This survey confirms that TMZ is established as first-line chemotherapeutic treatment of APT/PC. Clinically functioning tumours, low MGMT and concurrent radiotherapy were associated with a better response. The limited long-term effect of TMZ and the poor efficacy of other drugs highlight the need to identify additional effective therapies.

To determine the effects of MRI white matter hyperintensities (WMH) on cognitive functioning, we used neuropsychologic tests and MRI to study 150 elderly volunteers free of neuropsychiatric or general disease. There were 76 (50.3%) individuals without and 74 (49.7%) with WMH. The latter subset was older (61.3 +/- 6.6 years versus 58.5 +/- 5.8 years, p = 0.005), had a higher mean arterial blood pressure (103.7 +/- 11.4 mm Hg versus 99.9 +/- 10.3 mm Hg, p = 0.03), and a larger ventricular-to-intracranial-cavity ratio (6.3 +/- 5.6% versus 4.7 +/- 1.6%, p = 0.02). Individuals with WMH performed worse than their counterparts without such abnormalities on all tests administered. After adjusting for the group differences in age, arterial blood pressure, and ventricular size, we noted statistically significant results on form B of the Trail Making Test (121.8 +/- 37.8 msec versus 100.3 +/- 47.9 msec, p = 0.04), a complex reaction time task (680.8 +/- 104.9 msec versus 607.1 +/- 93.9 msec, p = 0.001), and the assembly procedure of the Purdue Peg-board Test (27.5 +/- 5.8 versus 30.6 +/- 5.9, p = 0.02). Partial correlations did not reveal any relationship between test scores and the semiautomatically assessed total area of WMH. Our data suggest that the presence of WMH exerts a subtle effect on neuropsychologic performance of normal elderly individuals, which becomes particularly evident on tasks measuring the speed of more complex mental processing.

Objective: Hypercoagulability is a commonly described complication in patients with Cushing's syndrome. Recent clinical studies have indicated various abnormalities of coagulation and fibrinolysis parameters which may be related to that phenomenon. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanisms underlying the hypercoagulable state in patients with Cushing's syndrome. Research methods and procedures:A wide range of serum markers involved in the processes of blood coagulation and fibrinolysis was measured in a group of 33 patients with Cushing's syndrome and 31 healthy controls. No participant was taking medication which could influence the result or had known diseases, except hypertension and diabetes, which could affect blood coagulation or fibrinolysis parameters.

Link to publication on Research at Birmingham portal General rightsUnless a licence is specified above, all rights (including copyright and moral rights) in this document are retained by the authors and/or the copyright holders. The express permission of the copyright holder must be obtained for any use of this material other than for purposes permitted by law.•Users may freely distribute the URL that is used to identify this publication.•Users may download and/or print one copy of the publication from the University of Birmingham research portal for the purpose of private study or non-commercial research.•User may use extracts from the document in line with the concept of 'fair dealing' under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (?) •Users may not further distribute the material nor use it for the purposes of commercial gain.Where a licence is displayed above, please note the terms and conditions of the licence govern your use of this document.When citing, please reference the published version. Take down policy While the University of Birmingham exercises care and attention in making items available there are rare occasions when an item has been uploaded in error or has been deemed to be commercially or otherwise sensitive.

No abstract