Nonmedical use of prescription opioids among teenagers in the United States: trends and correlates.

Purpose: This article reports on trends and correlates of the nonmedical use of prescription opioids among youth.

Methods: Secondary analyses of data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health were performed on youths, ages 12 to 17.

Results: Analyses revealed evidence of an emerging epidemic of opioid misuse among teenagers.

Corneodesmosin (CDSN) gene association with psoriasis vulgaris in Caucasian but not in Japanese populations.

PSORS1 on chromosome 6p21.3, which contains the MHC, is a major susceptibility locus for psoriasis vulgaris. This region is characterized by strong linkage disequilibrium and contains the corneodesmosin (CSDN) gene, an attractive candidate for psoriasis susceptibility based on its putative biological function in keratinocyte adhesion, and HLA-Cw6, an established marker for psoriasis susceptibility.

Radioiodinated azide and isothiocyanate derivatives of cocaine for irreversible labeling of dopamine transporters: synthesis and covalent binding studies.

Two novel N-substituted-3beta-phenyltropane alkaloids have been labeled with iodine-125 for use as irreversible probes of dopamine transporter (DAT) binding sites. One contains an iodoaryl azide moiety for photolabeling, while the other bears an iodoaryl isothiocyanate for direct conjugation. Both radioligands were prepared in a one-flask procedure by electrophilic radioiodination of the corresponding aniline under no-carrier-added conditions, followed either by diazotization and treatment with sodium azide, or by addition of thiophosgene under basic conditions.

Modeling As(V) removal by a iron oxide impregnated activated carbon using the surface complexation approach.

The objective of this research was to model As(V) removal onto a iron oxide impregnated activated carbon (FeAC) using the surface complexation model (SCM) approach. As(V) removal by FeAC was due to the impregnated Fe oxide, not the base carbon material and was a strong function of pH. The two-monoprotic site-triple layer model adequately described As(V) removal using 2 fitting parameters compared with the 3 parameters needed for the diprotic site model.

Affinity labeling the dopamine transporter ligand binding site.

Photoaffinity labeling is a positive function approach that has been used in an effort to identify the cocaine-binding site on the dopamine transporter (DAT). Radioactive and non-radioactive analogs of cocaine and other dopamine uptake blockers are used to irreversibly label the DAT ligand-binding site and the protein is subjected to chemical or enzymatic treatments that cleave at specific amino acid residues. Analysis of cleavage products from radioactively photolabeled DAT using epitope-specific immunoprecipitation, gel electrophoresis, and autoradiography has identified the site of origin in the primary sequence of labeled fragments as small as 4 kDa.

Disclosure of date/acquaintance rape: who reports and when.

Objective: To estimates rates and correlates of disclosure of date/acquaintance rape or attempted rape and verbally coercive sex among a diverse sample of adolescent and young adult females.

Design: Secondary data analysis of cross sectional data.

Setting: Urban adolescent healthcare facility.

Predictors of improvement in renal function after calcineurin inhibitor withdrawal for post-liver transplant renal dysfunction.

Background: Renal dysfunction after liver transplantation is a major management problem. Predictors of improvement in renal dysfunction after calcineurin inhibitor therapy (CNI) withdrawal and replacement with either mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) or azathioprine (AZA) have not previously been examined.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of 33 post-transplant patients with creatinine clearance (CrCl) below 50 mL/min who were changed from CNI to either MMF or AZA.

Absenteeism and business costs: does substance abuse matter?

We conducted an empirical test of the assertion that absenteeism related to substance abuse and dependence among workers is an important contributor to the cost of doing business among American companies, a cost sufficient to motivate firms to aggressively intervene to eliminate abuse and dependence among their employees. The results of this analysis, based on relevant national data sets, suggest that such abuse-based absenteeism is, at best, an incidental cost to business and is insufficient to justify significant prophylactic or therapeutic investments of scarce human resource dollars to achieve an abuse and dependence free workplace. These findings force both public and private sector policymakers to turn to a "hazardous use"/"critical incident" rational as the basis of their argument that American business should invest human resource dollars in specific programs and technologies designed to achieve a drug-free workplace.

Addressing the childhood asthma crisis in Harlem: the Harlem Children's Zone Asthma Initiative.

Objectives: We determined the prevalence of asthma and estimated baseline asthma symptoms and asthma management strategies among children aged 0-12 years in Central Harlem.

Methods: The Harlem Children's Zone Asthma Initiative is a longitudinal, community-based intervention designed for poor children with asthma. Children aged 0-12 years who live or go to school in the Harlem Children's Zone Project or who participate in any Harlem Children's Zone, Inc, program were screened for asthma.

Foreign body ingestion causing gastric and diaphragmatic perforation in a child.

Foreign body ingestion is a common problem in children. Most ingested foreign bodies pass through the gastrointestinal tract without difficulty once they reach the stomach. Perforation of the gastrointestinal tract very rarely occurs.

