All that glisters is not gold: a comparison of electronic monitoring versus filled prescriptions – an observational study

Background  

Poor compliance with antihypertensive medication is assumed to be an important reason for unsatisfactory control of blood pressure. Poor compliance is difficult to detect. Each method of measuring compliance has its own strengths and weaknesses.     

Onchocerciasis in the Upper Imo River Basin,Nigeria: Prevalence and Comparative Study of Waist and Shoulder Snips from Mesoendemic Communities

Background

Onchocerciasis is endemic in the Imo River Basin, Nigeria. This study was aimed at assessing the prevalence and intensity of microfilaria of Onchocerca volvulus in the area.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was carried out in the Okigwe Local Government Area, Imo State, Nigeria. Two skin snips (one from the waist and another from the shoulder) were taken from 1024 individuals examined. The survey coverage was high (91.8% of the study population). An individual was considered mf positive if either of the waist or shoulder snips or both were mf positive. The SPSS for Windows package was used for entering and analysis of data.

Results

Thirty-seven percentage of those examined was positive for Onchocerca volvulus microfilariae (39.2% of males and 34.9% of females). The mf prevalence increased steadily with increasing age to reach 70.4% in the oldest age group. The overall mf Geometric Mean Intensity among mf positive individuals was 16 mf/skin snip and was significantly higher among males (18 mf/skin snip) than females (14 mf/skin snip) (p<0.01). A scatter plot of microfilariae numbers in snips from the waist against numbers in snips from the shoulder of the same individuals, showed close correlation (Pearson''s correlation coefficient=+0.90; p<0.01), and those with mf intensities below 10 mf/snip had a more scattering tendency away from the regression line than those with higher mf intensities.

Conclusion

Onchocerciasis is a public health concern in the area. Perhaps, 10 mf/snip is critical intensity threshold for reliable sampling using corneo-scleral punch.     

Age at Smoking Initiation in Slovenia

Background

Smoking is initiated mostly by adolescents and young adults. In Slovenia, we have limited data about this. The purpose of this paper is to show data on age at smoking initiation and differences in age at smoking initiation by gender, age groups, education, social class and geographical region among inhabitants of Slovenia.

Methods

We used data from the cross-sectional survey ‘Health-related behaviour 2012’ in Slovenian population aged from 25 to 74 years.

Results

4591 ever smokers, aged 25–74, that gave information about the age at smoking initiation were included in the analysis. At the age of 25 or less, smoking was initiated by 96.7% of Slovene ever smokers, at the age of 18 or less by 71.0%. The average age at smoking initiation was 17.7 years. Male ever smokers initiated smoking at an earlier age compared to female ones. Age at smoking initiation was decreasing in both male and female ever smokers, but was more pronounced in females. In male ever smokers, there were no differences in average smoking initiation age by education, self-reported social class and geographical regions, while in female ever smokers, there were significant differences in terms of education and geographical regions.

Conclusion

The initiation of smoking predominantly occurs in adolescents and young adults. Age at smoking initiation has decreased in recent decades. Our study confirms the importance of early and sustained smoking prevention programmes in youth and the importance of national comprehensive tobacco control programme with effective tobacco control measures to ban tobacco products marketing.     

Deformation of the human brain induced by mild acceleration

Rapid deformation of brain matter caused by skull acceleration is most likely the cause of concussion, as well as more severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). The inability to measure deformation directly has led to disagreement and confusion about the biomechanics of concussion and TBI. In the present study, brain deformation in human volunteers was measured directly during mild, but rapid, deceleration of the head (20-30 m/sec2 peak, approximately 40 msec duration), using an imaging technique originally developed to measure cardiac deformation. Magnetic resonance image sequences with imposed "tag" lines were obtained at high frame rates by repeating the deceleration and acquiring a subset of image data each repetition. Displacements of points on tag lines were used to estimate the Lagrangian strain tensor field. Qualitative (visual) and quantitative (strain) results illustrate clearly the deformation of brain matter due to occipital deceleration. Strains of 0.02-0.05 were typical during these events (0.05 strain corresponds roughly to a 5% change in the dimension of a local tissue element). Notably, compression in frontal regions and stretching in posterior regions were observed. The motion of the brain appears constrained by structures at the frontal base of the skull; it must pull away from such constraints before it can compress against the occipital bone. This mechanism is consistent with observations of contrecoup injury in occipital impact.     

Radiation resistance and stem-like cells in brain tumors

The concepts of stem cells being resistant to therapy, stem-like cells existing in brain tumors, and these tumors initially responding to     

The relation between deoxycytidine kinase activity and the radiosensitising effect of gemcitabine in eight different human tumour cell lines

Background  

Gemcitabine (dFdC) is an active antitumour agent with radiosensitising properties, shown both in preclinical and clinical studies. In the present study, the relation between deoxycytidine kinase (dCK) activity and the radiosensitising effect of gemcitabine was investigated in eight different human tumour cell lines.     

Buchbesprechungen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Cerebral metastases from lung carcinoma: neurological and CT correlation. Work in progress

To determine the role of brain CT in neurologically asymptomatic lung cancer patients, a review was made of the CT and clinical findings in 279 patients. Neurological status in these patients was categorized as (a) normal, (b) abnormal with specific signs and symptoms, and (c) abnormal with vague signs and symptoms. Brain metastases were found in 94.5% of patients (69/73) with specific abnormal neurological findings, 26.6% of patients (16/60) with vague neurological signs and symptoms, 11% of patients (10/92) with oat cell carcinoma and a normal neurological examination, and 40% of patients (8/20) with adenocarcinoma and a normal neurological examination. Brain metastasis was not seen on CT in the 29 patients with squamous cell carcinoma and a normal neurological examination. It is concluded that brain CT is useful for the detection of occult brain metastases, particularly oat cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma, in neurologically asymptomatic lung cancer patients.