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Biomedical subjects

J Pikkarainen

Publications and source records attributed to J Pikkarainen.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Drinking and driving: success of random breath testing in Finland.

Since the introduction of random breath testing in Finland in 1977 the drinking and driving rate has halved, and there has been an appreciable reduction in the rates of death and injury from road accidents associated with drinking. The results of Finnish studies indicate that random breath testing deters social drinkers and detects problem drinkers. Problem drinkers are more likely to be driving in morning traffic, when vulnerable road users such as children are about, and are more likely to be detected by random breath testing than by any other police activity. Random breath testing is a popular measure and has not only saved lives but has paid for itself by savings in health service and other resources. Introducing random breath testing into Britain could save at least 400 lives a year. The main recommendation of the Blennerhassett report of 1976--discretionary testing--is compared with the success of random breath testing in Finland.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1987

Minimal doses of digoxin: a new marker for compliance to medication.

A direct and objective method of measuring compliance to medication is presented. Digoxin is used as a marker in capsules of either gemfibrozil or placebo with a minimal dose of 4.4 micrograms twice a day. Compliance is estimated by measuring the ratio of urinary digoxin to creatinine concentration. By choosing two cut-off points of this ratio patients who are taking their capsules regularly and those who have taken no capsules at all could be distinguished from others. Reduced dosage was easily detected in the marker results. During regular intake of three quarters of the dose, 53% of the samples would have classified the patient to the good compliance group. With half of the dose, 24% of samples and with a quarter of the dose, 5% of samples would have classified the subject to good compliance. Since the digoxin marker was planned for compliance measurements in the Helsinki Heart Study, a primary prevention study of coronary heart disease, it was tested under the conditions of a clinical trial. Digoxin concentrations were measured using a routine method normally applied to serum but shown to be valid for urine. The results of the urinary assays were not affected by storage at room temperature, as occurs during postal transport of samples, nor were they affected by freezing, routinely used for the storage of samples in clinical trials. The results therefore suggest that the digoxin marker represents a particularly effective method to study compliance to medication during such long-lasting clinical investigations.

Clinical Trials as Topic↗
PubMed1987

Serum ferritin as a marker of alcohol consumption in working men.

For 576 working men the relationship between reported recent alcohol consumption, serum ferritin, mean cell volume, and gamma glutamyl transferase was studied. Serum ferritin was significantly increased in heavy drinkers, but as a screening test it failed to yield a useful advantage over a combination of mean cell volume and gamma glutamyl transferase.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed1985

Correlations between biological markers and alcohol intake as measured by diary and questionnaire in men.

Alcohol intake was measured in 54 men aged 32-45 who were moderate or heavy drinkers--first by questionnaire and then more thoroughly by diary. Blood was drawn for the measurement of suggested biological markers of alcohol intake after the completion of the questionnaire and at the end of two consecutive diary periods. Partial correlations, controlling for smoking, exercise and age, between daily alcohol intake and markers were low and increased only slightly when diary data were analyzed instead of questionnaire data. No improvement was observed when mean intake per drinking day or the highest daily intake during a diary period was substituted in the analyses for mean daily intake. Significant associations (p less than .05) were found for mean cell volume (MCV), serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) and alkaline phosphatase (AFOS), but not for serum gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), the HDL: cholesterol ratio or ferritin. Correlations between intake reported by diary and intake predicted by a multivariate model with MCV, HDL, AFOS and GGT as regressors were significant (p less than .05) and higher than any of the bivariate correlation coefficients but were low (r = .30-.31). Low correlations seem to result from the inherent weakness of the suggested markers rather than from inaccuracies in the measurement of alcohol intake.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Finnish national screening for hypothyroidism. Few false positives, early therapy.

National cord blood screening for congenital hypothyroidism has operated in Finland with complete coverage since 1980. A low frequency of false positives, 0.08%, was achieved by supplementing the TSH screen with a T4 determination in borderline samples. Among 175188 infants the incidence of (unconfirmed) hypothyroidism was 1/2637. The median age at start of therapy was 6 days. The programme imposed a 2-3 week therapy on the false positive cases. This did not appear to cause any adverse effects. A mechanism for masking congenital hypothyroidism was observed: two athyroid infants were euthyroid at birth because of feto-fetal transfusion.

Congenital Hypothyroidism↗
PubMed1983

Serum selenium concentration related to myocardial infarction and fatty acid content of serum lipids.

A longitudinal case-control study of 33 patients with one or more risk factors for coronary heart disease and 64 controls showed that the serum selenium concentration (range 0.63-1.33 mumol/l (50-105 micrograms/l] was not associated with development of clinical manifestations of coronary heart disease during a follow up of five to seven years. The content of polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially eicosapentaenoic acid, in serum cholesterol esters and phospholipids was positively correlated with selenium concentration. As a low content of polyunsaturated fatty acids in serum lipids was an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease in these subjects it may be hypothesised that the high coronary risk in subjects with a very low serum selenium concentration (less than 0.57 mumol/l (less than 45 micrograms/l] might be due not to selenium deficiency but to the coexisting low concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids in serum.

Cholesterol Esters↗
PubMed1983

Bioavailability of selenium to Finnish men as assessed by platelet glutathione peroxidase activity and other blood parameters.

