Granulomatous infiltration with replacement of liver parenchyma: first case report.

A 76-year-old man presented with fever, weight loss and abnormal liver function tests. Imaging demonstrated a diffusely abnormal liver, and a liver biopsy revealed a fibrosing granulomatous process infiltrating and replacing liver parenchyma. There was no clinical, radiological or laboratory evidence of autoimmune liver disease, sarcoidosis, lymphoma or tuberculosis.

Ketotifen controlled release from cellulose acetate propionate and cellulose acetate butyrate membranes.

Ketotifen was immobilised in cellulose acetate propionate (CAP) membranes and in cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) membranes. The characteristics of each system were evaluated under a range of experimental conditions. The topography and uniformity of the membranes was assessed using scanning electron microscopy.

New findings from non-linear longitudinal modelling of menopausal hormone changes.

Changes in FSH and estradiol (E2) across the menopausal transition are clearly not linear. The present study utilizes data from 204 women who completed the 13-year prospective Melbourne Women's Midlife Health Project. E2, FSH, symptoms, self-rated health, mood, sexual function and coronary heart disease (CHD) risk were measured longitudinally.

Lead in pharmaceutical products and dietary supplements.

The objective of this study is to determine lead concentrations in a variety of widely used pharmaceutical products, and to assess the risk of lead exposure from using these products. Lead concentrations of 45 products were measured with inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Six products had lead concentrations greater than 100 parts per billion (ppb), and the highest measured concentration was 500 ppb.

A prospective study of outcomes after hysterectomy in mid-aged Australian-born women.

Objective: To describe the prevalence of hysterectomy in a mid-aged population-based sample of Australian-born women who were menstruating at baseline and followed for 11 years, and to compare the hysterectomized women with the non-hysterectomized women with regard to symptom reporting and health outcomes.

Methods: This was a 12-year prospective observational study of 438 women who at baseline were aged 45-55 years, not taking hormone therapy (HT) and had menstruated in the previous 3 months. Interviews were conducted face-to-face.

Pancreatic and peripancreatic tuberculosis mimicking malignancy.

Context: There are a variety of differential diagnoses for an abnormal mass arising from the pancreas of which isolated pancreatic or peripancreatic tuberculosis is an extremely rare diagnosis with a variety of elusive presentations.

Case Report: We report such a case which masqueraded as malignancy in 43-year-old man presenting with jaundice, weight loss and new onset diabetes.

Conclusions: Tuberculosis should be considered as a differential diagnosis to an obscure pancreatic mass which may result in local complications amenable to surgery.

Ampullary carcinoma associated with an annular pancreas.

Context: Annular pancreas is an uncommon congenital abnormality. Co-existence of this condition with a pancreaticobiliary malignancy is an exceptionally rare occurrence.

Case Report: We present a case report of a 78-year-old woman with jaundice due to an ampullary carcinoma associated with an annular pancreas treated by pancreaticoduodenectomy.

Comparison of proanthocyanidins in commercial antioxidants: grape seed and pine bark extracts.

The major constituents in grape seed and pine bark extracts are proanthocyanidins. To evaluate material available to consumers, select lots were analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) LC/MS was used to identify monomers, dimers, and trimers present.

Chitinase production during interaction of Trichoderma aggressivum and Agaricus bisporus.

The competitor fungus Trichoderma aggressivum causes green mould disease, a potentially devastating problem of the commercial mushroom Agaricus bisporus. Due to the recent appearance of this problem, very little is known about the mechanisms by which T. aggressivum interacts with and inhibits A.

Mammographic densities during the menopausal transition: a longitudinal study of Australian-born women.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate hormonal and other factors associated with mammographic density during the menopausal transition and in postmenopause.

Design: Mammograms were obtained from 252 participants in the Melbourne Women's Midlife Health Project-a longitudinal population-based study that included annual interviews, blood collection, and physical measurements; 869 original films of the right craniocaudal view were digitized. Total area of the breast and the area of dense tissue were measured, and the percentage of mammographically dense tissue (PMD) was calculated.

Intimate partner violence and health outcomes in mid-life women: a population-based cohort study.

Aim: To investigate the association between experience of intimate partner violence (IPV) and health outcomes measured prospectively.

Method: Eleven-year prospective study of a population-based cohort of 438 Australian-born women aged 45-55 years at baseline (in 1991). Annual face-to-face interviews measured health status and quality of life; questionnaires on intimate partner physical, emotional and sexual violence and on experiences of childhood abuse completed in year 6 of follow-up.

Modeling women's health during the menopausal transition: a longitudinal analysis.

Objective: There has been controversy about the relative effects on various health outcomes of hormonal, psychosocial, and lifestyle changes during the menopausal transition. In previous studies the risk factors for one particular health endpoint have been analyzed separately. Separate analyses do not provide an overall view of the relationships between all the variables or the relative importance of different factors.

The relationship between prospectively assessed body weight and physical activity and prevalence of radiological knee osteoarthritis in postmenopausal women.

Objective: To determine the effect of weight and physical activity on the prevalence of radiological knee osteoarthritis (OA) in a cohort of middle-aged women.

Methods: The longitudinal phase of the Melbourne Women's Mid-life Health Project is a population-based prospective study of 438 Australian-born women who have been followed annually over 11 years. Of these women, 257 (59%) remained in longitudinal assessment at eleventh year of followup, and 224 of these women agreed to undergo radiographs of their knees.

