Articles: health.
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Functional proteomics can be defined as a strategy to couple proteomic information with biochemical and physiological analyses with the aim of understanding better the functions of proteins in normal and diseased organs. In recent years, a variety of publicly available bioinformatics databases have been developed to support protein-related information management and biological knowledge discovery. ⋯ Here, we present a comprehensive review of the major human protein bioinformatics databases. We conclude this review by discussing a few examples that illustrate the importance of these databases in functional proteomics research.
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Int J Environ Res Public Health · Oct 2011
Farmer health and adaptive capacity in the face of climate change and variability. Part 2: Contexts, personal attributes and behaviors.
This study extends the emerging body of research on farmer adaptation to climate change, by segmenting farmers on the basis of specific attributes (health, values, belief about climate change, sense of responsibility for climate change, desire to change, social, human and financial capitals and farmer demographics) and considering such attributes as critical social aspects of the contextualized capacity to adapt. The segmental analysis was based on a nationally representative sample of 3,993 farmers concerned with farmer adaptation of climate risks. The resulting data were subjected to two-step cluster analysis to identify homogenous groups of farmers based on factors related to climate change adaptation. ⋯ However, despite a desire to adapt, they had very little means to do so. They reported the poorest natural resources and the poorest health, despite being younger. The findings suggest that it is the intent to adapt, starting from where people are at, which is a more important indicator of the capacity to work towards sustainable practices than assets tests alone.
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Most of renin-angiotensin system (RAS) gene polymorphisms have not yet been studied in the Iranian population. In the present study, the frequencies of common polymorphisms in the RAS genes, including angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) insertion/deletion (I/D) and three single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), i.e., A-240T, T-93C and A2350G, angiotensinogen M235T, angiotensin II receptor type 1 A1166C and angiotensin II receptor type 2 C3123A variants were determined in DNAs extracted from venous blood of 104 healthy Iranian volunteers. Genotyping was performed by PCR-RFLP method. ⋯ In conclusion, combined polymorphisms of A-240T and A2350G seem to affect serum ACE level as well as diastolic blood pressure in our study population. However, it also might be hypothesized that they are in strong linkage disequilibrium with other functional mutations not studied yet. Our findings revealed that gene interactions can play an important role in various biological conditions.
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Int J Equity Health · Sep 2011
Gender, sexuality and the discursive representation of access and equity in health services literature: implications for LGBT communities.
This article considers how health services access and equity documents represent the problem of access to health services and what the effects of that representation might be for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities. We conducted a critical discourse analysis on selected access and equity documents using a gender-based diversity framework as determined by two objectives: 1) to identify dominant and counter discourses in health services access and equity literature; and 2) to develop understanding of how particular discourses impact the inclusion, or not, of LGBT communities in health services access and equity frameworks.The analysis was conducted in response to public health and clinical research that has documented barriers to health services access for LGBT communities including institutionalized heterosexism, biphobia, and transphobia, invisibility and lack of health provider knowledge and comfort. The analysis was also conducted as the first step of exploring LGBT access issues in home care services for LGBT populations in Ontario, Canada. ⋯ The analysis offers a continuum of dominant and counter discourses on health services access and equity as determined from a gender-based diversity perspective. The continuum of discourses offers a framework to identify and redress organizational assumptions about, and ideological commitments to, sexual and gender diversity and health services access and equity. Thus, the continuum of discourses may serve as an important element of a health care organization's access and equity framework for the evaluation of access to good quality care for diverse LGBT populations. More specfically, the analysis offers four important points of consideration in relation to the development of a health services access and equity framework.
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This paper is devoted to the practical application of the medical criteria (MC) for the harm to health (HH) put into force on September 16, 2008. The authors undertook the analysis of procedures of forensic medical expertises for the estimation of the harm to health during the periods before and after putting MC into action (between 2007 and 2010). The results of this analysis were compared with the number of documented criminal actions that caused harm to health and the number of subjects convicted of such crimes. ⋯ It is concluded that putting into effect the new regulations and medical criteria did not result in a substantial change in the relative frequency of the serious and moderate harm to health. Nor did the law enforcement practice gives evidence of any change in the relationship between cases of moderate and serious harm to health and in the number of grave crimes causing the harm to health. The new medical criteria allowed to put in order and present in a structured fashion the data on the harm to health depending on the degree of its severity.