Trends in diet quality for coronary heart disease prevention between 1980-1982 and 2000-2002: The Minnesota Heart Survey

OBJECTIVE: Describe secular trends in overall diet quality for coronary heart disease (CHD) prevention during the past two decades (1980-1982 through 2000-2002). DESIGN: Dietary data were drawn from the Minnesota Heart Survey, a repeated population-based survey designed to examine trends in mortality, morbidity, and risk factors for CHD within geographically defined independent probability samples. SUBJECTS/SETTING: Adults residing in the Minneapolis/St Paul, MN, metropolitan area. MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES: Dietary intake was assessed by an interviewer administered 24-hour dietary recall from a subsample of survey participants. A Heart Disease Prevention Eating Index was developed to measure overall diet quality by compliance with the current American Heart Association Dietary Guidelines. STATISTICAL ANALYSES: A generalized linear mixed model was used to examine trends in Heart Disease Prevention Eating Index scores and trends in each element of the index. RESULTS: Age-adjusted mean Heart Disease Prevention Eating Index scores increased in both sexes during the past 2 decades, particularly driven by improvements in total grain, whole grain, total fat, saturated fatty acids, trans-fatty acids, and cholesterol intake. Energy balance, sodium intake, and fish intake were observed to change unfavorably or stay at a low compliance level. CONCLUSIONS: Of concern is that improvements in mean Heart Disease Prevention Eating Index appear to have plateaued in 1995-1997, with the mean Heart Disease Prevention Eating Index scores similar between the 1995-1997 and 2000-2002 survey periods. Public health programs for CHD prevention may benefit by applying findings from this study in designing interventions to promote further improvements in the diets of American adults.     

Self-rated health,work characteristics and health related behaviours among nurses in Greece: a cross sectional study

Background  

Previous studies on self-rated health among nurses have indicated an association of low job satisfaction and stress in relation to poor self-rated health. The relationship between self rated health and the specific work characteristics and health related behaviours of nurses to our knowledge have not been adequately studied.     

Effect of contraceptive steroids on arginine- stimulated glucagon and insulin secretion in women. II. Carbohydrate and lipid physiology in insulin-dependent diabetics.

The effect of contraceptive steroids on aminogenic glucagon secretion was studied in six insulin-dependent diabetic women. After 2 wk treatment with combined mestranol (80 mug) plus norethindrone (1 mg) daily, the mean peak plasma glucagon response to arginine infusion was suppressed to one-fourth of control levels. This was associated with a small but significant decrease in mean basal plasma cholesterol concentrations. There were no changes in basal plasma triglyceride, free fatty acid, glucose, insulin, or alpha-amino nitrogen concentrations or in daily insulin requirements during mestranol plus norethindrone treatment. These results confirm previous reports of no consistent changes in the insulin requirements of insulin-dependent diabetic women using contraceptive steroids and suggest that these women may not experience dramatic changes in their lipid metabolism during contraceptive therapy.     

JAK2 is associated with the c-kit proto-oncogene product and is phosphorylated in response to stem cell factor

Stem cell factor (SCF) is a hematopoietic growth factor that interacts with the receptor tyrosine kinase, c-kit. We have found that SCF- stimulates rapid and transient tyrosine phosphorylation of JAK2 in human and murine cell lines, as well as in normal human progenitor cells. JAK2 and c-kit were associated in unstimulated cells with further recruitment of JAK2 to the c-kit receptor complex after SCF stimulation. Treatment of cells with JAK2 antisense oligonucleotides resulted in a 46% decrease in SCF-induced proliferation. These data demonstrate that SCF induces tyrosine phosphorylation of JAK2 and suggest that JAK2 is a component of the SCF signal transduction pathway.     

Cytogenetic features and serum lactic dehydrogenase level predict a poor treatment outcome for children with pre-B-cell leukemia

