Knowledge, attitudes, and uptake of mental health services by secondary school students in Gweru, Zimbabwe.

Introduction: The study sought to investigate and examine knowledge, attitudes, and uptake of mental health services by secondary school students in the Gweru district.

Methods: Using a qualitative approach, 15 students from three secondary schools in Gweru were purposively sampled for inclusion in this study. Data collection was through semi-structured interviews.

Trans and gender diverse people's experiences of healthcare access in Australia: A qualitative study in people with complex needs.

Introduction: This study aimed to explore the experiences of healthcare access in a diverse sample of trans and gender diverse individuals with complex needs using qualitative methods. We recruited 12 individuals using trans community-based networks facilitated by the Gender Centre. Each individual participated in an in-depth, semi structured interview conducted by a peer interviewer.

Medical advocacy in the face of Australian immigration practices: A study of medical professionals defending the health rights of detained refugees and asylum seekers.

While medical advocacy is mandated as a core professional commitment in a growing number of ethical codes and medical training programs, medical advocacy and social justice engagement are regularly subordinated to traditional clinical responsibilities. This study aims to provide insight into factors that motivate clinician engagement and perseverance with medical advocacy, so as to inform attempts by policymakers, leaders and educators to promote advocacy practices in medicine. Furthermore, this study aims to provide an analysis of the role of medical advocates in systems where patients' rights are perceived to be infringed and consider how we might best support and protect these medical advocates as a profession, by exploring the experiences and perspectives of Australian clinicians defending the health of detained asylum seekers.

The glycoprofile patterns of endothelial cells in usual interstitial pneumonia.

Background: The pathological classification of cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis has been a matter of debate and controversy for histopathologists.

Objective: To identify and specify the glycotypes of capillary endothelial cells in usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) compared to those found in normal tissue.

Methods: Sections of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded blocks from 16 cases of UIP were studied by lectin histochemistry with a panel of 27 biotinylated lectins and an avidin-peroxidase revealing system.

Glycophenotype of prostatic carcinomas.

The factors that affect the progression of prostatic carcinoma are poorly understood, but it is known that carbohydrate antigens on the tumour cell surface play a role in the transforming and metastatic processes. The present report aimed to perform a comparative, lectin-histochemical study of benign and carcinomatous prostates, using a battery of lectins, in combination with monoclonal antibodies against Lewis antigens, and a semi quantitative study, to investigate the changes in glycosylation patterns that occur in prostatic carcinoma. Blocks from 27 necropsy cases of prostatic carcinoma were sectioned and stained with H+E, fifteen biotinylated lectins chosen to probe for a wide range of oligosaccharide sequences within several categories of glycoprotein glycans, using a lectin-biotin avidin-peroxidase method, and monoclonal antibodies against Lewisa, sialyl Lewisa and sialyl Lewisx antigens.

Favorable pregnancy, delivery, and implantation rates experienced in embryo donation programs in the United States.

Objective: To document the numbers of donated frozen ETs performed and the pregnancy, birth, and embryo implantation rates seen in four infertility clinics and three embryo donation agencies in the United States.

Design And Setting: Case series. Four infertility clinics and three embryo donation agencies in the United States contributed data from their first year of available information through calendar year 2006.

Lectin and other histochemical studies of the articular cartilage and the chondro-osseous junction of the normal human knee joint.

There are few studies on normal, adult diarthrodial joints which look in detail at the histochemical properties of the chondro-osseous junctional region. This study of the normal human knee joint was performed using lectin and other histochemical techniques. There were differences in the reactions of mineralised cartilage compared to those of hyaline cartilage with the former demonstrating more collagen and less glycosaminoglycans.

The normal human chondro-osseous junctional region: evidence for contact of uncalcified cartilage with subchondral bone and marrow spaces.

Background: The chondro-osseous junctional region of diarthrodial joints is peculiarly complex and may be considered to consist of the deepest layer of non-calcified cartilage, the tidemark, the layer of calcified cartilage, a thin cement line (between the calcified cartilage and the subchondral bone) and the subchondral bone. A detailed knowledge of the structure, function and pathophysiology of the normal chondro-osseous junction is essential for an understanding of the pathogenesis of osteoarthrosis.

