The MMN as a viable and objective marker of auditory development in CI users

Publication date: Available online 20 July 2017
Source:Hearing Research
Author(s): Risto Näätänen, Bjørn Petersen, Ritva Torppa, Eila Lonka, Peter Vuust
In the present article, we review the studies on the use of the mismatch negativity (MMN) as a tool for an objective assessment of cochlear-implant (CI) functioning after its implantation and as a function of time of CI use. The MMN indexes discrimination of different sound stimuli with a precision matching with that of behavioral discrimination and can therefore be used as its objective index. Importantly, these measurements can be reliably carried out even in the absence of attention and behavioral responses and therefore they can be extended to populations that are not capable of behaviorally reporting their perception such as infants and different clinical patient groups. In infants and small children with CI, the MMN provides the only means for assessing the adequacy of the CI functioning, its improvement as a function of time of CI use, and the efficiency of different rehabilitation procedures. Therefore, the MMN can also be used as a tool in developing and testing different novel rehabilitation procedures. Importantly, the recently developed multi-feature MMN paradigms permit the objective assessment of discrimination accuracy for all the different auditory dimensions (such as frequency, intensity, and duration) in a short recording time of about 30 min. Most recently, such stimulus paradigms have been successfully developed for an objective assessment of music perception, too.



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A convenient approach to facilitate monitoring Gaucher disease progression and therapeutic response

Analyst, 2017, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C7AN00938K, Paper

Wujuan Zhang, Melissa Byrd, Carlos E. Prada, Ida Vanessa D. Schwartz, Somchai Chutipongtanate, Duangrurdee Wattanasirichaigoon, Venette Inskeep, Mei Dai, Dao Pan, Ying Sun, K. D. R. Setchell
Gaucher disease (GD) is caused by mutations on GBA1 gene leading to deficiency in acid [small beta]-glucosidase (GCase) and subsequent accumulation of its substrates, glucosylceramide (GlcC) and glucosylsphingosine (GlcS). GlcS in...
The content of this RSS Feed (c) The Royal Society of Chemistry

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Study of Targeted Therapy Using Transcription Activator-like Effector Nucleases in Cervical Precancerous Lesions

Condition:   Human Papillomavirus-Related Malignant Neoplasm
Interventions:   Biological: T27;   Biological: T512
Sponsor:   Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Not yet recruiting - verified July 2017

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Trial of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Guided Radiotherapy Dose Adaptation in Human Papilloma Virus Positive Oropharyngeal Cancer

Conditions:   Malignant Neoplasms of Lip Oral Cavity and Pharynx;   Oropharyngeal Cancer
Interventions:   Procedure: Modified Barium Swallow (MBS);   Behavioral: Swallowing Questionnaire;   Behavioral: Symptom Questionnaire;   Procedure: Video-Strobe Procedure;   Procedure: MRI Guided Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) Planning;   Procedure: Standard-of-Care Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) Planning;   Radiation: Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT)
Sponsors:   M.D. Anderson Cancer Center;   National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Not yet recruiting - verified July 2017

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Editorial Introduction to the Special Issue on 4-Hydroxynonenal and Related Lipid Oxidation Products

Publication date: October 2017
Source:Free Radical Biology and Medicine, Volume 111
Author(s): Giuseppe Poli, Neven Zarkovic




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Low-density lipoprotein oxidation biomarkers in human health and disease and effects of bioactive compounds

Publication date: October 2017
Source:Free Radical Biology and Medicine, Volume 111
Author(s): Brigitte M. Winklhofer-Roob, Gernot Faustmann, Johannes M. Roob
Based on the significance of oxidized low-density lipoprotein (LDL) in health and disease, this review focuses on human studies addressing oxidation of LDL, including three lines of biomarkers, (i) ex vivo LDL resistance to oxidation, a "challenge test" model, (ii) circulating oxidized LDL, indicating the "current in vivo status", and (iii) autoantibodies against oxidized LDL as fingerprints of an immune response to oxidized LDL, along with circulating oxysterols and 4-hydroxynonenal as biomarkers of lipid peroxidation. Lipid peroxidation and oxidized LDL are hallmarks in the development of various metabolic, cardiovascular and other diseases. Changes further occur across life stages from infancy to older age as well as in athletes and smokers. Given their responsiveness to targeted nutritional interventions, markers of LDL oxidation have been employed in a rapidly growing number of human studies for more than 2 decades. There is growing interest in foods, which, besides providing energy and nutrients, exert beneficial effects on human health, such as protection of DNA, proteins and lipids from oxidative damage. Any health claim, however, needs to be substantiated by supportive evidence derived from human studies, using reliable biomarkers to demonstrate such beneficial effects. A large body of evidence has accumulated, demonstrating protection of LDL from oxidation by bioactive food compounds, including vitamins, other micronutrients and secondary plant ingredients, which will facilitate the selection of oxidation biomarkers for future human intervention studies and health claim support.

Graphical abstract

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4-hydroxynonenal-mediated signaling and aging

Publication date: October 2017
Source:Free Radical Biology and Medicine, Volume 111
Author(s): Hongqiao Zhang, Henry Jay Forman
4-Hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE), one of the major α, β-unsaturated aldehydes produced during lipid peroxidation, is a potent messenger in mediating signaling pathways. Lipid peroxidation and HNE production appear to increase with aging. Although the cause and effect relation remains arguable, aging is associated with significant changes in diverse signaling events, characterized by enhanced or diminished responses of specific signaling pathways. In this review we will discuss how HNE may contribute to aging-related alterations of signaling pathways.

Graphical abstract

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Regulatory roles of glutathione-S-transferases and 4-hydroxynonenal in stress-mediated signaling and toxicity

Publication date: October 2017
Source:Free Radical Biology and Medicine, Volume 111
Author(s): Yogesh C. Awasthi, Kota V. Ramana, Pankaj Chaudhary, Satish K. Srivastava, Sanjay Awasthi
Glutathione-S-Transferases (GSTs) have primarily been thought to be xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes that protect cells from toxic drugs and environmental electrophiles. However, in last three decades, these enzymes have emerged as the regulators of oxidative stress–induced signaling and toxicity. 4-Hydroxy-trans 2-nonenal (HNE) an end-product of lipid peroxidation, has been shown to be a major determinant of oxidative stress–induced signaling and toxicity. HNE is involved in signaling pathways, including apoptosis, proliferation, modulation of gene expression, activation of transcription factors/repressors, cell cycle arrest, and differentiation. In this article, available evidence for a major role of GSTs in the regulation of HNE-mediated cell signaling processes through modulation of the intracellular levels of HNE is discussed.

Graphical abstract

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Oral Medication for Agitation of Psychiatric Origin: A Scoping Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

Publication date: Available online 21 July 2017
Source:The Journal of Emergency Medicine
Author(s): Samuel Mullinax, Farhad Shokraneh, Michael P. Wilson, Clive E. Adams
BackgroundUnderstanding more about the efficacy and safety of oral second-generation antipsychotic medications in reducing the symptoms of acute agitation could improve the treatment of psychiatric emergencies.ObjectiveThe objective of this scoping review was to examine the evidence base underlying expert consensus panel recommendations for the use of oral second-generation antipsychotics to treat acute agitation in mentally ill patients.MethodsThe Cochrane Schizophrenia Group's Study-Based Register was searched for randomized controlled trials comparing oral second-generation antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, or first-generation antipsychotics with or without adjunctive benzodiazepines, irrespective of route of administration of the drug being compared. Six articles were included in the final review.ResultsTwo oral second-generation antipsychotic medications were studied across the six included trials. While the studies had relatively small sample sizes, oral second-generation antipsychotics were similarly effective to intramuscular first-generation antipsychotics in treating symptoms of acute agitation and had similar side-effect profiles.ConclusionsThis scoping review identified six randomized trials investigating the use of oral second-generation antipsychotic medications in the reduction of acute agitation among patients experiencing psychiatric emergencies. Further research will be necessary to make clinical recommendations due to the overall dearth of randomized trials, as well as the small sample sizes of the included studies.



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Pneumoperitoneum by Inguinal Laceration after Traffic Accident

Publication date: Available online 21 July 2017
Source:The Journal of Emergency Medicine
Author(s): Daesung Lim, Soo Hoon Lee, Sang Bong Lee, TaeJin Park
BackgroundThe leading cause of surgical pneumoperitoneum is hollow viscus perforation, which accounts for approximately 90% of cases. A nonsurgical etiology may account for up to about 10% of the causes of pneumoperitoneum. However, a pneumoperitoneum often poses significant management dilemmas for surgeons, especially when signs of peritonitis are absent or when the cause is unknown prior to laparotomy. We present the first case of pneumoperitoneum due to inguinal laceration without viscus perforation after a traffic accident.Case ReportA 17-year-old male patient was admitted to the emergency department with a deep laceration of 7∼8 cm with bleeding in the right inguinal region after a collision with a passenger car while riding a bicycle. The abdominal examination revealed diffuse abdominal tenderness on deep palpation without peritoneal signs. A chest radiograph showed no free gas below the diaphragm. On computed tomography angiography of the aorta, subcutaneous emphysema in the right inguinal and femoral areas and free air in the peritoneal cavity were observed. There was no bowel perforation in an exploratory laparotomy, but the right femoral sheath ruptured, and exposure of the femoral vessels into the peritoneal cavity was observed.Why Should an Emergency Physician Be Aware of This?A pneumoperitoneum can be caused by femoral sheath rupture without hollow viscus perforation in patients with a penetrating groin injury. Therefore, emergency physicians should not pursue solely abdominal/pelvic sources of a pneumoperitoneum in patients with a penetrating groin injury.



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Comparison of RECIST to immune-related response criteria in patients with non-small cell lung cancer treated with immune-checkpoint inhibitors

Abstract

Purpose

Given that immune-related response in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has not been well evaluated, we assessed tumor response using the response evaluation criteria in solid tumors, version 1.1 (RECIST v1.1) and immune-related response criteria (irRC) to identify atypical responses in patients with advanced NSCLC treated with immunotherapeutic agents.

Methods

Patients received immune-checkpoint inhibitors (pembrolizumab, atezolizumab, nivolumab, and durvalumab plus tremelimumab) to treat metastatic or recurrent NSCLC after failed platinum-based chemotherapy. Tumor response was assessed according to both RECIST v1.1 and irRC.

Results

Responses by 41 patients were analyzed. The overall response rate (ORR) was 29.2% (95% CI 17.6–44.5) assessed by RECIST v1.1 and 34.1% (95% CI 21.6–49.4) by irRC, showing similar results from the two methods (p = 0.923). Two patients (4.9%) were defined as having progressive disease as assessed by RECIST but not by irRC. The patients eventually experienced tumor regression, suggesting delayed pseudoprogression. For all patients, the median PFS was 5.1 months (95% CI 3.4–6.7) and OS was 18.3 months (95% CI 6.7–29.8). In multivariate analysis, ex- or current smokers (HR 0.34, p = 0.14) and EGFR mutation negativity (HR 0.16, p = 0.05) were associated with significantly longer PFS.

Conclusion

Our study found that pseudoprogression was not frequently observed in NSCLC. Conventional RECIST v1.1 might underestimate the benefit of immune-checkpoint inhibitors. Given the small number of patients studied, further study is warranted on whether treatment with immune-checkpoint inhibitors beyond RECIST progression benefits patients with advanced NSCLC.

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Apparent and Intrinsic Evolution of Active Region Upflows

Baker, D; Janvier, M; Démoulin, P; Mandrini, CH; (2017) Apparent and Intrinsic Evolution of Active Region Upflows. Solar Physics , 292 (4) 10.1007/s11207-017-1072-9 . Green open access

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Institutions in Transition: Is the EU Integration Process Relevant for Inward FDI in Transition European Economies?

Delevic, U; Heim, I; (2017) Institutions in Transition: Is the EU Integration Process Relevant for Inward FDI in Transition European Economies? Eurasian Journal of Economics and Finance , 5 (1) pp. 16-32. 10.15604/ejef.2017.05.01.002 . Green open access

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Characterization of a novel HESX1 mutation in a pediatric case of septo-optic dysplasia

Pozzi, S; Tan, W-H; Martinez-Barbera, J; (2017) Characterization of a novel HESX1 mutation in a pediatric case of septo-optic dysplasia. Clinical Case Reports , 5 (4) pp. 463-470. 10.1002/ccr3.868 . Green open access

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Signalling mechanisms contributing to integrin activation and immunological synapse formation in B cells

Vehlow, A; (2007) Signalling mechanisms contributing to integrin activation and immunological synapse formation in B cells. Doctoral thesis, UCL (University College London). Green open access

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Scientists' views of the philosophy of science

Riesch, H; (2008) Scientists' views of the philosophy of science. Doctoral thesis, UCL (University College London). Green open access

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Meta-analysis of quality-of-life improvement after cochlear implantation and associations with speech recognition abilities

Objectives

Determine the impact of cochlear implantation on quality of life (QOL) and determine the correlation between QOL and speech recognition ability.

