Pocket Monsters, a popular television cartoon, attacks Japanese children.
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The carcass characteristics and nutritive value of the giant African land snails (A. achatina and A. marginata), the common garden snail (V. quadrata) and periwinkles (P. aurita and T. fuscatus) were assessed. The edible portions account for less than 42% of the live weight in all molluscs. Protein content was generally high: 74.9% in A. achatina, 71.6% in A. marginata, 76.2% in V. quadrata, 82.5% in P. aurita and 61.3% in T. fuscatus. Fat level was low in the molluscs (1.0-1.5%). Amino acid analysis indicated that all species were particularly rich in lysine (7.4-10.0 g/16 g N). All, except P. aurita were low in methionine (0.92-1.95 g/16 g N). A. achatina gave the highest PER (4.0) followed by A. marginata (3.7), T. fuscatus (2.9), V. quadrata (2.0) and P. aurita (1.9). Rats in each group gained weight during the experimental period. TD, BV and NPU generally followed the same trend.
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A strong fibrinolytic enzyme (nattokinase) was purified from the vegetable cheese natto. Nattokinase was extracted from natto with saline and isolated by sequential use of hydrophobic chromatography on Butyl-Toyopearl, ion-exchange chromatography on CM-Toyopearl, and gel-filtration on Sephadex G-50. The isolated protein gave a single sharp band on SDS-PAGE either before or after reduction. The sequence, as determined by automated Edman degradation of the uncleaved molecule and its enzymatically derived peptide, consisted of a total 275 amino acid residues (M.W = 27,728) and exhibited a high homology with the subtilisins. The purified nattokinase digested not only fibrin but also several synthetic substrates. Among the synthetic substrates, the most sensitive substrate was Suc-Ala-Ala-Pro-Phe-pNA for subtilisin. PMSF inhibited both the fibrinolytic activity and the amidolytic activity. The results indicate that nattokinase is a subtilisin-like serine protease.
The ecological risk assessment of East Fork Poplar Creek (EFPC) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, investigated the nature and magnitude of the observed or expected adverse effects of the site's organic and inorganic contaminants on the ecosystem structure and function. Aquatic biota such as benthic macroinvertebrates, crayfish (Astacidae), redbreast sunfish (Lepomis auritus), and stonerollers (Campostoma anomalum), representative of various habitats, were sampled for whole-body contaminant analysis. The whole-body residue analysis of the representative aquatic organisms revealed the presence of over 50 contaminants in varying proportions. The relative whole-body distribution of organic contaminants such as mixtures of polychlorinated biphenyls, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and pesticides was comparable among the indicator organisms. The relative whole-body distribution of inorganic contaminants was, however, less consistent. Physicochemical variables characteristic of organic contaminants--such as long octanol/water partition coefficient (log KOW), log aqueous solubility, and log bioconcentration factors (log BCF), and chemical uptake efficiency (E) unique for the organisms sampled for chemical analysis--were used to explain the observed whole-body distribution of contaminants in the aquatic organisms from EFPC.
The approximation of the Voigt line shape by the linear summation of Lorentzian and Gaussian line shapes of equal width is well documented and has proved to be a useful function for modeling in vivo (1)H NMR spectra. We show that the error in determining peak areas is less than 0.72% over a range of simulated Voigt line shapes. Previous work has concentrated on empirical analysis of the Voigt function, yielding accurate expressions for recovering the intrinsic Lorentzian component of simulated line shapes. In this work, an analytical approach to the approximation is presented which is valid for the range of Voigt line shapes in which either the Lorentzian or Gaussian component is dominant. With an empirical analysis of the approximation, the direct recovery of T(2) values from simulated line shapes is also discussed.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to describe tobacco use in a large representative sample of movies. METHODS: We analyzed the content of the top 25 box office hits per year from 1988 to 1997. Outcomes included the number of occurrences of tobacco use, the time tobacco use appeared on screen, the context in which tobacco use was portrayed, and characteristics of smokers compared with nonsmokers. RESULTS: Eighty-seven percent of the movies portrayed tobacco use, with a median of 5 occurrences per film. Tobacco use was not related to year of release or box office success of the movie. R-rated movies had the greatest number of occurrences (median = 8.5; P < 0.05) and were most likely to feature major characters using tobacco (81%, P < 0.001). Among major characters, males were more likely to use tobacco than females (28% vs 17%, P < 0.001), but there was no difference in the prevalence of tobacco use by age, race, or socioeconomic status. Tobacco users were typically adults (96.3%) who were more likely to engage in a variety of other risk behaviors. Most tobacco use involved cigarettes or cigars (89.5%). Motivations for on-screen smoking included agitation (20.1%), sadness (5.1%), happiness (15.3%), and relaxation (17.1%). Characters were often shown smoking while confiding in others (30.7%) or in social/celebratory situations (18.0%). Negative reactions to tobacco use were rarely shown (5.9%) and negative consequences resulting from tobacco use were depicted for only 3.4% of the major characters who used tobacco. CONCLUSION: Despite increasing anti-smoking sentiments in our society, negative reactions to smoking are rare and there is no evidence that tobacco use in movies has declined over the past decade. Movies continue to model smoking as a socially acceptable behavior and portray it as both a way to relieve tension and something to do while socializing. By depicting positive images of tobacco use, movies have the potential to influence adolescent smoking behavior as much as any other environmental exposure, such as family or friend smoking.
