International Union of Pharmacology. XXXV. The glucagon receptor family.
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Peptide hormones within the secretin-glucagon family are expressed in endocrine cells of the pancreas and gastrointestinal epithelium and in specialized neurons in the brain, and subserve multiple biological functions, including regulation of growth, nutrient intake, and transit within the gut, and digestion, energy absorption, and energy assimilation. Glucagon, glucagon-like peptide-1, glucagon-like peptide-2, glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide, growth hormone-releasing hormone and secretin are structurally related peptides that exert their actions through unique members of a structurally related G protein-coupled receptor class 2 family. This review discusses advances in our understanding of how these peptides exert their biological activities, with a focus on the biological actions and structural features of the cognate receptors. The receptors have been named after their parent and only physiologically relevant ligand, in line with the recommendations of the International Union of Pharmacology Committee on Receptor Nomenclature and Drug Classification (NC-IUPHAR). (+info)
International Union of Pharmacology XXXVII. Nomenclature for leukotriene and lipoxin receptors.
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The leukotrienes and lipoxins are biologically active metabolites derived from arachidonic acid. Their diverse and potent actions are associated with specific receptors. Recent molecular techniques have established the nucleotide and amino acid sequences and confirmed the evidence that suggested the existence of different G-protein-coupled receptors for these lipid mediators. The nomenclature for these receptors has now been established for the leukotrienes. BLT receptors are activated by leukotriene B(4) and related hydroxyacids and this class of receptors can be subdivided into BLT(1) and BLT(2). The cysteinyl-leukotrienes (LT) activate another group called CysLT receptors, which are referred to as CysLT(1) and CysLT(2). A provisional nomenclature for the lipoxin receptor has also been proposed. LXA(4) and LXB(4) activate the ALX receptor and LXB(4) may also activate another putative receptor. However this latter receptor has not been cloned. The aim of this review is to provide the molecular evidence as well as the properties and significance of the leukotriene and lipoxin receptors, which has lead to the present nomenclature. (+info)
Xerophthalmia.
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Some characteristics of children with xerophthalmia are described and the difference in age between those with serious corneal xerophthalmia and those showing milder conjunctival xerophthalmia is noted. The various public health measures instituted to prevent xerophthalmia are examined. The particular importance of protein in food given to severely malnourished children suffering from xerophthalmia is stressed and studies on enzyme activities which are enhanced in the xerophthalmic cornea are briefly noted. (+info)
The work of I-INCE Technical Study Group 2 on noise labels for consumer and industrial products.
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In 1999 a new I-INCE Technical Study Group TSG 2 was formed on "Noise labels for consumer and industrial products". This was intended to survey current methods for labelling and otherwise characterizing the noise emissions of consumer and industrial products. Note that labelling can mean more than just a physical label - it might be details in a Technical Manual. The measurement methods used by testing authorities were to be included in the survey. The methodologies were to be compared, and an assessment made of their relative effectiveness. The study of noise labelling is part of an educational program to advise on how, and in what form such labelling should be implemented. There has been active participation in the TSG from UK, USA, Japan, Norway, Turkey, Belgium and Brazil, with email exchange of information and 3 meetings, at Internoise 2000 in Nice, 2001 in Den Haag and 2002 in Dearborn, USA. More recently the survey questionnaire has been sent to all the 46 Member Societies of I-INCE. This paper explains the survey and summarises current results. (+info)
Agreement between written and video questions for comparing asthma symptoms in ISAAC.
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Phase One of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) has reported the prevalence of asthma, rhinitis and eczema symptoms in children. In 99 centres from 40 countries, a total of just under 317,000 13-14-yr-old children also completed a video questionnaire, showing the symptoms and signs of asthma. This first video sequence has been compared to the ISAAC written question asking about current wheezing to explore variations in agreement and the contribution of each questionnaire to wheezing prevalence between centres, by region and language groups. In general, responses to the video questionnaire gave a lower prevalence than the siritten questionnaire and responses were closely correlated. The overall proportion of agreement was high, mean 0.89. but unbalanced, with good negative agreement but poor positive agreement. Chance corrected agreement using Cohen's kappa coefficient, was generally low, with onl 20 centres with kappa >0.4. The contribution of each questionnaire to wheezing prevalence also varied between centres and suggests that written questions about wheezing are variably understood and interpreted by 13-14 yr olds. International comparisons of wheezing and its audiovisual presentation suggest that adolescents interpret a written question about wheezing differently from its audiovisual presentation and that this interpretation shows variation between centres. This relationship and the interpretation of both written and audiovisual presentation of symptoms requires further study in order to better predict asthma. (+info)
Experience of 2 dental clinics registered to ISO 9002.
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This paper describes the 3-year experience of managing 2 hospital-based dental clinics registered to ISO 9002:1994; it also examines the revision of previous quality management standards in 2 separate institutions to prepare for registration under the new ISO 9001:2000 standard. Daily equipment and process checks, combined with internal audits, were the backbone of the quality system at both locations. Corrective and protective actions had been underused, because of the partial duplication produced by 2 different institutionally mandated risk management and incident reporting systems. ISO 9002 registration provided both dental clinics with responsive quality systems, emphasizing patient satisfaction and providing measurable continuous quality improvement. (+info)
Appropriate models and an understanding of carcinogenic mechanisms--requirements for hazard risk assessment.
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Given the immense variety of compounds developed for introduction into the human environment, appropriate carcinogen risk assessment is essential. One of the responsible international bodies recognized as providing a lead in this endeavour is the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), primarily through the Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans. However, serious allegations have recently been made that industry now has undue influence on the decisions of the IARC Workshops as to category assignment, especially concerning down-grading of risk. The contention is that too much stress is placed on mechanistic considerations which have not been sufficiently validated. Since avoidance of carcinogens in our environment is clearly of prime importance to cancer prevention, open discussion of how they should be identified is of essential significance to the APOCP. Clearly, decisions should be based solely on scientific evidence and there should be no place for politics or polemic. We have therefore looked, in what we hope is a dispassionate fashion, at the arguments offered in the recent literature, while admitting to a bias towards taking into account all the available knowledge on mechanisms of action of carcinogens and modulating agents. As scientists, generation of an understanding of this area is one of the main reasons why we receive our salaries. To blindly argue that carcinogenicity, for example at high dose in one strain of experimental animal, necessarily implies human risk at normal levels of exposure is obviously untenable. At the same time, precipitous conclusions regarding species-specific mechanisms must naturally be avoided. Both academic and industrial researchers need to apply a balanced judgement and to simply imply that any association with industrial concerns is likely to lead to irresponsible behaviour to the detriment of public health is not tenable. With regard to regulatory decision making, we should be concentrating more attention on mechanisms, rather than less, especially in light of recent findings pointing to hormesis at low doses of carcinogens, which will inevitably generate heated discussion and the charge of bias in favour of industry. The onus is on all members of the scientific community to impartially view all the epidemiological and experimental data which are available in decision-making. (+info)
The contribution of primary care systems to health outcomes within Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, 1970-1998.
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OBJECTIVE: To assess the contribution of primary care systems to a variety of health outcomes in 18 wealthy Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries over three decades. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: Data were primarily derived from OECD Health Data 2001 and from published literature. The unit of analysis is each of 18 wealthy OECD countries from 1970 to 1998 (total n = 504). STUDY DESIGN: Pooled, cross-sectional, time-series analysis of secondary data using fixed effects regression. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS: Secondary analysis of public-use datasets. Primary care system characteristics were assessed using a common set of indicators derived from secondary datasets, published literature, technical documents, and consultation with in-country experts. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The strength of a country's primary care system was negatively associated with (a) all-cause mortality, (b) all-cause premature mortality, and (c) cause-specific premature mortality from asthma and bronchitis, emphysema and pneumonia, cardiovascular disease, and heart disease (p<0.05 in fixed effects, multivariate regression analyses). This relationship was significant, albeit reduced in magnitude, even while controlling for macro-level (GDP per capita, total physicians per one thousand population, percent of elderly) and micro-level (average number of ambulatory care visits, per capita income, alcohol and tobacco consumption) determinants of population health. CONCLUSIONS: (1) Strong primary care system and practice characteristics such as geographic regulation, longitudinality, coordination, and community orientation were associated with improved population health. (2) Despite health reform efforts, few OECD countries have improved essential features of their primary care systems as assessed by the scale used here. (3) The proposed scale can also be used to monitor health reform efforts intended to improve primary care. (+info)