Use of the computer as a tool for the implementation of the nursing process--the experience of the Sâo Paulo/UNIFESP

This article reports the pathway used to build a prototype of a computer nurse's clinical decision making support system, using NANDA, NIC and NOC classifications, as an auxiliary tool in the insertion of nursing data in the computerized patient record of Hospital S?o Paulo/UNIFESP.     

Post-menopausal hormonal therapy and gallbladder cancer risk

The relation between post-menopausal hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and gallbladder cancer was analyzed in women above age 45 years, using data of a case-control study conducted in Italy between 1985 and 1997, on 31 incident, histologically confirmed cases and 3,702 controls in hospital for acute, non-neoplastic conditions. The multivariate odds ratio (OR) was 3.2 (95% confidence interval: 1.1-9.3) for those who had ever used HRT and the OR tended to rise with longer duration. Although based on small numbers, due to the rarity of the disease, these findings provide the first direct epidemiological evidence of an association between HRT and gallbladder cancer.     

Impact of a major thermoelectric plant on self-perceived health status

BACKGROUND: Measuring self-perceived health status and risk perception according to environmental factors remains a major open issue with important health policy implications. METHODS: To measure self-perceived health status in an area where a major thermoelectric plant has been active since 1994, in October 2001, we conducted a two sample survey using the SF-12 Health Survey. The study sample (2001 individuals) representative of the population living in the plant area (Montalto di Castro, Central Italy) was compared with a random sample of the general Italian population (1928 individuals). Mean values were adjusted for age, sex and education. RESULTS: SF-12 summary scales means are comparable in both samples: 50.2 (SE: 0.3) versus 49.9 (SE: 0.3) for the physical score, and 47.7 (SE: 0.4) versus 48.7 (SE: 0.4) for the mental score for Montalto di Castro area and Italian sample respectively. CONCLUSION: People living near a major thermoelectric plant have a subjective health status comparable to that reported by the general Italian population.     

Hypoxia, HIF1alpha and estrogen receptor

The estrogen receptor plays an important role in the development of hormone-dependent breast cancer. Experimental and clinical studies showed that hypoxia was involved in tumor progression and in the resistance to anticancer agents. The scope of this review is to summarize recent observations on these two signaling pathways and to show their importance and possible interaction in the development of hormone-dependent breast cancer.     

Prenatal diagnosis of Crigler-Najjar syndrome type I by single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP)

Crigler-Najjar syndrome type I (CN-I) is a rare and severe inherited disorder of bilirubin metabolism, caused by the total deficiency of bilirubin-UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) activity. Enzymatic diagnosis cannot be performed in chorionic villi or amniocytes as UGT is not active in these tissues. The cloning of the UGT1 gene and the identification of disease-causing mutations have led to the possibility of performing DNA-based diagnosis. Here we report DNA-based prenatal diagnosis of CN-I in two Tunisian families in whom CN-I patients were diagnosed. As we had previously shown that CN-I was, in Tunisia, associated with homozygosity for the Q357R mutation within the UGT1 gene, we were able to detect this mutation in both families and to show that it was easily recognized by single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis. In both cases, SSCP analysis of fetal DNA showed that the fetus was heterozygous for the Q357R mutation. In one family, the pregnancy was carried to term and a healthy baby was born, whereas, in the other family, the pregnancy is still continuing. Thus the prenatal diagnosis of CN-I is possible, provided disease-causing mutations have been identified. SSCP analysis of DNA prepared either from amniocytes or from chorionic villi is a simple, reliable and fast method for prenatal diagnosis.