Biomedical subjects

Sharon Jones

Publications and source records attributed to Sharon Jones.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Quality of life and pain in advanced stage prostate cancer: results of a Southwest Oncology Group randomized trial comparing docetaxel and estramustine to mitoxantrone and prednisone.

PURPOSE: Palliation of bone pain can be achieved in men with androgen-independent prostate cancer treated with docetaxel and estramustine (DE) or mitoxantrone and prednisone (MP). While Southwest Oncology Group trial 99-16 demonstrated a survival improvement of DE over MP, the study also was designed to compare the palliation of disease-related symptoms. METHODS: Pain palliation and global quality of life (QOL) were the two primary patient-reported outcomes. Pain was measured with the Present Pain Intensity scale of the McGill Pain Questionnaire-Short Form. The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Core Quality of Life Questionnaire C30 (QLQ-C30) and its Prostate Cancer Module (PR25) measured QOL and symptom status. Pain and analgesic use were measured at random assignment, every cycle for eight cycles, and 1 year from random assignment; the QLQ-C30 and the PR25 were administered at random assignment, before cycle four (week 10) and cycle eight (month 6) and at 1 year. In addition to the primary intent-to-treat, missing at random analysis, sensitivity analyses were performed to assess robustness of global QOL conclusions under alternative informative missing data assumptions. RESULTS: Six hundred seventy four eligible patients received DE (n = 338) or MP (n = 336). In an intention-to-treat analysis, median overall survival was 17.5 months for the DE arm and 15.6 months for the MP arm (P = .02). There were no statistically significant differences in pain palliation between the treatment arms. The sensitivity analyses showed a consistent lack of statistically significant global QOL differences for the two arms. CONCLUSION: DE had superior clinical efficacy (overall survival, time-to-progression, and prostate-specific antigen declines) with similar global QOL and pain palliation in the MP arm.

Aged↗

PubMed2006

Developing classification criteria for peripheral joint psoriatic arthritis. Step I. Establishing whether the rheumatologist's opinion on the diagnosis can be used as the "gold standard".

OBJECTIVE: The study of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is hampered by the absence of a widely accepted, validated case definition. We investigated whether the physician's opinion can be used as a gold standard when developing classification criteria for peripheral joint PsA. METHODS: UK rheumatologists who had published on PsA and attendees at 3 international meetings on PsA held in the UK were polled by questionnaire. There were 3 phases. The first questionnaire asked whether rheumatologists believed in the construct of PsA. The second survey developed a list of features thought to distinguish patients with PsA from other forms of peripheral arthritis. The final phase was development of a series of 61 "paper" patients with various combinations of the features of PsA. The paper patients were assessed by 15 rheumatologists who were asked whether, in their opinion, the patient had PsA. Latent class analysis was used to identify subgroups of patients and cross-tabulations were used to identify which clinical and laboratory features were associated with each subgroup. RESULTS: Rheumatologists agreed on the construct of PsA and that not all patients with psoriasis and an inflammatory polyarthritis have PsA. Latent class analysis identified 3 classes, corresponding to definite PsA; a middle group that was very likely to be given a diagnosis of PsA by some rheumatologists (high diagnosers), but unlikely to be given the diagnosis by others (low diagnosers); and a third group corresponding to "probably not PsA." CONCLUSION: For the group of patients with "definite PsA" the physician's opinion can be taken as the gold standard when developing classification criteria. However, for patients in the "middle group" there will always be disagreement with the gold standard whether the standard is based on the opinion of the high diagnosers or the low diagnosers.

Arthritis, Psoriatic↗

PubMed2006

Computerized provider order entry: strategies for successful implementation.

An estimated 522,000 serious medication errors can be eliminated in the United States each year through the use of computerized provider order entry. However, the implementation of computerized provider order entry is being slowed down by resistance from clinicians, particularly physicians. Nurses understand the work of physicians and are in a unique position to help overcome their resistance and smoothen the transition to computerized provider order entry. The authors outline the strategies for nurses to increase organizational acceptance during the process of computerized provider order entry implementation.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMed2003

The Influence of the HLA-DRB1 rheumatoid arthritis shared epitope on the clinical characteristics and radiological outcome of psoriatic arthritis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the associations of the HLA-DRB1 rheumatoid arthritis shared epitope (SE) with clinical characteristics and radiological outcome in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA). METHODS: One hundred fifty-eight patients with well documented PsA and 250 controls were typed for HLA-DRB1 alleles including the SE by polymerase chain reaction. Clinical data collected on the patient group included disease subset, swollen and tender joint counts, the psoriasis area severity index (PASI), and the presence of radiological erosions. Clinical and radiological associations with HLA-DRB1 and SE alleles were determined. RESULTS: There was an increased frequency of HLA-DR7 (41 vs 25%; puncorr = 0.001, OR 2.02, pcorr = 0.01) and a decreased frequency of HLA-DR2 (19 vs 28%; puncorr = 0.03, OR 0.59, pcorr = 0.3) in the patient population compared with controls. There was no significant difference in the frequency of HLA-DR1 and HLA-DR4 between patient and control populations. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of SE alleles between the patient and control populations (48 vs 54%). There was no increase in the prevalence of the SE in the polyarthritis subgroup, but there was a marginal decrease in those who remained in the oligoarthritis subgroup. There were no differences with respect to sex, age of onset of disease, family history, Health Assessment Questionnaire score, joint score, skin score, or nail score between those patients who were SE positive and those who were SE negative. However, significantly more patients who were SE positive developed radiological erosions (60 vs 43%; p = 0.03, OR 2.11). CONCLUSION: Overall, the prevalence of the SE in patients with PsA did not differ from our control population. However, it was overrepresented in those who developed radiological erosions. It is possible that the SE does have a role in the clinical severity of PsA.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Molecular cloning of XYL3 (D-xylulokinase) from Pichia stipitis and characterization of its physiological function.

XYL3, which encodes a D-xylulokinase (EC 2.7.1.17), was isolated from Pichia stipitis CBS 6054 genomic DNA by using primers designed against conserved motifs. Disruption of XYL3 eliminated D-xylulokinase activity, but D-ribulokinase activity was still present. Southern analysis of P. stipitis genomic DNA with XYL3 as a probe confirmed the disruption and did not reveal additional related genes. Disruption of XYL3 stopped ethanol production from xylose, but the resulting mutant still assimilated xylose slowly and formed xylitol and arabinitol. These results indicate that XYL3 is critical for ethanol production from xylose but that P. stipitis has another pathway for xylose assimilation. Expression of XYL3 using its P. stipitis promoter increased Saccharomyces cerevisiae D-xylulose consumption threefold and enabled the transformants to produce ethanol from a mixture of xylose and xylulose, whereas the parental strain only accumulated xylitol. In vitro, D-xylulokinase activity in recombinant S. cerevisiae was sixfold higher with a multicopy than with a single-copy XYL3 plasmid, but ethanol production decreased with increased copy number. These results confirmed the function of XYL3 in S. cerevisiae.

Amino Acid Sequence↗