Traumas and other adverse life events in adolescents with alcohol abuse and dependence

OBJECTIVE: Clinical observation suggests that adolescents with alcohol use disorders often have complex histories that include childhood maltreatment and other traumas. The aim of this study was to determine the relationships among adolescent alcohol use disorders and a broad range of traumas and adverse life events. METHOD: The subjects were 132 adolescents with alcohol dependence, 51 adolescents with alcohol abuse, and 73 adolescents recruited from the community as a control group. Trauma history was assessed by a semistructured interview and other adverse life events by questionnaire. RESULTS: Traumatic events reflecting interpersonal violence had occurred in many of the adolescents with alcohol dependence and abuse and few of the control adolescents. Adolescents with alcohol abuse or dependence, compared with control subjects, were 6 to 12 times more likely to have a physical abuse history and 18 to 21 times more likely to have a sexual abuse history. Sexual abuse was more common in females, and victimization by other violent acts was more common in males. Many other adverse life events were also significantly more common in the alcohol use disorder groups than in the control group, including having a close friend die, arguments within the family, and legal difficulties. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that trauma and other adverse life events are strongly associated with alcohol use disorders in adolescents. Clinical screening of adolescents with alcohol use disorders for a range of traumatic events is recommended.     

Oral contraceptive use and myocardial infarction

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) denotes chronic inflammatory disorders of gastrointestinal tract of unknown etiology that comprises 2 major groups: ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD). Disregulation of the intestinal immune system both at humoral and cellular level constitutes an important element in the multifactorial pathogenesis of IBD. The expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, most notably IL-1, IL-6, TNF-alpha and chemokines (IL-8, ENA-78, MCP-1, RANTES) in intestinal mucosa from IBD patients is markedly enhanced, however, it is not always accompanied by increases in cytokines' serum levels. In IBD also significant changes occur in the tissue expression of immunoregulatory cytokines: increased levels of IL-2 mRNA and IFN-gamma mRNA, and decreased expression of IL-4 were found in affected intestinal mucosa. Chronic intestinal lesions of patients with Crohn's disease are associated with a Th1 type cytokine profile. The clinical effectiveness of anti-TNF-alpha antibodies and of IL-10 has been demonstrated in steroid-refractory Crohn's disease patients. The data demonstrating the role of cytokines in the pathogenesis of IBD should be carefully analyzed because of limitations imposed by the patient- and sample-related parameters. Further investigations will clarify the significance of the impairments in cytokine network for the initiation and progression of the IBD.     

The effects of an adapted interactive writing intervention on kindergarten children's phonological awareness, spelling, and early reading development: A contextualized approach to instruction.

Using a pretest-posttest comparison-group design, this 16-week study investigated the effects of 2 instructional approaches on the phonological awareness, alphabetic knowledge, and early reading of kindergarten children. The primary goal was to compare a form of contextualized instruction based on an adapted interactive writing program with a field-tested program of metalinguistic games. For instructional purposes, the children in each treatment group were divided into small intervention classes, with groupings based on children's common strengths and needs. Each week, these classes met with trained literacy tutors for 4 20-min lessons. Pretest and posttest measures provided data on children's phonological awareness, spelling, and reading development. Statistical analyses of the data indicated no between-groups differences with regard to phonological awareness and spelling achievement. In contrast, results revealed statistically significant differences between the 2 groups on word identification, passage comprehension, and word reading development measures, with the adapted interactive writing group demonstrating greater achievement. These findings verify that the children participating in a contextualized program matched or exceeded the achievement of the children participating in a structured program of metalinguistic games. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in the evaluation of children with congenital heart disease and acute central nervous system injury

We studied nine infants and children, aged 1 week to 42 months, with severe acute central nervous system injuries associated with cardiac disease or corrective operations by means of single-voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy to determine whether this technique would be useful in predicting neurologic outcome. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic data were acquired from the occipital gray and parietal white matter (8 cm3 volume, stimulated echo-acquisition mode sequence with echo time of 20 msec and repetition time of 3.0 seconds) a median of 9 days after operation (range 3 to 42 days). Data were expressed as ratios of areas under metabolite peaks, including N-acetyl compounds, choline-containing compounds, creatine and phosphocreatine, and lactate. Four patients had cerebral insults before operation, one had both a preoperative and a perioperative insult, three had perioperative insults, and one had a prolonged cardiac arrest 2 days after operation. Outcomes (Glasgow Outcome Scale scores) were assigned at discharge and 6 to 12 months after injury. Six patients were in a vegetative state or had severe impairment at discharge, and two still had severe impairment at 6- to 12-month follow-up. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy showed lactate in these two patients, along with markedly reduced ratios of N-acetyl compounds to creatine compounds. The other four patients with severe impairment recovered to a level of mild disability at follow-up. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy showed no lactate in these four patients; however, one patient showed moderately reduced ratio of N-acetyl compounds to creatine compounds. The three patients who had mild or moderate impairment at discharge showed no lactate and mild or no changes in metabolite ratios; follow-up revealed normal or mild outcomes. Overall, we found that the presence of lactate and markedly reduced ratios of N-acetyl compounds to creatine compounds were predictive of severe outcomes at discharge and long-term follow-up, whereas no lactate and mild or no changes in ratios suggested potential for recovery with at least a mild disability. Continuing investigations are in progress to determine the optimal selection of candidates and timing of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic studies.     

Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction Project--an overview

The Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction Project was initiated because of public interest in the historical releases of radioactive materials from the Hanford Site, located in southcentral Washington State. By 1986, over 38,000 pages of environmental monitoring documentation from the early years of Hanford operations had been released. Special committees reviewing the documents recommended initiation of the Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction Project, which began in October 1987, and is conducted by Battelle, Pacific Northwest Laboratories. The technical approach taken was to reconstruct releases of radioactive materials based on facility operating information; develop and/or adapt transport, pathway, and dose models and computer codes; reconstruct environmental, meteorological, and hydrological monitoring information; reconstruct demographic, agricultural, and lifestyle characteristics; apply statistical methods to all forms of uncertainty in the information, parameters, and models; and perform scientific investigations that were technically defensible. The geographic area for the study includes approximately 2 x 10(5) km2 (75,000 mi2) in eastern Washington, western Idaho, and northeastern Oregon (essentially the Mid-Columbia Basin of the Pacific Northwest). Three exposure pathways were considered: the atmosphere, the Columbia River, and ground water. the radionuclide of interest for atmospheric pathway doses was 131I. The median dose for the maximally exposed individual was approximately 2.3 Gy (230 rad) to the thyroid over the period from 1944 to 1972 with a 90% subjective confidence interval of 0.54 to 8.4 Gy (54 to 840 rad). The Columbia River was studied from Priest Rapids Dam, upstream of the Hanford Site, to the mouth of the river and nearby bays. Radionuclides of interest for river pathway doses were 24Na, 32P, 65Zn, 76As, and 239Np. The median dose from the river pathway for the maximally exposed individual was approximately 0.0015 Sv (0.15 rem) effective dose equivalent in the period of maximum exposure (1950-1970). Doses from the groundwater pathway were determined to be below levels of interest for the project.     

Assessment of fear of fear in agoraphobics: The Body Sensations Questionnaire and the Agoraphobic Cognitions Questionnaire.

Describes the development of the Agoraphobic Cognitions Questionnaire and the Body Sensations Questionnaire, companion measures for assessing aspects of fear of fear (panic attacks) in agoraphobics. The instruments were administered to 175 agoraphobics (mean age 37.64 yrs) and 43 controls (mean age 36.13 yrs) who were similar in sex and marital status to experimental Ss. Results show that the instruments were reliable and fared well on tests of discriminant and construct validity. It is concluded that these questionnaires are useful, inexpensive, and easily scored measures for clinical and research applications and fill a need for valid assessment of this dimension of agoraphobia. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bioconcentration, elimination and metabolism of 2,4-dinitrotoluene in carps(Cyprinus Carpio L.)

