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 775 records · Page 43Linked to original sources
PubMed1999

[From epidemiology of melanoma to prevention--facts and references].

Melanoma incidence rates in Switzerland are very high for European standards. Incidence is increasing like in other white populations; melanoma mortality has stopped its secular increase and is decreasing in people under the age of 65. The reasons for the high melanoma rates in Switzerland can only be guessed: Switzerland is a rich country (melanoma is more prevalent among the rich); the Swiss are known to spend their vacations in Southern countries, exposing themselves to the sun. The paradox of increasing incidence and decreasing mortality rates is discussed, also from the view of the histopathologist. Melanoma patients are at increased risk for subsequent skin carcinoma (basalioma/spinalioma) and vice versa. This may be explained by the common risk factor: sun exposure. The importance of primary prevention is stressed; the Swiss Cancer League is organising annual education campaigns among youngsters. Secondary prevention should focus on high risk groups: families prone to melanoma; older men.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

[Travel with small children].

Travelling with young children can lead to difficult situations. Accordingly, travel preparations should be geared towards the needs of the youngest with appropriate medical advise. Young children tolerate most means of transportation. When travelling long distances by car, clear rules ought to be established, and many children require antiemetic measures. With regards to traffic safety, compromises during family vacation are not acceptable. Travelling by plane or train is less stressful than travelling by bus or car. As a medical advisor, one ought to be familiar with age limits for certain immunizations and medications (particularly antimalarial agents). Parental knowledge of modern rules for oral rehydration in cases of traveller's diarrhoea is frequently insufficient. Whenever possible, travelling with young children to high risk regions should be avoided.

Child↗
PubMed2003

[Regeneration capacity of skeletal muscle].

The organotypic stem cell of skeletal muscle has previously been known as satellite cell. They allow muscle fiber growth during ontogenesis, enable fiber hypertrophy and are responsible for the very efficient repair of muscle fibers. This efficient apparatus is to some degree counterbalanced by an enormous use of the satellite cell pool: fiber atrophy probably is accompanied by loss of myonuclei such that every reversal of atrophy is bound to use new myonuclei i.e. satellite cells. How often in life does this occur? Hard to say. Moreover, the potent repair capacity is challenged by an unexpected vulnerability of skeletal muscle fibers: Passive stretching of contracted muscles may cause multiple "microdamage," disruption of contractile elements or tiny areas of true necrosis (focal necrosis). How often does this happen? Well, for many of us at least once per year when we go up and down mountains during vacation time, followed by sour muscles. Others may decide to change his/her (locomotor) behaviour by severe onset of jogging; it may happen that they suffer kidney failure on Monday due to muscle microdamage and the transfer of myoproteins into the serum over weekend. Also 20 minutes of stepping up and down something like a chair will do: There is a remarkable increase in kreatin kinase and other muscle derived proteins which lasts for days and is bound to reflect some muscle damage. How about sportsmen and worker who repeatedly use their muscles in such a way? We don't have answers yet to most of these questions, but considerable amount of information has been collected over the last years both in animal and--less--in human. What is common in all cases of growth and repair is the proliferation of the satellite cells and their consequent incorporation and fusion with the parent fiber. This way focal damage is repaired often without visible reminders. We would run out of satellite cells were they not stem cells: After division one daughter remains a satellite cell while the other is free to divide. Divide how often? Important for the human cells since the cell ages and proliferates slower and slower till it stops to divide at all, at least in culture. The same is true for the new satellite cell. This we know from recent experiments in which human biopsies derived myogenic cells were grown in vitro and in vivo (by implanting them into skeletal muscles of immunoincompetent mice): Growth correlates negatively with age of the donor. Between age 2 and some 70 years, about two divisions are performed by each satellite cell in human vastus lateralis and biceps brachii muscle in 10 years in the average. Most important for the older among us: at age 76 there are still some 13 divisions left before complete exhaustion. However, there are diseases like Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) in which muscle fibers lack a structural protein with the effect of enhanced vulnerability to mechanical stress. There the enhanced use of the satellite cell pool makes the remaining growth capacity in an 8-years-old child as low as otherwise found at age 80. Some time ago, implantation of genetically intact myoblasts obtained from healthy relatives has been proposed as a treatment of DMD. Every logic would have predicted that some local implantation of whatever numbers of cells was bound to fail rescue the complete masculature or at least the muscles for breathing. The human as guinea pig? Now, even years later, we still collect the basic information on growth of human myoblasts and start thinking of ways for systemic application and quantitatively relevant incorporation of the myogenic stem cell or other--possibly pluripotent--stem cells derived from bone marrow.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Mixed reference frames for dynamic inhibition of return.

