Dietitians' perceptions about and personal nutrition practices for cancer risk reduction

This study was undertaken to examine the beliefs and practices of dietitians in relation to cancer risk reduction through nutrition. Respondents to the national survey (N=384, 70 percent) were similar in demographic, educational, and professional characteristics to the American Dietetic Association census data. They reported a strong preventive health orientation: mean performance on 10 preventive health behaviors was 77.5 on a 100 point scale. Half (53 percent) believed cancer would be serious if they developed it, 47 percent believed it was not likely that they would. About 20 percent of the respondents felt that the role of nutrition in cancer etiology was unclear. Dietitians believed strong research support existed for increasing whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and fiber to reduce cancer risk but that little evidence supported use of dietary supplements. Dietitians regularly practiced 75 percent of nutrition recommendations they believed to be effective in reducing cancer risk. Beliefs about the effectiveness of a recommendation accounted for the largest percentage of variance on nutritional practices. While dietitians reported many preventive health practices, including following nutrition recommendations, they seemed to be doing so for reasons other than preventing cancer.Nancie S. Merlino is Assistant Professor, Nutrition and Food Science, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202 and James H. Price, Professor of Health Promotion, Department of Health Promotion, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606.Acknowledgement goes to Stephen Jurs, PhD; Fredrick Andres, PhD; and John Kish, PhD for assistance in design and analysis.     

Continuous renal replacement therapy: the treatment of choice for acute renal failure

The health care issues facing society today are complex. Access to care, quality of life, relative value scales, diagnosis related groups, and cost containment demands have had an impact on the decision-making processes of health care professionals. The availability of alternative therapeutic treatment modalities adds additional considerations when prescribing medical therapy. This is especially true when a patient is diagnosed with renal failure. In the past, either peritoneal dialysis or hemodialysis have been the only therapies for supporting patients with acute renal failure. This article explores continuous renal replacement therapy for the management of acute renal failure: what it is, when and where it should be used, and the responsibilities of nephrology and critical care nurses and physicians.     

The distinction of bone and liver isoenzymes of alkaline phosphatase in serum using a monoclonal antibody

Out of 31 mouse monoclonal antibodies to human liver and bone ALP, one antibody coded BAP 1/9, showing a preference for binding the bone isoenzyme, and one antibody coded LAP 1/5, showing no preference, were selected to study binding of the serum forms of ALP. Using a plate capture assay format BAP 1/9 showed a 1.8-fold preference for binding purified bone versus liver ALP in the presence of 10% ALP-free serum compared with 2.1- to 2.25-fold preference in buffered salt solution. BAP 1/9 showed a preference for binding ALP from serum samples containing predominantly bone ALP compared to those containing predominantly liver ALP. Using predefined mixtures of serum forms of bone and liver ALP a linear relationship between ALP bound to BAP 1/9 and the fraction of bone ALP was obtained.     

Relationships between tumour necrosis factor, eicosanoids and platelet-activating factor as mediators of endotoxin-induced shock in mice.

1. The toxicity of intravenous recombinant human tumour necrosis factor (rhTNF), a TNF fragment (TNF114-130), endotoxin and combinations of rhTNF or TNF114-130 were tested in mice. Neither rhTNF nor TNF114-130 was lethal alone, but when combined with a non-lethal dose of endotoxin, rhTNF provoked dose-dependent mortality, as did higher doses of endotoxin alone. 2. Both the toxicity and the vasopermeability changes induced by endotoxin alone were blocked by the platelet-activating factor (PAF) antagonist BN52021, indomethacin or the dual cyclo-oxygenase/lipoxygenase inhibitor BW755C. 3. The lethality of the combined low dose endotoxin/rhTNF challenge was unaffected by pretreatment with BN52021, indomethacin or BW755C, or by treatment at 6 h intervals with BN52021 or BW755C. 4. The results of these studies suggest that TNF, a putative, early mediator of septic or endotoxin shock, cannot by itself mimic all of the effects of bacterial endotoxin in the model used in this study. Apparently, TNF works synergistically with other mediators whose release is stimulated by endotoxin. 5. The results also suggest that the mechanism of shock production by the rhTNF/endotoxin combination in mice is not dependent on the early stimulation of eicosanoid or PAF synthesis by rhTNF.     

Evidence that the earliest generated cells of the murine cerebral cortex form a transient population in the subplate and marginal zone.

We used bromodeoxyuridine to label the earliest generated cells of the murine cerebral cortex while they were dividing, and then observed their distributions at several instances later in development. Shortly before birth, many of the labelled cells were either above the cortical plate, in the marginal zone, or below it, in the region known as the subplate in other species. These cells had disappeared by postnatal day 21.     

Measurement of diet in a large national survey: comparison of computerized and manual coding of records in household measures

A diary method using household measures was employed to obtain dietary records in a large national prospective survey and a computer program, DIDO (Diet In Data Out), was designed for direct entry of the diaries. The accuracy of this computerized coding system was examined alongside that of the manual coding used for a similar diary in a previous wave, 7 years earlier, of the same survey. Accuracy was assessed by analysis of the errors in the coded and checked records by stringent re-checking of nominal 2% random subsamples of the diet diaries coded by each method. The mean time to code and check each of the 2086 7-day records in the whole survey using DIDO was 58 minutes (SD 30) compared with reported results of 1–4 hours for manual methods. The mean error rate of computerized coding and checking with DIDO was 2.3% (SD 2.1; range 0–8.9) per diary in the subsample. Correcting these mistakes made insignificant changes to the calculated mean energy and nutrient intakes for the subsample. The percentage of individuals changing to an adjacent third of nutrient distribution after correcting unambiguous errors ranged from none (for alcohol) to 11% (for carbohydrate and calcium intake). The mean error rate on a similar subsample of diaries from the earlier survey which had been coded manually was significantly higher at 5.9% (SD 4.1; range 0–17) per diary. Emphasis is laid on the importance, in coding, of dealing with ambiguities in the subjects' records, since this can affect the accuracy and the precision of the nutrient results obtained. We conclude that the DIDO coding method has the advantages of greater accuracy, speed, consistency and efficient data handling, and affords greater data accessibility for checking, compared with manual systems.     

Phytochelatin production by marine phytoplankton at low free metal ion concentrations: laboratory studies and field data from Massachusetts Bay.

Phytochelatins are small metal-binding polypeptides synthesized by algae in response to high metal concentrations. Using a very sensitive HPLC method, we have quantified phytochelatins from phytoplankton in laboratory cultures at environmentally relevant metal concentrations and in marine field samples. Intracellular concentrations of phytochelatin, in the diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii, exhibit a distinct dose-response relation with free Cd2+ concentration in the medium--not with total Cd(2+)--and are detectable even when the free Cd2+ concentration is less than 1 pM. In Massachusetts Bay, phytochelatin levels (normalized to chlorophyll a) in the particulate fraction are similar to those measured in laboratory cultures exposed to picomolar free Cd2+ concentrations and exhibit a decreasing seaward trend. Incubations of natural samples with added Cd2+ confirmed the induction of the peptides by this metal. Ambient phytochelatin concentrations thus appear to provide a measure of the metal stress resulting from the complex mixture of trace metals and chelators in natural waters.     

Body fat in identical twins reared apart: Roles for genes and environment

We report analyses of data on body fat from a cohort of 34 separated monozygotic twin pairs (MZA) and a matched sample of 38 pairs of monozygotic twins reared together (MZT) originally studied by James Shields. The correlation for MZA pairs was. 61 and the correlation for MZT pairs was. 75. These correlations did not differ significantly, nor did correlations differ between MZA pairs subclassified as having been raised in relatively more or less similar environments. Our results suggest important roles for both genes and environment in the accumulation of body fat and support other adoption studies in suggesting that adult environments rather than rearing environments are the most important nongenetic determinants of levels of body fat in adults.Supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH43409 to R.A.P. and a Grant in Aid from the Dight Institute of Human Genetics to I.I.G.     

Hypothermia differentially affects tuning curves generated by forward and by simultaneous masking.

In the gerbil maintained at euthermic (37.5 degrees C) conditions, forward masking produces a compound action potential tuning curve (CAP TC) which is less sensitive but more sharply tuned than that which is generated by simultaneous masking. These differences between forward- and simultaneously-masked CAP TCs are minimized at hypothermic (30 degrees C) conditions. The unmasking effect occurs at both temperatures, suggesting that hypothermia does not exert these changes by eliminating two-tone suppression.