A Multisite Comparison of Actuarial Risk Instruments for Sex Offenders.

Four actuarial instruments for the prediction of violent and sexual reoffending (the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide [VRAG], Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide [SORAG], Rapid Risk Assessment for Sex Offender Recidivism [RRASOR], and Static-99) were evaluated in 4 samples of sex offenders (N = 396). Although all 4 instruments predicted violent (including sexual) recidivism and recidivism known to be sexually motivated, areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) were consistently higher for the VRAG and the SORAG. The instruments performed better when there were fewer missing items and follow-up time was fixed, with an ROC area up to .84 for the VRAG, for example, under such favorable conditions. Predictive accuracy was higher for child molesters than for rapists, especially for the Static-99 and the RRASOR. Consistent with past research, survival analyses revealed that those offenders high in both psychopathy and sexual deviance were an especially high-risk group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Phytohemagglutinin-induced gut hyperplasia and the growth of a mouse lymphosarcoma tumor

OBJECTIVE: To identify possible causes for the increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality seen in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism. DESIGN: Prospective, blind study. SETTING: University hospital, Sweden. SUBJECTS: 44 Patients with primary hyperparathyroidism and 23 (sex and age matched) control patients with atoxic nodular goitres. INTERVENTIONS: Exploration of the neck with removal of pathological parathyroid glands or thyroid resection. Echocardiography before, and one year after, the operation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Blood pressure and echocardiographic findings. RESULTS: Hyperparathyroid patients had higher blood pressure and greater left atrial diameter than control patients preoperatively. They also had a significantly lower E:A ratio (mitral flow velocity pattern) than the controls (p = 0.02) indicating a disturbance in early diastolic filling of the left ventricle. The E:A ratio correlated negatively with the systolic blood pressure. 19 of the hyperparathyroid patients (43%) had cardiac calcifications as did 14 (61%) of the controls. Most of calcifications were located in the aortic and mitral valves; only a few patients had calcifications in the myocardium. No significant changes had occurred one year after parathyroidectomy, except for a reduction in systolic blood pressure, in the hyperparathyroid patients. CONCLUSION: Echocardiographic investigation of patients with primary hyperparathyroidism shows early signs of left ventricular dysfunction that may be of clinical importance.     

Colony promoting activity (CPA) is a novel factor distinct from IL-6

The supernatant (CM) of long-term bone marrow culture (LTBMC) contains colony promoting activity (CPA) which does not have granulocyte-macrophage (GM) colony-stimulating activity but which enhances GM-colony formation in the presence of CSF. CPA is different from IL-1, IL-3 and GM, G-, and M-CSF. Since CPA-containing LTBMC-CM always contains a substantial level of IL-6, CPA was thought to be similar to IL-6. In the present study, we found that LTBMC with a particular batch of horse serum produced IL-6 without a corresponding production of CPA. Addition of IL-6 to GM-colony assay system in the presence of GM-CSF did not enhance the colony formation. LTBMC-CM did not stimulate proliferation nor differentiation of mast cell progenitors. Anti-IL-6 antibodies suppressed IL-6 activity, but not CPA. These results indicate that CPA is a novel factor distinct from IL-1, IL-3, G-, M-, GM-CSF, IL-6 and SCF (c-kit ligand).     

Design, implementation and evaluation of a high-speed integratedHamming neural classifier

This paper describes a fixed-weight Hamming binary neural classifier chip suitable for applications where high-speed operation is required. The circuit uses switched current-mode techniques throughout and achieves classification in one forward pass through the network. The chip was realized in 2.4-μm n-well CMOS technology and was designed to recognize the integers 0-9. It achieved a classification rate of 10 MHz without any observable tendency to misclassification or instability     

Insulin effects on CYP2E1, 2B, 3A, and 4A expression in primary cultured rat hepatocytes

Although hyperketonemia and/or altered growth hormone secretion caused by diabetes have been implicated in enhanced CYP2E1, 2B, 3A and 4A expression, the effect of insulin on hepatic P450 expression, in the absence of associated metabolic/hormonal alterations, remains unknown. Primary cultured rat hepatocytes have been shown (Zangar et al., Drug Metab. Dispos., 23:681, 1995) to express stable and inducible CYP2E1 mRNA and protein levels, and provide an excellent system for mechanistic examination of the effect of insulin on CYP2E1, 2B, 3A and 4A expression. Maintaining primary rat hepatocytes in culture in the absence of insulin for 48, 72, or 96 h increased CYP2E1 mRNA levels 5-, 11-, and 4-fold, respectively, relative to cells maintained in the presence of the standard concentration of 1 microM insulin. In contrast, CYP2B mRNA levels increased only approximately 2-fold in the absence of insulin, when compared with the presence of 1 microM insulin. CYP2E1 and 2B protein levels were increased 6.7- and 3.8-fold, respectively, in cells cultured for 96 h in the absence of insulin as compared with those cultured in medium containing 1 microM insulin. Concentration-response studies revealed that decreasing the concentration of insulin below 10 nM (i.e. 1 nM, 0.1 nM, no insulin) increased CYP2E1 mRNA levels 4-, 7-, and 11-fold, respectively. In contrast, no such concentration-dependence was observed for CYP2B mRNA expression. As CYP3A and 4A expression is also elevated in diabetic rats, the effects of insulin on these P450s was also examined. CYP3A mRNA levels were unaltered and CYP4A mRNA levels were decreased marginally (approximately 50%) by the absence of insulin relative to levels in cells cultured in the presence of 1 microM insulin over 96 h in culture. The results of this study provide evidence that insulin itself, in the absence of other diabetes-induced metabolic or hormonal alterations, affects CYP2E1 and 2B, but not CYP3A or 4A, expression in primary cultured rat hepatocytes. Furthermore, CYP2E1 expression is differentially regulated by insulin relative to CYP2B, 3A or 4A. This study also demonstrates that decreasing the concentration of insulin in the culture medium provides a method by which CYP2E1 levels can be increased in primary cultured hepatocytes to facilitate mechanistic studies on the regulation of CYP2E1 expression.     

Surgical treatment in proximal bile duct cancer. A single-center experience

OBJECTIVES: The authors evaluated the experience and results of a single center in surgical treatment of proximal bile duct carcinoma. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: Whenever feasible, surgery is the appropriate treatment in proximal bile duct carcinoma. To improve survival rates and with special regard to liver transplantation, the extent of surgical radicalness remains an open issue. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Retrospective analysis of 249 patients who underwent surgery for proximal bile duct carcinoma via the following procedures: resection (n = 125), liver transplantation (n = 25), and exploratory laparotomy (n = 99). Survival rates were calculated according to the Kaplan-Meier method, uni- and multivariate analysis of prognostic factors, and log rank test (p < 0.05). RESULTS: Survival rates after resection and liver transplantation are correlated with international Union Against Cancer (UICC) tumor stage (resection: overall 5-year, 27.1%; stage I and II, 41.9%; stage IV, 20.7%; liver transplantation: overall 5-year, 17.1%; stage I and II, 37.8%; stage IV, 5.8%). Significant univariate prognostic factors for survival after liver resection were lymph node involvement (N category), tumor stage, tumor-free margins, and vascular invasion; for transplantation, they were local tumor extent, N category, tumor stage, and infiltration of liver parenchyma. For resection and transplantation, a multivariate analysis showed prognostic significance of tumor stage and tumor-free margins. CONCLUSION: Resection remains the treatment of choice in proximal bile duct carcinoma. Whenever possible, decisions about resectability should be made during laparotomy. With regard to the observation of long-term survivors, liver transplantation still can be justified in selected patients with stage II carcinoma. It is unknown whether more radical procedures, such as liver transplantation combined with multivisceral resections, will lead to better outcome in advanced stages. With regard to palliation, surgical drainage of the biliary system performed as hepatojejunostomy can be recommended.     

Vascular rejection post heart transplantation is associated with positive flow cytometric cross-matching

28 isolates of canine parvovirus type-2 (CPV-2) were obtained from dogs with hemorrhagic gastroenteritis in Italy. The antigenic structure of CPV-2 isolates was characterized, using four discriminating monoclonal antibodies. In addition, four vaccinal strains were examined. Similar to reports from Australia and the United Kingdom, a much higher prevalence of CPV-2a (25/28 isolates) was observed than the other variant type, CPV-2b (3/28 isolates). DNA fragments (2.2 kbp) of representative strains of CPV-2, CPV-2a and CPV-2b were amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the products were digested by the restriction enzymes (RE) RsaI, HpaII, HindIII and PvuII. The RvaI enzyme allows the differentiation of CPV-2 from CPV-2a and CPV-2b.