SEARCH · Search PubMed
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.
A case of solitary lupus miliaris disseminatus faciei simulating a dermoid cyst is reported in a 13-year-old boy. There were no abnormal biochemical parameters. The diagnostic and therapeutic difficulties involved are discussed. This type of tumour is rare in Scandinavia, and presumably carries a good prognosis.
Allergic alveolitis due to mold dust inhalation in farmers is a severe but rare disease in Scandinavia. In this report 38 cases of the disease are presented. There were 31 men and 7 women, with mean ages of 46 and 38 years respectively. Strict diagnostic criteria were used, resulting in 21 definite, 12 probable and 5 possible cases. None of the patients were current smokers, but 10 of the men were ex-smokers. The great majority of the patients fell ill between October and April. The symptoms were dyspnea, cough, fatigue, episodes of fever, and in some cases loss of weight. The average duration of the disease was 6 months. The moldy material most commonly associated with the disease was straw, followed by hay, grain, and wood chips. For those tested serum lactate dehydrogenase was raised in 80% and the mean value for PaO2 was 7.8 kPa. Precipitating antibodies to mold antigens were positive in 68%. In general, pulmonary function tests showed a restrictive pattern. Over half of the patients still had dyspnea on exercise after recovery. Three fourths of the patients were treated with antibiotics and thus clearly had been misjudged as having an infection.
Huddinge University Hospital is a major teaching hospital affiliated with the Karolinska Institute in Southern Stockholm. For the past few years several groups have been working there in different areas of gene therapy relating to cancer, genetic and infectious diseases. However, a facility to produce clinical grade material under good manufacturing practice was lacking. To this end, Huddinge University Hospital has taken the initiative to open a Gene Therapy Research Center in 1996. This facility, which is unique of its kind in Scandinavia, is located in the Novum Research Park, Huddinge, and is a part of the existing Clinical Research Center. The newly built centre will allow clinicians and researchers to develop and produce vectors (viral and nonviral) for clinical trials and do basic research to understand the mechanisms of diseases. Although the centre will primarily serve the academic institutions it will also extend its facilities to other investigators in this field. The production unit is run in collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine, University of Lund. On-going projects include production of plasmid vectors for prevention of postangioplasty restenosis, DNA vaccine for HIV-1, cationic liposome DNA complexes for cystic fibrosis and retroviral vectors for HIV-1.
Thiazide diuretics are widely used in the drug treatment of hypertension but their dose-response curves for the antihypertensive and adverse metabolic effects differ. To characterize the lower end of the dose-response curve a double-blind, parallel group trial was performed as multicentre study in Scandinavia. One hundred and eleven patients with newly diagnosed or previously treated mild to moderate hypertension (untreated diastolic blood pressure of 95-115 mmHg after 4 weeks placebo) were randomly allocated to various doses of hydrochlorothiazide (3, 6, 12.5 or 25 mg) or placebo for 6 weeks. Blood pressure and biochemical variables (plasma renin activity, serum potassium, magnesium, urate, fasting glucose, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides and apolipoproteins A1 and B were measured. 12.5 mg hydrochlorothiazide had a borderline effect on blood pressure whilst 25 mg had a definite antihypertensive effect. Biochemical changes were seen in plasma renin activity, serum potassium and urate after the 12.5 and 25 mg dose. Three and 6 mg had no effect on blood pressure or metabolic parameters.
We have demonstrated that the inability to secrete the water soluble glycoprotein form of the ABO blood group antigens into saliva is significantly more common in patients with Graves' disease than control subjects (40% vs 27%: P less than 0.025) but not among those with Hashimoto's thyroiditis or spontaneous primary atrophic hypothyroidism. Non-secretion is associated with increased susceptibility to infection and to asymptomatic carriage of some microorganisms. Although Yersinia enterocolitica has been found to express antigen cross reactive with the TSH receptor, we did not find an increased prevalence of Yersinia species in the faeces of 107 patients with Graves' disease. The isolation rate (less than 1%) was similar to that observed in the local population with diarrhoeal illness. Salivary IgA levels determined by whole cell ELISA with Y. enterocolitica 03 were not elevated in the majority of specimens examined. The results suggest that in contrast to reports from Scandinavia, there is no strong evidence that yersiniae play a role in the pathogenesis of Graves' disease among patients in South east Scotland. Non-secretors are significantly over represented among patients with several other autoimmune diseases; however, with the exception of antitubulin antibodies, non-secretors with Graves' disease did not have more antibodies to other human antigens than secretor patients.
