abstract background: given the high relapse rate of disease in children with steroid dependent nephrotic syndrome and the osteoporotic effect of long periods of steroid therapy, this survey was performed to find the bone mineral status of these patients.   methods: bone mineral density and content (bmd and bmc) were measured using dual energy x-ray absorptiometry in 37 nephrotic children, six g...

BACKGROUND The growing use of imaging procedures in the United States has raised concerns about exposure to low-dose ionizing radiation in the general population. METHODS We identified 952,420 nonelderly adults (between 18 and 64 years of age) in five health care markets across the United States between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2007. Utilization data were used to estimate cumulative ...

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to investigate whether the 13C-phenylalanine breath test could be useful for the evaluation of hepatic function in elderly volunteers and patients with chronic hepatitis B and liver cirrhosis. METHODS L-[1-13C] phenylalanine was administered orally at a dose of 100 mg to 55 elderly patients with liver cirrhosis, 30 patients with chronic hepatitis B a...

BACKGROUND Adult survivors of childhood central nervous system (CNS) malignancies are at high risk for long-term morbidity and late mortality. However, patterns of late mortality, the long-term risks of subsequent neoplasms and debilitating medical conditions, and sociodemographic outcomes have not been comprehensively characterized for individual diagnostic and treatment groups. METHODS We c...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the relation between levels of cumulative exposure to wood dust and respiratory symptoms and the occurrence of bronchial hyperresponsiveness among beech and oak workers. METHODS 114 Male woodworkers from five furniture factories and 13 male unexposed controls were examined. The unexposed control group was supplemented by 200 male historical controls. Statistical anal...

Putative risk factors (DNA damage) and risk modifying factors (DNA repair and cell proliferation) were examined in an experimental mouse model in which treatment with dimethylhydrazine (6.8 mg/kg DMH i.p. once weekly) for up to 20 weeks induces colon tumours in a site specific manner with 0, 43 and 87% of animals having proximal, mid and distal colon tumours respectively at the highest cumulati...

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a newly described infectious disease caused by the SARS coronavirus which attacks the immune system and pulmonary epithelium. It is treated with regular high doses of corticosteroids. Our aim was to determine the relationship between the dosage of steroids and the number and distribution of osteonecrotic lesions in patients treated with steroids durin...

Mitomycin C (MMC) has potent cytotoxicity but cumulative toxicity limits widespread use. In animals, pegylated liposomal mitomycin C lipid-based prodrug (PL-MLP) was well tolerated and more effective than free MMC. We evaluated PL-MLP in patients with advanced cancer. Twenty-seven patients were treated in escalating dose cohorts of 0.5-3.5 mg/kg (equivalent to 0.15-1.03 mg/kg MMC) every 4 weeks...

The U.S. population has nearly one radiographic examination per person per year, and concern about cancer risks associated with medical radiation has increased. Radiologic technologists were surveyed to determine whether their personal cumulative exposure to diagnostic X-rays was associated with increased frequencies of chromosome translocations, an established radiation biomarker and possible ...

The biodosimetric information is critical for evaluating the human health hazards caused by radon and its progeny. Here, we demonstrated that the formation of phosphorylated histone variant H2AX (γ-H2AX), p53-binding protein 1 (53BP1) and phosphorylated KRAB-associated protein 1 (pKAP-1) foci and their linear tracks in human peripheral blood lymphocytes (HPBLs) in vitro exposed to radon and its...