Optimized Cholesterol-siRNA Chemistry Improves Productive Loading onto Extracellular Vesicles

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Evading and embracing normality: estrangement and ambivalence in the accounts of methamphetamine consumers

While much has been made of the governmentality evinced in drug policy, its effects on people who use drugs have received less attention. Scholars who have investigated these effects commonly focus on the views and experiences of individuals receiving treatment for their drug use, often reporting an explicit desire among individuals in treatment for a return to a normal, healthy life. Many authors trace this desire to the normalisation inherent in drug policy, and the governmentality involved in the delivery of drug treatment more directly. This article adds to these discussions by shifting focus from the experience of individuals in treatment to those out of treatment settings. In so doing, we aim to develop a more nuanced understanding of how heavy drug users negotiate power, governmentality and the modulations of health and illness in the course of everyday life. We ground our discussion in qualitative research conducted in Melbourne, Australia, with 31 current methamphetamine consumers. We argue that regular methamphetamine consumption involves a complex and ambivalent relationship with the ideas of health and normal life, imposing as well as reflecting a form of estrangement between its consumers and mainstream (or normal) society. This ambivalence has important implications for the delivery of health and social services among methamphetamine consumers, insofar as the restoration of normal health and the reintegration of former drug users into mainstream society are typical health service goals. We address some of these policy implications by way of conclusion.     

Interactions between angiotensin-I converting enzyme insertion/deletion polymorphism and response of plasma lipids and coronary atherosclerosis to treatment with fluvastatin: the lipoprotein and coronary atherosclerosis study

OBJECTIVES: Our objectives were to determine whether angiotensin-1 converting enzyme (ACE) insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism was associated with the severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) and its progression/regression in response to fluvastatin therapy in the Lipoprotein and Coronary Atherosclerosis Study (LCAS) population. BACKGROUND: Genetic factors are involved in susceptibility to CAD. Angiotensin-1 converting enzyme I/D polymorphism, which accounts for half of the variance of plasma and tissue levels of ACE, has been implicated in susceptibility to CAD and myocardial infarction (MI). METHODS: Angiotensin-1 converting enzyme genotypes were determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Fasting plasma lipids were measured and quantitative coronary angiograms were obtained at baseline and 2.5 years following randomization to fluvastatin or placebo. RESULTS: Ninety-one subjects had DD, 198 ID and 75 II genotypes. The mean blood pressure, minimum lumen diameter (MLD), number of coronary lesions and total occlusions were not significantly different at baseline or follow-up among the genotypes. There was a significant genotype-by-treatment interaction for total cholesterol (p = 0.018), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (p = 0.005) and apolipoprotein (apo) B (p = 0.045). In response to fluvastatin therapy, subjects with DD, compared with those with ID and II genotypes, had a greater reduction in total cholesterol (19% vs. 15% vs. 13%), LDL-C (31% vs. 25% vs. 21%) and apo B (23% vs. 15% vs. 12%). Definite progression was less (14%) and regression was more common (24%) in DD as compared with those with ID (32% and 17%) and II (33% and 3%) genotypes (p = 0.023). Changes in the mean MLD and lesion-specific MLD also followed the same trend. CONCLUSIONS: Angiotensin-1 converting enzyme I/D polymorphism is associated with the response of plasma lipids and coronary atherosclerosis to treatment with fluvastatin. Subjects with DD genotype had a greater reduction in LDL-C, a higher rate of regression and a lower rate of progression of CAD.     

Transseptal Left Heart Catheterization in Infants and Children

Transseptal left heart catheterization was performed in 80 infants and children with various forms of congenital heart disease. The majority had left heart obstructive lesions. Forty percent were under 5 years of age and less than 20 kg in weight. Uncomplicated cardiac perforation occurred in two patients. The technique is described in detail with emphasis on measures which increase the safety of the procedure for the patient. We conclude that this is a useful technique and in selected patients may be the preferred approach to the left heart.