Feasibility of implementing intervention methods in an adolescent worksite tobacco control study.

Objective: To present feasibility data on SMART, the first teen worksite behavioural tobacco control intervention.

Design: This phase II study was designed to estimate the efficacy and feasibility of a small scale, randomised, controlled intervention.

Setting And Subjects: This study, addressing youths aged 15-18 years, was implemented in four intervention and five control grocery stores that had an average of 44 eligible teens.

The feasibility of evaluating a tobacco control intervention for working youth.

Objectives: To describe the feasibility of implementing evaluation methods for a worksite tobacco control intervention for teens. Indicators of feasibility included employment stability, response rates to multiple surveys, and self reported 30 day smoking.

Design: Grocery stores that were part of a single chain were randomised to four intervention stores and five control stores as part of the SMART project, a phase II methods development study designed to reduce smoking among working adolescents.

Improving the future of youth smoking cessation.

Objectives: To provide recommendations that will build a better foundation for research on youth smoking cessation.

Methods: The Youth Tobacco Collaborative Cessation panel evaluated youth tobacco cessation literature and convened meetings to reach consensus.

Results: Methodological issues include design, recruitment and retention, follow-up, measurement, and youth vernacular.

A radiologic study of the tympanic bone: anatomy and surgery.

Objective: The aim of this study was to obtain data on the anatomic structure of the tympanic bone using parasagittal reformatted images created from high-resolution axial computed tomographic scans. In particular, the thickness of the bone in the region of the temporomandibular joint and the floor of the external auditory canal was assessed. The findings are discussed with particular emphasis on the relevance to surgery in this area.

Strains of Streptococcus pyogenes from severe invasive infections bind HEp2 and HaCaT cells more avidly than strains from uncomplicated infections.

Epidemiologically unrelated Streptococcus pyogenes strains isolated from blood, throat, and skin were assayed for adherence to HEp2 and HaCaT cells. Invasive isolates showed significantly higher avidity for these cell lines than isolates from skin and throat. In general, S.

Superior semicircular canal dehiscence simulating otosclerosis.

This is a report of a patient with an air-bone gap, thought 10 years ago to be a conductive hearing loss due to otosclerosis and treated with a stapedectomy. It now transpires that the patient actually had a conductive hearing gain due to superior semicircular canal dehiscence. In retrospect for as long as he could remember the patient had experienced cochlear hypersensitivity to bone-conducted sounds so that he could hear his own heart beat and joints move, as well as a tuning fork placed at his ankle.

Employed adolescents and beliefs about self-efficacy to avoid smoking.

This paper examines self-efficacy to avoid cigarette smoking and its association with smoking and quitting behavior, peer and worksite influences, nicotine dependence, and socio-demographic variables among employed adolescents. A cross-sectional survey was used to collect data from employed adolescents ages 15-18 who worked in 10 participating grocery stores in Massachusetts. Eighty-three percent of workers (n=379) completed the survey.

Immunoglobulin G (IgG) responses to Plasmodium falciparum glycosylphosphatidylinositols are short-lived and predominantly of the IgG3 subclass.

The induction of neutralizing immunity to Plasmodium falciparum toxins by vaccination has been proposed as a preventive strategy to limit the severity of malaria. For this approach to be successful, generation of a sustained immune response would be necessary. This study shows that immunoglobulin G (IgG)-subclass responses elicited by the proposed P.

Pedophilia.

This article addresses the risk factors associated with the psychiatric disorder pedophilia, its treatment, and treatment outcomes. It addresses physician responsibilities associated with case identification of victims and possible roles in the medical management of pedophilia. The essential feature of pedophilia is that an individual is sexually attracted exclusively or in part to prepubescent children.

Participation in cervical cancer screening by women in rural and remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Queensland.

Objective: To investigate the extent of participation in cervical cancer screening among women who live in discrete rural and remote Indigenous communities in Queensland.

Design: Descriptive analysis of data from the Queensland Health Pap Smear Registry for the period March 1999 to February 2001.

Subjects: Women aged 20-69 years who had given their address of usual residence as one of 13 discrete rural and remote Indigenous communities in Queensland.

