El Niño episodes coincide with California moray Gymnothorax mordax settlement around Santa Catalina Island, California.

The hypothesis that El Niño events influence the settlement patterns of the California moray Gymnothorax mordax is tested. The pelagic larval duration (PLD) of larval G. mordax is unknown, but studies on leptocephalus of related species suggest that larvae are long-lived, up to 2 years. Gymnothorax mordax, an elusive predatory species and the only muraenid off the coast of California, is considered abundant in the waters around Catalina Island. Thirty-three individuals were collected from Two Harbors, Catalina Island, and otoliths were taken to provide estimates of their age. Settlement year for each individual was backcalculated using estimated age from otolith measurements. These ages were then cross referenced with the Oceanic Niño Index (ONI) developed by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to correlate estimated age of settlement with known El Niño years. Of the 33 individuals collected, 30 settled at Catalina Island during El Niño years. The oldest individual in the data-set was 22 years old, placing G. mordax as one of the longer-lived predatory fishes in the system. The present study represents the first account of wild G. mordax ages and suggests that El Niño events have an important role in driving the settlement of recruits towards the northern edge of their range.

Presentation of atopic disease in a large cohort of pediatric liver transplant recipients.

Atopic disease occurs in solid organ transplant recipients with an increasingly recognized frequency. The time course for the development of these atopic diseases in liver transplantation has not been described. The objective was to characterize the atopic manifestations of children receiving chronic immunosuppression after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). Chart review and follow-up questionnaire were utilized for 176 OLT pediatric recipients at a single institution for manifestations of allergic disease. Atopic disease was present in 25 (14.2%) patients. Median age at transplant was 16 months with a median follow-up of 63 months. Food allergy and non-food related atopic symptoms presented at a median of 11.5 (IQR, 6-28) and 19 (IQR, 5-41) months post-transplantation, respectively. The median age at transplant of the non-atopic children was 72 months, higher than patients with atopy (p < 0.001). Food allergy and atopic skin disease symptoms were present in 40% and 56% of cases, respectively. Asthma, allergic rhinitis, or both were found in 66% of cases. The onset of symptoms of food allergy and eczema (median, 12 months post-transplantation) preceded symptoms of allergic rhinitis and asthma. (median of 27 and 30 months post-transplantation, respectively). Atopy occurs in ∼14% of pediatric liver transplant recipients, with manifestations including food allergy, eczema, allergic rhinitis, and asthma.

Clinical characteristics and biomarkers of breast cancer associated with choline concentration measured by 1H MRS.

This study investigated the association between the total choline (tCho) concentration and the clinical characteristics and biomarker status of breast cancer. Sixty-two patients with breast cancer, 1.5 cm or larger in size on MR images, were studied. The tCho concentration was correlated with the MRI features, contrast enhancement kinetics, clinical variables and biomarkers. Pairwise two-tailed Spearman's nonparametric test was used for statistical analysis. The tCho concentration was higher in high-grade than moderate-/low-grade tumors (p = 0.04) and in tumors with higher K(trans) and k(ep) (p < 0.001 for both). The association of tCho concentration with age (p = 0.05) and triple negative biomarker (p = 0.09) approached significance. tCho was not detected in 17 patients, including 15 with invasive ductal cancer and two with infiltrating lobular cancer. Fifteen of the 17 patients had moderate- to low-grade cancers, and 11 had human epidermal growth factor-2-negative cancer, suggesting that these two factors might lead to false-negative choline. Higher tCho concentration in high-grade tumors and tumors with higher K(trans) and k(ep) indicates that choline is associated with cell proliferation and tumor angiogenesis. The higher choline level in younger women may be caused by their more aggressive tumor type. The results presented here may aid in the better interpretation of (1)H MRS for the diagnosis of breast lesions.

Upper GI GVHD: similar outcomes to other grade II graft-versus-host disease.

The significance of upper gastrointestinal tract (UGI) acute GVHD (aGVHD) compared with other grade II aGVHD is not clearly defined. We compared the outcomes of patients with grade II aGVHD with or without biopsy-proven UGI involvement in three groups: grade II aGVHD without UGI (n=178), grade II aGVHD with UGI and other sites (n=102) and isolated UGI aGVHD (n=32). The overall response (ORR) to steroids at day 28 differed among the three groups (76, 67 and 91%, respectively, P=0.01), but was only marginally different in direct comparison with those without or with UGI aGVHD (P=0.07) or with isolated UGI aGVHD (P=0.06). In multivariate analysis, as compared with grade II aGVHD patients without UGI involvement, those with UGI involvement and those with isolated UGI aGVHD had similar risks of chronic GVHD, relapse and non-relapse mortality and similar disease-free survival and overall survival. Our data suggest that patients with UGI aGVHD have similar outcomes as those without UGI involvement, supporting the view that UGI aGVHD should still be included as a grade II-defining event.

Failure of high fat diets to promote mammary cancers in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Rat strains differ in their susceptibilities to chemically-induced mammary carcinogenesis. The present study tested the hypothesis that the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) strain is resistant to mammary carcinogenesis. Resistance would imply the presence of the mammary carcinoma suppressor (MCS) gene. Therefore, we also wanted to test the ability of this gene to inhibit mammary tumor promotion in the presence of high fat diets. Female SHRs were treated with DMBA (5 mg/rat) at 50 days of age and transferred to either a 20% corn oil or 19% menhaden oil + 1% corn oil diet one week later. At 17 weeks post-DMBA none of the rats in either group developed mammary carcinomas. Multiple palpable nodules formed in the mammary gland indicating that initiation had occurred. We conclude that the SHR strain is genetically resistant to DMBA-induced mammary carcinogenesis by mechanisms involving a blockade of promotion.

Zellweger syndrome. Lenticular opacities indicating carrier status and lens abnormalities characteristic of homozygotes.

Cataracts were found in four patients with pathologically confirmed Zellweger syndrome. By careful slitlamp examination with the pupil completely dilated, there is a denser cortex that produces a cortical-nuclear interface. These opacities have ultrastructural analogues, which are inclusion bodies restricted to the cortical lens fibers. The lens epithelium shows abnormal mitochondrial proliferation that is age dependent. The parents of these four infants with Zellweger syndrome have lenticular opacities that are seen only biomicroscopically after maximal pupillary dilation. These changes consist of curvilinear condensations in the cortical region corresponding to the locus of the cataractous changes in the homozygous state. In the clinical setting of an infant who is failing to thrive, has the Zellweger facies, and demonstrates an absent electroretinogram, these heterozygote lens opacities are useful in making the diagnosis of Zellweger syndrome before pathologic substantiation.

Ocular manifestations of the Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome.

To our knowledge, this article describes the first ocular histopathologic condition of a Smith-Lemli-Opitz proband, despite almost 60 clinical histories that exist in the literature. The sole retinal abnormality in this 1-month-old infant with congenital bilateral cataracts is the extensive dropout of peripheral ganglion axons with incipient optic nerve demyelination. Unusual amorphous cytoplasmic masses that are continuous with photoreceptor discs are prominent aspects of the peripheral subretinal space. The morphological data imply that the localized mitochondrial disintegration is restricted to the corneal endothelium and retinal pigment epithelium and is an important element in the etiology. All children who fail to thrive with vomiting, are mentally deficient, have anteverted nostrils, broad maxillary alveolar ridges, syndactyly of the second and third toes, and ambiguous genitalia should be carefully screened for incipient corneal endothelial changes, mild cataracts, and peripheral retinal changes.

Abnormal sperm and photoreceptor axonemes in Usher's syndrome.

Axonemes are organelles that are composed of microtubule doublets and singlets with a complex assembly of associated proteins. This study was designed to investigate the possibility that an abnormal axoneme is involved in the pathogenesis of Usher's syndrome. A masked structural and functional analysis of sperm was performed on samples from ten patients with Usher's syndrome and 33 controls, including duplicate samples from six patients and three controls. In the functional analyses, there was a significant decrease in patient sperm motility and velocity. Structurally, there was a significant increase in tail abnormalities at both the light and electron microscopic levels. Ejaculate volume and sperm concentration were normal in the patient population. The presence of abnormal axonemes was also confirmed in remnant photoreceptors of a whole eye donation from a patient with Usher's syndrome. The data suggest that defective connecting cilia axonemes may be involved in the irreversible, progressive loss of photoreceptors in Usher's syndrome.

Variable expressivity of autosomal dominant anterior segment mesenchymal dysgenesis in six generations.

Of 58 members in a six-generation family with anterior segment mesenchymal dysgenesis with variable expressivity, 21 of 35 members (60%) at risk were affected. Of the 15 living affected family members, nine (60%) had visual acuities of 6/12 (20/40) or better in at least one eye, five (33%) had visual acuities between 6/15 and 6/60 (20/50 and 20/200) in at least one eye, and one (7%) had a visual acuity of less than counting fingers at one foot in both eyes. All nine affected patients who underwent slit-lamp examinations had corneal abnormalities with and without synechiae. All 15 affected patients also had cataracts, and three of the 15 (20%) had optic nerve abnormalities. In a corneal button from the severely affected proband, Descemet's layer and endothelial cells were absent even in the periphery. Other corneal and lenticular changes were secondary to the primary endothelial defect. Anterior segment mesenchymal dysgenesis in this family appeared to be caused by an aberration of the first wave of mesenchyme from the rim of the optic cup.

Effects of total fasting or chronic food restriction on plasma endothelin levels in rats.

We tested the effects of 24- and 48-h fasting and 40% calorie restriction stresses on plasma endothelin (ET)-1,2 levels in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Plasma ET-1,2 levels in pg/ml were lower in 24-h fasted rats (15.48 +/- 3.49), 48-h fasted rats (5.28 +/- 4.32), and in chronically food-deprived rats (R) (10.49 +/- 6.28) compared to ad lib-fed (AL) rats (21.23 +/- 9.38). The R rats were pair-fed 40% fewer calories than AL rats. We conclude that calorie restriction or total food deprivation stress decreases plasma ET-1,2 levels, unlike many other forms of physiological stress that have been shown to increase plasma ET-1,2 levels.

Morphologic changes of K-Sol preserved human corneas.

Supplementation of tissue culture medium with chondroitin sulfate has been shown to enhance donor corneal preservation. We assessed the efficacy of one of these chondroitin-supplemented media (K-Sol) in comparison with McCarey-Kaufman (MK) medium in maintaining corneal cellular morphology. Thirty-six human corneas, obtained within 8.6 h after death, were placed into K-Sol medium for up to 20 days preservation, and five paired control corneas were placed into MK medium for up to 6 days preservation. Specular photomicrographs were obtained every second to third day for a predetermined storage interval, then studied morphologically in a masked protocol by light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Endothelial cell loss by specular microscopy averaged 5.8% after 1 week (6 to 8 days) and 7.4% after 13 days in K-Sol medium. Epithelial changes were erratic throughout the 20 day K-Sol preservation period. However, substantial keratocyte changes occurred after 10 days, and endothelial morphology uniformly deteriorated after 17 days. The morphologic data suggest that human corneas may be able to be preserved in K-Sol medium at 4 degrees C for up to 10 days but should be cautiously used thereafter.

Professional satisfaction among B.Sc. nursing graduates of an institute.

INTRODUCTION: Professional Satisfaction is a measure of valuation judgment of whether the expectations are met from the profession or not. This study was conducted to find out the professional satisfaction among pass-out B.Sc. Nursing graduates from an institute from batches 1996 to 2004. METHODS: Descriptive cross-sectional study design was adopted using convenient and snowball sampling technique. Out of 104 graduates, 50 were included in the study. A pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire was used by self administration method to collect the information. RESULTS: Highest satisfaction was with status 36 (75%) and lowest with working condition 27 (54%). The areas with decreasing value of satisfaction were growth and development 36 (72%), achievement and recognition 35 (70%), autonomy and challenging work 35 (69%). The majority of the respondents 27 (54%) stated that there is job security in the profession and the opportunity 26 (52%) to help others was the reason for their satisfaction but 28% said that there is no updating of knowledge and autonomy 15 (30%) in nursing profession. CONCLUSIONS: There is no difference in professional satisfaction of the respondents living in Nepal and abroad. It is seen that though there are many problems and many areas of dissatisfaction in nursing profession the respondents were satisfied to some extent with it and the reason for brain drain among B.Sc. Nursing graduates were their personal interest.