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HIV/AIDS in the rural United States: epidemiology and health services delivery.

This integrated research review addresses the epidemiology of rural human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) and the organization, financing, and delivery of health services for rural persons living with HIV or AIDS (PLWHIVs, PLWAs). Several abstracting services, indexing services, and bibliographies were searched. An annotation form served as the guideline for data extraction. Several conclusions emerged from this review. Epidemiological evidence indicates that there has been a dramatic increase in the relative proportion of rural HIV/AIDS incident cases over the past 5 years. Explanations for the rural increase focus on injection drug use, heterosexual behavior, and sexually transmitted disease levels. Dramatically elevated rates of infection in rural Black women are indicated. Rural areas experience important levels of in-migration of HIV/AIDS-infected individuals. The health services literature suggests that rural providers and institutions have limited resources and little experience with PLWHIVs or PLWAs.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

A systematic review of the effectiveness of health service interventions aimed at reducing inequalities in health.

OBJECTIVE: To review the available evidence in order to identify effective interventions which health services alone or in collaboration with other agencies could use to reduce inequalities in health. METHODS: A search of the literature was undertaken using a number of databases including Medline (from 1990), Applied Social Science Index and Abstracts (1987-1994), and the System for Information on Grey Literature in Europe (1984-1994), on a large range of key words. Studies were included if they assessed interventions designed to reduce inequalities in health or improve the health of a population group relevant to the review, and could be carried out by a health service alone or in collaboration with other agencies. Only studies evaluating interventions using an experimental design were included. Papers in any language were considered. In addition, systematic reviews of the research on the effectiveness of health promotion and the treatment of conditions where there are significant health inequalities were identified in order to illustrate the potential for reducing inequalities in health. RESULTS: 94 studies were identified which satisfied all the inclusion criteria and 21 reviews were included. A number of interventions have been shown to improve the health of groups who are disadvantaged by socio-economic class, ethnicity or age and, if properly targeted, could be expected to reduce health inequalities. If a health intervention is being used, there should be evidence that it has an impact on health status. Attention should then be given to the way in which the intervention is delivered and the characteristics of a programme to promote implementation. Characteristics of successful interventions specifically aimed at reducing health differentials include: systematic and intensive approaches to delivering effective health care; improvement in access and prompts to encourage the use of services; strategies employing a combination of interventions and those involving a multi-disciplinary approach; ensuring interventions address the expressed or identified needs of the target population; and the involvement of peers in the delivery of interventions. However, these characteristics alone are not sufficient for success, nor are they universally necessary. CONCLUSIONS: Although it is likely that the most significant contributions to reducing health inequalities will be in improving economic and social conditions and the physical environment, there are interventions which health services, either alone or in collaboration with other agencies, can use to reduce inequalities in health.

Age Factors↗

Mitochondrial disorder associated with newborn cardiopulmonary arrest.

A female infant who died 2.5 d after birth with hypoglycemia, lactic acidosis, and sudden multisystem failure was studied. Biochemical studies showed complex III and IV deficiency in liver, kidney, and muscle, with muscle most severely affected. Southern blot analysis of the patient's mitochondrial DNA did not reveal any deletions. Denaturing gradient gel analysis, which detects single base changes by differences in melting behavior, showed an extra band that was not seen in mitochondrial DNA from the mother, the mother's identical twin sister, or an unrelated normal subject. This extra band indicated heteroplasmy for a restriction fragment containing the apocytochrome b and transfer RNA(thr) genes. Sequencing revealed an A to G mutation at nucleotide 15923, the last base of the anticodon loop of the transfer RNA(thr) gene. The mutation lengthens the anticodon stem by added pairing and reduces the anticodon loop size from 7 to 5 nucleotides, potentially compromising transfer RNA(thr) function in translation and/or in processing the polycistronic RNA transcript. The patient's mother previously had a male infant who also died at 1.5 d postnatal, and both the mother and her twin have had multiple miscarriages. Amniocentesis for a genetic screen was performed on the mother's twin sister during a recent pregnancy; some of the cultured cells were made available for this study. The mutation was not found in the amniocytes or in umbilical cord blood obtained at birth; the baby was normal at birth and remains healthy. It is concluded that the mutation at nucleotide 15923 was most likely the cause of the fatal disease in the index case.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗

Homocysteine, MTHFR 677C-->T polymorphism, and risk of ischemic stroke: results of a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Data are conflicting concerning risk for ischemic stroke associated with hyperhomocyst(e)inemia (hyper-Hcy) and a common polymorphism in the gene encoding 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR 677C-->T), which predisposes to hyper-Hcy in vivo. METHODS: Search of MEDLINE, Science Citation Index, and abstracts of conference proceedings revealed relevant articles. Exposure was defined as follows: 1) prevalence of hyper-Hcy; 2) absolute difference in the mean Hcy concentration between subjects with and without ischemic stroke; and 3) the MTHFR TT genotype frequency. Outcome was defined as ischemic stroke with or without neuroimaging. Inclusion criteria were retrospective and prospective studies with reported odds ratios (OR) or hazard ratios (HR) or arithmetic mean Hcy levels. Exclusion criteria were absence of OR or HR, outcome defined as carotid atherosclerosis or intima-media thickening, stroke in patients younger than 18 years old, and studies in languages other than English. Statistical analyses for between-study heterogeneity and pooled risk estimates were performed using Stata software (Stata Corporation, College Station, TX). RESULTS: Among 16 studies (1,487 stroke and 2,554 nonstroke cases), the pooled mean Hcy level in patients with ischemic stoke was 2.32 micromol/L (95% CI, 1.6 to 3.04; p < 0.001) greater than that in those without ischemic stroke. Among 14 included studies (1,769 stroke and 7,400 nonstroke cases), the pooled OR estimate of ischemic stroke associated with hyper-Hcy was 1.79 (95% CI, 1.61 to 2.0; p < 0.001). Among 19 included studies (2,788 stroke and 3,962 nonstroke cases), the OR associated with the TT genotype was 1.23 (95% CI, 0.96 to 1.58; p = 0.1). CONCLUSION: These data support an association between mild-to-moderate hyper-Hcy and ischemic stoke. The MTHFR TT genotype may have a small influence in determining susceptibility to ischemic stoke.

Brain Ischemia↗

Risk of rupture associated with intact cerebral aneurysms in the Japanese population: a systematic review of the literature from Japan.

OBJECT: Knowing the rate of rupture associated with unruptured cerebral aneurysms (UCAs) can help surgeons determine a case management strategy in patients harboring these lesions. According to large-scale cohort studies involving populations in North America and Europe, small unruptured aneurysms carry a very low risk of rupture. In Japan, however, there have been sporadic reports of higher rates of rupture. To identify the rupture risk associated with UCAs in the Japanese population, the authors systematically reviewed retrospective studies of the natural course of these lesions. METHODS: The authors searched Medline and the Japan Medical Abstract Society Index for reports of UCAs in Japan. Two of the authors verified the eligibility of the reports and extracted data independently. Additional information was directly obtained from the authors of the original reports. Thirteen reports covering a total of 3801 patient-years fulfilled the criteria for our study. Subsequent rupture was documented in 104 patients and the annual rupture rate was 2.7% (95% confidence interval 2.2-3.3%). Large, posterior-circulation, and symptomatic aneurysms were associated with significantly higher rates of rupture (relative risks 6.4, 2.3, and 2.1, respectively). The risk of rupture determined by the authors' review was significantly higher than that reported by investigators from international cohort studies. CONCLUSIONS: Although a selection bias of patients may be the cause of the higher rupture risk, untreated UCAs that have been followed in Japanese institutions have a considerably high rate of rupture. The natural course of UCAs should be carefully estimated in countries not included in the international studies.

