Daily salivary cortisol patterns in midlife women with hot flashes.

OBJECTIVE: Diurnal salivary cortisol patterns in healthy adults are well established but have not been studied in midlife women with hot flashes. We hypothesized that frequent hot flashes are associated with aberrant cortisol patterns similar to sleep-deficient individuals. DESIGN: Cross-sectional. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 306 women, ages 40-62, randomized to a behavioural intervention for hot flashes. MEASUREMENTS: Baseline comparisons of cortisol geometric means (nmol/l) from four daily time points averaged over two consecutive days plus other calculated cortisol measures were made between groups defined by baseline: (i) mean daily hot flash frequency tertile (≤5·5, N = 103; >5·5-8·8, N = 103; >8·8, N = 100) and (ii) selected characteristics. Repeated-measures linear regression models of log-transformed cortisol evaluated group differences, adjusting for covariates. RESULTS: Women were 67% White and 24% African American, with 7·6 (SD 3·9) hot flashes per day. Salivary cortisol geometric means (nmol/l) among all women were as follows: 75·0 (SD 44·8) total, 8·6 (SD 5·6) wake, 10·0 (SD 7·5) wake +30 min, 3·7 (SD 3·3) early afternoon and 1·6 (SD 1·8) bedtime. Wake + 30-minute values showed an 18% median rise from wake values (interquartile range -24 to 96%), and means varied by hot flash frequency tertile, from lowest to highest: 11·4(SD 7·3), 10·3 (SD 6·5) and 8·6 (SD 7·8), respectively, P = 0·003. Beside the early afternoon value (P = 0·02), cortisol values did not vary by hot flash frequency. CONCLUSION: Taken together, these findings suggest that high frequency of moderate-to-severe hot flashes may be associated with subtle abnormalities in cortisol concentrations - a pattern consistent with chronic sleep disturbance.

MsFLASH participants' priorities for alleviating menopausal symptoms.

OBJECTIVE: To describe self-reported menopausal symptom priorities and their association with demographics and other symptoms among participants in an intervention trial for vasomotor symptoms (VMS). METHODS: Cross-sectional study embedded in the MsFLASH 02 trial, a three-by-two factorial design of yoga vs. exercise vs. usual activity and omega-3-fatty acid vs. placebo. At baseline, women (n = 354) completed hot flush diaries, a card sort task to prioritize symptoms they would most like to alleviate, and standardized questionnaires. RESULTS: The most common symptom priorities were: VMS (n = 322), sleep (n = 191), concentration (n = 140), and fatigue (n = 116). In multivariate models, women who chose VMS as their top priority symptom (n = 210) reported significantly greater VMS severity (p = 0.004) and never smoking (p = 0.012), and women who chose sleep as their top priority symptom (n = 100) were more educated (p ≤ 0.001) and had worse sleep quality (p < 0.001). ROC curves identified sleep scale scores that were highly predictive of ranking sleep as a top priority symptom. CONCLUSIONS: Among women entering an intervention trial for VMS and with relatively low prevalence of depression and anxiety, VMS was the priority symptom for treatment. A card sort may be a valid tool for quickly assessing symptom priorities in clinical practice and research.

Prospective assessment of fetal-maternal cell transfer in miscarriage and pregnancy termination.

