Alaska medicine最新文献

In 2003 the age-adjusted suicide rate in Alaska (20.2 per 100,000) was the second highest in the country and nearly twice that of the U.S. all races population. The suicide rate among Alaska's Native population (35.1 per 100,000) was 1.7 times greater than the rate among all Alaskans and 3.3 times greater than the U.S. all races rate. This retrospective case-control study examined suicide among Alaska Native males living in a northern Alaska region, in an attempt to identify the frequency and nature of contact with medical staff during the 12 months preceding the cases' suicides. Results show that during the last year of life, cases were 2.75 times as likely to have any contact with medical staff, they were 3.29 times as likely to be treated for an injury, and were 22.18 times as likely to be treated for an alcohol-related event than were the matched controls.

Introduction: Alaska Native people include multiple, diverse ethnic groups whose ancestors occupied what is now the state of Alaska. Cancer incidence rates among Alaska Native women for breast, cervix, uterus and ovary are presented here. Current rates and trends over time are compared with US White rates.

Objective: To describe cancer incidence patterns for cancer of the breast, cervix, uterus and ovary among Alaska Native women.

Methods: Cancer incidence data for Alaska Natives are from the Alaska Native Tumor Registry, in Anchorage, Alaska. Incidence rates for US Whites are from the National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program.

Results: Breast and cervical cancer incidence rates among Alaska Natives are similar to US White rates, whereas rates for cancer of the uterus and ovary are significantly less than those of US Whites. Thirty-five year trends show increasing rates in breast cancer and decreasing rates of cervical cancer.

Conclusion: The burden of cancer among Alaska Native women for cancers unique to women is significant. Increasing breast cancer rates among Alaska Natives has greatly contributed to this burden.

Objective: Prevalence and trends of cardiovascular risk factors among adolescent population in Novosibirsk during the reforms in Russia (1989-2003).

Study design: Four cross-sectional surveys of representative samples of schoolchildren aged 14-17 since 1989 (total--2,569).

Methods: Body mass index (BMI) was calculated (kg/m2), blood pressure was double measured with Korotkov's method, and serum total cholesterol (TC) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were estimated with enzymatic methods. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was calculated with Friedwald's formula. Self-report of smoking (1 cig/week and more) and physical inactivity (2 h/week and less) was obtained. Diet was estimated using 24-hour dietary recall.

Results: Prevalence of high TC, high LDL-C and low HDL-C significantly decreased in both gender groups. Prevalence of arterial hypertension also decreased in boys and girls. Frequency of overweight decreased more in girls. Trends in diet showed significant decreasing of total energy and basic nutrient intakes. Cigarette smoking rate decreased in boys and increased in girls. Physical inactivity rate was high in boys and girls.

Conclusion: Obtained data indicate similar trends to reduction in classical CVD risk factors, energy intake and life style changes among Siberian adolescents during the period of socioeconomic reforms in Russia.

Prevalence of iron deficiency states (IDS) is high in Russia and all over the world. To reveal the peculiarities of this pathology epidemiologic studies were fulfilled in Siberia and the Far North. Iron found indices, prevalence and risk factors of IDS were studied in three regions: in Novosibirsk--a big industrial city, in Mountain Altai--where Native people--Altai-Kigi--live, and in Chukotka--in two villages where Eskimoes and Chukchi live. Regularity of increasing content of hemoglobin and erythrocyte from the South to the North was marked as well as low iron found indices in Ckukotka population. Prevalence of iron deficiency states in three regions is high--every third woman has iron deficiency. Index of iron deficiency progression is different in these regions. In the Far North there are more latent iron deficiency states, in Mountain Altai--there are more anemias. IDS development is caused by a complex of risk factors with ethnic variations in different regions. Long period of lactation, frequent deliveries and less number of abortions are found in Mountain Altai and Chukotka as compared to Novosibirsk. Changing diet and weakening of ethnic traditions, especially in the North, are additional risk factors for IDS development. The received data made it possible to carry out IDS prevention measures in different regions of Russia.

