Long-term effects of radiotherapy administered in childhood for the treatment of malignant diseases

BACKGROUND: The use of radiotherapy for the treatment of childhood malignancy has improved long-term survival significantly, and many treated children now survive well into adulthood. As a consequence, long-term effects of childhood irradiation are being seen with increasing frequency. METHODS: The medical records of 236 patients who had been treated for malignant disease with radiotherapy during childhood were examined to determine the long-term effect of the radiation on their growth and development. RESULTS: Mean treatment dose was 35.5 Gy; mean age at treatment was 7.2 years; and mean follow-up was 14.5 years. Adjuvant chemotherapy was given to 82%. Some degree of bone deformity (usually with overlying soft-tissue hypoplasia) was seen in 40%; 21% developed some type of endocrine deficiency; 30% developed atrophic skin changes; and 7% developed second malignancies. The incidence of bone deformity and hormonal deficiency increased with the radiation dose; the incidence of second malignancy was independent of dose. Bone deformities were more common when radiation was administered before the age of 2 years. CONCLUSIONS: The consequences of radiotherapy in childhood are significant and must be considered when planning treatment. Even when treatment is essential, families should be informed of the possibility of growth disturbance to prevent subsequent misunderstanding.     

Determinants of pain expression in hospitalized burn patients

This study examines the relationship between extent of injury, degree and type of psychological distress and self-report of pain in burn survivors. One hundred eighty burn patients were interviewed within 2 weeks of their burn trauma. Using a visual analogue scale to assess subjective pain and pain relief, and self-report measures of post-traumatic stress symptoms and general psychological distress, we assessed the relationship between PTSD symptoms, general distress and pain. Subjective pain was unrelated to sex, ethnicity, or total body surface area burned. The most important correlate of subjective pain was general psychological distress. Intrusive PTSD symptoms had no independent power to predict the variance in pain scores. However, among women, more severe avoidant symptoms were associated with greater subjective pain.     

Court testimony of child sexual abuse victims: Emerging issues in clinical assessments.

Presents a case study of a 15-yr-old female witness in a sexual abuse trial and describes how testimony during cross-examination was improved after S's mental age was assessed using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Revised (WISC—R) and after she was coached during a mock trial. Clinical criteria should be developed for assessing children's competency to give testimony, and the needs of child sexual abuse victims should be recognized. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Immediate family crisis intervention as preventive mental health: The family consultant service.

The service employs mental health personnel who work closely with the police in order to respond immediately to family-related crises. This paper reports a preliminary evaluation of the program with respect to 5 issues: (a) whether the program is redundant with existing community services, (b) the advantages of early intervention approaches, (c) whether the program is a preventative service to any degree, (d) the evaluation of the program by the police and social agencies, and (e) whether cooperation between mental health and law enforcement professionals is enhanced. Available data collected over a 2-yr period concerning these 5 issues indicated the success of the program. It is concluded that it can serve as a model for community prevention approaches to family crises and mental health problems. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recrudescence of neuroblastoma after apparent cure

Many years after apparent cure recrudescence of neuroblastoma was reported in 2 patients. In 1 patient, two recurrences occurred 5 and 10 years after apparent disappearance of tumor. Factors contributing to the extraordinary clinical course are unknown. Speculation rests on tumor characteristics, environmental influences, immunity, or the development of a second primary tumor.     

The UCB/MPE cassegrain submillimeter heterodyne spectrometer

The UCB/MPE Submillimeter Heterodyne Spectrometer is a system for ascronomical spectroscopy in the high-frequency atmospheric windows from 500 to 1000 GHz. It contains a molecular laser local oscillator, a cooled Schottky open structure mixer, a quasi-optical coupling system, and an acousto-optical spectrometer. The compact receiver mounts at the Cassegrain focus of large infrared astronomical telescopes. The receiver noise temperature on the telescope is approximately 3500 K (DSB) during observations of the CO J=7→6 line at 806.652 GHz. The spectrometer's frequency resolution and instantaneous bandwidth (<2 MHz resolution across 1.1 GHz) are well suited for observations of molecular emission lines from a variety of astronomical sources.     

Design and experimental characteristics of strained In0.52Al0.48As/InxGa1-xAs (x>0.53)HEMTs

Strained In_0.52Al_0.48 As/In_xGa _1-xAs (x>0.53) HEMTs (high electron mobility transistors) are studied theoretically and experimentally. A device design procedure is reported that is based on band structure and charge control self-consistent calculations. It predicts the sheet carrier density and electron confinement as a function of doping and thickness of layers. The DC performance at 300 K is presented. Wafer statistics demonstrate improvement of device characteristics with excess indium in the channel (g¯_{m, intr}=500 and 700 mS/mm for x=0.60 and 0.65). Microwave characterization shows the f_T improvement (f_T=40 and 45 GHz for x=0.60 and 0.65, respectively) and the R_ds limitations of the 1-μm-long-gate HEMTs     

A comparative analysis of serial ordering in ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta).

Research over the last 25 years has demonstrated that animals are able to organize sequences in memory and retrieve ordered sequences without language. Qualitative differences have been found between the serial organization of behavior in pigeons and monkeys. Here the authors test serial ordering abilities in ring-tailed lemurs, a strepsirrhine primate whose ancestral lineage diverged from that of monkeys, apes, and humans approximately 63 million years ago. Lemurs' accuracy and response times were similar to monkeys, thus suggesting that they may share mechanisms for serial organization that dates to a common primate ancestor. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Energy and length scales in scintillator nonproportionality

The causes of energy nonlinearity (nonproportionality) in gamma-ray spectroscopy of scintillators have not been fully explained quantitatively, but are believed to involve the spatial density of thermalized electrons and holes, their transport and interactions, and competition between radiative and nonradiative recombination. Here, we relate electron–hole density to the initial ray's energy through expressions for the stopping power and distance, and then attempt to fit some “plateau-type” (e.g. BaF₂, Lu₂SiO₅, etc.) light curves via competing radiative and nonradiative processes obeying different energy power laws. We find that reasonable power laws and the assumption of a uniform energy density in the excited region lead to a fairly good agreement with many experimental curves. We then show that a simple approximation for averaging over regions of different excitation density leads to improved agreement with experiment, at the expense of making it more difficult to uncover the underlying kinetics from the experimental data. These considerations should carry over to more sophisticated models or simulations of scintillation processes.