Carboplatin/ifosfamide window therapy for osteosarcoma: results of the St Jude Children's Research Hospital OS-91 trial.

Purpose: To determine the activity of carboplatin/ifosfamide in patients with previously untreated osteosarcoma and to estimate patient outcomes after a multiagent chemotherapy protocol that eliminated cisplatin.

Patients And Methods: Sixty-nine patients with newly diagnosed, previously untreated osteosarcoma received three cycles of carboplatin (560 mg/m(2) x 1) and ifosfamide (2.65 g/m(2)/d x 3).

Progression of influenza viral infection through the murine respiratory tract: the protective role of sleep deprivation.

Sleep deprivation is reported to have both beneficial and harmful effects upon host defenses. In the work reported herein, we address the effects of sleep deprivation on the mucosal anti-influenza defenses of both immune and nonimmune BALB/c mice. Sleep deprivation does not depress existing mucosal antiviral defenses in the respiratory tracts of BALB/c mice; in fact, it may actually be beneficial.

Oxandrolone in trauma patients.

Study Objective: To determine the effect of oxandrolone administration on nutritional and clinical outcomes after multiple trauma.

Design: Prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Setting: Level 1 trauma center in a university teaching hospital.

Pathway tracing using biotinylated dextran amines.

Biotinylated dextran amines (BDA) are highly sensitive tools for anterograde and retrograde pathway tracing studies of the nervous system. BDA can be reliably delivered into the nervous system by iontophoretic or pressure injection and visualized with an avidin-biotinylated HRP (ABC) procedure, followed by a standard or metal-enhanced diaminobenzidine (DAB) reaction. High molecular weight BDA (10 k) yields sensitive and exquisitely detailed labeling of axons and terminals, while low molecular weight BDA (3 k) yields sensitive and detailed retrograde labeling of neuronal cell bodies.

Localization of dopamine D1A and D1B receptor mRNAs in the forebrain and midbrain of the domestic chick.

The distribution and cellular localization of dopamine D1A and D1B receptor mRNAs in the forebrain and midbrain of the domestic chick were examined using in situ hybridization histochemistry with 35[S]-dATP labeled oligonucleotide probes, visualized with film and emulsion autoradiography. Labeling for D1A receptor mRNA was intense in the medial and lateral striatum, and moderately abundant in the pallial regions termed the archistriatum and the neostriatum, in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus region, and in the superficial gray layer of optic tectum of the midbrain. D1B receptor mRNA was abundant in the medial and lateral striatum, and in the pallial region termed the hyperstriatum ventrale, and moderately abundant in the intralaminar dorsal and posterior thalamus and in the superficial gray of the optic tectum.

Mutations in the PPPY motif of vesicular stomatitis virus matrix protein reduce virus budding by inhibiting a late step in virion release.

The N terminus of the matrix (M) protein of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) and of other rhabdoviruses contains a highly conserved PPPY sequence (or PY motif) similar to the late (L) domains in the Gag proteins of some retroviruses. These L domains in retroviral Gag proteins are required for efficient release of virus particles. In this report, we show that mutations in the PPPY sequence of the VSV M protein reduce virus yield by blocking a late stage in virus budding.

Clinical significance of detrusor sphincter dyssynergia type in patients with post-traumatic spinal cord injury.

Objectives: To investigate the significance of categorizing detrusor sphincter dyssynergia (DSD) by type in patients with chronic spinal cord injury.

Methods: A retrospective review of the charts, video-urodynamic studies, and upper tract radiographic studies of 269 patients with post-traumatic, suprasacral spinal cord injuries was performed. The patients were categorized according to the DSD type (intermittent or continuous), level and completeness of injury, intravesical pressure at leak, upper tract complications, and interval since injury.

Eicosanoids as endogenous regulators of leptin release and lipolysis by mouse adipose tissue in primary culture.

Prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) stimulated leptin release over a 24-h incubation of mouse adipose tissue in primary culture. The maximal stimulation of leptin release was seen with 100 nm PGE(2). The role of endogenous eicosanoids in the regulation of lipolysis and leptin formation was examined in the presence of NS-398, a selective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor.

Identification of the anterior nucleus of the ansa lenticularis in birds as the homolog of the mammalian subthalamic nucleus.

In mammals, the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is a glutamatergic diencephalic cell group that develops in the caudal hypothalamus and migrates to a position above the cerebral peduncle. By its input from the external pallidal segment and projection to the internal pallidal segment, STN plays a critical role in basal ganglia functions. Although the basal ganglia in birds is well developed, possesses the same major neuron types as in mammals, and plays a role in movement control similar to that in mammals, it has been uncertain whether birds possess an STN.

Growth inhibition of prostate cancer by an adenovirus expressing a novel tumor suppressor gene, pHyde.

It has been estimated that there will be > 180,400 new cases of prostate cancer and 31,900 prostate cancer deaths in the United States this year. New therapeutic strategies against locally advanced prostate cancer are desperately needed. A novel gene (pHyde) was identified by an improved cDNA competition hybridization technique for Dunning rat prostate cancer cell lines.

Health care social work treatment of patient and family emotion: a synthesis and comparison across patient populations and practice settings.

Health care practitioners and researchers alike are beginning to acknowledge the importance of emotion in health. Nevertheless, health care social workers continue to assume most of the responsibility for actually dealing with the emotions of patients and families. Literature exploring social work interventions with emotion are restricted to a single patient population and practice setting.

Hemodynamic collapse, geometry, and the rapidly paced upper limit of ventricular vulnerability to fibrillation by T-wave stimulation.