Reference frames mediating inhibition of return (IOR) in dynamic displays were investigated by comparing the effects of a cue in simple versus extended objects. Experiment 1 replicated S. P. Tipper, B. Weaver, L. M. Jerreat, and A. L. Burak's (1994) finding of location- and object-based IOR for boxes rotating about fixation. In Experiments 2 and 3, the boxes were replaced by two boomerang-shaped objects. Response times were slowed to all target locations across a cued object. They were also slowed to locations vacated by the uncued region of the cued object-evidence for a representation the authors call the "perceptual footprint." Whereas an object served as the medium for location-based IOR for B. S. Gibson and H. Egeth (1994), the environment served as the medium for object- and location-based IOR in Experiments 2 and 3. This suggests that (a) frames of reference may be considered hierarchically and (b) nesting of frames is context dependent.

Cues↗
PubMed1998

Relief from job stressors and burnout: reserve service as a respite.

To reveal the ameliorative impact of being away from job stressors on burnout, we compared 81 men who were called for active reserve service with 81 matched controls in the same company who were not called during the same period. Each reservist and his control completed questionnaires shortly before the reservist left work for a stint of service and immediately on his return. Analysis of variance detected a significant decline in job stress and burnout among those who served and no change among the control participants. Among those who served, quality of reserve service and degree of psychological detachment from work interacted in moderating the respite effects; the greater the detachment, the stronger the effect positive reserve service experience had in relieving reservists from stress and burnout. Reserve service is discussed as a special case of stress-relieving get-away from work that may be experienced as an ameliorative respite akin to vacation.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

A cavity-containing mutant of T4 lysozyme is stabilized by buried benzene.

The hydrophobic cores of proteins are generally well packed, with few cavities. Mutations in which a bulky buried residue such as leucine or phenylalanine is replaced with a small residue such as alanine can create cavities in the core of a protein (our unpublished results). The sizes and shapes of such cavities can vary substantially depending on factors such as local geometry, whether or not a cavity already exists at the site of substitution, and the degree to which the protein structure relaxes to occupy the space vacated by the substituted residue. We show by crystallographic and thermodynamic analysis that the cavity created by the replacement Leu 99----Ala in T4 lysozyme is large enough to bind benzene and that ligand binding increases the melting temperature of the protein by 6.0 degrees C at pH 3.0. Benzene does not, however, bind to the cavity created by the Phe 153----Ala replacement. The results show that cavities can be engineered in proteins and suggest that such cavities might be tailored to bind specific ligands. The binding of benzene at an internal site 7 A from the molecular surface also illustrates the dynamic nature of proteins, even in crystals.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

The relationship between skin cancers, solar radiation and ozone depletion.

During the period 1957-1984 the annual age-adjusted incidence rate of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) increased by 350% for men and 440% for women in Norway. The annual exposure to carcinogenic sunlight in Norway, calculated by use of measured ozone levels, showed no increasing trend during the same period. Thus, ozone depletion is not a cause of the increasing trend of the incidence rates of skin cancers. The incidence rates of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) increase with decreasing latitude in Norway. The same is true for CMM in Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Our data were used to estimate the implications of a future ozone depletion for the incidence rates of skin cancer: a 10% ozone depletion was found to give rise to a 16-18% increase in the incidence rate of SCC (men and women), a 19% increase in the incidence rate of CMM for men and a 32% increase in the incidence rate of CMM for women. The difference between the numbers for men and women is almost significant and may be related to a different intermittent exposure pattern to sunlight of the two sexes. The increasing trend in the incidence rates of CMM is strongest for the trunk and lower extremities of women, followed by that for the trunk of men. The increasing incidence rates of skin cancers as well as the changing pattern of incidence on different parts of the body is most likely due to changing habits of sun exposure. Comparisons of relative densities of CMM, SCC, LMM and SCC falling per unit area of skin at different parts of the body indicate that sun exposure is the main cause of these cancer forms although other unknown factors may play significant roles as well. For the population as a whole sun exposure during vacations to sunny countries has so far been of minor importance in skin cancer induction.

Environmental Exposure↗
PubMed2005

Financing student education in the future.

