Introduction: Buprenorphine has already been registered in 27 European countries for maintenance therapy in opioid-dependent patients. In our office-based prescription study we applied sublingual ...buprenorphine, initiating the treatment at the addiction clinic with subsequent treatment at the offices of general practitioners (GPs) to evaluate its efficacy and feasibility in two different treatment settings. Methods: Sixty opioid-dependent patients were studied for a period of 15 weeks. The first 3 weeks of treatment initiation took place at the addiction clinic, followed by 12 weeks of treatment by GPs. Mean outcome measures were retention rate and additional consumption of illicit substances in addition to the evaluation of whether buprenorphine can be prescribed successfully by GPs. Results: The retention rate was 57% (n = 34). No significant differences occurred between the treatment phases at the specialized addiction unit and the GPs’ offices. During the 15-week period a significant improvement in well-being and a significant reduction in craving for heroin (p < 0.001) and cocaine (p < 0.001) could be calculated for patients stabilized on a mean dose of 16 mg buprenorphine. Furthermore a significant reduction in additional consumption of opioids (p < 0.001) was found. Discussion: Our results show the involvement of office-based prescription, which should further encourage colleagues to treat opioid-dependent subjects with buprenorphine to make more treatment options for this target group available.
Managed care, both via staff model health maintenance plans and nonstaff model plans, has become a major source of health-care funding in the United States. However, very little is known about the ...asthma-specific products and services offered by these plans. The purpose of this study is to examine the asthma-specific products and services offered by managed care within the Chicago area.
Between December 1997 and February 1998, a self-administered survey was mailed to the medical directors of the 19 managed care organizations (MCOs) in the Chicago area. The survey covered the following content areas: general characteristics of the MCOs, asthma-related services, monitoring of asthma care, and asthma-related quality improvement efforts. The medical directors were asked to respond separately for staff model capitated plans, nonstaff model capitated plans, and noncapitated plans.
Responses were received from 13 of the 19 eligible Chicago-area MCOs (a response rate of 68.4%). Three of the responding MCOs (23.1%) offered a staff model plan, 11 (84.6%) offered a nonstaff model capitated plan, and 6 offered some type of noncapitated plan. Asthma education programs, although available in all plan types, were offered much less frequently in the nonstaff model capitated and noncapitated plans, 36.4% and 33.3%, respectively. Asthma case management programs were also available in some, but not all of the health plans. Only 54.5% of the nonstaff model capitated health plans promoted the use of asthma practice guidelines. Among the responding MCOs, asthma quality improvement efforts related to National Committee on Quality Assurance accreditation were infrequent in 1995. Sixty-one percent of the MCOs reported that program development for improving asthma care was a very high priority relative to programs for other health conditions.
The results of this study suggest that many, but not all, of the basic elements of asthma care services are offered by the MCOs in the Chicago area. Findings from this study also suggest ways in which asthma-related product and service delivery might be changed to improve outcomes for asthma in this community.
ABSTRACT The efficacy of some bio-rational insecticides against tea looper complex, Hyposidra spp. was evaluated at two different locations of Dooars tea plantations, West Bengal. The results ...indicated that all the insecticides were effective in reducing the looper population to a significant level. However, in comparison to other insecticides, neem based insecticides could not give the desired level of control. Among the different treatments, diflubenzuron 25 WP @ 700g/ha caused maximum reduction of loopers over control in both the sprayings at both the locations Location I: 66.91% and 65.54% reduction of loopers at 7 days after 1st and 2nd spraying respectively) and Location II: 68% and 50.85% reduction of loopers at 7 days after 1st and 2nd spraying respectively) and appeared to be the best treatment against loopers. Bt-k @ 1000 mL/ha was the next best treatment for suppressing looper population at 7 days after 1st spraying (64.44% and 67.81% reduction of loopers at Location I and II respectively) which was at par with recommended insecticide deltamethrin 2.8 EC @ 200 mL/ha (65.14% and 62.16% reduction of loopers at Location I and II respectively). However, in 2nd spraying, its efficacy was declined. Both the doses of Neem based insecticides recorded 31-49% reduction of loopers after 1st spraying but this was reduced only to 9-17% after 2nd spraying, Thus, in consideration of the performance of the insecticides, diflubenzuron @700 g/ha and Bt-k @ 1000 mL/ha could be included in the IPM package of looper.
The enzyme phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC) is a component of the phosphoinositide signal transduction system. Other components of this system have been found to be abnormal in ...adults and adolescents who have committed suicide, and so the authors examined whether PI-PLC activity and protein expression of PLC isozymes are abnormal in postmortem brains of teenage suicide subjects.
PI-PLC activity and protein expression of the PLC beta1, delta1, and gamma1 isozymes were examined in Brodmann's areas 8 and 9 of postmortem brains obtained from 18 teenage suicide subjects and 18 matched comparison subjects. PI-PLC activity was determined by enzymatic assay, and protein expression of the PLC isozymes was determined by the Western blot technique.
Compared with the normal subjects, the teenage suicide subjects had significantly lower PI-PLC activity and immunolabeling of the specific PLC beta1 isozyme in both membrane and cytosol fractions of Brodmann's areas 8 and 9 combined (prefrontal cortex). There was also a significant correlation between PI-PLC activity and protein levels of the PLC beta1 isozyme in the brains of the teenage suicide subjects. There was no significant difference in PI-PLC activity or level of PLC beta1 protein between the suicide subjects with a history of mental disorders and those with no history of mental disorders; however, both groups had significantly lower PI-PLC activity and expression of PLC beta1 protein than the normal subjects.
Low PI-PLC activity and expressed levels of the PLC beta1 isozyme in postmortem brains of suicide subjects may have clinical relevance in the pathophysiology of suicidal behavior.
A cDNA, Wiv-1, for an isozyme of acid invertase (EC 3.2.1.26) was cloned from wounded leaves of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). The encoded protein had a basic isoelectric point and strong ...similarity to the amino acid sequences of plant cell wall-bound invertases. The conserved sequence WECPD that is found in all plant cell wall-bound invertases was also found in the deduced protein. These results suggested that Wiv-1 encoded a cell wall-bound acid invertase of tomato. Wounding increased the levels of mRNAs for soluble and cell wall-bound invertases and the activities of these invertases in leaves of L. esculentum and of a related species, L. peruvianum. The induction of Aiv-1 mRNA for the soluble enzyme in wounded leaves was not very strong, while that of Wiv-1 mRNA for the wall-bound enzyme was prominent. The level of Aiv-1 mRNA reached a maximum 48 h after wounding while that of Wiv-1 mRNA continued to rise for up to 96 h. These findings suggested that the genes for the two isozymes responded independently to wounding. The levels in various organs of Aiv-1 and Wiv-1 mRNAs were higher in L. esculentum than in L. peruvianum. Possible roles of cell wall-bound acid invertase in wound response and in developing plant are discussed.
To test the potential in vivo antitumor effect of dietary seaweed, we induced mammary tumors in female Sprague-Dawley rats with the carcinogen 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene. Twenty-one-day-old rats ...(n = 108) were divided into two groups. Controls were fed a standard semipurified diet, and experimental rats received the control diet with 5% Laminaria, a brown seaweed, replacing 5% alphacel . At 55 days of age, each rat received 5 mg 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene intragastrically. Rats were palpated for mammary tumors and weighed weekly for 26 weeks. Complete autopsies were then done on all rats. The seaweed diet did not alter weight gain or weights of body organs at autopsy. Experimental rats had a significant delay in the time to tumor (p = 0.007); median time until tumor was 19 weeks in experimental rats and 11 weeks in control animals. Among mammary adenocarcinoma tumor-bearing animals, experimental rats had fewer adenocarcinomas/individual (p less than 0.05). There was also an overall 13% reduction in the number of experimental rats with histologically confirmed adenocarcinomas (76% among the control rats compared to 63% among the experimental rats). Components of Laminaria which might account for the observed difference in mammary tumor growth are varied and include the sulfated polysaccharide fucoidan . Rats in the top row of cages had a significant (p = 0.01) delay in time to tumor compared to rats in the lower four rows. In each row, the seaweed-fed rats had a longer time to tumor than did the control rats.
Atypical gunshot wounds of entrance occur when bullets deviate from their stable nose-on trajectory before entering the body. When this occurs, the resulting wound may have an atypical D-shaped ...appearance. Ray-like abrasions or bruises may radiate from the corners of the wound. Unstable nonaxial flight may be caused by intermediate targets, ricochets , inappropriate weapon/ ammunition combinations, poor weapon construction, or use of misaligned silencers . If a bullet is deformed before entrance the configuration of the resulting wound may be bizarre, and the wound configuration may closely resemble the configuration of the striking bullet. Nine cases are presented showing the effects of various intermediate targets. A number of methods for the investigation of atypical wounds are discussed.
Nitrous oxide fluxes and soil nitrogen transformations were measured in experimentally-treated high elevation Douglas-fir forests in northwestern New Mexico, USA. On an annual basis, forests that ...were fertilized with 200 kg N/ha emitted an average of 0.66 kg/ha of N2O-N, with highest fluxes occurring in July and August when soils were both warm and wet. Control, irrigated, and woodchip treated plots were not different from each other, and annual average fluxes ranged from 0.03 to 0.23 kg/ha. Annual net nitrogen mineralization and nitrate production were estimated in soil and forest floor using in situ incubations; fertilized soil mineralized 277 kg ha-1 y-1 in contrast to 18 kg ha-1 y-1 in control plots. Relative recovery of 15NH4-N applied to soil in laboratory incubations was principally in the form of NO3-N in the fertilized soils, while recovery was mostly in microbial biomass-N in the other treatments. Fertilization apparently added nitrogen that exceeded the heterotrophic microbial demand, resulting in higher rates of nitrate production and higher nitrous oxide fluxes. Despite the elevated nitrous oxide emission resulting from fertilization, we estimate that global inputs of nitrogen into forests are not currently contributing significantly to the increasing concentrations of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere.
Wave V of the auditory brainstem response and N1 from the ear canal were recorded from normal hearing adults using a forward masking paradigm. Response amplitudes and latencies to 40 dB HL probe ...clicks presented in quiet and as a function of the time delay (delta T) following short-duration wideband noise maskers were measured. The masking effects for wave V were different than for N1. The primary effects were decreases in N1 amplitude and increases in wave V latency, neither of which were recovered by delta T = 100 ms. The V-N1 latency interval increased for delta Ts below 50 ms. Wave V amplitude was fully recovered by delta T = 25 ms, even though N1 amplitude was significantly reduced. Recovery functions are also described for some variations in masker duration and masker level. Results are explainable in terms of peripheral and central processes or entirely peripheral processes. The differential effects of N1 and wave V suggest, at least for some stimulus conditions, that these two responses are to some degree independent of each other.
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