Risperidone in the treatment of disruptive behavioral symptoms in children with autistic and other pervasive developmental disorders.

Objective: To investigate the efficacy and safety of risperidone for the treatment of disruptive behavioral symptoms in children with autism and other pervasive developmental disorders (PDD).

Methods: In this 8-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, risperidone/placebo solution (0.01-0.

Utility of MELD and Child-Turcotte-Pugh scores and the Canadian waitlisting algorithm in predicting short-term survival after liver transplant.

Background: The Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) and Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) scores are important predictors for survival after liver transplantation (LT). The objective of this study was to compare the utility of MELD and CTP scores with Canadian waitlisting algorithm in transplantation (CanWAIT) status for predicting 90-day survival after LT.

Methods: Retrospectively, we analyzed all 228 liver transplants performed in adults by the Atlantic Liver Transplant Program since 1985.

Intracranial presentation of systemic Hodgkin's disease.

Intracranial involvement by Hodgkin's disease is rare. We report a patient with Hodgkin's disease who had intracranial disease at presentation. We also review the literature pertaining to intracranial Hodgkin's disease.

Development of the islets, exocrine pancreas, and related ducts in the Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (Pisces: Cichlidae).

Pancreatic development and the relationship of the islets with the pancreatic, hepatic, and bile ducts were studied in the Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, from hatching to the onset of maturity at 7 months. The number of islets formed during development was counted, using either serial sections or dithizone staining of isolated islets. There was a general increase in islet number with both age and size.

Doping control from a global and national perspective.

The practice of enhancing athletic performance through foreign substances was known from the earliest Olympic games. In 1967, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) established a Medical Commission responsible for developing a list of prohibited substances and methods. Drug tests were first introduced at the Olympic winter games in Grenoble and at the summer games in Mexico City in 1968.

Early adequate mycophenolic acid exposure is associated with less rejection in kidney transplantation.

This study examines the importance of early mycophenolic acid (MPA) exposure in the cyclosporine- and mycophenolate mofetil (MMF)-treated kidney transplant population. We prospectively evaluated 94 first solitary kidney transplant patients treated with cyclosporine (Neoral), MMF, and prednisone. Basiliximab was also given to 72 recipients.

Physician resources and postgraduate training in canadian academic rheumatology centers: a 5-year prospective study.

Objective: To describe the trends in physician resources, changes in activity profiles, and the output of the postgraduate training programs in Canadian academic rheumatology centers from 1998-2002.

Methods: In 1998, the Canadian Council of Academic Rheumatologists (CCAR) established a prospective database to monitor physician resources, activity profiles, and recruitment within 15 academic rheumatology units in Canada. Information was also collected on residents pursuing subspeciality training in rheumatology.

Tilapia islet grafts are highly alloxan-resistant.

We have previously shown that dose-response studies performed in streptozotocin (STZ)-diabetic nude mouse recipients bearing established, functioning islet xenografts can be used to directly compare in vivo STZ-sensitivity between donor species and that tilapia (fish) islet grafts are exceedingly STZ-resistant. Using this method, we tested whether tilapia islets are sensitive to alloxan. Tilapia or rat islets were transplanted under the renal capsules of STZ-diabetic nude mice.

Validation and clinical significance of the Childhood Myositis Assessment Scale for assessment of muscle function in the juvenile idiopathic inflammatory myopathies.

Objective: To examine the measurement characteristics of the Childhood Myositis Assessment Scale (CMAS) in children with juvenile idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (juvenile IIM), and to obtain preliminary data on the clinical significance of CMAS scores.

Methods: One hundred eight children with juvenile IIM were evaluated on 2 occasions, 7-9 months apart, using various measures of physical function, strength, and disease activity. Interrater reliability, construct validity, and responsiveness of the CMAS were examined.

Watch needle, watch TV: Audiovisual distraction in preschool immunization.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of audiovisual distraction compared with a blank TV screen in the reduction of pain associated with intramuscular immunization.

Design: Subjects were randomly assigned to watch television (TV) (N = 29) or a blank TV screen (control) (N = 33) during immunization, and were videotaped. Immediately after the injection, the children rated their pain.

A randomized, placebo-controlled trial of prednisone in early Henoch Schönlein Purpura [ISRCTN85109383].

Background: Henoch Schönlein Purpura (HSP) is the most common systemic vasculitis of childhood. There is considerable controversy over whether children with HSP should be treated with corticosteroids. The goal of this study was to investigate whether early corticosteroid administration could reduce the rate of renal or gastrointestinal complications in children with HSP.

The effect of bandwidth on the quality of transmitted pediatric echocardiograms.

Background: Remote access to pediatric cardiology diagnostic services is enabled by real-time transmission of echocardiographic images. Several transmission bandwidths have been used but there has been little analysis of image quality provided by different bandwidths. We designed a study of the quality of transmitted images at various bandwidths.

