The relationship between adolescent rumination and maternal rumination, criticism and positivity

Rumination predicts depression in adults and adolescents. The development of rumination has been linked to parenting practices, but only limited research has investigated this and research has tended to rely on self-report parenting measures. To investigate the relationship between female adolescent rumination and maternal modelling, criticism and positivity using an observational measure of parental behaviour. A cross-sectional design was used. Daughters aged 16-18 years and their mothers (n = 154 dyads) completed questionnaire measures of rumination and affect. Mothers of girls with rumination scores in the upper and lower quartile (both n = 26) also completed the Five Minute Speech Sample, which was used to measure maternal criticism and positivity. Mothers of low rumination girls made significantly more positive comments about their daughters than the mothers of high ruminators. Mothers made very few critical comments. Self-reported rumination was not correlated in mothers and daughters, suggesting a lack of support for the potential role of modelling. Overall, low maternal positivity was associated with rumination in female adolescents. There was no evidence that maternal rumination or criticism were associated with adolescent rumination. The results suggest a number of implications for future research, including the need for prospective longitudinal studies using observational parenting measures

The Influence of Rejection Episodes in Recipients of Bilateral Corneal Grafts

Author version made available in accordance with Publisher copyright policy.We investigated whether a rejection episode in one graft was associated with rejection in the other graft, in recipients with bilateral corneal transplants. In a prospectively maintained, national register of 14 865 followed corneal grafts, 1476 patients with bilateral penetrating corneal grafts were identified. Occurrence of rejection was a risk factor for graft failure (p < 0.0001). Logistic regression was used to calculate the adjusted odds ratio for rejection in one eye following rejection in the other eye. In the subset of 1118 patients with bilateral grafts but no history of previous grafts or rejections in either eye, the adjusted odds ratio for a rejection episode in the first eye following rejection in the second was 3.27 (95% confidence interval, CI 1.85, 5.79; p < 0.001). The adjusted odds ratio was 2.04 (95% CI 1.07, 3.91; p = 0.03) for rejection in the second eye following rejection in the first. The median time between the first rejection episode in one eye and the first rejection episode in the other eye was 15 months. Patients with bilateral corneal grafts who suffer a graft rejection episode in one eye are at significantly greater odds of suffering a rejection episode in the other corneal transplant

Therapeutic Electromagnetic Field Effects on Angiogenesis and Tumor Growth

Background: A new approach to cancer therapy based on the application of therapeutic electromagnetic fields (TEMF) has been developed by EMF Therapeutics, Inc., Chattanooga, TN, USA. This study was designed to assess the effect of TEMF on tumor vascularization and growth of murine 16/C mammmary adenocarcinoma cells in C3H/HeJ mice. Materials and Methods: Implanted tumors were allowed to grow for seven days until the tumor volume reached 100 mm3 before treatment was started. Mice (20 per control, 10 per EMF exposed group) received treatment (10 minutes per day with 0, 10 mT, 15 mT or 20 mT) with a 120 pulses per second pulsating magnetic field. Tumor growth was assessed throughout the treatment period. The extent of tumor vascularization was evaluated by immrmohistochemical staining for CD31. Results: Exposure to TEMF significantly reduced tumor growth, significantly reduced the percentage of area stained for CD31 indicating a reduction in the extent of vascularization and there was a concomitant increase in the extent of tumor necrosis. Conclusion: A novel TEMF treatment safely reduced growth and vasculadzalion of implanted breast cancers in mice. Implication: TEMF may prove a useful adjuvant to increase the therapeutic index of conventional cancer therapy

The Australian Corneal Graft Registry 2007 Report

The Australian Corneal Graft Registry opened in May 1985 and thus has now been in operation for over 22 years. The census date for this report was 01/09/2006. Over the years, we have collected data on more than 18,500 corneal grafts. The majority of corneal grafts registered have been penetrating, but increasing numbers of lamellar and limbal grafts have also been registered over recent years, as patterns of surgical practice change. At registration, we seek information on the recipient, the donor, the eye bank practices and the operative procedure. Follow-up then occurs at approximately yearly intervals for an indefinite period, and ceases upon loss of the graft, or the death or loss-to-follow-up of the patient. At each round of follow-up, we request information on the graft and visual outcome, and upon relevant post-operative events and treatments. The data are entered into an Access database and checked for consistency. Descriptive, univariate and multivariate analyses are subsequently performed using SPSS and Stata software, and the report is eventually collated.This report was published with assistance from The Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing

The influence of cervical and thoracic lymphadenectomy on corneal allograft rejection in inbred rats

Aim To investigate the site of alloantigen presentation in the rat following orthotopic corneal transplantation. Methods Adult inbred Fischer 344 rats received penetrating corneal allografts from inbred Wistar Furth donors (n¼17), without lymphadenectomy. A second group (n¼8) underwent bilateral removal of superficial cervical and facial lymph nodes 7 days before transplantation. A third group (n¼9) underwent bilateral removal of superficial cervical, facial, internal jugular and posterior cervical nodes. Graft survival was assessed by corneal clarity and rejection was confirmed histologically. Results All allografts underwent rejection. The median time to rejection for unmodified allografts was day 15, compared with day 14.5 for minimally lymphadenectomised recipients and day 18 for more extensively lymphadenectomised recipients (p>0.05, all comparisons). The median day to rejection for the combined group of lymphadenectomised rats was day 17 (p>0.05 compared with unmodified grafts). The rejection process was similar in all recipients. Conclusions Removal of multiple lymph nodes in the neck and thorax did not significantly influence the incidence, tempo or nature of the corneal allograft response. Sensitisation and clonal expansion of corneal alloantigen-reactive cells cannot occur only in superficial cervical, facial, internal jugular and posterior cervical lymph nodes in the rat.We acknowledge financial support from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council and the Ophthalmic Research Institute of Australia