Globally, oral cancer is one of the ten common cancers. In some parts of the world, including the Indian subcontinent, oral cancer is a major cancer problem. Tobacco use is the most important risk factor for oral cancer. The most common form of tobacco use, cigarette smoking, demonstrates a very high relative risk--in a recent cohort study (CPS II), even higher than lung cancer. In areas where tobacco is used in a smokeless form, oral cancer incidence is generally high. In the West, especially in the U.S. and Scandinavia, smokeless tobacco use consists of oral use of snuff. In Central, South, and Southeast Asia smokeless tobacco use encompasses nass, naswar, khaini, mawa, mishri, gudakhu, and betel quid. In India tobacco is smoked in many ways; the most common is bidi, others being chutta, including reverse smoking, hooka, and clay pipe. A voluminous body of research data implicating most of these forms of tobacco use emanates from the Indian subcontinent. These studies encompass case and case-series reports, and case-control, cohort, and intervention studies. Collectively, the evidence fulfills the epidemiological criteria of causality: strength, consistency, temporality, and coherence. The biological plausibility is provided by the identification of several carcinogens in tobacco, the most abundant and strongest being tobacco-specific N-nitrosamines such as N-nitrosonornicotine (NNN) and 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK). These are formed by N-nitrosation of nicotine, the major alkaloid responsible for addiction to tobacco. The etiological relationship between tobacco use and oral cancer has provided us with a comprehensive model for understanding carcinogenesis.
Sex, age and stability were recorded in 376 cases of trochanteric femoral fractures. In 168 cases the age and sex specific incidence was determined. When comparing our results with those in previous studies from the same region there was no increase that could not be related to age. This is in contrast to other reports from Scandinavia where investigators have found an increase in fracture incidence that could not be explained by the increasing number of old people. We, as others, have found a high proportion of unstable fractures. The unstable fractures did not occur more frequently in the oldest age groups.
Congenital dislocation of the knee is a very rare condition, the incidence in Scandinavia hitherto not being known with certainty. Thirteen patients treated during the years 1960 to 1983 with 19 affected knees were reviewed and followed up. Findings of muscular imbalances in nine of these cases and of spinal abnormalities in four cases strongly indicate neuromuscular imbalance as an aetiological factor. The minimum incidence was estimated to be 0.017 per mille or approximately 1 per cent of the incidence of congenital dislocation of the hip. Recommendations for treatment are that manipulation should be carried out gently, and if not successful within 2-3 months and in all cases of Grade III, an operation is indicated. Too many newborn children in this series had manipulation fractures or slipped epiphyses. However, signs of fracture had disappeared at follow-up in most cases.
Due to systemic or local antibiotic treatment and other preventive procedures, the incidence of deep hip-prosthetic infections in Scandinavia is less than 1 percent, with the majority hematogenous. Coagulase-negative staphylococci and anaerobes are involved in more than half of the cases. The diagnosis is sometimes difficult; preoperative aspiration often gives misleading results; and granulocyte scanning usually adds valuable information. In deep infection the current strategy is to revise with a two-stage procedure. Revisions should be carried out at specialized centers with bacteriologic competence and sufficient experience with implants.
In Crete, 459 patients with a hip fracture were treated during 1986 and studied prospectively. The female/male and trochanteric/cervical fractures ratios were both 2. The majority of the patients (96 percent) were 50 years of age and over. The incidence was found to be 10 per 10,000 inhabitants for the whole population, whereas in the age group of 50 years and over, it was 30; and in the age group of 80 years and over, 140 per 10,000. From 1982 to 1986, the annual number of patients with a hip fracture increased by 20 percent, while the population 50 years and over remained practically unchanged. Compared with Scandinavia, the number of fractures in Crete is lower, and the proportion of trochanteric fractures is higher.
