Life Sciences & Biotechnology Update articles from October 1999

Life Sciences & Biotechnology Update archives from October 1999

EFFECTS OF THE PROMOTION OF SLEEP IN CRITICAL-CARE UNITS.
October 1, 1999... The primary objective of this (LDS Hospital) research is to measure the impact of soft foam earplugs (to reduce noise during the night-time hours) on the sleep of critically-ill subjects. Patients greater than, or equal to, 18 years of age...

TREATMENT-EFFECTIVENESS PROGRAMS.
October 1, 1999... This (Case Western Reserve University) report addresses a program studying the effectiveness of medical treatment. The objectives are to: facilitate research on improving health and quality of life outcomes for minority populations; assist and...

STRENGTHENING FAMILIES THROUGH PARENT-PEDIATRIC PARTNERSHIPS.
October 1, 1999... This (Hawaii State Department of Health) project is a partnership between families and their medical practitioners, to develop a demonstration model for care coordination for environmentally at-risk infants and toddlers in low-income...

ETHICAL MEDICAL AND BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH INVOLVING HUMANS.
October 1, 1999... This report from Canada (Medical Research Council of Canada) describes the policies of three research councils regarding research involving human subjects. It begins with a statement of the goals and rationale of the policies, and a review of...

TREATMENTS TO PREVENT MIGRAINE HEADACHE.
October 1, 1999... This (Duke University) report identifies and summarizes evidence from full reports of controlled trials (published from 1966 to 1996) on the efficacy and tolerability of drug treatments for the prevention of migraine headache. The classes of...

BEHAVIORAL AND PHYSICAL TREATMENTS FOR MIGRAINE HEADACHE.
October 1, 1999... This (Duke University) report identifies and summarizes evidence from controlled trials (published from 1966 to 1996) on the efficacy of behavior and physical treatments for migraine headache. The report includes 39 trials of behavioral...

UTILIZATION OF RESOURCES, AND COSTS OF CARE, FOR TREATMENT OF CHRONIC MIGRAINE HEADACHE.
October 1, 1999... This (Duke University) report identifies and summarizes evidence from reports of empirical studies (published from 1966 to 1996) on the cost of care and economic impact of chronic headache. Of 400 citations identified, 126 meet initial...

EFFICACY AND TOLERABILITY OF SELF-ADMINISTERED DRUG TREATMENTS FOR MIGRAINE HEADACHE.
October 1, 1999... This (Duke University) work identifies and summarizes evidence from controlled trials on the efficacy and tolerability of self-administered drug treatment for acute migraine headache. A literature review is conducted to identify randomized...

PATIENT-CARE GUIDE FOR LUPUS.
October 1, 1999... This (National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases) guide provides an overview of lupus erythematosus and the elements involved in caring for patients with this disease. It focuses on systemic lupus erythematosus...

INPATIENT OUTCOMES OF DEDICATED AIDS UNITS.
October 1, 1999... This (University of Pennsylvania) study extends earlier research that employed comparative multisite data and a quasi-experimental design to compare inpatient outcomes in 20 hospitals in 11 major cities throughout the U.S. The data include...

REVIEW OF NIOSH RESEARCH PROGRAMS INVOLVING MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS.
October 1, 1999... This (NIOSH) document lists 56 extramural and 23 intramural research projects dealing with musculoskeletal disorders. These projects include research in the areas of disease/injury prevention, work environment, and research tools and...

STANDARD HUMAN MITOCHONDRIAL REFERENCE MATERIAL FOR CONTROL OF QUALITY IN FORENSIC IDENTIFICATION, MEDICAL DIAGNOSTICS, AND MUTATION DETECTION.
October 1, 1999... This (NIST) paper concerns the development of human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) Standard Reference Material (SRM 2392) to provide quality control in amplification and sequencing for medical diagnostics, forensic identification, and mutation...

HUMAN HEMOGLOBIN: USING CYSTEINES TO PROBE FOR CONFORMATIONAL AND FUNCTIONAL EVENTS AT SUBUNIT INTERFACES.
October 1, 1999... This (NIST) paper addresses probes of conformational and functional events at the human hemoglobin subunit interfaces. Human hemoglobin is a tetrameric protein containing two types of subunits, alpha and beta, which assemble to form two...

NUCLEOPROTEIN-BASED NANOSCALE FABRICATION.
October 1, 1999... This (City of Hope Medical Center) work provided a clear demonstration of each of the essential scientific principles governing the nucleoprotein-based approach to macromolecular assembly. It shows that the coupling reaction between...

IMMUNIZATION OF CHILDREN: SURVEY RESPONSE ERRORS.
October 1, 1999... This (National Center for Health Statistics) report addresses response errors in surveys of children's immunizations. Household surveys of childhood immunization, such as the NCHS National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), typically involve...

ANTIGENICITY OF BACILLUS GLOBIGII SPORES.
October 1, 1999... This report from Canada (Defense Research Establishment) concerns the immunoassay of Bacillus globigii (BG) spores, which are carried out using a number of polyclonal antibody preparations. The limits of detection for the various antibody...

