Patient dose reduction during voiding cystourethrography

Voiding cystourethrography (VCUG) is a commonly performed examination in a pediatric uroradiology practice. This article contains suggestions on how the radiation dose to a child from VCUG can be made ‘as low as reasonably achievable–(ALARA). The pediatric radiologist should consider the appropriateness of the clinical indication before performing VCUG and utilize radiation exposure techniques and parameters during VCUG to reduce radiation exposure to a child. The medical physicist and fluoroscope manufacturer can also work together to optimize a pulsed-fluoroscopy unit and further reduce the radiation exposure. Laboratory and clinical research is necessary to investigate methods that reduce radiation exposures during VCUG, and current research is presented here

Impaired Bone Health in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Case-Control Study in 80 Pediatric Patients

Peer reviewe

An unbiased survey of 500 nearby stars for debris disks: A JCMT legacy program

We present the scientific motivation and observing plan for an upcoming detection survey for debris disks using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. The SCUBA‐2 Unbiased Nearby Stars (SUNS) survey will observe 500 nearby main‐sequence and subgiant stars (100 of each of the A, F, G, K, and M spectral classes) to the 850 μm extragalactic confusion limit to search for evidence of submillimeter excess, an indication of circumstellar material. The survey distance boundaries are 8.6, 16.5, 22, 25, and 45 pc for M, K, G, F, and A stars, respectively, and all targets lie between the declinations of −40° to 80°. In this survey, no star will be rejected based on its inherent properties: binarity, presence of planetary companions, spectral type, or age. The survey will commence in late 2007 and will be executed over 390 hr, reaching 90% completion within 2 years. This will be the first unbiased survey for debris disks since the Infrared Astronomical Satellite. We expect to detect ~125 debris disks, including ~50 cold disks not detectable in current shorter wavelength surveys. To fully exploit the order of magnitude increase in debris disks detected in the submillimeter, a substantial amount of complementary data will be required, especially at shorter wavelengths, to constrain the temperatures and masses of discovered disks. High‐resolution studies will likely be required to resolve many of the disks. Therefore, these systems will be the focus of future observational studies using a variety of observatories, including Herschel, ALMA, and JWST, to characterize their physical properties. For nondetected systems, this survey will set constraints (upper limits) on the amount of circumstellar dust, of typically 200 times the Kuiper Belt mass, but as low as 10 times the Kuiper Belt mass for the nearest stars in the sample (≈2 pc)

A polymorphism in the regulatory region of PRNP is associated with increased risk of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

Background: Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a rare transmissible neurodegenerative disorder. An important determinant for CJD risk and phenotype is the M129V polymorphism of the human prion protein gene (PRNP), but there are also other coding and non-coding polymorphisms inside this gene.Methods: We tested whether three non-coding polymorphism located inside the PRNP regulatory region (C-101G, G310C and T385C) were associated with risk of CJD and with age at onset in a United Kingdom population-based sample of 131 sporadic CJD (sCJD) patients and 194 controls.Results: We found no disease association for either PRNP C-101G or PRNP T385C. Although the crude analysis did not show a significant association between PRNP G310C and sCJD (OR: 1.5; 95%CI = 0.7 to 2.9), after adjusting by PRNP M129V genotype, it resulted that being a C allele carrier at PRNP G310C was significantly (p = 0.03) associated with a 2.4 fold increased risk of developing sCJD (95%CI = 1.1 to 5.4). Additionally, haplotypes carrying PRNP 310C coupled with PRNP 129M were significantly overrepresented in patients (p = 0.02) compared to controls. Cases of sCJD carrying a PRNP 310C allele presented at a younger age (on average 8.9 years younger than those without this allele), which was of statistical significance (p = 0.05). As expected, methionine and valine homozygosity at PRNP M129V increased significantly the risk of sCJD, alone and adjusted by PRNP G310C (OR MM/MV = 7.3; 95%CI 3.9 to 13.5 and OR VV/MV = 4.0; 95%CI 1.7 to 9.3).Conclusions: Our findings support the hypothesis that genetic variations in the PRNP promoter may have a role in the pathogenesis of sCJD

Defending the genome from the enemy within:mechanisms of retrotransposon suppression in the mouse germline

The viability of any species requires that the genome is kept stable as it is transmitted from generation to generation by the germ cells. One of the challenges to transgenerational genome stability is the potential mutagenic activity of transposable genetic elements, particularly retrotransposons. There are many different types of retrotransposon in mammalian genomes, and these target different points in germline development to amplify and integrate into new genomic locations. Germ cells, and their pluripotent developmental precursors, have evolved a variety of genome defence mechanisms that suppress retrotransposon activity and maintain genome stability across the generations. Here, we review recent advances in understanding how retrotransposon activity is suppressed in the mammalian germline, how genes involved in germline genome defence mechanisms are regulated, and the consequences of mutating these genome defence genes for the developing germline

