Regional Research-Practice-Policy Partnerships in Response to Climate-Related Disparities: Promoting Health Equity in the Pacific.

Although climate change poses a threat to health and well-being globally, a regional approach to addressing climate-related health equity may be more suitable, appropriate, and appealing to under-resourced communities and countries. In support of this argument, this commentary describes an approach by a network of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers dedicated to promoting climate-related health equity in Small Island Developing States and low- and middle-income countries in the Pacific. We identify three primary sets of needs related to developing a regional capacity to address physical and mental health disparities through research, training, and assistance in policy and practice implementation: (1) limited healthcare facilities and qualified medical and mental health providers; (2) addressing the social impacts related to the cooccurrence of natural hazards, disease outbreaks, and complex emergencies; and (3) building the response capacity and resilience to climate-related extreme weather events and natural hazards.

A head-to-head comparison of the de Morton Mobility Index (DEMMI) and Elderly Mobility Scale (EMS) in an older acute medical population.

PURPOSE: To compare the clinimetric properties of the de Morton Mobility Index (DEMMI®) and the Elderly Mobility Scale (EMS). METHOD: A head-to-head comparison of the EMS and DEMMI® with 120 consecutive older acute medical patients. The DEMMI® and EMS were administered within 48 h of hospital admission and discharge. RESULTS: At admission, 6% and 15% of participants scored the lowest scale score for the DEMMI® and EMS, respectively. For the DEMMI®, 17% of participants scored within the minimal detectable change of the lowest scale score compared to 20% for the EMS at admission. At hospital discharge, DEMMI® scores were normally distributed and the EMS had a ceiling effect. Similar evidence of convergent, discriminant and known groups validity were obtained for the DEMMI® and EMS. There was no significant difference in responsiveness to change between the DEMMI® and EMS. The EMS was significantly quicker to administer compared to the DEMMI®. CONCLUSION: The DEMMI® and EMS are both valid measures of mobility for older acute medical patients. The DEMMI® has a broader scale width than the EMS with interval level measurement and therefore provides a more accurate method for measuring and monitoring changes in mobility for older acute medical patients. Implications for Rehabilitation Mobility of older acute medical patients. Hospitalised older acute medical patients are at "high risk" of mobility decline. Accurate measurement of mobility is essential for preventing and treating mobility decline. Many existing mobility measures have significant measurement limitations. The DEMMI® is a more accurate measure of mobility than the EMS in an older acute medical population.

Lutein-fortified infant formula fed to healthy term infants: evaluation of growth effects and safety.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Breast milk contains lutein derived from the mother's diet. This carotenoid is currently not added to infant formula, which has a small and variable lutein content from innate ingredients. This study was conducted to compare the growth of infants fed lutein-fortified infant formula with that of infants fed infant formula without lutein fortification. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This 16-week study was prospective, randomized, controlled, and double-blind with parallel groups of healthy term infants fed either control formula (Wyeth S-26 Gold, designated as Gold) or experimental formula (Wyeth S-26 Gold fortified with lutein at 200 mcg/l, designated as Gold+Lutein). Two hundred thirty-two (232) infants

Retrospective bibliometric review of rural health research: Australia's contribution and other trends.

