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Biomedical subjects

H Adriaanse

Publications and source records attributed to H Adriaanse.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

In search of factors responsible for noncompliance among tuberculosis patients in Wardha District, India.

From September 1988 to February 1989 52 compliant and 50 noncompliant tuberculosis outpatients who were prescribed antituberculosis drug regimens were interviewed in Wardha District, India. Patients were compared by means of a questionnaire with previously fixed response options in order to identify which factors were responsible for having complied or not. Discriminant analysis demonstrated differences between completers and noncompleters on several health belief items, in particular those regarding health motivation, the perceived severity of the disease, costs and benefits of the treatment regimen and self-efficacy. Compliers reported more physical symptoms at the onset of the disease, whereas more noncompliers mentioned a deteriorated health condition at the time of interviewing. Low associations were found between demographic and socioeconomic variables and adherence, except for some indicators of income level. The relationship between presence of social support and cooperation with the treatment procedure was confirmed. An indication of an educational problem was the association between the compliance behaviour of a patient and his or her knowledge of specific aspects of the disease, the origin of tuberculosis and features of the drug regimen. Satisfaction with the health care provider contributed positively to the continuation of drug intake.

Adolescent

Smoking habits in medical students and physicians in Groningen, The Netherlands.

Smoking habits and attitudes towards smoking of medical students (n = 725), house officers (n = 126) and consultants (n = 236) of the University Hospital of Groningen were studied, in 1989 by means of a World Health Organization (WHO) questionnaire. Overall response rate was 84%. Twenty seven percent of the medical students are current smokers, 28% of the house officers and 34% of the consultants. There is a remarkable difference among medical specialists i.e: smoking prevalence is highest among psychiatrists and lowest among paediatricians. The prevalence of smoking in medical students and house officers is lower than in the Dutch population. Smoking habits of the consultants are similar to those of the general population. About 75% of the doctors reported having no experience with smoking cessation programmes. Doctors report a need for more skills and knowledge on smoking cessation programmes.

Adult

Nurses' smoking worldwide. A review of 73 surveys on nurses' tobacco consumption in 21 countries in the period 1959-1988.

Nurses are the largest professional group in health care. Nurses' smoking is not only important to their personal health, but also to the public's health. Analysis of smoking prevalences found among nurses in 21 countries in the period 1959-1988 shows that considerable numbers of both female and male nurses are smokers. More often than not there are found as many smokers among nurses as among the general population, sometimes even more. Only in Canada and Finland female nurses smoked clearly less than the population at large. Nurses' smoking prevalences decreased slowly in industrialized countries. An exemplary role is recognized by many nurses; more so by non-smoking nurses than by their smoking colleagues. Factors influencing nurses' smoking are professional socialization, duality of roles, workstress, discrepant expectancies about nurses' role and lack of social support. Theoretical explanations for nurses smoking by means of the theories of strain, of selection, of social control and of professional subculture are discussed. Future research should be internationally coordinated and aimed at comparability within a cultural and organizational context.

Data Collection

NASBA isothermal enzymatic in vitro nucleic acid amplification optimized for the diagnosis of HIV-1 infection.

Isothermal nucleic acid amplification of target RNA or DNA sequences is accomplished by the simultaneous enzymatic activity of AMV reverse transcriptase, T7 RNA polymerase and RNase H. Amplification factors of the nucleic acid sequence based amplification (NASBA) method range from 2 x 10(6) to 5 x 10(7) after 2.5 h incubation at 41 degrees C. During NASBA there is a major accumulation of specific single stranded RNA. RNA:DNA hybrid and double stranded DNA are also synthesized, although to a minor extent. The system is optimized for the detection of HIV-1 sequences in in vitro infected cells, blood and plasma. Detection levels are 10 molecules of HIV-1 in a model system with in vitro generated HIV-1 RNA as input and 5 infected cells on a background of 5 x 10(4) non-infected cells. Blood and plasma can also be used as the source of nucleic acid for detection of HIV-1 sequences using a specifically developed sample preparation method. Using NASBA it is possible to amplify specifically RNA or DNA from a pool of total nucleic acid, which permits the investigation of the expression of specific genes involved in pathogenesis of infectious agents. The combination of NASBA with a rapid and user-friendly nucleic acid extraction method makes the whole procedure suitable for large scale diagnosis of infectious agents (e.g. HIV-1).