Factors affecting the prevalence of osteoarthritis in healthy middle-aged women: data from the longitudinal Melbourne Women's Midlife Health Project.

The prevalence of osteoarthritis (OA) is greater in women then men. Weight, a factor strongly associated with osteoarthritis, is significantly increased over the menopausal transition. Despite the high prevalence of osteoarthritis, a disabling disease with limited treatment options, there is a paucity of studies in women.

Reactive azo dye reduction by Shewanella strain J18 143.

A bacterial isolate designated strain J18 143, originally isolated from soil contaminated with textile wastewater, was shown to reduce intensely coloured solutions of the reactive azo dye, Remazol Black B to colourless solutions. Phylogenetic placement based on 16S rRNA gene sequence homology identified the bacterium as a Shewanella species. Based on results from analyses of the end products of dye decoloration of Remazol Black B and the simpler molecule, Acid Orange 7, using capillary electrophoresis, UV-visible spectrophotometry and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, we suggest that colour removal by this organism was a result of microbially mediated reduction of the chromophore in the dye molecules.

Mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase attenuates hyperoxia-induced cell death through activation of ERK/MAPK and PI3K-Akt pathways in lung epithelial cells.

Oxygen toxicity is one of the major risk factors in the development of the chronic lung disease or bronchopulmonary dysplasia in premature infants. Using proteomic analysis, we discovered that mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase (mtALDH or ALDH2) was downregulated in neonatal rat lung after hyperoxic exposure. To study the role of mtALDH in hyperoxic lung injury, we overexpressed mtALDH in human lung epithelial cells (A549) and found that mtALDH significantly reduced hyperoxia-induced cell death.

Evaluating food stamp nutrition education: issues and opportunities.

Food Stamp Nutrition Education (FSNE) is an optional component of the Food Stamp Program aimed at improving food choices of program participants. The last decade has seen a dramatic expansion in FSNE, accompanied by increased interest in FSNE evaluation. The Society for Nutrition Education, as a leader in nutrition education research, has worked collaboratively with federal partners to improve FSNE evaluation.

Assays for cytokines using aptamers.

Aptamers are short nucleic acid sequences that are used as ligands to bind their targets with high affinity. They are generated via the combinatorial chemistry procedure systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX). Aptamers have shown much promise towards detection of a variety of protein targets, including cytokines.

Sexuality.

This article reviews changes in sexual function in middle-aged women and discusses how these changes relate to aging, hormone alterations, and psychosocial and physical factors. A Medline search of population-based studies that measured sexual function, menopausal status and/or hormone levels was conducted. Longitudinal findings are from the Melbourne Women's Midlife Health Project, a population-based sample of 438 Australian-born white women, aged 45 to 55 years, who were menstruating at baseline.

The menopausal transition: does it induce women's worries about aging?

Objective: This study examines whether patterns of worries about aging change in women during the menopausal transition.

Design: A population-based sample of 261 Australian-born women aged 45-55 years at baseline participated in a longitudinal study. Data were collected at baseline and in the 5th year of annual follow-up interviews.

Serum C-reactive protein and plasma homocysteine levels are associated with hormone therapy use and other factors: a population-based study of middle-aged Australian-born women.

Objective: To investigate the associations between C-reactive protein (CRP), homocysteine levels, use of hormone therapy (HT) and other factors.

Methods: A 12-year prospective study of 438 Australian-born women (Melbourne Women's Midlife Health Project), who at baseline were aged 45-55 years, had menstruated in the previous 3 months and were not taking HT. Fasting blood was collected in the 11th follow-up year for CRP, homocysteine, estradiol and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) levels.

Study of binding stoichiometries of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 reverse transcriptase by capillary electrophoresis and laser-induced fluorescence polarization using aptamers as probes.

Binding stoichiometries between four DNA aptamers (RT12, RT26, RTlt49, and ODN93) and the reverse transcriptase (RT) of the type 1 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) were studied using affinity CE (ACE) coupled with LIF polarization and fluorescence polarization (FP). The ACE/LIF study showed evidence of two binding stoichiometries between the HIV-1 RT protein and aptamers RT12, RT26, and ODN93, suggesting that these aptamers can bind to both the p66 and p51 subunits of the HIV-1 RT. Only one binding stoichiometry for aptamer RTlt49 was found.

Preferential interactions in pigmented, polymer blends - C.I. Pigment Blue 15:4 and C.I. Pigment Red 122 - as used in a poly(carbonate)-poly(butylene terephthalate) polymer blend.

Some important characteristics of selected pigments have been evaluated, using the inverse gas chromatography (IGC) technique, that indicate the occurrence of preferential interactions in pigmented polymer blends. Attention has been given to copper phthalocyanine pigments and to quinacridone pigments incorporated in polycarbonate-poly(butylene terephthalate) blends. Selected supporting techniques were used to provide supplementary information concerning the pigments of interest, C.

Mental health treatments and associated factors amongst mid-aged Melbourne women.

The aim of this study was to describe lifetime treatment rate and the treatment modalities used for psychiatric problems and to identify variables associated with the history of psychiatric treatment among mid-aged Melbourne women.A longitudinal observational study was carried out using a population-based sample of 438 mid-aged women interviewed annually for eight years. The baseline data on sociodemographic profiles and premenstrual symptoms, and history of exposure to violence obtained at year 6 were included in this analysis.