A comparison of the efficacy of weight-shift vs. joystick control of a robotic mobility device by infants ages 5 to 10 months

The onset of crawling in infants contributes to cognitive, perceptual, social, and emotional development. Conversely, infants with motor impairment that delays or prevents autonomous mobility often have associated developmental delays. Evidence suggests that providing mobility may have positive developmental outcomes, however powered wheelchairs may not be recommended for very young children, due to safety concerns and the child’s level of cognitive maturity. The WeeBot is a mobility device controlled by infant weight shifting while seated; infants as young as 5 months have learned to use it. This study compares the efficacy of using the WeeBot vs. using the traditional manual joystick to control a robotic mobility device. Participants were 20 typically developing infants between 5 and 10 months who had not yet achieved independent mobility. A quasi-experimental two-group design was used: The first 10 participants recruited used the WeeBot (weight-shift); the next 10 used the joystick. Results showed that infants learned to use weight-shift control more easily and more skilfully than did infants using the joystick. The ability of infants to use the WeeBot suggests that an intuitive alternative control might allow very early powered mobility for children with disabilities, which might have implications for various aspects of their development.     

Shelf-price agreements: the next frontier in competitive bidding for coronary intervention supplies.

In an attempt to further reduce operating costs, in 2004 our institution embarked on a novel approach in which we defined the price to be paid for interventional cardiology supplies and challenged vendors to meet that price. The results suggest that this strategy can further reduce supply costs while maintaining collaborative relationships with vendors.     

Brain H-3-catecholamine metabolism in experimental cerebral ischemia.

Unilateral ligation of a common carotid artery in gerbils causes a major depletion of brain dopamine, which is most marked in brain regions known to receive dopaminergic projections. To determine whether this depletion reflects release of stored dopamine, a radioactive label (H-3-dopamine) was introduced into brain dopamine pools 4 hours prior to ligation. Twenty-four hours later, brain H-3-catecholamines were profoundly depressed ipsilateral to the lesion among animals exhibiting clinical signs of stroke. Within brain regions known to receive dopaminergic projections, common carotid ligation also was associated with a selective decrease in the concentration of H-3-deaminated metabolites. These data suggest that cerebral ischemia is associated with release of catecholamines, as well as with impaired oxidative metabolism of catecholamines.     

Gene transfer approaches in cancer immunotherapy

The idea of enhancing or establishing effective immune response against endogenously developed tumor cells is not novel. More than a hundred years ago, bacterial components were used to develop antitumor immune response. Later, when a number of immune system-effecting cytokines had been discovered, they were used for systemic treatment of cancer patients. However, systemic treatment often resulted in even negative outcome. Recent developments of genetic approaches of cell modifications allowed developing of modern techniques of targeted tumor cell elimination. In the present paper, we review modern trends of the antitumor response enhancement based on immunoregulatory gene transfer into different cell types both in vivo and in vitro. Almost all these approaches are based on the activation of the adaptive arm of the immune system in response to tumor cells. However, recent studies indicate that the innate arm of the immune system, as well as adaptive arm, is involved in tumor suppression. The innate immune system uses nonrearranging germline receptors, which could trigger cellular effector responses that are conditional (or instructive) to the subsequent adaptive immune response. Last years' viewpoints on 'self' and 'non-self' recognition and primary induction of the immune response have changed. The key role of lymphocytes is pathogen recognition and, following immune response induction, switched on the central role of dendritic cells in 'non-self' recognition and induction of both innate and adaptive responses. Moreover, innate response is supposed to be an essential starting point in induction of successful and effective acquired response. Most cancer vaccines do not have 'non-self' marks presentation due to their endogenous origin, thus lacking their effectiveness in the induction of the specific long-lasting immune response. Taking this point into consideration, we can conclude that to make cancer vaccine more effective we have to present tumor antigens, together with the molecules that can potentially activate downstream 'non-self' recognition events not in parallel, but as a consequence of tumor antigen processing and presentation.     

Phase I-II trial of gene therapy with tag-7 modified autologous tumor cells in patients with metastatic solid tumors

A prospective (phase I-II) trial was undertaken to study the efficacy and toxicity of gene therapy with tag 70-modified autologous tumor cells in 32 patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RC) (5) and melanoma (MBL) (27) treated at the Institute's Clinic (2001-2003). Resected material was reduced to cell culture, which was transfected with tag 70 gene and devitalized by irradiation. Immune blotting was used for gene expression. Clinical and immunological effectiveness was evaluated in 22 patients (MBL--17 and RC--5) who received 1-6 injections (3 on the average). Full course of vaccination was given to 8 (MBL--6 and RC--2). No complete or partial response was reported while least regression (50%) was registered in a case of RC metastatic to the lung. According to CT and ultrasound evidence, stabilization was achieved in 5 (23.8%) (MBL--4 and RC--1). Relapse-free period was 6.5+/-3.5 months beginning from the start of treatment. The vaccine was well tolerated while DHT reaction was observed in 47.6% (10 out of 17) of primary immunized patients. A trend of increased content of T- and B-cells in peripheral blood and intensified functional activity was established.