Effects of progressive backward body weight supported treadmill training on gait ability in chronic stroke patients: A randomized controlled trial

postprin

A potential new enriching trial design for selecting non-small-cell lung cancer patients with no predictive biomarker for trials based on both histology and early tumor response: further analysis of a thalidomide trial

There are few predictive biomarkers for antiangiogenic trials in lung cancer. We examine a potential treatment strategy in which a patient group is enriched using both histology and an early assessment of response during standard chemotherapy, and where a new agent is given for the remainder of chemotherapy and as maintenance. We performed a retrospective analysis of 722 stage IIIB/IV non-small-cell lung cancer patients from a double-blind placebo-controlled trial of thalidomide or placebo 100-200 mg/day, combined with gemcitabine/carboplatin (for up to four cycles), then given as single agent maintenance therapy. There was a significant statistical interaction between treatment and histology, with a possible benefit among squamous cell cancer (SCC) patients. We examined 150 SCC patients who were "nonprogressors" (stable disease or complete/partial response) after completing the second chemotherapy cycle. Endpoints were progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Among the 150 patients nonprogressors after cycle 2 (thalidomide, n = 72; placebo, n = 78; baseline characteristics were similar), the hazard ratios (HRs) were: OS = 0.76 (95% CI: 0.54-1.07) and PFS = 0.69 (95% CI: 0.50-0.97). In 57 patients who had a complete/partial response, the HRs were: OS = 0.63 (95% CI: 0.34-1.15) and PFS = 0.50 (95% CI: 0.28-0.88). SCC patients who were nonprogressors after 2 cycles of standard chemotherapy showed evidence of a benefit from thalidomide when taken for the remainder of chemotherapy and as maintenance. This strategy based on histology and, importantly, early assessment of tumor response, as a means of patient enrichment, could be examined in other lung cancer studies. Such an approach might be suitable for trials where there are no predictive biomarkers

2(Phenylmethylthio)benzaldehyde

In the title compound, C14H12OS, the two planar benzaldehyde and benzyl groups are inclined at 77.7 (1) °. The torsion angle about the central C--S bond is 174.9 (2) °. The molecules are held together in the crystal by van der Waals interactions.published_or_final_versio

Plasmonic colloidal nanoparticles with open eccentric cavities via acid-induced chemical transformation

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has been considered a promising technique for the detection of trace molecules in biomedicine and environmental monitoring. The ideal metal nanoparticles for SERS must not only fulfill important requirements such as high near-field enhancement and a tunable far-field response but also overcome the diffusion limitation at extremely lower concentrations of a target material. Here, we introduce a novel method to produce gold nanoparticles with open eccentric cavities by selectively adapting the structure of non-plasmonic nanoparticles via acid-mediated surface replacement. Copper oxide nanoparticles with open eccentric cavities are first prepared using a microwave-irradiation-assisted surfactant-free hydrothermal reaction and are then transformed into gold nanoparticles by an acidic gold precursor while maintaining their original structure. Because of the strong near-field enhancement occurring at the mouth of the open cavities and the very rough surfaces resulting from the uniformly covered hyperbranched sharp multi-tips and the free access of SERS molecules inside of the nanoparticles without diffusion limitation, adenine, one of the four bases in DNA, in an extremely diluted aqueous solution (1.0 pM) was successfully detected with excellent reproducibility upon laser excitation with a 785-nm wavelength. The gold nanoparticles with open eccentric cavities provide a powerful platform for the detection of ultra-trace analytes in an aqueous solution within near-infrared wavelengths, which is essential for highly sensitive, reliable and direct in vivo analysis.None1132sciescopu

Distributions of brominated organic compounds in the troposphere and lower stratosphere

