Search

Persons with high serum copper (Cu), low serum zinc (Zn) and increased Cu:Zn ratios face a high risk of cardivascular death. Low serum magnesium (Mg) marginally influences cardiovascular mortality whereas serum Ca has no relation to mortality. Serum Zn concentration decreases with age but the concentrations of Mg, Ca and Cu are marginally affected. The serum trace elements and chloresterol concentration are determined on fasting serum samples frozen for up to three weeks at -20 degress celsius. The intake of Cu and Zn through diet affects serum concentrations of these trace elements.

Diabetics are at high risk of developing endometrial cancer; the relative risk of endometrial cancer in diabetics is fourfold in comparison to non-diabetic controls. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to evaluate the effectiveness of screening asymptomatic diabetic females in terms of the premalignant and malignant endometrial findings, and to try to determine the optimal screening interval. In 1980-1981, a group of 462 diabetic females was identified and registered. One half of them (237) was invited to be screened. Endometrial samples were taken by using Vabra aspiration. The results of this first randomized screening in 1980-1981 have been published elsewhere. At that time 124 females participated. The remaining 225 females acted as an unscreened control group. Eight years later (1988-1989), both groups were invited to be screened. The Pistolet aspiration method was used. At this stage, group 1 (screened in 1980-1981) consisted of 78 females, and group 2 (not screened in 1980-1981) consisted of 148 females. In 85% (193/226) of the females, the uterine cavity was reached with the Pistolet instrument; 96% of the females found the pain acceptable. In the group screened twice (group 1), no pathologic lesions of the endometrium were found in the second screening. In the group screened for the first time (group 2), one female had endometrial adenocarcinoma (0.8%), one had complex hyperplasia without atypia (0.8%) and four had endometrial polyps (3.3%). In 165 cases of 193, both a cytologic and a histologic specimen were available. In 130 cases (79%) the cytology was of class I, including the one endometrial adenocarcinoma. In three cases (2%) it was of class II and in one case (1%) of class III. Endometrial biopsy by Pistolet aspiration was a method highly acceptable by the patients for examining the endometrium. However, cytologic examination was not able to show the existing endometrial adenocarcinoma. One endometrial sampling of asymptomatic diabetic females during early menopause could detect the bulk of the occult, slowly progressing lesions of the endometrium. Such screeening might be most efficient in terms of cost-benefit ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed to reveal associations between dietary antioxidant vitamins and other personal characteristics. Population based, cross sectional survey. Twenty seven rural, industrial, and semiurban communities in six different regions of Finland. Subjects included 5304 men and 4750 women aged 15 years or older, who were interviewed about their dietary habits at the baseline study of the Finnish Mobile Clinic Health Examination Survey, 1967-72. Intakes of carotenoids and vitamins A, E, and C were estimated from dietary history interviews covering the subjects' food consumption in the preceding year. In older age groups intakes of all the vitamins studied were low. Occupation had a profound effect on dietary antioxidant vitamins: intakes were highest in white collar workers and lowest in farmers; those classified as service workers, industrial workers, or housewives came in between. Current smoking was inversely associated with dietary carotenoids and vitamin C, especially in men. The vitamin intakes of ex-smokers were equal to or even slightly higher than those of never smokers. Married men had higher intakes of carotenoids and vitamin C than men living alone. Body mass index was not an important determinant of the intake of antioxidant vitamins. The associations of dietary antioxidant vitamins with sociodemographic characteristics and smoking were strong enough to exert a confounding or modifying effect in studies on diet and diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Levels of haemostatic variables that may be involved in thrombogenesis have been compared in groups of men of similar mean age in communities at very low (Gambia), high (England and Czechoslovakia) or very high (Scotland and Finland) risk of ischaemic heart disease (IHD). There was a consistent gradient of higher factor VII levers with higher IHD risk and also suggestive gradients in the case of two other vitamin K dependent factors, factors II and X. Mean platelet counts were lower and mean fibrinolytic activity was greater in Gambian men than in European men. There was a suggestive though not entirely consistent association between mean fibrinogen levels and IHD risk in the groups from IHD-endemic countries. The results as a whole, and particularly those on factor VII, strengthen the case for the increasingly detailed epidemiological as well as laboratory investigation of the role of the haemostatic system in thrombogenesis and IHD. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The liver blood flow in non-pregnant women (15 cases) and in late pregnancy (20 cases) was studied by colloidal heat-denatured serum albumin labelled with 131I. The dose used was 10 μCi. The results were evaluated visually by gamma camera or two collimated detectors one of which was directed to the vessels of the thigh and the other placed over the right lobe of the liver. In addition, blood samples were drawn at fixed intervals and their radioactivity was measured. Using previously developed mathematical formulae, the half-time of plasma activity was found to be 2.0 ± 0.4 min in the control group, 2.0 ± 1.1 min in normal pregnancy and 3.0 ± 1.1 min in toxaemia. Because of the great individual variation no significant changes between the groups were demonstrable. The isotope diagnostic method used was found to be suitable for measurement of the hepatic blood flow of patients with a stable liver disease, but because of the changing vital functions and the individual variations during pregnancy this method does not bring out the changes between non-pregnant cases and late pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to assess the test-retest reliability of a measure of perceived general health by sex and age. The study analyzed data from the nationally representative Mini-Finland Health Survey of 8000 adults aged 30 and over. The subjects were invited to attend a personal health interview and a health examination in 1978-1980. Altogether 7217 persons participated. Perceived general health was measured at the personal health interview and in the self-administered questionnaire 1-6 weeks apart. The identical questions were: how would you assess your current health? The response alternatives were good, fairly good, intermediate, fairly poor, poor and cannot say. This study showed that among men and women unweighted agreement of the 'good-intermediate-poor' categorization of perceived health was around 70% and unweighted kappa-values were around 0.5. Only in the oldest age-group (75+) reliability declined below these levels. The fair or good reliability of perceived health observed in this study gives additional confidence for using this general measure of overall health status in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]