Aneurysm, Ruptured↗

DNA methylation and demethylating drugs in myelodysplastic syndromes and secondary leukemias.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Methylation of DNA is a common epigenetic modification that plays an important role in the control of gene expression in mammalian cells. This process involves CpG dinucleotide sequences and is catalyzed by DNA-methyltransferase enzymes. Under physiological conditions, methylated CpG sites are only present in DNA sequences typical of bulk chromatin, where the DNA is inaccessible to transcription factors. In contrast, CpG islands of promoter regions are usually unmethylated (with few exceptions such as the genes on the inactive X-chromosome). DNA methylation abnormalities have recently emerged as the most frequent molecular changes in hematopoietic neoplasms. INFORMATION SOURCES: The authors of the present review are currently working in the field of myelodysplastic syndromes and secondary leukemias and have contributed original papers to peer-reviewed journals. The material analyzed in the present review includes articles and reviews published in journals covered by the Science Citation Index, and abstracts presented at recent international oncology and hematology meetings. STATE OF THE ART: Methylation and transcriptional status are inversely correlated, the hypermethylation of genes involved in cell-cycle control and apoptosis could have a pathogenetic role in the development of cancer. In particular, high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and secondary leukemias (SL) show a high prevalence of tumor-suppressor gene hypermethylation. The use of irreversible DNA methyltransferase inhibitors, such as 5-azacytidine and decitabine, appears to be a promising therapeutic option for the treatment of MDS and SL. Large clinical trials are still ongoing, but preliminary data recently published indicate for the first time that the natural history of MDS may be changed by a non-intensive treatment. CONCLUSIONS AND PERSPECTIVES: Treatment with demethylating agents, 5-azacytidine and decitabine, at present results in significantly higher response rates, improved quality of life, reduced risk of leukemic transformation, and improved survival, when compared to supportive care. Azacytidine and decitabine provide a new treatment option, and should be the treatment choice for elderly patients with high risk MDS. It is whorty in fact that azacytidine and decitabine are especially active in patients with poor prognosis MDS. The combination with histone deacetylase inhibitors may increase the efficacy of hypomethylating agents in vivo.

Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic↗

Evidence-Based Medicine: What Is It and How Does It Apply to Athletic Training?

OBJECTIVE: To introduce the concept of evidence-based medicine (EBM) to athletic trainers. This overview provides information on how EBM can affect the clinical practice of athletic training and enhance the care given to patients. DATA SOURCES: We searched the MEDLINE and CINHAL bibliographic databases using the terms evidence-based medicine and best practice and the online Index to Abstracts of Cochrane Reviews by group (injury, musculoskeletal injuries, and musculoskeletal) to identify reviews on topics pertinent to athletic training. DATA SYNTHESIS: Evidence-based medical practice has 5 components: defining a clinically relevant question, searching for the best evidence, appraising the quality of the evidence, applying the evidence to clinical practice, and evaluating the process. Evidence-based medicine integrates the research evidence, clinician's expertise, and patient's preferences to guide clinical decision making. Critical to this effort is the availability of quality research on the effectiveness of sports medicine techniques. Athletic training outcomes research is lagging behind that of other health care professions. RECOMMENDATIONS: Athletic trainers need to embrace the critical-thinking skills to assess the medical literature and incorporate it into their clinical practice. The profession should encourage more clinically related research and enhance the scientific foundation of athletic training. Evidence-based medicine provides an important next step in the growth of the athletic training profession.

Journal Article↗

Library use and information-seeking behavior of veterinary medical students.

Veterinary medical students at Iowa State University were assessed for general use of the veterinary library and for their information-seeking behavior. The library was most frequently used for studying and for making photocopies of materials. The typical respondent relied on course textbooks and handouts for current information on unfamiliar topics, instead of using indexes or abstracts for guidance to recent literature. Light use of library information resources raises the concern that students are developing an inadequate base of retrieval skills for finding information on new procedures, diseases and drugs. No differences were found between students with and without formal bibliographic instruction in their approaches to seeking information or in library use.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

A CATLINE SDI for the reference department: collection development and current awareness tool.

A method for using a CATLINE SDI (selected dissemination of information) as a current awareness and collection development tool for the health sciences reference department is described. This paper reports three years of experience with this service in an academic health sciences library. It emphasizes the exploitation of four data elements in the CATLINE file: the Abstracting and Indexing Tag (AI) Data Element; the Shelving Location (SL) Data Element; the MeSH Heading (MH) Data Element; the Subheading Qualifier (SH) Data Element.