Study Design

Two authors independently searched PubMed, Medline, Scopus, and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature to identify studies reporting hearing-specific or cochlear implant (CI)–specific QOL outcomes before and after cochlear implantation, and studies reporting correlations between QOL and speech recognition after cochlear implantation. Data from the included articles were obtained independently by two authors. Standardized mean difference (SMD) for each measure and pooled effects were determined to assess improvement in QOL before and after cochlear implantation.

Results

From 14 articles with 679 CI patients who met the inclusion criteria, pooled analyses of all hearing-specific QOL measures revealed a very strong improvement in QOL after cochlear implantation (SMD = 1.77). Subset analysis of CI-specific QOL measures also showed very strong improvement (SMD = 1.69). Thirteen articles with 715 patients met the criteria to evaluate associations between QOL and speech recognition. Pooled analyses showed a low positive correlation between hearing-specific QOL and word recognition in quiet (r = 0.213), sentence recognition in quiet (r = 0.241), and sentence recognition in noise (r = 0.238). Subset analysis of CI-specific QOL showed similarly low positive correlations with word recognition in quiet (r = 0.213), word recognition in noise (r = 0.241), and sentence recognition in noise (r = 0.255).

Conclusions

Using hearing-specific and CI-specific measures of QOL, patients report significantly improved QOL after cochlear implantation. However, widely used clinical measures of speech recognition are poor predictors of patient-reported QOL with CIs. Laryngoscope, 2017

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Association between systemic antibiotic and corticosteroid use for chronic rhinosinusitis and quality of life

Objective

We sought to establish the significance of querying chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) patients about their past CRS-related oral antibiotic and corticosteroid usage by determining the association between these metrics and patients' quality of life (QoL).

Study Design

Cross-sectional study.

Methods

A total of 157 patients with CRS were prospectively recruited. CRS-specific QoL was measured using the 22-item Sinonasal Outcome Test (SNOT-22). General health-related QoL was measured using the EuroQoL five-dimensional questionnaire visual analog scale. Associations were sought between these measures of QoL and frequency of CRS-related oral antibiotic and corticosteroid usage reported by the participants in the prior 3 and 12 months.

Results

More frequent antibiotic and corticosteroid use was significantly associated with worse CRS-specific and general health-related QoL, whether querying medication use over the prior 3 months or over the prior 12 months (P < 0.001 in all cases). The effect size of CRS-related antibiotic use during the prior 3 months on CRS-specific QoL (SNOT-22 score) was significantly greater than for use during the prior 12 months. However, there was no other statistically significant difference in effect size for association between QoL and CRS-related antibiotic or corticosteroid use in the prior 3 months versus prior 12 months. These results were independent of the presence or absence of polyps.

Conclusion

More frequent past CRS-related oral antibiotic and corticosteroid use, regardless of time period queried (3 months or 12 months) is associated with significant decrease in CRS-specific and general health-related QoL. CRS-related systemic medication use is an important indicator of CRS patients' QOL that easily can be queried and utilized in both clinical and research settings.

Level of Evidence

2c. Laryngoscope, 2017

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Concentric photothermal coagulation with basket-integrated optical device for treatment of tracheal stenosis

A basket-integrated optical device is developed to consistently treat tubular tissue by centering an optical diffuser in the lumen. Four nitinol arms in conjunction with the optical diffusing applicator are deployed to induce homogeneous circumferential light emission and concentric photothermal coagulation on tracheal tissue. 1470-nm laser light is employed for the tissue testing at various irradiation conditions and evaluated in terms of thermal gradient and temperature evolution. Preliminary experiments on liver tissue demonstrate the concentric development of the radial thermal coagulation in the tissue (eccentric ratio = ~5.5 %). The interstitial tissue temperature increases with the total amount of energy delivery (around 65 °C). Ex vivo trachea testing yields up to 16.5% tissue shrinkage due to dehydration as well as uniform ablation of the cilia and goblet cells in a mucosa layer under 7-W irradiation for 10 s. The proposed optical device may be a feasible therapeutic method to entail the circumferential coagulation in the tubular tissues in a reliable manner.

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Controlling the near infrared transparency of costal cartilage by impregnation with clearing agents and magnetite nanoparticles

Penetration depth of near infrared laser radiation to costal cartilage is controlled by the tissue absorption and scattering and it is the critical parameter to provide the relaxation of mechanical stress throughout the whole thickness of cartilage implant. To enhance the penetration for the laser radiation on 1.56 μm the optical clearing solutions of glycerol and fructose of various concentrations are tested. The effective and reversible tissue clearance was achieved. However, the increasing absorption of radiation should be concerned: 5-8^ᴼC increase of tissue temperature was detected. Laser parameters used for stress relaxation in cartilage should be optimized when applying optical clearing agents (OCAs). To concentrate the absorption in the superficial tissue layers magnetite nanoparticle (NP) dispersions with the mean size 95±5 nm and concentration 3.9±1.1x10¹¹ particles/ml are applied. The significant increase in the tissue heating rate was observed along with the decrease in its transparency. Using NPs the respective laser power can be decreased allowing us to obtain the working temperature locally with reduced thermal effect on the surrounding tissue.

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Risks, Vol. 5, Pages 40: The Class of (p,q)-spherical Distributions with an Extension of the Sector and Circle Number Functions

Risks, Vol. 5, Pages 40: The Class of (p,q)-spherical Distributions with an Extension of the Sector and Circle Number Functions

Risks doi: 10.3390/risks5030040

Authors: Wolf-Dieter Richter

For evaluating the probabilities of arbitrary random events with respect to a given multivariate probability distribution, specific techniques are of great interest. An important two-dimensional high risk limit law is the Gauss-exponential distribution whose probabilities can be dealt with based on the Gauss–Laplace law. The latter will be considered here as an element of the newly-introduced family of ( p , q ) -spherical distributions. Based on a suitably-defined non-Euclidean arc-length measure on ( p , q ) -circles, we prove geometric and stochastic representations of these distributions and correspondingly distributed random vectors, respectively. These representations allow dealing with the new probability measures similarly to with elliptically-contoured distributions and more general homogeneous star-shaped ones. This is demonstrated by the generalization of the Box–Muller simulation method. In passing, we prove an extension of the sector and circle number functions.

