Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “VACATIONS”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 703 records · Page 39Linked to original sources
PubMed2004

Development of a questionnaire to measure quality of life in families with a child with food allergy.

BACKGROUND: Food allergy is potentially severe, affects approximately 5% of children, and requires numerous measures for food avoidance to maintain health. The effect of this disease on health-related quality of life (HRQL) has been documented by using generic instruments, but no disease-specific instrument is available. OBJECTIVE: To create a validated, food allergy-specific HRQL instrument to measure parental burden associated with having a child with food allergy: the Food Allergy Quality of Life-Parental Burden questionnaire. METHODS: After identification of 74 items affecting families with children with food allergy, 88 families were approached for effect scoring. Final items were generated by score results, elimination of redundancies, and content review. Resulting high-effect areas were queried for validation with a 7-point Likert scale. A final instrument including 17 items and 2 expectation of outcome questions was distributed to 352 families for validation. RESULTS: Areas of effect included family/social activities (restaurant meals, social activities, child care, vacation), school, time for meal preparation, health concerns, and emotional issues. Validation steps showed strong internal validity (Cronbach alpha, 0.95) and good correlation with expectation of outcome questions ( r = 0.412; P < .01) and scores on a generic HRQL instrument, the Children's Health Questionnaire-PF50 ( r = -0.36 to -0.4; P < .01). The instrument showed the ability to discriminate by disease burden: parents whose children had multiple (>2) food allergies were more affected than parents whose children had fewer allergies (scores, 3.1 vs 2.6; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: The Food Allergy Quality of Life-Parental Burden demonstrates strong internal and cross-sectional validity. Its discriminative ability suggests that it will be a useful tool to measure outcomes in treatment studies of food allergy for children.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Factors associated with time of day of sexual activity among adolescent women.

BACKGROUND: Our objective was to describe familial, intrapersonal, and partner-related factors associated with time of day of sexual activity among adolescent women. METHODS: Annual questionnaires and daily diaries were collected from 106 adolescents. Participants contributed up to 3 questionnaires and 5 12-week diary periods over 27 months. Predictor variables included type of day (weekend, school day, vacation day); partner variables (argument with partner, partner emotional support, time spent with partner); parent/family variables such as supervision, monitoring, and attitudes about adolescent sexual behavior; and mood and behavior variables such as negative mood, positive mood, and sexual interest. The outcome variable for each diary day was no coitus, coitus between noon and 6 pm, or coitus after 6 pm. RESULTS: Coitus occurred on 12.0% of the diary days. Coital events were more than twice as likely to occur after 6 pm (8.5% of days) than in the afternoon (3.5% of days). Afternoon sex was least likely to occur on school days whereas evening sex occurred most often on weekends. An argument with a partner, partner emotional support, time spent with partner, sexual interest, and coital frequency were associated with increased likelihood of afternoon sex, whereas parental supervision and negative mood were associated with decreased likelihood of afternoon sex. For school days, skipping school was associated with increased likelihood of afternoon sex. Evening/night sexual activity was not associated with any parent/family variables. CONCLUSION: Afternoon sex on school days is relatively uncommon. Direct parental supervision may decrease afternoon sexual activity but relationship and intrapersonal factors also are important factors in the timing of sexual activity on any given day.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

The ring of the rhodopsin chromophore in a hydrophobic activation switch within the binding pocket.

The current view that the beta-ionone ring of the rhodopsin chromophore vacates its binding pocket within the protein early in the photocascade has been adopted in efforts to provide structural models of photoreceptor activation. This event casts doubt on the ability of this covalently bonded ligand to participate directly in later stages involving activation of the photoreceptor and it is difficult to translate into predictions for the activation of related G protein-coupled receptors by diffusable ligands (e.g. neurotransmitters). The binding pocket fixes the formally equivalent pair of ring methyl groups (C16/C17) in different orientations that can be distinguished easily by (13)C NMR. Solid-state NMR observations on C16 and C17 are reported here that show instead that the ring is retained with strong selective interactions within the binding site into the activated state. We further show how increased steric interactions for this segment in the activated receptor can be explained by adjustment in the protein structure around the ring whilst it remains in its original location. This describes a plausible role for the ring in operating a hydrophobic switch from within the aromatic cluster of helix 6 of rhodopsin, which is coupled to electronic changes within the receptor through water-mediated, hydrogen-bonded networks between the conserved residues in G protein-coupled receptors.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

[Influenza and travelling].

