Factors predicting willingness to quit snus and cigarette use among young males.

The health hazards of smoking are well recognised and recently knowledge about the harmful effects of nicotine and snus is accumulating. We investigated the factors increasing the willingness of young Finnish males to quit snus and cigarette smoking. We conducted a questionnaire study conducted in 3 out of 16 Finnish Defence Forces units which included 6508 male conscripts, of whom 4706 responded (response rate 72%, mean age 19.

Prevalence, duration of exposure and predicting factors for snus use among young Finnish men: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: The health hazards of tobacco products depend on the level of exposure, but little is known about the characteristics of snus use. The aim of this study was to investigate the duration of daily exposure to snus among occasional and daily users and its associated predictive factors among young Finnish men.

Design: Cross-sectional questionnaire study.

Alarming development of dual snus and cigarette usage among young Finnish males.

Background: The consumption of tobacco products has evolved to include more complex combinations of different products. We investigated the tobacco habits of a representative population of young Finnish male conscripts in order to evaluate the prevalence of dual use of cigarettes and snus as well as the transition from one tobacco product to another. In addition, we evaluated the correlation between the level of education and the use of cigarettes and snus.

Development of gliadin-specific immune responses in children with HLA-associated genetic risk for celiac disease.

Objective: The development of gliadin-specific antibody and T-cell responses were longitudinally monitored in young children with genetic risk for celiac disease (CD).

Material And Methods: 291 newborn children positive for HLA-DQB1*02 and -DQA1*05 alleles were followed until 3-4 years of age by screening for tissue transglutaminase autoantibodies (tTGA) by using a commercial ELISA-based kit and antibodies to deamidated gliadin peptide (anti-DGP) by an immunofluorometric assay. Eighty-five of the children were also followed for peripheral blood gliadin-specific CD4(+) T-cell responses by using a carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester-based in vitro proliferation assay.

Antibodies to deamidated gliadin peptide in diagnosis of celiac disease in children.

Objectives: Determination of antibodies to synthetic deamidated gliadin peptides (anti-DGPs) may work as an alternative or complement the commonly used test for tissue transglutaminase antibodies (TGA) in the diagnosis of celiac disease (CD). We analyzed the performance of a time-resolved immunofluorometric anti-DGP assay (TR-IFMA) in the diagnosis of CD in children and also retrospectively analyzed the appearance of anti-DGP antibodies before TGA seroconversion.

Methods: The study included 92 children with biopsy-confirmed CD.

Increased peripheral blood CD4+ T cell responses to deamidated but not to native gliadin in children with coeliac disease.

T cell recognition of gliadin from dietary gluten is essential for the pathogenesis of coeliac disease (CD). The aim of the present study was to analyse whether gliadin-specific T cells are detectable in the circulation of children with newly diagnosed coeliac disease by using a sensitive carboxfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester (CFSE) dilution method. Peripheral blood CD4(+) T cell responses were analysed in 20 children at diagnosis of CD and compared to those in 64 healthy control children carrying the CD-associated human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-DQ2 or -DQ8 alleles.

Chimerism and tolerance in a recipient of a deceased-donor liver transplant.

Complete hematopoietic chimerism and tolerance of a liver allograft from a deceased male donor developed in a 9-year-old girl, with no evidence of graft-versus-host disease 17 months after transplantation. The tolerance was preceded by a period of severe hemolysis, reflecting partial chimerism that was refractory to standard therapies. The hemolysis resolved after the gradual withdrawal of all immunosuppressive therapy.

Complex phenotypes in the haemoglobinopathies: recommendations on screening and DNA testing.

This document considers a number of scenarios involving complex haemoglobinopathies and provides 28 recommendations at both the clinical and laboratory levels on how these should be managed.

Iron status and haematological changes in adolescent female inpatients with anorexia nervosa.

Objectives: (i) To investigate the incidence of iron deficiency (both latent iron deficiency and iron deficiency anaemia) in post menarchal female adolescent patients hospitalized with anorexia nervosa. (ii) To observe changes in iron status during refeeding.

Methods: During the study period all post menarchal female patients admitted to the adolescent unit with anorexia nervosa were invited to participate.

Recombinant activated factor VII in paediatric cardiac surgery.

Objective: To review the use of recombinant activated factor VII in paediatric cardiac surgery.

Design: Retrospective chart review.

Setting: Paediatric intensive care unit in a stand-alone university-affiliated children's hospital.

Intermittent 20q- and consistent i(7q) in a patient with Shwachman-Diamond syndrome.

Shwachman Diamond syndrome (SDS) is a genetic disorder characterized by pancreatic hypoplasia, recurrent infection and bone marrow dysfunction. Some cases have an abnormality of chromosome 7, such as isochromosome 7q (i(7q)), which may be associated with the development of leukemia. We present a boy who was diagnosed with SDS at 19 months of age.

