Prophylactic laser peripheral iridotomy and cataract progression.

PURPOSE: To determine whether prophylactic laser peripheral iridotomy (LPI) for primary angle closure (PAC) is associated with cataract progression. METHODS: In 1999, Mongolian volunteers aged>or=50 years were invited to participate in a longitudinal study. Glaucoma was excluded in all participants and 712 of them were selected to undergo a full ophthalmic examination as part of the study protocol. Lenses were graded and PAC diagnosed using international classification systems. In 2005, all traced participants underwent a similar dilated examination. Diagnosis of cataract progression was based on the inter-observer variation +2 standard deviations. The association between LPI at baseline and cataract progression was assessed using chi2-test and logistic regression. RESULTS: Of 712 participants, 158 were diagnosed with occludable angles and treated with LPI. In 2005, 137 participants (19.2%) had died, 315 (315/575=54.8%) were traced, and dilated examination was performed on 276 (48%) of them. Progression of nuclear opacity (NO), cortical, and posterior subcapsular (PSC) opacities were evident in 40 (14.5%, 95% confidence interval (CI)=10.6-19.2%), 89 (32.2%, 95% CI=26.8-38.1%), and 11 participants (4.0%, 95% CI=2.0-7.0%), respectively. Although NO was more likely to progress in those with LPI in a crude analysis (odds ratio (OR)=2.02, 95% CI=1.00-4.11, P=0.05), no evidence of an independent association was detected in multivariate analysis adjusting for age, sex, and baseline Schaffer grading (adjusted OR=1.24, 0.41-3.75, P=0.7). There was no evidence of an association between LPI and progression of PSC or cortical opacities. CONCLUSIONS: There is no evidence that prophylactic LPI is independently associated with cataract progression in this study

Autologous or allogeneic bone marrow transplantation compared with intensive chemotherapy in acute myelogenous leukemia

SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Nucleotide excision repair gene variants and association with survival in osteosarcoma patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of common polymorphisms in the NER pathway genes in the tumorigenesis of osteosarcoma and in the response to DNA damaging therapies, such as cisplatin-based neoadjuvant therapy. XPD (rs13181 and rs1799793), XPG (rs17655), and ERCC1 (rs3212986 and rs11615) polymorphisms were analysed in a group of 130 homogenously-treated patients with high-grade osteosarcoma for association with event free survival (EFS) using Kaplan-Meier plots and log-rank test. A positive association was observed between both XPD SNPs and an increased EFS (HR= 0.34, 95% CI 0.12-0.98 and HR= 0.19, 95% CI 0.05-0.77, respectively). We had also performed a case-control study for relative risk to develop osteosarcoma. Patients carrying at least one variant allele of XPD rs1799793 had a reduced risk of developing osteosarcoma compared to wild type patients (OR=0.55, 95% CI 0.36-0.84).This study suggests that XPD rs1799793 could be a marker of osteosarcoma associated with features conferring either a better prognosis or a better outcome after platinum therapy, or both

Section 6: Home ventilation in children with chronic lung diseases

Some children with chronic lung diseases (CLD) may require home mechanical ventilation (HMV). This section will focus on bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and cystic fibrosis (CF), though other CLDs such as primary ciliary dyskinesia and those that may result in pulmonary hypertension are also addressed.1,2 The goals of this section are: (1) to review the literature on the experience in using HMV (invasive and noninvasive) in children with chronic respiratory failure secondary to CLD such as BPD and CF; (2) to review the outcomes of HMV for these populations; (3) to provide Canadian-specific pediatric practice recommendations around long-term home ventilation for children with respiratory failure and hypoventilation secondary to CLD; and (4) to identify areas for further research