A comprehensive suite of brominated organic compounds was measured from whole air samples collected during the 1996 NASA Stratospheric Tracers of Atmospheric Transport aircraft campaign and the 1996 NASA Global Tropospheric Experiment Pacific Exploratory Mission-Tropics aircraft campaign. Measurements of individual species and total organic bromine were utilized to describe latitudinal and vertical distributions in the troposphere and lower stratosphere, fractional contributions to total organic bromine by individual species, fractional dissociation of the long-lived species relative to CFC-11, and the Ozone Depletion Potential of the halons and CH3Br. Spatial differences in the various organic brominated compounds were related to their respective sources and chemical lifetimes. The difference between tropospheric mixing ratios in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres for halons was approximately equivalent to their annual tropospheric growth rates, while the interhemispheric ratio of CH3Br was 1.18. The shorter-lived brominated organic species showed larger tropospheric mixing ratios in the tropics relative to midlatitudes, which may reflect marine biogenic sources. Significant vertical gradients in the troposphere were observed for the short-lived species with upper troposphere values 40-70% of the lower troposphere values. Much smaller vertical gradients (3-14%) were observed for CH3Br, and no significant vertical gradients were observed for the halons. Above the tropopause, the decrease in organic bromine compounds was found to have some seasonal and latitudinal differences. The combined losses of the individual compounds resulted in a loss of total organic bromine between the tropopause and 20 km of 38-40% in the tropics and 75-85% in midlatitudes. The fractional dissociation of the halons and CH3Br relative to CFC-11 showed latitudinal differences, with larger values in the tropics. Copyright 1999 by the American Geophysical Union

Validating the Beck Depression Inventory-II for Hong Kong Community Adolescents

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Bacterial Infection Elicits Heat Shock Protein 72 Release from Pleural Mesothelial Cells

Heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) has been implicated in infection-related processes and has been found in body fluids during infection. This study aimed to determine whether pleural mesothelial cells release HSP70 in response to bacterial infection in vitro and in mouse models of serosal infection. In addition, the in vitro cytokine effects of the HSP70 isoform, Hsp72, on mesothelial cells were examined. Further, Hsp72 was measured in human pleural effusions and levels compared between non-infectious and infectious patients to determine the diagnostic accuracy of pleural fluid Hsp72 compared to traditional pleural fluid parameters. We showed that mesothelial release of Hsp72 was significantly raised when cells were treated with live and heat-killed Streptococcus pneumoniae. In mice, intraperitoneal injection of S. pneumoniae stimulated a 2-fold increase in Hsp72 levels in peritoneal lavage (p<0.01). Extracellular Hsp72 did not induce or inhibit mediator release from cultured mesothelial cells. Hsp72 levels were significantly higher in effusions of infectious origin compared to non-infectious effusions (p<0.05). The data establish that pleural mesothelial cells can release Hsp72 in response to bacterial infection and levels are raised in infectious pleural effusions. The biological role of HSP70 in pleural infection warrants exploration

Image quality based x-ray dose control in cardiac imaging

An automated closed-loop dose control system balances the radiation dose delivered to patients and the quality of images produced in cardiac x-ray imaging systems. Using computer simulations, this study compared two designs of automatic x-ray dose control in terms of the radiation dose and quality of images produced. The first design, commonly in x-ray systems today, maintained a constant dose rate at the image receptor. The second design maintained a constant image quality in the output images. A computer model represented patients as a polymethylmetacrylate phantom (which has similar x-ray attenuation to soft tissue), containing a detail representative of an artery filled with contrast medium. The model predicted the entrance surface dose to the phantom and contrast to noise ratio of the detail as an index of image quality. Results showed that for the constant dose control system, phantom dose increased substantially with phantom size (x5 increase between 20cm and 30 cm thick phantom), yet the image quality decreased by 43% for the same thicknesses. For the constant quality control, phantom dose increased at a greater rate with phantom thickness (>x10 increase between 20 cm and 30 cm phantom). Image quality based dose control could tailor the x-ray output to just achieve the quality required, which would reduce dose to patients where the current dose control produces images of too high quality. However, maintaining higher levels of image quality for large patients would result in a significant dose increase over current practice