There is a risk for the traveler to acquire an exotic disease when traveling and to introduce it in non-endemic areas after returning. Influenza is a good example of such a disease. The incidence of flu in travelers is unknown. However, numerous outbreaks of flu have been reported in groups of travelers: package tours, pilgrims, elderly people, and travel by plane or cruise ships. Nowadays vaccination against flu is not recommended in travelers unless they belong to groups at risk for flu. Nonetheless vaccination against flu is difficult to apply to travelers due to problems in vaccine availability and inadequacy between vaccine strains and strains responsible for ongoing outbreaks in the opposite hemisphere. This vaccination seems important to travelers because flu may impair their vacation. In addition, it is also interesting for the community if it limits the spread of flu worldwide.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

[Severe imported malaria in adults].

Severe malaria is characterized by the presence of asexual forms of Plasmodium falciparum in the blood and the presence of one or more OMS 2000 criterion. Imported malaria is defined as malarial infection acquired in an endemic country (often in sub-Saharan Africa) and treated in France. The largest patient group includes African patients, long-term residents in France, coming back from a vacation in their native country. In non-immunized adults, severe malaria causes multiple organe failure such as severe Gram-negative sepsis, with variable degrees of altered mental status. Severe sepsis is treated in an intensive care unit (mechanically assisted ventilation, kidney dialysis, vasoconstrictors...). Intravenous quinine is the reference treatment, but artemisinin derivatives (arthemeter and artesunate) are the most rapidly acting antimalarial drugs.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Elevated levels of ferrimagnetic metals in foodchains supporting the Guam cluster of neurodegeneration: do metal nucleated crystal contaminants [corrected] evoke magnetic fields that initiate the progressive pathogenesis of neurodegeneration?

Elevated levels of aluminium (Al), strontium (Sr), barium (Ba), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn) cations - combined with deficiencies of magnesium (Mg)/calcium (Ca) - have been observed in the foodchains that traditionally support the Chamorro populations affected by high incidence clusters of Alzheimer (AD), Parkinson-like (PD), motor neurone diseases and multiple sclerosis on the island of Guam. Soils drawn from the cluster region demonstrated an excessive fivefold increase in 'magnetic susceptibility' readings in relation to soils from disease free adjoining regions. A multifactorial aetiological hypothesis is proposed that pivots upon the combined exposure to high levels of natural/industrial sources of ferrimagnetic/ferroelectric compounds incorporating Al, Fe, Mn, Sr, Ba (e.g., via yam/seafood consumption or exposure to world war 2 (WW2) munitions) and to low levels of Mg/Ca in all S. Pacific locations where these clusters of neurodegenerative disease have simultaneously erupted. Once gut/blood brain barrier permeability is impaired, the increased uptake of Al, Fe, Sr, Ba, or Mn into the Mg/Ca depleted brain leads to rogue metal substitutions at the Mg/Ca vacated binding domains on various enzyme/proteoglycan groups, causing a broad ranging disruption in Mg/Ca dependent systems - such as the glutamine synthetase which prevents the accumulation of neurotoxic glutamate. The rogue metals chelate sulphate, disrupting sulphated-proteoglycan mediated inhibition of crystal proliferation, as well as its regulation of the Fibroblast growth factor receptor complex which disturbs the molecular conformation of those receptors and their regulation of transphosphorylation between intracellular kinase domains; ultimately collapsing proteoglycan mediated cell-cell signalling pathways which maintain the growth and structural integrity of the neuronal networks. The depression of Mg/Ca dependent systems in conjunction with the progressive ferrimagnetisation of the CNS due to an overload of rogue ferroelectric/ferrimagnetic metal contaminants, enables 'seeding' of metal-protein crystalline arrays that can proliferate in the proteoglycan depleted brain. The resulting magnetic field emissions initiate a free radical mediated progressive pathogenesis of neurodegeneration. The co-clustering of these various types of disease in select geographical pockets around the world suggests that all of these conditions share a common early life exposure to ferromagnetic metal nucleating agents in their multifactorial aetiology. Factors such as individual genetics, the species of metal involved, etc., dictate which specific class of disease will emerge as a delayed neurotoxic response to these environmental insults.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis↗
PubMed2005

DNA binding selectivity of MeCP2 due to a requirement for A/T sequences adjacent to methyl-CpG.