BACKGROUND: Fetal cells (microchimerism) are acquired by women during pregnancy. Fetal microchimerism persists decades later and includes cells with pluripotent capacity. Persistent microchimerism has the capacity for both beneficial and detrimental maternal health consequences. Both miscarriage and termination of pregnancy can result in fetal microchimerism. We sought to determine whether cellular fetal microchimerism is acquired during management of pregnancy loss and further explored factors that could influence fetal cell transfer, including viability of fetal tissue, surgical versus medical management and gestational age. METHODS: Pregnant women (n= 150 samples from 75 women) with singleton pregnancies undergoing a TOP (n= 63) or treatment for embryonic or fetal demise (miscarriage, n= 12) were enrolled. Mononuclear cells were isolated from blood samples drawn before, and 30 min after, treatment. Fetal cellular microchimerism concentrations were determined using quantitative PCR for a Y chromosome-specific sequence, expressed as genome equivalents of fetal DNA per 100 000 maternal cell equivalents (gEq/10(5)). Detection rate ratios were determined according to clinical characteristics. RESULTS: Cellular fetal microchimerism was found more often in post- compared with pretreatment samples, 24 versus 5% (P= 0.004) and at higher concentrations, 0-36 versus 0-0.7 gEq/10(5) (P< 0.001). Likelihood of microchimerism was higher in surgical than medical management, detection rate ratio 24.7 (P= 0.02). The detection rate ratio for TOP versus miscarriage was 16.7 for known male fetuses (P= 0.02). Microchimerism did not vary with gestational age. CONCLUSIONS: Significant fetal cell transfer occurs during miscarriage and TOP. Exploratory analyses support relationships between obstetric clinical factors and acquisition of fetal cellular microchimerism; however, our limited sample size precludes definitive analysis of these relationships, and confirmation is needed. In addition, the long-term persistence and potential consequences of fetal microchimerism on maternal health merit further investigation.

Impact of T Cell Repertoire Diversity on Mortality Following Cord Blood Transplantation.

INTRODUCTION: Cord blood transplantation (CBT) recipients are at increased risk of mortality due to delayed immune recovery (IR). Prior studies in CBT patients have shown that recovery of absolute lymphocyte count is predictive of survival after transplant. However, there are no data on the association of T-cell receptor (TCR) and clinical outcomes after CBT. Here we retrospectively performed TCR beta chain sequencing on peripheral blood (PB) samples of 34 CBT patients. METHODS: All patients received a total body irradiation based conditioning regimen and cyclosporine and MMF were used for graft versus host disease (GvHD) prophylaxis. PB was collected pretransplant on days 28, 56, 80, 180, and 1-year posttransplant for retrospective analysis of IR utilizing high-throughput sequencing of TCRß rearrangements from genomic DNA extracted from PB mononuclear cells. To test the association between TCR repertoire diversity and patient outcomes, we conducted a permutation test on median TCR repertoire diversity for patients who died within the first year posttransplant versus those who survived. RESULTS: Median age was 27 (range 1-58 years) and most of the patients (n = 27) had acute leukemias. There were 15 deaths occurring between 34 to 335 days after transplant. Seven deaths were due to relapse. Rapid turnover of T cell clones was observed at each time point, with TCR repertoires stabilizing by 1-year posttransplant. TCR diversity values at day 100 for patients who died between 100 and 365 days posttransplant were significantly lower than those of the surviving patients (p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Using a fast high-throughput TCR sequencing assay we have demonstrated that high TCR diversity is associated with better patient outcomes following CBT. Importantly, this assay is easily performed on posttransplant PB samples, even as early as day 28 posttransplant, making it an excellent candidate for early identification of patients at high risk of death.

Non-inherited maternal human leukocyte antigen alleles in susceptibility to familial rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVES: Some patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) lack RA-associated human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles. Prior studies investigated non-inherited maternal HLA alleles (NIMA) in RA risk with conflicting results. METHODS: We examined NIMA in a large cohort of families from the North American Rheumatoid Arthritis Consortium (NARAC). RESULTS: Among 620 patients with 1 or both parents having a HLA genotype, patients with RA informative for analysis included 176 without HLA-DRB1*04 and 86 without the HLA shared epitope (SE). The frequency of NIMA encoding HLA-DR4 or the SE was compared to the non-inherited paternal allele (NIPA). DR4-encoding NIMA vs NIPA revealed no significant difference (27% vs 20%). However, parity is known to modulate RA risk and analyses stratified by sex and age of onset showed significant variation among women. Interestingly, among women with onset <45 years DR4-encoding NIMA was increased compared to NIPA; among women > or =45 years at onset the reverse was observed (31% vs 16% compared to 10% vs 60%, p = 0.008). DR4 encoding NIMA vs NIPA did not differ in men. The SE did not differ in men or women. CONCLUSIONS: Risk of RA was associated with HLA-DR4 encoding NIMA in younger-onset women but not in older-onset women or men. These observations could help explain conflicting prior results of NIMA in RA.

