Benefits of collecting local data on breast cancer and mammography practices in northwestern Pennsylvania

OBJECTIVES: A randomized trial was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a work-site health promotion program in reducing obesity and the prevalence of cigarette smoking. METHODS: Thirty-two work sites were randomized to treatment or no treatment for 2 years. Treatment consisted of health education classes combined with a payroll-based incentive system. Evaluation was based on cohort and cross-sectional surveys. RESULTS: Of 10,000 total employees in treatment work sites, 2041 and 270 participated in weight control and smoking cessation programs, respectively. Weight losses averaged 4.8 lbs, and 43% of smoking participants quit. Net 2-year reductions in smoking prevalence in treatment vs control work sites were 4.0% and 2.1% in cross-sectional and cohort surveys, respectively. No treatment effect was found for weight. Treatment effects for smoking prevalence and weight were both positively correlated with participation rates in the intervention programs (r = .45 for smoking and r = .55 for weight). CONCLUSIONS: This work-site health promotion program was effective in reducing smoking prevalence at a cost that is believed to make the investment worthwhile.     

Activation of auditory cortex during silent lipreading

Watching a speaker's lips during face-to-face conversation (lipreading) markedly improves speech perception, particularly in noisy conditions. With functional magnetic resonance imaging it was found that these linguistic visual cues are sufficient to activate auditory cortex in normal hearing individuals in the absence of auditory speech sounds. Two further experiments suggest that these auditory cortical areas are not engaged when an individual is viewing nonlinguistic facial movements but appear to be activated by silent meaningless speechlike movements (pseudospeech). This supports psycholinguistic evidence that seen speech influences the perception of heard speech at a prelexical stage.     

Abrupt (< 1 day), acute (< 1 week), and early (< 1 month) vessel closure at the angioplasty site. Morphologic observations and causes of closure in 130 necropsy patients undergoing coronary angioplasty

While abundant clinical and angiographic data are available regarding features of acute or abrupt closure at the site of balloon angioplasty, little morphologic information is available. This study discusses morphologic-histologic causes for acute closure after angioplasty in 130 necropsy patients. Intimal-medial flaps, elastic recoil, and primary thrombosis were the three leading morphologic causes for closure. Data were subdivided into time categories: abrupt (< 1 day), acute (< 1 week), and early (< 1 month). Intimal-medial flaps remained the most common cause for angioplasty closure despite time from angioplasty to documented occlusion. Morphologic recognition of types and frequencies of angioplasty closure are discussed, and specific mechanical, pharmacologic, or combined treatments are reviewed.     

Inhibition of NFkappaB activity through maintenance of IkappaBalpha levels contributes to dihydrotestosterone-mediated repression of the interleukin-6 promoter

Androgens repress expression of many genes, yet the mechanism of this activity has remained elusive. The cytokine, interleukin-6, is active in a variety of biological systems, and its expression is repressed by androgens. Accordingly we dissected the mechanism of androgen's ability to inhibit interleukin-6 expression at the molecular level. In a series of co-transfection assays, we found that 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone, through the androgen receptor, repressed activation of the interleukin-6 promoter, in part, by inhibiting NFkappaB activity. It did not appear that 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone inhibited NFkappaB by activating the androgen receptor to compete for the NFkappaB response element as we could not detect androgen receptor binding to the IL-6 promoter by DNase I footprinting assay. However, by electrophoretic mobility shift assay we found that 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone repressed formation of NFkappaB middle dotNFkappaB response element complex formation. In LNCaP prostate carcinoma cells, 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone achieved this effect through maintenance of IkappaBalpha protein levels in the face of phorbol ester, a stimulus that results in IkappaBalpha degradation. Finally, we confirmed that IkappaBalpha inhibits NFkappaB-mediated activation of the interleukin-6 promoter. These data suggest that maintenance of IkappaBalpha levels may represent the first identified mechanism for androgen-mediated repression of a natural androgen-regulated gene.     

Determination of somatostatin receptor subtype 2 in carcinoid tumors by immunohistochemical investigation with somatostatin receptor subtype 2 antibodies

We have shown previously that expression of mRNA for somatostatin receptor subtype 2 (sst2) detected by in situ hybridization correlates to therapeutic outcome in patients with carcinoid tumors treated with somatostatin analogues. However, in situ hybridization is laborious and not practical in clinical routine work. We have, therefore, developed polyclonal antibodies directed against sst2 that may be used for immunohistochemistry on tissue specimens. The staining is specific and is highly correlated to expression of mRNA for sst2 (P < 0.01) as well as to tracer uptake at somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (P < 0.01). There is also a good correlation to the therapeutic response in carcinoid patients treated with somatostatin analogues (P < 0.05). Of 35 patients with carcinoid tumors included in this investigation, 25 stained positive with the antibodies. Twenty-two of these were investigated by somatostatin receptor scintigraphy and showed tracer uptake in metastases. An additional two patients that did not stain with the antibodies showed pathological uptake of the tracer in metastases, which might indicate binding to somatostatin receptor subtype 5. None of the 10 patients without positive immunostaining responded to somatostatin analogue treatment, whereas patients with a positive stain had a biochemical response or remained stable during treatment. Thus, these antibodies may be used to determine the presence of sst2 in carcinoid tumors and to select patients suitable for somatostatin analogue treatment. The method is easily applicable in clinical practice.     

