Potentials of additional copper filtration on radiation dose and image quality for adults underwent digital chest X-ray imaging in Dubai Health Authority - UAE.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the potentials of adding copper (Cu) filter on image quality and patient dose of adult patients underwent chest X-ray examination METHODS: Patients were divided into four groups. Group 1, patients were exposed with no added Cu filter (standard or control), group 2 a 0.1 mm Cu filter was added, group 3 acquired with 0.2 mm Cu filter and group 4 performed with 0.3 mm Cu filter. Exposure index (EI), entrance surface dose (ESD) and dose area product (DAP) were recorded from the modality and retrospectively analyzed. The visual grading analysis score (VGAS) was used to evaluate image quality. Mann-Whitney T-Test and one-way ordinary ANOVA Test were used to evaluate statistical differences including gender-based findings. RESULTS: EI, ESD and DAP data for a total of 784 patients (422 male and 362 female) that underwent indirect digital chest radiography exam were collected. Image quality was maintained when adding 0.1 mm Cu filter achieved with ∼19% DAP reduction. Female showed a significant DAP reduction comparing to male registered in the same group. CONCLUSIONS: Reducing dose when using indirect digital chest radiography is possible with no trade-off on image quality. No loss of image quality was reported, images were broadly comparable. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This study highlights the importance of utilizing the additional copper filter in digital chest radiography.

Brain pseudotumour secondary to Behçet's disease.

Neuro-Behçet's disease (NBD) is a serious manifestation of Behçet's disease (BD) and can affect either the central or peripheral nervous systems, or both. It occurs in 10-50% of patients with BD. We report on a patient with an unusual intraparenchymal lesion, initially thought to be a brain tumour. Histological examination revealed vasculitis consistent with BD. Clinicians should include NBD as a differential diagnosis when considering an isolated inflammatory intracranial lesion.

Anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities of ethanol extract of syzygium aromaticum flower bud in Wistar rats and mice.

The ethanol extracts of Syzygium aromaticum flower bud were tested for anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects in mice and Wistar rats which were carried out using acetic acid-induced abdominal contractions in mice and formalin-induced hind paw edema in Wistar rats. Three doses of the ethanol extract (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg body weight i.p.) were used for both studies. The extract had an LD(50) of 565.7 mg/kg body weight intraperitoneally in mice. The extracts produced significant effect (P<0.05) at all the three doses. Similarly, the anti-nociceptive activity produced significant effects (P<0.05) at all the three doses of the extract. The result supports the local use of the plant in painful and inflammatory conditions.

Temperament in young adulthood and later mortality: prospective observational study.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between a clinician assessment of temperament in early adulthood and cause specific mortality. DESIGN: Prospective observational study. SETTING: Glasgow University. PARTICIPANTS: 9239 male former students aged 16-30 (mean 20.5) years who participated in an ongoing health survey from 1948-68. A physician recorded free text assessment of temperament, which seemed to capture aspects of personality (trait) and mental health (state), was coded into: stable, anxious, schizoid, hypomanic, odd, depressed, immature, hypochondriacal, unstable, and obsessive. Associations between temperament and mortality were investigated using Cox proportional hazards models. MAIN RESULTS: There were 878 deaths. Most students-8342 (90.3%)-were assessed as stable, the remaining 897 (9.7%) having at least one, and 103 (1.1%) having more than one, temperament type. The second most common temperament was anxiety, recorded in 520 (5.6%) students. In multivariable analyses, having at least one temperament type was associated with increased all cause and stroke mortality, hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals): 1.23 (1.01 to 1.50) and 1.95 (1.06 to 3.59) respectively, compared with stable students. Students with more than one temperament type had higher risk of death from: all causes, 2.05 (1.36 to 3.09); stroke, 3.26 (1.01 to 10.56); and cancer, 2.90 (1.62 to 5.20). Anxiety was positively associated with all cause and cancer mortality, respective hazard ratios: 1.36 (1.07 to 1.72) and 1.51 (1.04 to 2.20). Men labelled hypomanic had increased cardiovascular mortality risk, 1.90 (1.05 to 3.44). CONCLUSIONS: Markers of early adult psychological distress are associated with increased mortality. Mechanisms underlying these associations require investigation.

Associations of adult measures of childhood growth with breast cancer: findings from the British Women's Heart and Health Study.

Since the two components of adult height - leg length and trunk length - are poorly correlated with each other and appear to be influenced by different early life factors, examining their separate influence on breast cancer may provide additional insights into the mechanisms responsible for the positive association between adult height and breast cancer. In a cross-sectional study of 4286 women aged 60-79 years, in whom there were 170 cases of breast cancer, we found total height, leg length and trunk length were all modestly positively and linearly associated with breast cancer. The magnitudes of the associations of leg and trunk length were similar: fully adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of breast cancer for a one standard deviation (s.d.) increase in leg length 1.17 (0.98, 1.39) and for a 1 s.d. increase in trunk length 1.19 (0.99, 1.41). Self-reported birth weight (available on 33% of the sample) was positively and linearly associated with breast cancer: fully adjusted odds ratio of breast cancer for a 1 s.d. increase in birth weight 1.30 (0.93, 1.80). These associations were all independent of each other and other potential confounding factors and are likely to reflect different mechanisms by which factors operating prenatally and prepubertally influence breast cancer risk.

