The effect of corn distiller's dried grains with solubles, ractopamine, and conjugated linoleic acid on the carcass performance, meat quality, and shelf-life characteristics of fresh pork following three different storage methods.

The objective of this study was to evaluate dietary corn distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS), ractopamine hydrochloride (RAC), and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) on growth performance, carcass and fat quality, and shelf-life of fresh pork from finishing pigs. Barrows (n=72) were fed one of eight treatments consisting of two diet sources (corn-soy and corn-soy+20% DDGS), two levels of RAC (0 and 7.4ppm), and two levels of CLA (0 and 0.6%) for 28days. Loins were portioned (n=3) into one of three storage conditions (fresh, cold, frozen); each followed with seven days of retail display. Feeding RAC improved ADG and G:F (P<0.05), whereas DDGS decreased belly fat firmness (P<0.05). Dietary DDGS increased total polyunsaturated fatty acids in jowl and belly samples and increased Iodine Value (IV) (P<0.05), but addition of CLA decreased IV. Dietary DDGS, RAC, or CLA had minimal impact on pork quality following varied storage methods.

Sex differences in the differentiation of psychiatric symptomatology.

A study was conducted using data obtained from the first stage of a community survey in Spain, in which the 60-item version of the GHQ was administered to 1224 adults. Three hypotheses concerning respondents aged under 55 years were tested. The first was that in the context of a principal-components analysis, a greater proportion of the explained variance would be accounted for by the first (general) factor in women than in men. This was supported. The second hypothesis was that the intercorrelations between the GHQ-28 subscales would be greater for women than for men. This was refuted. The third hypothesis was that the differentiation between anxiety and depression would be greater in men than in women. This was supported. The differences investigated were found not to apply among respondents aged 55 years and over.

Why do people go to the doctor? Sex differences in the correlates of GP consultation.

This study explores the variables associated with consultation behaviour within the NHS of 256 men and women aged 16-45 and registered with one GP. The focus is on long term effects rather than on the immediate precipitants of a consultation and hence the dependent variable is the one year consultation rate. The predictor variables include predisposing, enabling and need factors. It is found that not only do women consult more often than men but also the correlates of primary care utilisation differ between the sexes. Health status (need) and social role factors (including parenthood and marital status) are found to be more important for men, while psychological predisposition is of greater significance among women in this setting. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Research note: proxy responses in health surveys: a methodological issue.

The practice of using proxy respondents in health surveys has been identified as a possible cause of confusion in the literature concerning sex differences in morbidity. Specifically, it has been suggested that proxy respondents (usually female) tend to under-report illnesses of absent persons (usually male) and hence the observation that women suffer from more illness than men may simply be an artifact of this method of data collection. In order to investigate proxy effects, 50 married couples were asked to report symptoms recently experienced by their spouses as well as themselves. A high level of agreement was found between husbands and wives regarding the number and severity of symptoms experienced by each individual, despite considerable differences in health status between sub-groups. Where there was a discrepancy, it was in the direction of the proxy respondent (of either sex) over-reporting symptoms. It follows from this that, if anything, the over-use of female interviewees would tend to minimise observed sex differences in illness. Thus, the excess female morbidity found in health surveys is not attributable to proxy effects but is more likely to result from differences in the way in which men and women experience symptoms.

Follow-up study of the impact of a rural preventive care outreach program on children's health and use of medical services.

The present study is a follow-up of a previous evaluation of a rural pediatric preventive care outreach program in Appalachia, which showed that although program participants did not differ substantially from their matched controls on health outcomes, they did have significantly lower utilization rates for outpatient services. The purpose of this second study was to determine whether replication of the original study would yield similar results on a fresh sample of children and whether differences observed between study and control groups would hold firm once families had terminated contact with the program. In general, the findings of the present study provided additional evidence to suggest that program children had lower utilization of outpatient medical services with no appreciable difference from the control children in health outcomes. Lower outpatient utilization rates were also found after termination of contact with the program, but the differences were not statistically significant.

Sex differences in perception of illness and expressed life satisfaction.

A preliminary survey of 10 married couples was carried out to test the hypothesis that women express greater dissatisfaction with their health and other personal life domains than men. Although the women made more use of medical facilities for minor complaints than their husbands, no difference was found in expressed satisfaction, or in number or severity of symptoms reported at interview. However, there was a discrepancy between husbands' and wives' perception of their spouses' satisfaction levels and experience of illness-symptoms, in the direction of wives being perceived by their husbands as considerably less healthy and more dissatisfied than the husbands were rated by their wives. Some evidence was also found for greater emotionality in women. The results are regarded as indicating that illness is more socially acceptable in women than in men.

Impact of a rural preventive care outreach program on children's health.

A "treatment-control" research design incorporating a modified "tracer disease" methodology for measuring health outcomes has been applied to the evaluation of a rural pediatric outreach preventive health care program in Appalachia. The primary research objective was to assess the general level of effectiveness of the health services provided by the program in preventing and/or reducing illness due to common childhood diseases among children receiving these services, when compared to similar (i.e., "matched") children receiving standard pediatric outpatient care but without such outreach services. The research findings indicate that prevalence rates for the selected tracer diseases were generally comparable among program children and their controls. However, evidence of effective identification and treatment of an increased prevalence of iron deficiency anemia by the program was demonstrated. Comparison of the program and control children on their sociocultural characteristics also suggests that the comparable health outcomes for the two groups may have been achieved in the case of the program children despite their somewhat disadvantaged socioeconomic and environmental circumstances relative to the controls; and apparently with lower outpatient services utilization and lower overall costs.

Social workers and their clients: a comparison between primary health care and local authority setting.

A social work attachment scheme to several general practitioners was established. Data from the first 300 referrals to the scheme were compared with data from a previous study of referrals to the ;intake' teams of the social services department of the same London borough. In addition, data about the activities of the social workers in the ;attachment' were collected, and the work was found to be predominantly short-term.The populations referred to social workers in both settings were found to be similar in age and sex. Although general practitioners in the area referred only a few clients to social services departments, the clients in both groups were generally in poor health.The psychiatric morbidity of those referred to the attached social workers was significantly higher, however, than those referred to the intake team (p < 0.01), and their problems were also more likely to need psychological help rather than practical measures. These differences were considered to be due mostly to the different types of referral agencies operating in the two settings and to their perceptions of the social worker's role.THE FINDINGS SUPPORT THE ARGUMENT FOR CLOSER LIAISON BETWEEN MEDICAL AND SOCIAL SERVICES IN THE COMMUNITY: the attachment of social workers to general practices proved to be particularly valuable in the management and treatment of patients with emotional and mental illness.