Characteristics, diagnostic and symptom profile of patients receiving tegaserod in routine clinical practice in Canada

OBJECTIVE

This study was designed to assess the diagnostic and symptom profile of patients receiving tegaserod in routine clinical practice, and to identify their demographic characteristics, as well as the association between these characteristics and diagnosis.

METHODS

This prospective, observational study collected data from physicians on the symptoms and/or diagnosis, age range and gender for patients to whom they prescribed tegaserod. Details of the physician characteristics included whether they were a family physician or a specialist, and the region of Canada in which their practice was located.

RESULTS

A total of 500 patients were enrolled at 85 sites in Canada. The majority (85%) of the patients were enrolled by family physicians, and the remainder by community-based specialists. The patients were predominantly female (87%) and the highest percentages were in the 35-44 (23%) and 45-54 (25%) age groups. Nearly all patients (96%) were prescribed tegaserod on the basis of both symptoms and diagnosis. The most frequently reported symptoms were abdominal pain and/or discomfort (87%), bloating (80%) and constipation (75%). Most patients (57%) presented with all three of these symptoms. Constipation-predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS-C) was the most common diagnosis (55%), followed by IBS alternating between constipation and diarrhea (IBS-A) (23%). Based on this, 67% of patients were given tegaserod strictly according to the label, although it was appropriately prescribed to 87%.

CONCLUSIONS

In Canada, tegaserod is prescribed to patients with symptoms of abdominal pain and/or discomfort, bloating and constipation. Most of them will also have a diagnosis of either IBS-C or IBS. It is generally being prescribed appropriately.

Construction-related eye injuries in Irish nationals and non-nationals: attitudes and strategies for prevention

BACKGROUND

Construction-related ocular injuries are an important cause of vision loss but few studies on the incidence, epidemiology and nature of these injuries exist.

AIMS

Due to the perceived increase in occupation-related eye injuries in non-nationals we aimed to investigate the nature of such injuries presenting to a single eye unit over a two-month period.

METHODS

One hundred and fifty-five patients presenting to the accident and emergency department with construction related ocular injury were examined.

RESULTS

Of 155 patients, 80 were Irish and 75 nonnational, of whom 60, 21.3 and 6.7% were Polish, Lithuanian and Romanian, respectively. Common causative factors included hammering, grinding, drilling and splash injury. Average rate of eyewear protection usage was 35%, with attendance at safety courses highest in Irish nationals. A penetrating eye injury rate of 4.9% overall was observed, all in non-nationals.

CONCLUSION

Construction related ocular injury is a serious cause of visual loss in non-nationals. Greater adherence to safety regulations and training is required.

Elliptic flow for phi mesons and (anti)deuterons in Au+Au collisions at square root of sNN=200 GeV

Differential elliptic flow (v(2)) for phi mesons and (anti)deuterons (d)d is measured for Au+Au collisions at square root of sNN=200 GeV. The v(2) for phi mesons follows the trend of lighter pi+/- and K+/- mesons, suggesting that ordinary hadrons interacting with standard hadronic cross sections are not the primary driver for elliptic flow development. The v(2) values for (d)d suggest that elliptic flow is additive for composite particles. This further validation of the universal scaling of v(2) per constituent quark for baryons and mesons suggests that partonic collectivity dominates the transverse expansion dynamics.

System size and energy dependence of jet-induced hadron pair correlation shapes in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions at square root sNN=200 and 62.4 GeV

We present azimuthal angle correlations of intermediate transverse momentum (1-4 GeV/c) hadrons from dijets in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions at square root sNN=62.4 and 200 GeV. The away-side dijet induced azimuthal correlation is broadened, non-Gaussian, and peaked away from Delta phi=pi in central and semicentral collisions in all the systems. The broadening and peak location are found to depend upon the number of participants in the collision, but not on the collision energy or beam nuclei. These results are consistent with sound or shock wave models, but pose challenges to Cherenkov gluon radiation models.

J/psi production versus centrality, transverse momentum, and rapidity in Au+Au collisions at square root sNN=200 GeV

The PHENIX experiment at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) has measured J/psi production for rapidities -2.2<y<2.2 in Au+Au collisions at square root sNN=200 GeV. The J/psi invariant yield and nuclear modification factor RAA as a function of centrality, transverse momentum, and rapidity are reported. A suppression of J/psi relative to binary collision scaling of proton-proton reaction yields is observed. Models which describe the lower energy J/psi data at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron invoking only J/psi destruction based on the local medium density predict a significantly larger suppression at RHIC and more suppression at midrapidity than at forward rapidity. Both trends are contradicted by our data.

Hsp40 Molecules That Target to the Ubiquitin-proteasome System Decrease Inclusion Formation in Models of Polyglutamine Disease

We studied the ability of heat shock, DnaJ-like-1 (HSJ1) proteins (which contain DnaJ and ubiquitin-interacting motifs) to reduce polyglutamine-mediated inclusion formation. The experiments demonstrated that expression of heat shock protein 70 (hsp70), hsp40, HSJ1a, and HSJ1b significantly reduced protein inclusion formation in a model of spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA). HSJ1a also mediated a significant decrease in the number of inclusions formed in a primary neuronal model of protein aggregation. Studies to elucidate the mechanisms underlying these reductions showed that hsp70 and hsp40 increased chaperone-mediated refolding. In contrast, expression of HSJ1 proteins did not promote chaperone activity but caused an increase in ubiquitylation. Furthermore, HSJ1a was associated with a ubiquitylated luciferase complex, and in the presence of HSJ1a but not an HSJ1a UIM mutant (HSJ1a-deltaUIM) there was a reduction in luciferase protein levels. Together these results show that HSJ1 proteins mediated an increase in target protein degradation via the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS). We also found that the expression of HSJ1a significantly decreased the number of neurons containing inclusions in an in vivo model of polyglutamine disease. These findings indicate that targeted modification of the UPS to facilitate degradation of misfolded proteins may represent a highly effective therapeutic avenue for the treatment of polyglutamine disease.