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Biomolecules, Vol. 7, Pages 55: Altered Protein Interactions of the Endogenous Interactome of PTPIP51 towards MAPK Signaling

Biomolecules, Vol. 7, Pages 55: Altered Protein Interactions of the Endogenous Interactome of PTPIP51 towards MAPK Signaling

Biomolecules doi: 10.3390/biom7030055

Authors: Alexander Brobeil Rajaa Chehab Eric Dietel Stefan Gattenlöhner Monika Wimmer

Protein–protein interactions play a pivotal role in normal cellular functions as well as in carcinogenesis. The protein–protein interactions form functional clusters during signal transduction. To elucidate the fine calibration of the protein–protein interactions of protein tyrosine phosphatase interacting protein 51 (PTPIP51) a small molecule drug, namely LDC-3, directly targeting PTPIP51 is now available. Therefore, LDC-3 allows for the studying of the regulation of the endogenous interactome by modulating PTPIP51 binding capacity. Small interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) experiments show that the modification in PTPIP51 binding capacity is induced by LDC-3. Application of LDC-3 annuls the known regulatory phosphorylation mechanisms for PTPIP51 and consequently, significantly alters the assembly of the PTPIP51 associated protein complexes. The treatment of human keratinocytes (HaCaT cells) with LDC-3 induces an altered protein–protein interaction profile of the endogenous interactome of PTPIP51. In addition, LDC-3 stabilizes PTPIP51 within a mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) complex composed of Raf-1 and the scaffold protein 14-3-3, independent of the phosphorylation status of PTPIP51. Of note, under LDC-3 treatment the regulatory function of the PTP1B on PTPIP51 fails to impact the PTPIP51 interaction characteristics, as reported for the HaCaT cell line. In summary, LDC-3 gives the unique opportunity to directly modulate PTPIP51 in malignant cells, thus targeting potential dysregulated signal transduction pathways such as the MAPK cascade. The provided data give critical insights in the therapeutic potential of PTPIP51 protein interactions and thus are basic for possible targeted therapy regimens.

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Societies, Vol. 7, Pages 19: “Self-Employed” in Caregivinghood: The Contribution of Swedish Informal Caregivers’ Environmental and Contextual Resistance Resources and Deficits

Societies, Vol. 7, Pages 19: "Self-Employed" in Caregivinghood: The Contribution of Swedish Informal Caregivers' Environmental and Contextual Resistance Resources and Deficits

Societies doi: 10.3390/soc7030019

Authors: Monica Eriksson Mia Wennerberg Solveig Lundgren Ella Danielson

Informal caregivers provide the majority of care for older adults residing in their own homes. Caregivinghood, a new evidence-based concept, describes a time of life when relatives provide care at home. These caregivers need knowledge regarding resources to help them resolve the challenges they encounter. The theoretical framework underpinning this study is Antonovsky's salutogenic theory of health. This study had two aims: (1) to examine the salutogenic core concepts Generalized and Specific Resistance Resources and Deficits (GRRs/SRRs and GRDs/SRDs) described by Swedish informal caregivers as originating from the environmental and contextual domain of caregivinghood and (2) to discuss how this new knowledge might contribute to the development of health promotion initiatives. This qualitative and theory driven study used inductive and deductive data analysis. Data were gathered through salutogenically guided face-to-face interviews of 32 Swedish informal caregivers. In addition, the study relied on the salutogenic core concepts Specific and Generalized Resistance Resources and Deficits originating from their environment and context. Being in empowering surroundings reflects the presence of usable SRRs/GRRs, whereas Struggling in impeding surroundings reflects the presence of SRDs/GRDs. The results indicate that health-enhancing support has to be individualized (SRRs/SRDs) and generalized (GRRs/GRDs). This study's salutogenic approach and the methodology enhance the understanding of the mechanisms behind the development of Sense of Coherence. The results contribute both empirically and theoretically to strengthen health promotion research and practice when developing activities and support for caregivers in stressful situations, such as informal caregiving.

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Nanomaterials, Vol. 7, Pages 188: Growth Mechanism Studies of ZnO Nanowires: Experimental Observations and Short-Circuit Diffusion Analysis

Nanomaterials, Vol. 7, Pages 188: Growth Mechanism Studies of ZnO Nanowires: Experimental Observations and Short-Circuit Diffusion Analysis

Nanomaterials doi: 10.3390/nano7070188

Authors: Po-Hsun Shih Sheng Wu

Plenty of studies have been performed to probe the diverse properties of ZnO nanowires, but only a few have focused on the physical properties of a single nanowire since analyzing the growth mechanism along a single nanowire is difficult. In this study, a single ZnO nanowire was synthesized using a Ti-assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method to avoid the appearance of catalytic contamination. Two-dimensional energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) mapping with a diffusion model was used to obtain the diffusion length and the activation energy ratio. The ratio value is close to 0.3, revealing that the growth of ZnO nanowires was attributed to the short-circuit diffusion.

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Algorithms, Vol. 10, Pages 83: Fuzzy Fireworks Algorithm Based on a Sparks Dispersion Measure

Algorithms, Vol. 10, Pages 83: Fuzzy Fireworks Algorithm Based on a Sparks Dispersion Measure

Algorithms doi: 10.3390/a10030083

Authors: Juan Barraza Patricia Melin Fevrier Valdez Claudia Gonzalez

The main goal of this paper is to improve the performance of the Fireworks Algorithm (FWA). To improve the performance of the FWA we propose three modifications: the first modification is to change the stopping criteria, this is to say, previously, the number of function evaluations was utilized as a stopping criteria, and we decided to change this to specify a particular number of iterations; the second and third modifications consist on introducing a dispersion metric (dispersion percent), and both modifications were made with the goal of achieving dynamic adaptation of the two parameters in the algorithm. The parameters that were controlled are the explosion amplitude and the number of sparks, and it is worth mentioning that the control of these parameters is based on a fuzzy logic approach. To measure the impact of these modifications, we perform experiments with 14 benchmark functions and a comparative study shows the advantage of the proposed approach. We decided to call the proposed algorithms Iterative Fireworks Algorithm (IFWA) and two variants of the Dispersion Percent Iterative Fuzzy Fireworks Algorithm (DPIFWA-I and DPIFWA-II, respectively).