Base Sequence

Tobacco prevention in hospitals needs prolonged and sustained effort.

The smoking control, policy implemented at a Barcelona hospital over a 3-year period resulted in a reduction of smoking in the hospital and a raised awareness of the exemplary role health professionals can have. However, participation by health professionals in the project decreased over the 3-year period. Although reduced, the smoking rate in the hospital still is at a high level; this should trigger health professionals to further exploit their potential in smoking reduction efforts.

Female

Smoking by physicians in Scandinavia: 1952-1989.

The purpose is to describe smoking behaviour of physicians and of the general population in the Scandinavian countries. Data on smoking behaviour in physicians and in the population at large were collected from 14 surveys. The smoking prevalence dropped among male and female physicians in the period under study. Changes for the general male population were similar, but smoking among the general female population changed little. If the present changes continue, physicians could be a smokefree profession by the year 2000.

Female

Smoking recidivism among an age cohort of men in Zutphen (The Netherlands): 1960-1985.

Current smoking decreased and former smoking increased among a cohort of originally middle-aged men in Zutphen during the period 1960-1985. Cohort analyses revealed two distinct advantages in comparison with the usual cross-sectional analyses: inconsistent answers on never smoking could be eliminated, and former smokers resuming their habit could be traced. Recidivism of smoking increased strongly during the period 1977-1985. If recidivism of smoking affected younger cohorts as well, it could develop into an important health problem.

Adult

[Smoking behavior of medical students, house officers and specialists in Groningen, 1989].

Smoking habits and attitudes towards smoking of medical students (n = 725), house officers (n = 126) and consultants (n = 236) of the University Hospital of Groningen were studied in 1989 using a WHO questionnaire. Overall response was 84%. Twenty-seven percent of the medical students, 28% of the house officers and 34% of the consultants are current smokers. The prevalence of smoking in medical students and house officers is lower than that in the Dutch population. Smoking habits of consultants are similar to the general population. The prevalence of smoking Dutch physicians which was 56% in 1983 is decreasing rapidly. Doctors report they want more information about smoking cessation programs.

Adult

[Smoking behavior of Dutch family physicians in 1983-1988].

General practitioners' smoking behaviour in The Netherlands is described on the basis of survey data collected in the period 1983-1988. Until 1983 a large majority of the Dutch family physicians were smokers (1957: 82%, 1983: 56%). The smoking prevalence then was higher among physicians than among the male population. After 1983 a new development set in. Three inquiries showed that among Dutch physicians the smoking prevalence in 1988 was lower than that among the male general population (29 versus 37%). Dutch family physicians have stopped smoking to a larger extent than the physicians in any other EC-country (43% ex-smokers). Young entry-level doctors more and more tend to be never-smokers.

Europe

Outer-membrane PhoE protein of Escherichia coli K-12 as an exposure vector: possibilities and limitations.

The phosphate-limitation-inducible outer-membrane protein (PhoE) of Escherichia coli K-12 can be used in an expression system as a carrier for foreign antigenic determinants, facilitating their transport to the bacterial cell surface. The system is very flexible, since insertions varying in length and nature can be made in different cell-surface-exposed regions of PhoE protein, without interfering with the assembly process into the outer membrane. Multiple insertions of an antigenic determinant can be made in the second and eighth exposed regions, resulting in a total insert length of up to 30 and 50 amino acid (aa) residues. Insertions can be made in two exposed regions, simultaneously. However, some limitations were encountered, e.g., insertion of eight or more hydrophobic aa residues affected both the translocation process across the inner membrane and the assembly process into the outer membrane. Also, the insertion of sequences containing many charged residues resulted in accumulation of precursor protein in the cytoplasm.

Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins

Efficient recognition by rat T cell clones of an epitope of mycobacterial hsp 65 inserted in Escherichia coli outer membrane protein PhoE.

