Safety, tolerability, and efficacy of TEV-48125 for preventive treatment of high-frequency episodic migraine: a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2b study.

Background: Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is a validated target for the treatment of episodic migraine. Here we assess the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of TEV-48125, a monoclonal anti-CGRP antibody, in the preventive treatment of high-frequency episodic migraine.

Methods: In this multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2b study, we enrolled men and women (aged 18-65 years) from 62 sites in the USA who had migraine headaches 8-14 days per month.

Lung hyaluronan levels are decreased in alpha-1 antiprotease deficiency COPD.

Introduction: Hyaluronan (HA), a long-chain polysaccharide, is currently being evaluated as a potential therapeutic agent for pulmonary emphysema, based on previous studies from this laboratory indicating its protective effect against elastic fiber breakdown. To determine whether exogenously administered HA might replace a loss of this extracellular matrix component in this disease, we measured the content of HA in lung biopsies from both healthy individuals and alpha-1 antiprotease-deficient (AAPD) COPD patients with pulmonary emphysema.

Methods: Tissue samples (9 from COPD patients, 5 from controls) were digested with papain to isolate glycosaminoglycans, and lung HA was quantified with an enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay.

Association between climate factors, pollen counts, and childhood hay fever prevalence in the United States.

Background: Climate factors and pollen counts may play a role in hay fever.

Objective: We sought to determine the impact of specific climate factors and pollen counts on the US prevalence of hay fever and statewide variation in prevalence.

Methods: We used a merged analysis of the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health from a representative sample of 91,642 children aged 0 to 17 years and the 2006-2007 National Climate Data Center and Weather Service measurements of relative humidity (%), indoor heating degree days, precipitation, Palmer Hydrological Drought Index, clear sky and issued ultraviolet indices, stratospheric ozone levels, and outdoor air temperature and National Allergy Bureau total pollen counts.

Allergic disease is associated with epilepsy in childhood: a US population-based study.

Background: Previous studies using animal models suggest an association between allergic disease and epilepsy. We sought to determine whether allergic disease is associated with epilepsy in children.

Methods: We used the 2007-2008 National Survey of Children's Health, a US population-based study of 91 642 children aged 0-17 years to determine the association between the prevalence of epilepsy and allergic disease, including asthma, atopic dermatitis (AD)/eczema, hay fever, and food allergies.

Association between severe eczema in children and multiple comorbid conditions and increased healthcare utilization.

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is associated with multiple comorbid conditions, such as asthma and food allergy. We sought to determine the impact of eczema severity on the development of these disorders and other non-atopic comorbidities in AD.

Methods: We used the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health, a prospective questionnaire-based study of a nationally representative sample of 91,642 children aged 0-17 yr.

Why triptan treatment can fail: focus on gastrointestinal manifestations of migraine.

Background: Results of randomized, double-blind, controlled studies establish the efficacy of triptans in the acute treatment of migraine, but triptan benefits demonstrated in clinical trials have not consistently been realized in clinical practice. This paper explores the contribution of gastrointestinal manifestations of migraine--namely nausea (with or without vomiting) and gastroparesis--to triptan treatment failure.

Synthesis: Migraine-related nausea and vomiting and migraine-associated gastroparesis appear to be prevalent and highly impactful and have been characterized as being among the greatest challenges affecting migraine care today.

Association between vitiligo extent and distribution and quality-of-life impairment.

Objective: To determine whether the extent, distribution, and duration of vitiligo are associated with impairment of specific aspects of quality of life.

Design: A prospective questionnaire-based study of 1541 adults with vitiligo.

Setting: Online questionnaire.

Uptake of oxaliplatin and bevacizumab for treatment of node-positive and metastatic colon cancer.

Purpose: In 2004, the US Food and Drug Administration approved bevacizumab and oxaliplatin for use in metastatic colon cancer and oxaliplatin for localized colon cancer. We investigated the diffusion and predictors of use of these medications in the year after approval.

Patients And Methods: We used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare database to identify patients older than 65 years diagnosed with stages III and IV colon cancer in 2005.

The continuing process of parental grief.

The death of a child is an incomprehensible and devastating loss. Grief for parents is lifelong, becoming the connection between parent and child. To extend and deepen current understanding of parental grief, a new survey instrument was developed, combining quantitative and qualitative measures.

Platelets enhance endothelial adhesiveness in high tidal volume ventilation.

Although platelets induce lung inflammation, leading to acute lung injury (ALI), the extent of platelet-endothelial cell (EC) interactions remains poorly understood. Here, in a ventilation-stress model of lung inflammation, we show that platelet-EC interactions are important. We obtained freshly isolated lung endothelial cells (FLECs) from isolated, blood-perfused rat lungs exposed to ventilation at low tidal volume (LV) or stress-inducing high tidal volume (HV).

