The influence of reported paternal attitudes on the decision to breast-feed

Objective: To identify factors that influence a woman's decision to breast-feed.
Methodology: Five hundred and fifty-six women were recruited from the maternity wards of two Perth hospitals. Data were collected from a self-administered questionnaire completed by participants prior to discharge. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine factors influencing the initiation of breast-feeding.
Results: At discharge from hospital 83.8% of women were breast-feeding, including 6% who were giving complementary formula feeds. After controlling for potentially confounding demographic and biomedical factors, the father's reported preference for breast-feeding was found to be the most important factor influencing a woman's decision to breast-feed (OR 10.18).
Conclusion: Fathers participate in and influence the choice of infant feeding method and should be included in breast-feeding discussions.     

Isolation and characterization of propagable cell lines (HUNC) from the androgen-sensitive Dunning R3327H rat prostatic adenocarcinoma

The Dunning H rat prostate tumor (R3327H) is a widely used experimental model of human prostatic adenocarcinoma (CaP). The Dunning H tumor has been characterized as androgen-sensitive, androgen-receptor (AR) positive, prostate-specific antigen and prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) positive. To date, the tumor has been maintained by serial passage in vivo because of the lack of an in vitro cell line that retains the characteristics of the in vivo tumor. The objective of the present study was to establish a propagable cell line from R3327H adenocarcinoma that maintained androgen sensitivity and expression of AR, PSA and PAP. Tissue harvested from an in vivo R3327H tumor was dissociated with collagenase and placed into Richter's improved media (with supplements). A cytokeratin-positive epithelial cell line (HUNC- E) and a vimentin-positive stromal cell line (HUNC-S) were generated from the primary culture, subcultured continuously for >300 days, and passaged >50 times. Survival of the HUNC-E cell line in vitro depended on several media supplements, including nicotinamide, insulin, transferrin, selenium and epidermal growth factor (EGF). HUNC-E cells expressed AR and produced PSA and PAP throughout the culture period, as confirmed by immunocytochemistry and Western blot analyses. Addition of 14 nM testosterone (T) or dihydrotestosterone (DHT) to HUNC-E cells, stimulated DNA synthesis as well as anchorage-independent growth and PSA production, which demonstrated the androgen-sensitive nature of the cells in vitro. When HUNC-E and HUNC-S cells were combined in a 3:1 ratio and introduced subcutaneously into syngeneic male hosts, tumors formed in 2/3 animals with an average latency of 7 months. RT-PCR and immunocytochemical characterization of the HUNC cell lines revealed that the cells expressed several growth factors and their cognate receptors, including HGF, TGF-alpha and the TGF-betas, indicating the establishment of potential autocrine loops in the neoplastic cells. The HUNC-E and HUNC-S CaP cell lines, which retain the characteristics of the epithelial and stromal components of the in vivo R3327H tumor, will allow a more thorough and informative molecular and biological analysis of prostatic adenocarcinoma.      

School vision screening, ages 5–16 years: the evidence-base for content, provision and efficacy

The optometric profession in the UK has a major role in the detection, assessment and management of ocular anomalies in children between 5 and 16 years of age. The role complements a variety of associated screening services provided across several health care sectors. The review examines the evidence-base for the content, provision and efficacy of these screening services in terms of the prevalence of anomalies such as refractive error, amblyopia, binocular vision and colour vision and considers the consequences of their curtailment. Vision screening must focus on pre-school children if the aim of the screening is to detect and treat conditions that may lead to amblyopia, whereas if the aim is to detect and correct significant refractive errors (not likely to lead to amblyopia) then it would be expedient for the optometric profession to act as the major provider of refractive (and colour vision) screening at 5-6 years of age. Myopia is the refractive error most likely to develop during primary school presenting typically between 8 and 12 years of age, thus screening at entry to secondary school is warranted. Given the inevitable restriction on resources for health care, establishing screening at 5 and 11 years of age, with exclusion of any subsequent screening, is the preferred option.     

Maternal diet and infant leukemia: the DNA topoisomerase II inhibitor hypothesis: a report from the children's oncology group.