Is maternal transmission of coronary heart disease risk stronger than paternal transmission?

OBJECTIVE: To test whether intergenerational transmission of coronary heart disease (CHD) to offspring is greater from the mother than from the father, the association between parental history of CHD and coronary mortality in male offspring was examined. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study with 43 years of follow up. SETTING: University of Glasgow. PARTICIPANTS: Male students (n = 8402) aged 16-30 years when examined in 1948 to 1968. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Fatal CHD. MAIN RESULTS: Of the 8402 men studied, 615 (7.3%) reported a history of CHD in at least one of the parents: 479 (5.8%) for fathers only, 124 (1.6%) for mothers only, and a further 12 (0.2%) for both their parents. During follow up, 373 (4.4%) men died of CHD. Parental history of disease was associated with fatal CHD and controlling for personal risk factors such as cigarette smoking, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, and father's social class did not attenuate this relation. The fully adjusted hazard ratios were 1.53 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.08 to 2.18), 1.19 (95% CI 0.61 to 2.32), and 8.65 (95% CI 2.65 to 28.31) for father only, mother only, and both parents with CHD, respectively, compared with men whose parents did not have CHD. There was some evidence for interaction between parental histories (p = 0.049), with particularly high risk if both parents reported a history of CHD. CONCLUSIONS: This study found no differential transmission of CHD. Paternal history of CHD was at least as important as maternal history. Data from other comparable cohorts provide no consistent evidence of differential transmission. Intergenerational transmission of CHD does not appear to have differential effects between mothers and fathers.

Trends in body mass index from 1948 to 1968: results from the Glasgow Alumni Cohort.

Most published studies suggest that the rising prevalence of overweight and obesity is a recent phenomenon. We have investigated whether secular trends in body mass index (BMI) existed in the 1950s and 1960s, using data collected from young adults attending Glasgow University. Mean BMI increased from 1948 to 1968 in men, and decreased slightly in women. The proportion of men who were overweight increased, whereas that of women changed little. These data must be interpreted in light of the fact that the study participants were relatively affluent, and not representative of the whole population in terms of socioeconomic position in childhood. The increases of BMI in men evident from 1948 to 1968 suggest that recent changes in exercise and dietary patterns do not fully explain changes in body weight over time.

Secular changes in blood pressure in childhood, adolescence and young adulthood: systematic review of trends from 1948 to 1998.

One plausible reason for the decline in cardiovascular disease (CVD), and in particular stroke, in the last century is population reductions in blood pressure. Blood pressure tracks from childhood into adulthood, and early-life blood pressure is associated with increased cardiovascular risk but few studies have reported on blood pressure trends among young individuals who are free of CVD and not taking antihypertensive medication. Knowledge of such trends may improve understanding of the causes of hypertension and enhance prevention. We report that declines in blood pressure have been taking place in high-income countries in 5 to 34-year-olds of both sexes and from a range of ethnic groups for at least the last 50 years, indicating that exposures acting in early life are important determinants of blood pressure. Possible explanations for these favourable trends include improvements in early-life diet and there is also intriguing evidence suggesting that blood pressure may be programmed by sodium intake in infancy. Occurring throughout the blood pressure distribution, these trends may have made important contributions to declining CVD rates. There may therefore be scope for intervening in early life to prevent high blood pressure in adulthood, and the downward trends reported in several recent studies suggest that the prevalence of adult hypertension and cardiovascular risk will continue to decline. However, persisting high rates of CVD in the developed world, the impending CVD epidemic in developing countries, along with increasing childhood obesity, and the possibility that favourable blood pressure trends may be plateauing point to the need for enhanced measures to control blood pressure, and for further research to improve understanding of its determinants.

