Resting energy expenditure in non-ventilated, non-sedated patients recovering from serious traumatic brain injury: comparison of prediction equations with indirect calorimetry values.

Background & Aims: Little is known about energy requirements in brain injured (TBI) patients, despite evidence suggesting adequate nutritional support can improve clinical outcomes. The study aim was to compare predicted energy requirements with measured resting energy expenditure (REE) values, in patients recovering from TBI.

Methods: Indirect calorimetry (IC) was used to measure REE in 45 patients with TBI.

Socioeconomic differences in risk factors for obesity in adolescents in Northern Ireland.

Unlabelled: OBJECTIVES. To test for socioeconomic differences in some biological and behavioral risk factors for obesity in a representative and contemporary sample of adolescents.

Methods: Cohort study of 2 016 randomly selected 12- and 15-year-olds representative of Northern Ireland, studied in 2000.

Impact of coronary artery bypass grafting on survival after aortic valve replacement.

Treatment of coronary artery disease by coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) concurrently with aortic valve replacement (AVR) improves outcome but survival compared to isolated AVR remains uncertain, as does the role of the left internal mammary artery (LIMA) graft to the left anterior descending (LAD) artery. All 799 patients undergoing elective primary AVR, using the St. Jude Medical mechanical prosthesis, with or without CABG, between March 1986 and May 2000, were reviewed with 100% follow-up.

Tracking of energy and nutrient intakes from adolescence to young adulthood: the experiences of the Young Hearts Project, Northern Ireland.

Objective: To assess tracking of energy and nutrient intakes between adolescence and young adulthood.

Design: Longitudinal study of a random sample of adolescents (aged 15 years at baseline). The extent of tracking of dietary intakes (assessed by diet history) was investigated using weighted kappa statistics (kappa).

Presumed infectious endophthalmitis following cataract surgery in the UK: a case-control study of risk factors.

Aims: To study risk factors for presumed infectious endophthalmitis complicating cataract surgery in the United Kingdom.

Methods: Two hundred and fourteen clinically diagnosed patients with presumed infectious endophthalmitis were compared with 445 control patients throughout the United Kingdom in a prospective case-control study. The cases were identified through the British Ophthalmological Surveillance Unit reporting card system.

Plasma fibrinogen and serum C-reactive protein are associated with non-small cell lung cancer.

Objectives: There is an association between coagulation and lung cancer. Therefore, pre-operative plasma fibrinogen and serum C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration were assessed to determine their association with tumour characteristics and to ascertain any role in patient selection for curative resection.

Methods: These parameters were compared with tumour size, pTNM stage, and possibility of complete resection in 93 patients with non-small cell lung cancer who underwent surgical resection.

Cathepsin S expression: An independent prognostic factor in glioblastoma tumours--A pilot study.

Cysteine proteinases have been implicated in astrocytoma invasion. We recently demonstrated that cathepsin S (CatS) expression is up-regulated in astrocytomas and provided evidence for a potential role in astrocytoma invasion (Flannery et al., Am J Path 2003;163(1):175-82).

Factors affecting adherence to use of hip protectors amongst residents of nursing homes--a correlation study.

Background: Hip protectors are protective pads designed to cover the greater trochanter and attenuate or disperse the force of a fall sufficiently to prevent a hip fracture. Promising results from randomised controlled trials in nursing homes have resulted in hip protectors being widely recommended in the health care literature and in national guidelines.

Objectives: The objectives of the study were to identify characteristics of individual residents, and the organisational features of the homes in which they live, which may affect adherence to wearing hip protectors.

Associations between daily food intake and excess adiposity in Irish adults: towards the development of food-based dietary guidelines for reducing the prevalence of overweight and obesity.

Background: The prevalence of obesity has nearly doubled in Ireland since 1990 and over half of the population has a large waist circumference (WC). No food-based, dietary guidelines exist in Ireland for a reduction in the prevalence of body fat or obesity.

Objective: To examine the association between daily food intake and categories of body mass index and WC for the development of dietary guidelines to combat obesity.

Social deprivation and childhood injuries in North and West Belfast.

Injuries in childhood represent a major public health concern. North and West Belfast is an area in which a high rate of emergency department attendance due to injury has been observed, and in which social deprivation is widespread. We carried out a cross sectional survey of 479 injuries in children aged 0-12 years presenting to four emergency departments serving North and West Belfast.

Factors affecting influenza vaccine uptake among health care workers.

Background: In 2000, the UK Departments of Health recommended influenza immunization to employees directly involved in patient care. Uptake of this immunization had tended to be variable and usually low.

Aims: To assess personal and organizational factors associated with influenza immunization uptake among Health Care Workers (HCWs).

Ten-year trends for fatness in Northern Irish adolescents: the Young Hearts Projects--repeat cross-sectional study.

Objective: To examine secular trends in measures of fatness over a 10-y period (the 1990s) in Northern Irish schoolchildren.

Design: Repeat cross-sectional surveys.

Subjects: In total, 12- and 15-y-old children randomly selected from post-primary schools.

The effect of type of hip protector and resident characteristics on adherence to use of hip protectors in nursing and residential homes--an exploratory study.

Objectives: To investigate the factors influencing the acceptability of hip protectors to residents of nursing and residential homes, especially the effect of hip protector type, and resident characteristics.