Bioconcentration curves of 2,4-dinitrotoluene(2,4-DNT) in carps (whole fish, liver, intestine and muscle) were investigated using semistatic system. For whole fish, its curve could be described as a gentle peak which began with a rise in concentration to summit or steady state, then declined and reached lower level followed by another steady state. For liver and intestine, their curves both contained two successive peaks, with the second peak followed by slight fluctuation. Bioconcentration factors of 2,4-DNT in whole fish during the first and second steady state were 9.15 and 4.15,(97.86 and 44.39, based on lipid content), respectively. By logarithmic plotting, two straight-lines with different slopes(3.6 and 0.1 d-1) were measured for elimination. According to peaky curves of 2,4-DNT in whole fish, liver and intestine, smaller BCFs than calculated BCFs based on the regression equations for inert chemicals, and large rate constants of elimination, biotransformation was inferred to have happened in tissues such as liver, intestine, and other tissues. Two metabolites were separated from liver and identified as 4-amino-2-nitrotoluene(4A2NT) and 2,4-diamino-toluene(2,4-DAT) on HPLC, their retention times were 23.1 and 8.8 min, respectively. In bioconcentration test of 2,4-DNT in liver, two metabolites and parent were determined at the same time at intervals, higher concentrations of 4A2NT and 2,4-DAT were found when level of 2,4-DNT declined. Such results demonstrated our inference that metabolism caused the declines in bioconcentration curves. A one-compartment model was set up to simulate the bioconcentration, in which biotransformation adhered to Delayed Enzyme-Catalytic Logarithmic Kinetics. Good fit of model curves with measured values could be observed.     

Gene delivery to human B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells

Autologous leukemia cells engineered to express immune-stimulating molecules may be used to elicit antileukemia immune responses. Gene delivery to human B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cells was investigated using the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) as a reporter gene, measured by flow cytometry. Transfection of the Nalm-6 and Reh B-precursor ALL leukemia cell lines with an expression plasmid was investigated using lipofection, electroporation, and a polycationic compound. Only the liposomal compound Cellfectin showed significant gene transfer (3.9% to 12% for Nalm-6 cells and 3.1% to 5% for Reh cells). Transduction with gibbon-ape leukemia virus pseudotyped Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMuLV)-based retrovirus vectors was investigated in various settings. Cocultivation of ALL cell lines with packaging cell lines showed the highest transduction efficiency for retroviral gene transfer (40.1% to 87.5% for Nalm-6 cells and 0.3% to 9% for Reh cells), followed by transduction with viral supernatant on the recombinant fibronectin fragment CH-296 (13% to 35.5% for Nalm-6 cells and 0.4% to 6% Reh cells), transduction on human bone marrow stroma monolayers (3.2% to 13.3% for Nalm-6 cells and 0% to 0.2% Reh cells), and in suspension with protamine sulfate (0.7% to 3.1% for Nalm-6 cells and 0% for Reh cells). Transduction of both Nalm-6 and Reh cells with human immunodeficiency virus-type 1 (HIV-1)-based lentiviral vectors pseudotyped with the vesicular stomatitis virus-G envelope produced the best gene transfer efficiency, transducing greater than 90% of both cell lines. Gene delivery into primary human B-precursor ALL cells from patients was then investigated using MoMuLV-based retrovirus vectors and HIV-1-based lentivirus vectors. Both vectors transduced the primary B-precursor ALL cells with high efficiencies. These studies may be applied for investigating gene delivery into primary human B-precursor ALL cells to be used for immunotherapy.     

Accuracy of two pulse oximeters during maximal cycling exercise

This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence and risk factors of the disease among under five children in a rural community. Three villages were randomly selected from the Ghoraghat thana of Dinajpur district. All under five children were followed once a month for consecutive four months and all the target variables were checked and recorded in the questionnaire. 566 out of the total of 965 under five children had ARI episodes during the study period. The prevalence of ARI in the community was 58.7%. However, the incidence in both sexes were 14.7%. It was 14.9% and 14.4% in male and female respectively. The mean number of episodes of ARI was 1.75 per child per year. Among studied risk factors, malnutrition (63% vs. 37%), illiteracy (64% vs. 36%), poverty (62% vs. 38%), overcrowding (62% vs. 38%) and parental smoking (61% vs. 39%) were found in significantly higher proportions in ARI victims compared to those without ARI. These observations emphasize the need for research aimed at health system to determine the most appropriate approaches to control acute respiratory infection and thus could be utilized to strengthen the ARI control programme.