Efficacy and safety of a thermal fractional skin rejuvenation system (Tixel) for the treatment of facial and/or scalp actinic keratoses

Lasers in Medical Science - Actinic keratoses are common cutaneous lesions with a potential to progress to invasive squamous cell carcinoma. Therefore, treatment is crucial. The Tixel® is a...     

Oral contraceptives and colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND: Only limited information and understanding are available on the potential relation between oral contraceptive use and the risk of colorectal cancer. Further data on the issue are therefore useful and may help informed choice of contraception. METHODS AND RESULTS: Data were derived from a case-control study of colorectal cancer conducted between 1992 and 2001 in the Swiss Canton of Vaud, including 131 women with colorectal cancer and 373 controls admitted in the same hospital as the cases with diagnosis of acute, non-neoplastic disease, unrelated to long-term modification of diet. Oral contraceptive use was reported by 11% of cases versus 17% of controls, corresponding to multivariate odds ratio of 0.8 (95% CI: 0.4-1.7). The odds ratio was non-significantly below unity across strata of duration, time since first and last oral contraceptive use. CONCLUSION: These findings add further evidence on a possible inverse relation between oral contraceptive and colorectal cancer risk.     

Lessons from the "Euro-Lupus Cohort"

The "Euro-Lupus Cohort" is composed by 1,000 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) that have been followed prospectively since 1991. These patients have been gathered by a European consortium - the "Euro-Lupus Project Group". This consortium was originated as part of the network promoted by the "European Working Party on SLE", a working group created in 1990 in order to promote research in Europe on the different problems related to this disease. The "Euro-Lupus Cohort" provides an updated information on the SLE morbidity and mortality characteristics in the present decade as well as defines several clinical and immunological prognostic factors.     

A McLeod phenotype detected by random screening for K:-4 [Kp(b-)] blood donors in Brazil

BACKGROUND:  The red blood cells of the McLeod phenotype have weak expression of Kell System antigens due to no expression of XK protein.
STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS:  One blood donor reacted as K:-4 [Kp(b–)] during a screening assay. Subsequent serologic studies demonstrated weak expression of K:4 and all other high-incidence Kell system antigens tested; however, no expression of Kx antigen was observed.
RESULTS:  One apparently healthy blood donor demonstrated low expression of K:2, K:4, K:5, K:7, K:14, K:22, and no Kx antigen in his red blood cells. His brother and mother showed the same weak expression, and his father showed normal expression of antigens tested. Flow cytometry studies confirmed the mother's status as a McLeod carrier female. Genotyping determined the presence of KEL2 and KEL4 alleles in mother and siblings. Southern blot with an exon-1 probe showed fragments shorter than predicted for the siblings and the mother, suggesting a deletion. Polymerase chain reaction with primers spanning exon 1 and flanking regions displayed a similar pattern. Deoxyribonucleic acid sequence allowed the precise characterization of a deletion of 392 bp, beginning at the 5' of the coding region up to nucleotide 201 of exon 1, which putatively abrogates the production of XK protein.
CONCLUSION:  Two brothers with McLeod phenotype in a Brazilian blood-donor population were identified. The molecular basis for this phenotype is a 392-bp deletion spanning from 5' of the coding region to exon 1 of the XK gene, never described before.     

A prediction model of 1-year mortality for acute ischemic stroke patients

OBJECTIVE: To develop a prediction model for 1-year mortality in patients with acute ischemic stroke, with the model to be at least as useful and accurate as other previously developed prediction models. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Neurology department at an Australian tertiary teaching hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Four hundred forty consecutive patients diagnosed with acute ischemic stroke between July 1, 1995, and June 30, 1997. INTERVENTIONS: Two hundred twenty-three (51%) patients were randomly assigned to the derivation sample to develop a prediction model using the Cox proportional hazards model. The model was then validated in a validation sample of 217 (49%) patients.Main Outcome Measure: One-year mortality. RESULTS: Eight clinical predictors were included in the final model: unconsciousness (3 points), dysphagia (7 points), urinary incontinence (9 points), both sides affected (4 points), hyperthermia (4 points), ischemic heart disease (3 points), peripheral vascular disease (3 points), and diabetes mellitus (2 points). Patients with scores of 10 or higher were allocated to the high-risk group, which had a 1-year mortality rate of 76%, compared with a 1-year mortality rate of 8% in the low-risk group. There was no statistically significant difference in terms of sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value in the validation sample. CONCLUSION: We developed a predictive model for 1-year mortality in acute ischemic stroke patients. The model is easy to use and is comparable in its accuracy with other predictive models.     

Preliminary results of evaluation of progress in chemotherapy for childhood leukemia patients employing Fourier-transform infrared microspectroscopy and cluster analysis

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common malignancy in children, but remarkable progress in methods of chemotherapy has increased the cure rate to 80%. The leukemic cells called blasts are eliminated within 7 days of chemotherapy. Clinically, the blast count is monitored directly with the use of blood smears on the basis of specific genetic markers and immunophenotyping methods such as flow cytometry. In this article, we present preliminary results, obtained with the use of Fourier-transform infrared microspectroscopy and cluster analysis, of an approach to monitoring the progress made with chemotherapy in 1 B-cell and 2 T-cell pediatric ALL patients. Our results indicated that the biological marker derived from the spectra did not provide accurate prediction of the progress made with chemotherapy. However, cluster analysis of FTIR-MSP spectra provided good classification of the samples with and without blasts, which correlate satisfactorily with clinical data. Extensive studies are required to substantiate our findings statistically which may have potential application of FTIM in the diagnosis and follow-up of various types of malignancies.