PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

I Sutherland

Publications and source records attributed to I Sutherland.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Relations between alcohol, violence and victimization in adolescence.

BACKGROUND: Compared to links between alcohol and aggression, links between alcohol and vulnerability are poorly understood. OBJECTIVES: To determine whether there is a significant relationship between vulnerability to physical violence and alcohol consumption in adolescence independent of a relationship between alcohol consumption and violent behaviour. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS: Cross-sectional study of 4187 adolescents aged 11-16 in a stratified sample of 13 English schools. RESULTS: Fighting decreased with age whereas hitting others and being hit increased. Relationships between fighting, hitting others and vulnerability to being hit and frequency of drinking and drunkenness were all highly significant (p<0.0001), and were evident at all ages. The outcome most strongly related to frequency of drunkenness was hitting others (odds ratio (OR) 6.62), followed by being hit (OR 4.01) and fighting (OR 2.10). Alcohol consumption and drunkenness remained significantly and independently associated with vulnerability to being hit after adjusting for violent behaviour as well as age and sex. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate an association between alcohol and victimization independent of associations of both with physical aggression. Reducing intoxication may reduce victimisation without necessarily affecting violent behaviour. Violence reduction should focus as much on preventing alcohol misuse among victims or potential victims as among offenders.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Mortality from cancer in relation to smoking: 50 years observations on British doctors.

A total of 34,439 male British doctors, who reported their smoking habits in November 1951, were followed, with periodic up date of changes in their habits, until death, emigration, censoring. or November 2001. Information was obtained about their mortality from 28 of the 30 types of cancer in men reviewed by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (no death was recorded from the other two). In all, 11 of the 13 types in men that the Agency classed as liable to be caused by smoking were significantly related to smoking and the findings for the other two, which caused only few deaths, suggested they might be. Of the 13 types in men for which the Agency found only sparse or inconsistent data and for which we had data, only two appeared to be possibly related (one positively, one negatively), and the 638 deaths for the summed group were clearly unrelated to smoking. Of the two types for which the Agency thought that the relationship with smoking might be due to bias or confounding, the findings for one (prostate cancer) tended to support the belief that smoking was unrelated, and those for the other (colorectal cancer) showed a weak relationship with smoking, which (in a small subset) could not be attributed to confounding with the consumption of alcohol.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed2003

Induction of mosquitocidal activity in mice immunized with Anopheles gambiae midgut cDNA.

Vaccines that induce mosquito-killing (mosquitocidal) activity could substantially reduce the transmission of certain mosquito-borne diseases, especially vaccines against African malaria vectors, such as the mosquito Anopheles gambiae. To generate and characterize antimosquito immunity we immunized groups of mice with two individual A. gambiae midgut cDNAs, Ag-Aper1 (a secreted peritrophic matrix protein) and AgMuc1 (a midgut-bound mucin), and an A. gambiae midgut cDNA library from blood-fed mosquitoes. We observed significantly increased mortality among mosquitoes that fed on either the AgMuc1- or the cDNA library-immunized mice compared to that of controls, but no differences were observed among those fed on Ag-Aper1-immunized mice. Analysis of the humoral and cellular immune responses from mice showed that the induced mosquitocidal effect was associated with immune profiles characterized by elevated tumor necrosis factor alpha and gamma interferon cytokine levels and very low antibody titers. Furthermore, an additional immunization of cDNA library-immunized mice with midgut protein shifted immunity toward a Th2-type immune response, characterized by elevated antibody titers and high interleukin-5 and interleukin-10 cytokine levels; importantly, mosquitoes feeding on these mice exhibited no undue mortality. Finally, when immune sera was ingested by mosquitoes through a membrane feeder, no effect on mosquito mortality was observed, indicating that serum factors alone were not responsible for the mosquitocidal effect. Our results demonstrate that mosquitocidal immunity in mice can be consistently generated by midgut cDNA immunization and suggest this cDNA-induced mosquitocidal immunity is cell mediated.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

The further development of the active urine collection device: a novel continence management system.

