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PubMed1994

The occupational physician's point of view: the model of man-made vitreous fibers.

This article gives a detailed description of the procedure the occupational physician uses in interpreting the available scientific data to provide useful information for prevention of pulmonary diseases related to man-made mineral fibers, particularly lung cancer and mesothelioma. As it is difficult to reach definite conclusions from human data on the toxicity of specific fibers, an experimental approach is needed. Concerning animal data, we emphasize that adequate inhalation studies are the "gold standard" for extrapolating to humans. However, experiments using intracavitary injection or cells in vitro may represent indicative tests for a possible carcinogenic effect. Such tests should be used to assess the intrinsic carcinogenicity of fibers, but they must be confirmed by adequate inhalation models. Despite the present uncertainties, a proposal is made that could make it possible to classify fibers according to their toxicologic potential, grading them in accordance with physicochemical parameters, in vitro testing, and animal experiments. This procedure may be applicable to nonvitreous fibers and to organic fibers.

Air Pollutants↗

PubMed2006

Non-neutral vegetation dynamics.

The neutral theory of biodiversity constitutes a reference null hypothesis for the interpretation of ecosystem dynamics and produces relatively simple analytical descriptions of basic system properties, which can be easily compared to observations. On the contrary, investigations in non-neutral dynamics have in the past been limited by the complexity arising from heterogeneous demographic behaviours and by the relative paucity of detailed observations of the spatial distribution of species diversity (beta-diversity): These circumstances prevented the development and testing of explicit non-neutral mathematical descriptions linking competitive strategies and observable ecosystem properties. Here we introduce an exact non-neutral model of vegetation dynamics, based on cloning and seed dispersal, which yields closed-form characterizations of beta-diversity. The predictions of the non-neutral model are validated using new high-resolution remote-sensing observations of salt-marsh vegetation in the Venice Lagoon (Italy). Model expressions of beta-diversity show a remarkable agreement with observed distributions within the wide observational range of scales explored (5 x 10(-1) m divided by 10(3) m). We also consider a neutral version of the model and find its predictions to be in agreement with the more limited characterization of beta-diversity typical of the neutral theory (based on the likelihood that two sites be conspecific or heterospecific, irrespective of the species). However, such an agreement proves to be misleading as the recruitment rates by propagules and by seed dispersal assumed by the neutral model do not reflect known species characteristics and correspond to averages of those obtained under the more general non-neutral hypothesis. We conclude that non-neutral beta-diversity characterizations are required to describe ecosystem dynamics in the presence of species-dependent properties and to successfully relate the observed patterns to the underlying processes.

Biodiversity↗

PubMed2006

[The act of taking care in the dying process from the perspective of women with cancer: a phenomenological attitude].

The trajectory of this study was focused on understanding the meaning of taking care of women with cancer, without any possibilities of cure, through their perspective. With this proposal, we chose to carry out a qualitative survey, according to a phenomenological approach, based on these directive questions: "Tell me how I can take care of you. How would you like to be taken care of?" The descriptions evidenced the ontological unifications that were analyzed and interpreted according to Martin Heidegger's reference framework. These unifications made it possible to reveal ways for the act of taking care in the dying process that go beyond technical-scientific knowledge, because taking care also involves empathy, listening, patience, zeal, pain control and autonomy. Based on these women's point of view, we could reach the sense of being a person with cancer in the dying process, not as something finished, but as a person with possibilities, in spite of facing the factual situation of living with the existential end.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMed1981

Importance of new catecholamine pathways in control of blood pressure.