PhoE is a pore-forming protein, abundantly expressed in the Escherichia coli outer membrane. Previous investigations have shown the possibility of inserting antigenic determinants in cell surface-exposed regions of PhoE by recombinant DNA techniques without disturbing the biogenesis and the functioning of the protein. This method proved to be successful for foot-and-mouth disease virus B cell determinants. We have now shown for the first time that PhoE can also be used as a carrier molecule for T cell epitopes. A well-characterized T cell epitope (180-188) of the 65-kDa heat-shock protein (hsp 65) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was expressed in PhoE and tested for recognition by specific T cell clones. Specific and efficient T cell proliferation was found after stimulation with this protein construct in vitro. Interestingly, paraformaldehyde fixation of antigen-presenting cells did not abrogate T cell recognition. Thus, in contrast to hsp 65 itself, recognition of epitope 180-188 in the context of PhoE appeared to be independent of antigen-processing events. At the level of polyclonal T cell responses the epitope in the context of PhoE is recognized more efficiently than 180-188 as synthetic peptide or in the context of the hsp 65 molecule itself. These findings indicate that PhoE may serve as attractive vaccine carrier not only for B, but also for T cell epitopes. Furthermore, the possibility for expression of PhoE constructs in attenuated Salmonella typhimurium strains offers the exciting prospect of new types of live oral vaccines expressing selected combinations of B and T cell epitopes.

Amino Acid Sequence

Outer membrane PhoE protein of Escherichia coli as a carrier for foreign antigenic determinants: immunogenicity of epitopes of foot-and-mouth disease virus.

Outer membrane protein PhoE of Escherichia coli was used for the expression of antigenic determinants of foot-and-mouth disease virus. Five hybrid PhoE proteins were constructed containing different combinations of two antigenic determinants of VP1 protein of the virus. The hybrid proteins were expressed in two E. coli strains and the proteins were correctly assembled into the outer membrane. The inserted epitopes were exposed at the surface of the cell and were antigenic in this PhoE-associated conformation. Immunization experiments, performed with partially purified protein, resulted in all cases in a significant anti-peptide antibody titre. In one case in which the hybrid protein with the largest insert was used, a neutralizing antibody response was detected.

Amino Acid Sequence

Protection of guinea-pigs against foot-and-mouth disease virus by immunization with a PhoE-FMDV hybrid protein.

A hybrid protein was constructed containing two antigenic determinants of the structural protein VP1 of foot-and-mouth disease virus, inserted in a cell surface-exposed region of Escherichia coli outer membrane protein PhoE. Immunization of guinea-pigs with partially purified protein resulted in high levels of neutralizing antibodies and complete protection against challenge with the virus.

Amino Acid Sequence

Role of the cell surface-exposed regions of outer membrane protein PhoE of Escherichia coli K12 in the biogenesis of the protein.

To investigate the role of the cell surface-exposed regions of outer membrane protein PhoE of Escherichia coli K12 in the biogenesis of the protein, deletions were generated in two presumed cell surface-exposed regions of the protein. Intact cells expressing these mutant proteins were recognized by PhoE-specific monoclonal antibodies, which recognize conformational epitopes on the cell surface-exposed parts of the protein and/or were sensitive to a PhoE-specific phage. This shows that the polypeptides were normally incorporated into the outer membrane. When the deletions extended four amino acid residues into the seventh presumed membrane-spanning segment, the polypeptides accumulated in the periplasm. In conclusion, exposed regions of PhoE protein apparently do not play an essential role in outer membrane localization, which is consistent with the observation that these regions are hypervariable when PhoE is compared to the related proteins OmpF and OmpC. In contrast, the membrane-spanning segments are essential for the assembly process.

Amino Acid Sequence

Alcohol consumption in France: production, consumption, morbidity and mortality, prevention and education in the last three decades.

This paper examines trends in the French consumption of alcohol over the last three decades, and includes data on the production of alcoholic beverages, the consumption of different types of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, morbidity and mortality related to the consumption of alcohol, and a brief description of French preventive and educational measures in this area. In the last 15 years, the average alcohol consumption has ceased growing and even began to decrease. Data are given comparing consumption trends in several European countries, as well as more detailed data of alcohol consumption and related phenomena in France by region, by sex, by age and by socio-economic status (the last two categories for men only). Finally, a schema of the social dynamics of alcohol consumption is presented.

Alcohol Drinking