Publications by authors named "TUCKER G"

Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) is a major, economically important, international crop and has been associated with several nutritional benefits including high antioxidant capacity. New cocoa hybrids have been developed in Ghana that exhibit resistance to pest damage during storage.

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Few studies examine how cancer caregiving stress "proliferates," or how stress related to care provision spreads and influences other aspects of life. These other aspects of life are called secondary stressors and may include perceptions of family support, financial strain, or the caregiver's schedule. In the current study, data on sociodemographic background, care demands, and psychosocial stress were collected from 186 cancer caregivers.

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Objectives: To analyse risk factors of perinatal death, with an emphasis on potentially avoidable risk factors, and differences in the frequency of suboptimal care factors between maternity units with different levels of care.

Methods: Six hundred and eight pregnancies (2001-2005) in South Australia resulting in perinatal death were described and compared to 86 623 live birth pregnancies.

Results: Two hundred and seventy cases (44.

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Previous studies have shown that consumption of fruit and vegetables plays a role in preventing the onset of CVD. These beneficial effects have been linked to the presence of polyphenolic compounds in plant-derived foods and their antioxidant capacity. It has been hypothesised that polyphenols may also have a direct effect on vascular endothelial cell growth and the expression of genes involved in angiogenesis and other roles of the endothelium.

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Aim: To compare the results from computed tomography (CT) colonography with conventional colonoscopy in symptomatic patients referred for colonoscopy.

Methods: The study included 227 adult outpatients, mean age 60 years, with appropriate indications for colonoscopy. CT colonography and colonoscopy were performed on the same day in a metropolitan teaching hospital.

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Objective: To investigate morbidity and mortality associated with heatwaves in metropolitan Adelaide using ambulance, hospital admission, and mortality data.

Design, Participants And Setting: Case-series study comparing health risks in the Adelaide metropolitan population during heatwaves and non-heatwave periods.

Main Outcome Measures: Daily observations for ambulance transports (1993-2006), hospital admissions (1993-2006), and mortality (1993-2004), categorised using International classification of diseases (ninth and tenth revisions) codes for the relevant disease groups.

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Despite a lower content of many drug metabolising enzymes in the intestinal epithelium compared to the liver (e.g. intestinal CYP3A abundance in the intestine is 1% that of the liver), intestinal metabolic extraction may be similar to or exceed hepatic extraction.

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The adenovirus penton base is a strategic protein involved in the virus internalisation pathway through interaction between its RGD sequences and integrin. In some human adenovirus serotypes, this pentameric protein features the ability of interacting together by twelve, leading to the formation of a symmetric nanoparticle called dodecahedron (Dd). This non-infectious adenovirus-like particle exhibiting sixty RGD sequences interacts with integrin but also with heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) expressed at the cell surface.

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The relation between fracture risk and bone mineral density (BMD) is commonly expressed as a multiplicative factor which is said to represent the increase in risk for each standard deviation fall in BMD. This practice assumes that risk increases multiplicatively with each unit fall in bone density, which is not correct. Although odds increase multiplicatively, absolute risk, which lies between 0 and 1, cannot do so though it can be derived from odds by the term Odds/(1+Odds).

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New hybrid types of cocoa beans are attractive to insects in storage, however some of the insects feed little, if at all, on these beans compared to those of the traditional type (mixed genotypes). Based on a sniffing test using GCMS, differences in flavour volatiles in these types of beans have been determined and from these, six major volatiles of cocoa beans were selected for olfactometric analysis using a Pettersson olfactometer to determine which of them contributed to the attraction of Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) to the cocoa beans. The behaviour of Tribolium was affected by dose of 2-phenyl ethanol, acetophenone, 3-methyl butyraldehyde, ethyl butyrate, ethyl 3-hydroxybutyrate and butyl 2-methacrylate.

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Properly substituted pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines are potent and selective CDK2 inhibitors. Compound 15j is orally available and showed efficacy in a mouse A2780 xenograft model.

