Transforming Growth Factor-β2 mRNA Level in Unloaded Bone Analyzed by Quantitative In Situ Hybridization

The effects of tail suspension hypokinesia on the gene expression for TGF-β₂ at different sites within bone were evaluated. TGF-β₂ mRNA signal levels were determined quantitatively by an image analysis system. The osteopenia induced by tail suspension was verified by histomorphometry. In the periosteum of nonsuspended control rats, TGF-β₂ mRNA was highly expressed in the preosteoblasts and osteoblast-rich cambial layers; very little signal was present within the middle and outer fibroblastic layers. Gene expression was significantly reduced in suspended rats, and this was evident both in terms of the number of silver grains in unit area or length of tissue and in each osteoblast and preosteoblast. Hypokinesia also reduced the expression of TGF-β₂ mRNA level in cortical and trabecular bone osteocytes, but did not adversely affect the mRNA level in chondrocytes in growth plate. The results affirm the site-specific response of TGF-β₂ gene expression in rats, and suggest that the cortical and trabecular bone osteopenia associated with hypokinesia in rats may be associated with a deficit in osteoblastic and osteocytic TGF-β₂ level. Received: 6 February 1998 / Accepted: 10 November 1998     

Association of dialyzer reuse and hospitalization rates among hemodialysis patients in the US

OBJECTIVES: To determine if reuse of hemodialyzers is associated with higher rates of hospitalization and their resulting costs among end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. METHODS: Noncurrent cohort study of hospitalization rates among 27,264 ESRD patients beginning hemodialysis in the United States in 1986 and 1987. RESULTS: Dialysis in free-standing facilities reprocessing dialyzers was associated with a greater rate of hospitalization than in facilities not reprocessing (relative rate (RR) = 1.08, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.02-1.14). This higher rate of hospitalization was observed with dialyzer reuse using peracetic/acetic acids (RR = 1.11, CI 1. 04-1.18) and formaldehyde (RR = 1.07, CI 1.00-1.14), but not glutaraldehyde (p = 0.97). There was no difference among hospitalization rates in hospital-based facilities reprocessing dialyzers with any sterilant and those not reprocessing. Hospitalization for causes other than vascular access morbidity in free-standing facilities reusing dialyzers with formaldehyde was not different from hospitalization in facilities not reusing. However, reuse with peracetic/acetic acids was associated with higher rates of hospitalization than formaldehyde (RR = 1.08, CI 1.03-1.15). CONCLUSIONS: Dialysis in free-standing facilities reprocessing dialyzers with peracetic/acetic acids or formaldehyde was associated with greater hospitalization than dialysis without dialyzer reprocessing. This greater hospitalization accounts for a large increment in inpatient stays in the USA. These findings raise important concerns about potentially avoidable morbidity among hemodialysis patients. Copyright Copyright 1999 S. Karger AG, Basel     

Incidents in obstetric anaesthesia and analgesia: an analysis of 5000 AIMS reports.

We aimed to explore the first 5000 incidents reported to the Australian Incident Monitoring Study (AIMS) involving anaesthesia for obstetric patients and found 203 such incidents. Analysis and classification identified seven main incident groups; regional anaesthetic techniques (33%), anaesthetic equipment problems (13%), "wrong drug" errors (10%), other drug-related problems (16%), difficult/failed intubation (9%), problems with the endotracheal tube (9%) and other problems (10%). When compared to the incidents in the main database, obstetric cases were found to be over-represented with respect to accidental dural puncture, post dural puncture headache, failed intubation in emergency situations and the incidence of certain types of "wrong drug" error. The implications of these reports regarding safe practice of obstetric anaesthesia are discussed.     

Diabetes in New Zealand--better information needed.

AIMS: To review the availability and quality of data on the epidemiology of diabetes in New Zealand. METHODS: A search was undertaken for all Medline-indexed publications on diabetes in New Zealand. Hospitalisation and mortality data (ICD9 code 250) from the New Zealand Health Information Service (NZHIS) were examined. RESULTS: Information on diabetes in New Zealand has come from community surveys, national surveys, diabetes registers, hospitalisation data and mortality data. Much of this information has been valuable, but there is still inadequate national information on diabetes prevalence, incidence and time trends. CONCLUSION: Information technology provides an opportunity to couple the surveillance of diabetes with improved diabetes care. Medical practitioners need to support the development of their own practice-based registers/recall systems and to contribute to the development of district-based diabetes registers where these have a central focus on improving diabetes care.     

Prevalence of known diabetes in different ethnic groups in inner urban South Auckland.

AIM: To describe the prevalence of known diabetes in different ethnic groups in inner urban South Auckland. METHOD: Cross-sectional household survey of 27,419 residences in the multi-ethnic community of inner urban South Auckland 1992-1995. RESULTS: Responses from 91.3% of households included 90,477 residents, 1862 (2.1%) of whom had diabetes. The all-age adjusted prevalence of known diabetes was 1.9 (1.7-2.0)% in Europeans, 5.2 (4.9-5.5)% among Maori, 4.0 (3.8-4.2)% among Pacific Islands people and 4.3 (3.8-4.9) 2% among other ethnic groups. There was heterogeneity within the Pacific Islands and "other" groups with the highest prevalence present in South Asians, Niueans and those from the Middle East. A non-significantly lower prevalence of diabetes was found among Chinese respondents. These data predicted 85,581 people with known diabetes in New Zealand in 1996. The greatest growth, due to demographic changes alone (i.e. without taking account of the known increased incidence of diabetes), was predicted among non-European, non-Polynesian groups, with a 181% increase in numbers with diabetes since 1991. CONCLUSION: Demographic pressures have been sufficient to increase the number with known diabetes by 13.9% in five years. This would have underestimated the epidemic in view of the observed growth in the age-adjusted incidence of diabetes in overseas studies.     