The first comprehensive maps of central catecholamine pathways referred to both noradrenaline and dopamine neurons. They described the catecholamine neurons as having their cell bodies in the brainstem with spinal axons descending mainly from two medullary cell groups (A1 and A2) and with ascending axons arising mainly from more rostral groups (A3-A13). More recent work utilising immunohistochemistry has established the presence of adrenaline neurons in the brain, in two medullary cell groups (C1 and C2). While these were originally thought to lie within the rostral part of the A1 and A2 cell groups, work from this laboratory has now established that the adrenaline neurons are topographically distinct from the A1 and A2 cells, do not fluoresce with standard methods, and are collected into three groups, the third group (C3) lying in the midline of the rostral medulla. Work in this laboratory using a combination of histochemical fluorescence and retrograde transport of horseradish peroxidase has demonstrated that existence of a descending dopaminergic projection from the hypothalamus to the spinal cord, indicating that descending pathways can arise well above the medulla. Recent studies on the A1 neurons have established the presence of projections from the A1 cells to the median eminence of the hypothalamus and towards the nucleus tractus solitarius in the medulla. Other experiments have demonstrated that most of the descending catecholamine axons do not arise from the A1 and A2 cell groups in the caudal medulla, but higher up in the brainstem especially from the A5 and A7 cell groups. These new descriptions of central catecholamine neurons will necessarily modify the interpretation of many experiments on the central regulation of arterial pressure.

Animals↗

PubMed1999

Communicating prognosis in early breast cancer: do women understand the language used?

OBJECTIVES: To determine the degree to which women with early breast cancer understand the prognostic information communicated by clinicians after breast cancer diagnosis, and their preferences for how this information is presented. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey conducted within two months of breast cancer diagnosis, using a self-administered written questionnaire. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: One hundred women attending five Sydney teaching hospitals and one country hospital, who were diagnosed with early stage breast cancer between January and December 1997. RESULTS: The 100 respondents represented 70% of the 143 women originally approached to participate. Many respondents did not fully understand the language typically used by surgeons and cancer specialists to describe prognosis: 53% could not calculate risk reduction (with adjuvant therapy) relative to absolute risk; 73% did not understand the term "median" survival; and 33% believed a cancer specialist could predict an individual patient's outcome. Women in professional/paraprofessional occupations understood more prognostic information than nonprofessional women. There was no agreement on the descriptive equivalent of a "30%" risk, nor the numerical interpretation of a "good" chance of survival. Forty-three per cent of women preferred positively framed messages (e.g., "chance of cure"), and 33% negatively framed messages (e.g., "chance of relapse"). The information women most wanted was that relating to probability of cure, staging of their cancer, chances of treatment being successful, and 10-year survival figures with and without adjuvant therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that misunderstanding is responsible for women's confusion about breast cancer prognosis. Clinicians should use a variety of techniques to communicate prognosis and risk, and need to verify that the information has been understood.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Synaesthetic restorations: a psychological perspective for surpassing aesthetic dentistry.

Dentistry is often described as a fusion of art and science. While the scientific aspect is well documented, the artistic component is nebulous and often subject to interpretation. The use of the word "aesthetic" as a description of artistic dentistry is essentially flawed. While it forms part of artistic concepts, aesthetics is not the quintessential description of what constitutes art or its perception by the human brain. This article redresses this balance by emphasizing the artistic nature of dentistry and rationalizing the criteria that constitute artistic perception.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Teenagers in the United States: sexual activity, contraceptive use, and childbearing, 2002.

OBJECTIVE: This report presents national estimates of sexual activity, contraceptive use, and births among males and females 15-19 years of age in the United States in 2002 from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). Data are also presented from the 1988 and 1995 NSFGs, and from the 1988 and 1995 National Survey of Adolescent Males (NSAM). METHODS: Descriptive tables of numbers and percents are presented and interpreted. Data were collected through in-person interviews of the civilian noninstitutionalized population in the United States. Interviews were conducted with 7,643 females, 1,150 of whom were teenagers, and 4,928 males, 1,121 of whom were teenagers. RESULTS: In 2002, about 47 percent of female teenagers (4.6 million), and about 46 percent of male teenagers (4.7 million) had had sexual intercourse at least once. For never-married males, there was a significant decline from 55 percent in 1995 to 46 percent in 2002. Among never-married females, for those aged 15-17 there was a significant decline in the percent sexually experienced, and for those aged 18-19 there was no significant change. Teenagers showed increases in the use of contraceptives. About 3 out of 4 teens used a method of contraception at their first intercourse. About 91 percent of males and 83 percent of females used a method at their last (most recent) sex. Hispanic teens are most likely to have a birth before age 20 and non-Hispanic whites are least likely, with non-Hispanic black teens in the middle. CONCLUSION: This report documents findings that may be helpful in understanding trends in teen birth and pregnancy, and STD rates.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Choice and consequence: measurement level determines the statistical tool-box].

