Achieving self-sustainability of service delivery in an eye care program in Madagascar using time-driven activity based costing.

Background: In the absence of adequate and reliable external funding, eye care programs in developing countries need a high level of financial self-sustainability for maintenance and growth. To cope with these cost pressures, an eye care program in Sava, Madagascar adopted a Time-Driven Activity Based Costing (TDABC) methodology to better manage the cost of, and to improve revenue associated with, their three principle activities: consultation visits, cataract operations, and sale of glasses.

Methods: Direct (variable) and indirect (fixed) cost estimates and revenue sources were gathered by activity (consultation, cataract operation, sale of glasses) and location (hospital or outreach) and TDABC models were established.

Costs of Planned Home vs. Hospital Birth in British Columbia Attended by Registered Midwives and Physicians.

Background: Home birth is available to women in Canada who meet eligibility requirements for low risk status after assessment by regulated midwives. While UK researchers have reported lower costs associated with planned home birth, there have been no published studies of the costs of home versus hospital birth in Canada.

Methods: Costs for all women planning home birth with a regulated midwife in British Columbia, Canada were compared with those of all women who met eligibility requirements for home birth and were planning to deliver in hospital with a registered midwife, and with a sample of women of similar low risk status planning birth in the hospital with a physician.

Effect of sociodemographic factors on surgical consultations and hip or knee replacements among patients with osteoarthritis in British Columbia, Canada.

Objective: To quantify the effect of demographic variables and socioeconomic status (SES) on surgical consultation and total joint arthroplasty (TJA) rates among patients with osteoarthritis (OA), using population-based administrative data.

Methods: A cohort study was conducted in British Columbia using population data from 1991 to 2004. From April 1996 to March 1998, we documented 34,420 new patients with OA and these patients were followed to March 2004 for their first surgical consultation and TJA.

Cataract surgical outcome and predictors of outcome in Lumbini Zone and Chitwan District of Nepal.

Purpose: To evaluate visual acuity outcome from cataract surgery based on a population-based survey among people aged 50 years and older in Lumbini Zone and Chitwan District of Nepal.

Methods: A randomly selected, population-based cross sectional epidemiological study of blindness, visual impairment and cataract surgical outcome was conducted. All subjects underwent a comprehensive ocular examination by an ophthalmic assistant, while people with visual impairment (visual acuity less than 6/18) after refraction and all cataract surgical cases underwent dilated fundus examination by an ophthalmologist.

Quantifying the association of radiographic osteoarthritis in knee or hip joints with other knees or hips: the Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project.

Objective: To quantify the association of radiographic osteoarthritis (ROA) in one knee or hip joint with other knee or hip joints.

Methods: We analyzed baseline data from the Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project (n = 3068). We fit 4 models for left/right knee/hip.

Development of a population-based microsimulation model of osteoarthritis in Canada.

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to develop a population-based simulation model of osteoarthritis (OA) in Canada that can be used to quantify the future health and economic burden of OA under a range of scenarios for changes in the OA risk factors and treatments. In this article we describe the overall structure of the model, sources of data, derivation of key input parameters for the epidemiological component of the model, and preliminary validation studies.

Design: We used the Population Health Model (POHEM) platform to develop a stochastic continuous-time microsimulation model of physician-diagnosed OA.

Blindness prevalence and cataract surgical coverage in Lumbini Zone and Chetwan District of Nepal.

Aim: To determine the prevalence of blindness, visual impairment and the cataract surgical coverage for people aged 50 years and older in the Lumbini Zone and the Chitwan District (Narayani Zone) of Nepal.

Methods: A population-based cross-sectional study in 2006 selected subjects aged 50 years and older through a random multistage cluster sampling and door-to-door enumeration. Ophthalmic examination included visual-acuity assessment and refraction, and anterior and posterior segment examination of the eyes carried out by a trained ophthalmologist and two ophthalmic assistants at centralised locations.

Trends in physician-diagnosed osteoarthritis incidence in an administrative database in British Columbia, Canada, 1996-1997 through 2003-2004.

