Patient reported upper gastro-intestinal symptoms associated with fractionated image-guided conformal radiotherapy for metastatic spinal cord compression

Background and purpose Palliative radiotherapy is given to sustain or improve quality of life for patients with advanced cancer. Radiotherapy may however result in symptomatic side effects, which may affect the patient negatively. This prospective longitudinal study of 30 patients aimed at investigating the incidence and severity of early toxicity, particularly focusing on dysphagia, esophagitis and mucositis, following fractionated radiotherapy for cervical and thoracic metastatic spinal cord compression (MSCC), as well as determining the relationship between esophageal dose and early upper gastro-intestinal symptoms. Materials and methods Thirty patients receiving radiotherapy of 3Gyx10 for MSCC were included in the study. Patients were assessed for a total of 7 weeks from onset of radiotherapy using the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) questionnaire. Upper gastro-intestinal symptoms and severity were assessed from the tenth and eleventh question section of the ESAS questionnaire of “other problems” and how much this affected them. The relationships between the mean and maximum esophageal doses and incidence of dysphagia, esophagitis or mucositis were estimated and dose response curves determined. Results Eleven patients reported esophageal symptoms (average duration eleven days, range 1–18 days). Incidence of esophageal toxicity in patients treated at Th8 or above was 79 percent, while no patients treated below Th8 reported any symptoms (p < 0.001). Furthermore, 2 out of 3 patients irradiated at the cervical region reported substantial changes in taste sensation. Risk of symptoms correlated with both mean and maximum esophageal dose and may be a useful tool in planning radiotherapy for MSCC, potentially reducing early upper gastro-intestinal toxicity

The needle in the haystack - searching for genetic and epigenetic differences in monozygotic twins discordant for Tetralogy of Fallot

Congenital heart defects (CHDs) are the most common birth defect in human with an incidence of almost 1% of all live births. Most cases have a multifactorial origin with both genetics and the environment playing a role in its development and progression. Adding an epigenetic component to this aspect is exemplified by monozygotic twins which share the same genetic background but have a different disease status. As a result, the interplay between the genetic, epigenetic and the environmental conditions might contribute to the etiology and phenotype. To date, the underlying causes of the majority of CHDs remain poorly understood. In this study, we performed genome-wide high-throughput sequencing to examine the genetic, structural genomic and epigenetic differences of two identical twin pairs discordant for Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), representing the most common cyanotic form of CHDs. Our results show the almost identical genetic and structural genomic identity of the twins. In contrast, several epigenetic alterations could be observed given by DNA methylation changes in regulatory regions of known cardiac-relevant genes. Overall, this study provides first insights into the impact of genetic and especially epigenetic factors underlying monozygotic twins discordant for CHD like TOF

Non-Abelian Geometric Phases and Conductance of Spin-3/2 Holes

Angular momentum $J=3/2$ holes in semiconductor heterostructures are showed to accumulate nonabelian geometric phases as a consequence of their motion. We provide a general framework for analyzing such a system and compute conductance oscillations for a simple ring geometry. We also analyze a figure-8 geometry which captures intrinsically nonabelian interference effects.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures (encapsulated PostScript) Replaced fig. 1 and fig.

Chlamydia pneumoniae: An Etiologic Agent for Late-Onset Dementia

The disease known as late-onset Alzheimer\u27s disease is a neurodegenerative condition recognized as the single most common form of senile dementia. The condition is sporadic and has been attributed to neuronal damage and loss, both of which have been linked to the accumulation of protein deposits in the brain. Significant progress has been made over the past two decades regarding our overall understanding of the apparently pathogenic entities that arise in the affected brain, both for early-onset disease, which constitutes approximately 5% of all cases, as well as late-onset disease, which constitutes the remainder of cases. Observable neuropathology includes: neurofibrillary tangles, neuropil threads, neuritic senile plaques and often deposits of amyloid around the cerebrovasculature. Although many studies have provided a relatively detailed knowledge of these putatively pathogenic entities, understanding of the events that initiate and support the biological processes generating them and the subsequent observable neuropathology and neurodegeneration remain limited. This is especially true in the case of late-onset disease. Although early-onset Alzheimer\u27s disease has been shown conclusively to have genetic roots, the detailed etiologic initiation of late-onset disease without such genetic origins has remained elusive. Over the last 15 years, current and ongoing work has implicated infection in the etiology and pathogenesis of late-onset dementia. Infectious agents reported to be associated with disease initiation are various, including several viruses and pathogenic bacterial species. We have reported extensively regarding an association between late-onset disease and infection with the intracellular bacterial pathoge

