Content and Teaching Strategies in 10 Selected Drug Abuse Prevention Curricula

ABSTRACT: This paper reports on content and teaching strategies in 10 drug abuse prevention curricula available to public and private schools. While similarities existed among the curricula, they employed a range of content as well as strategies. Interactive teaching strategies needed to implement the curricula include full class discussion, small group activities, brainstorm, and role play. Due to the complexity of the strategies, the curricula may not provide sufficient background information or training for teacher implementation in the classroom.     

Variation in MR signal intensity across normal human knee cartilage

Signal intensity(SI) of individual pixels on sagittal magnetic resonance (MR)images of normal human knee cartilage was quantified to investigate whether it was related to cartilage proteoglycan content. In five subjects, images were acquired with spin-echo sequences with a TR msec/TE msec ofl,OOO or 7OO/2O and a three-dimensional gradient-echo(GRE)sequence (60/15). In a sixth subject, the GRE sequence alone was used with 15°,30°,and 50° flip angles. In all subjects, SI was maximal in pixel layers of the medial zone and minimal at both cartilage edges, resulting in the presence of a bell-shaped curve of interpixel(zonal) SI variation across the cartilage thickness. The magnitude of SI was dependent on the pulse sequence and flip angle, but the bell shape of the SI variation curve was independent of them. For example, in the medial tibial cartilage, the peak SI was highest with the 1,000/20 spin-echo sequence, intermediate with the 7OO/2O sequence, and lowest with the GRE sequence. The differences were statistically significant. The bell-shaped SI variation curve resembled the curve for zonal variation in cartilage proteoglycan content but not the curves for collagen or free water content. The physiologic basis for this resemblance and the potential usefulness of the findings for early diagnosis of diseases such as osteoarthritis are discussed.     

Clinical and methodological issues in antiemetic therapy: a worldwide survey of experts' opinions

 During the 1995 Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) Congress, a consensus conference was planned by the Subcommittee for Antiemetics. To define the topics to be discussed, a questionnaire containing both clinical and methodological issues was sent to 118 experts in 31 countries. The questionnaire contained 33 items on clinical and 19 items on methodological issues, and each response was rated on a 4-level categorical scale. The clinical issues were evaluated for interest, that is clinical importance, and feasibility, that is availability of sufficient data to make them suitable topics for the consensus conference. About 60% of questionnaires were returned, with a small number of missing responses. The responses to the items of clinical interest showed that about two-thirds of the issues identified by the Subcommittee were found by the experts to be of at least high interest, but often the availability of data was found to be insufficient for their discussion. Prevention of acute emesis induced by cisplatin and by moderately emetogenic chemotherapy and the optimal intravenous dose and schedule of the 5-HT₃ receptor antagonists were the items with the highest interest and feasibility. The issues in the methodological section were also mostly found to be of at least high interest. The distinction between acute and delayed emesis, the evaluation of the persistence of antiemetic efficacy in subsequent cycles of chemotherapy and the statistical analysis of delayed emesis were the methodological issues in which the highest interest was recorded. Data collected will be used to define the main topics to be discussed during the planned consensus conference.     

Adaptation of the esophagus, reconstructed using the colon, based on 135 cases of surgery in corrosive stenosis

Late aspects of adaptation were studied on the basis of 135 esophagoplasty by means of isoperistaltic (except of 7 anisoperistaltic) transverse colon for corrosive strictures. Histochemically, the augmentation of neutral mucopolysaccharide, which increases mucosal resistance--was observed on the surface and in Lieberkühn glands of colonic mucosa. Mucosal absorption remains unmodified. Transit time is considerable longer, but without functional consequences. Radiokinematographically, characteristic, coordinated, multihaustral, propulsive movements of transverse colon were present, playing a secondary, but active role in the swallowing mechanism. In the authors opinion, the marked differences between the iso- and anisoperistaltic interposition modality, in point of view of gastro-colic reflux, is explained by these unmodified, more independent, motor activity of the bowel wall. Good long-term functional results were present in 92% of patients. In management of corrosive strictures, isoperistaltic transverse colon may be considered the graft of choice, both technically and functionally.     

