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PubMedDate not supplied

Fractal dimension of the middle meningeal vessels: variation and evolution in Homo erectus, Neanderthals, and modern humans.

The middle meningeal vascular network leaves its traces on the endocranial surface because of the tight relationship between neurocranial development and brain growth. Analysing the endocast of fossil specimens, it is therefore possible to describe the morphology of these structures, leading inferences on the cerebral physiology and metabolism in extinct human groups. In this paper, general features of the meningeal vascular traces are described for specimens included in the Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis, and Homo sapiens hypodigms. The complexity of the arterial network is quantified by its fractal dimension, calculated through the box-counting method. Modern humans show significant differences from the other two taxa because of the anterior vascular dominance and the larger fractal dimension. Neither the fractal dimension nor the anterior development are merely associated with cranial size increase. Considering the differences between Neanderthals and modern humans, these results may be interpreted in terms of phylogeny, cerebral functions, or cranial structural network.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The use of dyes in modern biomedicine.

The discovery of the aniline dyes in the 19th century and contemporary investigation of their use as biological stains by scientists such as Koch and Ehrlich led to the idea of selectivity and formed the basis of modern chemotherapy; several of these dyes remain in pharmacopoeias. While the development of therapeutics has tended to avoid colored compounds due to unwanted coloration, the modern application of photosensitizing dyes, both in the fields of cancer therapy and anti-infection, depends on this phenomenon. In addition, the fluorescence of some anticancer photosensitizers allows their use as tumor localizing agents, which is particularly useful in precancerous conditions. It is also fitting that dyes employed in Ehrlich's original studies, such as the phenothiazinium dye, methylene blue, are now in clinical use for disinfecting donated blood products.

Anti-Infective Agents↗
PubMed2005

Modern and traditional practices of Turkish infertile couples.

OBJECTIVE: This investigation was carried out to determine modern and traditional practices of infertile couples in Kayseri, Turkey. METHODS: Two hundred and fifty-two infertile couples were selected from the study area. Modern and traditional practices of the infertile women and their husbands were investigated through a questionnaire. The effects of some factors on the utilization of traditional methods were analysed through the logistic regression method. RESULTS: It was found out that 92.5% of the infertile women and 71.8% of their husbands had consulted a physician for infertility and 92.1% of the women and 32.6% of their husbands had applied for medical or surgical intervention. However, only 11.1% of the couples had attempted in vitro fertilization. In contrast, 61.5% of the infertile couples admitted to carrying out traditional practices. All traditional practices were more prevalent among the women than the men. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that traditional practices were more prevalent in the rural areas and among the older couples.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Serum testosterone measurement in men: evaluation of modern immunoassay technologies.

Accurate measurement of serum testosterone (T) is essential for proper diagnosis of androgen deficiency. There are now several modern assay technologies, including automated ones, for measurement of T. In this study, we compared analytical performance of five modern immunoassay technologies commonly used for measurement of total T: Vitros ECi (Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics; normal range (n.r.) 4.6-34 nmol/L); Architect (Abbott Laboratories; n.r. 9.7-34 nmol/L); Access (Beckman Coulter; n.r. 5.3-23 nmol/L); Delfia (Perkin-Elmer; n.r. 9.3-34 nmol/L); and manual EIA DRG kits (n.r. 8.3-42 nmol/L), with the classical RIA (3H-T), after extraction (n.r. 11-33 nmol/L), as a reference method. Total T was measured using all above-mentioned methods in serum samples from 100 male patients, aged 16-65 years. Mean T concentrations in these 100 serum samples assayed by all non-isotopic methods were statistically significantly higher than those obtained by RIA. Delfia showed the highest T levels (19.3 nmol/L versus 12.1 nmol/L by RIA) with a positive bias 60-100%. Almost similar results were obtained using Architect, with a positive bias 40-70%. The closest correlation in results was found between Vitros ECi and RIA (12.7 nmol/L versus 12.1 nmol/L). In the studied samples, the median of differences ranged from minimal (-0.4 nmol/L for Vitros ECi) to maximal (-7.25 nmol/L for Delfia). For all non-isotopic methods, with the exception of Vitros ECi, differences in subjects with low T level (< 10 nmol/L) were statistically significantly larger than in the subjects with high T (T > 10 nmol/L). All other methods showed different degrees of dissimilarities with the RIA, especially in the range of low testosterone concentrations, which is of importance in the clinical assessment of women and pubertal boys.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Homosexuality in ancient and modern Korea.