DEVELOPMENT OF A RAPID RECOMBINANT ANTIBODY PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY.
October 1, 1999... This (DOE) report addresses a project to develop a rapid recombinant antibody production technology. To achieve the objective, the work involves: (1) production of recombinant antigens that are important for cell cycle regulation and DNA...

CORRELATION OF INTEROPERATIVE RECORDINGS FROM A FOREHEAD-MOUNTED LIQUID-CRYSTAL THERMOMETER AND AN ESOPHAGEAL THERMISTOR.
October 1, 1999... This (Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences) study evaluates the performance of a liquid- crystal temperature device during general anesthesia. The study population consists of 18 patients undergoing general anesthesia. After...

BIOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS OF FREE-ELECTRON LASERS.
October 1, 1999... This (DOE) review examines the possibilities for biological research using three ultraviolet free-electron lasers that are nearing operational status in the U.S. The projected operating characteristics of major interest to biological research...

CATHEPSIN-D MAY REGULATE THE MITOGENIC ACTIVITY OF FIBROBLAST GROWTH FACTOR-1 (FGF-1) IN BREAST CANCER.
October 1, 1999... This (American Red Cross) report concerns cathepsin-D, which was initially thought to be an individual prognostic indictor for the disease state of human breast cancers. Over the years, the data substantiating such a role for cathepsin-D has...

A PEER-SUPPORT PROGRAM TO IMPROVE QUALITY OF LIFE WITH BREAST CANCER.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... The objective of this (Kaiser Foundation Research Institute) study is to develop, implement, and evaluate a volunteer peer-support program for women newly diagnosed with breast cancer. The program augments and complements the American Cancer...

FUNCTION OF THE STROMA-DERIVED METALLOPROTEINASE, STROMELYSIN-3, IN INVASIVE BREAST CARCINOMAS.
October 1, 1999... This (University of Michigan) report addresses stromelysin-3 (ST-3), a member of the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) family, which is expressed in stromal cells surrounding invasive breast carcinoma cells, where it undergoes processing to its...

THE ROLE OF TISSUE TRANSGLUTAMINASES IN BREAST CANCER.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Angiogenesis is vital to tumor growth and metastasis. This (Duke University) work studies, in detail, the role of tissue transglutaminase (tTG) during wound healing and tumorigenesis. It describes the expression, localization, molecular form,...

DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF A SIMPLE SOFT-COPY DISPLAY FOR DIGITAL MAMMOGRAPHY.
October 1, 1999... This (University of Pennsylvania) report addresses the development and testing of a simple soft-copy display for digital mammography that is matched to human contrast sensitivity at ambient light levels. A calibration procedure is developed...

USF's IMPORTANCE IN BREAST CANCER.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... This (University of Texas) report concerns the importance of USF in breast cancer. USF is a family of transcription factors that can antagonize the activity of the Myc oncoproteins in cellular proliferation and transformation. The abundance...

FAMILY INTERVENTION FOR PREVENTING DRUG ABUSE.
October 1, 1999... This (National Institute on Drug Abuse) report addresses drug-abuse prevention through family intervention. Its partial contents are as follows: Drug Abuse Prevention Through Family-Based Interventions: Future Research; Family-Focused...

INFORMATION GUIDE ON BREAST IMPLANTS.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... This (FDA) report is an informational guide on breast implants. Its Table of Contents reads as follows: Background; Availability of Implants; The Surgery; Surgical Risks of Implants; Other Implant-Related Risks; Illness and Conditions...

EYE-ACTIVITY MEASURES OF FATIGUE AND NAPPING, AS A FATIGUE COUNTERMEASURE.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... This (Trucking Research Institute) study investigates the potential use of an eye-tracking system for detecting reduced driver alterness, and the impact of prophylactic napping on driver performance and alertness. The study uses traditional...

ENHANCING THE SHELF-LIFE AND SAFETY OF PROCESSED MEAT THROUGH MODERATE HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE, TEMPERATURE, AND THE USE OF BIOPRESERVATIVES.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... This (University of Wyoming) program determines the effectiveness of a moderate hydrostatic pressure, in combination with moderate temperature and biopreservatives, to reduce high populations of pathogenic and spoilage bacteria in processed...

ELASTIC SPIDER-SILK PROTEINS.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... This (University of Wyoming) report deals with spider- silk proteins. Flagelliform silk proteins are studied by cloning the cDNAs for the major protein, in the silk as well as the gene. The protein consists of three sequence segments which...

BUILDING A NEW BIOTECHNOLOGY STRATEGY IN CANADA.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... This report from Canada (Ontario Bio-Industries Branch) describes progress in the development of a new national strategy for the Canadian biotechnology sector, to replace the first national strategy developed in 1983. The report includes: a...

MATERIALS FOR USE AS ARTIFICIAL PLASTIC RETINAS.(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... This (UNIAX Corp.) report concerns the fabrication of one-dimensional plastic retina structures, by depositing gold strips onto glass substrates and subsequently applying thin layers of conducting materials onto this pattern. The materials...