587 research outputs found
Cinacalcet Treatment of Primary Hyperparathyroidism
Although parathyroidectomy remains the only curative approach to most primary hyperparathyroidism cases, medical treatment with cinacalcet HCl has been proven to be a reasonable alternative for several patient subgroups. Cinacalcet almost always controls hypercalcemia and hypophosphatemia sufficiently. PTH levels are lowered, and cognitive parameters improve. While an increase in bone mineral density DEXA scan scores was not demonstrated in cinacalcet trials, the same applies to more than half of patients after parathyroidectomy. Medical therapy should be first choice in patients with hyperplasia in all glands rather than an isolated adenoma (10–15%), patients with persisting HPT following unsuccessful surgery or inoperable cases due to comorbidities, and patients detected in lab screens for hypercalcemia before developing symptoms who should be treated early but are usually reluctant to undergo surgery. Nephrolithiasis was not found to occur more frequently in cinacalcet trial groups, but urine calcium excretion as one major risk factor of this complication of primary HPT may increase on cinacalcet. Patients carrying the rs1042636 polymorphism of the calcium-sensing receptor gene respond more sensitively to cinacalcet and have a higher risk of calcium stone formation. Cinacalcet is usually administered twice daily but three or four doses per day should be discussed to mimic the beneficial pulsatile PTH-pattern
Internal Friction of Amorphous Silicon in a Magnetic Field
The internal friction of e-beam amorphous silicon was measured in a magnetic
field between 0 and 6 T, from 1.5-20 K, and was found to be independent of the
field to better than 8%. It is concluded that the low energy excitations
observed in this experiment are predominantly atomic in nature.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, REVTe
Cancer risk in persons with HIV/AIDS in India: a review and future directions for research
Background India has a large and evolving HIV epidemic. Little is known about cancer risk in Indian persons with HIV/AIDS (PHA) but risk is thought to be low. Methods To describe the state of knowledge about cancer patterns in Indian PHA, we reviewed reports from the international and Indian literature. Results As elsewhere, non-Hodgkin lymphomas dominate the profile of recognized cancers, with immunoblastic/large cell diffuse lymphoma being the most common type. Hodgkin lymphoma is proportionally increased, perhaps because survival with AIDS is truncated by fatal infections. In contrast, Kaposi sarcoma is rare, in association with an apparently low prevalence of Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus. If confirmed, the reasons for the low prevalence need to be understood. Cervical, anal, vulva/vaginal and penile cancers all appear to be increased in PHA, based on limited data. The association may be confounded by sexual behaviors that transmit both HIV and human papillomavirus. Head and neck tumor incidence may also be increased, an important concern since these tumors are among the most common in India. Based on limited evidence, the increase is at buccal/palatal sites, which are associated with tobacco and betel nut chewing rather than human papillomavirus. Conclusion With improving care of HIV and better management of infections, especially tuberculosis, the longer survival of PHA in India will likely increase the importance of cancer as a clinical problem in India. With the population's geographic and social diversity, India presents unique research opportunities that can be embedded in programs targeting HIV/AIDS and other public health priorities
Lunar Outgassing, Transient Phenomena and The Return to The Moon, I: Existing Data
Herein the transient lunar phenomena (TLP) report database is subjected to a
discriminating statistical filter robust against sites of spurious reports, and
produces a restricted sample that may be largely reliable. This subset is
highly correlated geographically with the catalog of outgassing events seen by
the Apollo 15, 16 and Lunar Prospector alpha-particle spectrometers for
episodic Rn-222 gas release. Both this robust TLP sample and even the larger,
unfiltered sample are highly correlated with the boundary between mare and
highlands, as are both deep and shallow moonquakes, as well as Po-210, a
long-lived product of Rn-222 decay and a further tracer of outgassing. This
offers another significant correlation relating TLPs and outgassing, and may
tie some of this activity to sagging mare basalt plains (perhaps mascons).
Additionally, low-level but likely significant TLP activity is connected to
recent, major impact craters (while moonquakes are not), which may indicate the
effects of cracks caused by the impacts, or perhaps avalanches, allowing
release of gas. The majority of TLP (and Rn-222) activity, however, is confined
to one site that produced much of the basalt in the Procellarum Terrane, and it
seems plausible that this TLP activity may be tied to residual outgassing from
the formerly largest volcanic ffusion sites from the deep lunar interior. With
the coming in the next few years of robotic spacecraft followed by human
exploration, the study of TLPs and outgassing is both promising and imperiled.
We will have an unprecedented pportunity to study lunar outgassing, but will
also deal with a greater burden of anthropogenic lunar gas than ever produced.
