Police outside Washington, D.C., say a woman is expected to recover after a commuter train hit her car at a railroad crossing.
Rescue crews were called to the scene in Rockville, Md., just before 5 p.m. Friday. Hundreds of MARC train passengers were delayed while investigators worked to determine what happened.
Montgomery County police say 25-year-old Cemile Valencia was taken to …
Six years ago, Robert Bland was selling health insurance andfeeling increasingly frustrated by the lack of comparative rateinformation available.
When he realized no one was tracking rates, he set up his15-person data collection firm, Quotesmith, in northwest suburbanPalatine, to serve insurance brokers and insurers. Now he isconsidering offering rate information to the public for a nominalcharge.
Even so, with some 1,700 insurance companies doing business inthe United States, finding the right coverage for your firm takesresearch and persistence.
"My advice to the small-business owner is to talk to anindependent agent or broker," said Bland, president …
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A California jury awarded $465,000 to a Muslim security guard who says his co-workers and supervisors called him a terrorist and an al-Qaida member.
The San Francisco Chronicle newspaper reports jurors added $400,000 in punitive damages Monday to their earlier $65,000 verdict in favor of Abas Idris for lost wages and emotional distress.
The …
| All Times Eastern |
|---|
| National Football League Playoffs |
| AFC vs NFC, 7:20 p.m. |
| National Basketball Association |
| Denver 103, San Antonio 89 F |
| L.A. Lakers 90, Boston 89 F |
| Toronto 34, Indiana 29 -2 |
| Cleveland 49, L.A. Clippers 22 -2 |
The Bears go through cornerbacks like babies go through diapers.As usual, they need some this April.
The need has been caused by the trading of Vestee Jackson, whowent to the Dolphins for defensive end Eric Kumerow, and theuncertainty about Lemuel Stinson's knee.
Stinson is projected as a starter, and his rapid progressionfrom season-ending reconstructive knee surgery has allayed mostfears. But until he plays again, Stinson must be considered somewhatof a question mark.
Stinson makes his living by running fast, and surgery like hehad often drains speed.
"Whether or not he lost any speed, we'll find that out," coachMike Ditka said. "It's silly to …
Harold Gunardson Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, NY, 283 pp., $150, indexed
This reference volume, which should be useful to any chemical engineer who has to deal with industrial gas feedstocks in petrochemical and chemical processes, focuses on oxygen, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and syngas.
Because the term "petrochemical" appears in the title, one would expect this book to have devoted more space than it does to ethylene, ammonia, and methanol. Instead, it covers the reactions of chemicals and gaseous feedstocks with derivatives, which seems more appropriate for a volume about plants that use organic chemicals than one on petrochemical facilities.
Each of the …
Olympic hero Angel Di Maria boosted his chances of making his international debut for Argentina in its World Cup qualifying match against Paraguay on Saturday by taking part in the team's second practice session.
Argentina coach Alfio Basile said the Benfica forward, who scored the lone goal in Argentina's 1-0 win over Nigeria in the Olympic final, joined 10 other players in a closed-door practice in Buenos Aires.
If Di Maria makes his international debut, he is likely to play alongside Lionel Messi and Carlos …
Strong winds knocked over newspaper boxes in downtown SanFrancisco Thursday as a storm blew through the area.
Winds wreak havoc
in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO - Winds gusting as high as 60 mph howled throughthe San Francisco Bay area, breaking windows, uprooting small treesand forcing the suspension of a major golf tournament.
A window washer working on a downtown high-rise had to break thewindow he was cleaning and climb into the building to escape thedangerous gusts.
At the Pacific Gas & Electric corporate headquarters, windsshattered a heavy revolving door at the building's entrance. Thecompany reported that 31,000 of its customers were without …
Justice: Just Us, Just Me by Mary Morrison Booga Bear, 1999, $12.95, ISBN 0-967-40010-4
Before her successful …
The San Jose Sharks' 11-month run without a home loss in regulation time was ended Thursday, conceding a late goal to lost 3-2 to the Calgary Flames in the NHL.
Dion Phaneuf scored on a deflected shot with four minutes to play, notching his first goal in 26 games.
The Sharks hadn't lost at home in regulation for 31 games, matching the second-longest streak in NHL history.
The result meant San Jose slipped to second in overall league standings behind Boston, while Calgary built its lead atop the Northwest Division to nine points.
Red Wings 4, Kings 0
In Los Angeles, Detroit extended its run of games earning at least a point …
A Department of Transportation official has recommended thatUnited Airlines lose its Chicago-Seattle-Tokyo route to archrivalAmerican Airlines, but a higher-level DOT official has asked him toreconsider that opinion.
Richard Walsh, director of the DOT's Office of Economics, issuedan opinion on Aug. 5 that American should be granted the right to flyfrom Seattle to Tokyo on a route that likely would originate inChicago. That decision overturned an earlier ruling fromAdministrative Law Judge Burton S. Kolko that United should beallowed to keep the daily Chicago-Seattle-Tokyo flight.
Walsh's opinion was not made public until Monday night, whenoutgoing Assistant …
WASHINGTON - More than $2.1 billion in counterfeit checks have been seized and 77 people arrested in an international crackdown on scams, the U.S. Postal Service said Wednesday.
