Social determinants of older adults' awareness of community support services in Hamilton, Ontario

Community support services (CSSs) have been developed in Canada and other Western nations to enable persons coping with health or social issues to continue to live in the community. This study addresses the extent to which awareness of CSSs is structured by the social determinants of health. In a telephone interview conducted in February-March 2006, 1152 community-dwelling older adults (response rate 12.4%) from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada were made to read a series of four vignettes and were asked whether they were able to identify a CSS they may turn to in that situation. Across the four vignettes, 40% of participants did name a CSS as a possible source of assistance. Logistic regression was used to determine factors related to awareness of CSSs. Respondents most likely to have awareness of CSS include the middle-aged and higher-income groups. Being knowledgeable about where to look for information about CSSs, having social support and being a member of a club or voluntary organisations are also significant predictors of awareness of CSSs. Study results suggest that efforts be made to improve the level of awareness and access to CSSs among older adults by targeting their social networks as well as their health and social care providers.     

Gastric emptying and intestinal transit of pancreatic enzyme supplements in cystic fibrosis

OBJECTIVE—To investigate gastric emptying and intestinal transit of pelleted pancreatin in relation to food boluses.
Methods—Dual isotope scintigraphy combined with breath hydrogen sampling was used to track the concurrent gastric emptying and intestinal transit of ¹¹¹indium labelled microspheres and a ^99mtechnetium labelled tin colloid test meal. Twelve pancreatic insufficient cystic fibrosis patients aged 5 to 38 years performed the study.
RESULTS—50% gastric emptying times showed patient to patient variation. The mean discrepancy in 50% gastric emptying times between the two labels was > 67 minutes. Mean small bowel transit time for the food bolus was prolonged at 3.6 minutes. A significant correlation was seen between weight standard deviation score and 50% emptying time for pancreatin (r = +0.73).
Conclusion—Gastric mixing of food and pancreatin may be limited by rapid emptying of microspheres. Patients with high dosage requirements could benefit from changing the pattern of their pancreatin supplementation.

     

乙型肝炎肝组织血管病变组织及免疫组织化学的研究

乙型肝炎(HB)已成为我国危害最大的社会公共卫生问题.近年来,我们在分析、研究国内外有关病毒性肝炎文献后选择了以HB患者肝组织活检观察为主的研究方法,从肝组织学随访中研究各型HB肝实质变性坏死及肝纤维组织增生的动态变化规律[1-8],采用组织化学(组化)及免疫组织化学(免疫组化)染色方法对肝组织内HBsAg,HBcAg表达[3],不同类型纤维组织增生情况,血清HBeAg与抗-HBe转换及透明质酸,色氨酸代谢变化[9-13],进行了深入研究.     

Abuse characteristics and coping resources as predictors of problem-focused coping strategies among battered women

The current study examines the predictors of three types of problem-focused coping strategies (i.e., amount of help seeking, pursuing an order of protection, and staying away from the abuser) among battered women. Predictor variables are categorized as abuse characteristics and three types of coping resources (i.e., personal, material, and social coping resources). Data from the Chicago Women's Health Risk Study (N=478) are used. Results show that enactment of problem-focused coping strategies is associated with amount of abuse, severity, harassment, and power and control tactics. Coping resources such as general health, employment, and social support influence enactment of coping strategies.     

Epstein-Barr virus latent membrane protein-1 oncogene deletions: correlations with malignancy in Epstein-Barr virus--associated lymphoproliferative disorders and malignant lymphomas

LMP-1, an Epstein-Barr viral (EBV) latency protein, is considered a viral oncogene because of its ability to transform rodent fibroblasts in vivo and render them tumorigenic in nude mice. In human B cells, EBV LMP-1 induces DNA synthesis and abrogates apoptosis. LMP-1 is expressed in EBV-transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines, nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), a subset of Hodgkin's disease (HD), and in EBV-associated lymphoproliferative disorders (EBV-LPDs). Recently, focused deletions near the 3' end of the LMP-1 gene (del-LMP-1, amino acids 346-355), in a region functionally related to the half-life to the LMP-1 protein, have been reported frequently in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)- associated HD (100%) and EBV+ Malaysian and Danish peripheral T-cell lymphomas (100%, 61% respectively), but less frequently in cases of HD not associated with HIV (28%, 33%) and infectious mononucleosis (33%). To further investigate the potential relationship of del-LMP-1 to EBV- LPDs associated with immunosuppression or immunodeficiency, we studied 39 EBV-associated lymphoproliferations (10 benign, 29 malignant) from four distinct clinical settings: posttransplant (4 malignant, 1 reactive); HIV+ (18 malignant, 2 reactive); nonimmunodeficiency malignant lymphoma (ML) (7 cases); and sporadic EBV infection with lymphoid hyperplasia (7 cases). The presence of EBV within lymphoid cells was confirmed by EBV EBER1 RNA in situ hybridization or by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. EBV strain type and LMP-1 deletion status were determined by PCR. EBV strain types segregated into two distinct distributions: HIV+ (9 A; 11 B) and non-HIV (19 A, 0 B), consistent with previous reports. Overall, del-LMP-1 were found in 1 of 5 (20%) Burkitt lymphomas (BL); 17 of 24 (71%) aggressive non- Hodgkin's lymphoma (agg-NHL), and 2 of 10 (20%) reactive lymphoid proliferations. Of the agg-NHLs, del-LMP-1 were present in 4 of 4 PT-ML (100%); 10 of 15 HIV+ ML (67%); and 3 of 5 nonimmunodeficiency malignant lymphoma (ML, 60%). A total of 2 of 7 (28%) sporadic EBV- associated lymphoid hyperplasias contained a del-LMP-1. All del-LMP-1 were identical by DNA sequence analysis. No correlation was identified between the presence of del-LMP-1 and the EBV strain type observed. The high incidence of del-LMP-1 observed in agg-NHLs (71%), in contrast to the relatively low incidence observed in reactive lymphoid proliferations (28%), suggests that the deleted form may be preferentially selected in lymphomatous processes. All posttransplant agg-NHLs contained a del-LMP-1, and a similar frequency of del-LMP-1 was observed in both HIV-associated ML (66%) and nonimmunodeficiency ML (60%), suggesting that impairment of immune function alone is not a requirement for the expansion of malignant cells infected by EBV stains containing the deleted LMP-1 gene.