Heterochromatin and the molecular mechanisms of 'parent-of-origin' effects in animals.

Twenty five years ago it was proposed that conserved components of constitutive heterochromatin assemble heterochromatinlike complexes in euchromatin and this could provide a general mechanism for regulating heritable (cell-to-cell) changes in gene expressibility. As a special case, differences in the assembly of heterochromatin-like complexes on homologous chromosomes might also regulate the parent-of-origin-dependent gene expression observed in placental mammals. Here, the progress made in the intervening period with emphasis on the role of heterochromatin and heterochromatin-like complexes in parent-of-origin effects in animals is reviewed

Nurses' perceptions of aids and obstacles to the provision of optimal end of life care in ICU

Contains fulltext : 172380.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Is FDG-PET Suitable for Evaluating Neoadjuvant Therapy in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer? Evidence With Systematic Review of the Literature

Background: Neoadjuvant therapy response assessment is crucial in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). FDG-PET has emerged as a valuable tool for defining therapy response assessment in other tumours. Aim: To systematically review publications appearing in the literature describing induction therapy response assessment with FDG-PET in NSCLC. Methods: We performed a bibliographic search and selected only prospective studies in order to include the highest levels of evidence. Results: Nine of 497 potentially relevant publications were selected. The ranges of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value for primary tumour response assessment were 80-100%, 0-100%, 42.9-100%, and 66.7-100%, respectively. Pooling data for N2 restaging after neoadjuvant response the overall sensitivity was 63.8% (95% CI, 53.3-73.7%) and overall specificity was 85.3% (95% CI, 80.4-89.4%). Conclusion: The results of the analysis do not support the use of FDG-PET as the only re-assessment tool for mediastinal lymph node evaluation for routine clinical use. FDG-PET seems to predict primary tumour response to induction therapy but it could not be shown by pooling analysis. J. Surg. Oncol. 2010;101:486-494. (C) 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc