Preventing accidental injury to young children in the home using volunteers

Accidental injury in the home is a major cause of death andill-health among young children. Reducing home safety hazardsby the use of safety devices such as stair barriers and safetytaps has the potential to prevent home injuries. Little is knownabout levels of home safety hazards or how to encourage parentsto reduce hazards. The Safe Place Project examined parents'knowledge of home safety and the prevalence of safety hazardsin homes where there were young children. The study also evaluatedthe effectiveness of a low-cost strategy aimed at reducing homesafety hazards. The strategy used trained volunteers to providehome safety checks and tailored safety education in conjunctionwith increasing the availability of home safety devices. Onehundred and six families with young children participated inthe project. Some homes contained many hazards, with 43% ofthe sample having more than 10 home safety hazards. At follow-up,the intervention group showed a significant reduction in homehazards and a trend towards an increase in knowledge of homesafety.     

Importance of Dietary Fiber in Childhood

Dietary fiber has important health benefits in childhood, especially in promoting normal laxation. Currently, children consume amounts of dietary fiber that appear to be inadequate for optimal health promotion and disease prevention. It is prudent to recommend that children older than 2 years of age increase dietary fiber intake to an amount equal to or greater than their age + 5 g/day. According to the “age + 5” rule dietary fiber intake would increase from 8 g/day at age 3 years to 25 g/day by age 20 years. After age 20, dietary fiber levels of 25 to 35 g/day are recommended. Dietary fiber intake should be increased gradually in childhood by increasing consumption of a variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes, cereals, and other whole-grain products. Although very high fiber intake in childhood could have adverse effects, the potential health benefits of a moderate increase in dietary fiber substantially outweigh the possible risks, especially in highly industrialized countries such as the United States. A safe range of dietary fiber intake for children may be between age + 5 and age + 10 g/day. This range is considered safe even for children and adolescents with marginal intakes of some vitamins and minerals; should provide enough dietary fiber for normal laxation; and may provide enough added dietary fiber to help prevent chronic diseases.J Am Diet Assoc. 1995; 1140-1146, 1149.     

The Effect of Acute and Chronic Exercise on Thyroid Hormones in Obesity

Abstract Thyroid hormones were measured before, during and after acute exercise (60 min) or physical training (3 months) in obese women. Thyroid stimulating hormone concentration increased during acute work and decreased immediately after. No changes were seen during the two following days. An increase was seen after ten days as well as after three months of physical training. Thyroxine concentrations showed no changes. 3,5,3′-Triiodothyronine decreased slightly immediately after acute exercise, and after three months of physical training, 3,3′,5′-triiodothyronine (reverse triiodothyronine) increased slowly during and after acute exercise. A negative correlation was found between changes in fasting insulin and thyroxine and a positive correlation between changes in blood pressure and triiodothyronine after training. Lack of agreement in previous reports is probably due to methodological differences such as methods more or less susceptible to fatty acid interference, and thyroid hormones changing differently during acute work and before and after physical training. The duration of the study may also be of importance, even 3 months possibly being too short for attaining equilibrium in thyroid homeostasis.     

A COMPARISON OF GLUTATHIONE REDUCTASE AND GLUTATHIONE PEROXIDASE ACTIVITES IN PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS AND HEALTHY ADULTS

A 30% increase in erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase (GP) activitywas found in patients with rheumatoid arthritis when comparedwith healthy controls (p = 0.001) whereas the increase in glutathionereductase (GR) was statistically insignificant. No correlationwas found between the activities of the enzymes and the erythrocytesedimentation rate (ESR). The enzyme activities were independentof age, sex, or type of drug treatment of the patients. A possibleinterpretation of the results is presented. KEY WORDS: Glutathione peroxidase, Glutathione reductase, Rheumatoid arthritis, Disease activity, Thiol, Peroxides     

Cytokine responses to the native and recombinant forms of the major surface glycoprotein of Pneumocystis carinii

Pneumocystis carinii is a major opportunistic pathogen and leading cause of morbidity in patients with AIDS. The major surface glycoprotein (MSG) of P. carinii, represented by a family of related proteins encoded by unique genes, is highly immunogenic and contains T cell-protective epitopes. We undertook the present study to define the CD4 T helper (Th) response by cytokine secretion to native MSG and a recombinant form of the protein, MSG-B. Spleen cells were collected from Lewis rats and restimulated with both native MSG and MSG-B. Within 24 h, the CD4 cells secreted high levels of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) in response to both types of antigen, indicative of a Th1 response; however, after 72 h of incubation, only the native MSG stimulated secretion of IL-4 (Th2 response) from the cells. We then investigated whether the presence of IL-4 could alter the predominant Th1 phenotype by the CD4 cells in response to MSG and MSG-B. Cells cultured with native MSG and IL-4 produced low levels of IFN-γ and elevated levels of IL-4. Interestingly, cells incubated with MSG-B and IL-4 reduced production of IFN-γ, but were not stimulated to produce increased levels of IL-4. The presence of anti-IFN-γ antibody in the MSG- or MSG-B-stimulated cultures did not effect the expression of IFN-γ mRNA, suggesting that the generation of Th1 cells in response to MSG or MSG-B was not dependent on IFN-γ. We conclude that native MSG, which contains multiple forms of this antigen, and recombinant MSG elicit different cytokine responses in vitro. These data are not only important to studies of MSG, but may also be relevant to the role of MSG in the immunopathogenesis of P.carinii infection in vivo.     

Gynopia in nursing practice: the case of urethral catheterization

• ? A pilot study of catheterized women was designed to investigate their perceptions of pain and discomfort during the procedure.
• ? The study aimed to test the feasibility of conducting a larger randomized controlled trial.
• ? Problems were encountered during the execution of the study, due to the need to conform to established principles in clinical research.
• ? Restrictions on access to patients impinged upon the opportunity to ‘cast the net wide’ in order to generate meaningful data.

     

A monoclonal antibody directed against a granule membrane glycoprotein (GMP-140/PADGEM, P-selectin, CD62P) inhibits ristocetin-induced platelet aggregation

P-selectin (also called CD62, GMP-140, PADGEM, CD62P) is a recently described member of a family of vascular adhesion receptors expressed by activated platelets and endothelial cells that are involved in leucocyte cell adhesion. The aim of this study was to characterize a new monoclonal antibody (LYP7) directed against activated human blood platelets that inhibits ristocetin-induced platelet aggregation. Immunoadsorbent affinity chromatography and immunoprecipitation studies showed that LYP7 (IgG₁) bound a surface-labelled glycoprotein (GP) which changed its apparent molecular mass (M_r) on reduction from 138 kD (situated below GPIIb) to 148 kD (above GPIIbα). LYP7 and S12, a monoclonal antibody directed against P-selectin immunoprecipitated the same band. Using ELISA assay, purified P-selectin was shown to bind LYP7 and S12 monoclonal antibodies. Binding sites of ¹²⁵I-labelled LYP7, which was greatly increased on thrombin-stimulated (2 U/ml) washed platelets (10825±2886, mean ±SD) (K_d=1.5±0.5 nm ) compared to resting platelets (2801±1278, mean ±SD) (K_d=1.5±0.6 nm ), was found to be normal on thrombin-stimulated platelets taken from a patient with grey platelet syndrome or a patient with Glanzmann thrombasthenia. LYP7 (IgG₁, F(ab′)₂ or Fab fragments) inhibited ristocetin-induced platelet aggregation of platelets in a dose-dependent fashion without affecting the binding of von Willebrand (vWf ) factor. However, agglutination of formaldehyde-fixed platelets induced by ristocetin was not affected by monoclonal antibody LYP7. In addition, the binding of thrombin-activated platelets to neutrophils was inhibited by monoclonal antibody LYP7. These results strongly suggest that P-selectin, by promoting cell–cell contact, may play an active role in platelet–platelet interactions.     

Effect of Morphine and Naloxone on Stimulated Gastric and Pancreatic secretion

The effect of morphine and naloxone on gastric and pancreatic secretion was investigated. Morphine inhibited pentagastrin stimulated gastric acid secretion. This effect was reversed by naloxone while naloxone alone had no effect on acid secretion. Neither morphine nor naloxone altered secretin stimulated pancreatic secretion.