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IJERPH, Vol. 14, Pages 824: Illuminating the Psychological Experience of Elderly Loneliness from a Societal Perspective: A Qualitative Study of Alienation between Older People and Society

IJERPH, Vol. 14, Pages 824: Illuminating the Psychological Experience of Elderly Loneliness from a Societal Perspective: A Qualitative Study of Alienation between Older People and Society

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health doi: 10.3390/ijerph14070824

Authors: Anna Wong Anson K. C. Chau Yang Fang Jean Woo

Loneliness is a common experience among older people that is associated with health risks and negative well-being. As a psychological phenomenon, it has typically been defined in Western research literature as the discrepancy between desired and actual interpersonal relations. In our qualitative study in Hong Kong, we offer insight into ageing and loneliness in an urban environment of the non-Western world and propose to reconceptualise loneliness by exploring older people's experience of alienation at the societal level as an important but often neglected dimension of their loneliness. Thirty-seven community-dwelling, Chinese adults aged 65 and above were interviewed in focus groups and their accounts analysed and interpreted using a phenomenological approach. Findings revealed that focus group participants perceived insufficient care for older people, a growing distance between themselves and society, and their disintegrating identity in society to be primary sources of societal alienation. In response, older people adopted a more passive lifestyle, attributed marginalisation and inequality to old age, and developed negative feelings including unease towards ageing, vulnerability and helplessness, and anger. The emergence of these key components and underlying themes of societal alienation illuminated neglected facets of the psychological phenomenon of loneliness and highlighted new implications for policy, practice, and research from a societal perspective to address older people's loneliness in urban settings.

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Nutrients, Vol. 9, Pages 787: Iron Bioavailability Studies of the First Generation of Iron-Biofortified Beans Released in Rwanda

Nutrients, Vol. 9, Pages 787: Iron Bioavailability Studies of the First Generation of Iron-Biofortified Beans Released in Rwanda

Nutrients doi: 10.3390/nu9070787

Authors: Raymond Glahn Elad Tako Jonathan Hart Jere Haas Mercy Lung'aho Steve Beebe

This paper represents a series of in vitro iron (Fe) bioavailability experiments, Fe content analysis and polyphenolic profile of the first generation of Fe biofortified beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) selected for human trials in Rwanda and released to farmers of that region. The objective of the present study was to demonstrate how the Caco-2 cell bioassay for Fe bioavailability can be utilized to assess the nutritional quality of Fe in such varieties and how they may interact with diets and meal plans of experimental studies. Furthermore, experiments were also conducted to directly compare this in vitro approach with specific human absorption studies of these Fe biofortified beans. The results show that other foods consumed with beans, such as rice, can negatively affect Fe bioavailability whereas potato may enhance the Fe absorption when consumed with beans. The results also suggest that the extrinsic labelling approach to measuring human Fe absorption can be flawed and thus provide misleading information. Overall, the results provide evidence that the Caco-2 cell bioassay represents an effective approach to evaluate the nutritional quality of Fe-biofortified beans, both separate from and within a targeted diet or meal plan.

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Pathogens, Vol. 6, Pages 33: A Comprehensive Review of Common Bacterial, Parasitic and Viral Zoonoses at the Human-Animal Interface in Egypt

Pathogens, Vol. 6, Pages 33: A Comprehensive Review of Common Bacterial, Parasitic and Viral Zoonoses at the Human-Animal Interface in Egypt

Pathogens doi: 10.3390/pathogens6030033

Authors: Yosra Helmy Hosny El-Adawy Elsayed Abdelwhab

Egypt has a unique geographical location connecting the three old-world continents Africa, Asia and Europe. It is the country with the highest population density in the Middle East, Northern Africa and the Mediterranean basin. This review summarizes the prevalence, reservoirs, sources of human infection and control regimes of common bacterial, parasitic and viral zoonoses in animals and humans in Egypt. There is a gap of knowledge conerning the epidemiology of zoonotic diseases at the human-animal interface in different localities in Egypt. Some zoonotic agents are "exotic" for Egypt (e.g., MERS-CoV and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus), others are endemic (e.g., Brucellosis, Schistosomiasis and Avian influenza). Transboundary transmission of emerging pathogens from and to Egypt occurred via different routes, mainly importation/exportation of apparently healthy animals or migratory birds. Control of the infectious agents and multidrug resistant bacteria in the veterinary sector is on the frontline for infection control in humans. The implementation of control programs significantly decreased the prevalence of some zoonoses, such as schistosomiasis and fascioliasis, in some localities within the country. Sustainable awareness, education and training targeting groups at high risk (veterinarians, farmers, abattoir workers, nurses, etc.) are important to lessen the burden of zoonotic diseases among Egyptians. There is an urgent need for collaborative surveillance and intervention plans for the control of these diseases in Egypt.

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IJERPH, Vol. 14, Pages 822: Dissipation and Residues of Pyrethrins in Leaf Lettuce under Greenhouse and Open Field Conditions

IJERPH, Vol. 14, Pages 822: Dissipation and Residues of Pyrethrins in Leaf Lettuce under Greenhouse and Open Field Conditions

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health doi: 10.3390/ijerph14070822

Authors: Lixiang Pan Xiaoxiao Feng Hongyan Zhang

Pyrethrins are nowadays widely used for prevention and control of insects in leaf lettuce. However, there is a concern about the pesticide residue in leaf lettuce. A reliable analytical method for determination of pyrethrins (pyrethrin—and П, cinerin І and П, and jasmolin І and П) in leaf lettuce was developed by using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Recoveries of pyrethrins in leaf lettuce at three spiking levels were 99.4–104.0% with relative standard deviations of 0.9–3.1% (n = 5). Evaluation of dissipation and final residues of pyrethrins in leaf lettuce were determined at six different locations, including the open field, as well as under greenhouse conditions. The initial concentration of pyrethrins in greenhouse (0.57 mg/kg) was higher than in open field (0.25 mg/kg) and the half-life for pyrethrins disappearance in field lettuce (0.7 days) was less than that greenhouse lettuce (1.1 days). Factors such as rainfall, solar radiation, wind speed, and crop growth rate are likely to have caused these results. The final residue in leaf lettuce was far below the maximum residue limits (MRLs) (1 mg/kg established by the European Union (EU), Australia, Korea, Japan).

