Discussing options between patients and health care professionals in genetic diagnosis: ethical and legal criteria

The specific characteristics of genetic data lead to ethical-legal conflicts in the framework of genetic diagnosis. Several international organisations, including UNESCO and the Council of Europe, have enacted rules referring to the use of genetic information. This paper discusses possible legal and ethical criteria that could be used in genetic testing.     

Differences between mentally retarded and nonretarded persons' efficiency of auditory sentence processing

Mentally retarded adolescents and MA-matched nonretarded children participated in three experiments designed to examine differences in language-processing efficiency. A compressed speech technique was used in Experiments 1 and 2. Experiment 3 relied on a sentence-picture verification procedure. Our results suggest that retarded and nonretarded individuals differ in the speed with which they are able to execute the semantic-analytic processes but not necessarily the phonological encoding processes that are involved in auditory language comprehension. In addition, the data suggest a possible group difference in the quality of the semantic representation encoded during sentence processing.     

Gallibacterium anatis-secreted metalloproteases degrade chicken IgG.

Gallibacterium anatis (previously named Pasteurella haemolytica-like) is considered a normal inhabitant of genital and upper respiratory tracts of healthy chickens, but it is also associated with different pathological conditions. Secreted metalloproteases from field and reference G. anatis cultures were obtained by methanol precipitation and were characterized. Proteins of molecular mass higher than 100 kDa showing proteolytic activity were observed in 10% polyacrylamide gels copolymerized with 1% bovine casein. They were active at alkaline pH, and inhibited by ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid. Their activity was stable at 50 degrees C, but partially inhibited at 60 degrees C, and totally inhibited at higher temperatures. Secreted proteins were able to degrade chicken IgG after 24 h of incubation, and cross-reacted with a polyclonal antibody against purified protease from Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae. Secreted metalloproteases could play a role in infections caused by G. anatis.     

Maximized combined modality treatment of an unselected population of oral and oropharyngeal cancer patients. Final results of a pilot study compared with a treatment-dependent prognosis index.

BACKGROUND: In an attempt to raise the survival of an unselected and representative population of oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell cancer patients, a pilot study of an integrated four-modality treatment was conceived. Final endpoints were compliance, loco-regional control, survival (after complete 5-year follow-up), and a concept of trial assessment using the treatment-dependent prognostic index TPI. PATIENTS: Eighty-seven consecutive patients with histologically proven untreated stages I-IV disease presented in the period between 1997 and 1999 of whom 14 had to be considered uncurable and 73 were fit to be treated with the intention of achieving a cure. METHODS: All patients received one cycle of neoadjuvant intraarterial chemotherapy with 150 mg/m(2) cisplatin (systemically neutralized with sodium thiosulphate), and, if possible, by consecutive treatment applying both surgery of the primary tumour and the neck lymphatics, as well as by adjuvant radiation over 5 weeks (51.3 Gy) plus concurrent chemotherapy (weekly systemic docetaxel 25 mg/m(2)). RESULTS: Ninety per cent of all cases and 96% of the patients treated with curative intention received more than one modality due to study design. Patient non-compliance in the group treated with curative intention has been 18/73 (=25%), and protocol compliance has been 32/73 (=44%). The locoregional control rate for all cases was 71% (62/87 patients) and for the patients treated with curative intention 83.5% (61/73 patients). Thirteen/fourteen non-curable patients died after a mean period of 4 months. After a median observation time of 5 years, the final absolute survival of the unselected population was 53%, and of the patients treated with curative intention 62% (especially, 70% and 50% for patients with operable stages III and IV, respectively). CONCLUSION: The multimodality regimen as presented proved feasible and showed high objective and relative survival rates in comparison with known data from tumour registries of unselected populations. Intra-arterial chemotherapy should be considered a valuable addition to treatment. The potential of survival benefit from this multimodality regimen in comparison with the prognosis index TPI should be investigated in further studies.     

A Spanish version of the Family Assessment Device

Introduction  

This paper presents the results of a study on the psychometric properties of an authorized Spanish version of the McMaster Family Assessment Device, a self-report measure of family functioning.