This paper examines Korean views on the subject of male homosexuality. Using historical and contemporary sources, it seeks to explain elements of new cultural openness towards homosexuality in modern Korea. Korean people's understanding and knowledge of male homosexuality is ambiguous and limited. In the absence of knowledge and open communication, most Korean people imagine that male homosexuality is an abnormal and impure modern phenomenon. Prejudice and confusion lead most Korean male homosexuals to be estranged from their families, religious communities and non-homosexual peers. Moreover, they are often viewed as the 'carriers' of AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs). The purpose of this paper is to examine current Korean perspectives on male homosexuality by exploring both the ancient history of the practice of male homosexuality and current thinking about homosexual life among Koreans, which has played an important part in the formation of contemporary attitudes toward homosexuality.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

A global haplotype analysis of the myotonic dystrophy locus: implications for the evolution of modern humans and for the origin of myotonic dystrophy mutations.

Haplotypes consisting of the (CTG)n repeat, as well as several flanking markers at the myotonic dystrophy (DM) locus, were analyzed in normal individuals from 25 human populations (5 African, 2 Middle Eastern, 3 European, 6 East Asian, 3 Pacific/Australo-Melanesian, and 6 Amerindian) and in five nonhuman primate species. Non-African populations have a subset of the haplotype diversity present in Africa, as well as a shared pattern of allelic association. (CTG)18-35 alleles (large normal) were observed only in northeastern African and non-African populations and exhibit strong linkage disequilibrium with three markers flanking the (CTG)n repeat. The pattern of haplotype diversity and linkage disequilibrium observed supports a recent African-origin model of modern human evolution and suggests that the original mutation event that gave rise to DM-causing alleles arose in a population ancestral to non-Africans prior to migration of modern humans out of Africa.

Alleles↗
PubMed1999

Y-Chromosome evidence for a northward migration of modern humans into Eastern Asia during the last Ice Age.

The timing and nature of the arrival and the subsequent expansion of modern humans into eastern Asia remains controversial. Using Y-chromosome biallelic markers, we investigated the ancient human-migration patterns in eastern Asia. Our data indicate that southern populations in eastern Asia are much more polymorphic than northern populations, which have only a subset of the southern haplotypes. This pattern indicates that the first settlement of modern humans in eastern Asia occurred in mainland Southeast Asia during the last Ice Age, coinciding with the absence of human fossils in eastern Asia, 50,000-100,000 years ago. After the initial peopling, a great northward migration extended into northern China and Siberia.

Africa↗
PubMed2000

Genomic differentiation of Neanderthals and anatomically modern man allows a fossil-DNA-based classification of morphologically indistinguishable hominid bones.

Southern blot hybridizations of genomic DNA were introduced as a relatively simple fossil-DNA-based approach to classify remains of Neanderthals. When hybridized with genomic DNA of either human or Neanderthal origin, DNA extracted from two Neanderthal finds-the Os parietale, from Warendorf-Neuwarendorf, Germany, and a clavicula, from Krapina, Croatia-was shown to yield hybridization signals that differ by at least a factor of two compared to the signals obtained with the use of fossil DNA of an early Homo sapiens from the Vogelherd cave (Stetten I), Germany. When labeled chimpanzee DNA was used as a probe, Neanderthal and human DNA, however, revealed hybridization signals of similar intensity. Thus, the genome of Neanderthals is expected to differ significantly from the genome of anatomically modern man, because of the contrasting composition of repetitive DNA. These data support the hypothesis that Neanderthals were not ancestors of anatomically modern man.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Stratigraphic Analysis of Upper Cretaceous Rocks in the Mahajanga Basin, Northwestern Madagascar: Implications for Ancient and Modern Faunas.

