The financial health of the U.S. consumer

The spending and saving habits of the household sector play a major role in the U.S. economy. Consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of gross domestic product (GDP). A rise in consumer debt as a percent of disposable income has sparked concerns that this sector is overextended and may begin to experience financial difficulty. This article examines the household sector's finances from the standpoint of income, wealth accumulation and debt burden. It concludes that although individual households will experience difficulties, overall the consumer's financial position appears to be sound and does not portend an imminent downturn in the economy.     

Retinopathy in African Americans and whites with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

BACKGROUND: The development and progression of diabetic retinopathy in African Americans with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus is not known. METHODS: Two hundred subjects with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus with duration of diabetes 16 years or less at first visit were studied; 58 were African Americans and 142 were whites. All had gradable stereoscopic color fundus photographs (seven standard fields) from at least two visits (mean time between first and second visit was 4.1 years). Subjects with hemoglobinopathy or proliferative retinopathy or subjects who had evidence of treatment for proliferative retinopathy at first visit were excluded. Masked grading of photographs was conducted using the modified Airlie House classification scheme. RESULTS: African Americans were older, heavier, had higher systolic blood pressure (all P < .05), and marginally higher hemoglobin A1 (HbA1) values (P = .06) than the whites at first visit. African Americans had a lower rate of two steps or more progression from preexistent retinopathy (19%) than whites (43%). Progression to proliferative retinopathy or treatment was similar by race. Multivariate analysis predicting development oe progression of retinopathy, while controlling for length of follow-up, found higher HbA1 (odds ratio [OR] = 2.15), longer duration of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (OR = 1.69), higher serum creatinine concentration (OR = 1.59), and white race (OR = 2.62) to be independent risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest a previously unsuspected reduction in the adjusted risk for development and progression of retinopathy in African Americans. The reason for this apparently reduced risk are not known.     

Protection of turkeys against haemorrhagic enteritis by monoclonal antibody and hexon immunization

Virus-neutralizing monoclonal antibodies specific for the hexon of haemorrhagic enteritis virus (HEV), a turkey adenovirus, were examined for their ability to confer passive protection against haemorrhagic enteritis (HE) in turkeys. A high dose of antibody prevented clinical disease and reduced virus replication in experimentally infected birds. This suggests that virus neutralization might be an important mechanism for protection against HE. Subsequently, the use of the hexon protein as a subunit vaccine was investigated by immunizing birds with affinity-purified HEV hexon. The birds were tested for the appearance of hexon-specific antibodies in their sera, for protection from clinical disease, and prevention of virus replication after challenge with virulent HEV (HEV-V). Regardless of whether birds were immunized with native or denatured hexon, high ELISA antibody titres were produced to each immunogen. A virus-neutralizing antibody response was induced by immunization with the native hexon but not by immunization with the denatured protein. All turkeys twice immunized with a dose of at least 1 microgram, and four out of five birds immunized with two doses of 0.3 micrograms of purified native hexon, were protected against virus-induced disease and virus replication. In contrast, birds inoculated with denatured hexon were not protected. These results demonstrate the importance of the native (trimeric) structure of the hexon protein for eliciting a protective immune response. The impact of these results on the development of a vaccine for HE in turkeys produced by recombinant DNA technology is discussed.     

Effect of weight loss and refeeding diet composition on anaerobic performance in wrestlers

Collegiate wrestlers (N = 12) consumed a formula, hypoenergy diet (18 kcal.kg-1, 60% carbohydrate) without dehydration for 72 h. For the next 5 h, the athletes were fed either a 75% (HC) or a 47% (MC) carbohydrate formula diet of 21 kcal.kg-1. Each wrestler performed three anaerobic arm ergometer performance tests (TEST1, before weight loss; TEST2, after weight loss; TEST3, after refeeding). Blood withdrawn just before and after each test was analyzed for pH, bicarbonate, base excess, glucose, and lactate. Both groups had a similar significant reduction in total work done during TEST2 (92.4% of TEST1). Work done in TEST3 by HC was 99.1% of TEST1 while MC did 91.5% of their initial work (P = 0.1). Peak power was unaffected by the treatment. Plasma lactate significantly increased during the performance test from 1.72 to 21.91 mmol.l-1 as did plasma glucose from 4.88 to 5.25 mmol.l-1 when groups and trials were collapsed. Lactate accumulation was diminished during TEST2 compared with the other tests. Although the exercise bout reduced pH, bicarbonate, and base excess, there was no difference in the effect by group. In conclusion, weight loss by energy restriction significantly reduced anaerobic performance of wrestlers. Those on a high carbohydrate refeeding diet tended to recover their performance while those on a moderate carbohydrate diet did not. The changes in performance were not explained by the acid/base parameters measured.     