DNA methylation is interpreted by a family of methyl-CpG binding domain (MBD) proteins that repress transcription through recruitment of corepressors that modify chromatin. To compare in vivo binding of MeCP2 and MBD2, we analyzed immunoprecipitated chromatin from primary human cells. Genomic sites occupied by the two MBD proteins were mutually exclusive. As MeCP2 was unable to colonize sites vacated by depletion of MBD2, we tested the hypothesis that methyl-CpG alone is insufficient to direct MeCP2 binding. In vitro selection for MeCP2 bound DNA-enriched fragments containing A/T bases ([A/T] > or = 4) adjacent to methyl-CpG. [A/T] > or = 4 was found to be essential for high-affinity binding at selected sites and at known MeCP2 target regions in the Bdnf and Dlx6 genes. MBD2 binding, however, did not require an A/T run. The unexpected restriction of MeCP2 to a defined subset of methyl-CpG sites will facilitate identification of genomic targets that are relevant to Rett Syndrome.

Adenine↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Better breathing or better living? A qualitative analysis of the impact of asthma medication acquisition on standard of living and quality of life in low-income families of children with asthma.

INTRODUCTION: Purchasing children's asthma medications places a burden on low-income families. The objective of this study was to explore how purchasing children's asthma medications influenced household purchasing behavior and quality of life in low-income families with no drug insurance. METHOD: Seventeen parents residing in the Greater Toronto Area with no drug plan and with household incomes below 45,000 US dollars (twice the U.S. poverty level) participated. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, emphasizing the topics of prescription drugs used and cost versus effectiveness; purchasing behavior and drug administration; effects of medication purchasing on the family; and payment assistance. Transcribed narratives were coded and analyzed thematically. RESULTS: Annual expenditures for asthma drugs were 300 US dollars to 3000 US dollars. Because asthma management was a high priority, foregone expenditures included paying for other family members' health needs, essentials (clothing, food, better housing), and nonessentials (recreation, vacations) and long-term investments, such as their child's future education and their retirement. Respondents believed quality of life was negatively affected. DISCUSSION: Not addressing the health concerns of family members, making sacrifices, and modifying investment decisions created sustained anxiety in families of children with asthma. Access to medication benefits would have a positive impact on quality of life. Health care providers can help to ensure that low-income families receive available assistance.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Issues in physician contracting.

Dermatologists will enter into a number of different contracts during their professional careers. It is important that in each agreement they enter, dermatologists reap the benefits that they aspire for and understand the consequences of each provision. This article addresses just a few of the different issues that arise in physician contracting, such as choosing the appropriate form of business entity; the importance of a writing; term and termination of the contract; compensation models; benefits, vacation and other time off included in the contract; malpractice insurance; and restrictive covenants. Each provision should be carefully analyzed to ensure that it will protect the best interests of the dermatologist in that situation.

Contracts↗
PubMed2005

Retrospective: animal attacks and rabies exposures in Thai children.

Over 50% of animal bites and potential rabies exposures in Thailand are in children and they also have the more severe injuries due to inexperience, smaller size and less ability to fend off attacks. Potential rabies exposures and animal bites are common in Thailand. Majority of these are in children where the extent of the injuries is also much more severe. The bitten areas correlate to the age of the children and level of the bitten animal head. These are areas noted for a higher risk of infection with rabies virus and shorter incubation periods. The vast majority of bites are due to dogs (86%) of which 74.6% are stray or community-owned animals. The prevalence of dog bites shows no seasonal variation in adults but there are two peaks during school vacation period for children. Extensive educational efforts directed at the Thai public are responsible for the rapid presentation of victims for post-exposure treatment. The dramatic reduction of human rabies deaths in Thailand during the last decades was achieved largely by the provision of expensive WHO standard post-exposure treatment, utilizing modern tissue culture vaccines and immunoglobulins. Canine and feline rabies is nevertheless still endemic and not likely to be controlled or eliminated till sustainable humane methods of dog population control and comprehensive countrywide canine rabies vaccination become possible through government policy.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2005

Biological monitoring of exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by determination of unmetabolized compounds in urine.

