The Impact of Community Diversity and Consolidated Inequality on Dropping Out of High School

Abstract: Data from the National Education Longitudinal Study were combined with census data at the zip code level to examine the impact of neighborhood racial and ethnic diversity and consolidated inequality, in addition to individual, family, and school factors, on the likelihood of dropping out of high school. Results indicate that while the effects for diversity and consolidated inequality did not support the stated hypotheses, main effects for family risk and prior academic achievement were significant and in the stated direction. Also, when controlling for individual, family, school, and neighborhood characteristics, African Americans were less likely than White students to drop out of school. Implications for contextual effects research and educational outcomes are discussed.     

Anxiety in medically III patients

Anxiety disorders and anxiety symptoms are highly prevalent in the general population and more so in the medically ill. They have a number of negative consequences for these patients and may worsen the outcome of the medical illness and increase health care utilization. In the evaluation of these patients, it is of paramount importance to identify the etiology of the anxiety and, in particular, to differentiate primary from secondary anxiety. Management includes medications (especially benzodiazepines and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) and psychotherapy (particularly cognitive-behavioral therapy).     

A presenilin 1 mutation (L420R) in a family with early onset Alzheimer disease,seizures and cotton wool plaques,but not spastic paraparesis

Over 100 mutations in the presenilin‐1 gene (PSEN1) have been shown to result in familial early onset Alzheimer disease (EOAD), but only a relatively few give rise to plaques with an appearance like cotton wool (CWP) and/or spastic paraparesis (SP). A family with EOAD, seizures and CWP was investigated by neuropathological study and DNA sequencing of the PSEN1 gene. Aβ was identified in leptomeningeal vessels and in cerebral plaques. A single point mutation, p.L420R (g.1508T > G) that gives rise to a missense mutation in the eighth transmembrane (TM8) domain of PS1 was identified in two affected members of the family. p.L420R (g.1508T > G) is the mutation responsible for EOAD, seizures and CWP without SP in this family.     

A profile of invasive cutaneous malignant melanoma in Malta: 1993–2002

BACKGROUND: The incidence of malignant melanoma of the skin has risen in every part of the world where reliable cancer registration data are found. OBJECTIVE: Our study aims to describe the changing incidence of and survival from invasive cutaneous malignant melanoma in Malta, by analysing the data from the 211 cases that were registered at the Malta National Cancer Registry between 1993 and 2002. RESULTS: The age standardized incidence rates for invasive cutaneous malignant melanoma rose from 3.7 per 100,000 population per year for males and 5.1 for females in the first 5-year period, to 8.0 per 100,000 population per year for males and 5.9 for females in the second 5-year period. In both sexes, numbers of thin (< or = 1.0 mm) invasive melanomas increased significantly between 1993 and 2002; males also registered a significant increase in intermediate-thickness (1.01-4.0 mm) melanomas. The increase in numbers of thin and intermediate-thickness melanomas between the two 5-year periods was greatest in patients aged 60 years and over. The overall absolute 5-year survival rate for the first period was 74% and for the second period 92%. CONCLUSION: Numbers of reported cases of invasive cutaneous malignant melanoma in Malta have more than doubled during the 10-year study period. This is mostly due to a marked rise in the diagnosis of thin melanomas in both sexes, occurring mainly in patients aged 60 years and over. As thin melanomas are of low metastasizing potential, this has resulted in an increase in survival between the two 5-year study periods.     

Distribution patterns of transforaminal injections in the cervical spine evaluated by multi-slice computed tomography

Transforaminal injections are sometimes used for the diagnosis and treatment of painful conditions in the lumbar and to a lesser degree in the cervical spine. The technique is most often used when investigating/treating radiculopathy caused by degenerative disease. But how selective are the nerve root blocks? What possible structures other than the intended nerve root are affected from such injections? This study was undertaken in order to try to answer these questions, as no study focusing on the possible spread from the transforaminal selective nerve root blocks in the cervical spine has been performed earlier. In three groups of patients, each group including three patients, we injected three different volumes (0.6, 1.1 and 1.7 ml) with a transforaminal technique in the cervical spine. In all the injections, a small amount of contrast media was added. The spread of the injections were then investigated using multi-slice computed tomography with reconstructions. The imaging revealed a possible effect on other nerve roots than the intended ones when a larger volume was used for the root blocks. The spread was related to the injected volume as well as to local anatomy (size of foraminal area). In this study, only 0.6-ml injections could be accepted for being selective enough for diagnostic investigations.     

The development of a laparoscopic donor nephrectomy program in a de novo renal transplant program: Evolution of technique and results in over 200 cases.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In 1999, our institution began a kidney transplant program with collaboration between the departments of General Surgery/Transplantation and Urology. From the onset, donor nephrectomies were performed laparoscopically and are currently the domain of Urology, which had no prior laparoscopic experience before this undertaking. We reviewed our experience. METHODS: A database of our experience was kept prospectively from June 1999 to November 2004. Records of both donors and recipients were reviewed. Special attention was directed toward our changes in technique and their relationship to outcomes, with emphasis on graft extraction and overall complication rates. RESULTS: We reviewed the records of 205 consecutive procedures. We report excellent donor outcomes, including mean operative time (112 minutes), estimated blood loss (120 mL), and length of stay (2.3 days). Complication (14.1%) and open conversion (1.5%) rates were low. For the recipients, early (98.0%) and 1-year (94.7%) graft survival, and ureteral ischemia (2.4%) rates were also appropriate with contemporary experience. CONCLUSIONS: We report our results on laparoscopic donor nephrectomy in a de novo renal transplant program. Because of this experience, we have ventured into other horizons of urologic laparoscopy and currently produce enough volume to support a laparoscopic fellowship. We feel that a productive donor nephrectomy program can enhance urologic laparoscopic programs and should be taken advantage of when available.     

