Effects of milk and milk products on rectal mucosal cell proliferation in humans.

Intake of dairy products and major dairy constituents (e.g., calcium) has been proposed to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer, although epidemiological studies have yielded inconclusive results. We conducted a randomized cross-over trial to test the effects of high- and low-dairy consumption diets on rectal mucosal proliferation, a possible intermediary marker for large bowel cancer. From a gastroenterology clinic at an academic medical center, we recruited 40 patients, ages 25-79 years, who had either a history of a large bowel adenoma or a first-degree relative with large bowel cancer. Participants completed a baseline questionnaire covering demographic characteristics, health history, and habits and a food frequency questionnaire. They were randomized to a 12-week diet of either high dairy intake (six dairy servings/day) or low dairy intake (<0.5 serving of dairy products/day), with an intervening 12-week washout period in which they were asked to resume their usual diet before crossing over to the alternate study diet for the last 12-week period of the study. Adherence to the study diets was monitored by a daily dairy intake checklist and periodic, unscheduled 24-h dietary recalls. Biopsies of the rectal mucosa were obtained at the beginning and end of each intervention phase. Two assays of rectal mucosal cell proliferation were performed: immunohistochemical determination of proliferating cell nuclear antigen and whole crypt mitotic count. We found no statistically significant changes in either of these proliferation measures as a result of high or low dairy intake. There was no correlation between the labeling index for proliferating cell nuclear antigen and whole crypt mitotic count; however, measures of the location and intensity of cell proliferation within the rectal crypt were highly correlated between the two assays. Thus, our study indicates that greater consumption of dairy products over a 12-week period does not change rectal mucosal cell proliferation.

Disordered eating and the transition to college: a prospective study.

OBJECTIVE: A longitudinal study was conducted to examine whether the transition to college changed eating disorder symptoms and related attitudes. METHOD: Participants were 342 women who completed an in-depth survey in the spring of their senior year of high school and again during their first year of college. We assessed changes in body self-perception, eating-related attitudes, and disordered eating classification (nondieter, dieter, problem dieter, subclinical eating disordered, or eating disordered on the basis of criteria for bulimia nervosa in the 4th ed. of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). RESULTS: Although participants viewed themselves as significantly heavier in their first year of college, dieting frequency and disordered eating classification in college did not differ from high school assessment. DISCUSSION: Evidence from this study indicates that disordered eating symptoms and attitudes are established before college. However, our findings also reveal that poor self-image, dieting behaviors, and eating disorder symptoms are common among many young women, both before and during college.

Extension of the right renal vein in cadaveric renal transplants with use of the vena cava and the TA-30 V3 surgical stapler.

The aforementioned technique offers an expeditious and safe means of extending the cadaveric right renal vein for 3 to 5 centimeters, while greatly minimizing the ischemic time of the kidney during preparatory dissection. The cuff of the cadaveric right renal artery can also be preserved, and the danger of kinking of the arterial graft is minimized. Our experience has shown that separation of the left renal vein 3 to 4 millimeters away from the vena cava allows a left renal vein of adequate length for transplantation of the left kidney. Between June 1985 and August 1989, we have used this technique successfully in more than 120 cadaveric right renal transplants and have seen no vascular complications attributable to the stapled conduit of the vena cava.