化工人群代谢综合征的流行特征

目的：探讨化工人群代谢综合征（MS）的流行特征。方法：利用2000年泸天化集团公司糖尿病（DM）流行病学调查资料，采用中华医学会糖尿病学分会建议的MS诊断标准，分析20岁以上6387名化工企业职工MS及相关组分的患病情况。结果：化工人群MS的患病率为6．1％，男性为6．8％，女性为5．2％，在40岁后明显升高，高发年龄男性在70岁后，女性在60～69岁，分别为18．5％和25．3％；超重／肥胖、高血糖、高血压及血脂异常的患病率分别为26．5％、12．7％、15．0％和18．7％；MS在DM、高血压、血脂异常及超重／肥胖人群中的患病率分别为48．8％、34．0％、18．1％和20．2％。结论：化工人群的MS患病率达到较高水平，男性高于女性，且随年龄增长而升高；超重／肥胖的现象在化工人群中较为普遍；MS与DM、高血压、血脂异常及超重／肥胖密切相关，尤其与DM的关系密切。     

Population genetics of the hypervariable locus D12S391 in Koreans

The hypervariable short tandem repeat (STR) locus D12S391 was investigated in a Korean population and 34 fragments were sequenced to confirm the structure of alleles. From these sequenced fragments an allelic ladder containing 13 sequenced alleles was constructed. From 595 unrelated Koreans, 14 alleles were detected and one variant allele 19.3 was observed. The observed heterozygosity was 0.795 and no deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was observed in the Korean population (p = 0.606). The allele frequency distribution in the Korean population was not similar to other racial or ethnic groups except for Egyptians, Yemenis, Japanese and Caucasoids from the Rhine area. No mutations were observed in the 702 meioses from 144 Korean families. This study demonstrates that the STR locus D12S391 is a useful tool for forensic identification and parentage testing. Received: 15 September 1999 / Accepted: 18 December 1999     

DXS10011: a hypervariable tetranucleotide STR polymorphism on the X chromosome

The locus DXS10011 is a polymorphic system with a tetranucleotide repeat sequence located on the human X chromosome. The distribution of allele frequencies was examined in 334 Japanese and 171 German individuals and a total of 36 alleles was detected in the two population groups. This STR polymorphism will be a useful marker for linkage analysis. Received: 8 March 1999 / Received in revised form: 14 July 1999     

Integrating the molecular and the population approaches to dementia research to help guide the future development of appropriate therapeutics

Dementia research over the last 50 years has expanded enormously and has greater international interest now than at any time in history. A variety of scientific approaches have been brought to bear on this complex disorder in which the syndrome of clinical features is its defining importance in societal terms. Little has emerged in terms of tangible benefits for people with dementia to date other than a hugely increased awareness at societal and governmental levels. One of the drivers for the increase in focus has been epidemiological evidence, which has provided background numbers for the justification of resources for dementia research. However it can be argued that this justification did not take into account the true meaning of the population evidence, drawing instead on preconceptions which were, at the time, the widely accepted interpretations of earlier evidence. Current evidence, along with the lack of single therapeutic successes, suggests that a clearer analysis is required which not only examines the value and applicability of existing knowledge, most particularly its generation and generalizability, but also where future investment should go for most likely benefit of populations. This includes a hard look at the pre-occupation of societies with single therapies, their place in the context of prevention more generally, particularly within aging populations, and how evidence is generated on likely impacts and their timeframes.     

Temporomandibular joint related painless symptoms,orofacial pain,neck pain,headache, and psychosocial factors among non-patients

The aims of this study were to assess the prevalence of temporomandibular joint related (TMJ) painless symptoms, orofacial pain, neck pain, and headache in a Finnish working population and to evaluate the association of the symptoms with psychosocial factors. A self-administered postal questionnaire concerning items on demographic background, employment details, perceived general state of health, medication, psychosocial status, and use of health-care services, was mailed to all employees with at least 5 years at their current job. The questionnaire was completed by 1339 subjects (75%). Frequent (often or continual) TMJ-related painless symptoms were found in 10%, orofacial pain in 7%, neck pain in 39%, and headache in 15% of subjects. Females reported all pain symptoms significantly more often than men (P < 0.001). Frequent pain and TMJ-related symptoms were significantly associated with self-reported stress, depression, and somatization (P < 0.001). Perceived poor general state of health (P < 0.001), health care visits (P < 0.001), overload at work (P < 0.001), life satisfaction (P < 0.05), and work satisfaction (P < 0.05) were also significantly associated with pain symptoms, but the work duty was not (P > 0.05). Our findings are in accordance with earlier studies and confirm the strong relationship between neck pain, headache, orofacial pain, TMJ-related painless symptoms, and psychosocial factors. Furthermore, TMJ-related symptoms and painful conditions seem to be more associated with work-related psychosocial factors than with type of work itself.     

The potential health impacts of climate change: An overview

Climate change would have a range of impacts on human health. Health impacts would be caused by the direct effect of climatic factors on human health, such as heat stress, and possible changes in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as storms, floods and droughts. Impacts on health would also be mediated by the indirect effects of climate change, such as changes in availability of food and water and the distribution of vector‐borne diseases. The majority of health impacts would be adverse and would depend greatly on the vulnerability of populations.     

Impact of Guidelines for Antihypertensive Treatment on Clinical Practice

Many Guidelines and Consensus Statements were published in 1993 and 1994. The pressure to produce these guidelines comes from clinicians faced with rapid change, from a wish to provide an independent authoritative view rather than rely on commercial promotion of particular treatments, and from governments seeking assistance with the allocation of scarce resources.

Evaluation of the impact that guidelines exert on clinical practice is notoriously difficult, but has been attempted using the self-report questionnaire, or the more reliable but expensive analysis of actual practice data, before and after publication of the guidelines.     

Combining allele frequency uncertainty and population substructure corrections in forensic DNA calculations

In forensic DNA calculations of relatedness of individuals and in DNA mixture analyses, at least two sources of uncertainty are present concerning the allele frequencies used for evaluating genotype probabilities when evaluating likelihoods. They are: (i) imprecision in the estimates of the allele frequencies in the population by using an inevitably finite database of DNA profiles to estimate them; and (ii) the existence of population substructure. Green and Mortera [6] showed that these effects may be taken into account individually using a common Dirichlet model within a Bayesian network formulation, but that when taken in combination this is not the case; however they suggested an approximation that could be used. Here we develop a slightly different approximation that is shown to be exact in the case of a single individual. We demonstrate the numerical closeness of the approximation using a published database of allele counts, and illustrate the effect of incorporating the approximation into calculations of a recently published statistical model of DNA mixtures.