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Remote Sensing, Vol. 9, Pages 752: Minimizing the Residual Topography Effect on Interferograms to Improve DInSAR Results: Estimating Land Subsidence in Port-Said City, Egypt

Remote Sensing, Vol. 9, Pages 752: Minimizing the Residual Topography Effect on Interferograms to Improve DInSAR Results: Estimating Land Subsidence in Port-Said City, Egypt

Remote Sensing doi: 10.3390/rs9070752

Authors: Ahmed Gaber Noura Darwish Magaly Koch

The accurate detection of land subsidence rates in urban areas is important to identify damage-prone areas and provide decision-makers with useful information. Meanwhile, no precise measurements of land subsidence have been undertaken within the coastal Port-Said City in Egypt to evaluate its hazard in relationship to sea-level rise. In order to address this shortcoming, this work introduces and evaluates a methodology that substantially improves small subsidence rate estimations in an urban setting. Eight ALOS/PALSAR-1 scenes were used to estimate the land subsidence rates in Port-Said City, using the Small BAse line Subset (SBAS) DInSAR technique. A stereo pair of ALOS/PRISM was used to generate an accurate DEM to minimize the residual topography effect on the generated interferograms. A total of 347 well distributed ground control points (GCP) were collected in Port-Said City using the leveling instrument to calibrate the generated DEM. Moreover, the eight PALSAR scenes were co-registered using 50 well-distributed GCPs and used to generate 22 interferogram pairs. These PALSAR interferograms were subsequently filtered and used together with the coherence data to calculate the phase unwrapping. The phase-unwrapped interferogram-pairs were then evaluated to discard four interferograms that were affected by phase jumps and phase ramps. Results confirmed that using an accurate DEM (ALOS/PRISM) was essential for accurately detecting small deformations. The vertical displacement rate during the investigated period (2007–2010) was estimated to be −28 mm. The results further indicate that the northern area of Port-Said City has been subjected to higher land subsidence rates compared to the southern area. Such land subsidence rates might induce significant environmental changes with respect to sea-level rise.

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Epigenomes, Vol. 1, Pages 11: Epitranscriptome and FMRP Regulated mRNA Translation

Epigenomes, Vol. 1, Pages 11: Epitranscriptome and FMRP Regulated mRNA Translation

Epigenomes doi: 10.3390/epigenomes1020011

Authors: Pritha Majumder Biswanath Chatterjee C.-K. Shen

An important regulatory mechanism affecting mRNA translation involves various covalent modifications of RNA, which establish distinct epitranscriptomic signatures that actively influence various physiological processes. Dendritic translation in mammalian neurons is a potent target for RNA modification-based regulation. In this mini-review, we focus on the effect of potential RNA modifications on the spatiotemporal regulation of the dendritic translation of mRNAs, which are targeted by two important neuronal translational co-regulators, namely TDP-43 and Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein (FMRP).

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Geosciences, Vol. 7, Pages 61: Applicability of Natural Zeolite for NH-Forms Removal in Enzyme-Mediated Calcite Precipitation Technique

Geosciences, Vol. 7, Pages 61: Applicability of Natural Zeolite for NH-Forms Removal in Enzyme-Mediated Calcite Precipitation Technique

Geosciences doi: 10.3390/geosciences7030061

Authors: Heriansyah Putra Hideaki Yasuhara Naoki Kinoshita

This study evaluated the applicability of natural zeolite for the removal of the NH-forms in the enzyme-mediated calcite precipitation technique. The natural zeolite of mordenite was added to prepared grouting solutions composed of urea and urease and mixed thoroughly using a rotation table for the mixing times of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 h. Then, the concentrations of evolving NH-forms in the solutions were measured. The effects of the presence of zeolite on the amount and the mineralogical substance of the precipitated minerals were also evaluated by X-ray powder diffraction and scanning electron microscopy analyses. Sand samples were treated with the grouting solutions containing zeolite, and the improvement in strength was assessed. It was found that utilizing zeolite in grouting solutions can reduce the concentration of NH-forms. A significant reduction in the concentration of NH-forms was obtained. The addition of 10 g natural zeolite/L solution, combined with the 2-h mixing time, resulted in removal efficiencies of 75% and 45% in reagent concentrations of 0.5 and 1.0 mol/L, respectively. Mechanical test results showed that the grouting solutions also brought about a significant improvement in the soil strength. A precipitated material, comprising 9% of the sand mass, was produced by three pore volume (PV) injections of the grouting materials, which showed an unconfined compressive strength of 300 kPa.

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Catheter Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation: An Overview for Clinicians

Abstract

Catheter ablation (CA) of atrial fibrillation (AF) is currently one of the most commonly performed electrophysiology procedures. Ablation of paroxysmal AF is based on the elimination of triggers by pulmonary vein isolation (PVI), while different strategies for additional AF substrate modification on top of PVI have been proposed for ablation of persistent AF. Nowadays, various technologies for AF ablation are available. The radiofrequency point-by-point ablation navigated by electro-anatomical mapping system and cryo-balloon technology are comparable in terms of the efficacy and safety of the PVI procedure. Long-term success of AF ablation including multiple procedures varies from 50 to 80%. Arrhythmia recurrences commonly occur, mostly due to PV reconnection. The recurrences are particularly common in patients with non-paroxysmal AF, dilated left atrium and the "early recurrence" of AF within the first 2–3 post-procedural months. In addition, this complex procedure can be accompanied by serious complications, such as cardiac tamponade, stroke, atrio-esophageal fistula and PV stenosis. Therefore, CA represents a second-line treatment option after a trial of antiarrhythmic drug(s). Good candidates for the procedure are relatively younger patients with symptomatic and frequent episodes of AF, with no significant structural heart disease and no significant left atrial enlargement. Randomized trials demonstrated the superiority of ablation compared to antiarrhythmic drugs in terms of improving the quality of life and symptoms in AF patients. However, nonrandomized studies reported additional clinical benefits from ablation over drug therapy in selected AF patients, such as the reduction of the mortality and stroke rates and the recovery of tachyarrhythmia-induced cardiomyopathy. Future research should enable the creation of more durable ablative lesions and the selection of the optimal lesion set in each patient according to the degree of atrial remodeling. This could provide better long-term CA success and expand indications for the procedure, especially among the patients with non-paroxysmal AF.