In this paper we evaluated the possibility to assess occupational exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) measuring unmetabolized PAHs in urine. With this aim, 24 road paving (RP) workers, exposed to bitumen fumes, and 6 road construction workers (CW), exposed to diesel exhausts, were investigated. Median personal exposure to low boiling PAHs (from naphthalene to pyrene) during the work shift ranged from 0.5 to 369 ng/m(3), with naphthalene as the most abundant compound. Three urine samples were collected for each worker: baseline (after 2 days of vacation), before- and end-shift samples (in the second part of the work week). The following urinary compounds were measured by headspace-solid phase microextraction GC/MS: naphthalene (U-NAP), acenaphthylene (U-ACY), acenaphthene (U-ACE), fluorene (U-FLE), phenanthrene (U-PHE), anthracene (U-ANT), fluoranthene (U-FLU), pyrene (U-PYR). Urinary PAHs were detected in almost all samples. Median levels for U-NAP, U-PHE, U-PYR and U-FLE in end-shift samples were 82, 48, 54 and 21 ng/L in RP and 69, 14, 24 and 15 ng/L in CW, respectively. Significant differences in the levels of U-PHE, U-FLU and U-PYR were found between RP and CW (p<0.05). Moreover in RP samples the urinary excretion of most analytes increased during the work shift (p<0.05). These results suggest that urinary PAHs may be useful biomarkers of occupational exposure.

Air Pollutants, Occupational↗
PubMed2006

Serological evidence of Mycoplasma cynos infection in canine infectious respiratory disease.

A high proportion of dogs suffer from respiratory disease when they are placed in kennels for vacation or re-homing. The role of Mycoplasma cynos as an initiating agent in canine infectious respiratory disease was investigated by examining the serological response of dogs to this organism at the time of entry into a large re-homing kennel. Forty-two paired serum samples from dogs (21-day interval) were examined for antibody to M. cynos using Western blotting. The development of antibody in the serum was related to clinical disease recorded over the same period. Sixty seven per cent of the dogs showed a two-fold or greater rise in antibody to M. cynos during the first 3 weeks in the kennel. Reactivity with a 45kDa antigen was dominant. Of those showing a positive serological reaction, 80% had recorded clinical respiratory disease while 20% remained healthy. The findings of this study show that an antibody response to M. cynos is common in dogs entering the re-homing kennel and is positively related to the development of clinical respiratory disease.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Multiple mechanisms of phenotype development in the bluehead wrasse.

Despite having detailed information on mechanisms mediating sex-typical behavior in many species, we have little understanding of whether the same mechanisms regulate these behaviors when they are performed in the same species under different social contexts. In the five field experiments of this study of bluehead wrasses (Thalassoma bifasciatum), a sex-changing fish, we examined the roles of arginine vasotocin (AVT) and the potent teleost androgen 11-ketotestosterone (11KT) in mediating sexual and aggressive behaviors typical of dominant males. We demonstrated that AVT appears necessary for the assumption of dominant territorial status in males and females, but is sufficient only in the socially dominant terminal phase (TP) male phenotype. Specifically, an AVP V(1) receptor antagonist prevented both TP males and females from gaining dominance over recently vacated territories. However, unlike TP males in a previous study, neither females nor initial phase males responded to AVT treatment with increases in display of TP male typical behaviors when under social conditions that inhibit sex change. Treating females with 11KT did not alter responsiveness to AVT, but did induce male coloration and courtship behavior that was not observed in oil-treated females. Combined with the results of a previous study, these results indicate that the ability of AVT to induce male-typical behavior differs among sexual phenotypes and that this differential responsiveness appears to be dependent on social context and not directly on exposure to 11KT. Furthermore, since 11KT can induce courtship behavior in females that is not affected by AVT, there may be different hormonal mechanisms mediating courtship behavior under different social contexts.

Aggression↗
PubMed2005

Long-term increase in sunscreen use in an Australian community after a skin cancer prevention trial.

BACKGROUND: Given the public health burden of skin cancer in white populations, an increase in sun protective behavior is needed. In a high-risk community, we assessed long-term sunscreen use among people who had participated in a randomized trial of daily sunscreen application for prevention of skin cancer. METHODS: In 1992, 1621 residents of the subtropical Australian township of Nambour were randomly allocated to either daily or discretionary sunscreen use until 1996. From 1997 to 2002, we monitored by questionnaires their ongoing sunscreen use. RESULTS: People who had never or irregularly used sunscreen when in summer sun before the trial were more likely (P < 0.0001) to be sustaining regular application especially to their face (20% vs. 11%) and forearms (14% vs. 5%) if they had been allocated to daily, not discretionary, use of sunscreen for 5 years. CONCLUSIONS: Regular voluntary sunscreen use for skin cancer prevention can be sustained by sun-sensitive people in the long term. Habit formation appears to be an important goal for sun protection programs among those living, or on vacation, in sunny places.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

The impact of the kidskin sun protection intervention on summer suntan and reported sun exposure: was it sustained?

