The Effects of Cholecalciferol Supplementation on Vitamin D Status Among a Diverse Population of Collegiate Basketball Athletes: A Quasi-Experimental Trial.

Vitamin D may play a role in performance and injury risk, yet the required supplementation dosage for collegiate athletes is unclear. The objective of this study was to define the dosage of vitamin D supplementation required to beneficially affect serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) among a sample of collegiate basketball athletes. This was a quasi-experimental trial, participants were allocated to one of three groups of vitamin D daily at the beginning of pre-season training and dependent upon their baseline vitamin D status as follows: insufficient (<75 nmol/L) to 10,000 IU, sufficient (75-125 nmol/L) to 5000 IU and optimal (>125 nmol/L) to no supplementation.

A rural approach to quality improvement for small rural hospitals: Lessons from rural Texas.

This article describes the Rural Physician Peer Review Program (RPPR©) developed by the Texas A&M Rural and Community Health Institute and presents it as an example of a program that could be implemented in rural Canada as an effective means of continuing professional development (CPD) for rural Canadian physicians. RPPR© post review survey responses from 574 physician participants across rural Texas indicate that they are highly satisfied with RPPR© and that their competency in medical knowledge and patient care improves as a result of participation. A pilot project with two to four northern Ontario hospitals would enable RPPR© to be modified to ensure applicability and feasibility in the northern Ontario context to create an RPPR© "North.

Link between diet and cardiovascular disease in Latin America and the Caribbean using geographic information systems.

Objective: To determine the visual, spatial, and/or statistical relationships between food availability/dietary patterns and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).

Methods: CVD mortality rates and diet information (the number of kilocalories and amount of alcohol, fats, fish, fruits, meats, sugars, and vegetables available per person daily) were obtained from internationally available databases. The analyses included 32 LAC countries with sufficient data (15 of 47 had been excluded for incomplete data).

Synthesis and structure-activity-relationships of 1H-imidazo[4,5-c]quinolines that induce interferon production.

1H-Imidazo-[4,5-c]quinolines were prepared while investigating novel nucleoside analogues as potential antiviral agents. While these compounds showed no direct antiviral activity when tested in a number of cell culture systems, some demonstrated potent inhibition of virus lesion development in an intravaginal guinea pig herpes simplex virus-2 assay. We have determined that the in vivo antiviral activity can be attributed to the ability of these molecules to induce the production of cytokines, especially interferon (IFN), in this model.