BACKGROUND: The MLL 11q23 translocation arises in utero and is present in 75% of infant leukemias. That MLL+ acute myeloid leukemia (AML) can arise following chemotherapy with DNA topoisomerase II (DNAt2) inhibitors suggests that these substances, which also occur naturally in foods, may contribute toward infant leukemia. We hypothesized that maternal consumption of dietary DNAt2 inhibitors during pregnancy would increase the risk of infant leukemia, particularly AML(MLL+). METHODS: This Children's Oncology Group case-control study consisted of 240 incident cases of infant acute leukemia [AML and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)] diagnosed during 1996 to 2002 and 255 random digit dialed controls. Maternal diet during pregnancy was determined through a food frequency questionnaire. An index of specific foods identified a priori to contain DNAt2 inhibitors as well as vegetables and fruits were created and analyzed using unconditional logistic regression. RESULTS: There was little evidence of an association between the specific DNAt2 index and leukemia overall and by subtype. An exception was AML(MLL+); odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) comparing the second to fourth quartiles to the first were 1.9 (0.5-7.0), 2.1 (0.6-7.7), and 3.2 (0.9-11.9), respectively (P for trend = 0.10). For the vegetable and fruit index, there were significant or near-significant inverse linear trends for all leukemias combined, ALL(MLL+), and AML(MLL-). CONCLUSION: Overall, maternal consumption of fresh vegetables and fruits during pregnancy was associated with a decreased risk of infant leukemia, particularly MLL+. However, for AML(MLL+) cases, maternal consumption of specific DNAt2 inhibitors seemed to increase risk. Although based on small numbers, these data provide some support for distinct etiologic pathways in infant leukemia.     

银杏叶提取物改善反复脑缺血再灌注小鼠血液流变学的作用

目的：研究银杏叶提取物（ＥＧＢ）改善反复脑缺血再灌注小鼠血液流这的作用。方法：采用反复脑缺血再注模型鼠,应用毛细管微量热沉法和毛细管微量法分别检测血纤维蛋白原含量和红细胞压积数值,并将结果输入全自动血液流变仪得出血浆粘度、血液粘度、血细胞聚集系数,血栓形成系数及微循环滞留时间（ＭＳＴ）。结果：ＥＢＧ２５￣１００ｍｇ／ｋｇ均可不同程度地降低Ｆｉｂ、ＨＣＴ、降低ηｂ、ηｐ、ηｈ,缩小ＶＡＬ及ＴＷＥＬ,     

An overview of disparities in childhood cancer: Report on the Inaugural Symposium on Childhood Cancer Health Disparities,Houston, Texas, 2016

The Inaugural Symposium on Childhood Cancer Health Disparities was held in Houston, Texas, on November 2, 2016. The symposium was attended by 109 scientists and clinicians from diverse disciplinary backgrounds with interests in pediatric cancer disparities and focused on reviewing our current knowledge of disparities in cancer risk and outcomes for select childhood cancers. Following a full day of topical sessions, everyone participated in a brainstorming session to develop a working strategy for the continued expansion of research in this area. This meeting was designed to serve as a springboard for examination of childhood cancer disparities from a more unified and systematic approach and to enhance awareness of this area of need.     

Healthy aging impairs face discrimination ability

Face images enable individual identities to be discriminated from one another. We aimed to quantify age-related changes in different aspects of face identity discrimination. Face discrimination sensitivity was measured with a memory-free “odd-one-out” task. Five age groups (N = 15) of healthy adults with normal vision were tested: 20, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, and 80-89. Sensitivity was measured for full-face images (all features visible), external features (head-shape, hairline), internal features (nose, mouth, eyes, and eyebrows) and closed-contour shapes (control object). Sensitivity to full-faces continuously declined by approximately 13% per decade, after 50 years of age. When age-related differences in visual acuity were controlled, the effect of age on face discrimination sensitivity remained. Sensitivity to face features also deteriorated with age. Although the effect for external features was similar to full-faces, the rate of decline was considerably steeper (approximately 3.7 times) for internal, relative to external, features. In contrast, there was no effect of age on sensitivity to shapes. All age groups demonstrated the same overall pattern of sensitivity to different types of face information. Healthy aging was associated with a continuous decline in sensitivity to both full-faces and face features, although encoding of internal features was disproportionately impaired. This age-related deficit was independent of differences in low-level vision. That sensitivity to shapes was unaffected by age suggests these results cannot be explained by general cognitive decline or lower-level visual deficits. Instead, healthy aging is associated with a specific decline in the mechanisms that underlie face discrimination.     

A standardised ultrasonic diagnosis and an accurate prevalence for the retroverted uterus in general gynaecology patients

Transvaginal ultrasound with an empty bladder is recommended as a standardised ultrasonic technique for the accurate diagnosis of the retroverted uterus. Using this method, the prevalence of the retroverted uterus in 480 general gynaecological patients attending for subspecialist gynaecological ultrasound was 18%. The anteverting effect of the full bladder required for transabdominal ultrasound reduces the prevalence of the retroverted uterus to 13% (P < 0.001).