Methods: Full thickness samples from human knee joints were processed and embedded in paraffin wax.

The tidemark of the chondro-osseous junction of the normal human knee joint.

The chondro-osseous junction includes the junction between calcified and non-calcified cartilage matrices often referred to as the tidemark. A detailed knowledge of the structure, function and pathophysiology of the chondro-osseous junction is essential for an understanding both of the normal elongation of bones and of the pathogenesis of osteoarthrosis. In this study the molecular anatomy of the tidemark was studied using histochemical techniques, including lectin histochemistry, on blocks of normal cartilage from human knee joints.

Lectin histochemistry of normal human lung.

This study aimed to identify and specify the glycotypes of cell populations in normal human lung including types I and II pneumocytes, alveolar macrophages and mast cells, and also in the larger tissue structures of lung, including blood vessels and bronchi/bronchioles, using lectin- and immuno-histochemistry on paraffin-embedded tissue from 11 normal cases. The alveolar macrophages were anti-CD68 positive whereas the cells lining the alveolar walls were positive for cytokeratins. The alveolar macrophages in normal lung tissues showed a broad spectrum of staining for different subsets of N-linked saccharides, N-acetylgalactosamine, N-acetylglucosamine, terminal beta-D-galactose and sialyl groups.

Lectin histochemistry of normal human gastric mucosa.

Information about the saccharides expressed in gastric mucosa is mostly limited to the glycan content of gastric mucins and there are only a few studies of the glycoprofiling of the constituent cells and their components. Knowledge of the glycan expression of normal gastric mucosa is necessary for the interpretation of the significance of changes of expression in disease. lectin histochemical study of normal human gastric (body) mucosa was performed using 27 lectins chosen to probe for a wide range of oligosaccharide sequences within several categories of glycoprotein glycans.

Application of solid-phase micro-extraction technology to drug screening and identification.

Benzodiazepines, tricyclic antidepressants and local anaesthetics are frequently involved in poisoning episodes and fatalities. A specific, sensitive and rapid procedure for identifying and quantifying such drugs in postmortem matrices has been developed using solid-phase micro-extraction (SPME) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Very clean extracts were obtained in one step using SPME.

Mycophenolic acid does not inhibit protein glycosylation in T lymphocytes.

Background: Mycophenolic acid inhibits guanosine nucleotide synthesis and has been shown to be a potent inhibitor of lymphocyte proliferation as well as being effective at decreasing the incidence of graft rejection. Guanosine nucleosides are essential for protein glycosylation and many cell surface proteins including adhesion molecules, which are important for graft infiltration and rejection, are glycoproteins. There have been conflicting reports concerning the ability of MPA to interfere with glycosylation in lymphoid cells.

An investigation of the audiologic handicap associated with unilateral sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

Objective: To determine the incidence of tinnitus and associated handicap after unilateral sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL); in addition, to determine the hearing handicap experienced as a consequence of such a loss.

Study Design: Identification of patients and determination of demographic and audiologic data by retrospective case review; determination of handicap and distress by postal questionnaire.

Setting: Teaching hospital department of otolaryngology.

Magnetic resonance imaging results in patients with central electronystagmography findings.

The objective of this study was to determine the findings on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients identified as having central vestibular abnormalities on electronystagmography (ENG) testing, to discuss the issue of 'gold standard' in the investigation of central oculo-vestibular system diseases and to present a model for understanding this area. A retrospective review of the case notes of patients (n = 23) found to have central ENG findings at vestibular assessment and for whom MRI scanning data was available was undertaken. Each patient underwent a full ENG evaluation, including gaze, ocular-motor and caloric testing, and MRI.

Glycosylation in the near-term epitheliochorial placenta of the horse, donkey and camel: a comparative study of interbreeding and non-interbreeding species.

Studies from this laboratory have shown great diversity in the glycosylation of tissues comprising the interhaemal barrier of species with different placental types. This diversity may be one of the factors preventing interbreeding between species. Glycan expression within the uterine epithelium and trophoblast of the interhaemal barrier was examined to test this proposition in three species with similar diffuse, microcotyledonary, epitheliochorial allantochorionic types of placenta: the horse (Equus caballus) and donkey (Equus asinus), which can interbreed with each other, and the camel (Camelus dromedarius), which cannot interbreed with either of the other two species.