Scaling properties of azimuthal anisotropy in Au+Au and Cu+Cu Collisions at sqrt[s NN]=200 GeV

Differential measurements of elliptic flow (v2) for Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at sqrt[sNN]=200 GeV are used to test and validate predictions from perfect fluid hydrodynamics for scaling of v2 with eccentricity, system size, and transverse kinetic energy (KE T). For KE T identical with mT-m up to approximately 1 GeV the scaling is compatible with hydrodynamic expansion of a thermalized fluid. For large values of KE T mesons and baryons scale separately. Quark number scaling reveals a universal scaling of v2 for both mesons and baryons over the full KE T range for Au+Au. For Au+Au and Cu+Cu the scaling is more pronounced in terms of KE T, rather than transverse momentum.

Evidence for a long-range component in the pion emission source in Au+Au collisions at sqrt sNN=200 GeV

Emission source functions are extracted from correlation functions constructed from charged pions produced at midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s(NN)]=200 GeV. The source parameters extracted from these functions at low k(T) give first indications of a long tail for the pion emission source. The source extension cannot be explained solely by simple kinematic considerations. The possible role of a halo of secondary pions from resonance emissions is explored.

Measurement of direct photon production in p+p collisions at sqrt[s] = 200 GeV

Cross sections for midrapidity production of direct photons in p+p collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) are reported for transverse momenta of 3 < pT < 16 GeV/c. Next-to-leading order perturbative QCD (pQCD) describes the data well for pT >5 GeV/c, where the uncertainties of the measurement and theory are comparable. We also report on the effect of requiring the photons to be isolated from parton jet energy. The observed fraction of isolated photons is well described by pQCD for pT >7 GeV/c.

Dense-medium modifications to jet-induced hadron pair distributions in Au+Au collisions at sqrt s NN=200 GeV

Azimuthal correlations of jet-induced high-p(T) charged hadron pairs are studied at midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s(NN)]=200 GeV. The distribution of jet-associated partner hadrons (1.0<p(T)<2.5 GeV/c) per trigger hadron (2.5<p(T)<4.0 GeV/c) is found to vary with collision centrality, in both shape and yield, indicating a significant effect of the nuclear collision medium on the jet fragmentation process.

Impact of the 1998 Gobi dust event on hospital admissions in the Lower Fraser Valley, British Columbia

The adverse public health impacts of anthropogenically derived particulate matter have been well documented, with measurable increases in both morbidity and mortality rates associated with high particulate matter pollution events. Most current research has focussed on the health impacts of anthropogenically derived particulate matter, and there is a distinct scarcity of literature that examines the role of naturally derived particulate matter and adverse health impacts in the urban context. This study of a Gobi desert dust event in the Greater Vancouver region of British Columbia, Canada, in spring of 1998 provided a unique opportunity to identify the adverse health effects related to naturally derived particulate matter in a large urban setting. Respiratory and cardiac hospitalizations were examined for a three-year period (January 1997 to December 1999), with the Gobi dust event occurring in late April 1998. A meteorological analogue was identified for spring 1997 in order to identify the public health impacts associated with anthropogenically derived particulate matter and those impacts associated with the presence of the Gobi desert dust. Results indicate that this Gobi dust event was not associated with an excess of hospitalizations in the Greater Vancouver region. Peak particulate matter concentrations of Gobi desert dust in the airshed were only associated with an additional one or two hospitalizations per 100,000 population for respiratory and cardiac illnesses, and these increases were not distinguishable from the 'normal' variability in hospitalization rates. Despite high particulate matter concentrations, fine particle size, presence of heavy metals in the dust and extended exposure periods, it appears that the Gobi desert dust event was not associated with significant risk to public health in Greater Vancouver, British Columbia. Therefore it is concluded that naturally derived particulate matter is more benign than particulate matter of anthropogenic origin, and thus poses a low risk to health for the general public.

Azimuthal angle correlations for rapidity separated Hadron pairs in d+Au collisions at square root of sNN=200 GeV

Deuteron-gold (d+Au) collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider provide ideal platforms for testing QCD theories in dense nuclear matter at high energy. In particular, models suggesting strong saturation effects for partons carrying small nucleon momentum fraction (x) predict modifications to jet production at forward rapidity (deuteron-going direction) in d+Au collisions. We report on two-particle azimuthal angle correlations between charged hadrons at forward/backward (deuteron/gold going direction) rapidity and charged hadrons at midrapidity in d+Au and p+p collisions at square root of sNN=200 GeV. Jet structures observed in the correlations are quantified in terms of the conditional yield and angular width of away-side partners. The kinematic region studied here samples partons in the gold nucleus with x~0.1 to ~0.01. Within this range, we find no x dependence of the jet structure in d+Au collisions.