Pharmacogenomic associations in ABCB1 and CYP3A5 with acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease after myeloablative hematopoietic cell transplantation.

Renal disease is a major complication in patients following myeloablative allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). Post-HCT patients receive immunosuppressive regimens containing calcineurin inhibitor (CNIs), cyclosporine or tacrolimus, for graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis. In this retrospective trial, we investigated pharmacogenomic associations in the multidrug resistance (ABCB1) and cytochrome P450 3A5 (CYP3A5) genes and acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) in a cohort of 121 patients. ABCB1 and CYP3A5 are responsible for the renal disposition of CNIs, which are known to be nephrotoxic. AKI was defined as doubling of baseline serum creatinine during the first 100 days post-HCT, and CKD as at least one glomerular filtration rate <60 ml/min/m2 between 6 and 18 months post-HCT. Patients were genotyped for CYP3A5*1>*3 and ABCB1 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (1199G>A, 1236C>T, 2677G>T/A and 3435C>T). Odds ratios were calculated using logistic regression. Haplotype estimation and univariate association analyses were performed because of strong ABCB1 linkage disequilibrium (LD). AKI occurred in 48 of 121 patients (39.7%) and CKD in 16 of 66 patients (24.2%). No pharmacogenomic associations were found between ABCB1 and CYP3A5 SNPs and the incidences of AKI or CKD. The degree of LD(r2) between ABCB1 SNPs was estimated as follows: 2677G>T/3435C>T (0.44), 1236C>T/3435C>T (0.42) and 1236C>T/2677G>T (0.72). ABCB1 1199G>A showed no LD to other SNPs (<0.05). No associations were found between the most common ABCB1 haplotypes and AKI or CKD. Since no significant pharmacogenomic associations were observed, tailoring CNIs dosing based on these genotypes is unlikely to lower significantly the risk of renal injury following myeloablative HCT.

Chronic kidney disease in long-term survivors of hematopoietic cell transplant.

We conducted a cohort study to identify risk factors of chronic kidney disease (CKD) among long-term survivors of hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT). We studied 1635 patients transplanted at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC) between 1991 and 2002, who survived to day +131 after transplant and had serum creatinine measured on at least two occasions after day +131. CKD was defined as a glomerular filtration rate < 60 ml/min/m(2) on two occasions separated by at least 30 days between days 100 and 540 post transplant. Cox regression models estimated hazard ratios (HRs) describing associations between demographic data, clinical variables and the risk of developing CKD. A total of 376 patients (23%) developed CKD at a median of 191 days post transplant (range 131-516 days). An increased risk of CKD was associated with acute renal failure (ARF) (HR=1.7, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3-2.1), acute graft-vs-host disease (aGVHD) grade II (HR=2.0, 95% CI 1.4-2.9) and grades III/IV (HR=3.1, 95% CI 2.1-4.6) and chronic GVHD (HR=1.8, 95% CI 1.4-2.2). Total body irradiation (TBI) (HR=1.0, 95% CI 0.8-1.3) was not associated with an increased risk of CKD. CKD is relatively common among survivors of HCT. The presence of ARF and GVHD, but not receipt of TBI, appears to be associated with the occurrence of CKD.

Nuclear morphometry and prognosis in favorable histology Wilms' tumor: A prospective reevaluation.

