Health Risk Behavior Among Justice Involved Male and Female Youth: Exploratory,Multi-Group Latent Class Analysis

Background: Youth involved in the juvenile justice system experience a disproportionate prevalence of serious mental health issues, substance abuse, and are at an increased risk of engaging in risky sexual practices. Gender differences exist, with girls at a markedly greater risk of acquiring a sexually transmitted disease. Objectives: The present study seeks to determine if there are subgroups of male and female youth who differ in their health risk behavior. If so, do any male or female subgroups at different levels of health risk differ in regard to their sociodemographic and psychological factors, and finally, what are intervention/service delivery implications of these differences. Methods: Youth were participants in an innovative health service at a centralized intake facility located in a large southeastern U.S. city. Latent class analysis and multinomial logistic regression is utilized to examine the heterogeneity of health risk behaviors across gender groups in a sample of 777 newly arrested youth. Results: Results indicate a three class solution provided the optimal fit with the data for each gender group: a Lower Health Risk group, a Higher Health Risk group, and a Highest Health Risk group. Multinomial logistic regression analysis identified significant sociodemographic and depression effects among both male and female youth. Conclusions/Importance: Youth characterized by risky sexually behavior, elevated depression, and drug involvement should be the focus of integrated intervention services. This study documents the critical need for front end, juvenile justice intake facilities to provide behavioral and public health screening, with treatment follow-up, on newly arrested youth.     

Bone dimensional variations at implants placed in fresh extraction sockets: a multilevel multivariate analysis

Aim: To use multilevel, multivariate models to analyze factors that may affect bone alterations during healing after an implant immediately placed into an extraction socket. Material and methods: Data included in the current analysis were obtained from a clinical trial in which a series of measurements were performed to characterize the extraction site immediately after implant installation and at re‐entry 4 months later. A regression multilevel, multivariate model was built to analyze factors affecting the following variables: (i) the distance between the implant surface and the outer bony crest (S‐OC), (ii) the horizontal residual gap (S‐IC), (iii) the vertical residual gap (R‐D) and (iv) the vertical position of the bone crest opposite the implant (R‐C). Results: It was demonstrated that (i) the S‐OC change was significantly affected by the thickness of the bone crest; (ii) the size of the residual gap was dependent of the size of the initial gap and the thickness of the bone crest; and (iii) the reduction of the buccal vertical gap was dependent on the age of the subject. Moreover, the position of the implant opposite the alveolar crest of the buccal ridge and its bucco‐lingual implant position influenced the amount of buccal crest resorption. Conclusions: Clinicians must consider the thickness of the buccal bony wall in the extraction site and the vertical as well as the horizontal positioning of the implant in the socket, because these factors will influence hard tissue changes during healing. To cite this article:
Tomasi C, Sanz M, Cecchinato D, Pjetursson B, Ferrus J, Lang NP, Lindhe J. Bone dimensional variations at implants placed in fresh extraction sockets: a multilevel multivariate analysis.
Clin. Oral Impl. Res. 21 , 2010; 30–36.     

Comparative study of the stability of bimatoprost 0.03% and latanoprost 0.005%: A patient-use study

Background  

The stability of ophthalmic preparations in multidose containers is influenced by the preservative as well as the stability of the active ingredient. Unstable drugs may require refrigeration to preserve their active ingredient level and they are more likely to degrade over time, therefore becoming more susceptible to degradation based on patient mishandling. The purpose of this study was to determine the degree of molecular degradation that occurs in bimatoprost and latanoprost in a patient-use setting.     

Retinopathy of prematurity in a tertiary center in south of Brazil

AIM: To investigate the incidence of retinopathy of prematurity(ROP) in the southern Brazil, the rate of treatment and outcomes in all premature infants born at Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre, Brazil, from October 2002 to October 2006. · METHODS: A prospective cohort study was conducted on 323 premature children born at Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre, Brazil, from October 2002 to October 2006 with birth weight equal to or less than 1 500g or a gestational age at birth of 32 weeks or less. All of the newborns were examined by indirect binocular ophthalmoscopy with the 28 diopters lens after pupil's dilation and a lid speculum after the sixth week of life with examinations repeated depending on the disease classification. The main clinical outcome was the occurrence of ROP at any stage. · RESULTS: ROP occurred in 82 infants with an incidence rate of 25.7%. Threshold disease occurred in only 17 of the patients (5.3%), all of them had the disease affecting posterior Zone II needing laser treatment. None of the treated children had Zone I or aggressive posterior disease despite that three of the treated children needed a second laser session. One patient of the re-treated group needed scleral buckling with an equatorial silicon band after progression to stage 4 of ROP. · CONCLUSION: The incidence of retinopathy and the threshold disease in this study was similar to the international results reported. This study showed a high survival rate (70.1%), high incidence of retinopathy, and high laser treatment necessity among newborns under 28 weeks of gestational age or under 1 000g of birth weight. This study drove attention about the no identification of any Zone I posterior disease in this cohort of patients.     