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Calcium/calmodulin-dependent kinase 2 (CaMKII) mediates Epac-induced spontaneous transient outward currents (STOCs) in rat vascular smooth muscle

Abstract

Activation of the major cAMP effector, exchange protein directly activated by cAMP (Epac), induces vascular smooth muscle relaxation by increasing the activity of ryanodine (RyR)-sensitive release channels on the peripheral sarcoplasmic reticulum. Resultant Ca²⁺ sparks activate plasma membrane Ca²⁺-activated K⁺ (BK_Ca) channels, evoking spontaneous transient outward currents (STOCs) that hyperpolarize the cell and reduce voltage-dependent Ca²⁺ entry. In this study we investigate the mechanism by which Epac increases STOC activity. We show that the selective Epac activator 8-pCPT-AM induces autophosphorylation (activation) of calcium/calmodulin-dependent kinase 2 (CaMKII), and that inhibition of CaMKII abolishes 8-pCPT-AM-induced increases in STOC activity. Epac-induced CaMKII activation is likely initiated by IP₃-mobilized Ca²⁺:8-pCPT-AM fails to induce CaMKII activation following intracellular Ca²⁺ store depletion, and inhibition of IP₃ receptors blocks both 8-pCPT-AM-mediated CaMKII phosphorylation and STOC activity. 8-pCPT-AM does not directly activate BK_Ca channels, but STOCs cannot be generated by 8-pCPT-AM in the presence of ryanodine. Further, exposure to 8-pCPT-AM significantly slows the initial rate of [Ca²⁺]_i rise induced by the RyR activator caffeine without significantly affecting the caffeine-induced Ca²⁺ transient amplitude, a measure of Ca²⁺ store content. We conclude that Epac-mediated STOC activity (i) occurs via activation of CaMKII, and (ii) is driven by changes in the underlying behaviour of RyR channels. To our knowledge this is the first report of CaMKII initiating cellular activity linked to vasorelaxation and suggests novel roles for this Ca²⁺ and redox-sensing enzyme in the regulation of vascular tone and blood flow.

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

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Inhibitory effect and mechanism of mesenchymal stem cells on melanoma cells

Abstract

Purpose

To explore the inhibitory effect and mechanism of MSCs on melanoma proliferation.

Methods

The inhibitory effect of MSCs on melanoma A375 cells was detected by co-culture and conditioned medium (CM) experiments using MTT method. The cell cycle was analyzed by flow cytometry. Then, Western Blot experiment detected the expression of proteins related to NF-κB signaling in A375 cells. The expression of IL-1Ra in MSCs was proved by RT-PCR. The over-expression and silencing vector pcDNA3.1-EGFP-IL-1Ra and pGPH1-IL-1R were constructed and transfected into MSCs cells. After that, the changes of inhibitory effect and cell cycle from MSCs-S and MSCs-O CM on A375 cells were explored. The expression of proteins related to NF-κB signaling in A375 cells after MSCs-S or MSCs-O CM treatment was detected by Western Blot. MSCs, MSCs-S, or MSCs-O and A375 cells were co-injected into nude mice under the arms, the growth of tumor was observed, the frozen sections were made, and H&E staining of tumor tissue was performed.

Results

The proliferation of A375 cells was inhibited and the cell cycle of A375 was arrested by MSCs. The expressions of cytokines related to NF-κB signaling were down-regulated. Over-expression and silence of Interleukin 1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra), specifically blocking activation of NF-κB signaling, indicated that inhibitory effect from MSCs was enhanced or weakened respectively, which suggested that IL-1Ra was involved in the inhibitory effect. In vivo, tumor initiation and growth were significantly inhibited when A375 cells were co-injected with MSCs into nude mice, which were related to the expression level of IL-1Ra.

Conclusion

MSCs could inhibit the proliferation and tumor initiation of melanoma A375 cells through NF-κB signaling. MSCs could secret IL-1Ra and inhibit expressions of NF-κB signaling-related factors of tumor cells, and cause cell cycle arrest in G1 phase.

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Laryngocele: A Rare Case Report and Review of Literature

Abstract

Laryngocele is an abnormal cystic dilatation of the saccule of the larynx. It communicates with the laryngeal lumen and contains air. Laryngocele can be classified as internal (within the larynx), external (outside the larynx) and mixed (both). It is a rare entity. Hereby, we are reporting a case of laryngocele, which presented to us with a diagnostic quandary. After confirming the diagnosis by radiology, patient was operated upon by external approach. In the following article, we also discuss the establishment of the diagnosis and review different surgical modalities for the management of various types of laryngocele.

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Susceptibility weighted imaging and quantitative susceptibility mapping of the cerebral vasculature using ferumoxytol

Purpose

To demonstrate the potential of imaging cerebral arteries and veins with ferumoxytol using susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) and quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM).

Materials and Methods

The relationships between ferumoxytol concentration and the apparent susceptibility at 1.5T, 3T, and 7T were determined using phantom data; the ability of visualizing subvoxel vessels was evaluated using simulations; and the feasibility of using ferumoxytol to enhance the visibility of small vessels was confirmed in three healthy volunteers at 7T(with doses 1 mg/kg to 4 mg/kg). The visualization of the lenticulostriate arteries and the medullary veins was assessed by two raters and the contrast-to-noise ratios (CNRs) of these vessels were measured.

Results

The relationship between ferumoxytol concentration and susceptibility was linear with a slope 13.3 ± 0.2 ppm·mg^-1·mL at 7T. Simulations showed that SWI data with an increased dose of ferumoxytol, higher echo time (TE), and higher imaging resolution improved the detection of smaller vessels. With 4 mg/kg ferumoxytol, voxel aspect ratio = 1:8, TE = 10 ms, the diameter of the smallest detectable artery was approximately 50μm. The rating score for arteries was improved from 1.5 ± 0.5 (precontrast) to 3.0 ± 0.0 (post-4 mg/kg) in the in vivo data and the apparent susceptibilities of the arteries (0.65 ± 0.02 ppm at 4 mg/kg) agreed well with the expected susceptibility (0.71 ± 0.05 ppm).

