The effects of surface roughness and surface area on the retention of crowns luted with zinc phosphate cement

The retention of cast gold crowns luted with zinc phosphate cement to smooth and rough surfaced extracted teeth was examined. No significant difference in retention was observed between smooth and rough surfaced teeth. A significant linear association existed between the surface area of the teeth tested and the retentive force but, statistically, area could not be used as a useful predictor for crown retention.     

Towards a rhetoric of spirituality in mental health care

The spiritual dimension of care is frequently alluded to in the nursing literature, but rarely examined in terms of what it means in practice or how it might be taught to students entering the profession. Some of those most in need of spiritual care are people suffering from mental illness or psychological distress. The aim of this paper is to explore the different meanings of spirituality and to suggest ways in which the spiritual care of clients can be implemented. It further recommends which aspects of spirituality could usefully be included in nursing curricula. The paper concludes by alerting nurses to the causes and manifestations of spiritual apathy in contemporary health care and calls for a rhetoric that will counter the jargon of cost analysis which currently prevails in the health services.     

Microelectrode voltage mapping for substrate assessment in catheter ablation of ventricular tachycardia: A dual-center experience

Introduction

The assessment of the ventricular myocardial substrate critically depends on the size of mapping electrodes, their orientation with respect to wavefront propagation, and interelectrode distance. We conducted a dual-center study to evaluate the impact of microelectrode mapping in patients undergoing catheter ablation (CA) of ventricular tachycardia (VT).

Methods

We included 21 consecutive patients (median age, 68 [12], 95% male) with structural heart disease undergoing CA for electrical storm (n = 14) or recurrent VT (n = 7) using the QDOT Micro catheter and a multipolar catheter (PentaRay, n = 9). The associations of peak-to-peak maximum standard bipolar (BV_c) and minibipolar (PentaRay, BV_p) with microbipolar (BV_μMax) voltages were respectively tested in sinus rhythm with mixed effect models. Furthermore, we compared the features of standard bipolar (BE) and microbipolar (μBE) electrograms in sinus rhythm at sites of termination with radiofrequency energy.

Results

BV_μMax was moderately associated with both BV_c (β = .85, p < .01) and BV_p (β = .56, p < .01). BV_μMax was 0.98 (95% CI: 0.93−1.04, p < .01) mV larger than corresponding BV_c, and 0.27 (95% CI: 0.16−0.37, p < .01) mV larger than matching BVp in sinus rhythm, with higher percentage differences in low voltage regions, leading to smaller endocardial dense scar (2.3 [2.7] vs. 12.1 [17] cm², p < .01) and border zone (3.2 [7.4] vs. 4.8 [20.1] cm², p = .03) regions in microbipolar maps compared to standard bipolar maps. Late potentials areas were nonsignificantly greater in microelectrode maps, compared to standard electrode maps. At sites of VT termination (n = 14), μBE were of higher amplitude (0.9 [0.8] vs. 0.4 [0.2] mV, p < .01), longer duration (117 [66] vs. 74 [38] ms, p < .01), and with greater number of peaks (4 [2] vs. 2 [1], p < .01) in sinus rhythm compared to BE.

Conclusion

microelectrode mapping is more sensitive than standard bipolar mapping in the identification of viable myocytes in SR, and may facilitate recognition of targets for CA.     

An eQTL-based method identifies CTTN and ZMAT3 as pemetrexed susceptibility markers

Pemetrexed, approved for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma, has adverse effects including neutropenia, leucopenia, thrombocytopenia, anemia, fatigue and nausea. The results we report here represent the first genome-wide study aimed at identifying genetic predictors of pemetrexed response. We utilized expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) mapping combined with drug-induced cytotoxicity data to gain mechanistic insights into the observed genetic associations with pemetrexed susceptibility. We found that CTTN and ZMAT3 expression signature explained >30% of the pemetrexed susceptibility phenotype variation for pemetrexed in the discovery population. Replication using PCR and a semi-high-throughput, scalable assay system confirmed the initial discovery results in an independent set of samples derived from the same ancestry. Furthermore, functional validation in both germline and tumor cells demonstrates a decrease in cell survival following knockdown of CTTN or ZMAT3. In addition to our particular findings on genetic and gene expression predictors of susceptibility phenotype for pemetrexed, the work presented here will be valuable to the robust discovery and validation of genetic determinants and gene expression signatures of various chemotherapeutic susceptibilities.     

Correlation of putative iron content as represented by changes in R2* and phase with age in deep gray matter of healthy adults

Purpose:

To establish a correlation between putative iron content using susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) phase and T2* weighted magnitude values in the basal ganglia and the thalamus as a function of age in healthy human brains.

Materials and Methods:

One hundred healthy adults (range, 20–69 years; mean, 43 years) were evaluated for this study using a gradient echo sequence. The original magnitude and high pass filtered phase data were analyzed as proxy variables for iron content in the substantia nigra, red nucleus, globus pallidus, putamen, caudate nucleus, thalamus, and pulvinar thalamus. Each structure was broken into two parts, a high iron content region and a low iron content region.

Results:

Both magnitude and phase data showed an increase in putative iron content with age. However, the high iron content region revealed two new pieces of information: both the average iron content per pixel and the area of high iron increased with age. Furthermore, significant increase in iron uptake as a function of age was found past the age of 40.

Conclusion:

A two region of interest analysis of iron is a much more sensitive means to evaluate iron content change over time. Contrary to the current belief that iron content increases level off with age, the putative iron deposition in the high iron content region is seen to increase with age. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2010;32:561–576. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.