Catalogs, Library↗

Evolution of a veterinary medical library.

Planning a new library and developing a book and journal collection for the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University are described. The Veterinary Medical Library is a self-contained unit (6,800 square feet) for print material within the Veterinary Medical Building. Seating for 140 patrons is available. The collection is designed to provide basic materials for teaching and research in veterinary and comparative medicine. Indexing and abstracting tools permit access to local, state, and national resources as well. At present the collection totals over 17,000 volumes and over 500 serial titles. A working collection of 25,000 volumes will be maintained in the Veterinary Medical Library, and the University Library will continue to function as the principal backup source.

Book Collecting↗

Handling technical reports in the medical library.

One of the most widely neglected sources of information in the medical library is the technical report. Often this bibliographic form is ignored because there is a general lack of information on the part of the librarian concerning its mysteries. In many cases the technical report provides the most recent and current information on a given subject, and to ignore it or wait for its appearance in the published literature could prove costly to a research project. Technical reports have reached flood proportions since World War II, and are issued from many diverse sources. Means of acquiring, processing, and using the tools which abstract and index this literature are discussed.

Cataloging↗

Self-study program on drug information for staff pharmacists.

A self-study inservice educational program on drug information resources was designed to improve staff pharmacist competence in responding to drug information requests. Pharmacists attended two introductory sessions in the drug information center (DIC) that focused on available resources and the systematic search process. Each pharmacist also spent an eight-hour work period in the DIC. Twenty-four hours of regular staff time was allowed for each pharmacist to complete a self-study manual. The manual consisted of three section: (1) discussion of selected references; (2) assignments based on common types of drug information questions; and (3) assignments that required the use of indexing and abstracting sources. Each pharmacist had to complete 50 questions during a 12-week period. The pharmacists were evaluated through pre- and post-tests and by the accuracy of answers to assignments in the manual. Six pharmacists initially participated in the program; five of them attained an average grade of more than 70 on the post-test and assignments. Three new staff pharmacists now have also completed the program. The success of the program depended on the support of pharmacy administration, as well as the motivation of the participating pharmacists. This staff development program using a self-study manual has been an effective means for improving pharmacists' use of drug information resources. The manual is flexible to accommodate differences in the rate of staff development and it is a useful training tool for new pharmacists.

Curriculum↗

The natural history of nonalcoholic fatty liver: a follow-up study.

Nonalcohol-induced fatty liver is widely believed to be a benign condition with little or no risk of disease progression. There have been occasional reports of progression to cirrhosis but none in the absence of preexisting fibrosis on the index biopsy specimen even when co-existing hepatitis was present (steatohepatitis). From our histological database (1978 to 1985), we identified 161 patients with fatty liver seen at our institution and traced the case notes of 156. One hundred five patients were initially excluded as having an alcohol-induced cause, and the remaining 51 either were seen in the clinic (37) or had died, in which cases copies of their death certificates were obtained (14). A further 7 patients were excluded after clinic attendance gave evidence of alcohol excess and another 4 after review of their initial biopsy showed the presence of fibrosis or steatohepatitis. The apparent cause of the steatosis in the 40 included patients with strictly nonalcohol-induced pure fatty liver was obesity in 12, diabetes in 4 (1 obese patient), and cachexia associated with extrahepatic malignancy in 6. Four of the remaining 19 had serological evidence of an autoimmune disorder, but none of these had any clinical or histological features of autoimmune liver disease. Nine patients had evidence of hyperlipidemia, 3 of whom were also obese. At a median follow-up of 11 years (7 to 16), 12 of 26 living patients had abnormal results of liver blood tests and had repeat liver biopsies performed. None had progressed to steatohepatitis or cirrhosis; 1 obese patient had developed mild fibrosis 9.8 years after her index biopsy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗

[An outbreak of tuberculosis involving foreign workers from South America].

