Demographic predictors of melanoma stage at diagnosis.

Objective: To examine sociodemographic characteristics as possible predictors of late-stage melanoma diagnosis. We hypothesized that late-stage diagnosis would be associated with the following: older age, male sex, unmarried status, lower educational attainment and income level, rural residence, and cigarette smoking.

Methods: We used data from the state tumor registry to study all incident cases of melanoma occurring in Florida during 1994 whose stage at diagnosis was available (N = 1884).

The effects of physician supply on the early detection of colorectal cancer.

Background: Policymakers question whether there is a relationship between the number and distribution of physicians and the outcomes for important health conditions. We hypothesized that increasing primary care physician supply would be related to earlier detection of colorectal cancer.

Methods: We identified incident cases of colorectal cancer occurring in Florida in 1994 (n = 8,933) from the state cancer registry.

Increasing supplies of dermatologists and family physicians are associated with earlier stage of melanoma detection.

Background: Physicians are important in the early detection of melanoma. We investigated whether primary care physician supply and the supply of dermatologists were related to stage at diagnosis for malignant melanoma.

Methods: From the state tumor registry in Florida in 1994, we identified incident cases of malignant melanoma for which stage at diagnosis was available (N = 1884).

The use and outcomes of outpatient mastectomy in Florida.

Background: To identify patient characteristics associated with outpatient mastectomies and their outcomes.

Methods: Patients diagnosed with breast cancer and treated with mastectomies in Florida in 1994 were identified from state discharge abstracts and the state tumor registry. The relationship between clinical/demographic characteristics and the odds of having an outpatient mastectomy was identified using multiple logistic regression.

The accuracy of community-based automated blood pressure machines.

Background: Despite widespread use, the accuracy of community-based automated blood pressure machines has been questioned. We sought to determine if these machines are as accurate and reliable as those obtained by a clinician with a mercury manometer.

Methods: We randomly selected 25 pharmacies and compared blood pressure readings obtained from their automated machines with from a mercury manometer.

Clinical and demographic predictors of late-stage cervical cancer.

Background: Despite increasingly widespread use of the Papanicolaou smear, almost half of all women with invasive cervical cancer are diagnosed at a late stage (regional or distant). Little is known about factors associated with late-stage diagnosis of cervical cancer.

Objective: To examine the relationship of age, race, education level, income level, smoking, marital status, health insurance type, comorbidity, and residence in an urban or rural setting to late stage at diagnosis of cervical cancer.

Comparing the toxicity of digoxin and digitoxin in a geriatric population: should an old drug be rediscovered?

Background: Little information is available regarding toxicity rates of the two available forms of cardiac glycosides (digoxin, digitoxin) when used in elderly patients.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the charts of all patients more than 60 years of age who were chronically managed with a cardiac glycoside and were hospitalized during the period January 1995 through January 1998. Toxicity was defined as any clinical event that required either a reduction in dose of the drug or its discontinuance.

Effects of health insurance and race on early detection of cancer.

Background: The presence and type of health insurance may be an important determinant of cancer stage at diagnosis. To determine whether previously observed racial differences in stage of cancer at diagnosis may be explained partly by differences in insurance coverage, we studied all patients with incident cases of melanoma or colorectal, breast, or prostate cancer in Florida in 1994 for whom the stage at diagnosis and insurance status were known.

Methods: The effects of insurance and race on the odds of a late stage (regional or distant) diagnosis were examined by adjusting for an individual's age, sex, marital status, education, income, and comorbidity.

University students' knowledge and awareness of HPV.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of university students regarding the human papillomavirus (HPV).

Methods: A random sample of 500 university students was mailed a self-administered questionnaire that elicited their knowledge and awareness about HPV and compared their knowledge and attitudes with those of other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Among the 480 deliverable addresses, 289 students responded (response rate 60%).

Prostate cancer screening in primary care.

Background: Little is known about the actual frequency with which men have prostate screening in primary care settings, nor are the determinants of screening understood.

Methods: We examined the records of 50 consecutive primary care office visits by men aged 50 or older. Men were asked to complete a brief questionnaire outlining their previous use of prostate screening services and the factors that influenced screening.

Is PGL-1 also present in Leishmania donovani promastigotes?

A soluble antigen complex (SAC) derived from the ruptured promastigotes of Leishmania donovani parasites (LD-SAC) was used for complement fixation test (CFT) in leprosy Cases of tuberculoid and borderline tuberculoid leprosy, post-kala azar dermal leishmaniasis (TT, BT, PKDL) and control sera gave negative CFT. Smear-positive cases of borderline (BB, BL) and lepromatous (LL) leprosy and drug-resisting cases of pulmonary tuberculosis gave positive CFT; smear-negative cases of LL leprosy sera also gave positive CFT. Sera of smear-negative inactive LL patients contained only PGL-1 and PDIM antigens for a long time after they become inactive.

Use of inhalation to study the effect of ethanol and ethanol dependence on neonatal mouse development without maternal separation: a preliminary study.

