Lung Function in Gypsies in Greece

The relationship between lung function and smoking and dietary habits was examined in 121 Gypsies (62 males, 59 females) who were 14-70 y of age and who lived in Greece. All were examined clinically, after which they all participated in spirometry tests. Half of the study group had abnormal (< 80% of predicted) forced vital capacity, 36.4% had abnormal (< 80% of predicted) forced expiratory volume in 1 sec, and 5% had serious lung function disturbances (forced vital capacity < 50% of predicted). Approximately 70% of subjects were smokers, and their diets were rich in alcohol and meat; they ate very few salads and oranges. Consequently, decreased lung function might be a major health problem in Gypsies in Greece. Organization of preventive health strategies should improve the overall health of this study group

Differential display of m-RNAs in fish gonads by modified DD-PCR

In a previous report we presented a modification of the original Differential Display PCR technique using a single oligo (dT) primer for the reverse transcription reaction (instead of the various oligo (dT)NM primers that subdivide the pool of mRNAs) and a combination of 25-mer or 26-mer arbitrary primers together with 30-mer anchored primers for the PCR reaction. The PCR products were, then, efficiently separated in a nondenatuting polyacrylamide gel and the bands were visualized after staining with silver nitrate. In this report we extended our studies and we used fish gonads from various fish as the model to trace the differential expression of mRNAs, which were isolated by various methods. Since xenoestrogens are toxic to the gonads of many fish, we tried to set up the conditions in order to further characterize genes that are markers of exposure to xenoestrogens

Lung function in Gypsies in Greece

The relationship between lung function and smoking acid dietary habits was examined in 121 Gypsies (62 males, 59 females) who were 14-70 y of age and who lived in Greece. All were examined clinically, after which they all participated in spirometry tests. Half of the study group had abnormal (< 80% of predicted) forced vital capacity, 36.4% had abnormal (< 80% of predicted) forced expiratory volume in 1 sec, and 5% had serious lung function disturbances (forced vital capacity < 50% of predicted). Approximately 70% of subjects were smokers, and their diets were rich in alcohol and meat; they ate very few salads and oranges. Consequently, decreased lung function might be a major health problem in Gypsies in Greece. Organization of preventive health strategies should improve the overall health of this study group

Spurious precision : variability in procedural validity of diagnostic procedures in psychotic disorders and implications for research and treatment

Very few studies have quantified the level of agreement among alternative diagnostic procedures that use a common set of fixed operational criteria. The authors examined the procedural validity of four independent methods of assigning DSM-III-R diagnoses of psychotic disorders. METHOD: The research was conducted as a satellite study to the DSM-IV Field Trial for Schizophrenia and Related Psychotic Disorders. The setting was the National Health and Medical Research Council Schizophrenia Research Unit\u27s Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre, which focuses on first-episode psychosis. Consecutively admitted patients (N = 50) were assessed by independent raters who used four different procedures to determine a DSM-III-R diagnosis. These procedures were 1) the diagnostic instrument developed for the DSM-IV field trial, 2) the Royal Park Multidiagnostic Instrument for Psychosis, 3) the Munich Diagnostic Checklists, and 4) a consensus DSM-III-R diagnosis assigned by a team of clinician researchers who were expert in the use of diagnostic criteria. RESULTS: Concordance between pairs of diagnostic procedures was only moderate. Corresponding levels of percent agreement, however, ranged from 66% to 76%, with converse misclassification rates of 24%-34% (assuming one procedure to be &quot;correct&quot;). CONCLUSIONS: These findings have significant research and clinical implications. Despite the introduction of operationally defined diagnoses, there remained an appreciable level of differential classification or misclassification arising from variability in the method of assigning the diagnostic criteria rather than the criteria themselves. Such misclassification may impede neurobiological research and have harmful clinical effects on patients with first-episode psychosis.<br /

Spurious precision: procedural validity of diagnostic assessment in psychotic disorders

Objective: Very few studies have quantified the level ofagreement among alternative diag-nostic procedures that use a common set offixed operational criteria. The authors examined the procedural validity of four independent methods of assigning DSM-III-R diagnoses of psychotic disorders. Method: The research was conducted as a satellite study to the DSM-IV Field Trial for Schizophrenia and Related Psychotic Disorders. The setting was the National Health and Medical Research Council Schizophrenia Research Unit’s Early Psychosis Preven-tion and Intervention Centre, which focuses on first-episode psychosis. Consecutively admitted patients (N=5O) were assessed by independent raters who used four different procedures to determine a DSM-III-R diagnosis. These procedures were 1) the diagnostic instrument devel-oped for the DSM-IV field trial, 2) the Royal Park Multidiagnostic Instrument for Psychosis, 3) the Munich Diagnostic Checklists, and 4) a consensus DSM-III-R diagnosis assigned by a team of clinician researchers who were expert in the use of diagnostic criteria. Results: Con-cordance between pairs ofdiagnostic procedures was only moderate. Corresponding levels of percent agreement, however, ranged from 66 % to 76%, with converse misclassification rates of 24%-34 % (assuming one procedure to be “correct”). Conclusions: These findings hav

Trends and Impact of Door-to-Balloon Time on Clinical Outcomes in Patients Aged <75, 75 to 84, and ≥8585 Years With ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction

Guidelines strongly recommend patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) receive timely mechanical reperfusion, defined as door-to-balloon time (DTBT) =90 minutes. The impact of timely reperfusion on clinical outcomes in patients aged 75-84 and =85 years is uncertain. We analysed 2,972 consecutive STEMI patients who underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention from the Melbourne Interventional Group Registry (2005-2014). Patients aged &lt; 75 years were included in the younger group, those aged 75-84 years were in the elderly group and those =85 years were in the very elderly group. The primary endpoints were 12-month mortality and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). 2,307 (77.6%) patients were &lt; 75 years (mean age 59 ± 9 years), 495 (16.7%) were 75-84 years and 170 (5.7%) were =85 years. There has been a significant decrease in DTBT over 10 years in younger and elderly patients (p-for-trend &lt; 0.01 and 0.03) with a trend in the very elderly (p-for-trend 0.08). Compared to younger and elderly patients, the very elderly had higher 12-month mortality (3.6% vs 10.7% vs. 29.4%; p = 0.001) and MACE (10.8% vs 20.6% vs 33.5%; p = 0.001). DTBT =90 minutes was associated with improved outcomes on univariate analysis but was not an independent predictor of improved 12-month mortality (OR 0.84, 95% CI 0.54-1.31) or MACE (OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.67-1.16). In conclusion, over a 10-year period, there was an improvement in DTBT in patients aged &lt; 75 years and 75-84 years however DTBT =90 minutes was not an independent predictor of 12-month outcomes. Thus assessing whether patients aged =85 years are suitable for invasive management does not necessarily translate to worse clinical outcomes