Diversity training in graduate school: An exploratory evaluation of the Safe Zone project.

How can psychologists and graduate students become more affirmative of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues? Safe Zone is a diversity-training program to increase sensitivity toward, knowledge of, and advocacy for LGBT populations and issues that affect them. In this exploratory study, the implementation of Safe Zone is described within a school of professional psychology; its effectiveness was assessed by self-reported behavioral and attitudinal changes and from participant evaluations. Results were encouraging with regard to the goals of Safe Zone and its adaptation to institutions interested in improving relations with the LGBT community, but additional empirical studies are needed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A method for isolation of sequences missing in one of two related genomes

We describe a novel technique for isolation of sequences that are present in one genome (tracer), but absent in another (driver). Tracer DNA, cleaved with Sau 3A and capped with a single stranded PCR adapter, is allowed to hybridize with an excess of sheared biotinylated driver; biotinylated DNA and its hybrids with the tracer are removed by phenol/chloroform extraction after incubation with streptavidin. After several rounds of subtraction the ends of self-annealed tracer molecules from the nonextractable fraction are filled-in with Tag polymerase and amplified, using the single stranded PCR adapter as a primer. The method has been applied to purification of fragments from a 2.9 kb plasmid added to E. coli DNA at equimolar quantity. Plasmid derived fragments (250-1000 bp), initially comprising 1/1400th part of tracer DNA, were purified to homogeneity after two rounds of subtraction followed by PCR.     

Volumetric hemodynamic parameters to guide fluid removal on hemodialysis in the intensive care unit

Estimation of removable excess body fluid is difficult in critically ill patients with renal failure. Volumetric hemodynamic parameters are increasingly being used to guide fluid therapy in the intensive care unit, but their suitability to monitor fluid removal with hemodialysis in critically ill patients is not known. Changes in the extravascular lung water index (EVLWI) and intrathoracic blood volume index (ITBVI) measured with transpulmonary thermodilution immediately before and after hemodialysis were analyzed from 39 hemodialysis sessions of 9 patients consecutively treated in the medical intensive care unit of a German University Hospital. Additional hemodynamic, ventilation, and oxygenation-related parameters were recorded at the same time. Online relative blood volume (RBV) monitoring was performed in 29 sessions. Comparisons of pre and postdialysis values showed a significant reduction of the EVLWI with fluid removal (p=0.009), with only a slight nonsignificant decrease in the ITBVI. The cardiac index (CI) also decreased significantly (p=0.010), whereas blood pressure remained stable. Oxygenation improved significantly (p=0.005), and the hematocrit increased significantly with dialysis (p=0.039). There was no correlation between hematocrit changes and RBV measurements. Significant correlations existed between ITBVI and CI changes (p<0.001), but not to EVLWI reduction. The removal of excess body fluid on hemodialysis is reflected by the EVLWI reduction, whereas the preservation of cardiac preload is shown by ITBVI stability. Volumetric hemodynamic parameters could be useful to guide fluid removal with hemodialysis in the intensive care unit.     

Cardiac morphology and left ventricular function in normotensive morbidly obese patients with and without congestive heart failure, and effect of weight loss

BACKGROUND: Prevention of hypothermia during abdominal surgery by insulating or heat-transferring methods has been the subject of numerous investigations. This study approaches the problem from a less discussed point of view, i.e. the effect of different surgical techniques on body temperature changes. METHODS: Body temperature was measured at 3 core and 6 skin points in 40 patients scheduled for cholecystectomy through open laparotomy or laparoscopy with pneumoperitoneum created and maintained with unwarmed carbon dioxide (CO2) insufflation. End-tidal CO2 was kept constant by adjustments of respiratory frequency. Anaesthesia, intravenous infusions, and draping of the patients were standardized. RESULTS: During the first 1 h of anaesthesia core temperatures decreased approximately by 0.7 degrees C and distal skin temperatures increased by 7 degrees C in both groups. At the end of surgery heat balance was similar in both groups. An increase of 2.5 1.min-1 in respiratory minute volume was needed to control end-tidal CO2 levels in the laparoscopy group during pneumoperitoneum which was maintained with a CO2 flow of 1.2 1.min-1 through the abdominal cavity. CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic technique with unwarmed carbon dioxide insufflation does not offer any advantage in terms of body temperature changes when compared to open surgery.     