BACKGROUND: Recognition that early sun exposure is an important risk factor for cutaneous melanoma in white populations has led to efforts to reduce children's sun exposure. 'Kidskin' was a non-randomized, school-based sun protection intervention trial in Perth, Western Australia (1995-1999). Its aim was to determine the extent to which such a program could reduce children's sun exposure. METHODS: Kidskin involved 1614 children assigned to one of three groups: a Control, a 'Moderate' and a 'High' intervention group of 14, 11 and 8 schools respectively. The unit of assignment was the school. Control schools received the standard health education curriculum, while intervention schools received a multi-component intervention including a specially designed curriculum. The High intervention group received additional components. Outcomes included parent reported sun-related behaviors and objectively measured suntan at the end of summer vacation. These outcomes were observed every 2 years. Statistical analyses allowed for correlations between students within schools. RESULTS: Kidskin initially had favorable effects on reported sun exposure and measured suntan. However, at the end of the 4-year program, and again 2 years later, little evidence of a favorable effect remained. CONCLUSIONS: The benefits of childhood sun protection interventions may not last beyond the life of the program.

Child↗
PubMed2006

Community-based study on summer-winter differences of component of metabolic syndrome in Kinmen, Taiwan.

BACKGROUND: A community-based study was conducted to investigate summer-winter differences of component of metabolic syndrome in Kinmen, Taiwan. METHODS: A total of 8251 residents aged 40 and over were enrolled in the mass survey in Kinmen. They were investigated while on summer (July and August) and winter vacation (January and February) during 2000-2003. Demographics, physical examination findings, lifestyle variables and biochemical data were collected. RESULTS: After controlling for age, body mass index, diet, lifestyle and other risk factors for component of metabolic syndrome, there were independent and significant relationships between summer-winter difference and component of metabolic syndrome. Winter season was positively correlated with blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose level, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) and waist circumference, but was negatively associated with fasting triglycerides and metabolic syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: Summer season is positively associated with hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL-C and metabolic syndrome. These findings imply that cross-sectional, experimental and cohort studies of component of metabolic syndrome or metabolic syndrome should take season into account as possible confounding effects.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Epidemiology of road traffic accidents during pleasure travelling: the evidence from the Island of Crete.

During the six-month period April to September 1995, all 730 road traffic injury victims who contacted any of the three hospitals of the Heraklion District in the island of Crete, directly or through the Medical Emergency Transportation Network, were recorded. A special form was completed containing information about selected characteristics of the victims, nature of the injuries and conditions of the accident. All 39 fatalities owing to road traffic accidents were also registered. In the absence of data concerning the person-time at risk only proportional analyses could be performed. On the basis of Greek hospital discharge statistics in Heraklion District during 1992, one foreigner visitor was discharged owing to injuries of any type for every 18 Greeks. The corresponding ratio for road traffic accidents is close to 1:3, underlying the importance of road traffic accidents as the major health hazard during pleasure travelling. Left-side driving country nationals were at an increased risk for traffic accident when they drove a rented rather than an owned vehicle (p = 0.02), possibly on account of maladaptation during the adjustment period in the country of visit. Moreover, road traffic victims from left-side driving countries compared with foreigners from right-side driving countries were involved 2.5 times more frequently in accidents in which overpassing or other driving maneuvers require reflexes conditioned on reverse directionality (p = 0.02). Alcohol abuse was reported as a primary cause of accident in a significantly higher proportion of foreign nationals (p < 10(-6)) reflecting the fact that the latter group was on vacation. Alcohol intoxication was more common among Eastern European victims than among victims from European Union countries (p < 10(-5)). The likelihood of death following hospitalization ranged from 0% among those with a Glascow Coma Scale (GCS) score of 8 or higher, to 90% among those with GCS less than 8. After adjustment for exact GCS score there was no difference in the probability of death or the likelihood for admission to intensive care unit between Greek and foreign nationals. Road traffic accidents are a major hazard during pleasure travelling and victims of such accidents among travellers have a distinct epidemiologic profile compared with accidents of a similar nature among locals.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1997

Building your business--setting your fees: a cost-based approach.

Business costs include salary, benefits, self-employment tax, and business and office expenses. Salable time does not include holidays, sick or personal days, and vacations. According to fee-setting experts, most self-employed people engage in revenue-generating activities 50% to 75% of their working hours. Fair prices reflect the cost of your business or service, including all your overhead.

Costs and Cost Analysis↗