Funding arrangements for university students entering courses will undergo a major change from 2006. From that date, universities will be able to charge students up to pounds 3,000 in tuition fees as a contribution to their education. Dental students may be disproportionately affected by the resulting debt because they will have less opportunity than those in other courses to earn money during a long summer vacation. In addition, dental and medical courses are longer in duration than the typical three year British degree course. We have outlined the major changes in these funding arrangements. Drawing on our experience in the United States and elsewhere in the world, we suggest that further large increases in university tuition fees seem inevitable. A major consequence of rising student debt may be denial of entry into the dental profession of the more disadvantaged in our community. Urgent research and planning needs to be done in advance so that this unpleasant scenario is prevented.

Education, Dental↗
PubMed1998

Donor-derived Plasmodium vivax infection following volunteer unrelated bone marrow transplantation.

A 14-year-old girl from the UK underwent volunteer unrelated donor bone marrow transplant (VUD BMT) for accelerated phase chronic myeloid leukaemia. On day +40 she became febrile, and peripheral blood smears demonstrated a 1% Plasmodium vivax parasitaemia. Although she had never been outside the UK, her male donor had documented Plasmodium vivax infection during a vacation in Papua New Guinea. Following appropriate treatment, he had been asymptomatic for 11 months before marrow harvesting. This is the first case report of malarial transmission by VUD BMT, and illustrates the potential problem of recrudescence of latent, dormant forms of Plasmodium vivax infection following transplantation into an immuno-compromised recipient. Even after appropriate therapy, malarial infection should be included in the differential diagnosis for all post-transplant febrile episodes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

The perceived relative worth of reaching and maintaining goal weight.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the perceived relative worth of reaching and maintaining a self-selected goal weight, for obese and non-obese individuals. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SUBJECTS: Twenty-five obese treatment-seekers (age 41.0 y, BMI 42.5) and a community sample of 31 obese (age 40.8 y, BMI 32.2) and 64 non-obese participants (age 32.4 y, BMI 23.4). MEASUREMENT: An 18-item forced-choice questionnaire evaluating what participants would hypothetically sacrifice to reach and maintain their goal weight. RESULTS: Most obese treatment-seekers would hypothetically endure much to achieve their desired weight. For example, 88% or more would forego a job promotion, retiring with full-pay, eliminating the national debt, or winning their dream house or car or an all-expense-paid vacation, and smaller majorities would suffer loss of half their income or a job demotion. Many non-treatment-seeking obese would forfeit future rewards to reach goal weight, but fewer would incur negative events. About a third of non-obese participants would forgo certain positive events, but few would suffer an adverse event to achieve goal weight. Within the combined obese sample, females viewed attaining goal weight as more important than did males, but there were no significant racial differences. An index of overall worth of weight goal was related positively to current weight and BMI and negatively to goal weight as percentage of current weight (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Excessive value may be placed on attaining less than realistic weight goals, particularly but not exclusively by treatment-seeking and heavier obese people and those who desire greater weight loss. Clinicians should take this phenomenon into consideration, and public health initiatives should attempt to place body weight in a more balanced perspective.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Promoting long-term weight control: does dieting consistency matter?

OBJECTIVE: The present study examined whether long-term weight loss maintenance is enhanced by maintaining the same diet regimen across the week and year or by dieting more strictly on weekdays and nonholiday periods than at other times. METHOD: National Weight Control Registry participants (N=1429) indicated on an eight-point scale whether they dieted more strictly on weekends than weekdays, adhered to the same diet regimen throughout the week, or dieted more strictly on weekdays. Participants responded to a similar question about holiday and vacation eating. Participants were then followed prospectively to determine whether scores on these questions were related to self-reported weight regain over the subsequent 12 months. RESULTS: There was a linear relationship between scores on the dieting consistency questions and weight change over the 1-y period (P's <0.01), with smaller weight gains in those who reported more consistency. Participants who reported a consistent diet across the week were 1.5 times more likely to maintain their weight within 5 pounds over the subsequent year (OR=1.58, 95% CI: 1.2-2.2) than participants who dieted more strictly on weekdays. A similar relationship emerged between dieting consistency across the year and subsequent weight regain. CONCLUSION: Dieting consistency appears to be a behavioral strategy that predicts subsequent long-term weight loss maintenance.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation in young Dutch children: assessment by means of a 6-week retrospective questionnaire.