Tinnitus, cochlear implants and how they affect patients.

The relationship between tinnitus and cochlear implantation is an important issue that needs to be established because it may affect implant use. In this study 99 patients over 15 years of age completed pre- and post-cochlear implantation questionnaires, and underwent performance testing. The findings show that after implantation, there was marked suppression of tinnitus in both implanted and contralateral ears whilst the implant was off, and this was further enhanced when the implant was switched on.

Electrode complications in 100 adults with multichannel cochlear implants.

At switch-on (first post-operative stimulation of the implant) and during subsequent reprogramming, electrodes can, in some patients, be found to be non-functional or to be performing sub-optimally for a number of reasons. This paper examines the reasons for the poor performance of these electrodes by means of a retrospective analysis of 100 patient records. All of these patients received the Nucleus multichannel device.

Medical, surgical and audiological complications of the first 100 adult cochlear implant patients in Birmingham.

Of the first 100 patients implanted on the Midland Cochlear Implant Programme the commonest aetiologies of deafness were idiopathic 31 per cent, meningitis 28 per cent and cochlear otosclerosis 16 per cent. The major complication rate was three per cent. The most severe was one individual who post-operatively developed a cerebral infarct and subsequently died.

Outcomes from adult implantation, the first 100 patients.

We present the outcome of implantation in the first 100 adult patients treated under the Midland Cochlear Implant Programme. All patients were post-lingually deaf with profound or total hearing loss. Performance was tested in lip-reading, implant only and combined lip-reading and implant modes using BKB sentences, connected discourse tracking (CDT) and environmental sound recognition.

Equine placental cup cells show glycan expression distinct from that of both chorionic girdle progenitor cells and early allantochorionic trophoblast of the placenta.

Using lectin histochemistry on plastic-embedded material, the glycosylation patterns of equine girdle and cup cells, and associated endometrial glands, have been investigated from 37 to 67 days gestation. Results were compared with the glycosylation of the 50-day allantochorionic trophoblast of the established equine placenta that will later form the microcotyledons. The differentiated cup cells, which secrete equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG), showed a pattern of glycosylation that was distinct both from the progenitor girdle cells and the allantochorionic trophoblast, with granules that bound lectins indicating high levels of alpha2,6 and alpha2,3-linked sialic acid, N-acetyllactosamine and bi/tri antennary non-bisected and bisected complex N-glycan.

A lectin binding analysis of glycosylation patterns during development of the equine placenta.

The glycosylation of the equine interhaemal barrier and areola was studied throughout the period of gestation. Placentae of 35, 37, 50, 119, 152, 200, 280 and 300 days gestation were investigated, using semithin plastic embedded sections and a panel of 15 biotinylated lectins with an avidin-peroxidase revealing system. Glycosylation of the trophoblast and maternal epithelium showed the most change during the first 50 days of gestation, being associated with the initial stages of adhesion and attachment.

Expression of proteoglycans by cultured chick sternal chondrocytes.

Chondrocytes isolated from the caudal and cephalic ends of the sterna of embryonic chicks were cultured in collagen gels. Differences were found, histochemically, between the proteoglycans produced by the "caudal" and "cephalic" cultures and with length of time in culture. The cultures were labelled with [14C]galactose and [35S]sulphate at 7 and 21 days in culture and labelled compounds from media, and cell and matrix extracts analysed with Sepharose CL-2B.

Lectin histochemistry and cytochemistry-light microscopy : avidin-biotin amplification on resin-embedded sections.

Within the last 25 yr, the study of glycans, their structures, and their drstribution in tissues has emerged from relative obscurity to become a major theme of molecular and cellular biology: "glycobiology" (1). Glycans are major components of cellular surfaces (2,3), extracellular matrices (4,5), and secretions (6), and play important roles in cell-cell and cell-matrix recognition and adhesion (7,8). They regulate the surface environment of cells by influencing the structure of water (6,9), by modulating diffusion, by sequestering metabohtes such as metal ions, by presenting various growth factors to their receptors (10,11), by acting as ligands in recognition-adhesion systems (11-13), and by making major contributions to cell surface charge (2,14).