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At least 955 records · Page 53Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Tuberculosis among the homeless at a temporary shelter in London: report of a chest x ray screening programme.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of active pulmonary tuberculosis in a homeless population in London and to assess whether those with suspected disease could be integrated into the existing health care system for further follow up and treatment. DESIGN: Voluntary screening programme based on a questionnaire survey and chest x ray. SETTING AND CASES: Screening programmes were set up over the Christmas period in 1992 and 1993 at a shelter for the homeless in London. An offer of screening was made to all individuals who visited the centre and an interviewer administered questionnaire was completed on those who volunteered for the screening. Chest x rays were carried out, developed, and read on site. Individuals with chest x rays features suggestive of tuberculosis or other medical problems were referred to a hospital of their choice. RESULTS AND OUTCOME: In 1992 nearly 1600 people visited the centre, of whom 372 volunteered for the screening and 342 were x rayed. Nineteen of the 342 (5.6%) had radiological features suggestive of active tuberculosis. In 1993 around 2000 homeless people visited the centre, of whom 270 volunteered for the screening and 253 were x rayed. Eleven (4.3%) had features consistent with active tuberculosis on the basis of the chest x rays and clinical examination by a chest physician. Overall, of 595 people x rayed in the two surveys, 30 (5%) had changes suggestive of active tuberculosis. Further investigations confirmed nine (1.5%) with active pulmonary disease and eight with no active tuberculosis. In 13, the diagnosis was not determined as four declined further investigation and nine did not attend their hospital appointment. CONCLUSION: Tuberculosis among the homeless remains a cause for concern. Follow up and treatment present unique difficulties. Services for the homeless need to include mechanisms for timely diagnosis and monitored treatment. Control programmes designed for the needs of the homeless are required.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Contrasting patterns of mortality and hospital admissions during hot weather and heat waves in Greater London, UK.

BACKGROUND: Epidemiological research has shown that mortality increases during hot weather and heat waves, but little is known about the effect on non-fatal outcomes in the UK. AIMS AND METHODS: The effects of hot weather and heat waves on emergency hospital admissions were investigated in Greater London, UK, for a range of causes and age groups. Time series analyses were conducted of daily emergency hospital admissions, 1 April 1994 to 31 March 2000, using autoregressive Poisson models with adjustment for long term trend, season, day of week, public holidays, the Christmas period, influenza, relative humidity, air pollution (ozone, PM10), and overdispersion. The effects of heat were modelled using the average of the daily mean temperature over the index and previous two days. RESULTS: There was no clear evidence of a relation between total emergency hospital admissions and high ambient temperatures, although there was evidence for heat related increases in emergency admissions for respiratory and renal disease, in children under 5, and for respiratory disease in the 75+ age group. During the heat wave of 29 July to 3 August 1995, hospital admissions showed a small non-significant increase: 2.6% (95% CI -2.2 to 7.6), while daily mortality rose by 10.8% (95% CI 2.8 to 19.3) after adjusting for time varying confounders. CONCLUSIONS: The impact of hot weather on mortality is not paralleled by similar magnitude increases in hospital admissions in the UK, which supports the hypothesis that many heat related deaths occur in people before they come to medical attention. This has evident implications for public health, and merits further enquiry.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Atypical pityriasis rosea.

Six cases of pityriasis rosea with atypical morphology and distribution of the eruption are reported. The eruption did not show a typical 'Christmas-tree' arrangement, confined to the trunk and proximal parts of the extremities. However, the histology of the eruption revealed dyskeratotic cells in the epidermis and extravasated erythrocytes in the dermis, which were recently reported as rather characteristic findings of this disease. Prodromal symptoms, course and response to therapy were compatible with pityriasis rosea. Histological examination is important and helpful for the diagnosis of atypical cases.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1969

Studies on the purification of antihemophilic factor (factor VIII). II. Separation of partially purified antihemophilic factor by gel filtration of plasma.

A high degree of purification of antihemophilic factor was achieved by filtration of chylomicronpoor human plasma through columns of agarose. The final product contained, on the average, 67 units of antihemophilic activity per mg of protein, and was 3360-fold purified compared with the filtered plasma. The molecular weight of antihemophilic factor appeared to be at least two million. Preparations separated by gel filtration were contaminated with appreciable amounts of plasma thromboplastin antecedent (PTA), and traces of Christmas factor and Hageman factor, but no detectable fibrinogen was present. Similar fractions of plasma prepared from the blood of patients with classic hemophilia, von Willebrand's disease, or a circulating anticoagulant directed against antihemophilic factor contained, on the average, somewhat less protein than normal plasma; whether this difference was significant is not yet known. The purified fractions were partially stabilized by the addition of 1% gelatin. Adaptation of the technique of gel filtration to purification of antihemophilic factor for clinical use remains to be explored.