Continence difficulties affect the lives of a substantial minority of the population. Women are far more likely than men to be affected by urinary incontinence but the range of management options for them is limited. There has been considerable interest in developing an external urine collection system for women but without success to date. This paper describes the development and preliminary clinical testing of an active urine collection device (AUCD), which could provide a solution for sufferers. The device uses stored vacuum, protected by a high bubble point filter, to remove urine as quickly as it is produced. This allows a small battery-operated pump to provide the required vacuum, enabling the device to be portable. Two different types of non-invasive patient/device interface were developed, and tested by volunteers: urinal and small pad. The slimline urinal was popular with users although liquid noise was a problem. The pad interface was successful on occasions but further work is necessary to produce a reliable pad. This study has successfully demonstrated that a prototype AUCD liquid handling system can remove urine at clinically relevant flowrates. While further development is required, volunteer tests have shown that the AUCD could be a useful advance in continence management.

Clinical Trials as Topic↗
PubMed2002

Adolescents' beliefs about future substance use: a comparison of current users and non-users of cigarettes, alcohol and illicit drugs.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the expectations of adolescents about their future cigarette, alcohol and illicit drug use. It was hypothesized that differences would be found between current substance users and non-users and that younger children would have less realistic beliefs about their future use than older children. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS: Survey of 7022 pupils (aged 11-16) in 13 non-randomly selected schools from three Local Education Authority areas in Northern England, the Midlands and London, relating to current substance use and beliefs about future use of cigarettes, alcohol and illicit drugs. MEASURES: Respondents were asked confidentially about occasions of cigarette, alcohol and illicit drugs use as well as about their belief about use in the year following the survey. RESULTS: Substantial differences were found in relation to all substances. Of those children who currently smoked, 73% believed it likely they would be doing so in a year's time. Only 3% of non-smokers believed they would begin to smoke in the year following the survey. Eighty-three per cent of alcohol drinkers believed they would be drinking in a year's time compared with 20% of non-drinkers and 63% of illicit drug users believed in their continued use. Only 3% of non-drug users believed they would initiate use in the year following the survey. More non-smoking girls than boys responded "don't know" when asked about their future beliefs regarding cigarette use (15.6% vs. 11.3%), a position which was reversed for current smokers (15.4% vs. 19.3%). 13.1% of drinkers and 30.7% of non-drinkers did not know if they would be drinking a year after the survey and 23.2% of illicit drug users did not know what their drug using status would be in a year compared to 9.7% of current non-users. Of those who were drinking alcohol, but not using illicit drugs or smoking cigarettes, 33% thought it likely that they would have a problem with either drugs or alcohol at some time in the future compared to 7% of non-drinkers. Seventy-four per cent of children currently using illicit drugs thought it likely they could have a substance abuse problem in the future compared with 8.9% of non-drug users. CONCLUSION: Based on prevalence data from this sample, these results found that non-smokers had unrealistic beliefs about their likelihood of taking up smoking within a year and that many current smokers had equally unrealistic beliefs about giving up the habit. Adolescents had more realistic expectations about future alcohol use. When it came to illicit drug use, adolescents were clear in their beliefs about future use: very few non-users believed they would initiate use whilst current users believed they would continue to use. Many young people were uncertain about future substance use, a position which provides opportunity for drug-education programmes. The hypothesis that younger children would have less realistic beliefs about future use than older children was not supported.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Recording of community violence by medical and police services.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the extent to which community violence that results in injury treated in emergency departments appears in official police records and to identify age/gender groups at particular risk of under-recording by the police. METHODS: Non-confidential data for patients with assault related injury treated in the emergency departments of two hospitals in one South Wales city (Swansea) during a six month period were compared with data relating to all recorded crimes in the category "Violence against the person" in the police area where the hospitals were located. RESULTS: Over the six month period a total of 1513 assaults were recorded by Swansea emergency departments and the police (1019, 67.3% injured males and 494, 32.7% injured females). The majority of these assaults (993, 65.6%) were recorded exclusively by emergency departments; 357 (23.6%) were recorded only by the police and 163 (10.8%) were recorded by both emergency departments and the police. Equal proportions of males (67.3%) and females (67.5%) injured in assaults were recorded by both emergency departments and the police, but men were more likely to have their assault recorded exclusively in emergency departments (odds ratio (OR) 2.1, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.7 to 2.7) while women were more likely to have their assault recorded exclusively by the police (OR 2.5, 95% CI 2.0 to 3.2). There were no significant relationships between exclusive emergency department recording and increasing age (OR 1.0, 95% CI 0.9 to 1.2), exclusive police recording and increasing age (OR 1.1, 95% CI 1.0 to 1.2), or between age and dual recording (OR 0.9, 95% CI 0.8 to 1.0). CONCLUSIONS: Most assaults leading to emergency department treatment, particularly in which males were injured, were not recorded by the police. Assaults on the youngest group (0-10, particularly boys) were those least likely to be recorded by police and females over age 45, the most likely. Emergency department derived assault data provide unique perspectives of community violence and police detection.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Directed assembly of multilayers--the case of Prussian blue.