Children's perceptions of parental drinking: the eye of the beholder

OBJECTIVE: Children learn about alcohol and about how to drink through modeling experience, in part. Modeling is typically studied by asking parents to describe their drinking behavior. However, children's perception of parents' drinking may differ from the way parents describe it. This study examined the degree to which children's perceptions and parents' reports agreed. METHOD: A sample of 177 grade-school children and their parents was drawn from a public school in Kentucky. Children completed questionnaires inquiring about their perceptions of the quantity, frequency and the positive and negative consequences of their parents' drinking. Their parents completed similar questionnaires describing their own drinking and its consequences. RESULTS: As hypothesized, first and second grade children's perceptions of parents' drinking were unrelated to parents' self-reports: Most of these children perceived their parents as nondrinkers even though parents reported drinking. Also as hypothesized, children's perceptions and parents' reports were significantly correlated for third through sixth grade students. However, there was a great deal of reliable, but unshared variance between these older children's perceptions and parents' reports. Children's perceptions and parents' reports were consistently quite different, even when both child and parent described the parent as a drinker. CONCLUSIONS: Studies of modeling influences on children regarding drinking should assess children's perceptions of their parents' behavior rather than parents' self-reports.     

Implenting family planning in a Ministry of Health: organizational barriers at the state and district levels

1. Family planning occupied a subordinate position in the medical and health bureaucracy almost two decades after its introduction. Senior Ministry officials accorded low priority to formal program objectives, while the State Family Planning Officer, the highest state official concerned solely with the family planning program, suffered from a relatively subordinate position in the Directorate and a lack of authority and support. Within the medical profession, family planning was held in low esteem, and the medical and health bureaucracies did not have a mechanism for selecting personnel on the basis of interest and commitment. 2. Organizational adjustment to family planning in the Ministry of Health was a slow and painful process, absorbing the energy and attention of Ministry officials for almost a decade. The repeated reorganizations of the district setup revolving around the division of labor between medical, health, and family planning acitvities and between the rural and urban program, led to months of almost total inertia and detracted substantially from the supervisory capacity of the officials involved. 3. Decision making and guidance suffered from the quick turnover of the Secretary, the most powerful administrator in the Ministry. In Uttar Pradesh Secretaries stayed barely long enough to begin to understand the complex organizational setup of the program. 4. Multiple and often conflicting lines of authority characterized the relationships between the higher and lower echelons within the Ministry. This was accentuated when the District Family Planning Officer was placed under the administrative control of the District Magistrate. While intended to "energize" family planning through the association of the most prestigious and powerful district official with the program, this organizational arrangement resulted in conflicting instructions to the staffs of the primary health centers. 5. The organizational behavior of the Ministry of Health was shaped by the interplay of the various "professional cultures" of its key actors. The generalist administrators' short time horizon and eagerness to produce quantitative results clashed with the specialists' emphasis upon long-term goals and technical constraints; the politician's defense of the interest of his constituents clashed with the administrator's desire to defend his autonomy. The calculus of political survival made support for family planning goals a costly burden that few politicians have been willing to shoulder. As the party system does not reward the advocacy of family planning, ministers emphasize those programs within their ministry or those decisions within their discretion that correspond to the demands of their constituents.     

Cytomegalovirus as a risk factor in renal transplantation

A prospective study of 276 patients that were greater than 12 years old and received transplants between October 1, 1977 and September 30, 1979 has been undertaken. Any patient with clinical findings compatible with overt cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease was placed on a "CMV disease diagnostic protocol." All diagnosed cases of CMV occurring before November 15, 1979 have been analyzed. Eighty patients (29%) had overt CMV disease. Seventy-two (90%) of them contracted CMV within the first 3 months post-transplant. The incidence of overt CMV varied with donor type. Eight percent (4 of 49), 17% (8 of 48), 20% (5 of 25), 40% (46 of 115) and 43% (15 of 35) of HLA-identical (ID) siblings, non-ID siblings, child donor, cadaveric donor, and parental donor, respectively, contracted CMV disease. Overt clinical CMV disease influenced the graft function and patient survival rates significantly (P < 0.01). Several risk factors have been considered as possible indicators of CMV disease. These include age, sex, diabetic status, time of onset of CMV, donor and recipient CMV complement-fixing (CF) and indirect fluorescence (IF) titers. The same variables were analyzed to determine whether they might also predict the severity of the disease. Donor CF is the single most important risk factor. Recipient serology alone was not found to be a significant risk factor but 15 of 27 (56%) persons who had a negative titer and received a kidney from a donor with a positive CF titer contracted overt CMV. Nine of those 15 (60%) had moderate, severe, or lethal illness.