http://hdl.handle.net/10027/200 Sun, 19 May 2013 05:13:56 GMT 2013-05-19T05:13:56Z http://hdl.handle.net/10027/8596 Prenuptial Dental Extractions in Acadian Women: First Report of a Cultural Tradition Gordon, Sara C.; Kaste, Linda M.; Barasch, Andrei; Safford, Monika M.; Foong, Choong; ElGeneidy, Adry Background: Prenuptial tooth extractions, extractions of all teeth in at least one dental arch before marriage, are not identified in the dental literature. Driven by a professional encounter, the purpose of this study was to confirm the existence of this practice among Acadian women. Methods: An 8-item survey instrument with space for comments was mailed to 182 dentists from traditionally Acadian regions of Canada. The survey was provided in English and French. Results: Ninety dentists responded (50.3%); 8 of them (9%) had been asked to perform prenuptial extractions, and an additional 9 volunteered awareness of this practice. Awareness and requests were associated with dental practice in a county with a ‡ 20% French-speaking population. Conclusions: Prenuptial extractions in this population have been confirmed by the current cohort of dentists. The potential public health, clinical, and systemic health research implications for women who are edentulous for most of their adult life merit further study. Additionally, it is important to determine if interventions are needed to curtail cultural expectations of such practices. This is a copy of an article published in the Journal of Women's Health © 2011 copyright Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.; Journal of Women's Health is available online at: http://www.liebertonline.com. DOI:10.1089/jwh.2011.3074. Thu, 01 Dec 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10027/8596 2011-12-01T06:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10027/8504 Chemoprevention of prostate cancer: Natural compounds, antiandrogens, and antioxidants - In vivo evidence Ozten-Kandas, Nur; C. Bosland, Maarten Prostate cancer is the leading non-skin malignancy detected in US males and the second cause of death due to male cancer, in the US. Interventions with drugs or diet supplements that slow down the growth and progression of prostate cancer are potentially very effective in reducing the burden of prostate cancer, particularly if these treatments also prevent the de novo development of new prostatic malignancies. Challenges to identify efficacious agents and develop them for chemopreventive application in men at risk for prostate cancer have included uncertainty about which preclinical models have the ability to predict efficacy in men and lack of consensus about which early phase clinical trial designs are the most appropriate and cost-effective to test promising agents. Efficacy studies in animal models have identified several agents with potential chemopreventive activity against prostate cancer, but few of these findings have been translated into clinical trials. This article identifies some of the major issues associated with prostate cancer chemoprevention research and summarizes the most significant current results from animal efficacy studies and human clinical revention trials. This summary focuses on: (1) Naturally occurring agents and compounds derived from such agents, including green tea and its constituents, silibinin and milk thistle, and genistein and soy, (2) chemoprevention drugs including agents interfering with androgen action, and (3) antioxidants such as selenium, vitamin E, and lycopene. The general lack of activity of antioxidants is discussed, followed by considerations about translation of preclinical chemoprevention efficacy data, focusing on dose, form, bioavailability, and timing of administration of the agent, as well as discussion of study design of clinical trials and the predictive ability of preclinical models. © 2011 Özten-Kandas et al; This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: 10.4103/1477-3163.90438 Sat, 01 Jan 2011 06:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10027/8504 2011-01-01T06:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10027/8449 Associations between functional polymorphisms in antioxidant defense genes and urinary oxidative stress biomarkers in healthy, premenoupausal women Al-Alem, Umaima; Gann, Peter H.; Dahl, Jeffrey; Breemen, Richard B. van; Mistry, Vilas; Lam, Patricia M.W.; Evans, Mark D.; Horn, Linda Van; Wright, Margaret E. Functional polymorphisms in endogenous antioxidant defense genes including manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPX-1) have been linked with risk of cancer at multiple sites. Although it is presumed that these germline variants impact disease risk by altering the host’s ability to detoxify mutagenic reactive oxygen species, very few studies have directly examined this hypothesis. Concentrations of 8-isoprostane F2α (8-iso-PGF2α) and 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2’-deoxyguanosine (8-oxoxdG) – sensitive indicators of lipid peroxidation and DNA oxidation, respectively – were measured in 24-hour urine samples obtained from 93 healthy, premenopausal women participating in a dietary intervention trial. In addition, DNA was extracted from blood for genotyping of MnSOD Val16Ala, CAT -262 C>T, and GPX1 Pro198Leu genotypes by Taqman assay. Although geometric mean concentrations of 8-iso-PGF2α and 8-oxoxdG varied across several study characteristics including race, education level, body mass index, and serum antioxidant levels, there was little evidence that these biomarkers differed across any of the examined genotypes. In summary, functional polymorphisms in endogenous antioxidant defense genes do not appear to be strongly associated with systemic oxidative stress levels in young, healthy women. © 2012 by Springer Verlag, Genes and Nutrition The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com DOI: 10.1007/s12263-011-0257-3 Sun, 01 Jan 2012 06:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10027/8449 2012-01-01T06:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10027/8307 An educational intervention for contextualizing patient care and medical students' abilities to probe for contextual issues in simulated patients Schwartz, Alan; Weiner, Saul J.; Harris, Ilene B.; Binns-Calvey, Amy Context: A contextual error occurs when a physician fails to identify elements of a patient’s environment or behavior, such as access to care, that must be addressed in order to appropriately plan care. Research has demonstrated that contextual errors can be identified using standardized patients. Objective: To evaluate an educational intervention designed to increase physicians' skills in incorporating the patient's context in assessment and management of care and to thereby decrease the rate of contextual errors. Design, Setting, and Participants: Quasi-randomized controlled trial, with assessments by blinded observers. Fourth-year medical students (n=124) in internal medicine subinternships at the University of Illinois at Chicago or Jesse Brown VA Medical Center from July 2008 – April 2009 and August 2009 – April 2010 participated and were assessed. Intervention: A 4-hour course on contextualization. Main outcome measures: Probing for contextual issues in an encounter, probing for medical issues in an encounter, and developing an appropriate treatment plan. Outcomes were assessed using 4 previously validated standardized patient encounters performed by each participant, and were adjusted for subinternship site, academic year, time of year, and case scenario. Results: Students who participated in the contextualization workshops were significantly more likely to probe for contextual issues in the standardized patient encounters than students who did not (90% [95% confidence interval {CI}, 87-94% ] vs 62% [95% CI, 54-69%]), and significantly more likely to develop appropriate treatment plans for standardized patients with contextual issues (69% [95% CI, 57-81%] vs 22% [95% CI, 12-32%]. There was no difference between the groups in the rate of probing for medical issues (80% [95% CI, 75-85%] vs 81% [95% CI, 76-86%]) or developing appropriate treatment plans for standardized patient with medical issues (54% [95% CI, 42-67%] vs 66% [95% CI, 53-79%]). Conclusion: Medical students who underwent an education intervention were more likely to contextualize care for individual standardized patients. Wed, 01 Sep 2010 05:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10027/8307 2010-09-01T05:00:00Z