Design: A randomised controlled trial with 12 weeks follow-up. Participants were randomised to receive either Safehip or HipSaver hip protectors.

Unexpected decline in survival from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neurone disease.

Objectives: To describe survival of 1226 Scottish adults with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neurone disease (ALS/MND).

Methods: Ten year, prospective, population based disease register. Cox time dependent proportional hazards modelling for multivariate survival analyses.

Total homocysteine is not a determinant of arterial pulse wave velocity in young healthy adults.

Aims: Hyperhomocysteinaemia has been associated with reduced pulse wave velocity (PWV) in patients with end-stage renal disease and in those with hypertension. The aim of this study was to examine the association between total homocysteine (tHcy) concentrations, the biochemical and genetic determinants of tHcy and PWV in healthy young adults.

Methods And Results: A total of 489 subjects aged 20-25 years participated.

Tracking of physical activity, fitness, body composition and diet from adolescence to young adulthood: The Young Hearts Project, Northern Ireland.

BACKGROUND: The assumption that lifestyles formed early in life track into adulthood has been used to justify the targeting of health promotion programmes towards children and adolescents. The aim of the current study was to use data from the Northern Ireland Young Hearts Project to ascertain the extent of tracking, between adolescence and young adulthood, of physical activity, aerobic fitness, selected anthropometric variables, and diet. METHODS: Males (n 245) and females (n 231) were assessed at age 15 y, and again in young adulthood [mean (SD) age 22 (1.

Fruit and vegetable consumption and bone mineral density: the Northern Ireland Young Hearts Project.

Background: Studies examining the relation between bone mineral density (BMD) and fruit and vegetable consumption during adolescence are rare.

Objective: Our objective was to determine whether usual fruit and vegetable intakes reported by adolescents have any influence on BMD.

Design: BMD was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at the nondominant forearm and dominant heel in a random sample of 12-y-old boys (n = 324), 12-y-old girls (n = 378), 15-y-old boys (n = 274), and 15-y-old girls (n = 369).

A cluster randomised controlled trial to evaluate a policy of making hip protectors available to residents of nursing homes.

Objectives: to evaluate the effectiveness of a policy of making hip protectors available to residents of nursing homes.

Design: a cluster randomised controlled trial of the policy in nursing and residential homes, with the home as the unit of randomisation.

Setting: 127 nursing and residential homes in the greater Belfast area of Northern Ireland.

Dislocation of the rotating platform after low contact stress total knee arthroplasty.

From a one-surgeon series of 2485 patients, we report on 10 patients with rotating platform dislocation after primary Low Contact Stress total knee arthroplasty. All dislocations occurred within 2 years of the index procedure. Of the 10 patients, nine required open reduction.

Trends in blood pressure over 10 years in adolescents: analyses of cross sectional surveys in the Northern Ireland Young Hearts project.

Objective: To examine secular trends in blood pressure over a 10 year period between two representative cohorts of adolescents from Northern Ireland.

Design: Repeat cross sectional study.

Setting: Randomly selected post-primary schools from Northern Ireland.

Surveillance of endophthalmitis following cataract surgery in the UK.

Aims: To estimate the incidence of acute-onset presumed infectious endophthalmitis (PIE) following cataract surgery in the UK and provide epidemiological data on the presentation, management, microbiology, and outcome of cases of endophthalmitis.

Methods: Cases were identified prospectively by active surveillance through the British Ophthalmological Surveillance Unit reporting card system, for the 12-month period October 1999 to September 2000 inclusive. Questionnaire data were obtained from ophthalmologists throughout the UK at baseline and 6 months after diagnosis.

Carbonated soft drink consumption and bone mineral density in adolescence: the Northern Ireland Young Hearts project.

Unlabelled: In an observational study of 1335 boys and girls aged 12 and 15 years, higher intakes of carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) were significantly associated with lower bone mineral density at the heel, but only in girls. Owing to the upward trend in CSD intake in adolescence, this finding may be of concern.

Introduction: High consumption of carbonated soft drinks (CSD) during adolescence may reduce bone mineral accrual and increase fracture risk.

A longitudinal study through adolescence to adulthood: the Young Hearts Project, Northern Ireland.

The Young Hearts (YH) Project is an ongoing study of biological and behavioural risk factors for cardiovascular disease in a representative sample of young people from Northern Ireland, a region of high coronary mortality. This article describes the cross-sectional clinical, dietary and lifestyle data obtained from individuals (aged 20-25 y) who participated in phase 3 of the project (YH3). A total of 489 individuals (251 males, 238 females) participated in YH3 (48.

The effect of nutrient intake on bone mineral status in young adults: the Northern Ireland young hearts project.

Optimizing peak bone mass in early life may reduce osteoporosis risk in later life. Such optimization may be partly dependent upon diet. In the present study, nutrient intakes and selected lifestyle parameters were assessed in adolescent subjects (238 males, 205 females; aged 15 y) and again, in the same subjects, on one occasion in young adulthood (aged between 20 and 25 y).

Sampling description and procedures used to conduct the North/South Ireland Food Consumption Survey.

Objective: The purpose of this survey was to establish a database of habitual food and drink consumption in a representative sample of Irish adults, aged 18-64 years. The present paper describes the sampling protocol, response rate and characteristics of the survey population in terms of sex and age groups, seasonality, geographical location, marital status, social class, socio-economic status and education level.

Design: A cross-sectional food consumption survey was carried out.