Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to C Perry.
A newborn presented with acute airway obstruction secondary to a compound odontoma of the hard palate/nasal floor. This is the first case recorded in the literature. We review the pathology of compound odontomas and discuss the management of this rare and interesting case.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Olfactory ensheathing cells transplanted into the injured spinal cord in animals promote regeneration and remyelination of descending motor pathways through the site of injury and the return of motor functions. In a single-blind, Phase I clinical trial, we aimed to test the feasibility and safety of transplantation of autologous olfactory ensheathing cells into the injured spinal cord in human paraplegia. Participants were three male paraplegics, 18-55 years of age, with stable, complete thoracic injuries 6-32 months previously, with stable spinal column, no implanted prostheses, and no syrinx. Olfactory ensheathing cells were grown and purified in vitro from nasal biopsies and injected into the region of damaged spinal cord. The trial design includes a matched injury group as a control for the assessors, who are blind to treatment status. Assessments, made before transplantation and at regular intervals subsequently, include MRI, medical, neurological and psychosocial assessments, and standard American Spinal Injury Association and Functional Independence Measure assessments. One year after cell implantation, there were no medical, surgical or other complications to indicate that the procedure is unsafe. There is no evidence of spinal cord damage nor of cyst, syrinx or tumour formation. There was no neuropathic pain reported by the participants, no change in psychosocial status and no evidence of deterioration in neurological status. Participants will be followed for 3 years to confirm long-term safety and to compare neurological, functional and psychosocial outcomes with the control group. We conclude transplantation of autologous olfactory ensheathing cells into the injured spinal cord is feasible and is safe up to one year post-implantation.
BACKGROUND: The clinical impact of fused PET/CT data on staging and patient management of Hodgkin disease (HD) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) was assessed. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 103 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed NHL (n = 68) and HD (n = 35) were assessed retrospectively. Three comparisons were carried out in an attempt to assess the added value of each modality. RESULTS: For NHL patients, there were significant differences between staging by CT versus PET/CT (P = 0.0001). Disease was upstaged by PET/CT in 31% (mostly in stages I and II) and downstaged in only 1% of patients. In 25% of the patients, the treatment approach was changed according to CT versus PET/CT findings. For HD patients, disease was upstaged by PET/CT in 32% and downstaged by PET/CT in 15% (P = NS). As for NHL, upstaging by PET/CT versus CT was evident mostly for stages I and II. The treatment strategy was altered as determined by CT versus PET/CT in 45% of the patients. CONCLUSIONS: The addition of PET/CT to CT changed the management decisions in approximately a quarter of NHL and a third of HD patients, mostly in early disease stages. Thus, PET/CT performed as the initial staging procedure may well obviate the need for additional diagnostic CT in the majority of patients.
OBJECTIVE: This study seeks to determine the magnitude, nature, and correlates of social exchange of cigarettes among youth who smoke. DESIGN: Cross sectional survey. SETTING: Schools in 29 Minnesota communities. PARTICIPANTS: All students in grades 8, 9, and 10 (ages 13-16 years) in each participating school. The parent/child response rate for the survey was 90%. Analyses included 4124 respondents who smoked at least one cigarette in the month before the survey. OUTCOME MEASURES: Social exchange scale, consisting of 16 items assessing aspects of social provision and acquisition of cigarettes. RESULTS: Almost 90% of youth in this study had obtained a cigarette from, and about 75% of them had provided cigarettes to, another teen in the prior month. Daily smokers provided to more teens and provided more often than those who smoked less than daily. Daily smokers also reported having more social sources, both teens and adults, than lighter smokers, and were more likely to have both bought from and sold cigarettes to other teens (p < 0.0001 for all comparisons between daily and less than daily smokers). In a multivariate analysis, social exchange was associated with grade, whether siblings and friends smoke, level of smoking, age of smoking initiation, parental influences and community norms about teen smoking, and buying cigarettes. CONCLUSIONS: Social provision and acquisition of cigarettes among teens are widespread, reciprocal behaviours. Parental and community expectations about smoking influence social exchange, possibly by providing opportunities or barriers for social smoking. Commercial and social availability are not mutually exclusive; rather social exchange extends the reach of commercial sources.
OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess the prevalence of perceived weight-teasing and associations with unhealthy weight-control behaviors and binge eating in a population-based sample of youth. Particular focus was placed on overweight youth, who may be most vulnerable to weight-teasing. METHODS: The study population included 4746 adolescents from St Paul/Minneapolis public schools who completed surveys and anthropometric measurements as part of Project EAT, a population-based study of eating patterns and weight concerns among teens. RESULTS: There were statistically significant associations between perceived weight-teasing and weight status; both overweight and underweight youth reported higher levels of teasing than average weight youth. Very overweight youth (body mass index (BMI) > or = 95th percentile) were most likely to be teased about their weight; 63% of very overweight girls, and 58% of very overweight boys reported being teased by their peers, while weight-teasing by family members was reported by 47% of these girls and 34% of these boys. Youth who were teased about their weight, particularly overweight girls, reported that it bothered them. Perceived weight-teasing was significantly associated with disordered eating behaviors among overweight and non-overweight girls and boys. For example, among overweight youth, 29% of girls and 18% of boys who experienced frequent weight-teasing reported binge-eating as compared to 16% of girls and 7% of boys who were not teased. CONCLUSIONS: Many adolescents, in particular those who are overweight, report being teased about their weight and being bothered by the teasing. Weight-teasing is associated with disordered eating behaviors that may place overweight youth at increased risk for weight gain. Educational interventions and policies are needed to curtail weight-related mistreatment among youth.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
This article describes the Dual Route Cascaded (DRC) model, a computational model of visual word recognition and reading aloud. The DRC is a computational realization of the dual-route theory of reading, and is the only computational model of reading that can perform the 2 tasks most commonly used to study reading: lexical decision and reading aloud. For both tasks, the authors show that a wide variety of variables that influence human latencies influence the DRC model's latencies in exactly the same way. The DRC model simulates a number of such effects that other computational models of reading do not, but there appear to be no effects that any other current computational model of reading can simulate but that the DRC model cannot. The authors conclude that the DRC model is the most successful of the existing computational models of reading.
Microbiological sampling of nurses' uniforms was undertaken using a Casella slit sampler. Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium difficile and vancomycin-resistant enterococci were detected on uniforms both before and after a span of duty. Recommendations for provision and changing of nurses' uniforms are made.
It is hypothesized that written languages differ in the preferred grain size of units that emerge during reading acquisition. Smaller units (graphemes, phonemes) are thought to play a dominant role in relatively consistent orthographies (e.g., German), whereas larger units (bodies, rhymes) are thought to be more important in relatively inconsistent orthographies (e.g., English). This hypothesis was tested by having native English and German speakers read identical words and nonwords in their respective languages (zoo-Zoo, sand-Sand, etc.). Although the English participants exhibited stronger body-rhyme effects, the German participants exhibited a stronger length effect for words and nonwords. Thus, identical items were processed differently in different orthographies. These results suggest that orthographic consistency determines not only the relative contribution of orthographic versus phonological codes within a given orthography; but also the preferred grain size of units that are likely to be functional during reading.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
It has been suggested that CD4+ T cell proliferative responses to HIV p24 Ag may be important in the control of HIV infection. However, these responses are minimal or absent in many HIV-infected individuals. Furthermore, while in vitro and in vivo responses to non-HIV recall Ags improve upon administration of highly active antiretroviral therapy, there does not appear to be a commensurate enhancement of HIV-specific immune responses. It is possible that CD4+ p24-specific T cells are deleted early in the course of infection. However, it is also possible that a discrete unresponsiveness, or anergy, contributes to the lack of proliferation to p24. To evaluate the possible contribution of unresponsiveness to the lack of CD4+ T cell proliferation to p24 in HIV-infected individuals, we attempted to overcome unresponsiveness. CD40 ligand trimer (CD40LT) and IL-12 significantly increased PBMC and CD4+ T cell proliferative responses to p24 Ag in HIV-infected, but not uninfected, individuals. No increase in proliferative response to CMV Ag was observed. CD40LT exerted its effect through B7-CD28-dependent and IL-12- and IL-15-independent mechanisms. Finally, the increase in proliferation with CD40LT and IL-12 was associated with an augmented production of IFN-gamma in most, but not all, individuals. These data suggest the possible contribution of HIV-specific unresponsiveness to the lack of CD4+ T cell proliferation to p24 Ag in HIV-infected individuals and that clonal deletion alone does not explain this phenomenon. They also indicate the potential for CD40LT and IL-12 as immune-based therapies for HIV infection.
The digestive gland and other tissues of several species of terrestrial gastropod mollusc contain an aliphatic alcohol oxidase activity (EC1.1.3.13). The enzyme is FAD dependent, consumes oxygen and generates hydrogen peroxide and the corresponding aldehyde. Saturated primary alcohols are favoured as substrates with octanol preferred with an apparent Km of 3-4 microM. The activity is clearly distinguishable from previously reported molluscan aromatic alcohol oxidase (EC1.1.3.7) on the basis of FAD dependence, sensitivity to heat treatment and high salt concentration and with regard to substrate preferences. The aliphatic alcohol oxidase is membrane associated and most likely localised to the endoplasmic reticulum. Extraction of membranes with 1% Igipal solubilises the enzyme in active form. This enzyme is a further example of an oxidase apparently restricted to molluscs.
OBJECTIVE: To assess functional change in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) after treatment with intra-articular hyaluronic acid (Hylan G-F 20; Synvisc). DESIGN: Prospective case series with 6-month follow-up. SETTING: Outpatient community orthopedic practice. PARTICIPANTS: Eighty-four consecutive patients referred to private orthopedic group with symptoms and radiographic evidence of unilateral or bilateral knee OA who had either failed or could not tolerate the side effects of conservative treatment. Sixty-one patients completed the study. Nineteen patients were lost to follow-up. Four patients withdrew from study due to subsequent knee arthroplasty. INTERVENTION: Three weekly injections of Hylan G-F 20 into one or both (if bilaterally symptomatic) knees (110 knees total). OUTCOME MEASURE: SF-36 Health Survey was completed before treatment and 6 months after treatment. RESULTS: Statistically significant improvement (p < .001) in Physical Functioning, Role-Physical, Bodily Pain, Social Functioning, and Role-Emotional categories on 6-month follow-up survey. Age and percent above ideal body weight were not significant predictors of functional change. CONCLUSION: Efficacy of intra-articular injection of Hylan G-F 20 for knee OA 6 months after injection is demonstrated in several categories of the SF-36, indicating a measurable improvement in overall functioning in these patients.
Clinical experience and empirical evidence have led to the modeling of exercise and training as a form of stress on the immune system. Coaches, athletes, and medical personnel are seeking guidelines on ways to reduce the risk of illness that compromises training or competitive performance. The immune system is influenced by a wide range of physical, environmental, psychological, and behavioural factors which, combined with clinical assessment, collectively form the basis of the following intervention strategies: 1) training: careful management of training volume and intensity, variety to overcome training monotony and strain, a periodised approach to increasing loads, and provision of adequate rest and recovery periods; 2) environmental: limiting initial exposure when training or competing in adverse environmental conditions (heat, humidity, altitude, air pollution) and acclimatising where appropriate; 3) psychological: teaching athletes self-management and coping skills and monitoring of athletes' responses to the psychological and psychosocial stresses of high-level training and competition; 4) behavioural: adopting a well-balanced diet with adequate intake of macro- and micro-nutrients, limiting transmission of contagious illnesses by reducing exposure to common infections, airborne pathogens, and physical contact with infected individuals; and 5) clinical considerations: medical screening, pathology testing, immunization and prophylaxis, and routine management of illness-prone athletes. Future experimental studies are required to develop and enhance the effectiveness of these strategies in reducing illness in athletes.
Does phonology play a role in silent reading? This issue was addressed in Chinese. Phonology effects are less expected in Chinese than in alphabetical languages like English because the basic units of written Chinese (the characters) map directly into units of meaning (morphemes). This linguistic property gave rise to the view that phonology could be bypassed altogether in Chinese. The present study, however, shows that this is not the case. We report two experiments that demonstrate pure phonological frequency effects in processing written Chinese. Characters with a high phonological frequency were processed faster than characters with a low phonological frequency, despite the fact that the characters were matched on orthographic (printed) frequency. The present research points to a universal phonological principle according to which phonological information is routinely activated as a part of word identification. The research further suggests that part of the classic word-frequency effect may be phonological.