Percent prevalences of alcohol consumption were determined in a cross-sectional study of randomly chosen residents of San Diego County, California aged 45 years and over. The study sample (N = 2,105) showed statistically significant drinking differences between Whites (n = 819), Blacks (n = 629), and Mexican-Americans (n = 657). Overall, the highest prevalence of drinking occurred among the White elderly. The common belief that socioeconomic conditions are inversely associated with a high prevalence of drinking was not supported in this sample. Statistically significant differences in age-specific and sex-specific percent prevalences of alcohol intake were also found. There was a generally decreasing prevalence of alcohol consumption with advancing age, which existed regardless of ethnicity. Initial empirical measures and a better understanding of drinking correlates will identify those elderly persons at risk and provide the basis for future interventions in the areas of applied epidemiology and health promotion.

Abstract:A cup of tea (containing about 0.49 mg F) containing soluble fluoride in the optimum necessary amount was recommended after every school lunch to 298 school children of Suhara in Sumon, Niigata prefecture, for about 250 days from December, 1975 to November, 1976. Increment lesions which appeared at three carious predirective sites, i. e., pits and fissures, proximal, and free gingival smooth surfaces of the children of the test school in the Suhara district were compared to the lesions found at the same sites in 185 children of three control schools in the Kamijo district of the same village. Reduction rates at each site were 52.8% for the pit and fissures and 57.2 % for the proximal sites, but there was no reduction at the free gingival sites.The main routes of natural fluoride taken in our body were simplified by Arif1) into four foodstuffs: water and salt from minerals, tea from vegetables, and fish from the animal kingdom.

itral annular calcification is a degenerative process that is commonly seen in the elderly, especially in women, and is usually recognized on Mmode and 2-dimensional echocardiography as a dense echo band moving parallel with the left ventricular free wall beneath the posterior mitral leaflet. 1,2 Chronic renal failure is one of the predisposing factors of this condition. 1,3 We report a case of liquefaction necrosis of a mitral annular calcification mimicking an intracardiac tumor, 4-8 in which both gallium-67 ( 67 Ga)-citrate and technetium-99m-methylene diphosphate ( 99m Tc-MDP) uptake was noted, in a patient with chronic renal failure that had been managed by hemodialysis for 11 years. The size of the liquefaction necrosis was reduced with low calcium concentration hemodialysis. Case ReportAn asymptomatic 58-year-old woman who had been on hemodialysis for 11 years because of chronic renal failure came to hospital for examination of an abnormal intracardiac mass, which had been found incidentally during an annual echocardiographic examination, and which had not been seen the year before. The patient's blood pressure was 126/72 mmHg. The heart rate was 76 beats/min with regular rhythm. The fourth heart sound and a grade 3/6 systolic ejection murmur were heard at the apex. Slightly anemic conjunctivae, dry skin and mildly distended abdomen due to ascites were seen. Laboratory studies were as follows: red blood cell count 367×10 4 /mm 3 , hemoglobin 11.3 g/dl, C-reactive protein <0.3 mg/dl, blood sugar 86 mg/dl, serum cholesterol 222 mg/dl, blood urea nitrogen 40 mg/dl, creatinine 7.1 mg/dl, calcium 2.4 mmol/L, phosphorus 2.7 mmol/L, alkaline phosphatase 308 U/L and the intact parathyroid hormone level 888 pg/ml. The patient had been given calcium carbonate and erythropoietin to correct the hypocalcemia and anemia, and pulse therapy of 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol (1,25(OH)2D3) had also been performed for secondary hyperparathyroidism approximately 6 months before presentation.Transthoracic echocardiography demonstrated an echogenic 2.0×2.0×2.0 cm spherical mass with an internal echolucent area at the base of the posterior mitral leaflet and the lateral portion of the mitral annulus (Fig 1 a,b). No mitral regurgitation on Doppler color flow mapping was seen and there was normal left ventricular wall motion, although a small amount of pericardial effusion was noted.A high-density mass was observed at the base of the posterior mitral leaflet on computed tomography (CT) and a low-intensity mass was observed in the same area on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using the field echo technique; both these masses were compatible with calcification (Fig 2). Single photon emission CT with 67 Ga-citrate (Fig 3) and 99m Tc-MDP scintigraphy (Fig 4) revealed focal uptake at the same site as the spherical mass seen on echocardiography. Parathyroid scintigraphy by subtraction of thallium-201-chloride and 99m Tc-pertechnetate scan revealed 4 hypertrophied parathyroids compatible with secondary hyperparathyroidism due to chronic ...

Yeast mannan (YM) is an indigestible water-soluble polysaccharide of the yeast cell wall. In vitro fecal fermentation studies showed that YM could exhibit a notable prebiotic effect. The aim of this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was to assess the efficacy of YM intake on the intestinal environment and skin condition. One hundred and ten healthy female subjects aged 30–49 years were supplemented with YM or placebo for eight weeks. Skin dryness was set as the primary endpoint. No side effects were observed during the study. Microbiota analyses revealed that YM intake selectively increased the relative abundance of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron and Bacteroides ovatus compared to that by placebo. Feces and urine analyses showed that YM intake lowered the concentration of fecal p-cresol, indole, and skatole, and elevated urinal equol levels compared to those in placebo. Furthermore, YM supplementation ameliorated subjective skin dryness. This study suggests that YM intake could promote beneficial Bacteroides and improve the intestinal environment and skin condition.

Tissue factor and tissue factor pathway inhibitor are important in extrinsic coagulation. We investigated their clinical significance in hemodialysis patients. We took blood samples, prior to initiation of routine hemodialysis, from 73 patients on hemodialysis (35 men and 38 women aged 56.1+/-11.7 years on dialysis for 82.1+/-61.0 months), and determined tissue factor and tissue factor pathway inhibitor levels by ELISA. In the patients the tissue factor level was 704.5+/-141.6 pg/ml and the tissue factor pathway inhibitor level was 44.5+/-23.3 ng/ml; both values were significantly higher than in normal controls (192.7+/-36.6 pg/ml and 18.6+/-5.7 ng/ml, respectively). In patients with shunt obstruction, tissue factor pathway inhibitor levels were significantly higher than in those without it. Therefore, the tissue factor pathway inhibitor level may be a marker of shunt obstruction.