Two epidemics of meningoencephalitis caused by echovirus type 7 and coxsackievirus type B 5 in the summer and autumn of 1973 in Umeå in Northern Sweden were compared. Most patients with echovirus 7 meningoencephalitis were neck stiff and 50% had a polymorphonuclear pleocytosis in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The illness was usually mild. It appears to be the first time that an epidemic caused by this virus is described from Scandinavia. On the other hand most patients with coxsackievirus B 5 meningoencephalitis showed a more profound involvement of the central nervous system, with abnormal electroencephalograms in 70% and a long convalescence period. The number of cells in CSF was normal in 70% of these patients.
In summary, evidence from human populations has shown that smokeless tobacco users have risks of cancer several times higher than that of nonsmokers. Smokeless tobacco is very strongly related to cancers of the cheek and gums, locations typically in direct contact with the tobacco. The association is evident in studies in the US and Scandinavia and also in Asia, where the chewing of quids containing tobacco and other ingredients is strongly related to the region's high rates of oral cancer. Reports on health effects date back to the 18th century and the evidence is consistent, with most investigators reporting positive findings. Dose-response relationships--increasing risk with increasing use--are also evident in several studies. Finally, preliminary work on cancers in other anatomic sites suggests that smokeless tobacco may also be related to other upper digestive tract cancers. With the exception of one group of medical scientists who described the relationship as only an "association," expert consensus conferences and committees in both the US and France have agreed that the evidence from clinical, epidemiologic, and carcinogenesis studies supports a causal relationship between the use of smokeless tobacco and oral cancer in humans. These expert groups include the International Agency for Research on Cancer (1984), the National Institutes of Health Consensus Conference on the Health Implications of Smokeless Tobacco Use (1986), and the Surgeon General's Advisory Committee on the Health Consequences of Using Smokeless Tobacco (1986).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Over one-third of all under five year old Australian children use some form of licensed child care. The majority of research on infectious diseases in children using care, mainly emanating from North American and Scandinavia, suggests that children in preschool or long day care suffer more frequent infections and more days of illness than those cared for at home or in family day care. In order to minimise these risks it is necessary to apply infection control principles. In this article infection risk factors are outlined and recommendations for immunisation, preventative practices, the use of antibiotics and outbreak management are presented.
OBJECTIVE: To study the influence of Jieyu Huoxue Decoction on rehabilitation of patients with depression after cerebral infarction. METHODS: Fifty four patients suffered from the depression after acute cerebral infarction were randomly divided into three groups: depression control group, fluoxetine treated group and Jieyu Huoxue Decoction treated group. Eighteen patients of cerebral infarction without depression were enrolled in the no depression control group randomly. The Zung self-rating depression scale (SDS), the modified Edinburgh-Scandinavia stroke scale (MESSS) and the activities of daily living (ADL) were evaluated before treatment, 30 and 60 days after treatment. RESULTS: After 30 and 60 days of treatment, SDS evaluation of the Jieyu Huoxue Decoction treated group showed significant difference as compared with the condition before treatment and that of the depression control group (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01), MESSS evaluation and ADL evaluation also showed significant difference as compared with the condition before treatment and that of the depression control group (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01); there was no obvious difference between the fluoxetine treated group and the Jieyu Huoxue Decoction treated group, but the Jieyu Huoxue Decoction treated group showed fewer symptoms and less side effect. CONCLUSION: Jieyu Huoxue Decoction can not only relieve depression after cerebral infarction, but also improve neurological functions.
