Decreased consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages improved selected biomarkers of chronic disease risk among US adults: 1999 to 2010.

Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) increased greatly from the late 1970s to the early part of this decade. Although recent data show that consumption of SSB may now be declining, consumption levels still remain much higher than recommended. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, we assessed trends in intakes of SSB and levels of chronic disease biomarkers from 1999 to 2010 and examined the associations of SSB intake and biomarkers of chronic disease risk.

Few associations between income and fruit and vegetable consumption.

Objective: To examine the association between income and the consumption of fruits and vegetables using the poverty income ratio (PIR).

Design: Association between PIR and intake of fruits and vegetables combined. The PIR was divided into 5 groups ranging from < poverty threshold (PT) to ≥ 400% PT.

Few favorable associations between fruit and vegetable intake and biomarkers for chronic disease risk in American adults.

Using 24-hour dietary recall data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999 to 2006, the possible link between fruit and vegetable intake and chronic disease risk was assessed. C-reactive protein (CRP), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), total cholesterol, and glycosylated hemoglobin were selected as biomarkers for chronic disease risk. It is hypothesized that individuals who consume more fruits and vegetables will have reduced chronic disease risk because of the healthful benefits of these foods.

Human health risk assessment of long chain alcohols.

Representative chemicals from the long chain alcohols category have been extensively tested to define their toxicological hazard properties. These chemicals show low acute and repeat dose toxicity with high-dose effects (if any) related to minimal liver toxicity. These chemicals do not show evidence of activity in genetic toxicity tests or to the reproductive system or the developing organism.

Environmental properties of long-chain alcohols. Part 2: Structure-activity relationship for chronic aquatic toxicity of long-chain alcohols.

Daphnia magna reproduction tests were performed with C(10), C(12), C(14) and C(15) alcohols to establish a structure-activity relationship of chronic effects of long-chain alcohols. The data generation involved substantial methodological efforts due to the exceptionally rapid biodegradability of the test substances and the need to test as close as possible to their water solubility limits. Test concentrations were determined by GC-MS before and after test solution renewal.

An overview of hazard and risk assessment of the OECD high production volume chemical category--long chain alcohols [C(6)-C(22)] (LCOH).

This review summarizes the findings of the assessment report for the category, long chain alcohols (LCOH) with a carbon chain length range of C(6)-C(22) covering 30 substances, and >1.5million tonnes/year consumed globally. The category was evaluated under the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) high production volume chemicals program in 2006.

Environmental properties of long chain alcohols. Part 1: Physicochemical, environmental fate and acute aquatic toxicity properties.

This paper summarises the physicochemical, biodegradation and acute aquatic ecotoxicity properties of long chain aliphatic alcohols. Properties of pure compounds are shown to follow somewhat predictable trends, which are amenable to estimation by quantitative structure-activity relationships ((Q)SARs). This allows predictions of data relating to human and environmental safety profiles and patterns.

Assessment of the environmental risk of long-chain aliphatic alcohols.

An environmental assessment of long-chain alcohols (LCOH) has recently been conducted under the OECD SIDS High Production Volume (HPV) Program via the Global International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) Aliphatic Alcohols Consortium. LCOH are used primarily as intermediates, as a precursor to alcohol-based surfactants and as alcohol per se in a wide variety of consumer product applications. Global production volume is approximately 1.

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor presenting with esophageal obstruction and an inflammatory syndrome.

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor is a rare neoplasm of intermediate malignant potential. Although inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor occurs at multiple anatomic locations, an esophageal lesion is extremely rare. We describe a 43-year-old man who presented with severe dysphagia and an inflammatory syndrome, secondary to esophageal inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor.

Long-term operation and performance of cryogenic sapphire oscillators.

Cryogenic sapphire oscillators (CSO) developed at the University of Western Australia (UWA) have now been in operation around the world continuously for many years. Such oscillators, due to their excellent spectral purity are essential for interrogating atomic frequency standards at the limit of quantum projection noise; otherwise aliasing effects will dominate the frequency stability due to the periodic sampling between successive interrogations of the atomic transition. Other applications, which have attracted attention in recent years, include tests on fundamental principles of physics, such as tests of Lorentz invariance.

Randomised controlled trial and economic evaluation of podophyllotoxin solution, podophyllotoxin cream, and podophyllin in the treatment of genital warts.

Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy and cost effectiveness of self applied podophyllotoxin 0.5% solution and podophyllotoxin 0.15% cream, compared to clinic applied 25% podophyllin in the treatment of genital warts over 4 weeks.

Pyogenic granuloma of the penis--don't squeeze them.

We report the case of a pyogenic granuloma on the shaft of the penis presenting with active bleeding secondary to attempted expression. Previously reported cases have documented such lesions on the prepuce and glans.

Aquatic toxicity testing of sparingly soluble, volatile, and unstable substances and interpretation and use of data. Task Force of the European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals.

Aquatic toxicity tests were originally designed for individual compounds that are soluble and stable in water. For sparingly soluble substances that are not toxic at the solubility limit, the issue is whether tests should be performed with insoluble test substance present. Based on a literature evaluation of the physiology of uptake, it was concluded that only the dissolved fraction is available for uptake and that the insoluble test substance may introduce artifacts that aggravate data interpretation.

Hemodynamic evaluation of foot venous compression devices.

Purpose: Venous compression devices effectively prevent deep venous thrombosis. Recently, because traumatic injury of the limb often precludes application of calf devices, newer methods have been developed that are only applied to the foot. This study was designed to evaluate the venous hemodynamic effects produced by four different compressive devices compared with calf-only intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC).

Accurate measurement of the 12.6 GHz "clock" transition in trapped (171)Yb(+) ions.

We have measured the frequency of the (171)Yb(+) 12.6 GHz M(F)=0-->0 ground state hyperfine "clock" transition in buffer gas-cooled ion clouds confined in two similar, but not identical, linear Paul traps. After correction for the known differences between the two ion traps, including significantly different second-order Doppler shifts, the frequencies agree within an uncertainty of less than 2 parts in 10(13).