Prognostic significance of serum cholesterol in nursing home men

Serum cholesterol was measured in 129 men (average age 70.6; range 41-96) of a Veterans Administration Nursing Home, and was correlated with other items in an extensive clinical data base. Serum cholesterol was less than 150 mg/dl in 13% of the subjects, and was less than 160 mg/dl in 18%. Cholesterol greater than 280 mg/dl occurred in 8%. Serum cholesterol varied directly (p less than 0.02) with: body weight, serum albumin, serum total protein, serum sodium, ability to walk, and ability to feed oneself; and indirectly (p less than 0.02) with death rate, degree of functional dependence, and serum SGOT and LDH. Nursing home men with cholesterol less than 150 mg/dl had a death rate of 63% during the 14 months after the cholesterol analysis, compared to a death rate of 9% in men with cholesterol greater than 150 mg/dl (p less than 0.05). Death rate during the year after the analysis was 52% if cholesterol was below 160 mg/dl, compared to 7% if it was above this threshold (p less than 0.05).     

A preferred provider organization (PPO) case study for mental health and substance abuse.

The Preferred Provider Organization concept is quickly becoming more popular because of its relative cost-effectiveness and recent successes. Managed care through means of this mental health and substance abuse PPO may well serve as the prototype for the general health care cost containment efforts of the future for the self-insured insurance plans for Alabama state employees and teachers. The first year also revealed several problems in the original proposal especially with respect to the unintended attractiveness of inpatient/residential care. Consequently, copayment plans were added to dissuade unnecessary lengthy stays (see Table 2). Second, a new quality assurance mechanism has been added to further evaluate the need for admissions to facilities, as well as for the need for continued inpatient treatment. The Alabama Quality Assurance Foundation (AQAF) began on January 1, 1988, conducting the preadmission certification on all admissions based upon criteria established jointly by AQAF and the PPO providers. In addition, AQAF will conduct continuing stay reviews at predetermined time periods to ensure that continued treatment in an inpatient setting is indeed necessary.     

The development and evaluation of a mu-capture ELISA detecting Chlamydia-specific IgM

A mu-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detecting chlamydia-specific IgM was developed by use of the heat stable, lipopolysaccharide group-specific antigen and an alkaline phosphatase-labelled anti-chlamydia group-specific monoclonal antibody conjugate. The test was used to study the serological response in chlamydial respiratory tract infection among patients with acute respiratory tract symptoms in Cambridgeshire during the past 7 years. Results were compared with those of the complement fixation test (CFT) in routine use as well as those of a whole inclusion indirect immunofluorescence (WIF) test for IgM. Correlation between results of the mu-capture ELISA and those of the WIF test was 87.5%. The percentage of patients in whom specific IgM was found fell with increasing age. This may be due to lack of recall of IgM as a response to reinfection. Chlamydia-specific IgM was more likely to be detected when the CFT titre was greater than or equal to 64 and was rarely detected more than 6 months after the onset of symptoms. However, several patients less than 20 years of age were found to have specific IgM with CF antibody titres less than 64. We have found the mu-capture ELISA a useful test for the diagnosis of respiratory tract chlamydial infections, particularly in younger patients.     

Intraocular penetration kinetics of prednisolone after subconjunctival injection in rabbits

Prednisolone concentrations in cornea, aqueous humor, and vitreous humor and the residual amount in conjunctival tissue were assayed by high-performance liquid chromatography during a 14-hour period after subconjunctival injection of prednisolone sodium succinate in rabbits. Prednisolone was concentrated in the corneal epithelium and reached a peak within 5 min, whereas the peak level of prednisolone in stroma-endothelium was achieved 1 h after the injection. There was an apparent linear binding of prednisolone with the ocular tissue homogenates and fluids except for the vitreous humor. However, the protein binding of prednisolone with vitreous humor showed marked concentration dependency. A pharmacokinetic model involving a rapid conversion to prednisolone from its ester prodrug, first-order transfer to various tissues, and first-order elimination of unbound prednisolone from vitreous humor succeeded in predicting the observed concentration-time profiles of prednisolone in various ocular tissues and fluids after subconjunctival injection at three different doses: 0.1, 1.0, and 10.0 mg/kg. The present model predicted that absorption into precorneal area and epithelium and direct penetration into aqueous humor and vitreous humor are 1.7, 0.1, and 0.2% of the applied dose, respectively, and that almost the entire dose (98%) is absorbed into the systemic circulation, with a half-life of 38 min.     

Increasing evidence of the rise of cancer in workers exposed to vinylchloride.

The results of a cancer mortality study among workers employed in the production of vinylchloride and polyvinylchloride between 1939 and 1977 suggest a significant increase in deaths from malignancies of the lymphatic and haemopoietic tissues. Mortality for tumours of the digestive organs, respiratory system, bone and connective tissues, brain, and skin are also greater than in the general population. There were no registered cases of liver angiosarcoma in the study cohort during the follow up period. The risk of cancer was highest among the workers exposed to concentrations of VC of 300 mg/m3 and more who had worked at the plant for 15 to 19 years. The relatively high number of leukaemias and lymphomas in the study group and the absence of liver angiosarcomas probably reflects specific carcinogenic action of different doses of vinylchloride.     

Optimal Selection of Sib Pairs from Random Samples for Linkage Analysis of a QTL Using the EDAC Test

Percentages of extremely concordant and extremely discordant sib pairs are calculated that maximize the power to detect a quantitative trait locus (QTL) under a variety of circumstances using the EDAC test. We assume a large fixed number of randomly sampled sib pairs, such as one would hope to find in the large twin registries, and limited resources to genotype a certain number of selected sib pairs. Our aim is to investigate whether optimal selection can be achieved when prior knowledge concerning the QTL gene action, QTL allele frequency, QTL effect size, and background (residual) sib correlation is limited or absent. To this end we calculate the best selection percentages for a large number of models, which differ in QTL gene action allele frequency, background correlation, and QTL effect size. By averaging these percentages over gene action, over allele frequency, over gene action, and over allele frequencies, we arrive at general recommendations concerning selection percentages. The soundness of these recommendations is subsequently in a number of test cases.