PURPOSE: This study was designed to evaluate the ability of a previously published nuclear morphometry discriminant function to predict disease-free survival in patients with Wilms' tumor. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We identified 218 patients with stage I-IV Wilms' tumor of favorable histology who were entered onto the National Wilms' Tumor Study (NWTS) between January 1, 1990 and April 15, 1994. The nuclear morphometry score was calculated for each patient as follows: MV(f) = (0.02 x AGE) + (1.17 x SNRF) + (90.6 x LEFD) - 94, with AGE denoting age at diagnosis in months, SNRF the skewness of the nuclear roundness factor, and LEFD the lowest value of nuclear ellipticity as measured by the feret diameter method. Relative risks of relapse were estimated for the total score and for each of its components. Sensitivity and specificity were determined for the criterion of "MV(f) is greater than -0.35" as a predictor of relapse. RESULTS: By contrast with previously published results, neither the SNRF nor the LEFD made any contribution to the prediction of disease-free survival. Sensitivity and specificity of the criterion of "MV(f) is greater than -0.35" were 71% and 56%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Re-evaluation of a published nuclear morphometry score showed that it did not predict disease-free survival in patients with Wilms' tumor. The earlier study very likely overestimated the predictive power of nuclear morphometry by using the same data set both to develop the score and to evaluate its properties. Because of the huge number of combinations of nuclear morphometry measurements that may enter into the multivariate discriminant function, use of appropriate statistical methods is essential to estimate accurately the sensitivity and specificity.

Significance and management of computed tomography detected pulmonary nodules: a report from the National Wilms Tumor Study Group.

PURPOSE: To define the optimal treatment for children with Wilms tumor who have pulmonary nodules identified on chest computed tomography (CT) scan, but have a negative chest radiograph, we evaluated the outcome of all such patients randomized or followed on National Wilms Tumor Study (NWTS)-3 and -4. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We estimated the event-free and overall survival percentages of 53 patients with favorable histology tumors and pulmonary densities identified only by CT scan (CT-only) who were treated as Stage IV with intensive doxorubicin-containing chemotherapy and whole-lung irradiation, and compared these to the event-free and overall survival percentages of 37 CT-only patients who were treated less aggressively based on the extent of locoregional disease with 2 or 3 drugs, and without whole-lung irradiation. RESULTS: The 4-year event-free and overall survival percentages of the 53 patients with CT-only nodules and favorable histology Wilms tumor who were treated as Stage IV were 89% and 91%, respectively. The 4-year event-free and overall survival percentages for the 37 patients with CT-only nodules and favorable histology who were treated according to the extent of locoregional disease were 80% and 85%, respectively. The differences observed between the 2 groups were not statistically significant. Among the patients who received whole-lung irradiation, there were fewer pulmonary relapses, but more deaths attributable to lung toxicity. CONCLUSIONS: The current data raise the possibility that children with Wilms tumor and CT-only pulmonary nodules who receive whole lung irradiation have fewer pulmonary relapses, but a greater number of deaths due to treatment toxicity. The role of whole lung irradiation in the treatment of this group of patients cannot be definitively determined based on the present data. Prolonged follow-up of this group of patients is necessary to accurately estimate the frequency of late, treatment-related mortality.

The impact of a change in antibacterial prophylaxis from ceftazidime to levofloxacin in allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation.

Antibiotic prophylaxis has been used during the initial phases of myeloablative hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) for more than two decades. However, the optimal regimen in terms of both cost and clinical effectiveness is unclear. We retrospectively compared the clinical and microbiological impact of a change in antibiotic prophylaxis practice from ceftazidime (n=216 patients with HCT in 2000-2002) to levofloxacin (n=219 patients, August 2002-2005) in patients receiving myeloablative conditioning. Levofloxacin prophylaxis was associated with fever and a change in antibiotics during neutropenia, but this strategy was not associated with any adverse outcomes. Patients receiving levofloxacin had lower rates of significant bacteremia than did those receiving ceftazidime (day 100, 19.2 vs 29.6%, P=0.02). The use of levofloxacin was associated with lower antibiotic acquisition costs. There was no deleterious impact caused by levofloxacin prophylaxis on survival, emergence of antibiotic resistance, detection of Clostridium difficile Ag in stool specimens, incidence of viridans group streptococcal bacteremia or Pseudomonas infections. There was a trend toward lower rates of bacteriuria, wound and bacterial respiratory infections in the levofloxacin than in the ceftazidime group, but these differences were not statistically significant. These data support the use of levofloxacin as prophylaxis in myeloablative allogeneic HCT when prophylaxis is used.

