Examination of dietary methylmercury exposure in the Casa Pia Study of the health effects of dental amalgams in children.

This study examined methylmercury concentrations in blood of children participating in the Casa Pia Study of the Health Effects of Dental Amalgams in Children over a 1-yr period and related them to their diets in terms of fish and other seafood consumption. One hundred and fifty children between the ages of 8 and 10 yr who were residents of the Casa Pia School System of Lisbon, Portugal, participated. Parents or caregivers completed a food frequency questionnaire designed specifically for this study at baseline. Children provided urinary and blood samples for mercury determinations at baseline and at 1 yr following placement of dental tooth fillings. Mercury levels in fish samples from children's diets were also obtained. Mercury determinations in urine, blood, and fish were performed using cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectroscopy. The mean value of baseline methylmercury concentrations in blood increased as the report of seafood consumption increased, although not statistically significantly. However, blood methylmercury and total mercury concentrations were significantly lower at 1-yr follow-up than at baseline. Sixty-one percent of parents/caregivers reported that their children consumed fish on a weekly basis. The fish offered at a sample of the schools contained low levels of methylmercury (range 13.9-23.6 ng/g). Thus, children participating in the Casa Pia dental amalgam study are exposed to low dietary levels of methylmercury by way of fish consumption, and this finding was reflected in the low mean blood methylmercury concentrations observed. The present findings indicate that dietary methylmercury is not a significant source of mercury exposure and is not likely to confound the association of dental amalgam mercury with potential health effects in the present study.

Risk factors for homelessness in adolescents released from psychiatric residential treatment.

OBJECTIVES: To measure the incidence of homelessness among youths discharged from an inpatient facility as well as to identify factors that place these youths at risk for homelessness. METHOD: Reports of homelessness during 5 years of follow-up interviews with 83 adolescents consecutively discharged from an inpatient facility were used in conjunction with chart reviews. RESULTS: One third of youths experienced at least one homeless episode after discharge. Youths who had a history of substance use, physical abuse, running away, or being in state custody were more likely to become homeless than those without such factors. Having a thought disorder, however, was inversely related to becoming homeless after hospital discharge. CONCLUSIONS: Youths discharged from a residential treatment facility are at high risk for becoming homeless. Interventions to prevent homelessness among adolescent inpatients should be targeted to those with a history of substance abuse, physical abuse, running away, and being in state custody.

Determination of methyl mercury in whole blood by ethylation-GC-CVAFS after alkaline digestion-solvent extraction.

A method for the determination of methyl mercury in whole blood samples based on ethylation-gas chromatography-cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectrometry after alkaline digestion-solvent extraction is described. The extraction procedure and conditions were optimized, and the matrix interference after extraction was critically investigated. The storage stability of MeHg in blood samples and a series of extracts was determined. The method detection limit was found to be approximately 0.02 ng/g for a 0.5-g blood sample with relative standard deviations of less than 10%. The accuracy and precision were evaluated by summarizing the quality-control (QC) data generated over a one and one half year period. Appropriate procedures for sample collection, transportation, and storage were adapted to the method. Using this method accompanied by explicit QC protocols and procedures, background levels of MeHg and total mercury in blood for 150 8-10-year-old Portuguese children with nonoccupational and nonamalgamal exposure were determined and reported with summarized QC data.

Roles, lifestyles, and well-being as predictors of alcohol consumption among young and midlife women.

Much remains to be learned about drinking patterns and their contexts among population-based women, that is, nontreatment seeking. This report involved secondary analysis of data obtained from 405 young women aged 18 to 35 years and 508 midlife women aged 36 to 55 years who were recruited for participation in two separate studies of women's health. Data were obtained from measures of women's roles: gender role attitudes; role strain; lifestyle behaviors, including alcohol use; well-being and distress; and demographic data; and were measured by descriptive and inferential statistics. Three important findings emerged. First, levels of weekly drinking patterns in both samples studied were consistent with national data. Second, when women were classified by the number of drinks of alcoholic beverages consumed per week, that is, fewer than 12 drinks per year, up to 10 drinks per week, or more than 10 drinks per week, significant differences emerged in both samples. However, patterns of risk and protective factors were inconsistent, which made it impossible to develop specific profiles across both study samples. Finally, the desire to cut down on weekly alcohol consumption was the most significant predictor of drinks per week in both samples.

Risk of juvenile justice systems referral among children in a public mental health system.

This study established the risk of police referral among a cohort of children who were recipients of public mental health services. Investigators used secondary data to calculate the incidence of criminal referral among 645 children, ages 10 to 17, who entered community-based public mental health programs in King County, Washington. Children receiving public mental health services were nearly three times more likely to be referred to the juvenile justice system compared to children of similar age and gender in the general population. Relative risks were particularly high for younger children (10-13 years) and for children of Hispanic, Native American, and Caucasian origin. Understanding the characteristics and experiences of children who use multiple-service systems has important implications for services delivery. In addressing the needs of youth who have both mental illness and criminal involvement, age- and culturally specific interventions and advocacy efforts are warranted.

Risk factors for juvenile justice system referral among children in a public mental health system.

The objective of this study is to identify, through the use of secondary data, risk factors for juvenile justice system involvement among children entering a public mental health system. Data-sharing agreements between juvenile justice and mental health systems enabled investigators to examine criminal referrals among 645 children between the ages of 10 to 17 who entered community-based public mental health programs in King County, Washington, over the course of a single year. Univariate and logistic regression analyses were performed. Adjusting for age, gender, and ethnicity, children involved in the public mental health system who had juvenile justice referrals were more likely than children involved in the mental health system without juvenile justice referrals to have parents with a history of incarceration, to abuse drugs and/or alcohol, and to have experienced physical abuse. The study shows that some children who receive public mental health services are at particular risk of having an encounter with the juvenile justice system. Understanding the characteristics and experiences of youth who use multiple service systems has important implications for children's mental health services delivery.

Evidence for a major gene effect in early-onset lung cancer.

Genetic segregation analyses that allowed for variable age of onset of lung cancer and smoking history were performed on 337 families, each ascertained through a lung cancer patient. Results indicated compatibility of the data with Mendelian codominant inheritance of a rare major autosomal gene that acts in concert with smoking to predispose carriers to lung cancer, by producing earlier onset of the cancer when controlling for equivalent smoking levels. Segregation at this locus could account for 69% and 47% of the cumulative incidence of lung cancer in individuals up to ages 50 and 60 respectively, but only 22% of all lung cancers in persons up to age 70. This decrease in the importance of the gene's contribution to overall lung cancer rates at later ages is most likely a reflection of an increasing proportion of noncarriers succumbing to the effects of long-term exposure to tobacco. A significant cohort effect was found, most likely due to differing smoking patterns before and after World War I, but in both cohorts the effect of a major locus could not be rejected.

Tumor cell-platelet aggregation: induced by cathepsin B-like proteinase and inhibited by prostacyclin.

The ability of tumor cells to metastasize may be related to their ability to promote aggregation of host platelets. The use of inhibitors of cysteine proteinases resulted in parallel inhibition of B16 amelanotic melanoma-induced platelet aggregation and of a cathepsin B activity. The antimetastatic agent prostacyclin inhibited platelet aggregation induced by the tumor cells and by papain, a cathepsin B-mimicking agent.