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Biomedical subjects

M Gertz

Publications and source records attributed to M Gertz.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

International uniform response criteria for multiple myeloma.

New uniform response criteria are required to adequately assess clinical outcomes in myeloma. The European Group for Blood and Bone Marrow Transplant/International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry criteria have been expanded, clarified and updated to provide a new comprehensive evaluation system. Categories for stringent complete response and very good partial response are added. The serum free light-chain assay is included to allow evaluation of patients with oligo-secretory disease. Inconsistencies in prior criteria are clarified making confirmation of response and disease progression easier to perform. Emphasis is placed upon time to event and duration of response as critical end points. The requirements necessary to use overall survival duration as the ultimate end point are discussed. It is anticipated that the International Response Criteria for multiple myeloma will be widely used in future clinical trials of myeloma.

Humans↗
PubMed2003

Orthotopic liver transplantation for hereditary fibrinogen amyloidosis.

Systemic amyloidosis results from the deposition of insoluble protein fibrils in various organs and tissues. To date, several different proteins have been associated with amyloid fibril formation, including immunoglobulin light chain, serum amyloid A protein, and transthyretin. Recent reports have shown that variant fibrinogen chains can form amyloid in certain kindreds. Hepatic transplantation has previously been reported in the treatment of hereditary amyloidosis associated with variant transthyretin proteins, which are mainly synthesized in the liver. This article reports the first use and long-term follow-up of combined hepatic and renal transplantation in the successful treatment of two patients with hereditary fibrinogen amyloidosis. Both patients experienced sustained improvement in renal function and nutritional status at 61/2 years and 28 months of follow-up, respectively. Orthotopic liver transplantation is effective and potentially curative treatment of hereditary fibrinogen amyloidosis.

Amyloidosis, Familial↗
PubMed2001

The challenges and rewards of integrating diverse neuroscience information.

The design of database models and schemas for storing, cross-referencing, and retrieving neuroscience information faces issues that are similar but more complex than most of the other biomedical disciplines, such as genomics and proteonomics. Specifically, the visualization and manipulation of very large and diverse image data, such as digital brain atlases and functional magnetic resonance images, play a unique role in neuroscience while much of the associated information is textually recorded. Nongraphical information can include the annotation of large brain structures ranging from anatomical regions to intracellular structures, the description of cellular functional properties, and their various interrelationships, such as fiber connections. It is necessary that the heterogeneous and distributed types of data be cross-referenced to each other so that this diverse information can be efficiently retrieved, shared, and exchanged among the different neuroscientific disciplines. Continued advances in computers and Internet technologies appear to indicate that increasingly large data sets will be maintained on local or regional file servers and that informational interoperability will be achieved using a networked information system infrastructure. The authors and others have proposed and implemented models of semantically organized information systems that utilize centrally stored and highly structured archival information to index, cross-reference, and retrieve diverse, Web-based data sets.

Brain↗
PubMed2000

Terminology Query Language: a server interface for concept-oriented terminology systems.

Designers of medical computing applications increasingly require terminology support for their systems. Yet, terminology systems today lack standard methodologies for providing terminology support. This invariably means increased implementation time and expense for system developers who need to use terminologies in their applications. We introduce Terminology Query Language (TQL), a simple query language interface to server implementations of concept-oriented terminologies. TQL is a declarative, set-based query language built on a generic entity-relationship (E/R) schema. TQL defines a common query-based mechanism for accessing terminology information from one or more terminology servers over a network connection.

Medical Informatics Applications↗
PubMed1999

Abnormal cytogenetics predict poor survival after high-dose therapy and autologous blood cell transplantation in multiple myeloma.

We compared the prognostic value of conventional cytogenetic analysis and established factors such as beta2-microglobulin and plasma cell labeling index in 70 patients undergoing autologous blood cell transplantation for multiple myeloma. Patients underwent transplantation 5 to 88 months (median, 20 months) after the initial diagnosis of myeloma. Factors studied were age, sex, beta2-microglobulin, response to prior therapy, plasma cell labeling index, cytogenetic analysis, bone marrow plasma cell percentage, lactate dehydrogenase and C-reactive protein. Twenty-eight of 65 patients (43%) had abnormal marrow cytogenetics. Overall survival measured from transplantation was significantly better in patients with normal cytogenetics than in those with abnormal cytogenetics (median survival, 25 vs 12 months, P = 0.003). Progression-free survival was better, with median times of 12 vs7 months, respectively (P = 0.005); overall survival measured from the time myeloma was first diagnosed was also longer, with median survivals of 62 and 39 months, respectively (P = 0.001). Median plasma cell labeling index was 1.5% in patients with abnormal cytogenetics and 0. 2% in those with normal cytogenetics (P < 0.001). Abnormal bone marrow cytogenetics predict poor survival after blood cell transplantation for myeloma. There is a significant correlation between abnormal cytogenetics and high plasma cell labeling index, suggesting that certain cytogenetic abnormalities may offer a proliferative advantage to myeloma cells.

Adult↗