"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger": an ovarian cancer survivor survey.

OBJECTIVES: This survey was designed to learn more about the physical health and quality of life of ovarian cancer survivors without known active disease and not on treatment. METHODS: Women with ovarian cancer without evidence of active disease, and not on treatment for at least 2 years, were recruited in Canada and the United States from university cancer clinics, community ovarian support groups, and a cancer survivor network newsletter and asked to complete an anonymous mail-back survey on their physical, psychological, social, and spiritual well-being. RESULTS: Two-hundred (67.5%) women responded. Their mean age was 55.3 years, 72.5% had children, and they had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer a mean of 7.2 years previously. Eighty-nine percent regarded their health as good or excellent, but 53.5% had current pain or discomfort. They reported better mental health and equivalent energy levels to the general population. Although 57% reported that their sex lives had been negatively affected by cancer and its treatment, their overall sense of loss relating to sexual functioning was moderate to low. However, women under age 55 years reported a greater sense of loss about sexual function and fertility (P = 0.001). Most women reported that their ovarian cancer experience had changed their views on life and relationships in an overwhelmingly positive way. CONCLUSION: Most ovarian cancer survivors, despite some symptoms, enjoyed good physical, psychological, social, and spiritual health. Specific concerns emerged about sexuality which should be addressed in patient education. Having survived a life-threatening illness, ovarian cancer survivors appear to have put other life difficulties into perspective, altered their priorities, and felt enriched by the experience. In general, these women showed impressive and inspiring resilience and reported good physical health and energy, excellent psychological health, and feelings of greater pleasure in life and personal relationships.     

Erosive mucosal lichen planus and secondary epiphora responding to systemic cyclosporin A treatment

Erosive mucosal lichen planus (LP) is a well-established variant of LP characterized by the formation of ulcerative lesions predominantly involving the oral and genital mucosae. Less commonly, this condition may involve oesophageal and/or ocular mucosal surfaces, and case reports within the ophthalmology literature have recently confirmed the potential for this condition to affect the nasolacrimal ducts. We report the case of a woman with severe cicatrizing mucosal LP and ocular symptoms secondary to presumed nasolacrimal duct involvement. We also report the potential for this newly appreciated manifestation of LP to respond to systemic cyclosporin A.     

采用RITQ综合评定婴儿气质的报告

采用Ｃａｒｅｙ的ＲＩＴＱ为４－８个月婴儿气质的测查工具，结合专人问卷与观察，对４００名婴儿的气质进行了综合评定，结果表明：九个气质因子的重测信度为０．７７－０．９０，多数气质因子间存在着显著的相关，相关系数为０．１０－０．５９。大、小婴儿活动水平、接近－退缩、适应及反应强度四个气质因子存在差异。气质类型与国外同龄婴儿及国内学前儿童的分布相接近。提示采用ＲＩＴＱ综合评定婴儿气质的信度和效度较好，可用于我国婴儿的气质测查及研究。     

Pharmacological characteristics and species-related variations of β3-adrenergic receptors

Summary— Beta-adrenergic receptors (β/-AR) belong to the large multigenic family of receptors coupled to GTP-binding proteins. Three subtypes have been identified: β₁-, β₂- and β₃-AR. Much of the work delineating the precise pharmacological comparison of the three β-ARs has come from investigations with stably transfected Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO cells). This review discusses the structure and function of β₃-AR in various species and presents new findings on a number of β₃-AR ligands including carazolol, tertatolol and CL 316,243 which were found to be selective and potent β₃-AR agonists and ZD 2079 and salmeterol which appear to display full but non-subtype selective agonistic activity. Species-related variations of the β₃-AR pharmacology have been shown for propranolol and bupranolol. With the ongoing characterization of the β₃-AR at the molecular and cellular level, and with the advent of computer-assisted molecular modelling to aid in the determination of the three-dimensional structure of the receptor, it is thought that novel β₃-AR compounds will become available with improved selectivity and potency.     

Nasal IgA response in wheezy infants

It is unknown why some infants wheeze during upper respiratory tract infections. One possibility is that secretory IgA, which has a major role in mucosal defence against viral infection, might be deficient in wheezy infants. The nasal IgA response to upper respiratory tract infection in 32 wheezy infants (median age 5.8 months) was compared with nine siblings (median age 2.6 years) who had nasal symptoms only. Nasal lavage was performed during infections and on follow up when free from symptoms, using inulin as a marker of dilution to determine absolute concentrations of IgA in the nasal secretions. The two groups showed a similar increase in total IgA and total protein levels during infection, but secretory IgA concentrations were unchanged. This study shows that wheezy infants have a normal nasal IgA response to infection and that the increase in total IgA during early infection is due to plasma exudation rather than increased production of secretory IgA.     

Gestational age correction for height in preterm children to seven years of age

Correction for gestational age continues to make a difference to the height SD score (SDS) to the age of seven years in very preterm babies. The height SDS for children born at 28 weeks' gestation increased by 0.25 SDS when postconceptual age was used instead of real age. Extrapolating from these results, the effect of correction would be an increase of approximately 0.32 SDS for a seven-year-old of 24 weeks' gestation. Unsatisfactory growth may be masked by a steady or increasing real age SDS in a few children. The risks of stopping using postconceptual age at two or three years include both false confidence in genuine cases of growth retardation and misinterpretation of a decrease in height SDS as evidence of growth retardation. As the number of very preterm babies who survive increases so does the importance of these observations.