The criteria for causation of alcohol in violent injuries based on emergency room data from six countries.

This paper is based on data using similar methods collected from patients at 30 emergency rooms (ERs) in six countries. These data were analyzed with the goal of determining whether alcohol is a likely cause of violence through an application of criteria outlined by Bradford Hill. Analyses were conducted by comparing various measures of alcohol involvement in violent versus accidental injuries.

Loneliness and social adaptation in Brazilian, Canadian, Chinese and Italian children: a multi-national comparative study.

Background: Research on children's loneliness has been conducted mostly in Western, especially North American, cultures. The purpose of the study was to examine relations between loneliness and social adaptation among children and adolescents in four different societies.

Methods: A total of 2263 children from grade 3 to grade 6, aged 9 to 12 years, in Brazil, Canada, P.

In utero prednisone exposure affects genital development.

Purpose: The etiology of the worldwide incidence of hypospadias remains unexplained. Data from the Center for Disease Control suggest that maternal asthma exposure may be a risk factor. The development of the mouse and human urethra shows significant similarities, such as fusion of 2 epithelial edges, closure of a midline epithelial seam and subsequent cellular remodeling, to justify the use of the mouse as an experimental animal model.

Driving behavior of alcohol, cannabis, and cocaine abuse treatment clients and population controls.

Background/introduction: A paucity of research exists on driving after use of cannabis or cocaine among clients in substance abuse treatment and changes in this behavior after treatment.

Objectives: The objectives of this research are to compare treatment clients and population controls before and after treatment in terms of: 1) amount of driving; 2) alcohol, cannabis, and cocaine consumption; 3) driving after use of alcohol, cannabis, and cocaine; and 4) driving infractions.

Method: Telephone interviews were conducted with a sample of 110 clients who received treatment in 1995 for a primary problem of alcohol (n = 44), cannabis (n = 37), or cocaine (n = 29) abuse.

Chronic stable ischaemia protects against myocyte damage during beating heart coronary surgery.

Objectives: Many patients with coronary artery disease demonstrate chronic resting ischaemic myocardial dysfunction. We have investigated whether this ischaemia influences the myocardial damage caused by the period of coronary occlusion involved in beating heart surgery.

Methods: Thirty-three patients with chronic stable angina and normal left ventricular ejection fraction were studied.

The effect of oestrogen and testosterone on the urethral seam of the developing male mouse genital tubercle.

Objectives: To describe the effects of exogenous oestrogens and androgens on urethral formation in the mouse, as the development of the mouse and human urethra have significant similarities, and understanding normal male urethral development may help to identify the causes of abnormal development, e.g. hypospadias.

Off-Pump Coronary Artery Bypass (OPCAB) surgery reduces risk-stratified morbidity and mortality: a United Kingdom Multi-Center Comparative Analysis of Early Clinical Outcome.

Objective: Off-Pump Coronary Artery Bypass (OPCAB) surgery is gaining more popularity worldwide. The aim of this United Kingdom (UK) multi-center study was to assess the early clinical outcome of the OPCAB technique and perform a risk-stratified comparison with the conventional Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) using the Cardio-Pulmonary Bypass (CPB) technique.

Methods: Data were collected on 5,163 CPB patients from the database of the National Heart and Lung institute, Imperial College, University of London, and on 2,223 OPCAB patients from eight UK cardiac surgical centers, which run established OPCAB surgery programs.

Is the use of cardiopulmonary bypass for multivessel coronary artery bypass surgery an independent predictor of operative mortality in patients with ischemic left ventricular dysfunction?

Background: l Coronary artery bypass grafting for patients with ischemic left ventricular dysfunction (ILVD) remains superior to medical therapy in terms of long-term survival. Recently, off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery has been shown to be very promising in achieving functional improvements with favorable operative mortality in this challenging group of patients. The aim of this study was to assess the risk factors responsible for operative mortality in this group of patients.

A novel Doppler echocardiographic method of measuring the biophysical properties of the aorta in pediatric patients.

Background: This study was performed to: (1) assess the feasibility of measuring pulse wave velocity (PWV) from aortic (AO) Doppler flow and deriving AO input and characteristic impedances and the arterial pressure strain elastic modulus; and (2) compare these indices in pediatric patients with arterial disease to control (C) patients.

Methods: There were 14 healthy children in the C group, 9 with inflammatory connective tissue diseases (ICTD), and 6 with Marfan syndrome (M). Using standard echocardiographic equipment, the AO annulus, AO root diameter in systole (AO(S)) and diastole (AO(D)), and AO length (L) were measured.

Validation of four different risk stratification systems in patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery: a UK multicentre analysis of 2223 patients.

Background: Various risk stratification systems have been developed in coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG), based mainly on patients undergoing procedures with cardiopulmonary bypass.

Objective: To assess the validity and applicability of the Parsonnet score, the EuroSCORE, the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) system, and the UK CABG Bayes model in patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery (OPCAB) in the UK.

Methods: Data on 2223 patients who underwent OPCAB in eight cardiac surgical centres were collected.

