Life Sciences & Biotechnology Update articles from August 2000

Life Sciences & Biotechnology Update archives from August 2000

REACHING MEDICALLY UNDERSERVED POPULATIONS WITH RESPECT TO CANCER.
August 1, 2000... This (Northwestern University Medical School) document reviews the "Cancer: Reaching Medically Underserved Populations Symposium" (Nov. 12, 1999). The symposium's purposes are to: (1) identify literacy and cultural barriers which negatively...

INSTITUTIONAL FUTILITY POLICIES: LIFE SUPPORT AND END- STAGE ILLNESS DECISIONS IN THE ICU.
August 1, 2000... This (University of California) report addresses a state-wide conference that brought together California healthcare professionals, lay persons, medical ethicists, lawyers, and members of the judiciary. They gathered to explore whether it was...

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE CHILDREN'S HEALTH CARE UTILIZATION.
August 1, 2000... The family environment, created partially by parental attitudes and beliefs, influences a child's physical, mental, and social well-being. Since less attention has focused on nonfinancial determinants of care, the primary aim of this...

GUIDELINES FOR NATIONAL HIV CASE SURVEILLANCE: MONITORING FOR HIV-INFECTION AND ACQUIRED IMMUNODEFICIENCY SYNDROME.
August 1, 2000... This (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) document recommends that all states and territories conduct case surveillance for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, as an extension of current acquired immunodeficiency syndrome...

WORKSHOP ON BRAIN SCIENCE RESEARCH, COGNITIVE, AND BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE.
August 1, 2000... This translation from Korea (Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) presents the proceedings of a joint Korea-U.S. workshop on brain science research, cognitive, and behavioral neuroscience. The topics covered include: Temporary...

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR IMAGE-GUIDED THERAPY INVOLVING THE SPINAL COLUMN AND SPINAL CORD.
August 1, 2000... This (Georgetown University) report summarizes a workshop to determine the technical requirements for image-guided procedures in the spinal column, the spinal cord, and paraspinal region. The six symposium working groups were: (1) Operative...

REVERSAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL NEUROTOXIN-CAUSED MITOCHONDRIAL DAMAGE.
August 1, 2000... The basic premise of this (Mount Sinai School of Medicine) research is that the turnover of dopamine (DA) or other monamines by monoamine oxidase (MAO) can place an oxidative stress on electron transport and respiration of mitochondria. In...

NITRIC OXIDE AND SUPEROXIDE MECHANISMS IN TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY AND HEMORRHAGIC HYPOTENSION.
August 1, 2000... Traumatic brain injury (TBI) renders the brain vulnerable to secondary ischemia and poor outcome after TBI. The goal of this (University of Texas) project is to understand the causes of neurological injury due to TBI and hypotension, and to...

IMPROVING VACCINATION COVERAGE FOR VACCINE-PREVENTABLE DISEASES.
August 1, 2000... The delivery and acceptance of recommended vaccinations is an ongoing challenge for health-care providers and health-care and public health systems, but specific interventions can increase levels of vaccination coverage. This (Centers for...

UPDATED RECOMMENDATIONS FOR VACCINE PREVENTION OF VARICELLA (CHICKENPOX).
August 1, 2000... This (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) publication covers the Feb. 1999 Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) expanded recommendations for varicella (chickenpox) vaccine, to promote wider use of the vaccine for...

ROTAVIRUS VACCINE TO PREVENT ROTAVIRUS GASTROENTERITIS AMONG CHILDREN.
August 1, 2000... This (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) report: reviews the epidemiology of rotavirus; describes the licensed rotavirus vaccine; and makes recommendations regarding its use for the routine immunization of infants in the U.S. These...

ACTIVE OR PASSIVE IMMUNIZATION TO PREVENT HEPATITIS A.
August 1, 2000... This (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) report updates the ACIPs 1996 recommendations on the prevention of hepatitis A through immunization. It includes: (1) new data about the epidemiology of hepatitis A; (2) recent findings about...

COMBINATION VACCINES FOR CHILDREN'S IMMUNIZATION.
August 1, 2000... An increasing number of new and improved vaccines to prevent childhood diseases are being introduced. Combination vaccines represent one solution to the problem of increased numbers of injections during clinic visits. This (Centers for...

IMMUNIZATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.
August 1, 2000... This (GAO) report presents a global health summary of a conference on immunization in developing countries. While international initiatives have increased the percentage of children immunized against 6 serious diseases to a global average of...