There is an upper limit to the vulnerability (ULV) of the ventricles to fibrillation (VF) induced by T-wave stimuli. Across species, disease states, and pharmacological treatments, the ULV is correlated to the defibrillation threshold (DF50). However, one factor known to increase the ULV far above the DF50 is rapid pacing.

Members of the Sp transcription factor family regulate rat calmodulin gene expression.

We have previously demonstrated that insulin positively regulates transcription of the rat calmodulin (CaM) I gene and that both basal and insulin stimulation of this gene are critically dependent on Sp1. Furthermore, a 392 bp CaM promoter was stimulated by insulin equal to the full promoter but lost activity with deletion of any of the three Sp1 sites (Solomon SS, Palazzolo MR, Takahashi T, Raghow R. Endocrinology 1997;138:5052-5054).

Construction of a very high-density extracellular electrode array.

Cellular activation mapping (specifying in time and space the electrical activation sequence of cells) is a well-established basic research tool in cardiac, neural, and gastric physiology. Much recent research in cardiac mapping has focused on large arrays (>200 electrodes) with small electrodes (<500 microm). Construction of such arrays using standard techniques is tedious and yields irregular electrode spacing.

The use of imiquimod 5% cream for the treatment of superficial basal cell carcinomas in a basal cell nevus syndrome patient.

Background: Imiquimod 5% cream has been used effectively to treat superficial basal cell carcinomas (BCCs).

Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness, tolerability, and desirability of imiquimod 5% cream in treating superficial non-facial basal cell carcinomas in a patient with basal cell nevus syndrome.

Methods: Three biopsy-proven nonfacial BCCs were treated for 18 weeks with once daily application of 5% imiquimod cream.

Dynorphin exerts both postsynaptic and presynaptic effects in the Globus pallidus of the rat.

The opioids contained in striato-pallidal axons are thought to play a significant role in motor control. We examined post- and presynaptic effects of the kappa (kappa)-receptor agonist dynorphin A (1-13) (DYN13) on the globus pallidus (GP) neurons in rat brain slice preparations using the whole cell recording method. DYN13 hyperpolarized and decreased the input resistance of approximately one-quarter of neurons examined.

Acquisition of hearing aids and assistive listening devices among the pediatric hearing-impaired population.

Sufficient access to health care is of concern to the indigent population in the US and to their health care providers. This study was undertaken to elucidate the rate of the follow-up among lower socioeconomic hearing-impaired pediatric patients who had received a recommendation for hearing aids and/or assistive listening devices. Our question was, would the families' financial situation have a negative effect on the acquisition of hearing aids and assistive listening devices? Fifty patients, age 0-18 years, who had been seen in our clinic over 2 years were evaluated via a telephone survey.

A randomized blinded trial of preemptive local anesthesia in laparoscopy.

Objective: Laparoscopy, while routinely performed in the outpatient setting, is associated with considerable postoperative discomfort. Continuing pain experienced after surgery is due to post-traumatic functional changes in both the peripheral nervous system (hyperalgesia) and the central nervous system (hyperexcitability). Local anesthetic infiltrated at time of incision closure has limited effect because hypersensitivity and hyperexcitability have already developed.

Management of separation pain after single-dose methotrexate therapy for ectopic pregnancy.

Objective: To review the success of conservative management of moderate to severe abdominal/pelvic pain occurring after treatment of ectopic pregnancy with systemic methotrexate, to evaluate prognostic factors for success, and to determine if the overall resolution time was shorter in such patients.Methods: A retrospective chart review of all single-dose methotrexate patients treated from January 1, 1992 to January 1, 1997 who were admitted for observation or evaluated and subsequently discharged after an episode of increased abdominal/pelvic pain unrelieved within 1 hour by 800 mg oral ibuprofen. Before 1992, patients developing such pain generally underwent surgery.

Effects of fiberoptic bronchoscopy on intracranial pressure in patients with brain injury: a prospective clinical study.

Background: Fiberoptic bronchoscopy (FB) plays an important role in making the diagnosis of nosocomial pneumonia and resolving lobar atelectasis in critically injured trauma patients. It has been shown to be a safe procedure with only occasional complications. However, in patients with head injuries, FB can lead to intracranial hypertension.

Choice of surgical technique influences perioperative outcomes in liver transplantation.

Objective: To examine how the choice of surgical technique influenced perioperative outcomes in liver transplantation.

Summary Background Data: The standard technique of orthotopic liver transplantation with venovenous bypass (VVB) is commonly used to facilitate hemodynamic stability. However, this traditional procedure is associated with unique complications that can be avoided by using the technique of liver resection without caval excision (the piggyback technique).

Blunt hepatic injury: a paradigm shift from operative to nonoperative management in the 1990s.

Objective: To analyze the outcome of hemodynamically stable patients with blunt hepatic injury managed nonoperatively, and to examine the impact of this approach on the outcome of all patients with blunt hepatic injury.

Summary Background Data: Until recently, operative management has been the standard for liver injury. A prospective trial from the authors' institution had shown that nonoperative management could safely be applied to hemodynamically stable patients with blunt hepatic injury.

Temporal correlation of tumor necrosis factor-alpha release, upregulation of pulmonary ICAM-1 and VCAM-1, neutrophil sequestration, and lung injury in diet-induced pancreatitis.

Lung injury is a major cause of patient morbidity in acute pancreatitis. The purpose of this study was to examine the mechanism of pulmonary infiltration and lung injury in acute pancreatitis. Mice were fed a choline-deficient/ethionine-supplemented (CDE) diet for 144 hours to induce severe acute pancreatitis.