Background: The occurrence of spontaneous tumors in pet animals has been estimated in a few European and North American veterinary cancer registries with dissimilar methodologies and variable ...reference populations.
Objectives: The Animal Tumor Registry (ATR) of Genoa, Italy, was established in 1985 with the aim of estimating the occurrence of spontaneous tumors in dogs.
Methods: Six thousand seven hundred and forty‐three tumor biopsy specimens were received from local veterinarians in the Municipality of Genoa between 1985 and 2002. Three thousand and three hundred and three (48.9%) biopsy specimen samples were diagnosed as cancer and were coded according to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD‐9).
Results: Mammary cancer was the most frequently diagnosed cancer in female dogs, accounting for 70% of all cancer cases. Incidence of all cancers was 99.3 per 100,000 dog‐years (95% CI: 93.6–105.1) in male dogs and 272.1 (95% CI: 260.7–283.6) in female dogs. The highest incidence rates were detected for mammary cancer (IR = 191.8, 95% CI: 182.2–201.4) and for non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma (IR = 22.9, 95% CI: 19.7–26.5) in bitches and for non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma (IR = 19.9, 95% CI: 17.4–22.7) and skin cancer (IR = 19.1, 95% CI: 16.6–21.8) in male dogs. All cancer IR increased with age ranging between 23.7 (95% CI: 18.4–30.1) and 763.2 (95% CI: 700.4–830.1) in bitches and between 16.5 (95% CI: 12.8–21.1) and 237.6 (95% CI: 209.1–269.0) in male dogs aged ≤3 years and >9–11 years.
Conclusion: This study summarizes the work done by the ATR of Genoa, Italy, between 1985 and 2002. All cancer incidence was 3 times higher in female than in male dogs, a difference explained by the high rate of mammary cancer observed in bitches. Because a biopsy specimen was required to make a cancer diagnosis, cancer rates for internal organs cancers, such as respiratory and digestive tract cancers may have been underestimated in the study population.
An increase in the incidence of breast cancer in women aged <40 years has been reported in recent years. Increased incidence could be partly explained by subtle detection biases, but the role of ...other risk factors cannot be ruled out. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the changes in temporal trends in breast cancer incidence in European women aged 20–39 years at diagnosis. Age specific breast cancer incidence rates for 17 European Cancer Registries were retrieved for the calendar period 1995–2006. Cancer registries data were pooled to reduce annual fluctuations present in single registries and increase incidence rates stability. Regression models were fitted to the data assuming that the number of cancer cases followed the Poisson distribution. Mean annual changes in the incidence rate (AIC) across the considered time window were calculated. The AIC estimated from all European registries was 1.032 (95 % CI = 1.019–1.045) and 1.014 (95 % CI = 1.010–1.018) in women aged 20–29 and 30–39 years old at diagnosis, respectively. The major change was detected among women aged 25–29 years at diagnosis: AIC = 1.033 (95 % CI = 1.020–1.046). The upward trend was not affected when registries with high or low AIC were removed from the analysis (sensitivity analysis). Our findings support the presence of an increase in the incidence of breast cancer in European women in their 20s and 30s during the decade 1995–2006. The interpretation of the observed increase is not straightforward since a number of factors may have affected our results. The estimated annual increase in breast cancer incidence may result in a burden of the disease that is important in terms of public health and deserves further investigation of possible risk factors.
A murine cell line (BV-2) has been generated by infecting primary microglial cell cultures with a v-raf/v-myc oncogene carrying retrovirus (J2). BV-2 cells expressed nonspecific esterase activity, ...phagocytic ability and lacked peroxidase activity. Such cells secreted lysozyme and, following appropriate stimulation, also interleukin 1 and tumor necrosis factor. Furthermore, BV-2 cells exhibited spontaneous anti-Candida activity and acquired tumoricidal activity upon treatment with interferon-gamma. Phenotypically, BV-2 cells resulted positive for MAC1 and MAC2 antigens, and negative for MAC3, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and galactocerebroside (GC) antigens. Since BV-2 cells retain most of the morphological, phenotypical and functional properties described for freshly isolated microglial cells, we can conclude that J2 virus infection has resulted in the immortalization of active microglial cells.
Literacy and Learning in Health Care Wolf, Michael S; Wilson, Elizabeth A.H; Rapp, David N ...