The management of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting

This paper reviews one of the major side-effects of chemotherapy, emesis. Included are patient and treatment factors that can affect the control of nausea and vomiting as well as a summary of the management of chemotherapy-induced emesis.     

Single parent students: Obstacles and opportunities

In this exploratory study the life situation of 25 women will be described in terms of role interaction, motivation and self perceptions of women college students who are also single parents. Interviews were conducted from September to December 1985 at two universities in a Southern state. The institutions were both medium sized; one was in a small town and the other in an SMSA of over 150,000. While the urban/rural character of the two research sites differed, the perceptions and problems of the women studied were similar. This paper looks at both the commonality as well as unique responses to the demanding life of a single parent student.     

Persistent sensitization of dopamine neurotransmission in ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens) produced by prior experience with (+)-amphetamine: a microdialysis study in freely moving rats

In humans the repeated use of amphetamine (AMPH) produces a hypersensitivity to the psychotogenic effects of AMPH that persists for months to years after the cessation of drug use. To explore the neurobiological basis of this phenomenon the long-term effects of dextroamphetamine [+)-AMPH) on brain monoamines and behavior were studied in an animal model of AMPH psychosis. An escalating dose pretreatment regimen (from 1 to 10 mg/kg over 5 weeks) was used to mimic the pattern of drug use associated with the development of addiction and AMPH psychosis. The effect of pretreatment with AMPH on dopamine (DA) release in the ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens) was determined by measuring the extracellular concentrations of DA and DA metabolites using in vivo microdialysis, both before and after an AMPH challenge. The postmortem tissue concentrations of DA, serotonin and their metabolites were measured to determine if this treatment was neurotoxic. Escalating doses of (+)-AMPH were not neurotoxic, and 25-30 days after the cessation of drug treatment animals showed relatively normal levels of spontaneous motor activity across the day-night cycle. However, AMPH pretreatment produced robust behavioral sensitization. Animals showed a marked hypersensitivity to the motor stimulant effects of an AMPH challenge, even after 15-20 days of withdrawal. Most importantly, this hyperdopaminergic behavioral syndrome was accompanied by significantly elevated DA release in the ventral striatum. In contrast, AMPH pretreatment had no effect on the basal extracellular concentrations of DA.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Computer-Assisted Continuous Infusion for the Delivery of Target-Controlled Infusions of Propofol During Outpatient Surgery

Propofol was administered intravenously using a first-order, three-compartment, computer-controlled infusion pump (CCIP) based on the Ohmeda 9000 syringe pump. The CCIP system produced a target-controlled infusion (TCI) based on the estimated blood concentration (EBC). Twenty-five patients undergoing ambulatory surgery completed the study. The induction EBC was 4.72 ± 0.28 μg/ml, and was achieved rapidly with minimal hemodynamic changes. The emergence EBC was 1.55 ± 0.21 μg/ml, and the discharge EBC was 1.06 ± 0.22 μg/ml. The EBC, together with clinical signs, allowed for predictable inductance and emergence from anesthesia using propofol.     

Routine pathological evaluation of tissue from inguinal hernias in children is unnecessary.

INTRODUCTION: Because unexpected disease is rare in a child's inguinal hernia sac we decided to investigate the cost of routine pathological evaluation of inguinal hernial sacs in children and the incidence of clinically significant pathological findings. METHODS: We searched the health records at the University Hospital, Saskatoon, for patients under 20 years of age who had inguinal hernia repair between 1988 and 1997. For records noting pathology findings of duct-like structures, the operative reports and histology slides were reviewed. Specimens were immunostained for muscle-specific actin. The cost of pathological evaluation was estimated using a provincial physician-billing schedule. RESULTS: During the study period, there were 488 inguinal hernia repairs in 371 patients under 20 years of age. Of these, 456 (93.4%) specimens were evaluated microscopically. There were 4 (0.88%) cases with unexpected findings diagnosed as epididymis at a cost of Can dollar 6988/case. CONCLUSION: The routine histologic evaluation of inguinal hernia sacs in children is an unnecessary expense and should be reserved for select cases at the discretion of the surgeon.