Various types of data are used in health and behavioural sciences. Some of the variables, such as blood variables, can be measured by standardised, calibrated methods while others are based on subjective judgements from an expert or from the patients. There is a strong link between the measurement process and the choice of statistical toolbox. The statistically important measurement levels are; categorical, ordinal, quantitative discrete and quantitative continuous data. Special attention should be paid to non-negative quantitative data, and to ordinal data which are very common in medicine. In this paper the properties of the measurement levels are given and their consequences on the choice of statistical methods for description and analysis.

Data Interpretation, Statistical↗

PubMed2005

Fertility, family planning, and reproductive health of U.S. women: data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth.

OBJECTIVE: This report presents national estimates of fertility, family planning, and reproductive health indicators among females 15-44 years of age in the United States in 2002 from Cycle 6 of the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). For selected indicators, data are also compared with earlier cycles of the NSFG. METHODS: Descriptive tables of numbers and percentages are presented and interpreted. Data were collected through in-person interviews of the household population 15-44 years of age in the United States between March 2002 and March 2003. The sample included 7,643 females and 4,928 males, and this report focuses on data from the female sample. The overall response rate for the Cycle 6 NSFG was 79 percent, and the response rate for women was 80 percent. RESULTS: Given the range of topics covered in the report, only selected findings are listed here. About 14 percent of recent births to women 15-44 years of age in 2002 were unwanted at time of conception, an increase from the 9 percent seen for recent births in 1995. Among recent births, 64 percent occurred within marriage, 14 percent within cohabiting unions, and 21 percent to women who were neither married nor cohabiting. The overall rate of breastfeeding initiation among recent births increased from 55 to 67 percent between 1995 and 2002. About 50 percent of women 15-44 had ever cohabited compared with 41 percent of women in the 1995 survey; the percentage of women currently cohabiting also increased, from 7 to 9 percent between 1995 and 2002.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1991

[Neurointensive monitoring. Experiences with neurophysiological examinations].

Multimodal-evoked responses and EEG are used as a routine in many intensive care units and have proved their diagnostic and prognostic significance in a series of studies on comatose patients and patients with severe head injuries. The article includes a brief description of the methods, and of their use and interpretation in neurointensive medical care.

Brain Injuries↗

PubMed1990

[Computer-aided image processing of digital subtraction angiographs of the pelvis-leg region].

Within a clinical study on possible regression of arteriosclerotic processes in humans i.v. DSA-images were made and objectively evaluated. For the first time the digital system Densitron 4 was used for this. The image processing nodes of contrast enhancement, gray-scale and color conversion and stenosis evaluation by density sums are demonstrated for two selected cases from 52 intravenous digital subtraction angiographies of the pelvis-leg region. The results show, that digital image processing can enhance information-relevant detail. The preprocessing of densitometric values accounts for the third dimension of the vessel in its morphologic description. Compared with subjective visual evaluation the digital image interpretation facilitates a much higher degree of detectability of small detail located near the vessel walls and a more objective and reproducible evaluation of the degree of stenosis.

Angiography, Digital Subtraction↗

PubMed1985

The development of constraints on symbol-meaning structure in notation: evidence from production, interpretation, and forced-choice judgments.

Adults use notational systems in a variety of problem-solving situations. For notations to serve the goals we set them, they must conform to certain well-formedness rules, including one-to-one mapping between symbols and meanings and maintenance of the same symbol-meaning relations for both encoding and decoding. Do young children show an appreciation for the utility of notation by adhering to these rules in their production, interpretation, and judgment of notations? Study 1 provides a descriptive analysis of notations created by children aged 5-11 years. Study 2 is a forced-choice task in which preschoolers, 6- and 7-year-olds, and adults chose between a notation that was well-formed according to Goodman's theory of notation and one that violated exactly one of Goodman's principles. The 2 studies present converging evidence that young children may not impose the same symbol-meaning structure at decoding that was set up at encoding, and only after this develops does a preference for one form-one function mapping appear (approximately age 8). Comparisons are made to relevant aspects of the literature on language acquisition.