Iron deficiency in Australian-born children of Arabic background in central Sydney.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of iron depletion and deficiency, and iron-deficiency anaemia, along with risk factors for iron depletion, in Australian-born children aged 12-36 months of Arabic-speaking background.

Design: Community-based survey.

Setting: Central Sydney Area Health Service (CSAHS), NSW, April to August, 1997.

Severe cyclical thrombocytopenia in a patient with a large lymphatic-venous malformation: a potential association?

The case is reported of an infant who had a large vascular malformation involving his left arm and axilla. It was initially believed to be purely lymphatic in composition but some venous elements were identified subsequently, at operation. The lesion was unusual in that there was a total absence of skin over one area of it at birth, that it underwent spontaneous shrinkage in the early weeks of life, and that a circumferential scarring developed which led to severe functional disability of the limb.

FLUCTUATING ASYMMETRY IN CENTRAL AND MARGINAL POPULATIONS OF LYCHNIS VISCARIA IN RELATION TO GENETIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS.

Developmental instability in the form of increased fluctuating asymmetry can be caused by either genetic or environmental stress. Because extinctions can be attributed broadly to these factors, fluctuating asymmetry may provide a sensitive tool for detecting such stresses. We studied the level of fluctuating asymmetry of flowers of a perennial outcrossing plant species, Lychnis viscaria, both in natural and common-garden populations.

Cross-reactivity to porcine factor VIII of factor VIII inhibitors in patients with haemophilia in Australia and New Zealand.

Background: Inhibitory antibodies which neutralise factor VIII develop in 10-20% of individuals with inherited haemophilia A and rarely as autoantibodies in normal individuals to cause acquired haemophilia. The antibodies are directed against human factor VIII but cross-react to varying degrees with porcine factor VIII. Porcine factor VIII can be used for treatment in individuals with low cross-reactivity.

Karyotype 69,XXX/47,XX,+15 in a 2 1/2 year old child.

We present the clinical findings in a 2 1/2 year old girl with an unusual mosaic karyotype. Amniocentesis was performed at 35 weeks because of intrauterine growth retardation. The in situ cultures showed 47,XX,+15 in seven colonies, 69,XXX in four colonies, and in two colonies 46,XX was detected.

Iron status and anaemia in preschool children in Sydney.

The purpose of this study was to determine the iron status of preschool children in Sydney. We assessed 678 children aged 9 to 62 months living in 32 randomly selected census collection districts in central and southern Sydney for iron status using plasma ferritin; of these 678 children, 542 had zinc protoporphyrin tests, red cell indices and haemoglobin tests. Risk factors for iron deficiency were assessed by an administered questionnaire.

The 1591C mutation in triosephosphate isomerase (TPI) deficiency. Tightly linked polymorphisms and a common haplotype in all known families.

In order to investigate the basis of the repeated occurrence of the 1591C mutation (TPI 1591C, 105 Glu-Asp) in multiple unrelated families throughout the world, we studied five microsatellite and short tandem repeat markers that lie within a 1.77 megabase region which includes the TPI gene. We also studied an intragenic polymorphic marker that lies within intron 5 of the TPI gene.

Deceptive pollination of Dactylorhiza incarnata: an experimental test of the magnet species hypothesis.

Floral deception, which mainly appears in highly evolved families such as Orchidaceae, was studied in Central Finland. In nectarless Dactylorhiza incarnata, the deceptive pollination system has been considered to function best in remote habitats such as marshes, where flowering plants attractive to pollinators are rare (remote habitats hypothesis). In contrast, the magnet-species theory predicts that a nectarless plant benefits from growing in the vicinity of nectarcontaining species.

Inferior vena cava thrombosis as a complication of femoral vein catheterisation.

Indwelling femoral venous catheters were prospectively studied by ultrasonography to define the frequency and evolution of inferior vena cava (IVC) thrombosis. IVC thrombosis was identified in six of 56 catheters (54 children). Only one patient with a positive ultrasound scan had clinical signs of thrombosis.

Thalassaemia and other haemoglobinopathies in general practice.

Haemoglobinopathies are now common in Australia following the migration of people from areas of high prevalence. This article gives practical advice on the management of patients incidentally found to be heterozygotes for the more common forms and also outlines complications of major haemoglobinopathies that are seen in family practice.

Homozygous beta-thalassaemia: a review of patients who had splenectomy at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, Sydney.

Twenty-four patients with homozygous beta-thalassaemia who had been splenectomised and currently on treatment were studied retrospectively. They were divided into two groups. Group A: who had splenectomy prior to commencement of any regular blood transfusion.

Human triosephosphate isomerase deficiency resulting from mutation of Phe-240.

Triosephosphate isomerase (TPI; D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate ketolisomerase [E.C.5.