Upper Cretaceous strata of the Mahajanga Basin, northwestern Madagascar, yield some of the most significant and exquisitely preserved vertebrate fossils known from Gondwana. The sedimentology of these strata and their stratigraphic relations have been the focus of renewed geological investigations during the course of five expeditions since 1993. We here designate stratotypes and formalize the terrestrial Maevarano Formation, with three new members (Masorobe, Anembalemba, Miadana), and the overlying marine Berivotra Formation. The Maevarano Formation accumulated on a broad, semiarid alluvial plain bounded to the southeast by crystalline highlands and to the northwest by the Mozambique Channel. The Berivotra Formation was deposited in an open marine setting that evolved from a clastic- to a carbonate-dominated shelf, resulting in deposition of the overlying Betsiboka limestone of Danian age. New stratigraphic data clearly indicate that the Maevarano Formation correlates, at least in part, with the Maastrichtian Berivotra Formation, and this in turn indicates that the most fossiliferous portions of the Maevarano Formation are Maastrichtian in age, rather than Campanian as previously reported. This revised age for the Maevarano vertebrate assemblage indicates that it is approximately contemporaneous with the vertebrate fauna recovered from the Deccan basalt volcano-sedimentary sequence of India. The comparable age of these two faunas is significant because the faunas appear to be more similar to one another than either is to those from any other major Gondwanan landmass. The revised age of the Maevarano Formation, when considered in the light of our recent fossil discoveries, further indicates that the ancestral stocks of Madagascar's overwhelmingly endemic modern vertebrate fauna arrived on the island in post-Mesozoic times. The basal stocks of the modern vertebrate fauna are conspicuously absent in the Maevarano Formation. Finally, the revised age of the Maevarano Formation serves to expand our global perspective on the K/T event by clarifying the age of a diverse, and arguably the best preserved, sample of Gondwanan vertebrates from the terminal Cretaceous.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

The microscopist of modern life.

This is an essay in the history of observation of the natural and social worlds. It explores how nineteenth-century Paris became a field and object of scientific observation and how the everyday lives, and even the health, of scientists living in the city and leaving the city for the "country" modeled observations and theoretical interpretation. The story concerns the first important work in the research school of Louis Pasteur to focus on a human and urban disease, diphtheria, rather than animal and rural ones. An urban field practice emerged from characteristically Parisian forms and literary fictions of street life and public space, leisure, spectacle, and crowds. Some of these, such as transcience, were (and still are) viewed as not only characteristic of "modern life," but also the source of new practices and sensibilities in painting and literature. Microbiological studies elsewhere --such as in New York and Hamburg--were based on very different urban structures, patterns of everyday life, national cultures, and aspects of modernity.

Biological Science Disciplines↗
PubMed1997

Determination of average glandular dose with modern mammography units for two large groups of patients.

Until recently, for mammography Mo anode-Mo filter x-ray tube assemblies were almost exclusively used. Modern mammography units provide the possibility to employ a variety of anode-filter combinations with the aim of adapting the x-ray spectrum to compressed breast thickness and composition. The present contribution provides information on the radiation exposure of two large groups of patients (one of 1678 and one of 945 women) who were mammographed with modern x-ray equipment, and on the dosimetry necessary for the evaluation. For dosimetric purposes spectral information is essential. X-ray spectra have been determined for various anode-filter combinations from measurements with a Ge detector. Based on these spectra, conversion factors from air kerma free in air to average glandular dose (g factors) have been calculated for different anode-filter combinations, compressed breast thickness ranging from 2 to 9 cm and breast compositions varying from 0 to 100% glandular tissue. Determinations of various quantities, including entrance surface air kerma (ESAK), tube output, tube loading (TL), fraction of glandular tissue (FGL) and compressed breast thickness, were made during actual mammography. Average glandular dose (AGD) was determined using g factors corrected for tissue composition as well as g values for standard breast composition, i.e. 50% adipose tissue and 50% glandular tissue by mass. It is shown that, on average, the influence of the actual breast composition causes variations of the order of about 15%. For group 1 and group 2, the mean values of average glandular dose (using g factors corrected for tissue composition) were 1.59 and 2.07 mGy respectively. The number of exposures per woman was on average 3.4 and 3.6 respectively. The mean value of compressed breast thickness was 55.9 and 50.8 mm respectively. The mean age of group 1 was 53.6 years (for group 2 the age was not recorded). The fraction by mass of glandular tissue FGL decrease with increasing compressed breast thickness and age of patient (from 75% at 25 mm to 20% at 80 mm, and from 65% at 20 years to 30% at 75 years). For a medium-sized breast, i.e. a compressed breast thickness of 55 mm, FGL is about 35%, indicating that the standard mix (FGL = 50%) might need some modification, particularly because of additional evidence from another investigation with similar results on FGL.

Adipose Tissue↗
PubMed1996

Post modern medicine.

