Preventive medicine
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Although the disease consequences of cigarette smoking are well documented, smoking may also be associated with increased risk of injury. Our purpose is to provide an overview of this potential association. ⋯ Smoking may be an independent risk factor for thermal, motor vehicle, occupational, and other unintentional injuries. Nonsmokers may be at increased risk of injury from the presence of smokers in their environments, e.g., from fires. Societal benefits from decreased smoking prevalence are likely to include reduction of both fatal and nonfatal injuries.
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As the result of a major prevention and control effort, public health measures directed toward reducing smoking are slowly succeeding (1). Of parallel importance, and the focus of this article, is the research evidence that indicates direct and significant correlations between cancer and certain food groups such as vegetables, fruits, and fiber; the specific components in these foods that may influence cancer risk at several sites; and the intervention trials supported by the National Cancer Institute as part of its chemoprevention research program. The latter includes studies of nutrients and other food constituents as well as pharmaceutical agents that may be useful for cancer prevention.
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Preventive medicine · May 1993
ReviewEnhancing host resistance to pressure ulcers: a new approach to prevention.
Pressure ulcers are notoriously common in spinal-cord-injured patients, in patients with other neurological deficits, in malnourished and severely debilitated patients, and in the frail elderly. Prolonged localized external pressure, coupled with insensitivity to ischemia resulting from neurologic injury, has long been considered the major causal factor. Preventive efforts have focused on the relief of pressure via frequent repositioning and the use of pressure-relieving devices. ⋯ J. Biundo, Jr., Paraplegia in press). Randomized controlled trials are needed to determine the efficacy of high-voltage pulsed galvanic stimulation for preventing pressure ulcers in spinal-cord-injured persons and other groups at high risk.
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Preventive medicine · Mar 1993
ReviewDo obese children become obese adults? A review of the literature.
Obese children may be at increased risk of becoming obese adults. To examine the relationship between obesity in childhood and obesity in adulthood, we reviewed the epidemiologic literature published between 1970 and July 1992. Comparison between studies was complicated by differences in study design, definitions of obesity, and analytic methods used. Although the correlations between anthropometric measures of obesity in childhood and those in adulthood varied considerably among studies, the associations were consistently positive. ⋯ The wide range of estimates in this literature are, in part, due to differences in study designs, definitions of obesity, ages at which participants were measured, intervals between measurements, and population and cultural differences.
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Our research objective is to develop nontoxic cancer chemopreventive agents and to apply these agents in treating humans. We are identifying agents that inhibit the process of tumor promotion in two-stage carcinogenesis experiments on mouse skin. ⋯ We believe that the main constituent of Japanese green tea, EGCG, is a practical cancer chemopreventive agent available in everyday life.