The crackdown involved officials of the United States, Canada, Nigeria, United Kingdom and Netherlands, the Postal Inspection Service said at a briefing.
"There is no room in the mail for any of these phony come-ons," Postmaster General John Potter said.
Most of the cons start with e-mails telling of an inheritance or lottery win and ask the victim to help bring the money to the United States. The victim is asked to cash a check and send part of the money back to the person sending it, …
Hi Lo Otlk
Anchorage 75 53 Clr
Baltimore 89 68 PCldy
Boston 74 64 PCldy
Chicago 71 57 PCldy
Dallas-Ft Worth 91 76 PCldy
Denver 88 54 PCldy
Detroit 78 68 PCldy
Honolulu 89 74 Clr
Houston 94 75 PCldy
Indianapolis 79 68 Cldy
Kansas City 83 58 PCldy
Las Vegas 104 80 Clr
Little Rock 88 71 PCldy
Los Angeles 82 63 PCldy
Memphis 88 74 PCldy
Miami Beach 92 77 PCldy
Milwaukee 69 58 Cldy
Nashville 84 71 Rain
New Orleans 90 75 PCldy
New York City 86 70 PCldy
Oklahoma City 89 67 Cldy
Orlando 93 74 PCldy
Phoenix 109 81 Clr
St Louis 81 66 PCldy
Salt Lake City 93 62 PCldy
San Diego 73 65 PCldy
San Francisco 69 55 PCldy
Seattle 66 56 Cldy
Tampa-St Ptrsbg 91 77 PCldy
ABSTRACT I present a stochastic model for intracellular Ca^sup 2+^ oscillations. The model starts from stochastic binding and dissociation of Ca^sup 2+^ to binding sites on a single subunit of the IP3-receptor channel but is capable of simulating large numbers of clusters for many oscillation periods too. I find oscillations with variable periods ranging from 17 s to 120 s and a standard deviation well in the experimentally observed range. Long period oscillations can be perceived as nucleation phenomenon and can be observed for a large variety of single channel dynamics. Their period depends on the geometric characteristics of the cluster array. Short periods are in the range of the time scale of channel dynamics. Both long and short period oscillations occur for parameters with a nonoscillatory deterministic regime.
INTRODUCTION
The beauty of intracellular Ca^sup 2+^ dynamics is that it allows for observation of the build up of periodic global events from local stochastic events. A theoretical analysis on how the stochasticity of the elemental events shows up in the global events is the subject of this article.
Changes in the cytosolic free Ca^sup 2+^ concentration are used by many cells for signaling (Tsien and Tsien, 1990; Berridge et al., 1998). The rise of that concentration is accomplished beside influx through the plasma membrane by release of Ca^sup 2+^ from intracellular stores like the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Opening and closing of Ca^sup 2+^ channels on the ER membrane controls the release. Channels are closely packed into clusters (Sun et al., 1998; Thomas et al., 1998; Mak et al., 2000; Mak and Foskett, 1998). The clusters are randomly distributed on the ER membrane. Areas with high cluster density are called focal sites (Lechleiter et al., 1991; Callamaras and Parker, 2000; Marchant and Parker, 2001). Channels open and close stochastically. Stochastic behavior manifests itself as spontaneous release events through single channels or several channels in a cluster (Sun et al., 1998; Callamaras and Parker, 2000; Marchant and Parker, 2001; Thomas et al., 1999; Bootman et al., 1997a).
The solution of that integral equation depends on the configuration of open channels N^sub o^(t). That can be understood by imagining the extreme case of redistributing a large fraction of free Ca^sup 2+^ to immobile buffers by release. The release would decrease the value of A^sup 0^ because immobile buffers do not contribute to it.
The system of Eqs. 8 and 9 was solved every time No(t) changed for the simulations shown in Figs. 2 and 3. 1 used the single cluster profile approach for fast localized variables in all other simulations. The single cluster solutions were determined by solving Eq. 8 with a single cluster site centered at r = 0. The value of A^sup 0^ was determined by Eq. 9 for the concentration fields on the whole area.
I solved all partial differential equations by a multigrid method according to Press et al. (1992). I used a spatial discretization of 4 nm to calculate single cluster profiles. The time step size in stochastic simulations was chosen so that the probability for a transition in a cluster was ~1% and hence for all clusters within an interaction radius ~7%. Because only about one quarter of the transitions changes the open state of channels that yields ~2% probability per time step for a transition changing rates of other transitions within the interaction radius. Test runs with one half of that time step and one quarter confirmed the choice. I used random number generators taken from Press et al. (1992).
[Reference]
REFERENCES
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Berridge, M., M. Bootman, and P. Lipp. 1998. Calcium - a life and death signal. Nature. 395:645-648.
Bootman, M., M. Berridge, and P. Lipp. 1997a. Cooking with calcium: The recipes for composing global signals from elementary events. Cell. 91:367-373.
Bootman, M., E. Niggli, M. Berridge, and P. Lipp. 1997b. Imaging the hierarchical Caz+ signaling in HeLa cells. J. Physiol. 499:307-314.