Objective: Prevalence of osteoarthritis (OA) is expected to increase due to population aging. However, there is little information on the trends in the incidence of OA over time. The purpose of this study was to describe changes in physician-diagnosed OA incidence rates between 1996-1997 and 2003-2004 in British Columbia (BC), Canada.

Effects of timing and duration of gestational exposure to serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants: population-based study.

Background: Late-gestational serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI) exposure has been linked to adverse neonatal outcomes; however, the impact of timing and duration of exposure is unknown.

Aims: To determine whether late-gestational exposure to an SRI is associated with increased risk of adverse neonatal outcome relative to early exposure.

Method: Population-based maternal and neonatal health records were linked to prenatal maternal prescription records for an SRI medication (n=3500).

Major congenital malformations following prenatal exposure to serotonin reuptake inhibitors and benzodiazepines using population-based health data.

Background: To determine a population-based incidence of congenital anomalies following prenatal exposure to serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI) antidepressants used alone and in combination with a benzodiazepines (BZ).

Methods: Population health data, maternal health, and prenatal prescription records were linked to neonatal records, representing all live births (British Columbia, Canada, N=119,547) during a 39-month period (1998-2001). The incidence and risk differences (RD) for major congenital anomalies (CA) and congenital heart disease (CHD), including ventricular and atrial septal defects (VSD, ASD), from infants of mothers treated with an SRI alone, a benzodiazepine (BZ) alone, or SRI+BZ in combinationcompared to outcomesno exposure.

Nurse anaesthetic care during cataract surgery: a comparative quality assurance study.

Background: We studied whether a new model of nurse-provision of conscious sedation for cataract surgery maintained patient satisfaction and safety.

Methods: We prospectively and non-randomly studied 106 patients who had outpatient cataract surgery on a day when an anaesthetist was present at the UBC, Vancouver Hospital Eye Care Centre, and 105 patients with no anaesthetist, but instead a surgical suite nurse trained to give conscious sedation was present. Questionnaires determined patient perception of well-being, pain, and anxiety before surgery, before discharge, at 48 hours and at 6 weeks postoperative.

Descriptive epidemiology of osteoarthritis in British Columbia, Canada.

Objective: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a highly prevalent and often disabling disease. Data on the incidence of OA in the general population are limited. Our objectives were (1) to estimate OA prevalence and incidence rates by age and sex in a geographically defined population of 4 million people [British Columbia (BC), Canada] using an administrative database; and (2) to determine the effects of different administrative definitions of OA and observation (run-in) time on such estimates.

Neonatal outcomes after prenatal exposure to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants and maternal depression using population-based linked health data.

Context: Prenatal exposure to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants and maternal depression both alter neonatal health, and distinguishing the effects of each influence remains challenging.

Objective: To determine whether exposure to SSRIs and depression differs from exposure to maternal depression alone.

Design: Using population health data, records of neonatal birth outcomes were linked to records of maternal health and prenatal maternal prescriptions for SSRIs.

Iatrogenic molar borings in 18th and early 19th century Native American dentitions.

Six iatrogenic dental borings were identified in four individuals of a Native American skeletal collection from an 18th and early 19th century Middle Columbia River burial site. The borings, all in maxillary first molars with severe dental attrition and secondary dentin, demonstrate striated walls and associated periapical alveolar lesions. An ethnographic review of the subsistence pattern during the burial period indicates a diet that is consistent in dental attrition with other riverine fisher-hunter-gathers.

Inhibition of myostatin in adult mice increases skeletal muscle mass and strength.

A human therapeutic that specifically modulates skeletal muscle growth would potentially provide a benefit for a variety of conditions including sarcopenia, cachexia, and muscular dystrophy. Myostatin, a member of the TGF-beta family of growth factors, is a known negative regulator of muscle mass, as mice lacking the myostatin gene have increased muscle mass. Thus, an inhibitor of myostatin may be useful therapeutically as an anabolic agent for muscle.

Antagonistic roles of neurofilament subunits NF-H and NF-M against NF-L in shaping dendritic arborization in spinal motor neurons.

Dendrites play important roles in neuronal function. However, the cellular mechanism for the growth and maintenance of dendritic arborization is unclear. Neurofilaments (NFs), a major component of the neuronal cytoskeleton, are composed of three polypeptide subunits, NF-H, NF-M, and NF-L, and are abundant in large dendritic trees.