The BsmI vitamin D receptor restriction fragment length polymorphism (bb) influences the effect of calcium intake on bone mineral density

Previous studies of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) polymorphisms and bone mineral density (BMD) have suggested that there may be differences in calcium absorption among groups of women with different VDR genotypes, and that the association may be stronger in younger women. To investigate the association between the VDR polymorphisms and BMD, this study was undertaken in the Framingham Study Cohort and a group of younger volunteers. Subjects from the Framingham Study (ages 69-90 years) included those who underwent BMD testing and who had genotyping for the VDR alleles (n = 328) using polymerase chain reaction methods and restriction fragment length polymorphisms with BsmI (B absence, b presence of cut site). A group of younger volunteer subjects (ages 18-68) also underwent BMD testing and VDR genotyping (n = 94). In Framingham Cohort subjects with the bb genotype, but not the Bb or BB genotypes, there were significant associations between calcium intake and BMD at five of six skeletal sites, such that BMD was 7-12% higher in those with dietary calcium intakes greater than 800 mg/day compared with those with intakes < 500 mg/day. The data also suggested that BMD was higher in persons with the bb genotype only in the group with calcium intakes above 800 mg/day. No significant differences were found in the Framingham Cohort for age-, sex-, and weight-adjusted BMD at any skeletal site between those with the BB genotype and those with the bb genotype regardless of 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels or country of origin. In the younger volunteers, BMD of the femoral neck was 5.4% higher (p < 0.05) in the bb genotype group compared with the BB group and 11% higher (p < 0.05) in males with the bb genotype compared with the BB group. There were no significant differences at the lumbar spine. In this study, the association between calcium intake and BMD appeared to be dependent upon VDR genotype. The findings of an association between dietary calcium intake and BMD only in the bb genotype group suggests that the VDR genotype may play a role in the absorption of dietary calcium. Studies that do not consider calcium intake may not detect associations between VDR genotype and BMD. In addition, the association between VDR alleles and BMD may become less evident in older subjects.     

Wavelet Rasterization

We present a method for analytically calculating an anti‐aliased rasterization of arbitrary polygons or fonts bounded by Bézier curves in 2D as well as oriented triangle meshes in 3D. Our algorithm rasterizes multiple resolutions simultaneously using a hierarchical wavelet representation and is robust to degenerate inputs. We show that using the simplest wavelet, the Haar basis, is equivalent to performing a box‐filter to the rasterized image. Because we evaluate wavelet coefficients through line integrals in 2D, we are able to derive analytic solutions for polygons that have Bézier curve boundaries of any order, and we provide solutions for quadratic and cubic curves. In 3D, we compute the wavelet coefficients through analytic surface integrals over triangle meshes and show how to do so in a computationally efficient manner.     

Promyelocytic blast crisis of chronic myelogenous leukaemia with translocations (9;22) and (15;17)

The murine monoclonal antibody A7 (MAb A7) is reactive against most human gastric cancer cell lines. Using a nude mouse peritoneal dissemination model of human gastric cancer, we investigated targeted chemotherapy using a conjugate of neocarzinostatin (NCS) with MAb A7 (A7-NCS). After demonstrating cytotoxicity of the complex against the human gastric cancer cell line MKN45 in vitro, we intraperitoneally injected A7-NCS, NCS or saline into nude mice bearing peritoneally disseminated human gastric cancer. A7-NCS inhibited peritoneal dissemination significantly more effectively than NCS. MAb A7 may prove to be an effective carrier for antineoplastic drugs in patients with peritoneal dissemination of gastric cancer.