Callamaras, N., and I. Parker. 2000. Phasic characteristics of elementary Ca2+ release sites underlies quantal responses to IP3. EMBO J. 19-160P-1617
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Callamaras, N., J. Marchant, X.-P. Sun, and I. Parker. 1998. Activation and coordination of insp3-mediated elementary Ca2+ events during global Caz+ signals in Xenopus oocytes. J. Physiol. (Lond.). 509:81-91.
DeYoung, G., and J. Keizer. 1992. A single-pool inositol 1,4, 5-trisphosphate-receptor-based model for agonist-stimulated oscillations in Ca2+ concentration. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 89: 9895-9899.
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Dupont, G., and S. Swillens. 1995. Quantal release, incremental detection, and long-period Ca2+ oscillations in a model based on regulatory Ca2+ -binding sites along the permeation pathway. Biophys. J. 71: 1714-1722.
Falcke, M. 2003. Buffers and oscillations in intracellular Caz+ dynamics. Biophys. J. 84:28-41.
Falcke, M., J. Hudson, P. Camacho, and J. Lechleiter. 1999. Impact of mitochondrial Caz+ cycling on pattern formation and stability. Biophys. J. 77:37-44.
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Falcke, M., M. Or-Guil, and M. Bar. 2000a. Dispersion gap and localized spiral waves in a model for intracellular Ca + dynamics. Phys. Rev. Left. 84:4753-4756.
Falcke, M., L. Tsimring, and H. Levine. 2000b. Stochastic spreading of intracellular Ca2+ release. Phys. Rev.E. 62:2636-2643.
Gall, D., E. Baus, and G. Dupont. 2000. Activation of the liver glycogen phosphorylase by Ca2+ oscillations: a theoretical study. J. Theor. Biol. 207:445-454.
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Garca-Ojalvo, J., and L. Schimansky-Geier. 2000. Excitable structures in stochastic bistable media. J. Stat. Phys. 101:473-481.
Hempel, H., L. Schimansky-Geier, and J. Garcia-Ojalvo. 1999. Noise-- sustained pulsating patterns and global oscillations in subexcitable media. Phys. Rev. Lett. 82:3713-3716.
Ilyin, V., and I. Parker. 1994. Role of cytosolic Caz+ in inhibition of InsP3evoked Ca2+ release in Xenopus oocytes. J. Physiol. 477:503-509. Jung, P., and P. Galley. 2000. The heartbeat of extended clocks. Ann. Phys. 9:697-704.
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Keizer, J., and G. DeYoung. 1994. Simplification of a realistic model of IP3-induced Ca2+ oscillations. J. Theor. Biol. 166:431-442.
LeBeau, A., D. Yule, G. Groblewski, and J. Sneyd. 1999. Agonist-- dependent phosphorylation of the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor a possible mechanism for agonist-specific calcium oscillations in pancreatic acinar cells. J. Gen. Physiol. 113:851-871.
Lechleiter, J., S. Girard, E. Peralta, and D. Clapham. 1991. Spiral calcium wave propagation and annihilation in Xenopus laevis oocytes. Science. 252:123-126.
Lukyanenko, V., and S. Gy/rke. 1999. Ca2+ sparks and Ca2+ waves in saponin-permeabilized rat ventricular myocytes. J. Physiol. 521:575-585.
[Reference]
Mak, D., and J. Foskett. 1998. Effects of divalent cations on single-channel conduction properties of Xenopus IP3 receptor. Am. J. Physiol. 275:C179-C188.
Mak, D., S. McBride, and J. Foskett. 2001. Regulation by Caz+ and Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (InsP3 of single recombinant type 3 InsP3 receptor channels: Activation uniquely distinguishes type 1 and type 3 InsP3 receptors. J. Gen. Physiol. 117:435-446.
Mak, D., S. McBride, V. Raghuram, Y. Yue, S. Joseph, and J. Foskett. 2000. Single-channel properties in endoplasmic reticulum membrane of recombinant type 3 inositol trisphosphate receptor. J. Gen. Physiol. 115:241-255.
[Reference]
Marchant, J., and I. Parker. 2001. Role of elementary Ca2+ puffs in generating repetitive Caz+ oscillations. EMBO J. 20:65-76.
Marchant, J., N. Callamaras, and I. Parker. 1999. Initiation of IP3-mediated Ca2+ waves in Xenopus oocytes. EMBO J. 18:5285-5299.
Moraru, I., E. Kaftan, B. Ehrlich, and J. Watras. 1999. Regulation of type 1 Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate-gated calcium channels by InsP3 and calcium. J. Gen. Physiol. 113:837-849.
Olveczky, B., and A. Verkman. 1998. Monte carlo analysis of obstructed diffusion in three dimensions: application to molecular diffusion in organelles. Biophys. J. 74:2722-2730.
Patel, S., S. Joseph, and A. Thomas. 1999. Molecular properties of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors. Cell Calcium. 25:247-264.
Press, W., S. Teukolsky, W. Vetterling, and B. Flannery. 1992. Numerical recipes in C. 2nd ed, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Shuai, J., and P. Jung. 2002. Optimal intracellular calcium signaling. Phys. Rev. Lett. 88:U252-U255.
[Reference]
Sneyd, J., and J.-F. Dufour. 2002. A dynamic model of the type-2 inositol trisphosphate receptor. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 99:2398-2403.