Although there is general agreement that our current approach to health and healing is undergoing substantial change, there has been a lack of critical discussion regarding the extent, character, and direction of that change. It is important for us to articulate the values that we would like expressed in a reconfigured approach to health and healing, and to ensure that our efforts to initiate change are aligned with these values. An overview of western history suggests that the post-modern world view is characterized by four essential values: multidimensional realism, intentionality, holism, and personal authenticity. Our current efforts to change the direction of health care have failed to produce fundamental change. This has resulted from the compelling influence of existing perspectives and the promotion of parochial professional and institutional interests. To assure fundamental change, values that are consistent with a post-modern world must be articulated, fostered, and embedded into innovative programs.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed2006

Quality of life in patients treated with Kampo medicine: a complementary alternative to modern medicine.

OBJECTIVE: Kampo (Japanese traditional herbal medicine) is widely used as a complementary medicine for improving the quality of life (QOL) of patients in Japan. We investigated the efficacy of kampo therapy in improving QOL of patients with various diseases and disorders, using the World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief Scale (WHOQOL-BREF). DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and sixty-seven outpatients with various diseases or disorders wishing to receive kampo therapy and who had already been treated with modern medicines were recruited into the study. Patients were offered kampo formulas and modern medicines for 3 months. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Scores of WHOQOL-BREF and Clinical Global Impression (CGI) Global Improvement scale, and adverse events. RESULTS: Eleven patients were "very much improved," 46 were "much improved," 59 were "minimally improved," 42 showed "no change," 7 were "minimally worse," and one was "much worse" in the CGI Global Improvement scale. The mean WHOQOL-BREF score improved significantly from 3.05 +/- 0.54 at baseline to 3.14 +/- 0.53 after 3 months (p = 0.002). CONCLUSION: Patients presenting with various diseases and disorders were successfully treated with kampo therapy. Our results suggest that kampo therapy as a complementary medicine may improve the QOL of patients with various diseases and disorders.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Modern strategies to prevent coronary sequelae and stroke in hypertensive patients differ from the JNC V Consensus Guidelines.

In recent years, government agencies of many countries have established consensus guidelines for the evaluation and treatment of hypertension. Once published, guidelines tend to be perceived as directives by a variety of health care providers. Unfortunately, these guidelines often do not reflect the practices of most hypertension experts. This report summarizes the opinions of seven hypertension experts concerning the impact of "official" guidelines on clinical practice. In addition, the individual therapeutic recommendations of these panel members are summarized. Their different treatment strategies reflect the diversity of first rate treatment plans that aim to reduce the cardiovascular sequelae in individual patients with essential hypertension. Most importantly, not one of these seven treatment strategies followed the "preferred" treatment of the U.S. guidelines, which recommend diuretics and beta-blockers as first-line therapy. The present authors approach the treatment of hypertension as a means to reduce cardiovascular events. Thus, reduction of blood pressure is not the most important therapeutic endpoint. The panel believes that whereas many different drugs can produce effective blood pressure reduction, the modern primary goal of antihypertensive drug therapy is to select a regimen most likely to prolong the quality and duration of life. In real terms, this means that the primary goal of treatment is the prevention of the major vascular sequelae of hypertension (heart attack, ventricular remodeling, hypertrophy, heart failure, and stroke) that shorten useful life. There are a number of effective hypertensive treatments, which can be selected based on individual patient requirements. However, many consensus guidelines do not allow the flexibility required to optimize individual patient treatment. As a result, health care providers should not feel compelled to regard the preferences of "official" guidelines as the best, modern, state-of-the-art therapy for an individual patient. All seven experts who are deeply involved in the daily care of patients preferred drugs other than beta-blockers and diuretics (the Joint National Committee [JNC] choices) for first-line therapy of hypertension.

Cardiovascular Diseases↗
PubMed1990

Management of health risks in the arsenic production industry: modern production in Chile in the context of past experience in Britain.

The hazards presented by arsenic are well known, and the notoriety gained by its use as a poison in previous years has affected attitudes towards the commercial production and employment of a very useful substance. It is not widely realized that Britain was the world's largest producer of arsenic around the turn of the century. Production has now ceased and any reserves that still exist will probably remain unexploited, despite the modern requirement for arsenic by the wood treatment and microelectronics industries. This demand is being satisfied by mines in other countries which use essentially the same refining process as that employed in England a century ago. This paper compares what is known about conditions of work and health in the English arsenic industry then with modern conditions at a Chilean production plant, and shows how the perception and management of the risks involved in a hazardous operation stems from the complex inter-relationship of technological, social, political and economic factors. In particular, the results of this survey explain why, in many previous surveys, a poor correlation was found between airborne and urinary arsenic measurements. Both measures appear to be strongly influenced by the particular type of work undertaken and this can be related to the chemical form of the arsenic present. Within each job category, the most important factor affecting their correlation is the difference in use of respiratory protection equipment.

