PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

M Quinn

Publications and source records attributed to M Quinn.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Precancerous changes in the cervix and risk of subsequent preterm birth.

OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were (i) to examine whether women referred for assessment of precancerous changes in the cervix had higher rates of preterm birth compared with those in the general population and (ii) to compare preterm birth rates for treated and untreated women adjusting for possible confounding factors. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort design. SETTING: Teaching hospital. POPULATION: All women referred to the Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne (1982-2000), who subsequently had a birth recorded on the Victorian Perinatal Data Collection system (n = 5548). METHODS: Record linkage of hospital dysplasia clinic records and population-based birth records. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Total preterm delivery (<37 weeks of gestation) and subtypes. RESULTS: Both treated and untreated women were at a significantly increased risk for preterm birth compared with those in the general population: treated--standardised prevalence ratio (SPR) 2.0, 95% CI 1.8-2.3 and untreated--SPR 1.5, 95% CI 1.4-1.7. Within the cohort, the treated women were significantly more likely to give birth preterm (adjusted OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.01-1.51). An increased risk of preterm birth was also associated with a history of induced or spontaneous abortions, illicit drug use during pregnancy or a major maternal medical condition. Cone biopsy, loop electrosurgical excision procedure and diathermy were associated with preterm birth. After adjusting for possible confounding factors, only diathermy remained significant (adjusted OR 1.72, 95% CI 1.36-2.17). Women treated using laser ablation were not at an increased risk for preterm birth (adjusted OR 1.1, 95% CI 0.8-1.4). CONCLUSIONS: Diagnosis of precancerous changes in the cervix (regardless of the treatment) was associated with an increased risk of preterm birth. Consideration should be given to the preferential use of ablative treatments.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Trends in the incidence of primary liver and biliary tract cancers in England and Wales 1971-2001.

In the last two decades, mortality from primary liver cancer has increased in the UK. We aimed to determine whether the incidence trends for these cancers were similar and in particular if the increasing occurrence of cholangiocarcinoma has continued. We calculated directly age-standardised incidence rates (using the European standard population) by subsite and histological type for all cancers of the liver, gallbladder and biliary tract in England and Wales from 1971 to 2001, using cancer registry data. The incidence of cancers of the liver, gallbladder and biliary tract increased, with the greatest rise, around 12-fold, in intrahepatic bile duct cancers. The rate of liver cell cancer increased by around 45% in males, but by <10% in females. There were marked reductions in the incidence of gallbladder and extrahepatic bile duct cancer. Cholangiocarcinoma increased around 16-fold and became the most common type of primary liver cancer in females, while hepatocellular carcinoma remained the commonest type in males. The age-specific incidence rates showed that intrahepatic bile duct cancer continued to increase throughout the 1990s in those aged 75 and over, while liver cell cancer decreased in the older age groups. In conclusion, there were increases in the incidence of primary liver cancer, which have been particularly dramatic for intrahepatic bile duct cancer, over the last three decades of the 20th century in England and Wales. There has been a halving in the incidence of gallbladder cancer and a reduction of a third in extrahepatic bile duct cancer.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Small cell of the ovary, hypercalcemic type -- analysis of combined experience and recommendation for management. A GCIG study.