We introduce the concept of 'directed assembly' of multilayers on surfaces: the overall process involves the exposure of a surface to a series of solutions containing, alternately, adsorbable cations and adsorbable anions, and these are gradually built up into well-defined multilayer structures.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2001

Social dimensions of adolescent substance use.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to explore in detail the relationship between various social aspects of young people's lives and substance use and differences in the degree of influence exerted by the different social factors as a function of age. Design, setting, participants. The study was a survey of pupils aged 11-16 in a stratified sample of five English schools. Data from 4516 participants were obtained in relation to their cigarette, alcohol and illicit drug use and their contact with the police, perceived academic achievements and future expectations, religious beliefs, family structure, the importance of family versus peer opinions and suspension from school. MEASURES: Cumulative, age-specific preferences of substance misuse were compared. Logistic regression was used to rank the various risk factors. RESULTS: Substantial differences were found between substance users and non-users and the various risk factors being examined. For example, of those who had only been in trouble with the police, 18.8% used illegal drugs compared with 1.6% of those who had not had a police contact and who had no other risk factors. Many of these relationships were age-sensitive. For instance, the negative relationship between belief in God and illicit drug use became stronger as age increased (non-believers: y = 8.1886x - 9.16 R(2) = 0.9484; believers: y = 5.1514x - 8.08 R(2) = 0.9247). These results suggest that, within this sample of English adolescents, there was a strong relationship between substance use and the social factors examined. Although there were differences depending upon whether cigarette, alcohol or illicit drug use was being modelled, logistic regression indicated that the social factors could be ranked in the following order of importance: concurrent use of the second and third substances, having been in trouble with the police, perceived poor academic performance and low future academic expectations, a lack of religious belief, coming from a non-intact family, favouring peer over family opinion and having been suspended from school. Many of these relationships were age-sensitive with substance use peaking at age 15. CONCLUSION: The models and relationships presented in this paper show that a constellation of behaviours are related to adolescent substance use. Also demonstrated is that behaviours cannot be considered in isolation, but need to be examined from an holistic or biopsychosocial standpoint. These relationships are complex and future research should consider not only causality of adolescent substance use, but also of the aetiology of the satellite behaviours.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