Isolation, purification and flow cytometric analysis of human intrahepatic lymphocytes using an improved technique.

Intrahepatic lymphocytes (IHL) with their diverse and distinctive subsets emphasise the importance of the liver as a site of immunological activity, but special care is required for their isolation and characterisation. Protocols for IHL isolation, purification and FACS analysis were devised and compared with published extraction protocols. We have reduced the time that IHL are exposed to potentially damaging enzymes during extraction and purified specific subsets using monoclonal antibody (mAb)-coated magnetic microbeads.

Parents of urban adolescents in Harlem, New York, and the Internet: a cross-sectional survey on preferred resources for health information.

Background: Vulnerable populations suffer disproportionately from a variety of health conditions. Access to health information is an important component of health promotion. Reports suggest that while health providers and print media are traditional sources of information, the Internet may be becoming an increasingly important resource for consumers.

The EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Database.

The EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Database (http://www.ebi.ac.

InterPro, progress and status in 2005.

InterPro, an integrated documentation resource of protein families, domains and functional sites, was created to integrate the major protein signature databases. Currently, it includes PROSITE, Pfam, PRINTS, ProDom, SMART, TIGRFAMs, PIRSF and SUPERFAMILY. Signatures are manually integrated into InterPro entries that are curated to provide biological and functional information.

Rates and risk factors for sexual violence among an ethnically diverse sample of adolescents.

Objectives: To investigate the occurrence of rape/attempted rape and verbal sexual coercion among an ethnically diverse adolescent population and to evaluate whether unique risk factors existed for victims of either type of forced sexual experience.

Design: Cross-sectional survey assessing sexual violence within the past 12 months, behaviors that occurred on each subject's most recent date, and the occurrence of unwanted sexual experiences on any dates in the past year and details about that date. Subjects identified as experiencing either rape/attempted rape or verbal sexual coercion were compared with nonvictims using bivariate and multivariate analyses.

Association of HLA-DM polymorphism with the production of antiphospholipid antibodies.

Objective: To investigate whether variation in the HLA-DM gene is important in producing a group of pathogenic autoantibodies-antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL)-on the basis that HLA class II restricted antigen presentation is involved in the production of aPL.

Methods: HLA-DMA and DMB polymorphisms were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction combined with restriction enzyme digestion in 51 white patients with primary antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), 82 with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (42 with APS and 40 without APS), and 109 healthy white controls. The association with the aPL profile was examined.

Pulmonary adenocarcinoma is associated with poor long-term survival after surgical resection. Effect of allogeneic blood transfusion.

Background: The significance of allogeneic blood transfusion in the prognosis of patients with nonsmall lung carcinoma (NSCLC) remains controversial. Reports have suggested that patients with adenocarcinoma have a worse prognosis from cancer than patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), but this evidence is lacking in NSCLC. The objective of the current study was to elucidate the correlation between perioperative allogeneic blood transfusion and the prognosis in patients with adenocarcinoma and SCC.

A prospective audit evaluating the role of video-assisted cervical mediastinoscopy (VAM) as a training tool.

Objective: Cervical mediastinoscopy is an important diagnostic and staging technique. Limited operative field and visibility have traditionally made it a difficult procedure to learn and supervise. Video-assisted techniques can aid training in the procedure.

Changes in cerebral oxygenation during cold (28 degrees C) and warm (34 degrees C) cardiopulmonary bypass using different blood gas strategies (alpha-stat and pH-stat) in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

Background: Impaired cerebral oxygenation, which is reflected by measuring jugular bulb oxygenation, is thought to play an important role in the development of neurological injury after cardiac operations with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). The effects of cardiopulmonary temperature and blood gas strategy on cerebral oxygenation are not fully appreciated.

Methods: Sixty patients were randomly allocated into four equal groups (cold alpha-stat, cold pH-stat, warm alpha-stat and warm pH-stat) to compare the effect of these perfusion strategies on cerebral oxygenation monitored by jugular bulb oximetry [jugular bulb oxygen saturation (SjO(2)) and arterial-jugular bulb oxygen content difference (AjDO(2))].

SNP haplotypes and allele frequencies show evidence for disruptive and balancing selection in the human leukocyte receptor complex.

The human leukocyte receptor complex (LRC) of Chromosome 19q13.4 encodes polymorphic and highly homologous genes that are expressed by cells of the immune system and regulate their function. There is an enormous diversity at the LRC, most particularly the variable number of killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) genes.

Early continuity of care and immunization coverage.

Objective: We examined the relationship between early and exclusive continuity of care at the initial source of care and immunization coverage.

Methods: We used a cohort study design with 641 randomly selected children initiating care before 3 months and making 2 or more visits to an inner-city practice network. We used 2 complementary data sources: medical records and the New York City Department of Health Citywide Immunization Registry.