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Biomedical subjects

P Jamieson

Publications and source records attributed to P Jamieson.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Do adolescents appreciate the risks of smoking? Evidence from a national survey.

PURPOSE: To evaluate whether adolescents understand the risks of smoking when they decide to start. Estimates of objective risks that can be compared with epidemiologic evidence suggest that adolescents overstate the risks. Ratings of personal risk suggest the opposite. METHODS: A nationally representative telephone survey of 300 14- to 22-year-old nonsmokers and 300 14- to 22-year-old smokers was conducted. Respondents estimated both objective and personal risks of smoking, and smokers reported their plans to quit. Objective estimates were compared with both epidemiologic evidence and personal ratings of risk. Regression procedures were used to assess relationships between different estimates of risk and between risk estimates and plans to quit. RESULTS: Two of the three objective estimates of risk revealed high proportions of misunderstanding. Over 40% of smokers and 25% of nonsmokers underestimated, or did not know, the likelihood of smoking-related death, and over 40% did not know, or underestimated, the number of years of life lost owing to smoking. Although young people overestimated lung cancer risk relative to objective data, these estimates are inflated by underestimation of the fatality of lung cancer and by overlap with other illnesses not included in objective risk measures. Young smokers exhibited optimism about personal risks of smoking regardless of their perceptions of objective risk. Both objective and personal measures of risk predicted plans to quit. CONCLUSIONS: Because perceptions of both personal and objective risks are related to plans to quit, antismoking messages should include evidence about risk, particularly to the individual smoker.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Attitudes toward secondhand smoke, smoking, and quitting among young people.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of attitudes toward secondhand smoke among young people. METHODS: Three hundred nonsmokers and 300 smokers (smoked a cigarette in last 30 days) 14 through 22 years of age in the United States were surveyed with random-digit dialing. The results of this cross-sectional survey were analyzed using logistic regression to determine predictors of nonsmoking and intent to stop among current smokers. RESULTS: Controlling for age, ethnicity, and education, nonsmokers were more likely to consider smoking risky than smokers (odds ratio [OR] = 3.46). Nonsmokers were twice as likely to consider secondhand smoke dangerous than smokers (OR = 1.47). Among the variables in our model, the only statistically significant predictor of planning to stop smoking or having actually stopped was believing that secondhand smoke harmed nonsmokers, which more than doubled the chances of planning to stop or having stopped smoking (relative risk = 2.17). CONCLUSIONS: Educating young people about the dangers of secondhand smoke and empowering nonsmokers to speak out should be a strong element of any tobacco control program.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

The implementation of an integrated on-line health education system at RMIT.

The Faculty of Biomedical and Health Sciences at RMIT has been developing an on-line health education system using a systems thinking approach, to create a learning environment whose basis is supported by Information Technology (IT). The centre-piece of this system is the Faculty Learning Centre, which has been created, both in space and layout, to promote collaborative learning between the students, so that the educator is physically assimilated with the student body. This facility is supplemented by the Faculty WWW server, which has been the main vehicle for course material dissemination to students. To ensure an effective on-line teaching environment, the position of an on-line facilitator has been created, whose responsibilities include both the continual evaluation of the system and the implementation of appropriate system changes. Aspects have included the production of a staff development training program and extensive user documentation. This paper discusses the systems thinking approach used to implement this integrated on-line system, and the establishment of explicit educational rationales in the use of IT to support learning strategies. Some examples of the on-line educational programs are also presented.

Australia↗
PubMed1997

11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 knockout mice show attenuated glucocorticoid-inducible responses and resist hyperglycemia on obesity or stress.

Glucocorticoid hormones, acting via nuclear receptors, regulate many metabolic processes, including hepatic gluconeogenesis. It recently has been recognized that intracellular glucocorticoid concentrations are determined not only by plasma hormone levels, but also by intracellular 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases (11beta-HSDs), which interconvert active corticosterone (cortisol in humans) and inert 11-dehydrocorticosterone (cortisone in humans). 11beta-HSD type 2, a dehydrogenase, thus excludes glucocorticoids from otherwise nonselective mineralocorticoid receptors in the kidney. Recent data suggest the type 1 isozyme (11beta-HSD-1) may function as an 11beta-reductase, regenerating active glucocorticoids from circulating inert 11-keto forms in specific tissues, notably the liver. To examine the importance of this enzyme isoform in vivo, mice were produced with targeted disruption of the 11beta-HSD-1 gene. These mice were unable to convert inert 11-dehydrocorticosterone to corticosterone in vivo. Despite compensatory adrenal hyperplasia and increased adrenal secretion of corticosterone, on starvation homozygous mutants had attenuated activation of the key hepatic gluconeogenic enzymes glucose-6-phosphatase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, presumably, because of relative intrahepatic glucocorticoid deficiency. The 11beta-HSD-1 -/- mice were found to resist hyperglycamia provoked by obesity or stress. Attenuation of hepatic 11beta-HSD-1 may provide a novel approach to the regulation of gluconeogenesis.

11-beta-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenases↗
PubMed1995

Cloning, sequencing and tissue-distribution of mouse 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-1 cDNA.

11 beta-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11 beta-HSD) reversibly converts physiological glucocorticoids (cortisol, corticosterone) to inactive 11-dehydro forms, and thus controls glucocorticoid access to receptors in a variety of tissues. We have cloned a cDNA encoding 'liver-type' 11 beta-HSD (11 beta-HSD1) from the mouse using PCR, and have determined its nucleotide sequence. Mouse 11 beta-HSD1 cDNA showed 91% identity to rat 11 beta-HSD1 cDNA. There was 87% amino acid identity with rat 11 beta-HSD1 with conservation of the putative cofactor and substrate binding domains. Northern blot analysis of mouse tissues demonstrated abundant 11 beta-HSD1 message in the liver, kidney and lung, with lower expression in brain subregions and gonads. 11 beta-HSD1 mRNA was below the level of detection in the murine colon. 11 beta-HSD1 mRNA levels in kidney was higher in males than in females, but in contrast to the rat, there was no sexual dimorphism in the mouse liver. Although males and females showed different mRNA levels in the kidney, there was no sex difference in 11 beta-HSD enzyme activity. Thus, despite the high inter-species conservation of 11 beta-HSD1, there are clear species and tissue-specific differences in its expression.

11-beta-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenases↗
PubMed1994

Discern--an integrated prospective decision support system.

We present a new integrated decision support tool, called Discern, for prospective case management within a comprehensive Healthcare Network Architecture (HNA). Discern is an event-driven, expert system tightly integrated into this architecture. It can perform a variety of actions including generating alerts, ordering tests, and entering results. Over 100 institutions use Discern to automate care processes. Discern was designed to meet the demanding requirements for effective decision support.

Decision Making, Computer-Assisted↗