The prevalence of alcohol, cigarette and illicit drug use in a stratified sample of English adolescents.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess current levels of regular cigarette, alcohol and illicit drug use in adolescents in light of reported research by Goddard & Higgins (1999). DESIGN, SETTING, SUBJECTS: Survey of 9742 pupils (aged 11-16) in a stratified sample of 28 schools in four Local Education Authority areas in Northern England, the Midlands and London. Data were collected during the latter part of 1999 and the first 3 months of 2000. MEASURES: Respondents were asked confidentially about their use, and extent of use, of psychotropic substances (cigarettes, alcohol and illicit drugs). RESULTS: The prevalence of reported daily cigarette use rose from 4.8% at age 11 to 24.1% at age 16. More girls than boys smoked (13.7%, 9.5%, chi(2) = 39.1, p < 0.0001). Reported monthly use of alcohol rose from 5.1% at age 11 to 36% at 16. Alcohol was drunk more by boys than girls (16.4% and 12.8% respectively, chi(2) = 23.0, p < 0.0001) Reported monthly illicit drug use rose from 0.9% at age 11 to 14.5% at age 16. No overall differences were found between boys and girls. CONCLUSIONS: The results confirm that rates of cigarette smoking, alcohol and illicit drug use rise rapidly in the early teenage years, with higher rates of smoking in girls and drinking in boys.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Smoking and dementia in male British doctors: prospective study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the possible association between smoking and dementia. DESIGN: Prospective study. SETTING: Cohort of British male doctors followed up since 1951. SUBJECTS: 34 439 male British doctors, with 24 133 deaths recorded. RESULTS: For all types of dementia combined the relative risk was 0.96 (95% confidence interval 0.78 to 1.18), based on 473 deaths at a mean age of 81 years. For probable or definite Alzheimer's disease, the relative risk in continuing smokers was 0.99 (0.78 to 1.25), based on 370 deaths at a mean age of 82 years. In aggregate, however, the other prospective studies indicate a direct, although not clearly significant, association between smoking and the onset of dementia in general and of Alzheimer's disease in particular. CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to previous suggestions persistent smoking does not substantially reduce the age specific onset rate of Alzheimer's disease or of dementia in general. If anything, it might increase rather than decrease the rate, but any net effect on severe dementia cannot be large in either direction.

Aged↗
PubMed1998

Patterns of alcohol, cigarette and illicit drug use in English adolescents.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to describe associations between alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use in adolescents and demographic factors associated with substance use. DESIGN, SETTING, SUBJECTS: The study was a classroom survey of the total population of pupils (n = 5383, ages 11-16) in six schools selected from different locations around England. MEASURES: Respondents were asked confidentially about their use and extent of use of alcohol, cigarettes and illegal drugs. FINDINGS: The prevalence of regular substance use within the sample rose from 30.4% at age 11 to 83.9% at age 16. The prevalence of alcohol use did not differ between girls and boys, but smoking was more prevalent in girls and illegal drug use was more prevalent in boys. Alcohol was used more frequently than any other substance, or combination of substances, and alcohol use almost invariably accompanied the use of other substances: exclusive use of cigarettes or illegal drugs was negligible. In addition, high levels of alcohol intoxication were associated with increased use of both illegal drugs and cigarettes. Overall, around half the drinkers (46.8%) preferred alcopops to other types of alcoholic drink; this figure was greater in girls (56.4%) than in boys (37.1%), but fell sharply with age (62.9% at age 11; 37.7% at age 16), particularly in boys. Preference for spirits increased with age, and was particularly marked in girls (28.4% in girls vs. 18.5% in boys at age 16). Spirits drinkers were more likely to use cigarettes and drugs, and had been more frequently drunk, than either beer/wine or alcopops drinkers; these measures also tended to be higher in alcopop drinkers than in beer/wine drinkers, particularly among 11-13-year-old girls. CONCLUSION: The use of both tobacco and illicit drugs appears to be strongly associated with alcohol use, which is more prevalent, and the risk of smoking and illicit drug use is particularly high in adolescents who report high levels of drunkenness. Our results are consistent with a simple threshold model of substance abuse in which alcohol occupies a low threshold position relative to the higher threshold of cigarettes and illegal drugs. Smoking, drug use and drunkenness were lowest in beer/wine drinkers, intermediate in alcopop drinkers, and highest in spirits drinkers.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

The development and application of a questionnaire to assess the changing personalities of substance addicts during the first year of recovery.

