Estimated causes of death in Thailand, 2005: implications for health policy

Background  

Almost 400,000 deaths are registered each year in Thailand. Their value for public health policy and planning is greatly diminished by incomplete registration of deaths and by concerns about the quality of cause-of-death information. This arises from misclassification of specified causes of death, particularly in hospitals, as well as from extensive use of ill-defined and vague codes to attribute the underlying cause of death. Detailed investigations of a sample of deaths in and out of hospital were carried out to identify misclassification of causes and thus derive a best estimate of national mortality patterns by age, sex, and cause of death.     

Genetic variation in serotonin transporter alters resting brain function in healthy individuals.

BACKGROUND: Perfusion functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate the effect of genetic variation of the human serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene (5-HTTLPR, SLC6A4) on resting brain function of healthy individuals. METHODS: Twenty-six healthy subjects, half homozygous for the 5-HTTLPR short allele (s/s group) and half homozygous for the long allele (l/l group), underwent perfusion functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging during a resting state. The two genotype groups had no psychiatric illness and were similar in age, gender, and personality scores. RESULTS: Compared with the l/l group, the s/s group showed significantly increased resting cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the amygdala and decreased CBF in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. The effect of functional modulation in these regions by 5-HTTLPR genotype cannot be accounted for by variations in brain anatomy, personality, or self-reported mood. CONCLUSIONS: The 5-HTTLPR genotype alters resting brain function in emotion-related regions in healthy individuals, including the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Such alterations suggest a broad role of the 5-HTT gene in brain function that may be associated with the genetic susceptibility for mood disorders such as depression.     

氟伐他汀对老年动脉粥样硬化所致肾动脉狭窄的临床疗效观察

目的观察氟伐他汀对老年肾动脉粥样硬化所致肾动脉狭窄(ARAS)的治疗作用及其抗炎机制。方法将在我院门诊及住院的54例老年ARAS患者,随机分为治疗组及对照组,对照组给予常规降压治疗,治疗组每晚加服氟伐他汀40 mg。比较两组治疗前及治疗后尿蛋白排泄率(UAER)、血肌酐(Scr)、C反应蛋白(CRP)及肾脏血管多普勒超声中肾动脉收缩期峰值速度(PSV)、肾动脉血流加速度时间(AT),肾动脉峰值流速与肾动脉开口处腹主动脉流速之比(RAR)等指标。结果观察期间,两组上述指标均呈下降趋势,治疗组UAER,PSV,AT,RAR下降较对照组明显(P<0.05,P<0.01),治疗组CRP下降明显(P<0.05,P<0.01),对照组CRP变化不明显(P>0.05)。而且在两组血脂正常的老年ARAS所致肾动脉狭窄的患者进行比较分析也得出类似结果。结论氟伐他汀因降低CRP的致炎效应而改善肾动脉狭窄,且不依赖氟伐他汀的降血脂作用。     

重组人白细胞介素-1β对小鼠骨髓粒系细胞和红系细胞的正负调节作用

为阐明IL-1对粒系细胞和红系细胞的作用,我们通过对小鼠骨髓及外周血的研究探讨了IL-1对粒系和红系造血细胞的调节作用.结果表明:IL-1单剂量腹腔注射后第7天红系造血细胞明显减少,外周血网织红细胞在第8天显著下降.在5～10万U/kg剂量范围内IL-1明显促进粒系细胞的增殖.应用流式细胞仪对DNA分析显示IL-1并不引起全骨髓细胞DNA的变化,但大体积细胞在注射IL-1后第3天S期细胞明显增多.我们的结果表明IL-1抑制红系造血细胞的分化增殖,在适当的剂量范围内促进粒系细胞的增殖和分化成熟.其作用的分子基础是诱导造血细胞的细胞周期变化.     

Modulation of carbohydrate metabolism in the selected tissues of marine prawn, Penaeus indicus (H. Milne Edwards), under phosphamidon-induced stress

Changes in carbohydrate metabolism were studied in midgut gland, muscle, and gill tissues of marine prawn Penaeus indicus exposed to a sublethal concentration (0.3 ppm) of phosphamidon. A significant decrease in glycogen and pyruvate and an increase in lactate content were observed in all phosphamidon-exposed prawn tissues after 96 hr. An increase in phosphorylase a and aldolase activity levels suggested the increased formation of triose sugars during phosphamidon toxicity. LDH activity was considerably decreased and an increment in lactate content was observed which indicates reduced mobilization of pyruvate into the citric acid cycle. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity was considerably increased, suggesting the enhanced oxidation of glucose in the hexose monophosphate shunt pathway. Krebs cycle enzymes such as NAD-isocitrate dehydrogenase, succinate dehydrogenase, and malate dehydrogenase were found to be decreased, suggesting the impairment in mitochondrial oxidative metabolism due to the acute toxic impact of phosphamidon. Cytochrome-c oxidase and Mg2+ ATPase activity levels were also decreased considerably, suggesting impaired energy synthesis and breakdown during phosphamidon toxicity, as a result of reduced oxidation of glucose aerobically. The increase in acid and alkaline phosphatase activities indicates the enhanced breakdown of phosphate to release energy in view of inhibiton or impairment in the ATPase system during phosphamidon-induced stress. These results suggest that phosphamidon has a profound effect on the oxidative metabolism of prawn which results in the triggering of compensatory metabolic pathways for survivability.