Acamprosate: safety and tolerability in the treatment of alcohol dependence.

Acamprosate, in conjunction with psychosocial treatment, has demonstrated efficacy in maintaining abstinence in alcohol-dependent patients in multiple clinical trials. Data from 13 short-term (≤26 weeks) and long-term (≥48 weeks) clinical trials were analyzed to assess the safety and tolerability of acamprosate: 4234 patients were randomized to placebo (N = 1962), acamprosate 1332 mg/d (N = 440), 1998 mg/d (N = 1749), or 3000 mg/d (N = 83). Overall incidence of treatment-emergent adverse events (AEs) was 61% for acamprosate and 56% for placebo (P < 0.

Alveolar expansion imaged by optical sectioning microscopy.

During lung expansion, the pattern of alveolar perimeter distension is likely to be an important determinant of lung functions as, for example, surfactant secretion. However, the segmental characteristics of alveolar perimeter distension remain unknown. Here, we applied real-time confocal microscopy in the isolated, perfused rat lung to determine the micromechanics of alveolar perimeter distension.

Short-term cigarette smoke exposure potentiates endotoxin-induced pulmonary inflammation.

Long-term cigarette smoke exposure is associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, the effects of short-term smoke inhalation are less clear, because it may adversely affect the lung only if underlying disease is present. To test this hypothesis, Syrian hamsters were passively exposed to cigarette smoke for 2 hours per day over a period of 3 days either before or after intratracheal instillation of low-dose (20 microg) Escherichia coli endotoxin.

Diabetic vitrectomy: influence of lens status upon anatomic and visual outcomes.

Objective: To determine the effect of lens status upon the anatomic and visual results in primary diabetic vitrectomy.

Design: Retrospective, comparative, consecutive case series.

Participants: One hundred two eyes of 85 patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy and its complications that underwent primary vitrectomy.

Emotional and psychiatric issues in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and other cardiac patients.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) exposes young patients to the risk of sudden death. The risk of sudden death separates the young patient from his peers, but connects him more closely to his physician. The physician may have a powerful effect replacing uninformed fears with accurate knowledge, restoring hope, and helping the patient shift focus from the fear of dying to engaging in life and living with a medical illness.

Elastographic imaging of strain distribution in the anterior cruciate ligament and at the ligament-bone insertions.

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) functions as a mechanical stabilizer in the tibiofemoral joint, and is the most commonly injured knee ligament. To improve the clinical outcome of tendon grafts used for ACL reconstructions, our long-term goal is to promote graft-bone integration via the regeneration of the native ligament-bone interface. An understanding of strain distribution at this interface is crucial for functional scaffold design and clinical evaluation.

Energy dependence of response of new high sensitivity radiochromic films for megavoltage and kilovoltage radiation energies.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the energy dependence of the response of two new high sensitivity models of radiochromic films EBT and XR-QA. We determined the dose response curves of these films for four different radiation sources, namely, 6 MV photon beams (6 MVX), Ir-192, I-125, and Pd-103. The first type (EBT) is designed for intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) dosimetry, and the second type (XR-QA) is designed for kilovoltage dosimetry.

A comparison of Espocan and Tuohy needles for the combined spinal-epidural technique for labor analgesia.

Unlabelled: When using the needle-through-needle combined spinal-epidural (CSE) technique for labor analgesia, failure to obtain cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), paresthesias, and intrathecal or intravascular migration of the catheter are of concern. Epidural needles with spinal needle apertures, such as the back-hole Espocan (ES) needles, are available and may reduce these risks. We describe the efficacy and adverse events associated with a modified epidural needle (ES) versus a conventional Tuohy needle for CSE.

Dose response characteristics of new models of GAFCHROMIC films: dependence on densitometer light source and radiation energy.

This paper presents a systematic study of the dose response characteristics of two new models and one commonly used model of GAFCHROMIC film: HS, XR-T, and MD55-2, respectively. We irradiated these film models with three different radiation sources: I-125, Ir-192, and 6 MV photon beam (6 MVX). We scanned the films with three different densitometers: a He-Ne laser with a wavelength of 633 nm, a spot densitometer with a wavelength of 671 nm, and a CCD camera densitometer with interchangeable LED boxes with wavelengths of 665 nm (red), 520 nm (green), and 465 nm (blue).

Verification of Ir-192 near source dosimetry using GAFCHROMIC film.

Intravascular brachytherapy treatments of in-stent restenosis have been performed extensively using Ir-192 ribbon. Task Group 60 of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) recommends a dose reference point at 2 mm from the source center for these treatments. However, it is known that the source can be as close as 0.