A prospective study on defecation frequency, stool weight, and consistency

It has been commonly believed that children in developing countries pass stools that are very different from those of developed countries. A community based study on defecation frequency, stool weight, and consistency was conducted in a cohort of 300 Myanmar (Burmese) children aged 1 to 4 years. Most (80.3%) children opened their bowels daily and none passed more than three stools a day. The mean (SD) defecation frequency was 6.98 (1.94) times a week and total stool weight was 596 (221) g a week. The majority (61%) of children passed soft stools. At all ages, there was no significant difference in the defecation frequency, stool weight, and consistency between boys and girls, those on adult style diet and those partially weaned, and between age groups.     

Carcinoma of the cervix, endometrium, and ovary: an 11-year review.

Over an 11-year period, 164 patients with genital tract carcinoma were managed at the Austin Hospital, Melbourne. For patients receiving primary treatment at the hospital, the five-year survival rates of patients with carcinoma of the cervix, endometrium, and ovary were 47.8%, 41.6% and 4.3% respectively. Improved results rest upon earlier diagnosis and alternative therapeutic measures, especially for carcinoma of the endometrium and ovary. Routine surveillance after initial therapy may detect asymptomatic metastatic disease when curative treatment is still possible.     

Developments in the design and synthesis of calpain inhibitors

Calpains are Ca(2+)-dependent cysteine proteases that play an important role in cell differentiation and in apoptosis/necrosis. The overactivation of calpain is connected with a number of diseases, including cataracts and traumatic brain injury, making calpain an attractive drug target. The development of selective inhibitors of calpain has, however, proved difficult, due to a lack of detailed structural information on the protein. This difficulty has been somewhat alleviated with recent reports on the X-ray crystal structures of engineered calpains and improved biochemical characterization of the protein. This review describes properties and X-ray crystal structures of calpain, and the synthesis and binding affinities of novel calpain inhibitors.     

Physical activity and health related quality of life among people with arthritis

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between physical activity and health related quality of life (HRQOL) among persons with arthritis or chronic joint symptoms (CJS). DESIGN: Cross sectional survey investigating the relation between physical activity level and HRQOL. HRQOL was estimated using the number of physically or mentally unhealthy days during the past 30 days. Physical activity was categorised as recommended, insufficient, or inactive according to federal activity recommendations. Persons with arthritis were defined as those with either self reported CJS or doctor diagnosed arthritis. SETTING: Community dwelling, US adults residing in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. PARTICIPANTS: Respondents (n = 212 000) in the 2001 behavioral risk factor surveillance system (BRFSS), an annual population based, telephone survey. MAIN RESULTS: The 33% of BRFSS respondents with arthritis had a mean of 6.7 physically and 4.9 mentally unhealthy days during the past 30 days, compared with 1.8 and 2.7 among those without arthritis. Inactive men and women were 1.2-2.4 times more likely to report impaired HRQOL compared with those who met physical activity recommendations. Men and women who engage in insufficient physical activity also report variably reduced HRQOL. CONCLUSIONS: Among people with arthritis, recommended levels of physical activity were associated with fewer mean physically and mentally unhealthy days and a decreased probability of having severely impaired physical or mental HRQOL.     

Measuring the health of populations: the veil of ignorance approach

We report the results from two surveys designed to explore whether an application of Harsanyi's principle of choice form behind a veil of ignorance (VEI) can be used in order to measure the health of populations. This approach was tentatively recommended by Murray et al. (Bull. World Health Organ 2000; 78: 981-994; Summary Measures of population health: Concepts, Ethics, Measurement and Applications, WHO, 2002.) as an appropriate way of constructing summary measures of population health (SMPH) for comparative purposes. The operationalization of the VEI approach used in this paper was suggested by Nord (Summary Measures of Population Health: Concepts, Ethics, Measurement and Applications, WHO, 2002.). We test if VEI and person trade-off (PTO) methods generate similar quality-of-life weights. In addition, we compare VEI and PTO weights with individual utilities estimated by means of the conventional standard gamble (SG) and a variation of it we call double gamble. Finally, psychometric properties like feasibility, reliability, and consistency are examined. Our main findings are next: (1) VEI and PTO approaches generate very different weights; (2) it seems that differences between PTO and VEI are not due to the 'rule of rescue'; (3) the VEI resembled more a DG than a classical SG; (4) PTO, VEI, and DG exhibited good feasibility, reliability and consistency.