Search

The incidence of melanoma is rising among Hispanic populations in the United States. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of a pilot sun safety educational intervention conducted from 2006 to 2012 on Hispanic early adolescents in a high ultraviolet environment. Nineteen schools with high Hispanic enrollment were recruited from urban neighborhoods in Los Angeles. The analytic sample was restricted to students identifying as Hispanic or Latino (n = 777). A mixed effects linear model was used to test mean changes from pre- to posttest on students' sun protection knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. Significant improvements were observed across several cognitive outcomes related to sun protection, including knowledge of and attitudes toward sun protection and self-efficacy to wear sunscreen. However, changes in sun protective behaviors were not achieved. Although some improvements were observed, future studies should identify the factors that motivate sun protection in this population and develop tailored prevention strategies, as improving the sun safe behaviors of Hispanic youths may aid in reducing the risk of melanoma in adulthood in this population.

Recent reports have suggested an association between familial adenomatous polyposis and papillary carcinoma of the thyroid. This report describes four patients, each with intestinal polyps and thyroid or thyroglossal cyst carcinoma. One patient had a medullary rather than papillary carcinoma of the thyroid and in another the intestinal polyps were due to Peutz-Jeghers syndrome. This may indicate a wider association between thyroid carcinoma and intestinal polyps than has previously been recognised.

Aspirin induces gastric mucosal damage and bleeding in the presence of acid. Cimetidine, the histamine H2-receptor antagonist, reduces basal and stimulated acid secretion. Arthritic patients taking fixed doses of aspirin who were found to have aspirin-induced occult gastrointestinal bleeding were given cimetidine in a randomized double blind, crossover study. Autologous 51Cr-labeled blood was measured in 4-day stool collections at the end of each 4-week period of placebo and cimetidine therapy in 22 acid-producing patients. Mean daily fecal blood loss was reduced during cimetidine therapy to 2.2 +/- 0.3 ml per day, compared with 4.1 +/- 0.7 ml per day during placebo therapy (P= 0.002).

Lactate dehydrogenase activity (LDH) was measured in the MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line derived at the Michigan Cancer Foundation from a patient with metastatic breast adenocarcinoma. LDH was found in the 46,000 X g supernatant of cell lysates, but not in the culture medium. Only the fifth isozyme (LDH-5) could be demonstrated by cellulose acetate electrophoresis and relative heat inactivation studies. When endogenous steroids were removed from the medium, addition of estrogen to the growth medium for several days elevated LDH 2-fold above controls; LDH was not altered when MCF-7 cells were treated with progesterone, hydrocortisone, prolactin, insulin, or triiodothyronine. A physiological concentration (0.1 nM) of 17beta-estradiol was sufficient to produce a maximal LDH increase. There were no qualitative isozyme changes in response to estrogen. LDH activity may therefore be a useful marker protein for studying hormone action in the MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line.

A method is described for the determination of codeine and its metabolite, morphine, at low nanogram concentrations in plasma. Analysis is accomplished by high-performance liquid chromatography utilizing a cyanopropyl normal bonded phase (NBP) column in reversed-phase mode and two electrochemical detectors in series configuration. Two internal standards are utilized, ethyl morphine for codeine and nalorphine for morphine. Codeine and morphine concentration data are presented for several patients receiving codeine-containing medications. The lower limit of detectability was 2.00 +/- 0.39 ng per mL for codeine and 1.20 +/- 0.83 ng per mL for morphine. The patient sample mean within-run coefficients of variation for codeine and morphine (at 10 ng per mL) were less than 10 percent, n = 30. The between-run coefficient of variation for codeine was also less than 10 percent (over a range of two to 190 ng per mL, n = 61), and was approximately 15 percent for morphine (over a range of two to 40 ng per mL, n = 31).