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Biomedical subjects

J Gregson

Publications and source records attributed to J Gregson.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

System, environmental, and policy changes: using the social-ecological model as a framework for evaluating nutrition education and social marketing programs with low-income audiences.

A variety of nutrition education interventions and social marketing initiatives are being used by the Food Stamp Program to improve food resource management, food safety, dietary quality, and food security for low-income households. The Social-Ecological Model is proposed as a theory-based framework to characterize the nature and results of interventions conducted through large public/private partnerships with the Food Stamp Program. In particular, this article suggests indicators and measures that lend themselves to the pooling of data across counties and states, with special emphasis on systems, environment, and public policy change within organizations at the community and state levels.

Food Services↗
PubMed1999

Double Dutch: looking at the usage of combined pill plus condom in girls under 25.

OBJECTIVE: To establish what proportion of young girls who were prescribed the contraceptive pill at Manchester family planning clinics have first remembered, and second followed, advice also to use the condom for protection from sexually transmitted infection. METHOD: An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was issued to all females up to the age of 25 years, who were already using the pill and who attended one of 20 different clinic locations. Questions included duration of present relationship, frequency of condom use and reasons for use or non-use. RESULTS: The age of respondents ranged from 13 to 25 years, with one-third in the group of 17-19-year-olds. Out of 104 responses, condoms were used most of the time by 29 girls, occasionally by 42 and never by 33. Only 15 of the 104 knew the phrase 'double Dutch'. Dual use most of the time primarily for sexually transmitted disease protection was reported by 23 girls. Previous treatment for sexually transmitted disease was reported by 14 girls, of whom half never used condoms and only three now used condoms most of the time. In the group of girls using condoms occasionally, 70% were using condoms primarily to cover missed pills, antibiotics, etc. Extrapolating from the number of condoms used in the past month and the fact that 80% of girls obtained their condoms from the clinic, the extra cost to the family planning budget is over 14,000 Pounds (over 22,500 Ecu) per year. CONCLUSION: Our result that 22% of young pill users regularly used condoms to protect from sexually transmitted diseases indicates that the message is understood, but the term 'double Dutch' is not.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Mortality following cotton defoliation: San Joaquin Valley, California, 1970-1990.

A proportional mortality study comparing the cotton-growing areas of the San Joaquin Valley with the rest of the State of California was performed by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment as a continuation of earlier studies related to mercaptan-releasing pesticides. This mortality study found a pattern of increased proportion of "respiratory causes" mortality (ICD codes 460-519), statistically significant at less than the .05 probability level, for 15 of 21 years between 1970 and 1990, for the time period during and immediately following cotton defoliation. Defoliants which have the potential to produce acute symptoms include DEF and Folex, both of which release odorous butyl mercaptan gas as a degradation product. This paper tests the hypothesis that exposure to cotton defoliant breakdown products may be associated with a disproportionate increase in mortality. Prediction of the mortality proportions by pounds of DEF and Folex used was not statistically significant in the unadjusted models or in models adjusted for air pollution variables. One air pollution adjustment factor, total suspended particulates, was a statistically significant independent mortality proportion predictor. This finding suggests that total suspended particulates, not defoliants, may be related to mortality differentials during defoliation season. Possible confounding by demographic variation of the counties was not controlled in the analysis.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed1981

Altered sex differentiation of hepatic ethylmorphine N-demethylation in the male rat following neonatal methadone exposure.

Since acute methadone treatment reduces serum androgen levels in adult male rats, we have investigated the effect of exposure of neonatal rats to methadone (M) on the "neonatal imprinting" of hepatic monooxygenase by testosterone. The kinetic constants for ethylmorphine N-demethylation (ED) in hepatic microsomes of adult rats are sex-related (female Km greater than male Km and male Vmax greater than female Vmax). Treatment of male neonates with M (2.5 mg/kg, sc) during the first 5 postnatal days resulted in an elevation of the Km, but no significant changes in the Vmax for ED in adult life. The M-induced "feminization" of the Km for ED could be prevented by a single dose of testosterone propionate (TP) given to the neonates on day 2 following birth. M treatment also reduced in a reversible manner neonatal serum androgen levels: Decreased androgen levels were not observed beyond the fifth postnatal day. These data suggest that the feminizing effect of M may be related to a reversible chemical castration effect during a critical neonatal period. Our studies also show that the imprinting of the Km and Vmax for ED do not occur during the identical period.

Animals↗