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This study documents that ethnomedical beliefs and practices play an important role in primary care in a southern community. Thirty-three of 73 patients from a rural Appalachian area coming to a university primary care internal medicine practice presented 54 ethnomedical complaints such as "high blood" (24.1%), "Weak 'n dizzy" (22.2%), "nerves" (16.7%), "sugar" (5.6%) and "fallin' out" (3.7%). Thirty-three patients had both biomedical and ethnomedical complaints, 40 patients had biomedical complaints without ethnomedical complaints and no patients presented with ethnomedical complaints alone. Over two-thirds of all patients consulted non-medical personnel for their complaints, mostly family and friends, and 70 percent self-treated prior to clinic consultation. Patients presenting with ethnomedical complaints when compared with those presenting with biomedical complaints sought advice of non-physicians significantly more often (p less than 0.02); no statistical difference, however, was found in their self-treatment practices. Ninety-two of 130 biomedical complaints were recorded by the patient's physician but none of the 54 ethnomedical complaints were formally recorded (p less than 0.001). The high incidence of ethnomedical complaints in this population and the failure of physicians to recognize these complaints demand that primary care medicine residents be taught improved history-taking skills and the essentials of ethnomedical illnesses if they are to provide culturally-sensitive patient care.
The author argues that buyers and sellers of Western pharmaceuticals at a local marketplace in Cameroon construct their ideas about illness and medicines in reaction to two kinds of situations in which they find themselves. The market situation induces people to adjust their medical beliefs to the economic transaction. Sellers are likely to inflate the efficacy of medicines and customers adjust their medical concepts to fit their limited financial means. In that way they rationalise their inability to buy all the drugs they would have liked to buy. The interview situation leads informants to produce rather specific and assured answers on topics about which they may know very little. Reasons include the inequality between interviewer and informant and the latter's wish to avoid making an ignorant impression on the interviewer. Three conversations held during fieldwork in 1983 are discussed.
The dysfunctional consequences of the Cartesian dichotomy have been enhanced by the power of biomedical technology. Technical virtuosity reifies the mechanical model and widens the gap between what patients seek and doctors provide. Patients suffer "illnesses"; doctors diagnose and treat "diseases". Illnesses are experiences of discontinuities in states of being and perceived role performances. Diseases, in the scientific paradigm of modern medicine, are abnormalities in the function and/or structure of body organs and systems. Traditional healers also redefine illness as disease: because they share symbols and metaphors consonant with lay beliefs, their healing rituals are more responsive to the psychosocial context of illness. Psychiatric disorders offer an illuminating perspective on the basic medical dilemma. The paradigms for psychiatric practice include multiple and ostensibly contradictory models: organic, psychodynamic, behavioural and social. This mélange of concepts stems from the fact that the fundamental manifestations of psychosis are disordered behaviours. The psychotic patient remains a person; his self-concept and relationships with others are central to the therapeutic encounter, whatever pharmacological adjuncts are employed. The same truths hold for all patients. The social matrix determines when and how the patient seeks what kind of help, his "compliance" with the recommended regimen and, to a significant extent, the functional outcome. When physicians dismiss illness because ascertainable "disease" is absent, they fail to meet their socially assigned responsibility. It is essential to reintegrate "scientific" and "social" concepts of disease and illness as a basis for a functional system of medical research and care.
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