Electrophysiological responses of receptor neurons in mosquito maxillary palp sensilla to carbon dioxide.

Sensilla basiconica on the maxillary palps of female Aedes aegypti contain a receptor neuron which produces a phasic-tonic pattern of action potential response to low concentrations (150-300 ppm) of carbon dioxide (CO2), a stimulus known to be involved with host seeking behavior. These receptor neurons respond reliably to small increments in CO2 concentration (e.g.

Electron micrographic studies of transport of oligodeoxynucleotides across eukaryotic cell membranes.

Unmodified oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) were synthesized and tested for their ability to cross external eukaryotic cell membranes and to enter the cytosol and nucleus in tissue cultures. The ODNs were labeled with high-specific-activity [3H]thymidine (> or = 100 Ci/mmol), or [ alpha-32P]ATP or [ gamma-32P]ATP (300-1000 Ci/mmol; 1 Ci = 37 GBq), and the label was either in the central portion of the molecule or at the 3' or 5' end. The cells employed were for the most part 3T6 murine fibroblasts, grown in monolayers, either semiconfluent or confluent, but some experiments were carried out with chicken embryo fibroblasts or human HeLa cells.

Dynamin, a GTPase involved in the initial stages of endocytosis.

Dynamin is a high molecular mass (100 kDa) GTPase which binds to and co-purifies with microtubules. Molecular cloning of rat brain dynamin has revealed the three well-established consensus sequence elements for GTP binding within the N-terminal third of the protein, as well as sequence similarity within this region to the interferon-inducible antiviral Mx proteins, the product of the yeast membrane sorting gene VPS1, and the product of the yeast mitochondrial replication gene MGM1. More extensive sequence similarity between rat dynamin and the product of the Drosophila gene shibire, which is involved in endocytosis, has also been found.

Structure-function relationships of interleukin-3. An analysis based on the function and binding characteristics of a series of interspecies chimera of gibbon and murine interleukin-3.

IL-3 is a glycoprotein cytokine involved in the hematopoietic response to infectious, immunologic, and inflammatory stimuli. In addition, clinical administration of recombinant IL-3 augments recovery in states of natural and treatment-related marrow failure. IL-3 acts by binding to high affinity cell surface receptors present on hematopoietic cells.

Macrophage colony-stimulating factor enhances monocyte and macrophage antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity.

In vitro culture of either human peripheral blood monocytes or murine peritoneal macrophages for 72 hr in the presence of macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) dramatically increased their subsequent ability to mediate antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). The M-CSF-treated cells were more effective in ADCC at lower effector to target cell ratios and in the presence of lower concentrations of tumor-specific monoclonal antibody than the untreated control cells. Two other hematopoietic cytokines, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and interleukin-3, reported to enhance other macrophage effector functions were ineffective in promoting the development of ADCC by cultured human monocytes.

Organotypic culture of fetal lung type II alveolar epithelial cells: applications to pulmonary toxicology.

Techniques for isolation and culture of fetal Type II alveolar epithelial cells, as well as the morphologic and biochemical characteristics of these histotypic cultures, are described. Type II alveolar epithelial cells can be isolated from fetal rat lungs and grown in an organotypic culture system as described in this review. The fetal Type II cells resemble differentiated rat Type II cells in morphology, biochemistry, and karyotype as they grow in culture for up to 5 weeks.

Isolation, culture, and preliminary characterization of mucin-producing cells from trachea of the domestic fowl.

Primary cell cultures enriched in mucin-producing cells and basal cells were established from the trachea of the domestic fowl. Epithelial cells were selectively removed from the trachea after incubation in 0.1% pronase/0.

An ultrastructural study on a new type of hepatic perisinusoidal cell in fish.

A new type of perisinusoidal cell containing numerous microfilaments is described for the first time. It is found in abundance in the livers of both marine and freshwater fish. These perisinusoidal cells are situated within the space of Disse and adhere firmly through desmosomes both to sinusoidal endothelial cells and to hepatocytes.