Anticoagulants↗
PubMed1973

Partial purification of plasma thromboplastin antecedent (factor XI) and its activation by trypsin.

A persistent puzzle in our understanding of hemostasis has been the absence of hemorrhagic symptoms in the majority of patients with Hageman trait, the hereditary deficiency of Hageman factor (factor XII). One proposed hypothesis is that alternative mechanisms exist in blood through which plasma thromboplastin antecedent (PTA, factor XI) can become active in the absence of Hageman factor. In order to test this hypothesis, the effect of several proteolytic enzymes, among them thrombin, plasma kallikrein, and trypsin, was tested upon unactivated PTA. PTA was prepared from normal human plasma by Ca(3)(PO(4))(2) adsorption, ammonium sulfate fractionation, and successive chromatography on QAE-Sephadex (twice). Sephadex-G150, and SP-Sephadex. The partially purified PTA was almost all in its native form, with a specific activity of 45-70 U/mg protein; the yield was about 10%. It contained no measurable amounts of other known clotting factors, plasmin, plasminogen, nor IgG. Incubation of PTA with trypsin generated potent clot-promoting activity that corrected the abnormally long clotting time of plasma deficient in Hageman factor or PTA but not in Christmas factor. This clot-promoting agent behaved like activated PTA on gel filtration (apparent molecular weight: 185,000) and was specifically inhibited by an antiserum directed against activated PTA. These data suggested that PTA can be converted into its active form by trypsin. PTA was not activated by thrombin, chymotrypsin, papain, ficin, plasmin, plasma kallikrein, tissue thromboplastin, or C. Trypsin converted PTA to its active form enzymatically. Whether trypsin serves to activate PTA in vivo is not yet clear.

Adsorption↗
PubMed2002

Psychiatric emergencies and the millennium: an international study.

BACKGROUND: The millennium posed an unknown challenge to mental health services worldwide. In anticipation, contingencies were implemented in preparation for the unexpected impact on psychiatric morbidity. RESULTS: This study evaluates the impact of the millennium on psychiatric emergency service utilization in the Northern and Southern hemispheres--the UK, Nigeria and Australia. Findings did not demonstrate a notable "millennium effect" on mental health services. A number of patients presented psychopathology incorporating millennium themes. A post-Christmas and post-New Year increase in presentation was observed. CONCLUSION: There was no change in service needs.

Emergency Services, Psychiatric↗
PubMed1975

Problems of a temporary adolescent psychiatrist.

I have tried to describe just less than one year of learning experience on my part in one type of adolescent unit. Only 16 inpatients were treated at a time while I was there: there were only 25 discharges and 19 admissions in my time. We knew we were making little inroad into our whole regional problem of adolescent disturbance; but we believe that as a team, able to work closely with each other and with our patients and their relatives, in a therapeutic community of undogmatic ideology, we were able to give a little to almost all and, to those who did best, a great deal. Very few ex-inpatients lost all touch with us. Nearly all came back from scattered homes for our Christmas discotheque. Even our very modest aim, to reset and then foster the natural development of the personalities of our patients, rather than break them down in deep analysis and radically reconstruct them, required an intensity of psychotherapeutic effort which engaged all we had to offer, and often drained us at the end of the day. Yet those who joined us transiently, particularly student nurses and medical students, seemed to find the experience significant--occasionally deeply so--and came back to visit us. Our social worker has now departed to have a baby. Our three senior nurses have left, two to university as mature students, one to prepare for a no. 7 post. Possibly the intensity of the demand upon them would have made them leave, anyway. For myself, it was a year of development of my psychotherapeutic sensitivity and of close working with a valued team of colleagues in a setting new to me, which I shall never forget.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Liver dysfunction in haemophilia.

Liver function was studied in 139 of 291 haemophiliacs known to a single Regional Haemophilia Centre including patients with classical haemophilia, Christmas disease and von Willebrand's disease. In 57 patients, six-monthly liver function tests over a five year period were also available. Thirty-nine of the 139 patients had had jaundice or hepatitis and 56 had a positive test for HBsAb in the blood although few of these had had an identifiable clinical illness. Fifty-eight haemophiliacs had elevated serum aminotransferases at the time of study, but the five year review revealed only six patients who had had persistently abnormal results, although none had clinically evident liver disease. Liver dysfunction was unrelated to a history of hepatitis, to a positive HBsAb test, or to age, type of haemophilia, factor level or frequency of factor replacement treatment. Abnormalities of liver function in haemophilia appear to be unrelated to past or present hepatitis B infection in most cases and may not be related to any single transmitted infectious agent.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Seasonal variations in sexual activity and their implications for sexual health promotion.