Fulvestrant, an estrogen receptor antagonist with no known agonist effects, is effective and well tolerated in the treatment of hormone-sensitive breast cancer after antiestrogen failure in postmenopausal women. Numerous phase II and III clinical trials of fulvestrant that are designed to build on its efficacy in breast cancer and explore its value in other tumors are ongoing or in the final planning stage. Favorable safety, dose-response, and pharmacokinetic data led to the initiation of clinical trials to evaluate loading and higher doses with the aim of building on the well-defined efficacy of fulvestrant. Recently reported results of phase II trials by the North Central Cancer Treatment Group and the Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research support the clinical activity of fulvestrant after recurrence or progression on a nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor, and 2 international phase III trials are ongoing in this setting. As a first-line treatment for metastatic disease, fulvestrant is currently being evaluated in combination with anastrozole versus anastrozole alone in 2 phase III trials, 1 by the Southwest Oncology Group and the other being conducted mainly in Scandinavia. Preclinical data have also led to randomized phase II trials of fulvestrant in combination with the epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, gefitinib, and the HER2/neu-targeted antibody trastuzumab. Additional phase II and III trials are currently evaluating fulvestrant plus tipifarnib, Theratope vaccine, or the dual kinase inhibitor, GW572016. Although fulvestrant is undergoing robust clinical development as a treatment for breast cancer, investigation of this agent in other types of solid tumors has only just begun.
There is an increasing interest in the etiology of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM). Once considered a rare tumour, CMM is now the fourth commonest cancer in Australia and New Zeland, the tenth in the Usa, Canada and Scandinavia and the eighteenth in Great Britain. The growing scientific concern on the urgent need to highlight the cause/s of CMM is well documented by the large number of well-designed and well-conducted epidemiological studies reported in the last two decades. Such studies facilitated testing of many etiological hypotheses derived from earlier descriptive investigations and contributed to significant progress in understanding the etiology of such disease. The quantification of the extent to which the increases in CMM incidence and mortality rates are related to new lifestyles and to new patterns of exposure to potential carcinogenetic agents is essential in order to establish an appropriate preventive strategy. In population of mainly European origin a substantial proportion of the increased incidence of CMM is attributable to steady change from predominantly occupational to predominantly recreational exposure to solar radiation. Therefore the present review puts particular emphasis on exposure to sunlight as well as to artificial ultraviolet light, as modifiable causes of CMM. Incidence and mortality data and other potential risk factors for the development of CMM will also be briefly reviewed.
Dental treatment usually involves a wide range of materials which continue to grow in number and complexity. During the last decade there has been an increasing demand for safety evaluation and control of dental materials. Since it is the members of the dental staff who handle the materials in their most reactive states they constitute the main risk category. Bearing this in mind reported side-effects in both patients and dental personnel in Scandinavia are presented. Data from the only two existing national registers for side-effects of dental materials, i.e. those in Norway and Sweden, are thus elucidated. Furthermore, recent mainly Scandinavian publications dealing with the side-effects of dental materials are presented. It can be concluded that a national register on the side-effects of dental materials, apart from revealing information regarding their frequency and nature, may detect changes in the profiles of adverse reactions and also serve as a tool for the post-marketing surveillance of dental materials.
The prevalence and incidence of diabetes mellitus in the age group zero to 14 years in Western Australia were determined from a survey by means of Schools Health Services. Additional information from the State's computer-linked hospital records system, the State's only children's hospital, diabetic clinics and physicians enabled virtually complete ascertainment of cases of childhood diabetes. Only 60% of school-age diabetic children were known to school nurses before the survey, but the nurses were able to identify two-thirds of the remainder during the survey. Among non-Aboriginal children, the prevalence of diabetes in the age group zero to 14 years was 0.59 per 1000 children and the incidence was 12.3 per 100,000 children per year. These rates are somewhat lower than those that have been reported from the United Kingdom and North America, and substantially lower than the rates that were reported from Scandinavia. All but one of the diabetic children who were identified required insulin and were assumed to be insulin-dependent. An excess of boys was found. None of 8715 Aboriginal or part-Aboriginal children had insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, which indicates that this racial group has a low prevalence of this condition. In case--control studies, which used questionnaires for parents, no significant trends were found in relation to the history of immunizations or of specific viral illnesses except for a past history of varicella which was less frequent in diabetic children. A past history of established breast-feeding (of more than one week) was less frequent in diabetic children, as was the ingestion of vitamin C supplements before the onset of diabetes. Some evidence for a seasonality of onset was obtained. The diabetic children were absent from school for more days and had more admissions to hospital than did non-diabetic children. The majority of diabetic children were prescribed insulin twice a day or more often (84%); performed home blood-glucose monitoring (74%); and attended hospital diabetic clinics (91%).