Engineers and planners: Sustainable water management alliances

Copyright © 2011 ICE Publishing Ltd. Permission is granted by ICE Publishing to print one copy for personal use. Any other use of these PDF files is subject to reprint fees.In the future, increasing pressure will inevitably be placed on the spatial planning system to improve its consideration of water management issues. Emerging challenges include designing for climatic extremes, reducing flood risk, managing increasingly scarce water resources and improving water quality. These issues need to be balanced with a range of other spatial planning priorities and objectives, including meeting new housing needs, facilitating economic growth, and creating and maintaining quality places. The sheer complexity of the issues surrounding water management and the impacts upon spatial planning mean that partnership working is essential to achieve an integrated approach. Planners need the expertise, and crucially the understanding, of engineers and hydrologists. However, there can be considerable misunderstanding and miscommunication between disciplines, often concerning the institutional context in which the various parties operate. A plethora of policies, tools and assessments exist, which can make integrated water management an overwhelming prospect for the planner. This paper attempts to identify and address some of the issues faced, as well as examining how planners embed hydrological issues in decision making and how engineers could better facilitate this

Failure to complete adjuvant chemotherapy is associated with adverse survival in stage III colon cancer patients

Two recent North American studies have shown that completion of 5-fluorouracil (5FU)-based adjuvant chemotherapy is a major prognostic factor for the survival of elderly stage III colon cancer patients. The aim of the present study was to confirm this finding in a population-based series from Australia. The study cohort comprised 851 stage III colon cancer patients treated by surgery alone and 461 who initiated the Mayo chemotherapy regime. One-third of patients who initiated chemotherapy failed to complete more than three cycles of treatment. Independent predictors for failure to complete were treatment in district or rural hospitals, low socioeconomic index and treatment by a low-volume surgeon. Patients who failed to complete chemotherapy showed worse cancer-specific survival compared not only to those who completed treatment (HR=2.24; 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.66–3.03), P<0.001) but also to those treated by surgery alone (HR=1.37; 95% CI (1.09–1.72), P=0.008). The current and previous studies demonstrate the importance of completing adjuvant 5-FU-based chemotherapy for colon cancer. Further prospective studies are required to identify better the physiological and socioeconomic factors responsible for failure to complete chemotherapy so that appropriate improvements in health service delivery can be made

Widening of Socioeconomic Inequalities in U.S. Death Rates, 1993–2001

Background: Socioeconomic inequalities in death rates from all causes combined widened from 1960 until 1990 in the U.S., largely because cardiovascular death rates decreased more slowly in lower than in higher socioeconomic groups. However, no studies have examined trends in inequalities using recent US national data. Methodology/Principal Findings: We calculated annual age-standardized death rates from 1993–2001 for 25–64 year old non-Hispanic whites and blacks by level of education for all causes and for the seven most common causes of death using death certificate information from 43 states and Washington, D.C. Regression analysis was used to estimate annual percent change. The inequalities in all cause death rates between Americans with less than high school education and college graduates increased rapidly from 1993 to 2001 due to both significant decreases in mortality from all causes, heart disease, cancer, stroke, and other conditions in the most educated and lack of change or increases among the least educated. For white women, the all cause death rate increased significantly by 3.2 percent per year in the least educated and by 0.7 percent per year in high school graduates. The rate ratio (RR) comparing the least versus most educated increased from 2.9 (95 % CI, 2.8–3.1) in 1993 to 4.4 (4.1–4.6) in 2001 among white men, from 2.1 (1.8–2.5) to 3.4 (2.9–3–9) in black men, and from 2.6 (2.4–2.7) to 3.8 (3.6–4.0) in white women. Conclusion: Socioeconomic inequalities in mortality are increasing rapidly due to continued progress by educated whit

Azimuthal anisotropy and correlations at large transverse momenta in p+pp+p and Au+Au collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}= 200 GeV

Results on high transverse momentum charged particle emission with respect to the reaction plane are presented for Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$= 200 GeV. Two- and four-particle correlations results are presented as well as a comparison of azimuthal correlations in Au+Au collisions to those in $p+p$ at the same energy. Elliptic anisotropy, $v_2$, is found to reach its maximum at $p_t \sim 3$ GeV/c, then decrease slowly and remain significant up to $p_t\approx 7$ -- 10 GeV/c. Stronger suppression is found in the back-to-back high-$p_t$ particle correlations for particles emitted out-of-plane compared to those emitted in-plane. The centrality dependence of $v_2$ at intermediate $p_t$ is compared to simple models based on jet quenching.Comment: 4 figures. Published version as PRL 93, 252301 (2004