Review of Can Love Last? The Fate of Romance Over Time.

Review of book: Stephen Mitchell. Can Love Last? The Fate of Romance Over Time. New York: Norton, 2002, 223 pp. Reviewed by Timothy J. Zeddies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When laws and ethics collide: What should psychologists do?

At times the laws under which psychologists function may appear to contradict generally recognized ethical values and/or good clinical care. When these circumstances arise, psychologists must determine if a conflict really exists and, if so, seek solutions that reconcile respect for the law with their ethical values. At times, psychologists may decide to follow the law despite their ethical concerns. At other times, they may determine that a conscientious objection is warranted. The authors recommend options to consider when these situations arise and offer a decision-making process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pseudoexstrophy

Pseudoexstrophy is a rare, mild exstrophy variant which involves the major musculoskeletal defects of the exstrophy complex without any associated defect in the urinary system. A case is reported presenting at birth as an umbilical positional anomaly. Differential diagnosis and management are reviewed.     

The effects of guided tissue regeneration and fixation technique on osseous wound healing in rabbit zygomatic arch osteotomies

So called lethal midline granuloma is of great clinical and theoretical interest. Recent evidence has shown that most lethal midline granulomas are associated with a T-cell phenotype and they are therefore referred to as nasal T-cell lymphomas (NTCL). Immunohistochemical studies, however, have shown peculiar phenotypic features such as expression of natural killer (NK)-cell-related markers and extensive T-cell antigen loss including absence of expression of alpha beta T-cell receptor (TCR). In this study, we reported genotypic and immunohistochemical features in two cases of lethal midline granuloma. The histopathological diagnosis of the biopsy specimens was polymorphic reticulosis/midline malignant reticulosis. Both cases displayed a CD2+, CD3-, CD3 epsilon+, CD4-, CD8-, CD16-, CD56+ phenotype, suggesting that these tumors may be peripheral T-cell lymphomas with extensive loss of T-cell antigens and expression of NK cell antigen (CD56), or, alternatively, NK cell neoplasias. No TCR beta gene rearrangement was detected in these cases. Monoclonal Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) genome was detected in each specimen by Southern blot hybridization. The tumor cells in one of the two cases expressed latent membrane protein (LMP). These findings support the concept that lethal midline granuloma constitutes a distinct group of lymphomas that, in addition to their peculiar clinical features, exhibits the phenotype of extensive loss of T-cell antigens and expression of the NK cell antigen, as well as harbors the EBV. In view of the LMP-transforming potential, these data suggest that EBV may play a role in the pathogenesis of lethal midline granuloma.     

Plasma viral RNA load predicts disease progression in accelerated feline immunodeficiency virus infection

Viral RNA load has been shown to indicate disease stage and predict the rapidity of disease progression in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-infected individuals. We had previously demonstrated that feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) RNA levels in plasma correlate with disease stage in infected cats. Here we expand upon those observations by demonstrating that plasma virus load is 1 to 2 logs higher in cats with rapidly progressive FIV disease than in long-term survivors. Differences in plasma FIV RNA levels are evident by 1 to 2 weeks after infection and are consistent throughout infection. We also evaluated humoral immune responses in FIV-infected cats for correlation with survival times. Total anti-FIV antibody titers did not differ between cats with rapidly progressive FIV disease and long-term survivors. These findings indicate that virus replication plays an important role in FIV disease progression, as it does in HIV-1 disease progression. The parallels in virus loads and disease progressions between HIV-1 and FIV support the idea that the accelerated disease model is well suited for the study of therapeutic agents directed at reducing lentiviral replication.     

Spinal cord regeneration: a phenomenon unique to urodeles?

To study the triggering mechanism(s) of the induction of apoptosis following exposure to u.v. light, we used a genetic approach involving cell strains derived from patients with inherited deficiencies in nucleotide excision repair. It was found that cells from patients with Cockayne's syndrome, which are deficient in the processing of u.v.-induced pyrimidine dimers from the transcribed DNA strand, are induced to undergo apoptosis at much lower doses of u.v. light than cells with proficient strand-specific repair. The induction of apoptosis correlated to the induction of p53 and to the inhibition of total RNA and poly(A) mRNA synthesis. We also show that active p53 proteins accumulate following u.v.-irradiation without any apparent requirement for DNA strand breaks or excision repair intermediates. We propose that the blockage of RNA polymerases at DNA lesions in the transcribed strand triggers the induction of a pathway leading to apoptosis. These findings may help explain a long standing enigma of why, despite the DNA repair deficiency, patients with Cockayne's syndrome do not experience an elevated risk for skin cancer since potentially pre-mutagenic cells are eliminated by an easily triggered apoptotic pathway.     

Workflow technology-based monitoring and control for business process and project management

In this paper the application of workflow technology to monitor, control and coordinate business processes and projects is proposed. The conceptual characteristics of processes and projects as well as their management needs in the functions of planning, execution, monitoring and control are compared. The general design of the proposed system is then developed, with an application example. The proposed monitoring and control system provides proactive tracking of the flow of work and information, and of the utilization and commitment of resources. The design supports hierarchical management of the project and/or business process, allowing concerned persons to visualize and to utilize it in different levels of abstraction, as necessary. The application of workflow technology also provides additional benefits in facilitating communication, documentation and re-utilization.     

Research in object-oriented manufacturing simulations:an assessment of the state of the art

Object-oriented programming (OOP) has been revolutionizing software development and maintenance. When applied to simulation of manufacturing systems, OOP also provides an opportunity for developing new ways of thinking and modeling. In this paper, we identify existing large-scale, persistent OOP-based research efforts focusing on manufacturing system simulation, and present an integrating framework for discussing the associated modeling abstractions, implementation strategies, common themes, and distinctive features. The goal is to identify the fundamental research and application issues, assess the current state of the art, and identify key research needs.     

Responsiveness of self-reported and objective measures of disease severity in carpal tunnel syndrome

Responsiveness, the ability to detect meaningful clinical change, is a critical attribute of instruments used to evaluate outcomes of treatments. The authors hypothesized that self-administered symptom severity and functional status questionnaires are more responsive to clinical improvement after carpal tunnel release than traditional physical examination measures of strength and sensibility. Data were obtained from a randomized clinical trial of endoscopic versus open carpal tunnel release conducted in four university medical centers. Patients were evaluated before surgery and 3 months after surgery. Seventy-four patients indicating that they were more than 80% satisfied with the results of surgery were assumed to have clinically meaningful improvement and were the focus of the analysis. Evaluations included questionnaires assessing symptom severity, functional status, and activities of daily living as well as measurement of grip, pinch, and abductor pollicus brevis strength, and 2-point discrimination and Semmes-Weinstein pressure sensibility. Responsiveness was calculated with the standardized response mean (mean change/standard deviation of change) as well as the effect size (mean change/standard deviation of baseline values). The symptom severity scale was four times as responsive, and the functional status and activities of daily living scales were twice as responsive, as the measures of strength and sensibility. Self-administered symptom severity and functional status scales are much more responsive to clinical improvement than measures of neuromuscular impairment and should severe as primary outcomes in clinical studies of therapy for carpal tunnel syndrome.     

Tripe palms: a cutaneous paraneoplastic syndrome

Tripe palms is a cutaneous paraneoplastic syndrome. We report a case of tripe palms in a 71-year-old man with non-small cell lung cancer. Approximately 90% of patients with tripe palms have an associated cancer, most commonly involving the lung or the stomach. Any patient with tripe palms must have a complete cancer workup, especially for lung and stomach cancer.