Data sources for measuring colorectal endoscopy use among Medicare enrollees.

BACKGROUND: Estimates of colorectal cancer test use vary widely by data source. Medicare claims offer one source for monitoring test use, but their utility has not been validated. We compared ascertainment of sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy between three data sources: self reports, Medicare claims, and medical records. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study population included Medicare enrollees residing in North Carolina (n = 561) who had participated in a telephone survey on colorectal cancer tests. Medicare claims were obtained for the 5 years preceding the survey (January 1, 1998 to December 31, 2002). Information about sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy procedures conducted in physician offices were abstracted from medical records. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, agreement, and kappa statistics were calculated using the medical record as the gold standard. Agreement on specific procedure type and purpose was also assessed. RESULTS: Agreement between claim and medical record regarding whether an endoscopic procedure had been done was high (over 90%). Agreement between self report and medical record and between self report and claim was good (79% and 74%, respectively). All three data sources adequately distinguished the type of procedure done. None of the data sources showed reliable levels of agreement regarding procedure purpose (screening or diagnostic). CONCLUSION: Medicare claims can provide accurate information on whether a patient has undergone colorectal endoscopy and may be more complete than physician medical records. Medicare claims cannot be used to distinguish screening from diagnostic tests. Recognizing this limitation, researchers who use Medicare claims to assess rates of colorectal testing should include both screening and diagnostic endoscopy procedures in their analyses.     

Abnormalities of fine motor control in schizophrenia

Response time and fine motor control during a classification task were examined in schizophrenics and nonschizophrenics. The task involved decisions about either the sensory characteristics of auditory and visual stimuli or the referential meanings of spoken words and viewed pictures. Nonschizophrenics responded more quickly and exhibited a smoother and faster motor response on all tasks. Response time and motor control were influenced by stimulus modality and the complexity of the classification task in both groups. In the analysis of motor control, the schizophrenics differed from the nonschizophrenics in exhibiting a pattern suggestive of a specific difficulty with decisions involving referential meaning. The observed motor control dysfunction in schizophrenics is a psychomotor deficit similar to previously reported abnormalities in smooth pursuit eye movement. Further, the interaction of group and task variables in the motor response suggests that decisions about the abstract referential meaning of words and pictures produce greater cognitive loads in schizophrenics than in nonschizophrenics.     

Administered radiopharmaceutical doses in children: a survey of 13 pediatric hospitals in North America.

Universally applied standards for administering radiopharmaceutical doses in children do not presently exist. Hence, pediatric radiopharmaceutical dosimetry varies considerably from institution to institution and is generally based on the recommended adult dose adjusted for body mass. METHODS: We surveyed 13 pediatric hospitals in North America to obtain objective data on dosimetry practices for 16 pediatric nuclear medicine examinations, including the minimum total radiopharmaceutical administered dose per examination, the total administered dose based on body mass, and maximum total doses in children. RESULTS: The reported administered doses of radiopharmaceuticals to children vary over a relatively large range, especially with respect to minimum total administered doses. CONCLUSION: This survey has identified a broad range of administered doses directly leading to variability in radiation-absorbed doses to patients. The nuclear medicine community should develop pediatric standards for radiopharmaceutical administered doses and reduce radiation exposure in children, such as through the use of modern software reconstruction techniques.     

Developmental regulation of annexin II (Lipocortin 2) in human brain and expression in high grade glioma.

In experiments to identify molecules that might be important in the pathogenesis of glioblastoma multiforme, the most common malignant brain tumor, we found that annexin II (Lipocortin 2, p36), a likely second messenger in several different mitogenic pathways, was highly expressed in tumor tissue of glioblastoma multiforme (9 of 9) and highly anaplastic astrocytoma (2 of 6), but not in astrocytomas of lower pathological grade (0 of 6). We also detected high levels of annexin II expression in fetal brain during the period when radial glia proliferate, although annexin II expression was not detected in normal adult brain. These data demonstrate that annexin II expression is developmentally regulated in the human central nervous system and suggest that the early progenitor radial glia share important characteristics with highly malignant glial tumors.     

Implications of admission hypothermia in trauma patients

Hypothermia is common after severe injury, and has been associated with an increased mortality rate in patients stratified by anatomic indices of injury severity. In this retrospective study of 173 patients, early post-traumatic hypothermia was found to correlate with physiologic indicators of volume deficit, independently of the amount of intravenous fluid received. There was no correlation found between admission core temperature and time from injury, blood alcohol, or presence of severe closed head injury. Hypothermic patients (less than 35 degrees C) had a lower predicted probability of survival and a higher mortality rate than euthermic patients (greater than or equal to 35 degrees C). However, when patients were stratified by physiologic and anatomic indicators of injury severity, mortality rates among the euthermic and hypothermic patients were not significantly different. Early post-traumatic hypothermia does not appear to exert an independent effect upon outcome.     

Paramyosin is the Schistosoma mansoni (Trematoda) homologue of antigen B from Taenia solium (Cestoda)

Antigen B, a major antigen of the cestode parasite Taenia solium, has been purified and a portion of amino acid sequence obtained. Paramyosin of the trematode parasite Schistosoma mansoni, an immunogenic protein that has shown promise as a vaccine candidate, has several biochemical and immunological properties in common with antigen B. A full-length cDNA clone of S. mansoni paramyosin has been obtained and the predicted translation product contains a sequence that is highly homologous to the sequence obtained for antigen B. The predicted amino acid composition and isolectric point of paramyosin are nearly identical to those established for antigen B. Recombinant S. mansoni paramyosin, expressed in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein with beta-galactosidase, was recognized by antisera against T. solium antigen B. We conclude from these results that S. mansoni paramyosin and T. solium antigen B are homologous proteins. Since S. mansoni paramyosin is thought to be a muscle protein and T. solium antigen B a secreted glycoprotein with anti-complement activity, this conclusion raises some interesting questions regarding the role of this class of proteins in the host-parasite relationship.