Conclusion

The CNR for cerebral vessels with ferumoxytol can be enhanced using SWI, and the apparent susceptibilities of the arteries can be reliably quantified using QSM. This approach improves the imaging of the entire vascular system outside the capillaries and may be valuable for a variety of neurodegenerative diseases which involve the microvasculature.

Level of Evidence: 1

Technical Efficacy: Stage 1

J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2017.

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How Swallow Pressures and Dysphagia Affect Malnutrition and Mealtime Outcomes in Long-Term Care

Abstract

Malnutrition is a major cause of hospitalization for residents of long-term care facilities (LTC). Dysphagia is thought to contribute to malnutrition. Tongue weakness is suggested to predict poor food intake, longer meals, and dysphagia. We explored the relationships between tongue strength, dysphagia, malnutrition and mealtime outcomes in LTC residents. Data were collected from 639 LTC residents (199 male), aged 62–102 (mean 87). Maximum isometric tongue pressures (MIPs) and saliva swallow pressures (MSPs) were measured using the Iowa Oral Performance Instrument. Participants also completed the Screening Tool for Acute Neuro Dysphagia. Nutrition status was assessed using the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment. A series of repeated meal observations provided measures of meal duration and calories consumed. Mean MIPs were 33 kPa (95% CI 29–37) and MSPs were 26 kPa (95% CI 23–29). The odds of showing signs of dysphagia were 3.7 times greater in those with MSPs less than 26 kPa (p < 0.05). The odds of being malnourished were almost double in those showing signs of dysphagia. Co-occurrence of dysphagia and malnutrition was seen in 29%. Residents with low MSPs also had significantly longer mealtime durations (MTD) (p < 0.05). Moreover, those with both low swallowing pressures and suspected dysphagia consumed fewer calories/minute (p < 0.05) and had significantly longer MTDs (p < 0.05). This study confirms associations between tongue weakness, signs of dysphagia, mealtime outcomes and malnutrition among LTC residents. These findings suggest that saliva swallow pressure measures may be helpful for early identification of dysphagia and nutritional risk in this population.

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Sensors, Vol. 17, Pages 1682: 4SM: A Novel Self-Calibrated Algebraic Ratio Method for Satellite-Derived Bathymetry and Water Column Correction

Sensors, Vol. 17, Pages 1682: 4SM: A Novel Self-Calibrated Algebraic Ratio Method for Satellite-Derived Bathymetry and Water Column Correction

Sensors doi: 10.3390/s17071682

Authors: Yann Morel Fabio Favoretto

All empirical water column correction methods have consistently been reported to require existing depth sounding data for the purpose of calibrating a simple depth retrieval model; they yield poor results over very bright or very dark bottoms. In contrast, we set out to (i) use only the relative radiance data in the image along with published data, and several new assumptions; (ii) in order to specify and operate the simplified radiative transfer equation (RTE); (iii) for the purpose of retrieving both the satellite derived bathymetry (SDB) and the water column corrected spectral reflectance over shallow seabeds. Sea truth regressions show that SDB depths retrieved by the method only need tide correction. Therefore it shall be demonstrated that, under such new assumptions, there is no need for (i) formal atmospheric correction; (ii) conversion of relative radiance into calibrated reflectance; or (iii) existing depth sounding data, to specify the simplified RTE and produce both SDB and spectral water column corrected radiance ready for bottom typing. Moreover, the use of the panchromatic band for that purpose is introduced. Altogether, we named this process the Self-Calibrated Supervised Spectral Shallow-sea Modeler (4SM). This approach requires a trained practitioner, though, to produce its results within hours of downloading the raw image. The ideal raw image should be a "near-nadir" view, exhibit homogeneous atmosphere and water column, include some coverage of optically deep waters and bare land, and lend itself to quality removal of haze, atmospheric adjacency effect, and sun/sky glint.

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Symmetry, Vol. 9, Pages 124: Forecasting Based on High-Order Fuzzy-Fluctuation Trends and Particle Swarm Optimization Machine Learning

Symmetry, Vol. 9, Pages 124: Forecasting Based on High-Order Fuzzy-Fluctuation Trends and Particle Swarm Optimization Machine Learning

Symmetry doi: 10.3390/sym9070124

Authors: Jingyuan Jia Aiwu Zhao Shuang Guan

Most existing fuzzy forecasting models partition historical training time series into fuzzy time series and build fuzzy-trend logical relationship groups to generate forecasting rules. The determination process of intervals is complex and uncertain. In this paper, we present a novel fuzzy forecasting model based on high-order fuzzy-fluctuation trends and the fuzzy-fluctuation logical relationships of the training time series. Firstly, we compare each piece of data with the data of theprevious day in a historical training time series to generate a new fluctuation trend time series (FTTS). Then, we fuzzify the FTTS into a fuzzy-fluctuation time series (FFTS) according to the up, equal, or down range and orientation of the fluctuations. Since the relationship between historical FFTS and the fluctuation trend of the future is nonlinear, a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is employed to estimate the proportions for the lagged variables of the fuzzy AR (n) model. Finally, we use the acquired parameters to forecast future fluctuations. In order to compare the performance of the proposed model with that of the other models, we apply the proposed method to forecast the Taiwan Stock Exchange Capitalization Weighted Stock Index (TAIEX) time series datasets. The experimental results and the comparison results show that the proposed method can be successfully applied in stock market forecasting or similarkinds of time series. We also apply the proposed method to forecast Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index (SHSECI) and DAX30 index to verify its effectiveness and universality.

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Insects, Vol. 8, Pages 72: Aquatic Insects and their Potential to Contribute to the Diet of the Globally Expanding Human Population

Insects, Vol. 8, Pages 72: Aquatic Insects and their Potential to Contribute to the Diet of the Globally Expanding Human Population

Insects doi: 10.3390/insects8030072

Authors: D. Williams Siân Williams

Of the 30 extant orders of true insect, 12 are considered to be aquatic, or semiaquatic, in either some or all of their life stages. Out of these, six orders contain species engaged in entomophagy, but very few are being harvested effectively, leading to over-exploitation and local extinction. Examples of existing practices are given, ranging from the extremes of including insects (e.g., dipterans) in the dietary cores of many indigenous peoples to consumption of selected insects, by a wealthy few, as novelty food (e.g., caddisflies). The comparative nutritional worth of aquatic insects to the human diet and to domestic animal feed is examined. