Florida's "truth" campaign: a counter-marketing, anti-tobacco media campaign.

The "truth" campaign was created to change youth attitudes about tobacco and to reduce teen tobacco use throughout Florida by using youth-driven advertising, public relations, and advocacy. Results of the campaign include a 92 percent brand awareness rate among teens, a 15 percent rise in teens who agree with key attitudinal statements about smoking, a 19.4 percent decline in smoking among middle school students, and a 8.0 percent decline among high school students. States committed to results-oriented youth anti-tobacco campaigns should look to Florida's "truth" campaign as a model that effectively places youth at the helm of anti-tobacco efforts.     

Diminished concentrations of insulin-like growth factor I in cystic fibrosis

Cystic fibrosis is frequently accompanied by a catabolic condition with low body mass index caused by a number of disease complications. Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) is an anabolic hormone and an important marker of nutritional status, liver function, and linear growth. Available data on IGF-I in cystic fibrosis are sparse and conflicting. From 1990-3, 235 of our 240 patients (114 males, 121 females, median age 16.2 years, ranged 0.1-44.0 years) had IGF-I measured once by radioimmunoassay. IGF-I was significantly reduced compared with a healthy Scandinavian control population: mean (-2 SD to +2 SD) IGF-I SD score was -0.97 (-3.7 to 1.7) in males and -0.67 (-3.2 to 1.9) in females. Height SD score was -0.95 (-3.3 to 1.4) in males and -0.81 (-3.2 to 1.6) in females. In patients who were still in the growth period a significant correlation of IGF-I SD score to height SD score (r = 0.28, p < 0.001) was found. The low IGF-I concentrations may reflect the catabolic state of many patients with cystic fibrosis and play a part in their abnormal growth pattern.     

Simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of phenilpropanolamine HCL,caffeine and diazepam in tablets

Diphemanil methylsulfate (DMS) is a synthetic antimuscarinic agent classically used in infants for vagal hypertonia-related symptoms. A normal-phase, isocratic liquid chromatographic method was developed for the quantitative determination of DMS in bulk drugs and in pharmaceutical forms. The method has been completely validated and robustness of this method has been studied. The limit of detection (LOD) for DMS impurities namely, impurity 1 and 2 were found to be 11 and 46 ng/ml. The limit of quantitation (LOQ) was found to be 49 and 139 ng/ml for impurity 1 and 2, respectively. The stability studies have been performed for 2 and 10 mg DMS tablets subjected at various temperatures: 25 degrees C (long term storage condition) and 40 degrees C (accelerated storage condition) for 18 and 6 months, respectively. At 25 degrees C, the samples were found to be stable for the study period. At 40 degrees C, 2 and 10 mg DMS tablets showed degradation up to 5 and 10% over a 6-month period.     

A histomorphometric study of osteocytic lacunae in interradicular bone with periodontal disease

Previous studies report on the differences in volume of osteocytic lacunae that are associated to different local and systemic bone pathologies. Alterations have also been reported in rats with periodontal disease. The aim of the present study was to assess the histomorphometric pattern of osteocytic lacunae of the interradicular septum in human molars with periodontal disease (PD). We took samples of the interradicular septum of 31 molars with indication of extraction of male and female patients, 18-55 years old, who attend the Department of Surgery II of the Faculty of Dentistry, National University of Cordoba and private centers. Clinical records were prepared for each patient. The corresponding radiographs were taken for all the patients. We studied 11 samples of molars with slight PD and 12 control molars free from PD. Ten samples of healthy bone corticals of vestibular or lingual tables obtained from histopathology archives were also assessed. Following extraction with atraumatic pincers, the interradicular septum was removed. The samples were fixed in buffered formaline, decalcified in EDTA and embedded in paraffin. Ten micrometer sections were stained with H&E and Masson's trichromic technique. The sections were analyzed by light microscopy. A minimum of 50 lacunae were selected at random in each sample for histomorphometric evaluation. Semi-automatic evaluation of the area and diameters of the lacunae was performed employing an image analyzer and the PRO IMAGE PLUS software. The data showed that the volume of osteocytic lacunae of interradicular bone is larger than that of the cortical bone of the vestibular or lingual tables. The latter are more ribbon-shaped and their minor diameter is smaller. No differences were found between the osteocytic lacunae of the interradicular bone of healthy molars and that of molars with slight periodontal disease. Given that the experimental data evidenced volume changes in osteocytic lacunae of severe, inflammatory periodontal lesions, it would be interesting to examine the volume changes in osteocytic lacunae in patients with varying degrees of periodontal disease to examine the role of osteocytes in the development and progression of periodontal disease.     

Epidemiological analysis of bacterial strains involved in hospital infection in a university hospital from Brazil

Hospital infections cause an increase in morbidity and mortality of hospitalized patients with significant rise in hospital costs. The aim of this work was an epidemiological analysis of hospital infection cases occurred in a public University Hospital in Rio de Janeiro. Hence, 238 strains were isolated from 14 different clinical materials of 166 patients hospitalized in the period between August 1995 and July 1997. The average age of the patients was 33.4 years, 72.9% used antimicrobials before having a positive culture. The most common risk conditions were surgery (19.3%), positive HIV or AIDS (18.1%) and lung disease (16.9%). 24 different bacterial species were identified, S. aureus (21%) and P. aeruginosa (18.5%) were predominant. Among 50 S. aureus isolated strains 36% were classified as MRSA (Methicillin Resistant S. aureus). The Gram negative bacteria presented high resistance to aminoglycosides and cephalosporins. A diarrhea outbreak, detected in high-risk neonatology ward, was caused by Salmonella serovar Infantis strain, with high antimicrobial resistance and a plasmid of high molecular weight (98Mda) containing virulence genes and positive for R factor.     

Occupational exposure to inhalative irritants and methacholine responsiveness

OBJECTIVES: Occupational exposures to inhalative irritants have been associated with an increased reporting of respiratory symptoms in previous studies. Methacholine responsiveness represents a continuous measure of airway responsiveness. As such, it may be less subject to recall bias and more sensitive to detecting effects of occupational exposure on airways. Such effects may be stronger among atopic persons. The objective of the study was to examine the relationship between self-reports of occupational exposure to dusts, gases, vapors, aerosols, and fumes and methacholine responsiveness. METHODS: A sample was studied of never smokers (N=3044) chosen randomly from 8 areas in Switzerland. Atopy was defined as any positive skin test to 8 inhalative allergens. Nonspecific bronchial reactivity was tested using methacholine chloride and quantified by calculating the slope of the dose-response. RESULTS: The methacholine slopes were 19% [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 6-32] higher for never smokers with exposure to dusts, fumes, vapors, gases, or aerosols than for the unexposed group. When only atopic never smokers were examined. the increase was larger (37%, 95% CI 7-75), and for persons with >2 positive skin prick tests the effect was still higher (42%, 95% CI -1.5-104). Exposure to vapors and aerosols was strongly associated with increased methacholine slopes among the atopic subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Occupational exposure, particularly to dusts and fumes, was associated with increased bronchial reactivity in never smokers in this study. The magnitude of the effect was larger among atopic subjects.     

Studies on thioacetamide-induced liver necrosis

Even at concentration as high as 20 mm, thioacetamide neither results in any type of spectral change by interaction with liver microsomal suspensions nor modifies the in vitro NADPH cytochrome P-450 reductase activity. Thioacetamide administration to rats does not induce a microsomal lipid peroxidation process. The ability of thioacetamide to induce liver necrosis in rats is age dependent, appearing at about the age of 20 days; the 30-day-old rats are already fully responsive to thioacetamide action. Thioacetamide-induced necrosis is as intense in control males as is in females or in castrated males. The previous administration of inhibitors of cytochrome P-450-mediated transformations does not prevent thioacetamide-induced necrosis (2-diethylaminoethyl-2,2-diphenylvalerate hydrochloride, SKF 525A, or ethyl N-2-diethylaminoethyl-2-phenyl-2-ethylmalonate, Sch 5706). The effect of thioacetamide on livers from phenobarbital-preinduced rats is as intense as it is in control rats. Previous treatment with either cystamine or disulfiram partially prevented thioacetamide-induced liver necrosis. The results suggest that cytochrome P-450 or NADPH cytochrome P-450 reductase does not control the process of activation of thioacetamide to the ultimate necrogen.     

Increased expression of EGFR and TGF-α in segmental renal dysplasia in duplex kidney

Renal dysplasia (RD) is a disorganised development of renal parenchyma that results in a deficit of functional renal tissue. It is known that the epidermal growth factor (EGF) and the transforming growth factor- (TGF-) enhance renal cell proliferation, migration and differentiation during kidney development through binding to the same EGF receptor (EGFR). The aim of the study was to analyse the expression of TGF- and EGFR in the dysplastic kidney. The specimens of dysplstic upper poles duplex kidneys were surgically resected from 19 patients. Indirect immunohistochemistry was performed using the ABC method employing antibodies against EGFR and TGF-, and gene expression using primers specific to the human genes. There was absent or weak EGFR and TGF- immunoreactivity in normal kidney tissue. In dysplastic kidneys, there was strong TGF- and EGFR immunoreactivity in the epithelium of primitive tubules and strong EGFR immunoreactivity in the connective tissue around the primitive tubules. Our findings of markedly increased local expression of EGFR and TGF- in primitive tubules suggest that EGFR and TGF- may play an important role in altering renal morphogenesis resulting in renal dysplasia.