Sneyd, J., J. Keizer, and M. Sanderson. 1995. Mechanisms of calcium oscillations and waves: a quantitative analysis. FASEB J. 9:1463-1472.
Sun, X.-P., N. Callamaras, J. Marchant, and 1. Parker. 1998. A continuum of insp3-mediated elementary CaZ+ signaling events in Xenopus oocytes. J. Physiol. (Lond.). 509:67-80.
Swillens, S., P. Champed, L. Combettes, and G. Dupont. 1998. Stochastic simulation of a single inositol 1,4,5-trisphoasphate-sensitive Caz+ channel reveals repetitive openings during blip-like Caz+ transients. Cell Calcium. 23:291-302.
[Reference]
Tang, Y., and H. Othmer. 1996. Simplification and analysis of models of calcium dynamics based on IP3-sensitive calcium channel kinetics. Biophys. J. 70:246-263.
Taylor, C. 1998. Inositol trisphosphate receptors: Ca2+-modulatd intracellular Caz+ channels. Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 1436:19-33.
Thomas, D., P. Lipp, M. Berridge, and M. Boorman. 1998. Hormonestimulated elementary Ca2+ signals are not stereotypic, but reflect activation of different size channel clusters and variable recruitment of channels within a cluster. J. Biol. Chem. 273:27130-27136.
Thomas, D., P. Lipp, S. Tovey, M. Berridge, W. Li, R. Tsien, and M. Boorman. 1999. Microscopic properties of elementary Ca2+ release sites in non-excitable cells. Curr. Biol. 10:8-15.
Tsien, R., and R. Tsien. 1990. Calcium channels stores and oscillations. Annu. Rev. Cell Biol. 6:715-760.
Wagner, J., Y.-X. Li, J. Pearson, and J. Keizer. 1998. Simulation of the fertilization Caz+ wave in Xenopus laevis eggs. Biophys. J. 75:2088-2097.
[Author Affiliation]
Martin Falcke
Hahn Meitner Institute, Glienicker Str. 100, 14109 Berlin, Germany and Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Nothnitzer Str. 38, 01187 Dresden, Germany
[Author Affiliation]
Submitted June 25, 2002, and accepted for publication August 30, 2002.
Address reprint requests to M. Falcke, Hahn Meitner Institute, Glienicker Str. 100, 14109 Berlin, Germany. Tel.: 49-30-80622627; Fax: +49-3080622098; E-mail: falcke@hmi.de.
Hawkesville, Ont.
[Graph Not Transcribed]
Hawkesville Mennonite Church installed Perry Bartel as pastor during the morning service on September 28. Parry and Pam, and daughters Emma, Katie and Anika, have been at Hawkesville since the beginning of September.
The Bartels came from Lethbridge, Alberta, where they worked with children and youth groups.
In his acceptance speech, Bartel mentioned that he sees similarities between the church and a boat. As he is a non-swimmer, the idea of being in a boat can be scary. With a paddle in hand, however, he will try to be part of the team. He promised the youth that he is willing to help paddle in the Dragon Boat races next year.
"We are not in this alone, but are a part of a larger team, and together we can help each other to attain the goal that we are striving for," he said.
Muriel Bechtel from Pastoral Services, Mennonite Church Eastern Canada, gave the message. She also spoke of the need to help one another. At the Special Olympics a few years ago, one of the contestants in a race fell down. When the other runners saw what had happened, they came back, picked up their fallen friend, and all walked over the finish line together.
ABSTRACT
Using the data from a number of the surveys conducted over the last 10 years by Sante Quebec, this study examines the health characteristics of two populatiosn of Aboriginal women of northern Quebec compared to those of women in the rest of the province.
The northern populations had a larger proportion of young women. Aboriginal women have family responsibilities than other Quebec women. Inuit women had a much higher prevalence of smoking and drug use. Alcohol consumption was less frequent in northern women, but the quantity consumed was higher compared to other Quebec women. Cree women tended to be more obese, had higher levels of blood glucose and lower levels of cholestrl. Inuit women tended to have lower rates of hypertension and higher rates of declared hearing problems and mental disorders. The similarities and differences observed amont these three populations of women can assist decisionmakers in setting priorities with regards to maintaining and improving their health.
ABREGE
Effectuee a partir de plusieurs enquetes realises depuis 10 ans par Sante Quebec, cette etude presente un tableu comparatif des caracteristiques liees a la sante de deux populations de femmes autochtones du Quebec nordique par rapport a la population feminine du reste de la province.
Plus jeunes que les autres Quebecoises, les femmes autochtones du Nord ont une charge familiale beaucoup plus lourde. Chez les Inuites, on abserve des prevalences plus elevees de tabagisme et d'utilisation de drogue. La consommation d'alcool est moins frequente parmi les femmes nordiques mais la quantite consommee est plus grande que chez les autres Quebecoises. On retrouve des prevalences plus elevees d'obesite et d'hyperglycemie et des taux de cholesterol moins eleves chez les femmes cries alors que les femmes inuites sont moins nombreuses a souffrir d'hypertension. Ces dernieres declarent aussi plus souvent des problemes d'ouie et de sante mentale. Les convergences et divergences observees entre ces trois populations de femmes pourront ecairer les decideurs dans le choix des priorities a privilegier pour maintenir et ameliorer leur sante.