Pediatrics (Evanston),
11/2009, Letnik:
124, Številka:
Supplement
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The relationship between literacy and health outcomes are well documented in adult medicine, yet specific causal pathways are not entirely clear. Despite an incomplete understanding of the problem, ...numerous interventions have already been implemented with variable success. Many of those who proposed earlier strategies assumed the problem to originate from reading difficulties only. Given the timely need for more effective interventions, it is of increasing importance to reconsider the meaning of health literacy to advance our conceptual understanding of the problem and how best to respond. One potentially effective approach might involve recognizing the known associations between a larger set of cognitive and psychosocial abilities with functional literacy skills. Here we review the current health literacy definition and literature and draw on relevant research from the fields of education, cognitive science, and psychology. In this framework, a research agenda is proposed that considers an individual's "health-learning capacity," which refers to the broad constellation of cognitive and psychosocial skills from which patients or family members must draw to effectively promote, protect, and manage their own or a child's health. This new, related concept will lead, ideally, to more effective ways of thinking about health literacy interventions, including the design of health-education materials, instructional strategies, and the delivery of health care services to support patients and families across the life span.
Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of standardized, patient-centered label (PCL) instructions to improve comprehension of prescription drug use compared with typical instructions. Methods: A ...total of 500 adult patients recruited from 2 academic and 2 community primary care clinics in Chicago, IL and Shreveport, LA were assigned to receive as follows: (1) standard prescription instructions written as times per day (once, twice 3 times per day) (usual care), (2) PCL instructions that specify explicit timing with standard intervals (morning, noon, evening, bedtime) (PCL), or (3) PCL instructions with a graphic aid to visually depict dose and timing of the medication (PCL + Graphic). The outcome was correct interpretation of label instructions. Results: Instructions with the PCL format were more likely to be correctly interpreted compared with standard instructions (adjusted relative risk RR: 1.33, 95% confidence interval CI: 1.25–1.41). Inclusion of the graphic aid (PCL + Graphic) decreased rates of correct interpretation compared with PCL instructions alone (RR: 0.93; 95% CI: 0.89–0.97). Patients with low literacy were better able to interpret PCL instructions (low literacy: RR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.14–1.68; P = 0.001). Conclusion: The PCL approach could improve patients' understanding and use of their medication regimen.
Murine cultured microglial cells were immortalized after infection with a v-raf/v-myc recombinant retrovirus. This immortalized cell line (BV-2) shares properties with body macrophages with respect ...to the antigen profile, their phagocytic capacity and antimicrobial activity. BV-2 cells are not constitutively able to kill tumor cells in vitro, but acquire antitumor activity following an increase in Ca++i. BV-2 cells, like microglial cells, are however, distinct from peripheral macrophages by their expression of inwardly rectifying K+ channels in concert with a lack in outwardly rectifying K+ channels and the formation of spineous processes. The BV-2 cell line thus represents a suitable model for in vitro studies of activated microglial cells.
Abstract Objective To determine whether literacy mediates the association between education, hypertension knowledge and control. Methods In-person interviews with a literacy assessment and chart ...review were conducted with 330 hypertensive patients from six primary care safety net clinics. Mediational analysis was used to test the role of literacy skills in explaining the relationship between education and hypertension knowledge and control. Results In multivariate analyses that did not make an adjustment for the other variable, both lower educational attainment and more limited literacy were found to be significant independent predictors of poorer hypertension knowledge and control. When literacy was entered into models that included education only, the association between education and knowledge was fully attenuated and no longer significant (Grades 1–8: β = −0.30, 95% CI = −1.44–0.83), while the relationship between education and blood pressure control was only minimally reduced (AOR 2.46, 95% CI 2.10–2.88). More limited literacy skills also was associated with hypertension control in the final model (AOR 2.68, 95% CI 1.54–4.70). Conclusion Patient literacy mediated the relationship between education and hypertension knowledge. Literacy was a significant independent predictor of blood pressure control, but only minimally explained the relationship between education and blood pressure. Practice implications Health literacy is critical to the design of educational tools to improve knowledge acquisition. However, in order to impact health outcome, future health literacy studies should also address other psychosocial factors that impact motivation and capability to manage disease.