Phenotypic heterogeneity in pediatric autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease at first presentation: a single-center, 20-year review.

Background: The presentation of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) in childhood provides an insight into comorbidities and potential areas for interventions and investigation.

Methods: Phenotypic heterogeneity at the time of first presentation was studied with respect to age of diagnosis, mode of presentation, parental inheritance pattern, renal function, associated hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. Fifty-five children (median age of presentation, 8.

The source of cells for allografting.

Peripheral blood is used almost exclusively as the source of hematopoietic cells for autografting, but the best source of cells for allografting is the subject of considerable discussion and debate. Randomized studies comparing unstimulated bone marrow with G-CSF-mobilized peripheral blood in the sibling allogeneic setting have indicated a trend to more chronic graft-versus-host disease in peripheral blood recipients. However, whether the use of G-CSF-mobilized peripheral blood cells leads to more acute graft-versus-host disease is uncertain.

Inhibition of annexin V binding to cardiolipin and thrombin generation in an unselected population with venous thrombosis.

Objective: To examine the effect on annexin V binding to cardiolipin (CL) and in vitro thrombin generation by plasma samples from an unselected population of patients with confirmed venous thrombosis and matched controls. The prevalence of autoimmune antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) was also determined.

Methods: A total of 111 patients who presented to a single emergency room with symptoms suggestive of venous thromboembolic (VTE) disease were studied.

Comparing the quality of oral anticoagulant management by anticoagulation clinics and by family physicians: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: There is growing evidence that better outcomes are achieved when anticoagulation is managed by anticoagulation clinics rather than by family physicians. We carried out a randomized controlled trial to evaluate these 2 models of anticoagulant care.

Methods: We randomly allocated patients who were expected to require warfarin sodium for 3 months either to anticoagulation clinics located in 3 Canadian tertiary hospitals or to their family physician practices.

Antiphospholipid syndrome: an overview.

Antiphospholipid antibodies are a heterogeneous group of autoantibodies that are detected by immunoassays and functional coagulation tests. The antigenic targets are negatively charged phospholipids and serum phospholipid-binding proteins. The latter antibodies are frequently associated with thrombosis, fetal loss and other clinical manifestations of the antiphospholipid syndrome.

Low molecular weight heparin for the prevention of hepatic veno-occlusive disease (VOD) after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: a prospective phase II study.

We evaluated 40 patients undergoing high-dose chemo/radiotherapy (HDCT) and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) (allogeneic (22), autologous (18)) to determine the safety and feasibility of administering low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) as hepatic veno-occlusive disease (VOD) prophylaxis. Patients received a once daily subcutaneous injection of dalteparin 2500 anti-Xa i.u.

Stages of change for healthy eating in diabetes: relation to demographic, eating-related, health care utilization, and psychosocial factors.

Objectives: To identify diabetes-related characteristics of individuals at different stages of readiness to change to healthy, low-fat eating.

Research Design And Methods: Stage-based differences in demographic, eating-related, health care utilization, and psychosocial factors were examined in a sample of 768 overweight (BMI >27 kg/m(2)) individuals with diabetes enrolled in a randomized behavioral intervention trial.

Results: Stage-based differences occurred for type 1 diabetic participants on percent of calories from fat and number of daily vegetable servings.

The immunoprotective effect of Sertoli cells coencapsulated with islet xenografts is not dependent upon Fas ligand expression.

Coencapsulation with Sertoli-enriched testicular cell fractions prolongs islet graft survival time compared with islet encapsulation alone in a highly discordant tilapia (fish)-to-mouse xenotransplantation model. Here we investigate whether Fas ligand (Fas-L) expression by testicular Sertoli cells is responsible for this additional protective effect. Sertoli-enriched testicular cell fractions (7 x 10(6) cells) harvested from either Fas-L-defective (group I) or Fas-L-positive (group II) mice were coencapsulated in alginate gel spheres with fish islets and then transplanted into streptozotocin-diabetic Balb/c recipients.

Perioperative morbidity of hysterectomy for benign gynaecological disease.

This study reviews the perioperative surgical and associated morbidity of abdominal and vaginal hysterectomy for benign gynaecological disease. Over a 5-year period, 199296, there were 2088 hysterectomies; 1244 (60%) abdominal and 844 (40%) vaginal. The surgical morbidity for abdominal hysterectomy (6.

Almost famous: E. Clark Noble, the common thread in the discovery of insulin and vinblastine.

Clark Noble was one of the first members of the University of Toronto insulin team and came within a coin toss of replacing Charles Best as Frederick Banting's assistant during the summer of 1921. Noble performed important early studies helping to characterize insulin's action, and he co-authored many of the original papers describing insulin. Because mass production of insulin from livestock pancreata had proved elusive throughout 1922, J.