INTRODUCTION: The health of half of the world's 6 billion people and of the 6 million Australians living in rural and remote communities is demonstrably poorer than that of their metropolitan counterparts. As the existence of the discrete specialty of rural health (RH) is gaining acceptability worldwide, publications about RH issues are increasing in prevalence. We undertook a bibliometric analysis of Australian rural research trends and compared these with international RH research output, and analyzed how Australian RH research has been addressing the National Health Priority Areas (NHPAs) during this period. METHODS: Medline-listed publications from 1990 to 2005 relating to rural health or rural health services were downloaded using PubMed and written to a Microsoft Access database using specially developed software. Analysis was performed to determine the country of origin of the authors, frequency of journals, publication types and how publications addressed Australian NHPAs. RESULTS: We retrieved 20 913 rural health publications of which 1442 (6.8%) were from Australia. Analysis from 1990 and 2005 showed total world yearly publications increased from 410 to 1207, while the respective contribution from Australia increased from 17 (4.1%) to 198 (16.4%). Canadian and USA contributions increased respectively from 10 (2.4%) to 110 (9.1%) and 131 (32%) to 298 (24.7%). The top five journals that published RH articles were Journal of Rural Health (JRH; 453), Australian Journal of Rural Health (AJRH; 417), Medical Journal of Australia (MJA; 192), Social Science Medicine (191) and Lancet (171). The Australian journals with the largest number of RH publications were AJRH (374), MJA (177), Australian Family Physician (101), Rural Remote Health (55) and Journal of Telemedicine Telecare (54). The most frequent publication type was the journal article in all three countries. Australian publications comprised journal articles (85.1%), letters (9.1%), reviews (5.6%), editorials (4.7%) and clinical trials (2.9%). Australia had the lowest proportion of clinical trials of the three countries. Of the total 1290 Australian publications, 317 (25%) addressed the NHPAs. Of these, 118 (37.2%) addressed mental health, 54 (17%) cancer, 41 (12.9%) cardiovascular disease, 37(11.7%) injury prevention, 35(11%) diabetes and 15 (4.7%) arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions. DISCUSSION: Australia's contribution to the international RH literature is increasing, both in terms of the relative numerical contribution and the prominence of selected Australian journals as the destination for articles on RH topics. Of dedicated RH journals, AJRH is now almost as frequently used by authors as JRH. However the general journals Lancet, BMJ and MJA were also among the most frequent publishers of RH articles. Telemedicine and general practice journals (Australian Family Physician & Canadian Family Physician) were also among the top journals that published RH articles, which highlights the increasingly prominent role played by information and communication technologies in the delivery of rural health care in general practice settings. The most frequent NHPA addressed by the RH publications in Australia was mental health. However only approximately 1% of total Australian health publications from 1990 to 2005 addressed RH. There is still a pressing need for more RH research, particularly in health priority areas.

Methodology for the preparation of 2-argininylbenzothiazole.

An efficient process to produce kilogram quantities of a key argininylbenzo[d]thiazole intermediate was developed for the preparation of the tryptase inhibitor RWJ-56423. A variety of activated arginine esters and benzo[d]thiazole nucleophiles were evaluated as coupling partners. Our work led to the selection and optimization of an argininyl imidazolide ester and benzothiazol-2-yl MgCl nucleophile. This paper focuses on the preparation, use, and stability of the benzothiazol-2-yl Grignard reagents.

Synthesis and SAR of novel 4,5-diarylimidazolines as potent P2X7 receptor antagonists.

A series of 4,5-diarylimidazoline libraries were prepared using high-throughput solid-phase and microwave techniques. The compounds were evaluated as P2X(7) antagonists and their SAR is described.

Responses of cultured human airway epithelial cells treated with diesel exhaust extracts will vary with the engine load.

Epidemiologic evidence suggests that increased morbidity and mortality are associated with the concentrations of ambient air particulate matter (PM). Many sources contribute to the particulate fraction of ambient air pollution, including diesel exhaust particulates (DEP). Diesel exhaust also contributes gas-phase pollutants to the atmosphere, and gaseous copollutants may influence the toxicity of PM. The composition of diesel exhaust varies greatly depending on the engine load conditions as well as other factors. To determine whether different diesel exhaust composition can affect lung cell resposes, the effects of of diesel exhaust extracts derived from different engine loads were examined on normal human bronchial epithelial cells (NHBE) in vitro. Diesel exhaust was collected into chilled impingers containing phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). Cultured NHBE cells were treated with 0 to 500 microg/well extract from approximately 0% engine load (termed low load or LL) or extract from approximately 75% engine load (termed high load or HL) for 24 h. The HL extract was cytotoxic at 500 microg compared to controls as measured by (51)Cr release. Production of the neutrophil chemotaxin interleukin 8 (IL-8) was decreased 4.7-fold in cells treated with 500 microg LL extract, whereas cells treated with 500 microg HL extract showed a 2.4-fold increase in IL-8 release. Production of the inflammatory and immune system mediator prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) was increased up to 2.5-fold in cells treated with HL extract, but unchanged with other treatments. Melittin stimulation of cells showed that the LL extract had an inhibitory effect on PGE(2) release at 500 microg. Differences in carbonyl content of the extracts were found by high performance liquid chromatography/mass spectroscopy HPLC/MS, with the HL extract having more intermediate size carbonyls (i.e. with six to nine carbons). The data suggest that the response of NHBE cells to treatment with diesel exhaust will vary depending on the constituent components of the exhaust.