Personalized dosing of cyclophosphamide in the total body irradiation-cyclophosphamide conditioning regimen: a phase II trial in patients with hematologic malignancy.

This study investigates the efficacy and safety of personalized cyclophosphamide (CY) dosing in 50 patients receiving CY along with total body irradiation (TBI). Participants received CY 45 mg/kg with subsequent therapeutic drug monitoring using Bayesian parameter estimation to personalize the second CY dose to a target area under the curve (AUC) for carboxyethylphosphoramide mustard (CEPM) (a reporter molecule for CY-derived toxins) and for hydroxycyclophosphamide (to ensure engraftment). The mean second CY dose was 66 mg/kg; the total dose ranged from 45 to 145 mg/kg. After completion of this phase II study, we compared participants' clinical outcomes with those of concurrent controls (n = 100) who received TBI along with standard CY doses of 120 mg/kg. Patients receiving personalized CY dosing had significantly lower postconditioning peak total serum bilirubin (P = 0.03); a 38% reduction in the hazard of acute kidney injury (AKI) (P = 0.03); and nonrelapse and overall survival rates similar to those in the controls (P = 0.70 and 0.63, respectively) despite the lower doses of CY administered to most of the patients in the personalized dosage group.

Allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell graft composition affects early T-cell chimaerism and later clinical outcomes after non-myeloablative conditioning.

We have studied the influence of cell subsets [CD34, CD3, CD4, CD8, CD14, CD20, natural killer (NK; CD3(-)/CD56(+)), NKT (CD3(+)/CD56(+)), DC1, and DC2 cells] of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor mobilized peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) on early T-cell chimaerism and later clinical outcomes in 125 patients with haematological malignancies who received human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-matched related grafts after non-myeloablative conditioning. Conditioning consisted of 2 Gy total body irradiation (TBI) alone (n = 28), or 2 Gy TBI preceded by either 90 mg/m(2) fludarabine (n = 62) or planned autologous haematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) (n = 35). Post-transplant immunosuppression included mycophenolate mofetil and ciclosporin. Multivariate analysis showed that higher numbers of grafted NK cells predicted higher early T-cell chimaerism (P = 0.03), while higher numbers of B cells were associated with better clinical outcomes and a higher risk for chronic graft-versus-host disease (P = 0.05). Higher numbers of CD14(+) cells were associated with worse overall survival (P = 0.03), while higher numbers of CD34(+) cells showed better survival (P = 0.03). The addition of fludarabine or autologous HCT predicted higher early T-cell chimaerism (P = 0.001), while advanced donor age predicted lower chimaerism (P < or = 0.02). Patients with aggressive diseases were at higher risk for relapse/disease progression, and shorter progression-free and overall survival (P < 0.01). These results suggest that the dosing of certain cellular subsets of PBSC products can influence important outcomes post-HCT after non-myeloablative conditioning.

Information systems and audit in antenatal care.