The elongation factor Tu was isolated from a psychrophilic eubacterial Antarctic Moraxella strain (MoEF-Tu) and its molecular and functional properties were determined. It catalyzed the synthesis of ...poly(Phe) and bound specifically guanine nucleotides with an affinity for GDP about 12-fold higher than that for GTP. The affinity toward guanine nucleotides was lower than that of other eubacterial EF-Tu. The intrinsic GTPase activity of MoEF-Tu was hardly detectable but was accelerated by 2 orders of magnitude in the presence of the antibiotic kirromycin (GTPasek). Such a property resembled Escherichia coli EF-Tu (EcEF-Tu) even though the affinity of MoEF-Tu for the antibiotic was lower. MoEF-Tu showed a thermophilicity higher than that of EcEF-Tu; its temperature for half-denaturation was 44 °C. The MoEF-Tu encoding gene corresponding to E. coli tufA was cloned and sequenced. The translated protein had a calculated molecular weight of 43 288 and contained the GTP-binding sequence motifs. Concerning its primary structure, MoEF-Tu showed sequence identity with E. coli and Thermus thermophilus EF-Tu equal to 84% and 74%, respectively, while the identity with EF-1α from the archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus was equal to 32%.
The present review is based on findings from 178 publications retrieved through an extensive search of the MedLine/PubMed database for a 25 years time period (1980-2004) and 10 manually identified ...papers. Among the cytogenetic biomarkers that are frequently used in field studies, chromosome aberrations (CA) and micronuclei (MN) but not sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) were found consistently increased in children exposed to environmental pollutants. Meta-analysis of the studies reporting SCE in cord blood showed similar levels of SCE in exposed and in non-exposed newborns. Exposure to airborne pollutants, soil and drinking water contaminants, mostly increased CA and, to a lesser extent, MN levels in children. The effect of exposure to airborne urban pollutants was consistently reported by field studies measuring DNA, albumin and hemoglobin adducts. Prenatal (in utero) and postnatal exposure (environmental tobacco smoke, ETS) to tobacco smoke compounds were associated with increased frequencies of DNA and hemoglobin adducts and CA. The limited number of field studies measuring DNA fragmentation (Comet assay), hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) and the glycophorinA (GPA) mutation frequency in environmentally exposed children precluded a meaningful evaluation of the usefulness of these assays. Meta-analyses performed in children exposed to ETS and in newborns exposed in utero to their mothers' smoke showed 1.3 and 7 times higher levels of hemoglobin adducts compared to referent subjects, respectively. These increases are consistent with the epidemiological evidence of higher lung cancer risks reported in adults who had never smoked and were exposed to ETS during childhood and with 7-15 times higher lung cancer risks reported in smokers than in non-smokers. Higher levels of PAH-DNA adducts were found in fetal than in maternal tissue, suggesting a specific susceptibility of the fetus to this class of ubiquitous environmental pollutants. According to these findings, future research and biomonitoring programs on children would greatly benefit from the inclusion of selected biomarkers that could provide biologically based evidence for the identification of intervention priorities in environmental health.
Elongation factor 1α from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus (SsEF-1α) carries the aminoacyl tRNA to the ribosome; it binds GDP or GTP, and it is also endowed with an intrinsic ...GTPase activity that is triggered in vitro by NaCl at molar concentrations Masullo, M., De Vendittis, E., and Bocchini, V. (1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269, 20376−20379. The structural properties of SsEF-1α were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The estimation of the secondary structure of the SsEF-1α·GDP complex, made by curve fitting of the amide I‘ band or by factor analysis of the amide I band, indicated a content of 34−36% α-helix, 35−40% β-sheet, 14−19% turn, and 7% unordered structure. The substitution of the GDP bound with the slowly hydrolyzable GTP analogue Gpp(NH)p induced a slight increase in the α-helix and β-sheet content. On the other hand, the α-helix content of the SsEF-1α·GDP complex increased upon addition of salts, and the highest effect was produced by 5 M NaCl. The thermal stability of the SsEF-1α·GDP complex was significantly reduced when the GDP was replaced with Gpp(NH)p or in the presence of NaBr or NH4Cl, whereas a lower destabilizing effect was provoked by NaCl and KCl. Therefore, the extent of the destabilizing effect of salts depended on the nature of both the cation and the anion. The data suggested that the sodium ion was responsible for the induction of the GTPase activity, whereas the anion modulated the enzymatic activity through destabilization of particular regions of SsEF-1α. Finally, the infrared data suggested that, in particular region(s) of the polypeptide chain, the SsEF-1α·Gpp(NH)p complex possesses structural conformations which are different from those present in the SsEF-1α·GDP complex.
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