Leukemic cells from 89 (24%) of 369 children with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) were found to have a pre-B immunophenotype. By comparison with blasts having the common ALL phenotype, the pre-B cells were more likely to have a DNA index less than 1.16 (P = 0.02), a pseudodiploid karyotype (P less than 0.001), and a chromosomal translocation (P = 0.001). Increased serum lactic dehydrogenase levels (P = 0.001) were also characteristic of pre-B ALL; otherwise, the clinical and laboratory features of the two groups were similar. A nonrandom chromosomal translocation, t(1;19)(q23;p13.3), was identified in blast cells from 16 (23%) of the 70 patients with pre-B ALL and adequate chromosome banding studies; different translocations were found in 11 of the remaining patients. The presence of any chromosomal translocation in the pre-B group was significantly related to a higher leukocyte count, an increased level of serum lactic dehydrogenase, an increased percentage of S-phase cells, black race, and a blast cell DNA index less than 1.16. Four presenting features were found to confer an increased risk of treatment failure among pre-B patients: pseudodiploidy, chromosomal translocation, black race, and higher serum lactic dehydrogenase level. In a multivariate analysis, pseudodiploidy emerged as the strongest factor for predicting relapse in pre-B ALL. The frequent association of chromosomal abnormalities of known adverse prognostic significance and high serum lactic dehydrogenase levels with pre-B-cell ALL explains, at least in part, the poor treatment outcome reported for children with this subtype of leukemia.     

Gastric tuberculosis: a manifestation of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome

A Haitian man with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), fever, malaise, and diarrhea is described. A computed tomographic (CT) scan showed a retrogastric mass with an associated ulcer. An upper gastrointestinal tract study showed an ulcer with both benign and malignant features. Endoscopy revealed a malignant-appearing ulcer, but cultures and histologic examinations of surgical biopsy specimens indicated gastric tuberculosis. The relationship between tuberculosis and AIDS is discussed.     

Enhanced recovery of cytomegalovirus in conventional tube cultures with a spin-amplified adsorption.

Low-speed centrifugation-mediated adsorption was evaluated as an enhancement of infectivity of clinical and laboratory strains of cytomegalovirus (CMV) occurring with cells grown in conventional culture tubes. The time required for reporting of primary isolates of CMV from urine specimens adsorbed onto monolayers of WI-38 cells in culture tubes was calculated. Of 668 specimens adsorbed by the stationary phase (SP) method, 98 were positive by cytopathic effect (CPE) that required an average of 16.8 days for recovery in culture. However, the appearance of CPE required a shorter average time of 11.9 days for 70 CMV strains isolated from 283 specimens adsorbed in tube cultures by the spin-amplified (SA) method. In another phase of clinical CMV recovery, urine specimens were adsorbed by the SA method onto cell cultures grown in both shell vials and test tubes. Of 594 specimens inoculated, a total of 74 were positive by either CPE in test tubes or immunostaining-localized early antigen in shell vials. Approximately one-third of these CMV isolates were recovered only by CPE from specimens adsorbed by the SA method in test-tube cultures. In a related study to further evaluate differences between adsorption methods, the AD-169 laboratory strain of CMV was adsorbed by SP and SA methods onto MRC-5 cells grown in both culture vessels. Early antigen detection by immunomicroscopy was found in the infected cells at least 2 to 4 days prior to the appearance of CPE, regardless of adsorption procedure. In both vessels, the replication of AD-169 virus in cultures adsorbed by the SA method consistently exceeded that of virus adsorbed by the SP procedure. CPE occurred 24 to 48 h earlier and progressed two to four times more extensively; early antigen was expressed two- to fourfold greater within 24 to 48 h postinfection; and foci of infected cells containing late antigen were two to four times greater in number at 1, 2, and 5 days postinfection. Overall, the replication and enhancement of infectivity of laboratory and clinical strains of CMV as determined by CPE and early and late antigen expression occurred most efficiently with specimens adsorbed by the SA method onto cultures grown in conventional tubes or shell vials.     

Evaluation of the role of in vivo proteolysis (fibrinogenolysis) in prolonging the thrombin time of human umbilical cord fibrinogen

These studies have been directed at evaluating the role played by proteolysis (fibrinogenolysis) in vivo in prolonging the thrombin time of human umbilical cord ("fetal") fibrinogen. The aggregation rate of cord fibrin compared with that from adult plasma is always delayed when the reaction is carried out under conditions of relatively high ionic strength (e.g., 0.29); this difference is not apparent at relatively low ionic strength (e.g., 0.09). In addition, as assessed by turbidimetric techniques, the maximum absorbance attained by cord fibrin is considerably less than that attained by adult fibrin. Coagulable fibrinogen catabolites (i.e., fraction I-5) are present in cord plasma and, like their counterparts from adult plasma, lack various portions of the COOH-terminal region of the A alpha chain. However, their presence in plasma does not explain the behavioral differences between cord and adult fibrin. Moreover, differences revealed by turbidimetric comparison of cord and adult fibrin from plasma fraction I-2 persist in fibrin from fraction I-5; it therefore appears that the COOH-terminal region of the A alpha chain does not contain the structure(s) accounting for the unique behavior of "fetal" fibrinogen.