Background: HTLV-1 is a retrovirus known to be endemic in Japan, the Caribbean, and parts of Africa. HTLV-1 infection is rare in Canada. The last known cases prior to the present cluster in Nunavut occurred in 1993, when three Aboriginal patients with neurological symptoms in British Columbia were found to be infected with HTLV-1. The Dept. of Health and Social Services in Nunavut became aware of the presence of this virus in the Nunavut population in early June, 2005 when an individual infected with HTLV-1 died from Acute T-cell leukemia.

Study design: A report of the interventions done by the Department in response to this outbreak.

Methods: Interviews with the key informants in the Department. A review of the record of meetings, community consultations, expert consultations and communiqués was conducted. Key information points were summarized.

Results: A Nunavut Dept. of Health and Social Services Task Force on HTLV-1 was established. Investigation of the population in the community in which the index case was found using blood samples to identify the virus in the carriers and for antibodies in first-degree relatives of the carriers. A literature review and summary of the epidemiology of the cluster was performed. An intense educational and counseling program regarding HTLV-1 infection was initiated for the (200) health care workers in the Territory and residents in the affected communities. A territory wide publicity and educational package was developed and implemented via meetings, press conferences, and telehealth sessions. Clinical protocols for monitoring the health status of infected individuals have been implemented. Ante-natal screening for HTLV-1 has been initiated, Territory-wide. An unlinked, anonymous HTLV-1 seroprevalence study began in early 2006. To date, approximately 300 persons have been tested for HTLV-1 in Nunavut. The number of infected individuals is less than 20.

Conclusions: HTLV-1 infection is present in Nunavut. The prevalence is unknown. There has been at least one death from Acute T-cell leukemia in an individual infected. Prenatal screening and the seroprevalence study should provide important information on the breadth of the problem and allow the Department to implement appropriate measures to better manage the spread of the virus and the clinical cases of those infected with it.

Objectives: The purpose of this paper is to give the reader some idea of life in Siberia and Alaska during the creation of our first medical exchanges during the most difficult of political times.

Study design: Various projects were designed using National Institutes of Health (NIH) criteria for our medical exchange.

Methods: As we took these first steps between the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR and the Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies at the University of Alaska Anchorage, USA, the general areas of our first studies were: 1) Circadian Rhythm and Work-Related Injuries in the North; 2) Alcohol and its Abuse with Treatment Methodologies; 3) Public Health Administration and Design in the Far East and Alaska; 4) Cystic Echinococcosis in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic; 5) Viral Hepatitis in the Arctic; 6) Cardiology; 7) Nutrition; and 7) Diabetes Prevention.

Results: A film made by the University of Alaska which was shown on PBS' "Breaking the Ice: The Alaska-Siberia Medical Research Program"; various papers and books published on both sides; and a major contribution made to world peace through the medical workers on both sides of the Bering Sea.

Conclusion: This major effort for peace showed the world how the peoples of Siberia and Alaska could come together and work for world peace through joint collaborations. Native people were reunited after years of separation, new avenues were created in anthropology, biology and medicine and, subsequently, the border was again opened between our peoples.

The clinical laboratory investigations of patients with chronic viral hepatitises combined with chronic opisthorchosis are presented. Among the examined, 60 patients lived in Western Siberia and 50 patients in the North. More severe course of combined diseases was marked in the Northerners. Prevalence of such syndromes as diskynetic, cholestasis, hepatomegalies, and disorders of microbiocenosis of gastrointestinal tract has proved this fact. Features of treatment of combined diseases have been shown, stage therapy has been developed.

The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of experimental desynchronosis on the immune system and estimate benzo[a]pyrene (BP) influence on the immune reactivity of mice under the condition of desyncronosis (DS) in comparison with intact organisms. Mice (CBA X C57BL)F1 were kept under constant light during two weeks and natural alternation of darkness and light (control group). Animals of the two groups received benzo[a]pyrene solution in olive oil. The existence of diurnal variation of cell populations of lymphoid organs and blood, humoral immune response to SRBC were revealed. Changes of diurnal dynamics of these parameters and decrease of humoral immune response to SRBC have been observed in animals kept under constant light in comparison with animals kept under standard light conditions. It is likely to indicate the development of internal DS. BP influenced the cellular composition and immune response of intact and DS animals in a different way. So, the changes of light regime lead to development of the internal DS of immune system that influenced its functional capacity and sensitivity to damaging effect of chemical ecological factor.