Empathy: an essential skill for understanding the physician-patient relationship in clinical practice

In clinical practice, empathy is the skill used by physicians to decipher and respond to thoughts and feelings in the physician-patient relationship. Empathetic understanding and empathetic response occur in three phases of every office visit: the negotiation phase, the clinical reasoning phase, and the establishment of therapeutic alliance. Masters of empathetic skills is difficult, and before teaching empathy to residents and students, teachers must first develop their own empathetic skills. Development of empathetic skills can occur in Balint training programs, through the use of audio- or videotaped patient encounters, or through one-on-one training with an experienced preceptor.     

Preliminary immunohistochemical characterization of a monoclonal antibody (PRO:4-216) prepared from human prostate cancer nuclear matrix proteins

OBJECTIVES: A nuclear matrix protein (PC-1) was previously identified and reported to be present only in human prostate cancer but absent in tissue from the same prostate containing either benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) or normal prostate tissue. The PC-1 protein was identified by high resolution two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) and exhibited a molecular mass of 56 kDa and an isoelectric point of 6.58. This work investigates the immunohistochemical characterization of PRO:4-216, a monoclonal antibody to PC-1. METHODS: Areas of the 2D-PAGE gels containing the human prostate cancer nuclear matrix proteins near PC-1 were isolated, eluted, and injected into mice to develop monoclonal antibodies. Antibodies were screened by immunofluorescence for nuclear reactivity to a human prostate cancer cell line (LnCaP) and by 1D and 2D Western blots for reactivity with prostate cancer nuclear matrix proteins. Monoclonal antibodies from the selected clones were affinity purified. The monoclonal antibody PRO:4-216 was used to analyze frozen tissue from 20 cancerous, 22 BPH, and 22 normal regions from fresh human prostate specimens. Tissue sections were analyzed for their immunohistochemical (IHC) (horseradish peroxidase) staining. RESULTS: Using a reference value for positive staining at an IHC score of greater than 50, 85% (17 of 20) of the cancerous, 5% (1 of 22) of the BPH, and 9% (2 of 22) of the normal prostate tissues stained positive. The one BPH and two normal tissues that stained positive were taken from prostates in which the adjacent cancerous tissue also demonstrated high IHC scores (greater than 225). CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrate nuclear reactivity on fresh frozen human prostate cancer tissue for the monoclonal antibody PRO:4-216. PRO:4-216 may aid in distinguishing normal prostate and BPH from cancerous tissue.     

Effects of neutron irradiation on Nd-Fe-B magnetic properties

Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets from two different manufacturers were irradiated in the Omega West reactor at Los Alamos National Laboratory, with fast neutrons at temperatures of 426 K (153 degrees C) and 350 K (77 degrees C) to fluences of 5.0*10/sup 16/ N/cm/sup 2/ and 6.1*10/sup 16/ N/cm/sup 2/, respectively. At intervals during the irradiation the samples were removed from the reactor and the remanence measured at room temperature. The initial loss of remanence for irradiation at 426 K was 10% for a fluence of 10/sup 15/ N/cm/sup 2/. At 350 K the initial loss rate was roughly half this value. The loss rates were nearly the same for samples from the two different manufacturers. These losses are due to the irradiation since the remanence does not decay with annealing at 426 K. Remagnetization after irradiation results in full recovery of the remanence and roughly a 20% increase in the coercivity. Evidence from this experiment suggests that the primary mechanism for loss of remanence is nucleation of reverse domains by the collision cascade and subsequent growth into the original domain.<>