Body mass index in young adulthood and cancer mortality: a retrospective cohort study.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To examine the relation between body mass index (BMI) in young adulthood and subsequent mortality from cancer. DESIGN: Cohort study. SETTING: University of Glasgow student health service. Weight and height were measured by a physician, and used to calculate BMI. PARTICIPANTS: 8335 men and 2340 women who attended the student health service while at university between 1948 and 1968, and who were followed up with the NHS central register. MAIN RESULTS: The main outcome measure was cancer mortality. Three hundred and thirty nine men and 82 women died of cancer during the follow up (mean 41 years). BMI was associated with mortality from all cancers in men and women, although it did not reach conventional statistical significance. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) (95% CI) per 5 kg/m(2), was 1.22 (0.97 to 1.53) in men and 1.43 (0.95 to 2.16) in women. Two hundred men and 61 women died from cancers not related to smoking. The adjusted HR for mortality from these were 1.36 (1.02 to 1.82) and 1.80 (1.13 to 2.86) respectively. These results are adjusted for height, number of siblings, pulse rate, year of birth, age, smoking, birth order, number of siblings, and age at menarche in women. Site specific analyses, comparing the highest with the lowest quartile of the BMI distribution found increased risks of prostate cancer (n=28) and breast cancer among heavier subjects. No association between BMI and colorectal cancer was found. CONCLUSIONS: BMI in adolescence has lasting implications for risk of cancer mortality in later life. Future research will include measures of BMI throughout the lifecourse, to determine the period of greatest risk of obesity, in terms of cancer mortality.

Changes in blood pressure among students attending Glasgow University between 1948 and 1968: analyses of cross sectional surveys.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the changes in blood pressure over time in a cohort of young adults attending university between 1948 and 1968. DESIGN: Cross sectional study. SETTING: Glasgow University. PARTICIPANTS: 12 414 students aged 16-25 years-9248 men (mean age 19.9 years) and 3164 women (19.2 years)-who participated in health screening on entering university between 1948 and 1968. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Systolic and diastolic blood pressure. RESULTS: In male students mean systolic blood pressure adjusted for age decreased from 134.5 (95% confidence interval 133.8 to 135.2) mm Hg in those born before 1929 to 125.7 (125.0 to 126.3) mm Hg in those born after 1945, and diastolic blood pressure dropped from 80.3 (79.8 to 80.8) mm Hg to 74.7 (74.2 to 75.1) mm Hg. For female students the corresponding declines were from 129.0 (127.5 to 130.5) mm Hg to 120.6 (119.8 to 121.4) mm Hg and from 79.7 (78.7 to 80.6) mm Hg to 77.0 (76.5 to 77.5) mm Hg. Adjustment for potential confounding factors made little difference to these findings. The proportion of students with hypertension declined substantially in both sexes. CONCLUSIONS: Substantial declines in systolic and diastolic blood pressure over time were occurring up to 50 years ago in young adults who were not taking antihypertensive medication. Since blood pressure tracks into adult life, the results of the cross sectional comparisons suggest that factors acting in early life may be important in determining population risk of cardiovascular disease. Changes in such factors may have made important contributions to the decline in rates of cardiovascular diseases, particularly stroke, seen in developed countries during the past century.

Age at menarche: secular trends and association with adult anthropometric measures.

BACKGROUND: Age at menarche has been used as a marker of environmental conditions during childhood. Previous work has shown trends of decreasing age at menarche throughout the 19th century, but reported trends in the 20th century have been less consistent. The nature of the relationship between age at menarche and adult life anthropometric measures may be important in understanding the importance of this measure on disease in later life. AIM: To establish whether mean age at menarche changed during the first half of the 20th century, and to determine the nature of associations between age at menarche and anthropometric measures in young adulthood. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: 3433 female students, who were born between 1919 and 1952 and who attended health checks at the student health service of the University of Glasgow between 1948 and 1968. RESULTS: Mean age at menarche decreased from 13.2 years in the earliest born to 12.5 years in the latest born students. These results were not explained by changes in socio-demographic factors. Menarcheal age was positively associated with height and negatively associated with weight and BMI, results independent of socio-demographic and behavioural factors. CONCLUSIONS: The falling age at menarche described here may be related to nutritional influences in the first half of the 20th century. The influence of menarche on BMI in early adulthood may have important health consequences.

Joining the nursing profession in Qatar: motives and perceptions.

We aimed to identify why female students in Qatar decide to become nurses and how the students perceived the community attitude towards nursing. A self-administered anonymous questionnaire was distributed to all (57) female students of the four academic classes of the Nursing Unit, University of Qatar for the academic year 1999-2000. The two commonest reasons for joining the nursing profession were an interest in medical services and the humanitarian nature of nursing. There were 33 (57.89%) students who considered there was a negative community attitude towards nursing mainly due to the presence of male patients and colleagues and the working hours. A mass media campaign and govemmental support were two strategies suggested to change this.

Joining the nursing profession in Qatar: motives and perceptions

We aimed to identify why female students in Qatar decide to become nurses and how the students perceived the community attitude towards nursing. A self-administered anonymous questionnaire was distributed to all [57] female students of the four academic classes of the Nursing Unit, University of Qatar for the academic year 1999-2000. The two commonest reasons for joining the nursing profession were an interest in medical services and the humanitarian nature of nursing. There were 33 [57.89%] students who considered there was a negative community attitude towards nursing mainly due to the presence of male patients and colleagues and the working hours. A mass media campaign and governmental support were two strategies suggested to change this