We designed a 6-week retrospective questionnaire on sunlight exposure. Estimation of the short-term exposure to sunlight is important for observational human studies concerning the effects of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) on the human immune system and related resistance to infections. This questionnaire was given to the parents of 1672 1-year-old children in the Netherlands who participated in a birth cohort study. We evaluated the questionnaire and estimated the personal 6-week cumulative exposure to solar UVR. Only 910 questionnaires (54.4%) were filled out completely and consistently. This suggests that reporting data on children's outdoor exposure, even for the recent past, is often difficult. The data from these questionnaires indicated that the crude number of reported outdoor hours was enough to obtain a relative estimate of the individual exposure to ambient UVR, but that weighting for the effect of clothing was essential for the classification of the systemic UVR dosage received. Sunny weeks in the Netherlands in 1998, as were established by independent measurements of the levels of ambient UVR, vacations abroad, and sunburn, were associated with a comparatively high mean estimated exposure. These results support the suitability of the questionnaire for classifying the participants with respect to their short-term exposure to solar UVR.

Cohort Studies↗
PubMed1997

Biomarkers in hydrolysed urine, plasma and erythrocytes among workers exposed to thermal degradation products from toluene diisocyanate foam.

Blood and urine samples were collected from six workers and two volunteers exposed to thermal degradation products from toluene diisocyanate (TDI)-based polyurethane (PUR) before and during the summer vacation. Air samples were collected on filters impregnated with 9-(N-methylaminomethyl)anthracene. The concentrations of the amines corresponding to 2,4- and 2,6-TDI, i.e., 2,4- and 2,6-toluenediamine (TDA), were determined in urine (U-TDA), plasma (P-TDA) and erythrocytes (E-TDA) after acid hydrolysis as pentafluoropropionic anhydride derivatives by GC-MS. Among the workers urinary elimination phases were seen. The estimated medians of the urinary half-lives were for the slow phase 18 d for 2,4-TDA and 19 d for 2,6-TDA. P-2,4-TDA ranged between 2.5 and 19 ng ml-1 and P-2,6-TDA between 4.4 and 30 ng ml-1. The estimated median of the half-lives in plasma were 7.8 d for 2,4-TDA and 9.6 d for 2,6-TDA. E-2,4-TDA ranged between 0.5 and 6.6 ng g-1 and E-2,6-TDA between 1.2 and 14 ng g-1. A significant linear relationship was found between the mean P-TDA and the mean E-TDA. Linear relationships were observed between the mean daily U-TDA and P-TDA and E-TDA. Virtually linear relationships were obtained for P-TDA and E-TDA and the TDI air levels. Proteins from lysed erythrocytes were separated and fractionated by gel filtration. 'TDI'-modified proteins were found in six out of a total of 80 fractions (fractions 51-56). These co-eluted completely with the haemoglobin (UV, 415 nm). Fractions 51-56 contained 89% of the applied amounts of 2,4-TDA and 81% of 2,6-TDA.

Biomarkers↗
PubMed1992

Dissection of protein structure and folding by directed mutagenesis.

The lysozyme from bacteriophage T4 is being used as a model system to determine the roles of individual amino acids in the folding and stability of a typical globular protein. One general finding is that the protein is very adaptable, being able to accommodate many potentially destabilizing replacements. In order to determine the importance of 'alpha-helix propensity' in protein stability, different replacements have been made within alpha-helical segments of T4 lysozyme. Several such substitutions of the form Xaa-->Ala increase the stability of the protein, supporting the idea that alanine is a strongly helix-favouring amino acid. It is possible to engineer a protein that has up to ten alanines in succession, yet still folds and has normal activity. This illustrates the redundancy that is present in the amino acid sequence. A number of 'cavity-creating' mutants of the form Leu-->Ala have been constructed to understand better the nature of hydrophobic stabilization. The structural consequences of these mutations differ from site to site. In some cases the protein structure hardly changes at all; in other cases removal of the wild-type side-chain allows surrounding atoms to move in and occupy the vacated space, although a cavity always remains. The destabilization of the protein associated with these cavity-creating mutations also varies from case to case. The results suggest how to reconcile recent conflicting reports concerning the strength of the hydrophobic effect in proteins.

Bacteriophage T4↗
PubMed1967

A diagonal paper-electrophoretic technique for studying amino acid sequences around the cysteine and cystine residues of proteins.