Age Factors↗

PubMed1989

Laboratory diagnosis of HIV infection.

The implications of a diagnosis of HIV infection are far-reaching. Thus, accurate interpretation of laboratory tests becomes critical. The authors provide descriptions of the tests now available and discuss the utility of each.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

PubMed1979

Anatomical and physiological considerations regarding the temporomandibular joint.

The structure and function of the human temporomandibular joint has concerned several investigators but still fundamental questions exist and require further examination. A profound knowledge of the normal anatomy and histology of the temporomandibular joint is necessary to understand its function and functional disturbances. It is also necessary for a good understanding of clinical findings and the interpretation of radiographs. In this paper a clinically orientated description has been given of the anatomy and histology of the mandibular head, the articular fossa and eminence, the articular disc, the capsule and ligaments, the synovial membrane, the innervation of the joint and the normal relationship between the different components. About the physiology of the temporomandibular joint many controversial theories exist. A lot of research has still to be done, especially in the field of the co-ordination of the function of both joints, the muscles and the dentition.

Cartilage, Articular↗

PubMed1988

Urine testing in the detection of drugs of abuse.

It is vital that physicians are alert to signs and symptoms of arcane drug use by their patients and be prepared to order appropriate laboratory tests that will assist in differentiating problems associated with drug use from those stemming from other causes. Physicians should be familiar with the advantages and disadvantages of the more common screening procedures for drugs of abuse. As a result of recent technical improvements in the instrumentation and reagents used to test for drugs of abuse in urine specimens, these tests, properly performed, are highly accurate for cannabinoids and cocaine, the two most frequently abused drugs; a positive test for opiates and amphetamines is much less specific. By using a two-tiered system of confirmation of positive screening tests that employs techniques such as gas chromatography with mass spectrometry, the incidence of false-positive results is minimal. This article presents guidelines for determining when to order a drug screen; a lexicon of terms commonly used in discussions of screening tests; a description of the advantages, disadvantages, technique, and means of interpreting the more widely used tests; and a section on each of the most frequently abused drugs that describes common errors in test interpretation.

Chromatography, Thin Layer↗

PubMed1988

Finite element method comparison of murine mandibular form differences.

The differences of adult female murine mandibular form between two inbred strains of mice (BALB/cBy and C57BL/6By) were analyzed by use of the finite element method (FEM). In the present instance, this method overcomes the conceptual and methodologic constraints of both craniometry and roentgenographic cephalometry by providing two-dimensional, reference-frame-invariant, independent comparisons of the size, shape, and location of the point continua enclosed within the boundaries for each local, finite element into which the mandible was discretized. At the present scale of observation, it is suggested that the FEM kinematic descriptions of form comparisons can be correlated with dynamic interpretations offered by the functional matrix hypothesis, i.e., that certain discrete, causal relationships exist between the continuum form of single elements and the form, or function, of anatomic structures associated with these elements. It is concluded that, in addition to its previously demonstrated use in the analysis of growth, the finite element method seems well suited for comparisons of form.

Animals↗

PubMed1984

New concepts in the interpretation of conidiogenesis in deuteromycetes.

Single-word terms (e.g. phialidic) cause problems in interpreting conidiogenesis. These problems can be resolved by meticulous description of each developmental stage (e.g. spore initiation, maturation, delimitation, secession). Different modes of spore wall building are significant and need further investigation. Blastic and thallic development perhaps do not differ fundamentally.

Mitosporic Fungi↗

PubMed1993

[The systems modelling of the processes of body adaptation to environmental changes under normal conditions and in pathology].

A model of organism adaptation under its normal functioning, being transferred without any conceptual changes into the adaptation model to the stimulating actions, at which the organism malfunctions and is forced to transfer to the regime of pathology which is considered to be the only possible regime for extreme conditions. As examples the cases of adaptation to the instantaneous and periodic changes of environment are considered, the adaptation results in decay of pathologic process, the transfer from the acute to the chronic process and the adaptation with the use of medicinal preparations. The biological interpretation of parameters and dependences coming into the mathematical description of the model is given.

Adaptation, Physiological↗