PULSE-COUPLED NEURAL NETWORKS FOR MEDICAL IMAGING AND INFORMATION PROCESSING.
August 1, 2000... This (Sy Technology Inc.) report addresses pulse- coupled neural networks (PCNN), which have been extended and modified to suit medical image segmentation applications. Previous research demonstrated the ability of a PCNN to ignore noisy...

REAL-TIME 3-D ULTRASOUND SYSTEM FOR PHYSIOLOGICAL MONITORING AND TELEMEDICINE.
August 1, 2000... This (Battelle Pacific North West Laboratories) report documents the 4th and 5th years of an ongoing project to develop a prototype 3-D ultrasound telemedicine imaging system. During the first year of the reporting period (FY98), development...

ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY: EMBRYO LABORATORY PROCEDURES AND PRACTICES.
August 1, 2000... On October 24, 1992, Congress passed Public Law 102-493 entitled the Fertility Clinic Success Rate and Certification Act of 1992. In accordance with this statute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is developing a model...

SUCCESS RATES FOR ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVITY TECHNOLOGY.
August 1, 2000... For many people who want to start a family, the dream of having a child is not easily realized; about 15% of women of childbearing age in the U.S. have received infertility service. Assisted reproductive technology (ART) has been used in the...

TRENDS IN PREGNANCIES AND PREGNANCY RATES BY OUTCOME.
August 1, 2000... This (National Center for Health Statistics) report summarizes the key findings from a comprehensive report on pregnancies and pregnancy rates for U.S. women. It incorporates birth, abortion, and fetal-loss data to compile national estimates...

TRENDS IN TWIN AND TRIPLET BIRTHS.
August 1, 2000... This (National Center for Health Care Statistics) report presents data from U.S. birth certificates on the numbers and rates of twin, triplet, and other higher order multiple births for 1980-97. (Order this LIFE SCIENCES & BIOTECHNOLOGY...

TEENAGE BIRTHS IN THE U.S.
August 1, 2000... This (National Center for Health Statistics) publication presents the latest statistics, as well as trends, on the important topic of teenage childbearing in the U.S. Data are from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) National...

UTERINE ARTERY EMBOLIZATION.
August 1, 2000... This (RAND Corp.) report concerns uterine artery embolization. Uterine leiomyomata are a common cause of gynecologic symptoms and major gynecologic surgery. Common treatments for these benign tumors include medical therapy, hysterectomy, and...

CHARACTERISTICS OF ELDERLY HOME HEALTH CARE USERS.
August 1, 2000... This (National Center for Health Statistics) report presents demographic characteristics, service utilization, and primary admission diagnoses of elderly users of home health care services. Included are home health care services used by both...

DIETARY STRATEGY TO MAXIMIZE THE BONE MASS OF ACTIVE YOUNG PEOPLE.
August 1, 2000... This (FDA) research is aimed at developing dietary methods to increase bone mass in young men and women, in order to reduce the incidence of stress fractures during physical training and the incidence of osteoporotic fracture later in life....

PRIMER FOR PRIMARY-CARE PROVIDERS: EVALUATION OF COMMON BREAST PROBLEMS.
August 1, 2000... This (Society of Surgical Oncology) report is a primer for primary-care physicians on the evaluation of common breast problems. Its Table of Contents is as follows: Introduction; Medical History (Risk Assessment, Symptom Assessment); Breast...

EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL ON DRIVING-RELATED BEHAVIOR AT A BLOOD CONCENTRATION OF 0.08 GRAMS/DECILITER AND LOWER.
August 1, 2000... A review of the scientific literature regarding the effects of alcohol on driving-related skills is conducted. One hundred and twelve articles -- from 1981 to 1997 -- are reviewed. Results are indexed by BAC and behavioral area and entered...

RECOGNITION AND REPORTING OF CHILDHOOD-ABUSE INJURIES.
August 1, 2000... Although intentional injuries are a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in childhood, no information has been collected about how frequently child abuse is responsible for injury-related office visits. This (Children's Memorial Hospital)...

ASSESSMENT OF THE OUTCOMES OF APPLYING TOPICAL FLUORIDE DENTAL TREATMENT WITH INTERPROXIMAL RESTORATIONS.
August 1, 2000... The aims of this (University of Michigan) study are to: (1) capture dental claims data; (2) advance the analytic methods for using patient-based dental claims for outcomes research; and (3) evaluate the association between use of...

FIBRIN SEALANT PRODUCTS: EFFICACY STUDIES TO SUPPORT COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS MARKETING IN THE U.S.
August 1, 2000... This (FDA) document pertains to commercially-produced fibrin sealants, composed of purified virus- inactivated/removed human fibrinogen and human or bovine thrombin, with or without added components such as virus-inactivated/removed human...