Thrombin inhibition by novel benzamidine derivatives: a free-energy perturbation study

Thrombin is a serine protease responsible for blood coagulation. Since thrombin inhibitors appear to be effective in the treatment and prevention of thrombotic and embolic disorders, considerable attention has been focused on the structure and interactions of this enzyme. In this work, to evaluate the relative free energies of hydration and binding to thrombin for some benzamidine derivatives, we used the finite difference thermodynamic integration (FDTI) algorithm within the Discover program of MSI. By this method, two possible orders of hydration for the candidates were obtained: p-amidinophenylpyruvate > p-(2-oxo-1-propyl)benzamidine > p-methylbenzamidine > p-ethylbenzamidine > p-(1-propyl)benzamidine > benzamidine and p-amidinophenylpyruvate > p-(2-oxo-1-propyl)benzamidine > p-methylbenzamidine > p-ethylbenzamidine > benzamidine > p-(1-propyl)benzamidine. We also obtained the following order for thrombin binding: p-(2-oxo-1-propyl)benzamidine > p-ethylbenzamidine > p-(1-propyl)benzamidine > p-methylbenzamidine > benzamidine > p-amidinophenylpyruvate.     

Effect of variable moderate chronic stress on ligature-induced periodontal disease in Wistar rats

The aim of this investigation was to study the impact of stress on ligature-induced periodontal disease in rats by means of a variable moderate chronic stress model. Thirty male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to six groups. Control groups received only ligatures around the second maxillary molars, while experimental groups were exposed to stress in additional. Stress was imposed by means of flashing light, isolation, rat blood smelling, new environment exposure, immobilization in cold temperature and immobilization at room temperature. Stress was applied randomly, thereby diminishing adaptation of the animals to the model. The animals were killed after 29, 43, and 57 days. The distance between the cementum-enamel junction and the alveolar bone (CEJ-AB) was measured. Alveolar bone loss was statistically different between stressed and control animals, whereas differences were not observed between experimental periods. The mean CEJ-AB distance in animals exposed to stress was 154.50 microm smaller than the corresponding distance in the controls. It might be concluded that variable moderate chronic stress decreased alveolar bone loss in a ligature-induced periodontal disease model.     

Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 inhibits the growth of non-small cell lung cancer

Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) have mitogenic and antiapoptotic properties and have been implicated in the development of lung cancer. The effects of IGFs are modulated by insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBPs). This study explored the effects of IGFBP-3 on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells after infection with an adenovirus constitutively expressing IGFBP-3 under the control of the cytomegalovirus promoter (Ad5CMV-BP3). We found that IGFs, especially IGF-I, stimulated the growth of NSCLC cells, and Ad5CMV-BP3 suppressed this IGF-I-induced NSCLC cell growth. We also found that the clonogenicity of H1299 cells in soft agar was markedly reduced by Ad5CMV-BP3. Furthermore, direct injection of Ad5CMV-BP3 into H1299 NSCLC xenografts s.c. established in athymic nude mice induced massive destruction of the tumors. Ad5CMV-BP3 did not induce detectable cytotoxicity on normal human bronchial epithelial cells, suggesting therapeutic efficacy of this virus. Ad5CMV-BP3 infection was accompanied by apoptotic cell death in vitro as detected by flow cytometry, DNA fragmentation analysis, and Western blot analysis on the expression of Bcl-2 and on the cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase, a substrate of caspase 3. Immunofluorescence confocal microscopy was also used to show the apoptotic effect of Ad5CMV-BP3 in H1299 tumors established in nude mice. These findings indicated that IGFBP-3 was a potent inducer of apoptosis in NSCLC cells in vitro and in vivo. To delineate the underlying mechanism, we examined the effect of IGFBP-3 on Akt/protein kinase B and glycogen synthase kinase-3beta, downstream mediators of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway, and on mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), all three of which are activated by IGF-mediated signaling pathways and have important roles in cell survival. IGFBP-3 overexpression inhibited the phosphorylation of Akt and glycogen synthase kinase-3beta and the activity of MAPK. Furthermore, IGF-I rescued the NSCLC cells from serum depletion-induced apoptosis, and this rescue was blocked in Ad5CMV-BP-3-infected H1299 NSCLC cells. Transient transfection with activated Akt or constitutively active MAPK kinase-1, an upstream activator of MAPK, partially blocked IGFBP-3-induced apoptosis of NSCLC cells. These findings suggested that the growth-regulatory effect of IGFBP-3 on NSCLC cells was attributable in part to the inhibition of the IGF-induced survival pathway. These data demonstrate the importance of IGFBP-3 in the regulation of NSCLC cell proliferation, clonogenicity, and tumor growth, suggesting that IGFBP-3 is a target for the treatment of lung cancer and that Ad5CMV-BP3 is a potential therapeutic agent.     

Cognitive and affective disorders associated to HIV infection in the HAART era: findings from the NeuroICONA study. Cognitive impairment and depression in HIV/AIDS. The NeuroICONA study

OBJECTIVE: To assess the natural story of HIV-associated affective and cognitive disorders and the relationship with clinical, pharmacological, immunological and behavioural factors. METHOD: A total of 395 HIV-positive patients, naive to Highly Active Antirectroviral therapy (HAART), with no severe psychiatric disorders have been enrolled in the Neuro-ICONA Study. All participants were administered a comprehensive data collection instrument including an addiction behaviour survey, a medical problem list, a psychiatric assessment, a validated neuropsychological test battery. RESULTS: The global prevalence of cognitive impairment and of prominent depressive symptomatology were 17.9 and 15.5%, respectively. A significant difference in the prevalence of prominent depressive symptomatology was observed between patients in HAART and those not taking HAART(14.1 vs. 23.8%; P = 0.05). CONCLUSION: Depressive and cognitive disorders affect a substantial proportion of HIV-seropositive subjects. The prevalence of prominent depressive symptomatology appears to significantly vary in relationship to the therapeutic protocol.