The unanticipated difficult airway with recommendations for management

PURPOSE: To review the current literature and generate recommendations on the role of newer technology in the management of the unanticipated difficult airway. METHODS: A literature search using key words and filters of English language and English abstracted publications from 1990-96 contained in the Medline, Current Contents and Biological Abstracts databases was carried out. The literature was reviewed and condensed and a series of evidence-based recommendations were evolved. CONCLUSIONS: The unanticipated difficult airway occurs with a low but consistent incidence in anaesthesia practice. Difficult direct laryngoscopy occurs in 1.5-8.5% of general anaesthetics and difficult intubation occurs with a similar incidence. Failed intubation occurs in 0.13-0.3% general anaesthetics. Current techniques for predicting difficulty with laryngoscopy and intubation are sensitive, non-specific and have a low positive predictive value. Assessment techniques which utilize multiple characteristics to derive a risk factor tend to be more accurate predictors. Devices such as the laryngeal mask, lighted stylet and rigid fibreoptic laryngoscopes, in the setting of unanticipated difficult airway, are effective in establishing a patient airway, may reduce morbidity and are occasionally lifesaving. Evidence supports their use in this setting as either alternatives to facemask and bag ventilation, when it is inadequate to support oxygenation, or to the direct laryngoscope, when tracheal intubation has failed. Specifically, the laryngeal mask and Combitube have proved to be effective in establishing and maintaining a patent airway in "cannot ventilate" situations. The lighted stylet and Bullard (rigid) fibreoptic scope are effective in many instances where the direct laryngoscope has failed to facilitate tracheal intubation. The data also support integration of these devices into strategies to manage difficult airway as the new standard of care. Training programmes should ensure graduate physicians are trained in the use of these alternatives. Continuing medical education courses should allow physicians in practice the opportunity to train with these alternative devices.     

Entorhinal cortex grid cells can map to hippocampal place cells by competitive learning

'Grid cells' in the dorsocaudal medial entorhinal cortex (dMEC) are activated when a rat is located at any of the vertices of a grid of equilateral triangles covering the environment. dMEC grid cells have different frequencies and phase offsets. However, cells in the dentate gyrus (DG) and hippocampal area CA3 of the rodent typically display place fields, where individual cells are active over only a single portion of the space. In a model of the hippocampus, we have shown that the connectivity from the entorhinal cortex to the dentate granule cells could allow the dentate granule cells to operate as a competitive network to recode their inputs to produce sparse orthogonal representations, and this includes spatial pattern separation. In this paper we show that the same computational hypothesis can account for the mapping of EC grid cells to dentate place cells. We show that the learning in the competitive network is an important part of the way in which the mapping can be achieved. We further show that incorporation of a short term memory trace into the associative learning can help to produce the relatively broad place fields found in the hippocampus.     

Intra-operative tunnel expansion to prevent tunnel compression following latissimus dorsi muscle transfers

Serial examination of magnetic resonance images (MRI) for two months were carried out on two cases of multiple cerebral infarction during the acute stage. The T2-weighted MR images at the onset of the infarction showed both acute (new) and chronic (old) lesions appearing as high signal area. While on the diffusion weighted images only an acute lesion was detected as a high signal area with good contrast. The diffusion coefficient of the acute lesion was lower than that of normal white matter. Diffusion coefficient of the chronic lesions were higher than that of normal white matter. Therefore, on the apparent diffusion coefficient mapping images (ADC images) only an acute lesion appeared as a low signal area. The examination of diffusion images was very useful for distinguishing an acute lesion from a chronic lesion during the acute stage of multiple infarction. The diffusion weighted images after 4 weeks from the onset showed the diffusion coefficient of the "acute" lesion to be the same level of normal white matter. And after 8 weeks from the onset, increased to a level higher than that of normal white matter to the same level of the "chronic" lesion.     

Increased messenger RNA from protein synthesis inhibited human fibroblasts

Numerous reports have demonstrated that specific protein synthesis in response to specific inducers is markedly stimulated by a simultaneous brief exposure to protein synthesis inhibitors such as cycloheximide. This phenomenon is known as "superinduction" and is most often attributed to the accumulation of cytoplasmic messenger RNA during the inhibition period. Messenger RNA, as defined by rapid labeling, oligo (dt)-cellulose binding, and cell free protein synthesis stimulation was measured in cycloheximide treated human fibroblasts. In spite of a consistent 40% decrease in total polysomal 3H-uridine labeled RNA, a 1.5- to 2-fold increase in extractable mRNA was observed. These data provide direct evidence that protein synthesis inhibition stimulates the appearance of cytoplasmic mRNA and/or completely blocks its degradation and, are consistent with the hypothesis that mRNA accumulation partly underlies the superinduction phenomena.