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L Fintor

Publications and source records attributed to L Fintor.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1999

Apolipoprotein E gene polymorphism frequencies in a sample of healthy Hungarians.

Apolipoprotein E (apo E) has been found to play an important role in lipid metabolism and has been associated with cardiovascular and neurodegenerative conditions. Hungarians have some of the highest rates of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in the world. This study examines the distribution of apo E alleles and genotypes in a population of healthy ethnic Hungarian blood donors (n = 302). Male (n = 152) and female (n = 150) subjects ranging from 18 to 62 years of age (mean 37.0) were involved. To determine the frequency of apo E alleles, polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction length polymorphism was applied. The analyses of data showed that apo E allele epsilon3 had the greatest frequency in this group (0.807), followed by apo epsilon2 (0.104) and apo epsilon4 (0.087). The highest genotype frequency was found to be epsilon3/3 at 65.2% (n = 197) followed by genotype epsilon3/4 at 15.9% (n = 48), genotype epsilon2/3 at 15.2% (n = 46), genotype epsilon2/2 at 2.3% (n = 7), genotype epsilon2/4 at 1.0% (n = 3) and genotype epsilon4/4 at 0.4% (n = 1). The apo E frequencies found in this study appear to differ from an earlier study of blood donors, where the results are based on apo E phenotyping.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Apolipoprotein E alleles in women with severe pre-eclampsia.

This study investigated the frequency of apolipoprotein E (apoE) alleles among women with severe pre-eclampsia. The presence of the three most common apoE alleles (epsilon 2, epsilon 3, epsilon 4) was determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism in three groups of white women: non-pregnant healthy (n = 101), pregnant healthy (n = 52), and pregnant with a diagnosis of severe pre-eclampsia (n = 54). The frequency of apo epsilon 2 was highest among women with severe pre-eclampsia (16.6%) followed by non-pregnant women (12.9%), and those experiencing a healthy pregnancy (10.6%). The higher frequency of the apo epsilon 2 allele detected among women with severe pre-eclampsia suggests that apoE may play a role in the development of pre-eclampsia.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

The impact of mammography quality improvement legislation in Michigan: implications for the National Mammography Quality Standards Act.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the impact of state legislation on mammography quality and access in Michigan. METHODS: The impact of state legislation was analyzed with respect to utilization, numbers of machines and facilities, and image quality. RESULTS: The legislation had a positive effect on image quality improvement, had no impact on utilization by women aged 50 years and above, and resulted in few facility closures. CONCLUSIONS: Michigan's legislative intervention appears to have had a positive effect on efforts to improve mammography quality assurance with implications for other federal and state efforts to achieve quality assurance in health care delivery.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

U.S. screening mammography services with mobile units: results from the National Survey of Mammography Facilities.

PURPOSE: To investigate elements of mobile facilities for mammography in the United States. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The prevalence and performance of mobile facilities for mammography in the United States were studied with regard to cost, price, quality assurance, and access. Data were acquired from the National Cancer Institute's National Survey of Mammography Facilities, conducted in 1992. RESULTS: Of the 1,057 facilities surveyed, 2.4% were identified as mobile and accounted for 3% of mammography examinations performed. All mobile facilities reported accreditation by the American College of Radiology, and 92% were in Statistically Metropolitan Areas. Most were affiliated with community hospitals or private radiology practice and were more likely to be associated with lower fees, convenient operating hours, batch interpretation, and computerized reporting than were their stationary counterparts. CONCLUSION: Mobile mammography facilities compare favorably with stationary facilities. The use of these mobile units in the United States, however, has been limited.

Accreditation↗
PubMed1995

Legislative and regulatory mandates for mammography quality assurance.

The current practice of screening mammography in the United States has been the focus of numerous legislative and regulatory mandates at the state and federal levels, both in terms of increasing access to age-eligible women and elevating the quality of mammographic imaging. Several parameters have emerged as central to a comprehensive mammography quality assurance program: (1) equipment specifications, (2) equipment performance testing including radiation dose limits, (3) facility quality assurance procedures, and (4) personnel qualifications. In 1992, Congress enacted the Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA) (P.L. 102-539) to address the problem of differences in mandated standards across states. By October 1994, all facilities will be required to comply with interim MQSA regulations which were released in December 1993. However, depending upon the specific requirements of applicable state standards, the extent and nature of modifications of existing quality assurance procedures will differ for facilities across states as they attempt to come into compliance with uniform Federal standards. In addition, because some provisions within state standards are likely to be more stringent than Federal standards, some level of variation will persist. This paper reviews the components of mandated standards established by states and the standards established by other organizations, including the Federal Government, prior to the MQSA interim regulations. This review will provide an understanding of the highly technical and complicated requirements surrounding mammography quality assurance.

Ambulatory Care Facilities↗
PubMed1993

Cost-effectiveness of breast cancer screening: preliminary results of a systematic review of the literature.

There is now considerable concern that universal access to health care within realistic resource constraints requires some sort of cost-effectiveness analysis of given medical procedures and interventions. One such intervention is routine mammographic screening for breast cancer. Here, we report preliminary results from an ongoing project to conduct a systematic and comprehensive review and comparison of the published cost-effectiveness analyses of screening for the early detection of breast cancer. We examine 16 such studies, and compare two studies in detail to explain how differences in assumptions and in consideration of down-stream effects have caused the published results for apparently comparable breast cancer screening programs to span a broad range.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1993

The Cancer Information Service Telephone Evaluation and Reporting System (CISTERS): a new tool for assessing quality assurance.

With more than 500,000 annual telephone inquiries from the public, health professionals, and others, the toll-free telephone-based Cancer Information Service (CIS) has rapidly evolved into a primary contact point and resource for people seeking cancer-related information. As the CIS continues to grow, quality-assurance issues are increasingly important both to maintain a high quality of responses to callers and to ensure the accuracy of information transmitted. The Cancer Information Service Telephone Evaluation and Reporting System (CISTERS), a computer-based interactive interviewing system, is being developed to provide quantitative measures of various aspects of the quality of CIS responses to telephone inquiries. In addition to supplying quantitative feedback to both the National Cancer Institute (NCI) CIS office and the regional CIS offices, CISTERS also allows program managers to identify and provide for staff training needs. CISTERS is a substantial part of NCI's commitment to quality control and assessment of needs within the CIS network and may have significant implications for the growing number of other national telephone-based, health-information helplines.

Humans↗
PubMed1992

Is screening for breast cancer cost-effective?

As the toll taken by breast cancer continues unabated, screening programs are widely perceived to play a critical role to improve diagnosis and successful treatment. Breast cancer screening programs are increasingly promoted to women; however, the economic implications of mass screening is a subject of much health policy debate. Cost-effectiveness analysis is an economic methodology widely used to inform such decisions, yet there is a dearth of information available on the economic consequences of mass breast cancer screening. The authors evaluated nine breast cancer screening cost-effectiveness studies that are based on computer simulations, observational trial data, or a combination of both. The results of these studies, conducted in the United States and other countries, indicate that the cost-effectiveness of screening for breast cancer generally compares favorably with other expenditures in the health-care field, although screening younger women does not appear to be as favorable. However, there is considerable variability in the methodology used and a need for more comprehensive research in this area.

Adult↗