Although seasonal variations in births are observed in all human populations, the links between calendar events and sexual activity have received little attention in relation to health promotion and service provision. We have plotted various relevant data--routinely collected data for births within and outside of marriage, abortions, sexually transmitted infections, human immunodeficiency virus tests and condom sales figures--by calendar period. The trends point consistently to an increase in sexual activity and unsafe sex occurring at or around the Christmas period, and a longer but less pronounced subsidiary period of increased sexual activity and unsafe sex coinciding with the summer vacation. We conclude that seasonal patterns of sexual activity have implications for provision of sexual health services and for the timing and targeting of sexual health promotional interventions.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed1988

Morphologic considerations in the interpretation of gastrointestinal disorders.

Misinterpretations of gastrointestinal alterations can be reduced or eliminated by avoiding sampling/labeling errors, reducing artifact, and gaining familiarity with normal variations for the species under study. The errant thrust of the gastroscopic biopsy forceps can yield mucosa resembling atrophic gastritis; ileal villi taken for jejunal erroneously lead to consideration of sprue-like disorder. Reduction of the postmortem delay prior to fixation is critical for avoiding artifact. Villous epithelial cells separate from basement membrane within 5 to 10 minutes. Flushing saline, water, or fixative through unopened intestine causes intolerable damage to epithelium and villi. The thin-walled intestines of small laboratory species may be fixed unopened, but without dissection gross lesions are overlooked. Osmolarity of the fixative is important for preserving normal shapes of villi. Smooth muscle of the muscularis and villi of the dog contracts vigorously after euthanasia and immediate fixation. Optimum preservation may be had by applying iso-osmolar neutral buffered fixatives to intestinal segments which have been opened, stretched slightly, and pinned to cardboard or styrofoam. The villous height:crypt depth ratios vary among species and among intestinal segments. Shapes vary as well, ileal villi of many species appearing short and Christmas-tree- or thumb-shaped. Dilated lacteals occur occasionally in normal villi. The goblet cell population increases aborally, while the lymphocytic-plasmacytic population of the core increases with age. Eosinophils are a normal component in several species; globule leukocytes are common in others. Mast cells of the villi will be overlooked unless tissues are fixed in Carnoy's solution and stained with Astra or Alcian blue.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Vienna's biowaste compost--quality development and effects of input materials.

Extensive chemical analyses were conducted during the last decade to assess the heavy metal content of the finished compost as well as of biowaste and other input materials. Twenty six percent of the compost lots were class I according to ONORM S2200, 70% class II and 4% did not reach class II. If the compost lots were classified according to the new Austrian compost ordinance, 22% would conform to class A+ and 78% to class A. These data are put into relation with heavy metal contents of soil, of yard wastes and of biowastes without contaminants. In the soil samples particularly nickel and lead exceeded the limits for class A+ (compost ordinance). In the yard wastes, more than 90% of the samples met the limits for all heavy metals. Biowaste without contaminants conformed to class A+ on average. In biowaste without contaminants no influence of the housing structure on the heavy metal content was observed. The compost produced only from biowaste from areas with high building density, after undergoing the normal process of metal removal, however, was significantly higher contaminated than that of compost of the whole city of Vienna. The impact of specific input materials, such as Christmas trees or wooden crates, was investigated by chemical analyses before and after controlled composting experiments with those materials. In both experiments the compost quality did not reach the limits for heavy metals of class I (ONORM S2200).

Austria↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Use of Queensland Hospital services by interstate and overseas visitors.

In response to concerns about the number of interstate and overseas visitors using Queensland hospital services, the present study examined a sample of 1,295 hospital records to determine the proportion of patients who were incorrectly identified as Queensland residents. Across six hospitals the overall detection rate was 4.6%. Rates varied between hospitals, with the highest detection recorded for Goondiwindi near the Queensland/New South Wales border; and the lowest for Prince Charles in Brisbane. There were also important variations across hospitals based on specific holiday periods. In particular, Goondiwindi and the Gold Coast had substantially higher detection rates for the Christmas holiday period (December-January) than for the mid-year period (June-August). These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for hospital services, especially lost revenue and increased patient load. Health information managers are identified as a key group for addressing some of the current problems in this area.

Catchment Area, Health↗
PubMed2004

Permanent phenotypic correction of hemophilia B in immunocompetent mice by prenatal gene therapy.

