Case-based Surveillance of Influenza Hospitalizations during 2004–2008, Colorado, USA

Case-based surveillance provides more information than any other influenza surveillance component

The use of immunocytochemical techniques for the detection of steroid hormones in breast cancer cells

Indirect immunofluorescence and immunoperoxidase assays were developed to detect estradiol and progesterone in breast cancer cells. Appropriate controls were used to confirm immunologic specificity. Studies of estradiol binding by human breast cancer cells identified three groups: no detectable binding (25%); all tumor cells exhibiting binding although to different degrees (4%); and tumors with varying numbers of positive and negative cells (71%). Similar observations were made with respect to progesterone binding. The percentage of cells with estradiol binding was correlated with the amount of estrogen receptors (ER) present in the tumor specimens. Post‐hormone binding events, e.g., nuclear binding of estradiol, were also evaluated. Some tumor cells showing cytoplasmic binding of estradiol did not show nuclear binding of estradiol; such tumors lacked detectable progesterone binding and progesterone receptors. Estradiol binding could not be competed with by diethylstilbestrol under routine assay conditions, and relatively high concentrations of estradiol were needed to observe estradiol‐specific staining. The results suggest that the immunocytochemical assays detect hormone‐specific binding, but that the binding is probably due to multiple classes of steroid‐binding sites

Age at Menarche and First Pregnancy Among Psychosocially At-Risk Adolescents

We sought to determine which factors influence the association between menarche and conception among adolescent study participants (n = 1030), who demonstrated an earlier age of menarche than did national samples. Age at first sexual intercourse (coitarche) mediated the relationship between age at menarche and first pregnancy among White girls, whereas gynecologic age at coitarche (age at coitarche minus age at menarche) and age at menarche explained the timing of the first pregnancy among Black and Hispanic girls. Pregnancy prevention interventions to delay coitarche should also include reproductive education and contraception