166Ho-DOTMP radiation-absorbed dose estimation for skeletal targeted radiotherapy.

166Ho-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetramethylene-phosphonate (DOTMP) is a tetraphosphonate molecule radiolabeled with 166Ho that localizes to bone surfaces. This study evaluated pharmacokinetics and radiation-absorbed dose to all organs from this beta-emitting radiopharmaceutical. METHODS: After two 1.1-GBq administrations of 166Ho-DOTMP, data from whole-body counting using a gamma-camera or uptake probe were assessed for reproducibility of whole-body retention in 12 patients with multiple myeloma. The radiation-absorbed dose to normal organs was estimated using MIRD methodology, applying residence times and S values for 166Ho. Marrow dose was estimated from measured activity retained after 18 h. The activity to deliver a therapeutic dose of 25 Gy to the marrow was determined. Methods based on region-of-interest (ROI) and whole-body clearance were evaluated to estimate kidney activity, because the radiotracer is rapidly excreted in the urine. The dose to the surface of the bladder wall was estimated using a dynamic bladder model. RESULTS: In clinical practice, gamma-camera methods were more reliable than uptake probe-based methods for whole-body counting. The intrapatient variability of dose calculations was less than 10% between the 2 tracer studies. Skeletal uptake of 166Ho-DOTMP varied from 19% to 39% (mean, 28%). The activity of 166Ho prescribed for therapy ranged from 38 to 67 GBq (1,030-1,810 mCi). After high-dose therapy, the estimates of absorbed dose to the kidney varied from 1.6 to 4 Gy using the whole-body clearance-based method and from 8.3 to 17.3 Gy using the ROI-based method. Bladder dose ranged from 10 to 20 Gy, bone surface dose ranged from 39 to 57 Gy, and doses to other organs were less than 2 Gy for all patients. Repetitive administration had no impact on tracer biodistribution, pharmacokinetics, or organ dose. CONCLUSION: Pharmacokinetics analysis validated gamma-camera whole-body counting of 166Ho as an appropriate approach to assess clearance and to estimate radiation-absorbed dose to normal organs except the kidneys. Quantitative gamma-camera imaging is difficult and requires scatter subtraction because of the multiple energy emissions of 166Ho. Kidney dose estimates were approximately 5-fold higher when the ROI-based method was used rather than the clearance-based model, and neither appeared reliable. In future clinical trials with 166Ho-DOTMP, we recommend that dose estimation based on the methods described here be used for all organs except the kidneys. Assumptions for the kidney dose require further evaluation.     

PET imaging of the dopamine transporter with 18F-FECNT: a polar radiometabolite confounds brain radioligand measurements.

18F-2beta-Carbomethoxy-3beta-(4-chlorophenyl)-8-(2-fluoroethyl)nortropane (18F-FECNT), a PET radioligand for the dopamine transporter (DAT), generates a radiometabolite that enters the rat brain. The aims of this study were to characterize this radiometabolite and to determine whether a similar phenomenon occurs in human and nonhuman primate brains by examining the stability of the apparent distribution volume in DAT-rich (striatum) and DAT-poor (cerebellum) regions of the brain. METHODS: Two rats were infused with 18F-FECNT and sacrificed at 60 min. Extracts of brain and plasma were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometric (LC-MS) techniques. Two human participants and 3 rhesus monkeys were injected with 18F-FECNT and scanned kinetically, with serial arterial blood analysis. RESULTS: At 60 min after the injection of rats, 18F-FECNT accumulated to levels about 7 times higher in the striatum than in the cortex and cerebellum. The radiometabolite was distributed at equal concentrations in all brain regions. The LC-MS techniques identified N-dealkylated FECNT as a major metabolite in the rat brain, and reverse-phase HPLC detected an equivalent amount of radiometabolite eluting with the void volume. The radiometabolite likely was 18F-fluoroacetaldehyde, the product expected from the N-dealkylation of 18F-FECNT, or its oxidation product, 18F-fluoroacetic acid. The distribution volume in the cerebellum increased up to 1.7-fold in humans between 60 and 300 min after injection and 2.0 +/- 0.1-fold (mean +/- SD; n = 3) in nonhuman primates between 60 and 240 min after injection. CONCLUSION: An 18F-fluoroalkyl metabolite of 18F-FECNT originating in the periphery confounded the measurements of DAT in the rat brain with a reference tissue model. Its uniform distribution across brain regions suggests that it has negligible affinity for DAT (i.e., it is an inactive radiometabolite). Consistent with the rodent data, the apparent distribution volume in the cerebellum of both humans and nonhuman primates showed a continual increase at late times after injection, a result that may be attributed to entry of the radiometabolite into the brain. Thus, reference tissue modeling of 18F-FECNT will be prone to more errors than analysis with a measured arterial input function.     

Laparoscopy in transplantation.

BACKGROUND: Solid-organ transplantation has become the treatment of choice for patients with end-stage renal disease, end-stage liver failure, and some patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Similarly, surgical expertise and mechanical improvements have led to significant advances in laparoscopic surgery. Laparoscopic interventions are sometimes not pursued in transplant recipients due to the lack of strong supporting evidence for the use of laparoscopic techniques in these patients. METHODS: Using an extensive literature search, we review herein the available data on the utility of laparoscopic interventions in transplant recipients, with particular attention to the risks and benefits, indications, and contraindications for this complex patient population. RESULTS: Although randomized trials are few, multiple case reports indicate that many transplant recipients have benefited from laparoscopic interventions. CONCLUSION: The well-known benefits of laparoscopy could be extended to transplant recipients.