB.

An immunohistochemical evaluation of c-kit (CD-117) expression in malignant melanoma, and results of imatinib mesylate (Gleevec) therapy in three patients.

In order to determine whether imatinib mesylate (Gleevec), a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that binds the CD-117 (c-kit) receptor, may be of value in the treatment of malignant melanoma, an immunohistochemical analysis of 40 cases of primary and metastatic melanoma was undertaken. Thirty-five of the 40 cases showed 1+ or stronger labelling for CD-117 (up to a maximum of 4+). Three patients with neoplasms showing 4+ staining were selected for imatinib therapy.

Caspase-12 and caspase-4 are not required for caspase-dependent endoplasmic reticulum stress-induced apoptosis.

Alterations in cellular homeostasis that affect protein folding in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) trigger a signaling pathway known as the unfolded protein response (UPR). The initially cytoprotective UPR will trigger an apoptotic cascade if the cellular insult is not corrected; however, the proteins required to initiate this cell death pathway are poorly understood. In this study, we show that UPR gene expression is induced in cells treated with ER stress agents in the presence or absence of murine caspase-12 or human caspase-4 expression and in cells that overexpress Bcl-x(L) or a dominant negative caspase-9.

Sigmoid impaction secondary to urinary stones: case report and review of literature.

Background: This is the first case report of a Miami pouch sigmoid fistula developing passage of urinary stones resulting in the presentation of constipation secondary to impaction.

Case Report: A 49-year-old woman who developed a recurrence of invasive squamous cell cervical carcinoma 1 year after pelvis radiation. She then underwent anterior pelvic exenteration and creation of a Miami pouch.

Gender and estrogen supplementation increases severity of experimental choroidal neovascularization.

Observational clinical studies suggest that post-menopausal women may be at risk for more severe age-related macular degeneration, and that estrogen loss due to menopause may contribute. We sought to determine the effect of gender and estrogen status on the severity of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in a mouse model for experimental choroidal neovascularization. Laser-induced CNV was performed in mice with or without estrogen supplementation.

Quantitative enumeration of vascular smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells derived from bone marrow precursors in experimental choroidal neovascularization.

Choroidal neovascularization (CNV) is characterized by the subretinal invasion of a pathologic new vessel complex from the choriocapillaris. Although CNV is traditionally considered to consist of endothelial cells, the cellular population of CNV is likely more complex in nature, comprising several different cell types. In addition, recent studies suggest that the CNV cell population has a dual origin (circulating versus resident populations).

Human T cell leukemia virus type I Tax activates CD40 gene expression via the NF-kappa B pathway.

The human T cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) is an oncogenic retrovirus that is etiologically linked to the genesis of adult T cell leukemia (ATL) as well as HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). Emerging evidence suggests that the pathogenicity of HTLV-I involves deregulated activation of immune cells, especially T lymphocytes, although the underlying mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrate that HTLV-I Tax induces the aberrant expression of CD40, a member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) family that plays an important role in lymphocyte activation and differentiation.

Obesity, bariatric surgery and type 2 diabetes--a systematic review.

Obesity is endemic in the United States and is closely linked to the development of type 2 diabetes. Both obesity and diabetes are responsible for significant morbidity and mortality. Likewise, both conditions are resistant to treatment.

Heterogeneity among DN1 prothymocytes reveals multiple progenitors with different capacities to generate T cell and non-T cell lineages.

The nature of early T lineage progenitors in the thymus or bone marrow remains controversial. Here we assess lineage capacity and proliferative potential among five distinct components of the earliest intrathymic stage (DN1, CD25(-)44(+)). All of these express one or more hemato-lymphoid lineage markers.

Have the results of randomized clinical trials of pacing altered the practice of cardiac pacing?

Randomized clinical trials are the gold standard for the evaluation of new therapies. However, in the early years of pacing, the observational benefits were so great and the lifesaving benefits to patients so readily obvious that randomized trials were not necessary to prove benefit. As the technology has matured, advances have become more evolutionary than revolutionary, and observational analyses are unable to provide convincing evidence of small-to-moderate benefits.

Macrophage depletion diminishes lesion size and severity in experimental choroidal neovascularization.

Purpose: Macrophage recruitment to the choroid has been proposed to contribute to the pathogenesis of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in AMD. The study was conducted to determine whether treatment with clodronate liposomes (CL(2)MDP-lip), which cause depletion of blood monocytes and lymph node macrophages, diminishes the severity of neovascularization in a mouse model of laser-induced CNV.

Methods: Laser-induced CNV was performed in female 16-month-old C57BL/6 mice.

Molecular basis of group A streptococcal virulence.

The group A streptococcus (GAS) (Streptococcus pyogenes) is among the most common and versatile of human pathogens. It is responsible for a wide spectrum of human diseases, ranging from trivial to lethal. The advent of modern techniques of molecular biology has taught much about the organism's virulence, and the genomes of several GAS types have now been deciphered.

High-throughput screening of bacteriorhodopsin mutants in whole cell pastes.

A high-throughput screening method has been developed which enables functional analysis of bacteriorhodpsin in whole cell pastes. Reflectance spectra, from as little as 5 ml of Halobacterium salinarum cells, show close correspondence to that obtained from the purified purple membrane (PM), containing bacteriorhodopsin (BR) as the sole protein component. We demonstrate accurate quantification of BR accumulation by ratiometric analysis of BR (A(max) 568) and a membrane-bound cytochrome (A(max) 410).