RESUMO
Implementation of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) presents welfare recipients with time-limited benefits and work requirements. However, it is estimated that over 140,000 welfare recipients meet the DSM-IV criteria for "drug dependence". In this study, samples of chronic drug using and non-drug using female TANF recipients were compared with regard to: current employment, psychological functioning, self-perceived employment skills, barriers to employment, and need for help in seeking employment. It was found that non-drug using study participants were significantly more likely to be employed and reported significantly higher self-perceived work skills than users. Chronic users reported significantly greater barriers to seeking employment.
Assuntos
Seguridade Social/psicologia , Transtornos Relacionados ao Uso de Substâncias/psicologia , Transtornos Relacionados ao Uso de Substâncias/terapia , Adolescente , Adulto , Idoso , Emprego , Feminino , Conhecimentos, Atitudes e Prática em Saúde , Acessibilidade aos Serviços de Saúde , Humanos , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Inventário de Personalidade , PobrezaRESUMO
This review article summarizes the state of the art in genetic testing and discusses the many issues that new technologies have raised. A health services perspective is offered to aid in providing laboratorians with an understanding of the dilemma that society faces with the exponential advances in knowledge. Unmistakably, these new technologies are a mixed blessing: on the one hand, diagnoses can be made with greater accuracy and preventive measures implemented more fruitfully and individuals may be more conclusively identified and/or exonerated for forensic purposes. On the other hand, however, are the very real concerns that discrimination under a medical guise will be encouraged and that privacy rights may be compromised. Another important issue is how the laboratory profession will serve in moving these new technologies from research to practice. We examine the role of the CLS in moving forward to a role of patient counselor and advocate in the emerging complex world of DNA-related biotechnology.
Assuntos
Bases de Dados de Ácidos Nucleicos , Testes Genéticos , Bioética , Confidencialidade , Predisposição Genética para Doença , Humanos , Doença de Huntington/genética , Neoplasias/genética , Diagnóstico Pré-NatalRESUMO
Polytrauma (PT) leads to systemic activation of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs). Organ damage commonly found in these patients is ascribed to respiratory bursts of activated PMNs. With the use of sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, PMN extracts from PT patients were found to contain a clear protein band not seen in control PMNs from healthy volunteers. This band was identified by amino acid sequencing and Western blotting as pyruvate kinase (PK). Enzymatic assays revealed a 600-fold increase in PK activity in PMNs of PT patients, with the highest levels occurring between the fifth and seventh posttraumatic day. In lymphocytes, no such increase was detectable. As PK is a major regulatory enzyme in glycolysis, glucose-dependent lactate production in PMNs from PT patients was assayed. These cells showed a higher glycolytic lactate production than controls. It was additionally demonstrated that acute activation of respiratory burst activity depends mainly on breakdown of glucose to lactate via the pentose-phosphate pathway and glycolysis. In PMNs from PT patients, this glucose-dependent respiratory burst activity was more than twofold higher than in controls. The increase in expression and activity of PK in PMNs from PT patients may contribute to the high glucose-dependent respiratory burst activity seen in these cells.
Assuntos
Traumatismo Múltiplo/enzimologia , Neutrófilos/enzimologia , Piruvato Quinase/sangue , Adulto , Idoso , Células Cultivadas , Indução Enzimática , Feminino , Glicólise , Humanos , Ácido Láctico/biossíntese , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Insuficiência de Múltiplos Órgãos/enzimologia , Insuficiência de Múltiplos Órgãos/etiologia , Explosão Respiratória , Fatores de TempoRESUMO
Heat shock response provides cells with higher tolerance against a variety of insults such as heavy metals, reperfusion injury, and endotoxin. In addition, heat treatment is known to affect ion transport mechanisms associated with vital cellular processes, including cell volume regulation. However, there has been no reports to date of a heat shock effect on cellular volume regulation itself. The aim of our study was to investigate whether the heat shock response influences volume regulation of cells. Human promonocytic U937 cells display an increase in volume in response to osmotic shrinkage. This regulatory volume increase (RVI) is mediated mainly by ion antiporters. U937 cells exposed to a temperature of 45 degrees C for 10 min (heat shock) show an enhancement of RVI after hypertonic challenge compared with untreated cells. Also, heat-treated cells display a lower intracellular pH (pHi) than untreated cells; similar control mechanisms are believed to be involved in regulating both pHi and RVI. In agreement with this, heat-shocked cells demonstrated increased activity of an HCO3(-)-independent/DIDS-sensitive pHi down-regulator, postulated to be a Cl-/HCO3- exchange. We suggest that heat shock-mediated RVI enhancement is at least partially mediated by an increased Cl-/HCO3- exchange. Our results indicate that heat shock of U937 cells activates a hitherto unknown cytoprotective effect that may help cells to overcome hypertonic challenge.