Ex vivo enrichment of malignant carcinoma cells in primary culture

AIMS: Establishing and maintaining human tumours in primary culture can be challenging. In this application, a short-term primary culture process is desired to ensure cells maintained in culture are representative of the in vivo tumour for the purpose of chemoresponse testing. To ensure the appropriate cells are being grown, the cultures must be evaluated for malignancy. The clinical gold standard determination of malignancy is cytological evaluation by a cytopathologist. METHODS: Fifty human tumour specimens (breast, colon, lung, ovary) were established and maintained in primary culture. Cytospins were prepared upon initiation of culture and again at completion of the culture process. Cytospins were stained (Diff-Quik, Papanicolaou) and evaluated by a cytopathologist for the percentage of malignant cells at both times. RESULTS: An increase in the percentage of malignant cells was noted in 86% (43/50) of the cultures evaluated; 8% (4/50) of the cultures maintained the same percentage of malignant cells throughout the culture period, and 6% (3/50) displayed a decrease in malignant cells. On average, the percentage of malignant cells increased by 37% and was not associated with the length of culture (range 5-28 days). CONCLUSIONS: The described primary culture process enriches for malignant cells, which is desirable for further evaluation such as chemoresponse testing.     

Visual and auditory emotion recognition problems as familial cross-disorder phenomenon in ASD and ADHD

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are frequently comorbid disorders. Emotion recognition problems are considered an important familial deficit in ASD, but this is unknown in ADHD. Very few studies have directly compared emotion recognition performance of youth with ASD and/or ADHD and of their unaffected siblings across age to quantify the contribution of emotion recognition problems to the ADHD phenotype. We therefore devised a study of 64 ASD+ADHD participants, 89 ASD-only participants, 111 ADHD-only participants, 122 unaffected ASD(+ADHD) siblings, 69 unaffected ADHD-only siblings and 220 controls aged 7–18 years, who had completed two tasks assessing auditory and visual emotion recognition. Factor analysis was used to detect underlying dimensions of emotion recognition capacity. Linear mixed models were used to compare performance across groups and to assess age effects. The factor-analysis revealed four factors separating speed and accuracy regarding visual and auditory emotion recognition. ASD+ADHD, ASD-only, and ADHD-only participants all performed worse than controls. ASD+ADHD, ASD-only, and ADHD-only participants did not differ in the severity of their emotion recognition problems. Both unaffected sibling groups performed intermediate between patients and controls. For ASD+ADHD and ADHD-only participants, group differences were more marked in adolescence than childhood, whereas in ASD participants this was not observed. We conclude that emotion recognition problems are a familial deficit in ADHD to a similar extent as in ASD. Emotion recognition problems specifically - and social cognition problems more generally - should be assessed in clinical practice for ADHD.     

Hearing Loss: Why Does It Matter for Nursing Homes?

Over the past decade, hearing loss has emerged as a key issue for aging and health. We describe why hearing loss may be especially disabling in nursing home settings and provide an estimate of prevalence using the Minimum Data Set (MDS v.3.0). We outline steps to mitigate hearing loss. Many solutions are inexpensive and low-tech, but require significant awareness and institutional commitment.     

Self-reported integration as a proxy for acculturation: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: It is essential to account for acculturation in any research conducted in multicultural populations. Both unidimensional and bidimensional approaches are used to measure the extent of acculturation; however, neither one of them is optimal. OBJECTIVE: To explore the immigrants' rating of the extent of their acculturation (self-reported integration) in contrast to an external (researchers') measurement. METHODS: Fifteen in-depth interviews with strategically sampled Russian-speaking men and women aged 25-70 years, with varying marital and employment status and living permanently in Stockholm, Sweden, were analyzed using a content analysis technique. The results were validated by means of a series of additional mini-interviews by telephone. RESULTS: The immigrants' self-reported integration corresponded with the researchers' bidimensional measurement of the extent of acculturation of these immigrants. Self-reported integration accounted for the mastering of the formal criteria of integration, resolving of grief concerning the homeland, and fulfilling the internal criteria of integration. DISCUSSION: Self-reported integration may be used as a proxy for acculturation but its application should be tested primarily in other settings and in a quantitative analysis.     

Should nurses prescribe blood components?

AIM: To explore the feasibility of nurses prescribing blood components. METHOD: Using a convenience snowball sample, a UK-wide questionnaire survey was undertaken to identify transfusion practices and canvass the opinions of nurses and doctors. RESULTS: A total of 179 (59%) of 302 respondents were supportive of nurses prescribing blood components, saying it would have a positive effect on the quality of patient care, result in fewer treatment delays and help doctors and nurses to use their time more effectively. The remaining 123 (41%) respondents had reservations about time and resource constraints and worries about undermining medical care and responsibility. CONCLUSION: Development of non-medical prescribing to allow nurses to prescribe blood components has the potential to deliver a more patient-centred quality service.