A number of authors have demonstrated that the health of Aboriginal people differs markedly from that of other Canadians.1,2 Studies about women have been particularly sparse or mainly based on morbidity and mortality data.3 Painting a comprehensive portrait of Aboriginal women's health is not an easy task, since they form a heterogeneous group belonging to diverse nations. They live in different geographic environments and speak different languages.4
Data derived from Sante Quebec's surveys of the Cree and Inuit, however, can provide useful indicators to help gain a better understanding of various aspects of Aboriginal women's health. These indicators are, for the most part, the same as those used in surveys of the rest of Quebec's population, thereby allowing comparisons to be made. Another benefit is that these data were provided by the women themselves, who expressed their points of view on a variety of health-related topics. The information gathered therefore complements morbidity and mortality data.
The goal of this study was to share the information on Aboriginal women in Sante Quebec's databases and render it accessible to researchers, practitioners in the field, community groups and decisionmakers. The data is from three populations consisting of the Cree women of James Bay, the Inuit women of Nunavik, and women in southern Quebec. Sociodemographic and health-related characteristics of the two populations of Aboriginal women are presented and compared to those of women in southern Quebec.
METHODS
The 1987 Sante Quebec Health Survey (QHS-87)5,6 was the first of several similar cross-sectional surveys examining the prevalence of a wide variety of health and social problems. Since this province-wide survey had not included the northern regions, special surveys were developed and adapted to their socio-cultural specificity, namely the 1991 Sante Quebec Health Survey of the James Bay Cree (CHS-91),7 and the 1992 Santa Quebec Health Survey among the Inuit of Nunavik(IHS-92).8,9 They were modelled on the QHS-87 and the 1990 Sante Quebec Heart Health Survey (HHS-90).10 In 1992-93, Sante Quebec conducted a second general health survey, the Health and Social Survey 199293 (HSS-92),11,12 primarily aimed at updating the information collected in 1987. In most of these surveys, a household questionnaire was administered by an interviewer to a representative member of each household, who responded on behalf of the family. An individual questionnaire was then given to all individuals 15 years of age and over. For the northern and heart health surveys, all respondents 18 years of age and over also underwent a clinical examination including anthropometric and physiological measurements completed by blood samples.
Unless otherwise specified, the data used to fulfill our study objectives were extracted from the CHS-91,7 the IHS-92 8,9 and the HSS-92. 11,12 The QHS-8756 and the HHS-90 10 were used only when the information was not available from the more recent surveys. Sample sizes and response rates are provided in Table I, and interested readers may refer to specific reports for a complete description of the data collection procedures and sampling frames.5-12
Prevalence rates were based on data weighted to account for sampling frames and non-response rates. Estimates were compared using the chi-square test or analysis of variance for sample means. Corrections were made for the complexity of the sampling frames using a method developed by Kish,13 whereby a design effect was first calculated for each estimator based on that obtained from a simple random sample of the same size. The sample size, from which each prevalence estimate is derived, was then divided by the calculated design effects before statistical testing. All differences mentioned in the text are significant at a level < 0.01.
RESULTS
Socio-demographic aspects
As shown in Table II, northern women were found to be much younger than women in southern Quebec, with twice as many of them under 25 years of age.
Important variations were observed among the three populations in terms of family and household structure. The number of individuals averaged around five per household in northern communities, twice that of households in southern Quebec.
The multiple-family household, as frequent as 27% among the Inuit and the Cree, was non-existent in southern Quebec. Single-parent families were extremely rare in the Cree population, but were twice as common in the Inuit of Nunavik than in southern Quebec. Compared with a rate of only 37% of Quebec households, more than four in five households in northern Quebec had children under the age of 18.
Health-related behaviours
Cigarette smoking is probably the behaviour having the greatest consequences in terms of cardiovascular and respiratory morbidity and mortality. 14 The prevalence of regular smoking in Inuit women was more than twice that of Cree and southern Quebec women aged 15 and over (Table III). The proportion of these smokers who had more than 10 cigarettes per day, however, was much higher in southern Quebec women (73%) than in Inuit (49%) and Cree women (20%). Smoking behaviours were also very different across age groups (Figure 1). While in Cree and Inuit women the prevalence of regular smoking was inversely proportional to age, it was highest in southern Quebec in the 25-44 age group.
Patterns of alcohol consumption in Aboriginal women differed considerably from those of southern Quebec women. Approximately 75% of the latter had drunk alcohol in the preceding year, while about half of women in Nunavik and 42% of those in James Bay had done so. Moreover, more than 20% of northern Aboriginal women were former drinkers, compared to less than 5% of southern Quebec women. On the other hand, among northern Aboriginal women current drinkers, close to two thirds had had an average of five drinks or more on the days they consumed alcohol, as compared to 42% of southern women.
The proportion of Inuit women having used illicit drugs at least once in the prior year (almost 35%) was three times higher than among Cree and southern women. Marijuana and hashish were by far the most popular drugs,
Physical activity is also an important health determinant. It seems that about half of Aboriginal women (versus 26% in southern Quebec) had not participated in at least one moderate-to-intense leisuretime physical activity of at least 20 minutes duration in the three months preceding the survey.