UNLABELLED: Small cell carcinoma of the ovary, hypercalcemic type (SCCOHT) is a rare tumor typically affecting young women. It is an aggressive malignancy with a poor prognosis and few long-term survivors. OBJECTIVE: Investigate the outcome of patients with SCCOHT. METHOD: Data were collected for patients with SCCOHT treated in Australia, Canada and Europe. Information included stage, surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, recurrence and survival. RESULTS: The median follow-up is 13 months for all patients and 35.5 months in surviving patients. Ten patients had FIGO stage I tumors, six stage III tumors and one stage unknown. All underwent surgical resection. Adjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy was given to all patients. Seven received adjuvant radiotherapy with either pelvic and para-aortic radiotherapy, average dose 46.5 Gy (40 Gy/25# - 50.4 Gy/23#), or pelvic and whole abdominal radiotherapy, average dose 45 Gy to pelvis and 25 Gy (22.5 Gy/22# - 30 Gy/25#) to abdomen. The median survival for stage I tumors was not reached and was 6 months for stage III tumors. For the ten patients with stage I tumors: six received adjuvant radiotherapy with five alive and disease-free; four received no adjuvant radiotherapy with one alive and disease-free, while three have relapsed with one alive and disease-free after resection. Of the seven patients with stage III or unknown stage tumors, all but one have died. Recurrences were most frequent in the pelvis and the abdomen. Patients receiving salvage treatment with chemotherapy and radiotherapy did poorly. CONCLUSION: We advocate a multi-modality treatment approach including surgery, chemotherapy with the addition of radiotherapy either sequentially or concurrently.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Reduced intensity conditioning using intravenous busulfan, fludarabine and rabbit ATG for children with nonmalignant disorders and CML.

The major problems with busulfan/cyclophosphamide (Bu/Cy)-containing conditioning regimens are acute toxicities and graft failure. To decrease acute toxicities, we have prospectively evaluated a reduced intensity conditioning (RIC) regimen using targeted dosing of i.v. busulfan, fludarabine, and rabbit ATG (Bu/Flu/rATG) in children with diagnoses that historically would have been conditioned with Bu/Cy regimens. Nineteen pediatric patients were enrolled in the study. The donors included HLA-matched and one antigen-mismatched unrelated volunteers (n = 11), unrelated cord blood (n = 1), and related donors (n = 7). Four patients developed graft failure, which occurred between 1 and 8.5 months post transplant. All four of them underwent a second transplantation and 3/4 are alive without evidence of disease. The mean follow-up of living patients is 29.5 +/- s.d. 11 months. Despite excellent 2-year post-transplant overall survival (89 +/- s.d.7%) and event-free survival (74 +/- s.d.10%), the study was closed prematurely due to high graft failure rate (21%). Receiving a transplant from a mismatched unrelated donor was identified as a risk factor for graft failure. The Bu/Flu/rATG RIC regimen was very well tolerated, resulted in excellent overall survival, and provided sustained engraftment in patients undergoing transplant from matched sibling and unrelated donors. However, it did not provide sustained engraftment in the majority of children with nonmalignancies undergoing mismatched unrelated donor transplants.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Sustained constipation and subsequent reproductive outcomes: is there a link?

Four cases of antenatal and intra-partum problems in nulliparous women, including early-onset pre-eclampsia, intrauterine growth retardation, placental abruption and placenta accreta, are offered with the underlying theme of sustained and persistent constipation over many years. Possible aetiological mechanisms are offered to account for these presentations.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Doppler shift as a tool for studies of isobaric analog states of neutron-rich nuclei: application to 7He.

We have developed a new technique to study exotic neutron-rich nuclei via their isobaric analog states (IAS). We populate high-isospin states in resonant reactions of radioactive ion beams with protons. Characteristic gamma rays emitted from excited decay products were used to identify the population of the IAS. We show that information on the differential and total cross section for formation of the IAS can be extracted from the energy spectrum of the Doppler-shifted gamma rays. This technique was applied to the study of T=3/2 states in 7Li, which are analogs of states in 7He. The analog of the 7He ground state was clearly observed, whereas the presence of the analog of a narrow 1/2(-) state at 0.6 MeV excitation in 7He reported by M. Meister et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 102501 (2002)] was excluded at the 90% confidence level. Evidence is presented for a broad 1/2(-) state at a higher excitation energy in 7He.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

Ascites induces modulation of alpha6beta1 integrin and urokinase plasminogen activator receptor expression and associated functions in ovarian carcinoma.

Interactions between cancer cells and the surrounding medium are not fully understood. In this study, we demonstrate that ascites induces selective changes in the expression of integrins and urokinase plasminogen activator/urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (uPA/uPAR) in ovarian cancer cells. We hypothesise that this change of integrin and uPA/uPAR expression triggers signalling pathways responsible for modulating phenotype-dependent functional changes in ovarian cancer cells. Human ovarian surface epithelial (HOSE) cell lines and epithelial ovarian cancer cell lines were treated with ascites for 48 h. Ascites induced upregulation of alpha6 integrin, without any change in the expression of alphav, beta1 and beta4 integrin subunits. Out of the four ovarian cancer cell lines studied, ascites induced enhancement in the expression of uPA/uPAR in the more invasive OVCA 433 and HEY cell lines without any change in the noninvasive OVHS1 and moderately invasive PEO.36 cell lines. On the other hand, no change in the expression of alpha6 integrin or uPAR, in response to ascites, was observed in HOSE cells. In response to ascites, enhancement in proliferation and in adhesion was observed in all four ovarian cancer cell lines studied. In contrast, no significant increase in proliferation or adhesion by ascites was observed in HOSE cells. Ascites-induced expression of uPA/uPAR correlated with the increased invasiveness of HEY and OVCA 433 cell lines but was not seen in OVHS1, PEO.36 and HOSE cell lines. Upregulation of alpha6 integrin and uPA/uPAR correlated with the activation of Ras and downstream Erk pathways. Ascites-induced activation of Ras and downstream Erk can be inhibited by using inhibitory antibodies against alpha6 and beta1 integrin and uPAR, consistent with the inhibition of proliferation, adhesion and invasive functions of ovarian cancer cell lines. Based on these findings, we conclude that ascites can induce selective upregulation of integrin and uPA/uPAR in ovarian cancer cells and these changes may modulate the functions of ovarian carcinomas.

Ascites↗
PubMed2004

Analog states of 7He observed via the 6He(p,n) reaction.

Isobaric analog states of 7He have been investigated by a novel technique involving the observation of the resonant yield of neutrons from the 6He(p,n) reaction in coincidence with gamma rays from the decay of the (0(+),T=1) state in 6Li. The gamma rays provide a clean signature for the isospin-conserving neutron decay of the low-lying isobaric analog resonances. It is conclusively shown that the analog of the recently observed low-lying spin-orbit partner of the 7He ground state does not exist. Evidence is presented that this state lies at much higher energies, in agreement with microscopic calculations.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

Validation and reproducibility of ultrasonography in the detection of synovitis in the knee: a comparison with arthroscopy and clinical examination.

OBJECTIVE: Accurate detection of synovitis is important in both the diagnosis and outcome assessment of arthritis. This study was undertaken to assess the validity and reproducibility of ultrasonography (US) as a means of detecting synovitis in the knee, by comparing US findings with findings of arthroscopy and clinical examination. METHODS: Sixty consecutive patients with knee pain due to various arthritides had a clinical examination and US of their knee performed immediately prior to arthroscopy. All 3 assessments were performed by different clinicians who were blinded to the results obtained with the other modalities. US and clinical examination were compared with arthroscopically detected synovitis as the gold standard. Data from a subset of patients were used for calculating the inter- and intrareader reproducibility of US results, using a standard dichotomous (absence/presence of synovitis) as well as a graded (absence/grade of synovitis) scoring system. RESULTS: With the use of arthroscopy as the gold standard, US had a higher sensitivity (98% versus 85%), specificity (88% versus 25%), accuracy (97% versus 77%), positive predictive value (98% versus 88%), and negative predictive value (88% versus 20%) compared with clinical examination. The Cohen kappa values for inter- and intrareader reproducibility of US for distinguishing between presence and absence of synovitis were 0.71 and 0.85, respectively (P < 0.05 for both). The weighted kappa values for distinguishing grade of synovitis were 0.65 for inter- and 0.74 for intrareader reproducibility. The kappa value for intrareader reproducibility of arthroscopy results was 0.88. CONCLUSION: Ultrasonography is a valid and reproducible technique for detecting synovitis in the knee, and is more accurate than clinical examination. It may be valuable as a tool in studies investigating pain, diagnosis, and treatment response in knee arthritis.

Adolescent↗