The obstetric record as initiated at the antenatal booking clinic essentially identifies the degree of risk engendered in that pregnancy so that consequent obstetric and paediatric management is tailored appropriately. Whether carried by the patient or based in the hospital with a summary carried by the patient (shared-care card), this record should be exhaustive, the emphasis being on quality, not quantity, of information recorded. To obviate human error in history-taking, patient management or record transcription, we believe on-line computerization of patient records with spin-off paperwork to be the only patient management system to fulfil the above criteria. User-friendly software can be designed with highly branching programmes which provide clinical action suggestions in high-risk cases. Various 'error traps' enhance the accuracy of information recorded. Such systems can be operated by medical and midwifery staff with minimal keyboard skills and are well accepted by patients and staff. Inexpensive and versatile microcomputer networks are excellent for such systems. The operational effects are discussed. Audit means different things to different people and one's view on the subject depends on which definition is selected. Obstetricians are quick to take credit for instituting audit in the form of local and national data collection exercises, such as statistics on perinatal mortality, birthweight, etc. While these exercises certainly constitute observational studies, they cannot be used to make conclusions about the quality of care. There is no sound inference that can be made from a review of information contained in amalgamated databases of hospital statistics. Audit, as properly defined, hinges on inference: the inference that the quality of care was or was not of a high standard. Descriptive statistics, therefore, can be used to generate hypotheses but should not be used as a form of audit, at least not in obstetrics. Auditing the quality of care involves a study of process. It therefore depends on the assumption that we know which practices maximize beneficial outcomes. This exercise is therefore only relevant when we have good evidence linking the process of care with these outcomes. In some cases the accepted standard against which the process of care can be compared is very obvious. In other cases, however, the accepted standard should itself be audited to ensure that it is based on sound evidence.

Magnetic resonance imaging appearances of the Mirena and GyneFix intra-uterine contraceptive devices: a report of two cases.

We report here two cases which illustrate the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) appearance of the Mirena levonorgestrel releasing intra-uterine system and the GyneFix copper intra-uterine contraceptive implant. The MRI appearance of these devices has not to our knowledge been reported to date, and as increasing numbers of women choose to use these devices for treatment of gynaecological conditions and contraception, it becomes increasingly important to recognise their appearance on pelvic imaging.

Outcome following haematopoietic cell transplantation in patients with myelodysplasia and del (5q) karyotypes.

The deletion (5q) karyotype [del (5q)] in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is considered a good risk feature, while the impact of del (5q) combined with other karyotypic abnormalities [del (5q)+] is less well defined. We analysed the outcome of haematopoietic cell transplants (HCT) in patients with MDS with del (5q) or del (5q)+. Fifty-seven patients, aged 6-72 years, with MDS and del (5q) abnormalities received HCT from related (n = 32) or unrelated (n = 25) donors. By French-American-British (FAB) criteria, 27 patients had refractory anaemia (RA), 10 RA with excess blasts (RAEB), eight RAEB in transformation (RAEB-T) and 12 acute myeloid leukaemia evolving from MDS (tAML). Non-relapse mortality at 1-year post-transplantation was 30% for del (5q) and 38% for del (5q)+ patients. Relapse occurred in one of 20 del (5q) patients and 15 of 37 del (5q)+ patients (P = 0.001). After adjusting for del (5q) status, blast count (<5%) was the only factor significantly associated with relapse-free survival. Patients with del (5q), either as a '5q- syndrome' or with MDS in general, had better outcomes than did patients with del (5q)+. The indication for transplantation in patients with del (5q) was generally severe cytopenias, compared with disease progression to a more advanced FAB stage in patients with del (5q)+. Conceivably, outcome for patients with del (5q)+ would be improved with transplantation earlier in the disease course.

Fetal growth achievement and elevated maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein.

Maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) was measured by radioimmunoassay in 7223 unselected patients between 16 and 20 weeks gestation. In 141 patients an elevated AFP level (greater than 2.5 multiples of the median for gestation) was found in the absence of a primary cause. When the birthweights of the 137 liveborn infants were corrected for maternal height and weight, sex and birth rank, 37 (27%) fell below the 10th centile of normal birthweight standards. No excess of premature deliveries was found, but there was a significant association with primiparity. Patients delivered of their second infant showed a significant decrement in mean birthweight when compared with their first-born infants and with a matched control group (normal maternal serum AFP levels). There was a highly significant association between elevated serum AFP and subsequent placental abruption.