Other cardiovascular risk factors
Apart from the preceding, several factors have been identified in epidemiological studies as being major risk factors of cardiovascular disease.15-18
Excess weight is believed to be an important problem in Aboriginal women. 19 Obesity was defined using the body mass index (BMI), which is the ratio of body weight (kg) to height (m) squared. An individual with a BMI greater or equal to 30 was considered obese. The prevalence of obesity in Cree women was twice that of Inuit women and more than four times that of southern Quebec women.
Hypercholesterolemia, defined as a serum level of total cholesterol greater or equal to 6.2 mmol/L, characterized only 5% of Cree women. It was more than three times more frequent in Inuit and southern Quebec women.
High blood pressure, defined as diastolic pressure greater or equal to 90 mm Hg or being treated for this condition, affected fewer Inuit women (5%) than Cree and southern Quebec women (13% each).
Individuals with blood glucose levels greater than or equal to 7.8 mmol/L may be considered diabetic. Cree women showed a higher prevalence of elevated blood glucose levels (8%) than Inuit women (2%). When pharmacological treatment with insulin or oral hypoglycemic agents declared by the respondent was included in the definition, diabetes rates increased to 11% in Cree and 4% in Inuit women (data not shown). No clinical measures of blood glucose levels were available for southern Quebec women.
Women's preventive health practices
Despite their known benefits,20,21 preventive health behaviours in women are not widely practiced. More Inuit and southern Quebec women aged 15 and over had had a PAP test in the two years preceding the survey than had Cree women (Figure 2). Both breast examination by a professional and breast self-examination were more prevalent among women in southern Quebec than among northern Aboriginal women. On the other hand, close to 65% of Cree and 50% of Inuit mothers declared having breastfed their last child, while in southern Quebec in 1987, only 26% of mothers declared having done so.
Physical and mental health
The perception people have of their health is linked to self-reported symptoms, chronic conditions or restrictions of activity.22 Overall, Cree women perceived their health as being good or very good in a much higher proportion than did Inuit women (Table IV). Response categories in the southern Quebec survey were not comparable in this respect.
Significant differences could be found among the three populations with regard to the most frequently reported health problems. For instance, 7% and 11% of Cree and Inuit women respectively declared having hearing-related problems, whereas this condition was almost nonexistent in southern Quebec women. Mental disorders, relatively frequent among Inuit and southern Quebec women, were rarely reported by Cree women. Other common health problems included headaches, with a slightly higher prevalence in southern Quebec, and arthritis, of which the prevalence in southern women was twice to three times that of northern Aboriginal women.
Psychological distress was measured using an index derived from the Psychiatric Symptoms Index.23 The measure, validated for the QHS-87, identified any value above the 80th percentile of the total distribution as a high level of psychological distress. More southern Quebec women displayed high levels of psychological distress than did Inuit and Cree women. High psychological distress was much more prevalent in women aged less than 25 than among older women in all three populations.
Both lifetime suicidal thoughts and attempts were more frequently reported among Inuit than among Cree and southern Quebec women. Over 14% of Inuit women reported having seriously thought about committing suicide and the same percent reported having attempted suicide. These figures were much higher than those of Cree and southern Quebec women. Differences remained statistically significant, even after controlling for age.9
DISCUSSION
General health surveys have been shown to provide useful data for developing public policy and targeting health promotion programs. However, such surveys also have inherent limitations. Despite multiple efforts directed at validation procedures in all phases of the surveys, various data inconsistencies and biases may have affected the accuracy of the information collected. For instance, the respondents' knowledge and understanding of the health of other household members may not be fully known or understood. Also, the sensitive nature of some questions may have led to a social desirability bias. In addition, important health determinants such as socioeconomic status and access to care could not be documented. Finally, certain prevalence figures such as blood glucose levels and high blood pressure could not be stratified according to factors such as age due to the small numbers, which may explain some of the variation observed.
Differences in the cultural and physical environments of the three populations may have induced slight variations in the understanding of the terminology being used. Data related to physical activity, for example, are unfortunately hardly comparable in the three populations. The concept of leisure-time activity is not yet part of Aboriginal women's daily lives. Also, the differences observed in women's preventive measures may be linked to their availability. Lastly, our study shows very different drinking patterns in the three populations, with fewer Aboriginal women drinking, but drinking greater quantities per occasion. However, alcohol consumption in northern Quebec is forbidden in a number of communities, and remains socially reprehensible. Therefore, respondents may have been less inclined to drink socially and/or admit their true alcohol use in a survey, despite the use of confidential questionnaires.
In accordance with the findings of other descriptive studies of the health of Aboriginal people,24-28 we identified similarities as well as significant differences between Cree and Inuit women and with the rest of the female population. The information presented here can help decisionmakers and caregivers further understand these women's health issues and assist in the planning of highly focussed interventions targeting their specific needs. However, Aboriginal women should first be invited to set their own priorities.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Some of these data were published by Claudette Lavallee in a chapter entitled "Les femmes cries et inuites du Nord quebecois," in Guyon L, Robitaille C, Clarkson M & Lavallee C, Derriere les apparences: sang et conditions de vie des femmes, Gouvernement du Quebec, Ministere de la same et des services sociaux, 1996.29 The authors thank the Cree and Inuit people for the opportunity to learn about their health and culture. We also acknowledge Bella Petawabano for her suggestions and comments on the manuscript, and James Lawler, who edited and revised the text.
