The Residency Application Process: Pursuing Improved Outcomes Through Better Understanding of the Issues.

The residency application process requires that applicants, their schools, and residency programs exchange and evaluate information to accomplish successful matching of applicants to postgraduate training positions. The different motivations of these stakeholders influence both the types of information provided by medical schools and the perceived value and completeness of information received by residency programs. National standards have arisen to shape the type and format of information reported by medical schools about their students, though criticisms about the candor and completeness of the information remain.

Molecular mechanisms of castration-resistant prostate cancer progression.

Hormone-refractory prostate cancer is the result of regrowth of prostate cancer cells that have adapted to the hormone-deprived environment of the prostate. The process by which castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) cells are generated appears to be varied. The complex mechanism of hormone resistance has been the topic of research in most laboratories that have analyzed the process from different angles.

NF-kappaB2/p52 enhances androgen-independent growth of human LNCaP cells via protection from apoptotic cell death and cell cycle arrest induced by androgen-deprivation.

Purpose: Androgen-deprivation therapy only causes a temporary regression of prostate cancer, as all tumors will eventually progress to refractory to hormonal therapy after 1-3 years of treatment. The underlying mechanisms of prostate cancer androgen refractory progression are incompletely understood. In this study, we employed in vitro as well as in vivo models to examine the role of NF-kappaB2/p52 in prostate cancer growth and androgen independent progression.

Mechanisms of selenium chemoprevention and therapy in prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer (PC) chemoprevention has generated considerable interest in the last decade and selenium and combinations of selenium have been recognized as one of the most efficacious chemopreventive agents against PC. This review focuses on a discussion of the knowledge hitherto gained about the mechanisms of action of the various in vitro and in vivo used selenium compounds and their effects on cellular processes and signaling pathways. We also describe the clinical and preclinical studies that have contributed enormously to the knowledge about dose, duration of exposure, and the chemical form of selenium effective in different scenarios.

Osteoporosis due to androgen deprivation therapy in men with prostate cancer.

Objectives: The frequency of osteoporotic fractures is greatly increased in men receiving androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), but whether the risk of osteoporosis differs between different types of ADT or between continuous and intermittent therapy has not been determined. Techniques for modifying ADT-associated bone loss have not been clearly identified.

Methods: Risk factors for the development of osteoporosis in men receiving ADT will be reviewed.

The murine thymic microenvironment: changes with age.

Immunosenescence has been well described in both human and a variety of animal species and has an important influence on changes in immune function. Although several mechanisms may be operating to explain the alterations in immune function with age, one factor that has attracted significant attention has been the progressive age-dependent involution of the thymus. Hitherto, most studies of thymus have focused only on thymocytes.

Treatment outcomes in an adolescent chemical dependency program.

A study was conducted of treatment outcomes for all admissions to an adolescent chemical dependency program over a ten-month period. Parents of patients were interviewed regarding their adolescents past behavioral characteristics, recovery-oriented behaviors, drug use status, and adaptive behavior before and after discharge. Among the adolescents 26% had a history of special education placement; 12% had been diagnosed as being hyperactive; 57% had not used any drugs or alcohol since discharge from the treatment program, and this rate increased to 82% for use within the past month.

The case against using the APACHE system to predict intensive care unit outcome in trauma patients.

The use of outcome indices as a means of evaluating institutional performance for delivery of medical care is at the forefront of federal health policy reforms. Because an enormous number of clinical and financial data are generated by ICU patients, it is inevitable that integrated bedside computers will be necessary to supply the type of information that is being sought by governmental and private insurance agencies involved in assessment of hospital performance. The Health Care Financing Administration already has adopted the APACHE data collection protocols and predictive models for the severity of illness adjustments that were used in assessing the 1986 hospital-specific death rate for acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, stroke, and pneumonia.