Hemophilia B, also known as Christmas disease, arises from mutations in the factor IX (F9) gene. Its treatment in humans, by recombinant protein substitution, is expensive, thus limiting its application to intermittent treatment in bleeding episodes and prophylaxis during surgery; development of inhibitory antibodies is an associated hazard. This study demonstrates permanent therapeutic correction of his disease without development of immune reactions by introduction of an HIV-based lentiviral vector encoding the human factor IX protein into the fetal circulation of immunocompetent hemophiliac and normal outbred mice. Plasma factor IX antigen remained at around 9%, 13%, and 16% of normal in the 3 hemophilia B mice, respectively, until the last measurement at 14 months. Substantial improvement in blood coagulability as measured by coagulation assay was seen in all 3 mice and they rapidly stopped bleeding after venipuncture. No humoral or cellular immunity against the protein, elevation of serum liver enzymes, or vector spread to the germline or maternal circulation were detected.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Effects of Greek Orthodox Christian Church fasting on serum lipids and obesity.

BACKGROUND: No study to date has focused on the impact of Greek Orthodox Christian fasting on serum lipoproteins and obesity yet. METHODS: 120 Greek adults were followed longitudinally for one year. Sixty fasted regularly in all fasting periods (fasters) and 60 did not fast at all (controls). The three major fasting periods under study were: Christmas (40 days), Lent (48 days) and Assumption (August, 15 days). A total of 6 measurements were made during one year including pre- and end-fasting blood collection, serum lipoprotein analyses and anthropometric measurements. RESULTS: Statistically significant end-fasting total and LDL cholesterol differences were found in fasters. Fasters compared to controls presented 12.5% lower end-total cholesterol (p < 0.001), 15.9% lower end-LDL cholesterol (p < 0.001) and 1.5% lower end-BMI (p < 0.001). The end- LDL/HDL ratio was lower in fasters (6.5%, p < 0.05) while the change in end- HDL cholesterol in fasters (4.6% decline) was not significant. Similar results were found when the pre- and end-fasting values of fasters were compared. No change was found in control subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Adherence to Greek Orthodox fasting periods contributes to a reduction in the blood lipid profile including a non-significant reduction in HDL cholesterol and possible impact on obesity.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Age and immunity.

Longitudinal studies are defining progressive alterations to the immune system associated with increased mortality in the very elderly. Many of these changes are exacerbated by or even caused by chronic T cell stimulation by persistent antigen, particularly from Cytomegalovirus. The composition of T cell subsets, their functional integrity and representation in the repertoire are all markedly influenced by age and by CMV. How these findings relate to epidemiological, functional, genetic, genomic and proteomic studies of human T cell immunosenescence was the subject of intense debate at an international conference held just before Christmas 2005 in the Black Forest.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1977

Season of birth in the population of Norway, with particular reference to the September birth maximum.

The monthly number of births in Norway fluctuates between a maximum in January-May and a minimum in October-December. This cyclic seasonality is assumed to be of biological origin, but indirectly it is influenced by social factors and consequently tends to vary a great deal. There is a secondary birth maximum in September, corresponding to a peak of conceptions during the traditional festivities around Christmas and New Year. It is shown that this maximum is much less variable within the country studied, though it probably varies from one country to another in relation to the impact of the mid-winter traditions. The January-May birth maximum is known to be higher in schizophrenia than in the general population, while no such difference is observed in Norway for the September birth peak. It is felt that there is a fundamental difference between the two birth maxima and a corresponding difference between schizophrenic patients and the general population. Minimal paranatal brain damage of seasonal origin is suggested as an explanation.

Birth Rate↗
PubMed1991

Monthly and seasonal variation in parasuicide. A sex difference.

In a total of 22,169 parasuicides over 19 years, there was evidence for a seasonal cycle in parasuicide admissions among women, with an increase during the summer and a fall over the winter, including a pronounced December nadir. Further analysis of the winter trough suggests a sociological explanation, the focal point being Christmas. There was no evidence for monthly or seasonal variation among men.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Non-nucleolar transcription complexes of rat liver as revealed by spreading isolated nuclei.

Miller's technique was applied to isolated nuclei of rat liver. Both the usual nucleolar and non-nucleolar transcription complexes were visualized. In addition, an unusual type of putative non-ribosomal transcription unit was revealed. It was charcaterized by a high density of the lateral ribonucleoprotein (RNP) fibrils. Although these particular units exhibited a regular increase of fibril lengths, the length of the transcript-covered deoxyribonucleoprotein (DNP) fibres and the morphological aspect of the RNP fibrils distinguished them from the nucleolar 'Christmas-tree'-like figures. The linear and granular configuration of the transcripts and the absence of terminal knobs made them similar to non-nucleolar nascent RNP fibrils.

Animals↗