To what extent does IQ 'explain' socio-economic variations in function?

Background  

The aims of this study were to examine the extent to which higher intellectual abilities protect higher socio-economic groups from functional decline and to examine whether the contribution of intellectual abilities is independent of childhood deprivation and low birth weight and other socio-economic and developmental factors in early life.     

Discordant repeat size and phenotype in Kennedy syndrome

Previous reports in the literature have described correlation of increasing repeat length with severity of the phenotype, in Kennedy syndrome. We describe male siblings with different repeat lengths, with lack of expression of the phenotype in the sibling with the longer repeat length. The phenotype was identical to motor neurone disease. There is variability of expression in Kennedy syndrome and repeat length even in siblings cannot be taken as a conclusive indicator of severity. CAG repeat length cannot be used to predict the natural history of Kennedy disease. The diagnosis of Kennedy syndrome should be considered in male patients presenting with atypical motor neurone disease.     

INTERFERONS IN ONCOLOGY

SUMMARY The interferons are natural glycoproteins secreted in response to various stimuli, including viral infection. They have antiviral, antiproliferative and immunomodulatory effects on different target cell populations. Since recombinant human interferons have become available, they have been tested in a wide range of malignancies. They are well established in the treatment of hairy cell leukaemia, chronic myelogenous leukaemia and multiple myeloma. Although they have documented activity against lymphoma, melanoma, renal cell cancer and carcinoid tumours, their role in the treatment of these tumours is less clear. In the common solid tumours, such as lung cancer and colorectal cancer, the use of interferons remains experimental. Here we will summarise their practice applications in oncology, using randomised studies where available to establish their place in multi-modality treatment. We will not discuss their use as antiviral or immunomodulating agents in viral and autoimmune diseases, multiple sclerosis or after organ transplantation.     

Improvements in the simultaneous determination of calcidiol and calcitriol in human serum or plasma

Technical improvements have been applied to reduce the time required for the determination of calcidiol and calcitriol in serum or plasma. The modifications include the use of Sep-Pak C18 cartridges for the extraction of calciol metabolites from serum instead of a classical liquid/liquid extraction, a considerable shortening of the HPLC purification time compared with our previously described method, and the application of HPLC with UV detection at 254 nm of calcidiol as an alternative to the usual competitive protein binding methods. In none of the 199 samples where calcidiol was determined by HPLC did we observe a detectable peak of ercalcidiol. Quantitation of calcidiol by HPLC and competitive protein binding was compared in 5 series of assays. The correlation between the two methods was 0.99. The average slope of the linear regression line when the HPLC values were plotted versus the competitive protein binding values was 1.14. The average intercept was 0.19 nmol/l. The mean within-run coefficient of variation for calcidiol in these series was 5% for the competitive protein binding method, and 4% for HPLC method. Between-run coefficients of variation were 6% and 12% for the competitive protein binding and for the HPLC method, respectively. Within-run and between-run coefficients of variation for calcitriol were 6% and 15%, respectively.