There is a pressing need to study lunar atmosphere and its sources while still
pristine. [Abstract abridged.]Comment: 35 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Icarus. Other papers in series
found at http://www.astro.columbia.edu/~arlin/TLP
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The Pond 2 selenium volatilization study: A synthesis of five years of experimental results, 1990--1995
Microbial volatilization is a potential remedial measure to decrease the selenium inventory in Kesterson Reservoir soils. Past studies in both the field and the laboratory suggest that a significant percentage of the selenium inventory may be removed in this fashion. The objectives of this study include the quantification of selenium losses and a test of a pilot-scale design which in the future may be used in other parts of the Reservoir
Maternal–Fetal Microtransfusions and HIV-1 Mother-to-Child Transmission in Malawi
BACKGROUND: Between 25% and 35% of infants born to HIV-infected mothers become HIV-1 infected. One potential route of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) could be through a breakdown in the placental barrier (i.e., maternal–fetal microtransfusions). METHODS AND FINDINGS: Placental alkaline phosphatase (PLAP) is a 130-kD maternal enzyme that cannot cross the intact placental barrier. We measured PLAP activity in umbilical vein serum as an indicator of maternal–fetal microtransfusion, and related this to the risk of HIV-1 MTCT. A case-cohort study was conducted of 149 women randomly selected from a cohort of HIV-1-infected pregnant Malawians; these women served as a reference group for 36 cases of in utero MTCT and 43 cases of intrapartum (IP) MTCT. Cord PLAP activity was measured with an immunocatalytic assay. Infant HIV status was determined by real-time PCR. The association between cord PLAP activity and HIV-1 MTCT was measured with logistic regression using generalized estimating equations. Among vaginal deliveries, PLAP was associated with IP MTCT (risk ratio, 2.25 per log(10) ng/ml PLAP; 95% confidence interval, 0.95–5.32) but not in utero MTCT. In a multivariable model adjusted for HIV-1 RNA load, chorioamnionitis, and self-reported fever, the risk of IP MTCT almost tripled for every log(10) increase in cord PLAP activity (risk ratio, 2.87; 95% confidence interval, 1.05–7.83). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that during vaginal deliveries, placental microtransfusions are a risk factor for IP HIV-1 MTCT. Future studies are needed to identify factors that increase the risk for microtransfusions in order to prevent IP HIV-1 MTCT
Risk factors for high anti-HHV-8 antibody titers (≥1:51,200) in black, HIV-1 negative South African cancer patients: a case control study
Background: Infection with human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) is the necessary causal agent in the
development of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). Infection with HIV-1, male gender and older age all increase
risk for KS. However, the geographic distribution of HHV-8 and KS both prior to the HIV/AIDS
epidemic and with HIV/AIDS suggest the presence of an additional co-factor in the development of
KS.
Methods: Between January 1994 and October 1997, we interviewed 2576 black in-patients with
cancer in Johannesburg and Soweto, South Africa. Blood was tested for antibodies against HIV-1
and HHV-8 and the study was restricted to 2191 HIV-1 negative patients. Antibodies against the
latent nuclear antigen of HHV-8 encoded by orf73 were detected with an indirect
immunofluorescence assay. We examined the relationship between high anti-HHV-8 antibody
titers (≥1:51,200) and sociodemographic and behavioral factors using unconditional logistic
regression models. Variables that were significant at p = 0.10 were included in multivariate analysis.
Results: Of the 2191 HIV-1 negative patients who did not have Kaposi's sarcoma, 854 (39.0%)
were positive for antibodies against HHV-8 according to the immunofluorescent assay. Among
those seropositive for HHV-8, 530 (62.1%) had low titers (1:200), 227 (26.6%) had medium titers
(1:51,200) and 97 (11.4%) had highest titers (1:204,800). Among the 2191 HIV-1 negative patients,
the prevalence of high anti-HHV-8 antibody titers (≥1:51,200) was independently associated with
increasing age (ptrend = 0.04), having a marital status of separated or divorced (p = 0.003), using
wood, coal or charcoal as fuel for cooking 20 years ago instead of electricity (p = 0.02) and
consuming traditional maize beer more than one time a week (p = 0.02; p-trend for increasing
consumption = 0.05) although this may be due to chance given the large number of predictors
considered in this analysis.
Conclusions: Among HIV-negative subjects, patients with high anti-HHV-8 antibody titers are
characterized by older age. Other associations that may be factors in the development of high anti-
HHV-8 titers include exposure to poverty or a low socioeconomic status environment and
consumption of traditional maize beer. The relationship between these variables and high anti-
HHV-8 titers requires further, prospective study
SeaWiFS technical report series. Volume 27: Case studies for SeaWiFS calibration and validation, part 3
This document provides brief reports, or case studies, on a number of investigations sponsored by the Calibration and Validation Team (CVT) within the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) Project. Chapter I describes a comparison of the irradiance immersion coefficients determined for several different marine environmental radiometers (MERs). Chapter 2 presents an analysis of how light absorption by atmospheric oxygen will influence the radiance measurements in band 7 of the SeaWiFS instrument. Chapter 3 gives the results of the second ground-based solar calibration of the instrument, which was undertaken after the sensor was modified to reduce the effects of internal stray light. (The first ground-based solar calibration of SeaWiFS is described in Volume 19 in the SeaWiFS Technical Report Series.) Chapter 4 evaluates the effects of ship shadow on subsurface irradiance and radiance measurements deployed from the deck of the R/V Weatherbird 11 in the Atlantic Ocean near Bermuda. Chapter 5 illustrates the various ways in which a single data day of SeaWiFS observations can be defined, and why the spatial definition is superior to the temporal definition for operational usage
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