Arsenic↗
PubMed1994

A comparison of medieval and modern dentitions.

The dentitions of 23 skulls, mostly excavated from a 'plague pit' dating from 1348, were investigated using a Reflex Metrograph. The measurements obtained were compared with those from a modern control sample. It was found that in the medieval dentitions the arch widths were significantly wider, arch lengths and tooth lengths smaller, and the degree of irregularity of the teeth was greater than a modern group.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Prediction of sudden cardiac death after acute myocardial infarction: role of Holter monitoring in the modern treatment era.

AIMS: Current treatment may have changed the risk profiles of survivors of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). We evaluated the utility of Holter-based risk variables in the prediction of sudden cardiac death (SCD) among survivors of AMI treated with modern therapy. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 2130 AMI patients (mean age 59 +/- 10 years) were included. The patients were treated with modern therapeutic strategies, for example, 94% were on beta-blocking therapy and 70% underwent coronary revascularization. Various risk parameters from Holter monitoring were analysed. During a median follow-up of 1012 days (interquartile range: 750-1416 days), cardiac mortality was 113/2130, including 52 SCDs. All Holter variables predicted the occurrence of SCD (P<0.01), but only reduced post-ectopic turbulence slope (TS) (P<0.001) and non-sustained ventricular tachycardia (P<0.01) remained as marked SCD predictors after adjustment for age, diabetes, and ejection fraction (EF). In a subgroup analysis, none of the Holter variables predicted SCD among those with an EF < or = 0.35, but many variables predicted SCD among those with an EF >0.35, particularly TS (hazard ratio 5.9; 95% CI 2.9-11.7, P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Among the post-AMI patients treated according to the current guidelines, the incidence of SCD is low. Various Holter variables still predict the occurrence of SCD, particularly among the patients with preserved left ventricular function.

Death, Sudden, Cardiac↗
PubMed1997

The association of modernization with dyslipidaemia and changes in lipid levels in the Polynesian population of Western Samoa.

BACKGROUND: Obesity and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) have increased in prevalence in Polynesian Western Samoans over the 13-year period 1978-1991, as the population undergoes an 'epidemiological transition'. METHODS: We therefore investigated changes in the frequency of dyslipidaemia over the same period in adults aged 25-74 years, and examined factors associated with dyslipidaemia in cross-sectional and longitudinal data. Subjects were drawn from three geographically defined locations representing different degrees of modernization. RESULTS: The age-standardized prevalence of dyslipidaemia increased in each location between 1978 (n = 1197) and 1991 (n = 1748) with the prevalence of hypercholesterolaemia (> or = 5.5 mmol/l) increasing from 18% to 36% (P < 0.001), and that of hypertriglyceridaemia (> or = 2.0 mmol/l) increasing from 9% to 15% (P < 0.001) in the capital city, Apia. In 1991 the highest serum concentrations of total, high density lipoprotein (HDL) and calculated low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol were found in Poutasi (intermediate level of modernization), and the highest triglyceride levels in urbanized Apia. Higher levels of body mass index (BMI), waist-hip ratio (WHR), glucose intolerance, fasting insulin concentration, physical inactivity, educational level, and occupational status were all associated with adverse lipid levels in univariate data. Obesity (BMI in women, WHR in men) and survey location were the most important correlates of abnormal lipid levels in logistic regression models. Fasting insulin was also independently associated with high triglyceride levels in men, while in women the increasing levels of fasting insulin were associated with adverse levels of total, LDL and HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides. In longitudinal data (n = 311), lower baseline levels of cholesterol and triglycerides were associated with greater increases in either parameter at follow-up. Elevated fasting insulin and female gender also predicted increasing cholesterol concentrations, and urban residence predicted an increase in triglyceride levels. CONCLUSIONS: Current levels of dyslipidaemia in Western Samoa are similar to those observed in developed Western populations, and are increasing rapidly. These findings, considered along with the high prevalence of other cardiovascular disease risk factors in Samoans, including smoking, obesity and NIDDM, suggest that cardiovascular disease will be a major health concern in the future.

Adult↗