A comparison of demographic characteristics of selected year 2000 health objectives for the United States, using behavioral risk factor surveillance system data for Alaska

PURPOSE

The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is a nationally developed and state-administered telephone survey which monitors the health behaviors and practices of adults aged 18 and older. One use of the survey is to monitor progress towards some of the Year 2000 Health Objectives for the United States.

METHOD

Alaska has been conducting BRFSS monthly since January 1991, collecting approximately 128 interviews each month, for a yearly yield of approximately 1,530. Survey design allows for the aggregation of data over several years to accumulate sufficient sample size to look at health behaviors in subgroups of interest. We look at progress towards Year 2000 objectives for Alaska by various demographic characteristics: age, gender, education, employment, and geographic region.

RESULTS

Survey data such as BRFSS can be used to monitor health behaviors and practices in a population in a cost-efficient and systematic manner.

Torulopsis glabrata vertebral osteomyelitis

A case of Torulopsis glabrata osteomyelitis of the thoracic spine producing spinal cord compression and myelopathy is reported. The patient displayed several of the predisposing factors to T. glabrata infection, including diabetes mellitus, a history of abdominal surgery, and intravenous catheterization with hyperalimentation. The patient was successfully managed with surgical decompression, debridement, and curettage of the affected bone, postoperative immobilization, and systemic amphotericin B therapy. Her pain was relieved, spinal cord function recovered, and the vertebrae healed uneventfully. T. glabrata osteomyelitis is a rare and unpredictably progressive infection. This case demonstrates that it requires prompt therapy and close observation.

Variation in telomeric heterochromatin in somaclones of rye

Somaclonal variation in telomeric heterochromatin was detected by in situ hybridization with the het 1 probe, which hybridizes to a 380-bp repeated sequence family. In a control cultivar, Gazelle, large blocks of signal were detected at the telomeres but not at the centromeres or the secondary constrictions. In the donor line, 7R–, labelling was restricted to small telomeric dots, confirming that the large telomeric blocks had been removed in selection of this line. In situ hybridization with the het 1 probe to chromosomes of selfed progeny from 50 plants regenerated from independent cultured immature embryos of the 7R– line revealed variant patterns for three regenerants. In the progeny of two regenerants, a new interstitial hybridization site was detected on the short arm of a submetacentric chromosome. This site was not at the nucleolus organizer. In the progeny of the third regenerant two changes were detected: an enlarged telomeric block on the long arm of an unidentified chromosome and an interstitial site on the long arm of chromosome 6. All three regenerated plants had shown normal morphology and meiotic behaviour. The identification of somaclonal variants in telomeric heterochromatin provides further evidence for variation in repeated DNA sequences in plant tissue culture.Key words: rye (Secale cereale), somaclonal variation, in situ hybridization, repeated sequence, heterochromatin, telomere.