Pulmonary autograft versus aortic homograft for rereplacement of the aortic valve: results from a subset of a prospective randomized trial.

Background: The use of a pulmonary autograft for rereplacement of the aortic valve has both potential advantages and disadvantages. This study details the early results of a subset of patients enrolled in a prospective randomized trial comparing pulmonary autografts and aortic homografts who have had previous aortic valve replacements.

Methods And Results: A total of 47 patients who had undergone >/=1 previous aortic valve replacement were randomized to receive either a pulmonary autograft (24 patients aged 40+/-11 years) or an aortic homograft (23 patients aged 37+/-11 years) for rereplacement of the aortic valve.

Analysis of wave reflections in the arterial system using wave intensity: a novel method for predicting the timing and amplitude of reflected waves.

The timing and amplitude of reflected arterial waves in the ascending aorta were studied by analysis of the aortic pressure waveform and were compared with those derived using wave intensity analysis. Wave intensity analysis considers aortic pressure changes to be the result of forward and backward wavelets carrying energy. Wave intensity (dI = dPdU) is calculated from changes in pressure (dP) and flow velocity (dU), and its sign indicates the direction of travel of propagating wavelets (positive for forward-traveling waves and vice versa).

Intraoperative cardiac troponin T release and lactate metabolism during coronary artery surgery: comparison of beating heart with conventional coronary artery surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass.

Objective: To compare cardiac troponin T release and lactate metabolism in coronary sinus and arterial blood during uncomplicated coronary grafting on the beating heart with conventional coronary grafting using cardiopulmonary bypass.

Design: A prospective observational study with simultaneous sampling of coronary sinus and arterial blood: before and 1, 4, 10, and 20 minutes after reperfusion for analysis of cardiac troponin T and lactate. Cardiac troponin T was also analysed in venous samples taken 3, 6, 24, 48, and 72 hours after surgery.

Effect of coronary occlusion on left ventricular function with and without collateral supply during beating heart coronary artery surgery.

Objective: To study the effects of coronary occlusion and collateral supply on left ventricular (LV) function during beating heart coronary artery surgery.

Design: Prospective intraoperative study, performed at baseline, during wall stabilisation, coronary artery occlusion, and 2 and 10 minutes after reperfusion. Transoesophageal M mode echocardiograms, simultaneous high fidelity LV pressure, and thermodilution cardiac output were measured.

N-Acylethanolamines: formation and molecular composition of a new class of plant lipids.

Recently, the biosynthesis of an unusual membrane phospholipid, N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine (NAPE), was found to increase in elicitor-treated tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) cells (K.D.

RS-102221: a novel high affinity and selective, 5-HT2C receptor antagonist.

The 5-HT2C receptor is one of three closely related receptor subtypes in the 5-HT2 receptor family. 5-HT2A and 5-HT2B selective antagonists have been described. However, no 5-HT2C selective antagonists have yet been disclosed.

Pharmacological evaluation of 1229U91, a novel high-affinity and selective neuropeptide Y-Y1 receptor antagonist.

The physiological role of neuropeptide Y (NPY), peptide YY (PYY) and their receptors (Y1 and Y2) has been difficult to elucidate mainly due to the lack of selective and high-affinity antagonists. Recently, Burroughs Wellcome disclosed a series of cyclic peptides, including the compound 1229U91, which were reported to be selective NPY receptor antagonists (PCT Publication No. WO 94/00486).

The pharmacology and distribution of human 5-hydroxytryptamine2B (5-HT2B) receptor gene products: comparison with 5-HT2A and 5-HT2C receptors.

1. Full length clones of the human 5-HT2B receptor were isolated from human liver, kidney and pancreas. The cloned human 5-HT2B receptors had a high degree of homology (approximately 80%) with the rat and mouse 5-HT2B receptors.

Metabolism of cottonseed microsomal N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine.

N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine (NAPE) was recently shown to be synthesized in vitro in cottonseed microsomes by the direct N-acylation of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) with unesterfied fatty acids (K.D. Chapman and T.

[3H]BIMU-1, a 5-hydroxytryptamine3 receptor ligand in NG-108 cells, selectively labels sigma-2 binding sites in guinea pig hippocampus.

The binding of [3H]endo-N-(8-methyl-8-azabicyclo[3.2.1.

Calcium requirement in elderly Japanese women.

In order to evaluate calcium requirements (RC) in Japanese elderly women, a calcium balance study was carried out in 9 osteoporotics (73.9 +/- 2.7 years old, mean +/- SE) and 9 normal elderly women (67.

In situ bubble fractionation strategies for separating individual proteins in a batch baker's yeast fermentation process.

Extracellular proteins produced by yeast have been observed to stratify in the extracellular fluid of a batch bioreactor, thus creating a vertical concentration gradient. We observed that, in the four different experiments conducted, each varied in their protein recovery characteristics. For example, sparging the system with gas accentuates the separation, though even in a nonsparged system, the in situ generation of minute carbon dioxide bubbles by yeast cells creates a protein gradient as the bubbles carry proteins upward.