Evaluation of cone-beam computed tomography diagnostic image quality using cluster signal-to-noise analysis

Oral Radiology - (1) We sought to assess correlation among four representative parameters from a cluster signal-to-noise curve (true-positive rate [TPR] corresponding to background noise, accuracy...     

Angiotensin-(1-7) does not affect vasodilator or TPA responses to bradykinin in human forearm

Studies in isolated vessels and rat models of hypertension suggest that angiotensin (Ang)-(1-7) potentiates the vasodilator effect of bradykinin, possibly through ACE inhibition. We therefore tested the hypothesis that Ang-(1-7) potentiates the vasodilator or tissue plasminogen activator (TPA) response to bradykinin in the human forearm vasculature. Graded doses of Ang-(1-7) (10, 100, and 300 pmol/min), bradykinin (47, 94, and 189 pmol/min), and Ang I (1, 10, and 30 pmol/min) were administered through the brachial artery to 8 normotensive subjects in random order. Thirty minutes after initiation of a constant infusion of Ang-(1-7) (100 pmol/min), bradykinin and Ang I infusions were repeated. There were no systemic hemodynamic effects of the agonists. Bradykinin significantly increased forearm blood flow (P<0.001, from 3.8+/-0.5 to 13.9+/-3.1 mL/min per 100 mL at 189 pmol/min) and net TPA release (P=0.007, from 1.1+/-1.0 to 23.6+/-6.2 ng/min per 100 mL at 189 pmol/min), whereas Ang I caused vasoconstriction (P=0.003, from 3.3+/-0.4 to 2.5+/-0.3 mL/min per 100 mL at 30-pmol/min dose). There was no effect of Ang-(1-7) on either forearm blood flow (P=0.62, 3.3+/-0.4 to 3.5+/-0.4 mL/min per 100 mL at 300 pmol/min) or TPA release (P=0.52, from 0.7+/-0.8 to 1.0+/-0.7 ng/min/100 mL at 300 pmol/min). Moreover, there was no effect of 100 pmol/min Ang-(1-7) on the vasodilator [P=0.46 for Ang-(1-7) effect] or TPA [P=0.82 for Ang-(1-7) effect] response to bradykinin or the vasoconstrictor response to Ang I [P=0.62 for Ang-(1-7) effect]. These data do not support a role of Ang-(1-7), given at supraphysiological doses, in the regulation of human peripheral vascular resistance or fibrinolysis.     

Weapon carrying among inner-city junior high school students: defensive behavior vs aggressive delinquency.

OBJECTIVES. The purpose of this study was to estimate associations between beliefs and experiences hypothesized to be related to weapon carrying among youths. METHODS. Students in two inner-city junior high schools completed anonymous questionnaires. Logistic regression models were fit for having ever carried a weapon for protection or use in a fight and were stratified by sex and weapon type. RESULTS. Among males, 47% had carried knives and 25% had carried guns. Key risk factors for knife carrying were being threatened with a knife, getting into fights, and disbelief that having a weapon increases the carrier's risk of injury. Gun carrying was associated with having been arrested, knowing more victims of violence, starting fights, and being willing to justify shooting someone. Among females, 37% had carried a knife; knowing many victims of violence and being willing to justify shooting someone predicted knife carrying. CONCLUSIONS. Knife carrying was associated with aggressiveness but did not appear to be related to serious delinquency. Gun carrying within this nonrandom sample appeared to be a component of highly aggressive delinquency rather than a purely defensive behavior.     

Epidemiologic changes in gunshot wounds in Washington, DC, 1983-1990.

The purpose of this study was to examine temporal patterns in gunshot wound admission rates and wound profiles from 1983 through 1990 at a level I trauma center in Washington, DC. Data on trauma admissions were collected at the time of admission. Records were reviewed to identify patients admitted for gunshot wounds from assaults. Data on the number and location of entrance gunshot wounds, survival, complications, length of stay in the intensive care unit, and total inpatient days were recorded. Admissions due to gunshot wounds grew at an exponential rate beginning in 1987 and reached a level from 1989 through 1990 three times higher than the preepidemic rate. The mean number of entrance gunshot wounds per patient grew from 1.44 before the epidemic to 2.04 from 1988 through 1990. Multiple thoracic wounds became relatively more common from 1988 through 1990. This increase was partially responsible for reversing a downward trend in patient mortality. Temporal changes in admission rates and wound profiles were consistent with the city's epidemic of drug-related violence and with a shift in weaponry toward high-capacity, semiautomatic handguns.     

Divalent cation dependent phosphorylation of proteins in squid giant axon

In vitro and in situ (after intracellular infusion) incubation of axoplasm from the squid giant axon with [gamma-32P]ATP produces a phosphorylation of primarily two proteins (of mol.wt. 200,000 and greater than 400,000). The phosphorylation of these proteins is stimulated by Mg2+, inhibited by Ca2+, and unaffected by 10(-7) to 10(-5) M cyclic nucleotides. The 200 kdalton and greater than 400 kdalton phosphorylated peaks appear to be neurofilament proteins, and phosphorylation of these peaks in situ is decreased by electrical stimulation of the axon.     

Serving the enterprise and beyond with informatics for integrating biology and the bedside (i2b2)

Informatics for Integrating Biology and the Bedside (i2b2) is one of seven projects sponsored by the NIH Roadmap National Centers for Biomedical Computing (http://www.ncbcs.org). Its mission is to provide clinical investigators with the tools necessary to integrate medical record and clinical research data in the genomics age, a software suite to construct and integrate the modern clinical research chart. i2b2 software may be used by an enterprise''s research community to find sets of interesting patients from electronic patient medical record data, while preserving patient privacy through a query tool interface. Project-specific mini-databases (“data marts”) can be created from these sets to make highly detailed data available on these specific patients to the investigators on the i2b2 platform, as reviewed and restricted by the Institutional Review Board. The current version of this software has been released into the public domain and is available at the URL: http://www.i2b2.org/software.     

A phase I study of the pharmacokinetic and safety profiles of oral pazopanib with a high-fat or low-fat meal in patients with advanced solid tumors

Pazopanib is an oral angiogenesis inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor, platelet-derived growth factor receptor, and cytokine receptor. This open-label, randomized, crossover, phase I study evaluated the effect of low- and high-fat meals on the pharmacokinetics (PK) of pazopanib in patients with advanced solid tumors. Patients participated in either the lead-in cohort or randomized food-effect cohort. Patients in the lead-in cohort were administered a single dose of pazopanib 400 mg with a high-fat meal. Patients in the food-effect cohort were randomized to receive single doses of pazopanib 800 mg in fed condition (high- or low-fat meal) or fasting condition, in random sequence 14 days apart. After completion of the study, patients were given the opportunity to continue treatment with daily pazopanib 800 mg. Administration of pazopanib with both low- and high-fat meals increased maximum observed plasma concentration (C(max)) and area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) by approximately twofold as compared with the corresponding values when administered to patients in the fasted condition. Therefore, pazopanib should be administered to patients in the fasted state so as to minimize within- and between-day variability in the systemic exposure to pazopanib in patients with cancer.