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Restaurants are an important source of employment for immigrants in the United States. This article discusses the findings from an ethnographic study on Chinese immigrant restaurant workers' occupational injury and illness experiences. Eighteen participants were interviewed; 10 of whom attended follow-up focus groups. The author used ethnographic content analysis to analyze the data. On-the-job cuts and burns were the most common injuries. Musculoskeletal disorders, or specifically aches and pains, soreness, or numbness were the most troubling occupational illnesses. The author identified three cultural concepts pertinent to the causes of occupational illnesses during data analysis. Participants used multiple methods to heal their injuries and illnesses and to keep themselves safe and healthy. Implications for cultural competence in US occupational safety and health research and practice and elimination of health disparities in immigrant workers conclude the article.

To work with Chinese/Chinese-American clients more effectively, health care providers must know how to work with them within their value system of filial piety. This paper focuses on Chinese parent-child relationships with respect to this value system from the perspective of young adult Chinese immigrants in the United States. Using an ethnographic approach, in-depth interviews were conducted with six immigrants from Taiwan. Domain analysis and content analysis revealed ten domains, five of which are reported in this paper. The findings suggest that filial piety continues to operate in Chinese immigrant families. Implications for cross-cultural health care and research are addressed.

To assess whether plasma and urinary endothelin-1 (ET-1) values are related to the severity of diabetic nephropathy, we measured plasma and urinary ET-1-like immunoreactivity (ET-1-LI) in 14 healthy subjects, and in 50 normoalbuminuric (group 1), 13 albuminuric (group 2), and 10 renally insufficient (group 3) patients with Type 2 diabetes. Plasma ET-1-LI values were significantly increased in group 3, and correlated positively with serum creatinine levels (r = 0.579, p < 0.01). Urinary ET-1-LI excretion in group 3 (49.3 +/- 7.3 pmol day-1) was significantly higher than that in healthy controls (27.0 +/- 1.1 pmol day-1) and in group 1 (32.2 +/- 2.2 pmol day-1), while that of group 2 (38.8 +/- 5.9 pmol day-1) was also higher than in healthy controls. A significant positive correlation between urinary ET-1-LI and serum creatinine values was also found (r = 0.297, p < 0.05). Trend analysis showed significant linear and quadratic trends in the elevation of plasma ET-1-LI and a significant linear trend in urinary ET-1-LI levels from healthy controls to groups 1, 2 and 3. Our results demonstrate that an increase in plasma and urine ET-1-LI correlates with the severity of diabetic nephropathy.

Antibody to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) was found to be an independent risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma and raised serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level. In addition, the frequency of raised AFP in patients with anti-HCV was higher than in those without (91.5% vs 65.2%, P = 0.0001).