1. A diagonal electrophoretic technique for studying the amino acid sequence around cysteine and cystine residues in proteins is described. The residues are first converted into S-aminoethylcysteine, and the protein is then treated with S-ethyl trifluorothioacetate, which trifluoroacetylates all the protein amino groups. The modified protein is digested enzymically and the resulting peptides are separated by paper electrophoresis. After exposure of the peptides on the paper to ammonia vapour, the electrophoresis is repeated, this time at right angles to the original direction. Peptides from which a trifluoroacetyl group is removed by the ammonia treatment will vacate the 45 degrees diagonal formed by all other unaffected peptides owing to the exposure of an additional amino group and consequent increased electrophoretic mobility towards the cathode. Peptides containing lysine or S-aminoethylcysteine are readily purified by this technique. 2. The successful application of the technique to bovine insulin is described. 3. Various methods for distinguishing peptides containing lysine from those containing S-aminoethylcysteine in more complicated proteins are suggested and discussed.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2002

mu-1,2-Peroxobridged di-iron(III) dimer formation in human H-chain ferritin.

Biomineralization of the ferritin iron core involves a complex series of events in which H(2)O(2) is produced during iron oxidation by O(2) at a dinuclear centre, the 'ferroxidase site', located on the H-subunit of mammalian proteins. Rapid-freeze quench Mössbauer spectroscopy was used to probe the early events of iron oxidation and mineralization in recombinant human ferritin containing 24 H-subunits. The spectra reveal that a mu-1,2-peroxodiFe(III) intermediate (species P) with Mössbauer parameters delta (isomer shift)=0.58 mm/s and DeltaE(Q) (quadrupole splitting)=1.07 mm/s at 4.2 K is formed within 50 ms of mixing Fe(II) with the apoprotein. This intermediate accounts for almost all of the iron in the sample at 160 ms. It subsequently decays within 10 s to form a mu-oxodiFe(III)-protein complex (species D), which partially vacates the ferroxidase sites of the protein to generate Fe(III) clusters (species C) at a reaction time of 10 min. The intermediate peroxodiFe(III) complex does not decay under O(2)-limiting conditions, an observation suggesting inhibition of decay by unreacted Fe(II), or a possible role for O(2) in ferritin biomineralization in addition to that of direct oxidation of iron(II).

Biochemical Phenomena↗
PubMed2003

A cluster analysis of road traffic-related childhood knee injuries.

BACKGROUND: Knee injuries represent an important category of road traffic injuries among children, and they are heterogeneous in their aetiology. The aims of this study were to estimate the incidence of road traffic childhood knee injuries in Greece by age and gender, point out their time, place and person co-ordinates and identify clusters with distinct characteristics with a view to potential preventive interventions. METHODS: During a 3-year period, 305 children with knee injuries resulting from a road traffic accident were identified among the 66,870 children with injuries recorded in the Emergency Department Injury Surveillance System (EDISS) of Greece. Using previously derived sampling ratios and national data on childhood population, incidence data by age and gender were estimated. Hierarchical analysis was undertaken for cluster identification. RESULTS: The incidence of road traffic knee injuries was 97.5 per 100,000 children-years. The incidence increased with age and was higher among boys than among girls. Most childhood knee injuries (50.2%) occur among pedestrians, and the majority (90.9%) of the children or their guardians admitted responsibility in crossing the road. Of the 31 children injured as car passengers, the vast majority (87.1%) were unrestrained, and a large fraction (38.7%) were front seat passengers. Two clusters were identified: the first consisted of younger children who resided mostly in the Athens area and suffered less serious knee injuries as pedestrians or car passengers during the colder months; the second consisted of older children, frequently tourists, who suffered more serious injuries as cyclists while vacationing. CONCLUSIONS: Many of the children who suffered road traffic knee injuries as pedestrians admitted responsibility in road crossing, whereas a large proportion of children who were injured as car passengers were injured while improperly seated in the front and without seatbelt protection. Older children, frequently tourists, were at high risk of knee injuries while using motorcycles and bicycles.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1999

Post-operative pain, nausea and vomiting: qualitative perspectives from telephone interviews.

Previous studies on post-operative pain, nausea and vomiting tend to be quantitative in method and focus on in-patient or day case surgery. The objectives of this study carried out in one specialist eye hospital in England were to consider post-operative pain, nausea and vomiting from a qualitative perspective. Fifty-five patients undergoing general anaesthetic short-stay ophthalmic surgery (orbital hydroxyapatite implantation) consented to participate in telephone interviews 8 days post-surgery. The interviews lasted between 20 and 60 minutes. Data were analysed thematically and offer insight into varying experiences of pain, nausea and vomiting in hospital, on discharge and at home. Results indicate that not all patients were discharged home in optimum condition. The needs of post-operative short-stay patients should come before financial imperatives to vacate beds. Patient education and information giving is discussed in the light of the findings.

Adult↗