High throughput, small scale methods to characterise the growth of marine fungi.

Various marine fungi have been shown to produce interesting, bioactive compounds, but scaling up the production of these compounds can be challenging, particularly because little is generally known about how the producing organisms grow. Here we assessed the suitability of using 100-well BioScreen plates or 96-well plates incubated in a robot hotel to cultivate eight filamentous marine fungi, six sporulating and two non-sporulating, to obtain data on growth and substrate (glucose, xylose, galactose or glycerol) utilisation in a high throughput manner. All eight fungi grew in both cultivation systems, but growth was more variable and with more noise in the data in the Cytomat plate hotel than in the BioScreen.

ACE inhibitors and the risk of acute pancreatitis-a population-based case-control study.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the association between angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor use and the risk of acute pancreatitis.

Methods: Information on all 4966 cases hospitalized in 2008-2010 for acute pancreatitis was retrieved from the Finnish national registers on hospital discharges and prescriptions. A total of 24 788 age and sex-matched population-based controls were randomly selected using density sampling.

Use of statins and the risk of acute pancreatitis: a population-based case-control study.

Purpose: The aim of this research was to examine the association between statin use and the risk of acute pancreatitis.

Methods: This register-based case-control study with incidence density sampling was based on 4376 patients hospitalized in 2008-2010 for acute pancreatitis and 19 859 randomly selected age and sex-matched controls from the adult population of Finland. The relationship between statin use from 1 January 2004 to the index date and the relative incidence rate of acute pancreatitis was modelled by conditional logistic regression.

Piloting international production of rapid relative effectiveness assessments of pharmaceuticals.

Background: This article describes the lessons learned from an international pilot assessment using the first version of the HTA Core Model® and Guidelines for rapid Relative Effectiveness Assessment (REA) of pharmaceuticals based on input from three different perspectives: the assessors, the users (health technology assessment organisations) and the marketing authorisation holder.

Methods: A pilot assessment was performed of pazopanib for the treatment of advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma for which 54 individuals from 22 EUnetHTA member organisations from 16 European countries gave their contribution. The work was divided in eight domain teams.

Inspiratory flows through dry powder inhaler in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: age and gender rather than severity matters.

Background: Dry powder inhalers (DPIs) are inspiratory flow driven and hence flow dependent. Most patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are elderly and have poor lung function. The factors affecting their inspiratory flows through inhalers are unclear.

Comparison of polyethylene glycol with and without electrolytes in the treatment of constipation in elderly institutionalized patients: a randomized, double-blind, parallel-group study.

Background: Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is a commonly used osmotic laxative. PEG with electrolytes is mixed with water, but PEG without electrolytes can also be mixed with, for example, juice, coffee or tea, making it more palatable. Laxatives, including PEG, are commonly used by the elderly, particularly those living in institutions.

Coffee consumption and mortality in a 14-year follow-up of an elderly northern Finnish population.

The present study assessed the relationship between coffee consumption and mortality in a home-dwelling elderly population. A population-based cohort of 817 men and women born in 1920 or earlier and living in northern Finland provided complete data on daily coffee consumption and other variables at the baseline examination in 1991-1992. Deaths were monitored through to the end of 2005 by national death certificates, resulting in 6960 person-years of follow-up.

Functional COMT Val158Met polymorphism, risk of acute coronary events and serum homocysteine: the Kuopio ischaemic heart disease risk factor study.

Background: The role of circulating levels of total homocysteine tHcy in the development of coronary heart disease (CHD) is still under debate. One reason for conflicting results between previous studies on homocysteine and heart diseases could be consequence of different interactions between homocysteine and genes in different study populations. Many genetic factors play a role in folate-homocysteine metabolism, like functional polymorphism (Val108Met) in the Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene.

Catechol-o-methyltransferase gene polymorphism modifies the effect of coffee intake on incidence of acute coronary events.

Background: The role of coffee intake as a risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD) has been debated for decades. We examined whether the relationship between coffee intake and incidence of CHD events is dependent on the metabolism of circulating catecholamines, as determined by functional polymorphism of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene.

Methodology/principal Findings: In a cohort of 773 men who were 42 to 60 years old and free of symptomatic CHD at baseline in 1984-89, 78 participants experienced an acute coronary event during an average follow-up of 13 years.

High dietary methionine intake increases the risk of acute coronary events in middle-aged men.

Background And Aim: Homocysteine, a methionine metabolite, is suggested to be a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). To date, the effects of dietary intake of methionine, the key amino acid in homocysteine metabolism, on CVD have not been studied. Our aim was to examine the effects of dietary methionine intake on the risk of acute coronary events.

Serum homocysteine, folate and risk of stroke: Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor (KIHD) Study.

Background: Homocysteine and folate have been suggested to have opposite effects on the risk of stroke, although the results are controversial.

Design And Methods: The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of serum total homocysteine (tHcy) and serum folate levels on the risk of stroke in a prospective cohort study. The subjects were 1015 men aged 46-64 years and free of prior stroke, examined in 1991-1993 in the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor (KIHD) Study.

The effects of coffee consumption on lipid peroxidation and plasma total homocysteine concentrations: a clinical trial.

Despite extensive research, the cardiovascular effects of coffee consumption in humans remain controversial. Our aim was to investigate the excretion of coffee phenols and the effects of filtered coffee consumption on oxidative stress and plasma homocysteine (tHcy) concentration in humans. The study consisted of a multiple-dose clinical supplementation trial and a single-dose study.

Coffee drinking is dose-dependently related to the risk of acute coronary events in middle-aged men.

