Vestibular hair cells isolated from guinea pig labyrinth

Living sensory cells were isolated from the cristae ampullaris and macula utriculi of the guinea pig. Enzymatic and mechanical dissociation were used to obtain different populations of hair cells, the most predominant being type I cells. Their form varied: cell body of variable roundness, and neck and cilia of different lengths. The observation of many tilted cuticular plates supports the hypothesis of active mechanisms regulating mechanotransduction at the apex of these cells. Cell viability was verified by double fluorescent labeling (FDA-PI), which indicated that under correct conditions about 90% of the sensory cells could be maintained in vitro for several hours after dissociation. The detection of actin in the cuticular plate and cilia shows that the technique has various potential applications in morphological studies, and can contribute to investigations on the physiology of mammalian vestibular cells.     

PSA kinetics and PSA bounce following permanent seed prostate brachytherapy

PURPOSE: To report the incidence, timing, and magnitude of the benign prostate-specific antigen (PSA) bounce after 125I prostate brachytherapy and correlate the bounce with clinical and/or dosimetric factors. METHODS AND MATERIALS: From March 1999 to August 2003, a total of 292 men received 125I prostate brachytherapy without androgen deprivation or supplemental beam radiotherapy and have PSA follow-up >30 months. Implants were preplanned using transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) and performed under transrectal ultrasound/fluoroscopy guidance using preloaded needles. A PSA bounce is defined as an increase >or=0.2 ng/ml with spontaneous return to prebounce level or lower. RESULTS: Resolved PSA bounces were seen in 40% of men with follow-up >30 months. Median onset was 15 months, and median magnitude was 0.76 ng/ml. Magnitude >2 ng/ml was seen in 15%. The only clinical or dosimetric factor predictive of bounce in multivariate analysis was younger age. Median time to increasing PSA level indicative of failure was 30 months. CONCLUSIONS: Benign PSA bounces are common after 125I prostate brachytherapy, especially in younger men. An increase >2 ng/ml above the nadir was seen in 15%. Magnitude of increase does not distinguish bounce from failure. Time to the start of the PSA increase can be helpful, but is not absolute. The PSA bounce does not predict subsequent failure. Caution is advised in interpreting an early increasing PSA level in the first 30 months after 125I brachytherapy in favorable-risk patients.     

Quantitative analysis of breast cancer tissue microarrays shows high cox-2 expression is associated with poor outcome

Epidemiologic and preclinical studies suggest that cyclooxygenase-2 (Cox-2) may promote tumor growth and spread by affecting angiogenesis and apoptosis in breast cancer. Using a tissue microarray (TMA), we analyzed the expression and subcellular localization of Cox-2 by AQUA and X-tile, our algorithms for quantitative analysis of protein expression and determination of optimal cutpoints. Our TMA consisted of 669 Stage I-III primary breast cancers. The total tumor and subcellular expression of Cox-2 were then correlated with clinicopathologic factors and with survival. Cox-2 expression appeared higher in malignant than in benign tissue and was predominantly membrane/cytoplasmic (i.e. non-nuclear). X-tile determines an optimum cutpoint on a training set then uses this cutpoint on a validation set. This cutpoint was 19.3 (top 44 percent defined as positive) with high nonnuclear Cox-2 expressers having significantly worse survival. Cox-2 expression also was inversely associated with estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR), and directly associated with nuclear grade. Multivariate analysis showed that Cox-2 remained a significant prognostic factor for survival independent of tumor size, nodal status, ER, Her2/neu, and grade. In summary, Cox-2 is overexpressed in breast neoplasms, is associated with other markers of poor prognosis, and is significantly associated with worse survival independent of known prognostic factors. Furthermore, AQUA and X-tile analysis suggest an optimal cutpoint that may be helpful in future investigations of Cox-2 and specifically, in studies looking at its expression as a predictive biomarker in clinical trials of Cox-2 inhibitors in breast cancer.     

Implications of an advice-giving and teacher role on language production in adults with dementia

PURPOSE: The purpose of the two studies described in this paper was to assess whether adults with dementia could assume an advice-giving role (Study 1) and a teacher role (Study 2) despite their cognitive impairments. So far, no research on adults with dementia has compared language production in a social conversation condition with that in an advice-giving condition. Moreover, there are no data on language production in cognitively intact adults and in adults with dementia in a teaching situation (e.g., a cooking task). DESIGN AND METHODS: In Study 1, we used a within-groups design in order to compare language production in advice-giving and social conversation conditions. In Study 2, we used a between-groups design in order to compare language production in older adults with and without dementia. Measures in Study 1 were the occurrence of imperatives, discourse-building components, and discourse deficits. Measures in Study 2 yielded information on teacher-role implementation, cooking-related discourse, general discourse, discourse deficits, and experimenter-related discourse. RESULTS: We found role-consistent discourse components in Study 1 as indicated by the number of imperatives in the advice-giving condition. Additionally, discourse production showed a higher occurrence of discourse builders and a lower occurrence of discourse deficits in the advice-giving than in the social conversation condition. Findings in Study 2 indicated that both cognitively intact older adults and adults with dementia successfully taught students to prepare the recipes. However, the experimenter needed to prompt the adults with dementia more often than they did the older adults without dementia in order to get them to finish the cooking task. IMPLICATIONS: Both studies demonstrate that preserved discourse and role-related abilities in adults with dementia may allow these individuals to engage in interactions involving active, established social roles. This outcome may contribute to the establishment of effective practices in which adults with dementia can demonstrate preserved skills during activities and in social interactions with others.     

The temporal binding deficit hypothesis of autism

Frith has argued that people with autism show "weak central coherence," an unusual bias toward piecemeal rather than configurational processing and a reduction in the normal tendency to process information in context. However, the precise cognitive and neurological mechanisms underlying weak central coherence are still unknown. We propose the hypothesis that the features of autism associated with weak central coherence result from a reduction in the integration of specialized local neural networks in the brain caused by a deficit in temporal binding. The visuoperceptual anomalies associated with weak central coherence may be attributed to a reduction in synchronization of high-frequency gamma activity between local networks processing local features. The failure to utilize context in language processing in autism can be explained in similar terms. Temporal binding deficits could also contribute to executive dysfunction in autism and to some of the deficits in socialization and communication.     

Don't let the grievance process cause grief

Faculty in a division of nursing at a state university has developed a unique way to handle student grievances. Community nurses serve on arbitration boards. These boards hear relevant evidence from both sides and render decisions, which are binding within the division. The process has been successful and has helped take "grief" out of the grievance process.