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8. Sante Quebec, Jette M (Ed.). A Health Profile of the Inuit: Report of the Sante Quebec Health Survey among the Inuit of Nunavik, 1992, Vol.l. Montreal: Health and Social Services Ministry, Government of Quebec, 1994.
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Castelli WP. Obesity as an independent risk factor to cardiovascular disease: A 26-year follow-up of participants in the Framingham Heart Study. Circulation 1983;67:968-77.
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22. Fylkesnes K, Forde OH. The Tromso Study: Predictors of self-evaluated health; Has society adopted the expanded health concept? Soc Sci Med 1992;32(2):141-46.
23. Ilfeld FW. Further validation of a Psychiatric Symptoms Index in a normal population. Psychol Rep 1976;39:1215-28.
24. MacMillan HL, MacMillan AB, Offord DR, et al. Aboriginal health. Can Med Assoc J 1996;155(11):1569-78.
25. Robinson E. The health of the James Bay Cree. Can Fam Phys 1988;34:1606-13.
26. Hodgins S. Health and what affects it in Nunavik: How is the situation changing? Kuujjuak: Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services, 1997.
27. Diverty B, P6rez C. The health of Northern residents. Health Reports 1998;9(4):49-55.
28. Young TK. Cardiovascular diseases in a Canadian Arctic population. Am J Public Health 1993;83:881-87.
29. Lavallie C. Les femmes cries et invites du Nord quebecois. In: Guyon L, Robitaille C, Clarkson M, et al., Derriere les apparences : same et conditions de vie des femmes. Gouvernement du Quebec. Minist&e de la sang et des services sociaux, 1996.
Received: April 1, 1999 Accepted: November 19, 1999
[Author Affiliation]
Claudette Lavallee, MSc,1 Chantal Bourgault, PhD2
[Author Affiliation]
1. Project Coordinator, Sante Quebec Division, Institut de la statistique du Quebec
2. Doctoral Student, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McGill University, Montreal The preparation of this manuscript was supported by a grant from the Centre of Excellence for Women's Health-Consortium University of Montreal through the Programme of the Centres of Excellence for Women's Health, Health Canada. Chantal Bourgault is the recipient of a post-doctoral fellowship from the Medical Research Council (MRC) of Canada. Correspondence and reprint requests: Claudette Lavallee, Sante Quebec Division, Institut de la statistique du Quebec, 1200 McGill College Avenue, Suite 1620, Montreal, QC, H3B 4J8,
Tel: 514-873-4749, Fax: 514-864-9919,
E-mail: claudette.lavallee@stat.gouv.qc.ca
Boston's Mike Greenwell extended his hitting streak to 20 gameswith a double in the sixth inning vs. the Brewers at Milwaukee. Hisstreak is the longest in the American League this season. Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher John Tudor, 35, said missing most ofthis season because of shoulder problems might alter his plans toretire. Tudor said he might seek a one-year contract that would onlypay him if he pitches. Oakland's Mark McGwire homered (No. 22) against the Twins for hisfirst-ever home run in 84 career at-bats vs. Minnesota. McGwire nowhas homered against every AL team. Cincinnati's Joel Youngblood logged his 92nd career pinch hit, tyinghim for 16th on the all-time list with Jay Johnstone.
The news that the University of California Press was publishingBoomer: Railroad Memories, by Linda Niemann ($19.95), whetted my railbuff's appetite.
Here was a memoir by one of the first women to go to work forthe Southern Pacific Ry. as a brakeman, the quintessential trade ofAmerican railroading. (Not brakewoman or brakeperson, please; inthat tough and muscular profession, "brakeman" is genderless.)Throughout its history railroading has been an utterly masculinepursuit, and this book, I thought, was bound to offer a fresh pointof view.
It does that and more. Boomer, it turns out, is aboutrailroading the way Moby-Dick is about whaling. Locomotives andboxcars and marshaling yards and ribbons of high iron are just thegraveled roadbed under a grander adventure.
And that is the oldest one in literature: the spiritualjourney, an exorcising of personal devils and the discovery of self.
When Niemann went to work for the SP in 1979, her life was in ashambles. She was, she writes, an "intellectual who looked like anall-American bimbo." (She holds a Ph.D. in English from Berkeley.)Divorced and unemployed, a bisexual with a collapsing lesbianrelationship, she was increasingly plagued by her mother's battlewith mental illlness. Niemann was also a heavy drug user and wellstarted down the long slide into alcoholism. Why did a person sothoroughly screwed up choose to become a brakeman, one of the world'sdirtiest, most difficult and dangerous jobs?
"The railroad transformed the metaphor of my life," she writes,in one of many graceful and often moving passages. "Nine thousandtons moving at sixty miles an hour into the fearful night. I nowwould ride that image, trying to stay alive within it. I know thatlater when I sat behind the moving train in the darkness of thecaboose, window open and the unknown fragrances of the land fillingthe space, the blackness of the night was my friend. It felt good tobe powerless and carried along by the destiny of that motion. I felthappy and at peace. I was where I belonged."
