Recent trends in breast cancer incidence in US white women by county-level urban/rural and poverty status

Background  

Unprecedented declines in invasive breast cancer rates occurred in the United States between 2001 and 2004, particularly for estrogen receptor-positive tumors among non-Hispanic white women over 50 years. To understand the broader public health import of these reductions among previously unstudied populations, we utilized the largest available US cancer registry resource to describe age-adjusted invasive and in situ breast cancer incidence trends for non-Hispanic white women aged 50 to 74 years overall and by county-level rural/urban and poverty status.     

Recipient bed perfusion as a predictor for postoperative complications in irradiated patients with microvascular free tissue transfer of the head and neck area: a clinical analysis of 191 microvascular free flaps

Purpose

Despite microvascular free tissue transfer being the mainstay of care in the reconstruction of larger maxillofacial defects, a significant number of patients experience postoperative complications due to impaired blood supply of the flap. In this context, the early influence of recipient bed perfusion remains unclear, but there is evidence that it is associated with free flap viability immediately after surgery.

Methods

We analyzed flap and recipient bed perfusion within the first 2 weeks after surgery by using the oxygen-to-see device. One hundred ninety-one patients who underwent free flap surgery in our department were included.

Results

Flow parameters were higher and postoperative complications were less frequent in radial forearm free flaps compared to any other type of flap. Flow parameters of the recipient bed were higher than transferred tissue at all times, implicating flap autonomization is not completed within 2 weeks. Previous radiotherapy significantly decreased flow parameters of the recipient bed but not of the flaps. Furthermore, irradiated patients with postoperative complications were found to have reduced flow parameters of their recipient bed compared to non-irradiated patients with postoperative complications.

Conclusion

We conclude that monitoring of recipient bed perfusion is useful for detecting flap compromise of irradiated patients in the early postoperative period.

     

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-related risk-taking behaviors in women attending inner-city prenatal clinics in the mid-west.

OBJECTIVE: Federal guidelines recommend the provision of human immunodeficiency virus education to all attendees of prenatal clinics. The current study was conducted to assess risk-taking behaviors among urban women voluntarily pursuing prenatal care. DESIGN AND SETTING: African American women attending urban prenatal clinics in Cleveland, Ohio were subjected to an extensive interview before receiving an experimental AIDS education curriculum. The interview sought detailed information regarding demographics, lifetime and recent sexual activity, condom use, and lifetime and recent illicit drug use. RESULTS: A total of 1017 women were interviewed; of those women, approximately 73% were single. The majority had a monthly income of less than $500. A total of 66% had only one partner in the past year, and almost 90% had < or = 1 partner in the past 6 months. A total of 98% identified a main partner. Nearly all subjects were at least fairly certain that this partner did not use intravenous drugs, and 71% were at least fairly certain that he was monogamous. Only 19% used condoms most or all the time. Intravenous drug use among study subjects was very infrequent. CONCLUSION: These data indicate that inner-city Cleveland women seeking prenatal care are largely monogamous around the time of their gestation, and that a history of intravenous drug use is infrequent. They suggest that prenatal counseling in urban clinics will need to address women who largely are engaged in single-partner relationships at the time of the intervention.     

高效液相色谱法测定消痰咳片的含量

目的：采用反相色谱法同时测定消痰咳片中两种主要成分甲氧苄啶和磺胺体的含量。方法：以乙腈：0.1%H3PO4(15:85)为流动相，检测波长254nm，HPLC法测定含量。结果：试验表明，甲氧苄啶和磺胺林在0.8-8ug范围内呈良好的线性关系，回归方程分别为Y＝－1127.1＋110.2x(r=0.9994),Y=-1852.3 256.2x(r=0.9996),相对标准偏差分别为2.1%和0.8%。结论：该方法简便、准确、可靠。     

The pulmonary physician and critical care. 2. The injured lung: conventional and novel respiratory therapy.

Several alternatives to conventional ventilation in acute lung injury are now available and have been investigated to a varying degree. The assessment of all such techniques is limited by difficulties in designing proper comparative studies and by the time needed to recruit a large number of appropriate patients with acute lung injury. A common theme of lung volume maintenance combined with strategies designed to limit the extent of ventilator induced lung damage has emerged and should encourage reassessment of the conventional approach. The results of several large prospective comparative studies are eagerly awaited. Meanwhile we may reasonably suggest that improvements in respiratory support, together with advances in microbiological and pharmacological treatment, have the potential for improving the persistently disappointing survival rate in acute lung injury.     

Markers of oxidative stress and antioxidant activity in plasma and erythrocytes in neonatal respiratory distress syndrome

Markers of oxidative stress and antioxidant activity in plasma and erythrocytes were studied for 14 d after birth in infants with neonatal respiratory distress syndrome ( n = 9) and controls ( n = 36). In plasma, the total radical trapping antioxidant capacity and the chain-breaking antioxidants vitamin C, sulfhydryl groups and bilirubin were similar. The differences in uric acid levels were not consistent, but vitamin E levels and vitamin E/total-lipid ratio were lower in the neonatal respiratory distress group ( p < 0.01). In erythrocytes, the antioxidant enzymes glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase and superoxide dismutase did not differ postnatally. Indicators of oxidative damage in plasma (sulfhydryl/protein ratio and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances) showed the same postnatal course in both groups and were not influenced by oxygen therapy. In erythrocytes the reduced/oxidized glutathione ratio showed no consistent differences. In conclusion, this study, using erythrocytes and plasma, does not provide convincing evidence of oxidative damage and diminished antioxidant defenses in preterm infants with neonatal respiratory distress syndrome.