Comparative analysis of functional assays for characterization of agonist ligands at G protein-coupled receptors.

A variety of functional assays are available for agonist or antagonist screening of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), but it is a priori not predictable which assay is the most suitable to identify agonists or antagonists of GPCRs with therapeutic value in humans. More specifically, it is not known how a given set of GPCR agonists compares in different functional assays with respect to potency and efficacy and whether the level of the signaling cascade that is analyzed has any impact on the detection of agonistic responses. To address this question, the authors used the recently cloned human S1P(5) receptor as a model and compared a set of 3 lipid ligands (sphingosine 1-phosphate [S1P], dihydro sphingosine 1-phosphate [dhS1P], and sphingosine) in 5 different functional assays: GTPgammaS binding, inhibition of adenylyl cyclase activity, mobilization of intracellular Ca(2+) via the FLIPR and aequorin technology, and MAP kinase (ERK1/2) activation. S1P induced agonistic responses in all except the ERK1/2 assays with EC(50) values varying by a factor of 10. Whereas dhS1P was identified as a partial agonist in the GTPgammaS assay, it behaved as a full agonist in all other settings. Sphingosine displayed partial agonistic activity exclusively in GTPgammaS binding assays. The findings suggest that assays in a given cellular background may vary significantly with respect to suitability for agonist finding and that ligands producing a response may not readily be detectable in all agonist assays.

Overview of the Alliance for Cellular Signaling.

The Alliance for Cellular Signaling is a large-scale collaboration designed to answer global questions about signalling networks. Pathways will be studied intensively in two cells--B lymphocytes (the cells of the immune system) and cardiac myocytes--to facilitate quantitative modelling. One goal is to catalyse complementary research in individual laboratories; to facilitate this, all alliance data are freely available for use by the entire research community.

Reductive Amination of Aldehydes and Ketones with Sodium Triacetoxyborohydride. Studies on Direct and Indirect Reductive Amination Procedures(1).

Sodium triacetoxyborohydride is presented as a general reducing agent for the reductive amination of aldehydes and ketones. Procedures for using this mild and selective reagent have been developed for a wide variety of substrates. The scope of the reaction includes aliphatic acyclic and cyclic ketones, aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes, and primary and secondary amines including a variety of weakly basic and nonbasic amines. Limitations include reactions with aromatic and unsaturated ketones and some sterically hindered ketones and amines. 1,2-Dichloroethane (DCE) is the preferred reaction solvent, but reactions can also be carried out in tetrahydrofuran (THF) and occasionally in acetonitrile. Acetic acid may be used as catalyst with ketone reactions, but it is generally not needed with aldehydes. The procedure is carried out effectively in the presence of acid sensitive functional groups such as acetals and ketals; it can also be carried out in the presence of reducible functional groups such as C-C multiple bonds and cyano and nitro groups. Reactions are generally faster in DCE than in THF, and in both solvents, reactions are faster in the presence of AcOH. In comparison with other reductive amination procedures such as NaBH(3)CN/MeOH, borane-pyridine, and catalytic hydrogenation, NaBH(OAc)(3) gave consistently higher yields and fewer side products. In the reductive amination of some aldehydes with primary amines where dialkylation is a problem we adopted a stepwise procedure involving imine formation in MeOH followed by reduction with NaBH(4).