Heavy coffee consumption has been associated with increased coronary heart disease (CHD) risk although many studies have not observed any relation. We studied the effect of coffee consumption, assessed with a 4-d food record, on the incidence of nonfatal acute myocardial infarction or coronary death in a cohort of 1971 men who were 42 to 60 y old and free of symptomatic CHD at baseline in 1984-1989. During a mean follow-up of 14 y, 269 participants experienced an acute coronary event.

Sucralfate effervescent tablet: treatment of peptic ulcer disease and change in serum aluminium concentration.

In a single-centre randomised clinical trial, a new effervescent formulation of sucralfate was compared with the granular formulation of the drug in the treatment of peptic ulcer. The effervescent tablet had not been previously administered to human subjects. Fifty patients with endoscopically verified duodenal (40) and gastric (10) ulcers were treated with 2.

Effect of exogenous ATP and physical stimulation on ciliary function impaired by bacterial endotoxin.

The effects of exogenous ATP and physical stimulation on ciliary beat depressed by lipopolysaccharide from Pseudomonas aeruginosa were studied in cell culture. Both the ciliary beat frequency (CBF) and the amplitude (CBA) of human respiratory cells in monolayer cell cultures were studied by using a differential interference microscope equipped with a high speed video. Both the ATP and the physiol stimulation stimulated temporarily the depressed CBF and CBA.

Lathosterol and other noncholesterol sterols during treatment of hypercholesterolemia with lovastatin alone and with cholestyramine or guar gum.

Sixty-two patients aged 19-64 years with primary hypercholesterolemia (mean level of total cholesterol, 10.8 mmol/l) were treated with 80 mg/day lovastatin (L) alone for 18 weeks and, after randomization to either L + 20 g/day guar gum (L + GG) or L + 16 g/day cholestyramine (L + C) treatments, for an additional 18 weeks. The total cholesterol level declined from baseline by 34% during L and by 44% and 48% during L + GG and L + C, respectively.

Combination therapy with lovastatin and guar gum versus lovastatin and cholestyramine in treatment of hypercholesterolemia.

Sixty-two patients (34 men and 28 women) aged 19-64 years, half of whom had familial hypercholesterolemia, treated initially for 18 weeks with lovastatin alone were randomly allocated either to lovastatin (L) and cholestyramine (16 g/day) or lovastatin and guar gum (L + GG 20 g/day) treatment for 18 additional weeks to compare the hypocholesterolemic effects of these two combination therapies. The patients were selected for this study from a larger study of patients (n = 120) with severe hypercholesterolemia [serum total cholesterol (serum Chol) 6.5-16.

Effects of a chlorhexidine-fluoride-strontium rinsing program on caries, gingivitis and some salivary bacteria among Finnish schoolchildren.

In order to find out if it is possible to prevent caries and gingivitis by periodical use of chlorhexidine-fluoride mouthrinses with or without strontium, and to find out what effects they have on salivary mutans streptococci and lactobacilli counts, a total of 243 schoolchildren aged 11 yr with high DMFS scores were randomly divided into four groups. One group (C) served as a basic control. Subjects in the second group (CXF) rinsed their mouths twice a day every third week with a rinsing solution containing 0.

A new method for studying the effect of glass ionomer on plaque in vivo.

In order to study the amount of fluoride originating from glass ionomer, a test appliance was constructed and set on upper molars of sixteen volunteers using glass ionomer. The control appliance was set on the contralateral tooth using composite. Six weeks after the setting of appliances, plaque samples were taken and analysed.

Pharmacokinetic comparison of a dextromethorphan-salbutamol combination tablet and a plain dextromethorphan tablet.

We compared in this double-blind crossover study the bioavailability of dextromethorphan from a dextromethorphan-salbutamol combination tablet (Redol comp) and from a plain dextromethorphan tablet (Extuson) by determining dextrorphan concentrations after single-dose oral administration in 10 healthy volunteers. The absorption of salbutamol from the combined preparation was also determined. The absorption of dextromethorphan was slightly faster from the plain dextromethorphan preparation.

Metabolic studies on the hypolipidaemic effect of guar gum.

The hypolipidaemic effect of guar gum (30 g/day) was examined in a double blind placebo-controlled crossover study in 9 patients with primary hyperlipidaemia. The treatment periods were of six weeks duration. Cholesterol levels in low density lipoprotein (LDL) were decreased by 11.

Level of airborne bovine epithelial antigen in Finnish cowsheds.

Samples of airborne particulate material were collected from 18 Finnish cowsheds both at stationary sites and in breathing zones. The concentrations of bovine epithelial antigen (BEA) in samples were analyzed by the immunochemical enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) inhibition test. For total dust and BEA measurements the range of results among cowsheds was wide.

Interdependence of associations of physical activity, smoking, and alcohol and coffee consumption with serum high-density lipoprotein and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol--a population study in eastern Finland.

The interdependence of the associations of physical activity, smoking, and consumption of alcohol and coffee with serum high-density lipoprotein and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations was studied in 9,347 persons ages 25-64 years from east and southwest Finland. In covariance analyses with corrections for age, body mass index, saturated fat index, and fasting time, the mean adjusted serum high-density lipoprotein to non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio was high among physically active male non-smokers but not among smokers (P = 0.024 for two-way interaction).

Coffee consumption is correlated with serum cholesterol in middle-aged Finnish men and women.

The association between coffee consumption and serum cholesterol was studied in a cross-sectional epidemiological study in Finland where the annual per capita consumption of coffee (13.0 kg) is the highest in the world. Coffee consumption was assessed by a questionnaire in a representative population sample of 4744 men and 4495 women aged 25 to 64 years.