Web-conferencing as a viable method for group decision research

Studying group decision-making is challenging for multiple reasons. An important logistic difficulty is studying a sufficiently large number of groups, each with multiple participants. Assembling groups online could make this process easier and also provide access to group members more representative of real-world work groups than the sample of college students that typically comprise lab Face-to-Face (FtF) groups. The main goal of this paper is to compare the decisions of online groups to those of FtF groups. We did so in a study that manipulated gain/loss framing of a risky decision between groups and examined the decisions of both individual group members and groups. All of these dependent measures are compared for an online and an FtF sample. Our results suggest that web-conferencing can be a substitute for FtF interaction in group decision-making research, as we found no moderation effects of communication medium on individual or group decision outcome variables. The effects of medium that were found suggest that the use of online groups may be the preferred method for group research. To wit, discussions among the online groups were shorter, but generated a greater number of thought units, i.e., they made more efficient use of time

Use of probiotics in diets of animal or vegetable origin for broilers

Objetivo. Evaluar el uso de probióticos en dietas con ingredientes de origen animal o vegetal sobre las variables productivas de pollos de engorde de 1 a 42 días de edad. Materiales y métodos. Fueron utilizados 1056 pollitos de un día de edad, machos de linaje Ross 308, distribuidos en un diseño experimental completamente al azar en un arreglo factorial 2X4 (dieta de origen animal o vegetal) y cuatro promotores (antibiótico, dos probióticos y un control negativo) con 6 repeticiones y 22 aves por unidad. Resultados. A los 7 días de edad hubo diferencia (p<0.05) en el consumo diario de alimento, peso y ganancia de peso y a los 14 días para peso, ganancia de peso y mortalidad entre las dietas. La conversión alimenticia de 1 a 7 días tuvo interacción (p<0.05) entre los tipos de dieta y los promotores. Hubo diferencia (p<0.05) para el peso y la ganancia de peso a los 14 días de edad entre los promotores. A los 21 días de edad la mortalidad presentó diferencia (p<0.05) para el tipo de dietas; el peso, ganancia de peso, consuno diario de alimento y conversión alimenticia presentaron diferencia para los promotores. A los 28, 35 y 42 días de edad la mortalidad y el índice de eficiencia productiva presentaron diferencia (p<0.05) entre el tipo de dietas. Conclusiones. El tipo de dieta y de promotor de crecimiento no afectan las variables productivas; sin embargo, la viabilidad mejora con las dietas de origen animal. Objective. Evaluate the use of probiotics in diets whit ingredients of animal or vegetable origin in production variables of broilers from 1 to 42 days of age. Materials and Methods. Were used 1056 one-day-old chicks, male, of lineage Ross 308, divided in to an experimental randomized design in 2X4 factorial arrangement, two origin of diet (animal or vegetable) and four promoters (antibiotic, two probiotics and a negative control) whit 6 replicates and 22 birds per unit. Results. At 7 days old there was a difference (p<0.05) in daily food intake, weight and weight gain and 14 days for weight, weight gain and mortality among diets. The feed conversion of 1-7 days did interaction (p<0.05) between types of diet and promoters. There was a difference (p<0.05) for weight and weight gain at 14 days of age between promoters. At 21 days of age presented mortality difference (p<0.05) for the type of diets; weight, weight gain, daily feed together and feed conversion showed difference for 5337 developers. At 28, 35 and 42 days old mortality and productive efficiency index showed difference (p<0.05) between the types of diets. Conclusions. The type of diet and growth promoter did not affect production variables, however, the viability improvement animal diets