Three groups of 10 men of low selenium status were given 200 micrograms Se/day as Serich wheat, Se-rich yeast, or sodium selenate for 11 wk. Twenty unsupplemented subjects served as controls. Plasma Se levels increased steadily in the wheat and yeast groups for 11 wk without plateauing, whereas in the selenate group, plasma Se plateaued around 110 ng/ml after 4 wk. Platelet glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities increased rapidly in the wheat and selenate groups for 4 wk and then plateaued. Platelet GSH-Px increased more slowly in the yeast group. Ten weeks after the supplements were discontinued, platelet GSH-Px was higher in the wheat and yeast groups than in the selenate group. Assessment of Se bioavailability requires a short-term platelet GSH-Px measurement to determine immediate availability, a medium-term plasma Se measurement to estimate retention, and a long-term platelet GSH-Px measurement after supplements are discontinued to determine the covertibility of tissue Se stores to biologically active Se.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Effect of diet on serum lipoproteins in a population with a high risk of coronary heart disease.

The population of North Karelia, a county in Finland, has a high rate of coronary heart disease. It also has a high prevalence of hypercholesterolemia, but whether this reflects a diet rich in animal fats or is a result of genetic factors is unclear. We studied the effect on serum lipoproteins of a low-fat diet with a high ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acids in 54 middle-aged volunteers in North Karelia. Total serum cholesterol decreased, from 263 +/- 8 mg per deciliter (mean +/- S.E.) to 201 +/- 5 mg in men (P less than 0.0001) and from 239 +/- 8 to 188 +/- 8 mg in women (P less than 0.0001), along with low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol and apoprotein B. High-density lipoprotein decreased from 54 +/- 2 mg per deciliter to 44 +/- 2 in men (P less than 0.0001) and from 56 +/- 3 to 47 +/- 2 mg in women (P less than 0.0001). A small but significant reduction occurred in serum apoprotein A-I, whereas apoprotein A-II increased slightly. The individual changes in low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol correlated with those in high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol. The changes in serum lipids and apoproteins were reversed when the participants returned to their original diets. Our results suggest that the hypercholesterolemia characteristic of this population is due at least in part to dietary factors.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Association between cardiovascular death and myocardial infarction and serum selenium in a matched-pair longitudinal study.

A case-control study was conducted to investigate the association between serum selenium and risk of death from acute coronary heart disease (CHD) as well as risk of fetal and non-fetal myocardial infarction (MI). Case-control pairs came from a population of 11,000 persons examined in 1972 from two counties in eastern Finland, an area with an exceptionally high mortality from cardiovascular diseases. Cases were aged 35-59 years and had died of CHD or other CVD or had a non-fetal MI during a seven-year follow-up. Controls were matched for sex, age, daily tobacco consumption, serum cholesterol, diastolic blood pressure, and history of angina pectoris. The mean serum selenium concentration for all cases was 51.8 micrograms/l and for all controls 55.3 micrograms/l (p less than 0.01). Serum selenium of less than 45 micrograms/l was associated with an adjusted relative risk of CHD death of 2.9 (p less than 0.01, 95% CI, 1.4-6.0), a relative risk of CVD death of 2.2 (p less than 0.01, 95% CI, 1.2-4.0), and a relative risk of fatal and nonfatal MI of 2.1 (p less than 0.001, 95% Ci, 1.4-3.1). 22% (95% CI, 8-35%) of contrary deaths were attributable to serum selenium in the whole study population.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Myocardial complications of immunisations.

Immunisation may induce myocardial complications. In this pilot study clinical, electrocardiographic, chemical and immunological findings have been studied during a six weeks' follow-up after routine immunisation (mumps, polio, tetanus, smallpox, diphtheria and type A meningococcal disease) among 234 Finnish conscripts at the beginning of their military service. Serial pattern of ECG changes suggestive of myocarditis was recorded in eight of the 234 conscripts one to two weeks after vaccination against smallpox and diphtheria. Changes were mainly minor ST segment elevations and T wave inversions and usually they disappeared in a few weeks. The ECG positives more often had a history of atopy, and their mean body temperatures and heart rates after the vaccinations were higher than among the other subjects (p less than 0.01). However, clinical myocarditis was never noted, nor were immunological or enzymological changes different among the ECG positives. Thus in 3% of the study population, evidence of postvaccinal myocarditis was noted, based on serial ECG patterns, but without any other evidence of cardiac disease.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Foetal connective tissue regeneration. A biochemical study in rabbits.

Foetal connective tissue regeneration was studied by implanting 3 x 10 mm cylindrical viscose cellulose sponges subcutaneously in foetal, newborn, and full-grown rabbits. The implants were removed 2 to 7 days later, the foetal implants all being removed after delivery, and were analysed biochemically. In foetal implants a rapid accumulation of soluble forms of collagen took place, while the relative amount of other tissue proteins remained rather low. Connective tissue regeneration of the newborns ressembled, in this respect, that of the full-growns. The results suggest an enhanced production of miniature type collagen in the context of foetal connective tissue regeneration.

Animals↗
PubMed1973

Amino acid metabolism of experimental granulation tissue in vitro.

1. The intracellular volume in granulation tissue was about 15% of the total urea space. 2. The experimental granuloma has a greater ability to retain amino acids during the proliferation phase than later during the synthesis of collagen. 3. The synthesis of collagen and other proteins by granulation tissue is related to the concentrations of proline and glutamic acid in the medium. 4. The rate of synthesis of proline from glutamic acid in granulation-tissue slices is greatest during collagen synthesis. It is enhanced by lactate. 5. Extracellular cations influence the synthesis of collagen and ouabain is inhibitory. Synthesis of other proteins is less sensitive in this respect. 6. It is suggested that the synthesis of collagen is related to the supply of certain amino acids, especially proline, and hence to the redox balance, and also to the function of the cell wall.

Amino Acids↗