The rise of international travel has increased the need for more, improved travel advice from physicians and public health facilities. The quality of the health information given has not been examined on a large-scale basis by many studies, however. Surveys in Canada, Switzerland, and the United States, for example, report that only 20% to 50% of practitioners could give accurate information regarding immunization and prophylaxis about travel-related disease. Anonymous surveys were sent to 1165 American and 96 Canadian public health units and travel clinics. Using five scenarios on travel to developing countries, each source was asked to complete a standardized form giving their recommendations for immunization, antimalarials, travelers' diarrhea, and other travel issues. Of the American respondents, 60% were physicians equally distributed among private practice, university, and corporate clinics; nurses comprised 75% of the Canadian respondents, primarily from public health clinics. The number of travelers counseled per year ranged from 3 to 40,000 (American mean, 448; Canadian mean, 2180). Depending on the scenario, 20 to 75% of the immunization groups recommended were inadequate or inappropriate: most frequently, lack of tetanus/polio boosters; indiscriminant use of yellow fever/cholera vaccines; haphazard advice about meningococcal, rabies, and typhoid vaccines; and a lack of consideration of measles in young adults. Of the antimalarial recommendations given, 20 to 60% were incorrect, including prescribing medication for nonrisk areas, failure to recognize chloroquine-resistant areas, and failure to understand the use of, or contraindications to, mefloquine. Frequently, acclimatization, altitude sickness, sunscreens, and safe-sex issues were omitted. The prevention and treatment of travelers' diarrhea were adequately covered, however. Pre-travel advice given by North American health advisors shows a considerable variability in the accuracy and extent necessary for effective travel disease prevention and treatment. Despite the growing efforts to further educate those responsible, higher quality of health advice needs to become a priority.

SummaryCoagulation Factor VIII is an acute phase protein in humans that has recently been shown to be transcriptionally responsive to interleukin-6. In this study, we have demonstrated that the human Factor VIII promoter is activated in cultured hepatocytes exposed to bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Deletion analysis has narrowed the LPS-responsive element of the Factor VIII promoter to a small region which contains two C/EBP binding sites and an adjacent NFκB binding site. Mutation of the downstream C/EBP site reduces LPS-responsiveness by ∼50%, while mutation of the NFκB binding site completely eliminates LPS-responsiveness. While binding of C/EBPβ and NFκB is still observed in gel retardation studies using acute phase nuclear extracts and a probe containing mutations to the downstream C/EBP site, neither NFκB nor C/EBP appear to bind to a probe in which the NFκB site has been mutated. Conservation of this region of the Factor VIII promoter in species which exhibit an increase in Factor VIII levels in response to inflammatory stimuli suggests that these transcription factor binding sites are important for normal regulation of the Factor VIII gene under conditions of stress.

Introduction Active contact and follow‐up interventions have been shown to be effective in reducing repetition of hospital‐treated self‐harm. The Way Back Support Service (WBSS) is a new service funded by the Australian government to provide three months of non‐clinical after‐care following a hospital‐treated suicide attempt. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of WBSS in reducing deliberate self‐poisoning (DSP) and psychiatric hospital admissions over a 12‐month follow‐up period for a population of DSP patients within the Hunter (Australia) region. Methods A non‐randomized, historical controlled (two periods) trial design with intention‐to‐treat analyses. Outcome data were drawn from hospital records. Results There were a total of 2770 participants across study periods. There were no significant differences between cohorts for proportion with any, or number of, re‐admissions for DSP in the follow‐up period. For psychiatric admissions, the intervention cohort had a non‐significantly greater proportion with any psychiatric admission and significantly more admissions compared to one of the control cohorts. Conclusion The WBSS model of care should be modified to strengthen treatment engagement and retention and to include established, clinical, evidence‐based treatments shown to reduce DSP repetition. Any modified WBSS model should be subject to further evaluation.

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