Radiation therapy of giant aggressive keratoacanthomas

BACKGROUND AND DESIGN: Giant aggressive keratoacanthoma is a rare destructive subset of keratoacanthoma that frequently involves the facial region, grows rapidly to a large size, and often recurs after surgical management. The effectiveness of ionizing radiation therapy was examined in a retrospective study involving 16 patients; 14 of the tumors had recurred after surgical therapy. RESULTS: All tumors resolved with satisfactory cosmetic results and without recurrence following a fractionated course of superficial radiation therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Radiation therapy is an effective therapeutic modality for giant aggressive keratoacanthomas.     

Negative thermal expansion of laminates

Measurements have been carried out on the in-plane and through the thickness thermal expansion coefficients of glass polypropylene fibre composites of 50% volume fraction between room temperature and 120°C. Only in the temperature range 20° to 75°C are reproducible results obtained. It is confirmed that in-plane negative values may be obtained in specific directions. The physical reason for this and its connection with the necessary appearance of a large Poisson ratio is pointed out. The expansivity of the matrix material depends strongly on temperature. Very good agreement between the experimental values and those predicted from the properties of the two constituents is found provided that the value for the expansivity of the polyoropylene is that within the temperature range considered. It is shown that the polypropylene matrix does not provide a matrix which is stable enough in its properties to enable the system to yield consistent negative values of expansivity. An alternative system is proposed and a single experiment confirms that a negative value of the thermal expansivity of as large as –50 × 10^–6 K^–1 may be obtained.     

The effects of widowhood on physical and mental health, health behaviors, and health outcomes: The Women's Health Initiative.

This study examined whether widowhood was associated with physical and mental health, health behaviors, and health outcomes using a cross-sectional (N=72,247) and prospective (N=55,724) design in women aged 50-79 years participating in the Women's Health Initiative observational study (85.4% White). At baseline, married women reported better physical and mental health and generally better health behaviors than widowed women. Whereas women who remained married over the 3-year period showed stability in mental health, recent widows experienced marked impairments and longer term widows showed stability or slight improvements. Both groups of widows reported more unintentional weight loss over the 3-year period. Changes in physical health and health behaviors were inconsistent, with generally small effect sizes. Findings underscore the resilience of older women and their capacity to reestablish connections, but point to the need for services that strengthen social support among women who have difficulty during this transition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Processes of memory loss, recovery, and distortion

The author proposes that many forms of memory distortion, including the progressive changes in recollection of a learning experience often observed over successive tests, are due to the same processes that yield veridical recollection in some circumstances and memory loss and recovery in others. In a framework for interpreting all of these aspects of memory, the author assumes that the objects and events of a learning experience are encoded in parallel in traces of their perceptual attributes, which are basic to recognition, and in traces of reactions made to the events during or following learning, which are basic to recall. Random perturbation of remembered attribute values in both types of traces over retention intervals is a pervasive cause of both loss and distortions of memory.     

Characterization and sequence of the Escherichia coli panBCD gene cluster

A 4589 bp DNA segment containing the Escherichia coli panBCD gene cluster was sequenced, and found to contain 6 complete open reading frames. panB, panC, and panD were identified by subcloning and insertional mutagenesis. The orientation of panD was also confirmed by orientation-specific expression of asparate-1-decarboxylase. panB and panC lie adjacent to one another, but are separated from panD by orf3, which is oriented in the opposite direction. Interruptions in the remaining open reading frames did not affect growth on glucose-minimal medium. No significant similarity to sequences in databases was found for orf1 and orf2. Orf3 contained extensive similarity to reading frames defined by E. coli yjiP, yjiQ, yhgA, and yafD. The function of these amino acid sequences is as yet undefined.     

Reengineering a surgical service line: focusing on core process improvement

Integrating principles from a variety of theory has led to the development of a conceptual framework for reengineering in a clinical care delivery setting to improve the value of services provided to the customer. A conceptual framework involving the identification of three high level core processes to reengineer can provide clarity and focus for clinicians to begin directing reengineering efforts. Those core processes are: clinical management of the patient's medical needs, patient operational processes to support the clinical processes, and administrative decision-making processes to support the implementation of the clinical and operational processes. Improvement in any one of these areas has the potential to increase value, but the concurrent targeting of these core processes for reengineering has provided a synergy that has accelerated the achievement of the desired outcomes in the area of surgical services.     

Psychological interventions to prevent HIV infection are urgently needed: New priorities for behavioral research in the second decade of AIDS.

Behavior change remains the only means for primary prevention of HIV disease. Psychology should take a leading role in efforts to curtail the epidemic, but has not contributed to HIV prevention at a level proportionate to the urgency of the crisis. The authors propose an updated agenda for behavioral research on AIDS-HIV prevention implementing accelerated community trials of promising behavior change models, conducting trials of community-level interventions on a large scale and focused on populations most vulnerable to HIV infections, establishing partnerships between HIV research and community service organizations, integrating efforts from across psychology disciplines to advance and refine HIV prevention interventions, and mobilizing interdisciplinary HIV prevention resources and communication mechanisms to rapidly translate research findings to community and public policy arenas. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acromioclavicular joint cyst and rotator cuff tear

The role of a depressor factor, atrial natriuretic peptide, in the development of arterial hypertension in adolescents with pubertal hypothalamic syndrome was studied in 52 patients and 13 healthy males aged 13-24 years. The duration of disease was 2-11 years. Radioimmunological methods were used to measure plasma atrial natriuretic peptide, plasma renin activity, and serum aldosterone. Patients with borderline arterial hypertension were found to have a significant reduction in their atrial natriuretic peptide levels, and this correlated directly with the renin-aldosterone system, demonstrating insufficiency of the depressor system in patients with pubertal hypothalamic syndrome and the involvement of atrial natriuretic peptide in the development of arterial hypertension, along with disturbances in the functional relationship between atrial natriuretic peptide and the renin-aldosterone system.     

Association of INAD with NORPA is essential for controlled activation and deactivation of Drosophila phototransduction in vivo

Visual transduction in Drosophila is a G protein-coupled phospholipase C-mediated process that leads to depolarization via activation of the transient receptor potential (TRP) calcium channel. Inactivation-no-afterpotential D (INAD) is an adaptor protein containing PDZ domains known to interact with TRP. Immunoprecipitation studies indicate that INAD also binds to eye-specific protein kinase C and the phospholipase C, no-receptor-potential A (NORPA). By overlay assay and site-directed mutagenesis we have defined the essential elements of the NORPA-INAD association and identified three critical residues in the C-terminal tail of NORPA that are required for the interaction. These residues, Phe-Cys-Ala, constitute a novel binding motif distinct from the sequences recognized by the PDZ domain in INAD. To evaluate the functional significance of the INAD-NORPA association in vivo, we generated transgenic flies expressing a modified NORPA, NORPAC1094S, that lacks the INAD interaction. The transgenic animals display a unique electroretinogram phenotype characterized by slow activation and prolonged deactivation. Double mutant analysis suggests a possible inaccessibility of eye-specific protein kinase C to NORPAC1094S, undermining the observed defective deactivation, and that delayed activation may similarly result from NORPAC1094S being unable to localize in close proximity to the TRP channel. We conclude that INAD acts as a scaffold protein that facilitates NORPA-TRP interactions required for gating of the TRP channel in photoreceptor cells.