Effect of pancreatic enzymes on zinc absorption in cystic fibrosis.

BACKGROUND: The trace metal zinc has a wide range of important physiologic roles. Indirect evidence suggests that fat malabsorption is associated with malabsorption of zinc. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of pancreatic enzyme replacement on zinc absorption in children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis. METHODS: Subjects were four boys and four girls ranging in age from 7 to 17 years of age. All were pancreatic insufficient. Stable isotope labels, 70Zn and 67Zn, were administered orally in divided doses on consecutive days with meals. Meals were identical on the first 2 study days. Subjects were randomized to have pancreatic enzyme replacement withheld on the first or second day. All fecal samples were collected quantitatively for 10 days after label administration and were analyzed individually for total zinc and isotopic enrichment using atomic absorption spectrophotometry and fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry, respectively. Fractional absorption of zinc was calculated from cumulative fecal excretion of unabsorbed label. RESULTS: Fractional absorption while receiving enzymes was 0.50 +/- 0.29 versus 0.38 +/- 0.24 while not taking enzymes (p = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that fractional absorption of zinc is impaired by pancreatic insufficiency in patients with cystic fibrosis, and is improved by exocrine pancreatic enzyme replacement.

The Genome Sequence DataBase version 1.0 (GSDB): from low pass sequences to complete genomes.

The Genome Sequence DataBase (GSDB) has completed its conversion to an improved relational database. The new database, GSDB 1.0, is fully operational and publicly available. Data contributions, including both original sequence submissions and community annotation, are being accomplished through the use of a graphical client-server interface tool, the GSDB Annotator, and via GIO (GSDB Input/Output) files. Data retrieval services are being provided through a new Web Query Tool and direct SQL. All methods of data contribution and data retrieval fully support the new data types that have been incorporated into GSDB, including discontiguous sequences, multiple sequence alignments, and community annotation.

CEO summit. The new delivery & financing realities. Part II of III.

In cooperation with McManis Associates Inc., Hospitals & Health Networks recently convened a summit on the integration of financing and delivery in health care. This is the second of a three-part series on lessons learned by those on the front lines of integration activity. The session was designed and facilitated by senior associates at McManis. Among the issues discussed in this second segment. What level of understanding do purchasers have of quality differentiators in health care services? Can provider-driven integrated delivery systems compete with insurer-driven ones? And what happens when, as in the Philadelphia market, a large integrated delivery system merges with a dominant insurer? Can that model be replicated in other markets?

CEO summit. The new delivery & financing realities. Part III of III.

In cooperation with McManis Associates Inc., Washington, Hospitals & Health Networks recently convened a summit on the integration of financing and delivery in health care. This installment is the third of a three-part series on lessons learned by those on the front lines of integration activity. The session was designed and facilitated by senior associates at McManis. Among the issues summit participants discussed in the second segment: What level of understanding do purchasers have of the factors that differentiate quality in health care services? Can provider-driven integrated delivery systems compete with insurer-driven ones? And what happens when a large integrated delivery system merges with a dominant insurer, as happened in the Philadelphia market? Can that model be successfully replicated in other markets? In this final segment, participants talk about whether providers' deep connections to their communities will add value in a reformed delivery system; how incentives might be aligned among all the players in integrated networks and organizations; how the concept of community focus might be redefined under systems integration; and the process involved in preparing for constant, accelerated change. The second segment concluded with comments about the assets providers and insurers bring to integrated health systems, and whether the merger experience of Graduate Health System and QCC/Independence Blue Cross could be replicated in other markets or not.

CEO summit. The new delivery & financing realities. Part I of III.

In cooperation with McManis Associates Inc., Hospitals & Health Networks recently convened a summit on the integration of financing and delivery of health care. This report is the first of a three-part series on lessons learned by those on the front lines of integration activity. The session was designed and facilitated by senior associates at McManis. Among the issues discussed in this first segment: Is integration necessary to satisfy the demands of health care payers? Is integration the way to cost-containment? How can costs be squeezed out of the system? What relationship will physicians have to hospitals and insurers in integrated systems?

Organ donation: who holds the key?

All health care providers must share the responsibility for educating health professionals and the lay public about the need for donor organs and the process of donation. PAs should become familiar with the procedures involved, including the protocol for diagnosing brain death, the criteria by which potential organ donors are identified, the maintenance of organs in vitro, and the methods of preserving procured organs for transplantation. PAs are urged to become active in procurement/transplantation programs at their institutions or by working with a procurement agency to establish a program if one does not already exist. In addition, PAs should become familiar with the laws that govern organ donations in their states.

Gas chromatographic--mass spectrometric determination of volatile organic compounds in fish.

A technique has been developed for the determination of volatile organic compounds in fish. The methodology is based on procedures used to determine purgeable organic compounds in water and wastewater. Fish tissue is added to reagent water, cooled in an ice bath, and homogenized with cell disruption using ultrasonic energy. The processed sample is then analyzed by a purge and trap procedure using an impinger-type device at 70 degrees C, with determination of the purged compounds by computerized gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Both ground fish and cored fish specimens were successfully analyzed by this technique. The overall average recovery for 39 volatile compounds studied was 77% with an average standard deviation of 20%.