The Addiction Recovery Index, a 60 item questionnaire, was developed and administered to 889 recovering substance addicts with a view to measuring levels of the primary trait of Neuroticism as well as six accompanying subtraits during the first 12 months of recovery. Good reliability and validity scores were achieved for the ARI and results indicated that recovering addict's overall Neuroticism scores reduced as a function of Substance Free Time (F(11,877) = 338.37, p < .0001). It was also noted that the individual sub-trait scores decreased, but various anomalies, particularly with Anxiety, were recorded.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Mortality in relation to smoking: 40 years' observations on male British doctors.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the hazards associated with long term use of tobacco. DESIGN: Prospective study of mortality in relation to smoking habits assessed in 1951 and again from time to time thereafter, with causes sought of deaths over 40 years (to 1991). Continuation of a study that was last reported after 20 years' follow up (1951-71). SUBJECTS: 34,439 British male doctors who replied to a postal questionnaire in 1951, of whom 10,000 had died during the first 20 years and another 10,000 have died during the second 20 years. RESULTS: Excess mortality associated with smoking was about twice as extreme during the second half of the study as it had been during the first half. The death rate ratios during 1971-91 (comparing continuing cigarette smokers with life-long non-smokers) were approximately threefold at ages 45-64 and twofold at ages 65-84. The excess mortality was chiefly from diseases that can be caused by smoking. Positive associations with smoking were confirmed for death from cancers of the mouth, oesophagus, pharynx, larynx, lung, pancreas, and bladder; from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other respiratory diseases; from vascular diseases; from peptic ulcer; and (perhaps because of confounding by personality and alcohol use) from cirrhosis, suicide, and poisoning. A negative association was confirmed with death from Parkinson's disease. Those who stopped smoking before middle age subsequently avoided almost all of the excess risk that they would otherwise have suffered, but even those who stopped smoking in middle age were subsequently at substantially less risk than those who continued to smoke. CONCLUSION: Results from the first 20 years of this study, and of other studies at that time, substantially underestimated the hazards of long term use of tobacco. It now seems that about half of all regular cigarette smokers will eventually be killed by their habit.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

A re-examination of the variations in the efficacy of BCG vaccination against tuberculosis in clinical trials.

SETTING: The findings of the principal controlled trials of BCG vaccination against tuberculosis are reviewed. OBJECTIVE: To investigate possible reasons for the wide variations in vaccine efficacy in different trials, and in particular for the apparent adverse effect in the first few years in the trial in Chingleput, South India. OBSERVATIONS: (1) A substantial reduction, or even a reversal, of overall efficacy could result if the assessment of vaccine efficacy included a subgroup adversely affected by vaccination. (2) Several trials include in the assessment many subjects with weak initial tuberculin sensitivity, due either to environmental mycobacterial infection or to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. It is accepted that vaccine efficacy may be moderately reduced in the former subgroup. It is postulated that the latter subgroup may be at risk of reactivation of tuberculosis soon after vaccination, perhaps from focal reactions due to enhancement of their weak sensitivity. (3) The low levels of efficacy in several trials, and the early adverse effect in Chingleput, are broadly consistent with this hypothesis. CONCLUSION: Clinical tuberculosis due to BCG vaccination of subjects with weak tuberculin sensitivity following M. tuberculosis infection may make an important contribution to the variations in efficacy found in clinical trials.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Inhibition of nitric oxide synthesis leads to reduced parasitemia in murine Trypanosoma brucei infection.

In murine Trypanosoma brucei infection, macrophage activation and nitric oxide (NO) production lead to suppressed splenic T-cell responses (J. Sternberg and F. McGuigan, Eur. J. Immunol. 22:2741-2744, 1992). In this study, evidence is presented that NO has no detectable trypanocidal activity under simulated in vivo conditions and that inhibition of NO production in vivo results in reduced parasitemia.

Animals↗