Osteosarcoma enters a post genomic era with in silico opportunities: Generation of the High Dimensional Database for facilitating sarcoma biology research: A report from the Children's Oncology Group and the QuadW Foundation.

The prospective banking of osteosarcoma tissue samples to promote research endeavors has been realized through the establishment of a nationally centralized biospecimen repository, the Children's Oncology Group (COG) biospecimen bank located at the Biopathology Center (BPC)/Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Although the physical inventory of osteosarcoma biospecimens is substantive (>15,000 sample specimens), the nature of these resources remains exhaustible. Despite judicious allocation of these high-value biospecimens for conducting sarcoma-related research, a deeper understanding of osteosarcoma biology, in particular metastases, remains unrealized. In addition the identification and development of novel diagnostics and effective therapeutics remain elusive. The QuadW-COG Childhood Sarcoma Biostatistics and Annotation Office (CSBAO) has developed the High Dimensional Data (HDD) platform to complement the existing physical inventory and to promote in silico hypothesis testing in sarcoma biology. The HDD is a relational biologic database derived from matched osteosarcoma biospecimens in which diverse experimental readouts have been generated and digitally deposited. As proof-of-concept, we demonstrate that the HDD platform can be utilized to address previously unrealized biologic questions though the systematic juxtaposition of diverse datasets derived from shared biospecimens. The continued population of the HDD platform with high-value, high-throughput and mineable datasets allows a shared and reusable resource for researchers, both experimentalists and bioinformatics investigators, to propose and answer questions in silico that advance our understanding of osteosarcoma biology.

Evaluation of selected rheumatoid arthritis activity scores for office-based assessment.

OBJECTIVE: Patient-reported measures can quickly provide assessments of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity in the office setting and do not require a laboratory test or physician examination. The goal of our study was to establish the validity of patient-reported indices compared to the C-reactive protein-based Disease Activity Score (DAS28-CRP4). METHODS: Baseline and 1-year followup DAS28-CRP4 data were obtained from 740 RA subjects and were compared to indices (MDHAQ, CDAI, RAPID, RADAI, GAS) according to cyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) status and change at 1 year. Pairwise correlations were calculated for each index. RESULTS: Among 740 subjects, mean age 57 years, disease duration 14 years, the CDAI (r = 0.84, Δ r = 0.80) and RAPID (r = 0.71, Δ r = 0.70) had the highest correlation with the DAS28-CRP4 scores at baseline and 1 year. These correlations were not influenced by CCP status, disease-modifying antirheumatic drug use, biologic use, or by disease duration. CONCLUSION: In RA, the CDAI and RAPID correlated well with the DAS28-CRP4. They may both be practical and informative in the care of patients in the office setting.

Electric charge requirements of pediatric cochlear implant recipients enrolled in the Childhood Development After Cochlear Implantation study.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate mapping characteristics of children with cochlear implants who are enrolled in the Childhood Development After Cochlear Implantation (CDACI) multicenter study. STUDY DESIGN: Longitudinal evaluation during 24 months of speech processor maps of children with cochlear implants prospectively enrolled in the study. SETTING: Six tertiary referral centers. SUBJECTS: One hundred eighty-eight children enrolled in the CDACI study who were 5 years old or younger at the time of enrollment. Of these children, 184 received unilateral implants, and 4 received simultaneous bilateral implants. INTERVENTION: Children attended regular mapping sessions at their implant clinic as part of the study protocol. Maps were examined for each subject at 4 different time intervals: at device activation and 6, 12, and 24 months postactivation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Mean C/M levels (in charge per phase) were compared for 4 different time intervals, for 3 different devices, for 6 different implant centers, and for children with normal and abnormal cochleae. RESULTS: All 3 types of implant devices demonstrate significant increases in C/M levels between device activation and the 24-month appointment. Significant differences in mean C/M levels were noted between devices. Children with cochlear anomalies demonstrate significantly greater C/M levels than children with normal cochleae. CONCLUSION: The CDACI study has enabled us to evaluate the mapping characteristics of pediatric patients who use 3 different devices and were implanted at a variety of implant centers. Analysis of such data enables us to better understand the mapping characteristics of children with cochlear implants.