AMERICAN THORACIC SOCIETY JOURNAL NEWS TIPS FOR OCTOBER
For release: 10/15/98
YELLOW-ORANGE VEGETABLES, VITAMIN E, AND TUMOR LOCATION
Investigators in Boston examined the relationship between diet and tumor location in 328 lung cancer patients. Slightly over 71 percent of the patients had upper lobe tumors, with the remainder having lower lobe. The researchers believed that the patients' tumor location could be, in part, due to less efficient delivery, via the circulation, of diet-derived or other protective substances. They found the likelihood of tumors occurring in the upper lobes tended to be significantly higher with greater exposure to tobacco smoke and less intake of yellow-green vegetables and vitamin E. This research appears in the October issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
NATIONAL SURVEY SHOWS LIMITATION OF LIFE SUPPORT IN ICUs
A common belief holds that medical care at the end of life is driven by technology rather than the wishes of the patient or family. However, these investigators felt that the situation for dying patients in intensive care units (ICUs) had shifted toward withholding or withdrawing life support. After a national survey of 131 ICUs, they found wide variation in end-of-life care, with some ICUs having 75 percent of their deaths following failed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) while, in other units, CPR was attempted prior to less than 5 percent of the deaths. These results appear in the October issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
TECHNIQUE PREDICTS TB DIAGNOSIS IN 100% OF TISSUE SAMPLES
The traditional methods of tuberculosis detection, using sputum smear, often take weeks to produce results. The tests are also inappropriate for all cases. Now, University of Arkansas investigators, using 60 fixed tissue specimens, showed that a technique utilizing polymerase chain reaction (PCR) had a positive predictive value of 100 percent and a negative predictive value of over 88 percent. They felt that PCR amplification of DNA in tissue would be useful to detect tuberculosis in patients in whom tissue diagnosis is needed rather than detection of bacteria in bodily secretions. This study appears in the October issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
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