Brakemen, it seems, tend to be misfits of one kind or another:drunks, dopeheads, psychotics among them. Perhaps only such erraticscan stand a life of "booming" - a "boomer" is an old railroad termfor an itinerant brakeman who follows the rush periods of labor indifferent parts of his railroad's far-flung empire.
The rough-and-tumble work is extremely dangerous. At all hoursin all kinds of weather, brakemen must hang with one hand on sideladders of free-rolling cars, lanterns in the other hand. Frequentlythey must dart between moving cars to pull uncoupling pins, all thewhile keeping an eye out for perils on the adjoining track. If theyget hurt or killed, their employers, who take "almost a terroristattitude toward their workers, couldn't care less."
Because bums, addicts, muggers and starving Mexican illegalswash up in freight yards all over the Southwest, brakemen often carryhandguns, although the dangers are sometimes illusory for males.Thanks to homophobia as well as the attractions of their gender, theperils are real for female boomers, and it's the rare one who isn'tpacking.
But then there is the "brakeman's reward." The job puts thebrakie way out on the line in the desert at those magic times ofmorning when you can "smell the dew on everything before true colorscan exist - the red spectrum just waking up." As trains meet thereis rhythm and peace on the land.
When "Gypsy" Niemann discovers those things in her stormy life,you'll cheer. As she struggles out of her self-inflicted hell ofdrugs, booze and stormy love affairs, she emerges as a thoroughlylikable and intelligent human being.
She is so blunt and honest about herself that the reader isbrought up short when she drops, well past midpoint in the book, thestunning news that she once "helped raise some kids" - four with herex-husband. But she never mentions them again. What, we want toknow, has happened to them? Are they her natural children? (It turnsout, her publisher tells me, that they were her ex-husband'soffspring.)
This is the worst stumble (and there are not many others) in anadmirable book. It is attractive not only for its candor but alsofor its lore. Though she is most concerned with her ongoing journeyto sanity and stability, Niemann never forgets that she is a "rail,"and offers a good deal of wisdom about the changing life of thebrakeman.
They're a disappearing species, now that the caboose is on theway out and the three- or four-man freight crew has shrunk to two inthe locomotive: engineer and conductor. There are fewer pairs ofeyes to watch for dangers, Niemann writes, and no ears to listen atthe rear of the train. (This isn't just a self-serving complaint of aunion stalwart against depredatory management. She has a point.Cabooseless trains may be the longtime norm in Europe, where runs areshorter, but whether they won't be hazards in American-stylerailroading - long, slow freight drags over beat-up tracks - is aquestion only time can answer.)
Boomer is inspiring, provocative, engrossing reading, and afine addition to the annals of both industrial and feminist history.
A Cook County jury on Monday awarded $14.2 million to a BoyScout who was in a coma for eight months with a broken skull as aresult of a 1988 automobile accident near Palatine.
Oakley Lowe, 13, of Chicago's Uptown area, has undergone 18operations, his face is disfigured and he uses a wheelchair becausehe is unable to walk more than 10 feet at a time, said RobertClifford, Oakley's attorney.
Oakley, who was 11 at the time, was the lone survivor in a cardriven by Adam Reichert, 60, of 1103 W. Cornelia, Chicago. Reichertdied at the scene. Another passenger, Derrick Hart, 11, also ofUptown, died from injuries five days after the April 29, 1988accident.
The three were on their way to a Boy Scout jamboree at DeerGrove Forest Preserve near Palatine.
Reichert was northbound on Quentin Road when he made a slow leftturn into the path of a van driven by Daniel Haacker, of Bartlett,who was accused during the trial of driving too fast and failing toreduce speed.
After a five-week trial, the jury found that Reichert was 90percent at fault, but the insurance companies of the Boy Scouts ofAmerica will pay the $12.8 million because he was a Boy Scoutvolunteer, Clifford said. The Boy Scout's primary insurancecompanies are St. Paul Fire and Marine Co. and Reliance Insurance Co.of New York.
The insurance company of Haacker, who was deemed by the jury tobe 10 percent at fault, will pay the balance, Clifford said. Haackerwas covered by Sentry Insurance Co.
Since the collision, Oakley's medical expenses have reached$700,000, and future medical expenses could total up to $12 millionin today's dollars, Clifford estimated.
A cousin of the woman who died in Ted Kennedy's car on Chappaquiddick Island in 1969 says she hopes the late senator and her cousin are "now at peace."
Mary Jo Kopechne's (koh-PECK'-nee) cousin Georgetta Potoski, of Plymouth, Pa., offered her thoughts in a letter to a Pennsylvania newspaper.
The letter, published Tuesday, says: "So many American memories are tied up with the Kennedy family. Good memories of space walks and civil rights, John-John and Caroline, touch football and the beauty and dignity of Jackie. And, of course, Chappaquiddick."
Kennedy drove off a bridge into a pond on Chappaquiddick Island, Mass. He swam to safety while Kopechne drowned. He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and got a suspended sentence and probation.
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Information from: Times Leader, http://www.timesleader.com
