Contradictory to its effects on thrombin,C1-inhibitor reduces plasmin generation in the presence of thrombomodulin

Journal of Thrombosis and Thrombolysis - C1-inhibitor (C1INH) was shown to enhance thrombin generation (TG) in the presence of thrombomodulin (TM) by reducing production of activated protein C....     

Public health surveillance of non-infectious chronic diseases: the potential to detect rapid changes in disease burden

The usefulness of surveillance in relating chronic disease trends to recent changes in risk exposures is often questioned on the grounds that these trends respond slowly, reflecting long periods between aetiological exposures and clinical onset of disease. We challenge this preconception on the basis of a review of several important risk factors and diseases: alcohol and liver cirrhosis; tobacco and stroke, cardiovascular disease, and lung cancer; and oestrogens and endometrial cancer. Data from cohort, cross-sectional, and modelling studies demonstrate that the time between removal of exposures and the onset of decline in morbidity or mortality is not defined by the time between initial exposure and disease occurrence. Rather, the pattern of lifetime exposures (with recent exposures often having a dominant effect), the dynamics of the disease process, and the segment of the population with reduced exposures determine how soon the decline begins.     

Lung cancer in Newfoundland, Canada

In this study 1,466 cases of primary lung cancer diagnosed between 1974 and 1983 and reported to the Provincial Tumour Registry, were reviewed. The incidence of lung cancer in Newfoundland has been lower than that in Canada as a whole. The age-adjusted rates for Canadian males and females were 56 and 14 per 100,000 compared to 45 and 7 in Newfoundland. Census division rates showed no association with socioeconomic indicators. The rate in one census division was higher (63 vs 53) most probably because of the higher risk of men who worked in the St. Lawrence fluorspar mines. Although Newfoundland's current smoking rates (39% of men over 15 and 29% of women over 15) are high, this is not reflected in lung cancer rates. Smoking was not widely accepted in rural areas until the time of World War II, and Newfoundland's lower rates may be due to this delay in exposure.     

Mode and speed specificity of eccentric and concentric exercise training

This research was supported by a Duke University Research Council Grant. The purpose of this study was to examine mode and speed specificity of strength training by comparing concentric and eccentric isokinetic exercise of the quadriceps. Forty-eight healthy men (mean age = 23.9 years) were randomly assigned to one of three groups: concentric training (C), eccentric training (E), or control (K). Average force (in Newtons) of 3 concentric and of 3 eccentric quadriceps contractions on the KIN-COM(R) dynamometer at 60, 120, and 180 degrees /sec was evaluated prior to and following a 6 week period during which only the C and E groups trained. Training sessions (3/week) included 4 submaximal and 1 maximal warm-up followed by 10 maximal effort isokinetic contractions of the quadriceps at 120 degrees /sec for each leg. Group C subjects trained concentrically only while Group E subjects trained eccentrically only. A t-test for independent means showed no significant right/left differences. ANOVA and Scheffe's F-tests were then used to assess the differences in training effects among the 3 groups for the left leg only. Results showed that although Group C increased slightly in both concentric and eccentric force at all speeds, the gains were significant only for concentric force at 180 degrees /sec. Group E showed significant gains (p < 0.05) in eccentric force at all speeds but not in concentric force. The K group had no significant change in concentric or eccentric force at any speed. We conclude that the eccentric mode of isokinetic exercise has highly specific strength training effects while the concentric mode has less specific training effects. In addition, speed of exercise does not appear to have specific training effects. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 1989;11(2):70-75.     

Development of attraction to estrous females in male dogs

In simultaneous choice tests male beagles were allowed to visit a caged female in estrus, or caged, spayed female not in estrus. Males were tested periodically from 1-3 to 22-24 months of age. The 3 subject groups were normal males (Group N), males castrated 4-7 days postpartum and injected with testosterone propionate (TP) until they were 3 months old (Group TPTC), and males castrated 4-7 days but given no hormone treatment, i.e., untreated castrates (Group UC). A statistically reliable preference for visiting the estrous rather than the nonestrous female first appeared in N males at 4-6 months, in TPTC males at 1-3 months, and in UC males at 10-12 months. In N males attraction to the estrous female (measured by time spent visiting her) increased progressively from 4-6 to 16-18 months. In the same period concentration of plasma testosterone rapidly increased, reached a peak at 10-12 months, and then declined. UC males exhibited no significant increase in attraction to the estrous female from 10-12 months (when a preference first appeared) to 22-24 months. They then received 10 injections of TP after which their visiting time to the estrous female was equal to that of N males. TPTC males exhibited a precocious preference for the estrous female at 1-3 months, while they were receiving TP, and there was no decrease in strength of attraction in the following 9 months during which time no hormone was administered. Between 10-12 and 13-15 months, still without exogenous androgen, visiting to the estrous female began to increase and continued to do so until 19-21 months.     

Inflammation-inducing factors from human lymphocytes. Correlation with polymorphonuclear leucocyte migration enhancement of inhibition.

Factors capable of inducing inflammatory reactions in the skin of normal guinea pigs have been demonstrated in culture supernatants from PPD-stimulated human mononuclear cells from tuberculin-positive donors. The reaction is characterised by erythema, induration and infiltration with mononuclear cells and some polymorphonuclear leucocytes. These supernatants either enhance or do not affect polymorph migration in the leucocyte migration test. Supernatants that inhibit migration in vitro produce a marked polymorph infiltration upon intradermal injection.