This study explored the use of ethanol inhalation as a model to study the effects of ethanol and ethanol dependence on neonatal brain development in mice without maternal separation. In these experiments two day old Swiss Webster mice with their mothers were put in an inhalation chamber and continuously exposed to ethanol vapors for 12 days. The results indicate that: (a) the neonates developed substantial blood ethanol levels (160 to 290 mg/dl); (b) the mothers had minimal blood ethanol concentrations (BECs < 10mg/dl); (c) no mortality was observed during ethanol exposure; (d) physical dependence to ethanol was produced in the neonates, as evidenced by typical withdrawal symptoms.

[Endoscopic resection of the mucous membrane in esophageal tumors].

The authors report a 47-year old patient with an intraepithelial esophageal cancer diagnosed by endoscopy. Using Toluidine blue staining it seemed that the tumour was multifocal. The lesions were taken out by biopsy and endoscopic mucosectomy.

Sequential Competitive Learning and the Fuzzy c-Means Clustering Algorithms.

Several recent papers have described sequential competitive learning algorithms that are curious hybrids of algorithms used to optimize the fuzzy c-means (FCM) and learning vector quantization (LVQ) models. First, we show that these hybrids do not optimize the FCM functional. Then we show that the gradient descent conditions they use are not necessary conditions for optimization of a sequential version of the FCM functional.

Repairs to GLVQ: a new family of competitive learning schemes.

First, we identify an algorithmic defect of the generalized learning vector quantization (GLVQ) scheme that causes it to behave erratically for a certain scaling of the input data. We show that GLVQ can behave incorrectly because its learning rates are reciprocally dependent on the sum of squares of distances from an input vector to the node weight vectors. Finally, we propose a new family of models-the GLVQ-F family-that remedies the problem.

Process optimization and modeling of trichlorophenol degradation by Phanerochaete chrysosporium.

The biodegradation of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol and 2,4,5-trichlorophenol by the white rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium was studied in batch and continuous reactor systems. Experiments were conducted in shake flasks as well as in packed-bed reactors in which the fungus was immobilized. The degradation rates in the packed-bed reactors were found to be two orders of magnitude greater than those obtained in the shake flasks in which the fungus was just suspended.

A note on self-organizing semantic maps.

This paper discusses Kohonen's self-organizing semantic map (SOSM). We show that augmentation and normalization of numerical feature data as recommended for the SOSM is entirely unnecessary to obtain semantic maps that exhibit semantic similarities between objects represented by the data. Visual displays of a small data set of 13 animals based on principal components, Sammon's algorithm, and Kohonen's (unsupervised) self-organizing feature map (SOFM) possess exactly the same qualitative information as the much more complicated SOSM display does.

Modeling of component failure in neural networks for robustness evaluation: an application to object extraction.

The robustness of neural network (NN) based information processing systems with respect to component failure (damaging of nodes/links) is studied. The damaging/component failure process has been modeled as a Poisson process. To choose the instants or moments of damaging, statistical sampling technique is used.

Community based survey of STD/HIV infection among commercial sex workers in Calcutta (India). Part-IV: Sexually transmitted diseases and related risk factors.

Community based survey on a sample of commercial sex workers in one red light area of Calcutta, was carried out to determine prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) including HIV infection and related risk factors. An alarmingly high prevalence of STDs (80.56 per cent) but low HIV-seropositivity (1.

Community based survey of STD/HIV infection among commercial sex-workers in Calcutta (India). Part-III: Clinical findings of sexually transmitted diseases (STD).

On physical examination of 418 sex workers, 202 (48.32 per cent) were found to have vaginal discharge, which was found to be most common among younger age class. Endocervical pus, genital ulcer, and swelling of inguinal lymph glands were observed in 13.

Community based survey of STD/HIV infection among commercial sex-workers in Calcutta (India). Part II. Sexual behaviour, knowledge and attitude towards STD.

A community based sample survey of STD/HIV infections was carried out among 450 commercial sex workers, (CSW) of one red light area in Calcutta. In this paper, sexual practices of sex workers, their knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and practice of preventive and curative measures against STDs, is described. Vaginal intercourse was the usual sexual practice.

Community based survey of STD/HIV infection among commercial sexworkers in Calcutta (India). Part I. Some social features of commercial sexworkers.

A community based sample survey of sexually transmitted diseases and Human Immuno deficiency Virus infection was carried out among commercial sex workers of a red-light area in Calcutta. In this paper socio-demographic aspects of sex workers are discussed. For the survey, 450 sex workers were selected by random sampling method.

Role of mycelium and extracellular protein in the biodegradation of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol by Phanerochaete chrysosporium.

The biodegradation of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (2,4,6-TCP) by Phanerochaete chrysosporium was studied in batch systems. In experiments with mycelial suspension, the degradation of 2,4,6-TCP was found to occur in the absence of ligninase. Chloride ion was recovered in nearly stoichiometric amounts at the end of the process.

Generalized clustering networks and Kohonen's self-organizing scheme.

The relationship between the sequential hard c-means (SHCM) and learning vector quantization (LVQ) clustering algorithms is discussed. The impact and interaction of these two families of methods with Kohonen's self-organizing feature mapping (SOFM), which is not a clustering method but often lends ideas to clustering algorithms, are considered. A generalization of LVQ that updates all nodes for a given input vector is proposed.