A twenty-four year old male Peruvian of Japanese origin, who came to Japan in September 1990 and had been working in a minor factory in a rural area, was admitted to a hospital in March '91 with severe cough. Smear examination of his sputum smear was positive for acid-fast bacilli and his chest X-ray showed multiple cavities (Index case). Subsequent contact examination identified further four patients with pulmonary tuberculosis among his colleagues in the factory, all of whom lived in the same house with the index case. During following three years, further six patients with mycobacteriosis, two Peruvians and four Japanese, were found among the employee of that factory. M. tuberculosis was cultured from the sputa obtained from seven of these eleven patients. Another patient was diagnosed as non-tuberculous mycobacteriosis. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis carried out with five strains of M. tuberculosis isolated from these patients revealed the identical RFLP pattern which is uncommon in Japan. Still more, an isolate from another patient was subjected to RFLP analysis by chance, and was found to show the same RFLP pattern. Later epidemiological study revealed that the last patient, a 53 year-old saleswoman of boxlunch, might have some contact with the index case at her booth. Though RFLP analysis was not done for the isolate from the index case, from the identity of RFLP patterns of other isolates, clinical course and epidemiological study, it is considered that six patients were certainly, and two others were probably infected from the index case.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗

Information and research needs of acute-care clinical nurses.

The majority of nurses surveyed used the library on a regular but limited basis to obtain information needed in caring for or making decisions about their patients. A minority indicated that the libraries in their own institutions totally met their information needs. In fact, only 4% depended on the library to stay abreast of new information and developments in the field. Many of the nurses had their own journal subscriptions, which could account in part for the limited use of libraries and the popularity of the professional journal as the key information source. This finding correlates with the research of Binger and Huntsman, who found that 95% of staff development educators relied on professional journal literature to keep up with current information in the field, and only 45% regularly monitored indexing-and-abstracting services. The present study also revealed that nurses seek information from colleagues more than from any other source, supporting the findings of Corcoran-Perry and Graves. Further research is necessary to clarify why nurses use libraries on a limited basis. It appears, as Bunyan and Lutz contend, that a more aggressive approach to marketing the library to nurses is needed. Further research should include an assessment of how the library can meet the information needs of nurses for both research and patient care. Options to be considered include offering library orientation sessions for new staff nurses, providing current-awareness services by circulating photocopied table-of-contents pages, sending out reviews of new monographs, inviting nurses to submit search requests on a topic, scheduling seminars and workshops that teach CD-ROM and online search strategies, and providing information about electronic databases covering topics related to nursing. Information on databases may be particularly important in light of the present study's finding that databases available in CD-ROM format are consulted very little. Nursing education programs should be expanded to include curricula bibliographic sessions where the librarian, in cooperation with the teaching faculty, visits the classroom to explain all pertinent information sources or invites the class to the library for hands-on demonstration and practice. Nurses who gain working knowledge of the tools that open the doors to retrieval of research findings and who have information about new innovations in medicine and medical technology have superior chances for success in their chosen profession.

Adult↗

Measuring the severity of injury: the validity of the revised estimated survival probability index.

This study examines the validity of the Revised Estimated Survival Probability (RESP) index in a set of trauma patients admitted to three hospitals. For each patient four different severity indices were computed: 1) RESP derived from in-hospital assigned International Classification of Disease (ICD) codes; 2) RESP based on written face sheet discharge diagnoses; 3) RESP based on a full review of the medical record; and 4) Injury Severity Score (ISS) based on full review of the medical record. These four severity indices were then correlated with six measures of outcome or construct validity, including mortality, duration of hospitalization, intubation or tracheostomy performed, ambulance transport to hospital, admission to the intensive care unit, and ventilatory assistance received. The results indicate that for every validity measure examined, the ISS index was superior to the RESP index, regardless of the abstraction procedure. However, the RESP index was independently associated with mortality, length of hospitalization, and ventilatory assistance even after adjusting for the ISS. In addition, the performance of the RESP index improved dramatically as the quality of information improved. Last, strong evidence is presented which questions the utility of calculating any type of severity index using data from computerized discharge abstracts without careful quality control measures.

Critical Care↗