Alexithymia in patients attending a sexual disorders clinic.

We measured alexithymic traits with the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS; Bagby, Taylor, & Parker, 1988) in 170 individuals attending a sexual disorders clinic. We diagnosed 114 of the subjects with a sexual dysfunction and 56 with paraphilic disorders. We determined that 20.

A hole in the drum. An overview of tympanic membrane perforations.

Background: Tympanic membrane perforations are common and can be categorised into either acute or chronic. Acute perforations are usually traumatic or inflammatory in origin and heal spontaneously. Chronic perforations may be associated with underlying progressive disease.

The Protein Data Bank.

The Protein Data Bank [PDB; Berman, Westbrook et al. (2000), Nucleic Acids Res. 28, 235-242; http://www.

Structural independence of the two EF-hand domains of caltractin.

Caltractin (centrin) is a member of the calmodulin subfamily of EF-hand Ca2+-binding proteins that is an essential component of microtubule-organizing centers in many organisms ranging from yeast and algae to humans. The protein contains two homologous EF-hand Ca2+-binding domains linked by a flexible tether; each domain is capable of binding two Ca2+ ions. In an effort to search for domain-specific functional properties of caltractin, the two isolated domains were subcloned and expressed in Escherichia coli.

Predictive factors of long-term facial nerve function after vestibular schwannoma surgery.

Objective: To assess predictive factors of long-term facial nerve function in a series of patients undergoing vestibular schwannoma surgery and to evaluate the reproducibility of the relevant parameters.

Study Design: Prospective.

Setting: Three tertiary referral neurotology units in two separate countries.

A model for managed behavioral health care in an academic department of psychiatry.

In response to the effects of the managed care environment on patient flow and care, the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine developed and has been managing a capitated behavioral health care program. The program is responsible for providing mental health and substance abuse services for 22,000 members of the TRICARE Uniformed Services Family Health Plan (USFHP), directed by the U.S.

Erectile dysfunction and depression: category or dimension?

Depression, as a risk factor for erectile dysfunction (ED), has received minimal systematic attention. One-hundred twenty men with ED evaluated in a sexual behaviors clinic were studied. The categorical Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) diagnosis of a depressive disorder was found in only 14 subjects (14.

Molecular analysis of group B protective surface protein, a new cell surface protective antigen of group B streptococci.

Group B streptococci (GBS) express various surface antigens designated c, R, and X antigens. A new R-like surface protein from Streptococcus agalactiae strain Compton R has been identified by using a polyclonal antiserum raised against the R protein fraction of this strain to screen a lambda Zap library. DNA sequence analysis of positive clones allowed the prediction of the primary structure of a 105-kDa protein designated BPS protein (group B protective surface protein) that exhibited typical features of streptococcal surface proteins such as a signal sequence and a membrane anchor region but did not show significant similarity with other known sequences.

The EF-hand domain: a globally cooperative structural unit.

EF-hand Ca(2+)-binding proteins participate in both modulation of Ca(2+) signals and direct transduction of the ionic signal into downstream biochemical events. The range of biochemical functions of these proteins is correlated with differences in the way in which they respond to the binding of Ca(2+). The EF-hand domains of calbindin D(9k) and calmodulin are homologous, yet they respond to the binding of calcium ions in a drastically different manner.

Facial nerve schwannoma: surgical excision versus conservative management.

Facial nerve schwannomas are slow-growing tumors that may involve any part of the facial nerve. When they present with moderate to total facial palsy, complete resection is clearly indicated. However, in cases with mild or no facial dysfunction, the best course of treatment is less obvious.

Metal-Catalyzed Selective Deoxygenation of Diols to Alcohols.

The internal OH group of 1,2-propanediol is selectively removed in the deoxygenation catalyzed by [{Cp*Ru(CO) } (μ-H)] OTf (1, Cp*=C Me , OTf=trifluoromethanesulfonate; see scheme). This reaction provides a model for deoxygenation of polyols derived from carbohydrates, for use in alternative, biomass-based feedstock applications. An ionic mechanism is proposed that involves the dihydrogen complex [Cp*Ru(CO) (η -H )] .