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Goals Of Work: The objective of this study was to examine whether employment status and gender was associated with family cancer caregivers' reports of stress and well-being.

Materials And Methods: Using a correlational, cross-sectional survey design, this study included 183 primary caregivers (i.e.

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Recent experience has prompted the US FDA to consider whether ethanol ingestion may modify the release characteristics of prolonged-release formulations, where dose dumping may be an issue for patient safety. The influence of ethanol on the in vitro release of opioid drugs from some prolonged-release formulations utilizing different release technologies was examined. Results indicated that the prolonged-release mechanisms remained intact under the testing conditions, although one product showed initial sensitivity to ethanol in its release characteristics.

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Background: All existing long-term glucocorticoid replacement therapy is suboptimal as the normal nocturnal rise and waking morning peak of serum cortisol is not reproduced.

Aim: To test whether it is possible to reproduce the normal overnight rise and morning peak in serum cortisol using an oral delayed and sustained release preparation of hydrocortisone (Cortisol(ds)).

Subjects And Methods: Six healthy normal male volunteers attended on two occasions, in a single-dose, open-label, nonrandomized study.

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An analysis of reported hepatic abundances of CYP3A4 and 3A5 indicated that values determined by immunoquantification using commercially available, unpurified recombinant enzymes as standards are significantly lower than those determined using purified enzymes or human liver microsomes characterized with lysosomal peptides (CYP3A4: mean 45 versus 121 pmol/mg protein, p < 0.01; CYP3A5: mean 28 versus 83 pmol/mg protein, p < 0.05).

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Recombinantly expressed CYP450 systems (rCYPs) are often used to screen for irreversible/quasi-irreversible enzyme inhibitors during drug development. The concentration- and time-dependent inactivation of CYP2D6 by methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) was compared in three different rCYP2D6 systems (yeast microsomes, Supersomestrade mark and Bactosomestrade mark) under the conditions of the most commonly used protocols in assessing mechanism-based inactivation (MBI). MDMA (2-20microM) was pre-incubated with enzyme for 0, 2.

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We have shown previously that the conventional experimental protocol (CEP) used to characterise mechanism-based enzyme inhibition (MBI) of drug metabolism in vitro may introduce substantial bias in estimates of the relevant kinetic parameters. The aim of this study was to develop and assess, by computer simulation, an alternative, mechanistically-based experimental protocol (MEP). This protocol comprises three parts viz.

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Objective: To examine evolving changes in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in South Australia and Australia as a whole from the perspective of hospital admissions, ventilatory support and mortality data.

Design: Retrospective analyses, for the period 1993-2003, of hospital separations data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the Integrated South Australian Activity Collection, and mortality data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and South Australian hospital morbidity collection.

Main Outcome Measures: Hospital separations, ventilatory support episodes, mortality rates, burden-of-disease rankings.

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Acetophenone, ethyl butyrate and 2-phenyl ethanol were used as additives to media on which Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) and Lasioderma serricorne (Fabricius) were cultured for 65 days. Acetophenone and ethyl butyrate had a positive impact on the weight and multiplication of the insects. The weight and rate of multiplication was higher in feed media containing acetophenone alone.

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Aim: To assess the power of in vivo studies needed to discern the effect of genotype on pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) using CYP2C9 and (S)-warfarin as an example.

Methods: Information on the in vitro metabolism of (S)-warfarin and genetic variation in CYP2C9 was incorporated into a mechanistic population-based PK-PD model. The influence of study design on the ability to detect significant differences in PK (AUC(0-12 h)) and PD (AUEC(0-12 h) INR) between CYP2C9 genotypes was investigated.

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The perceived failure of new drug development has been blamed on deficiencies in in vivo studies of drug efficacy and safety. Prior simulation of the potential exposure of different individuals to a given dose might help to improve the design of such studies. This should also help researchers to focus on the characteristics of individuals who present with extreme reactions to therapy.

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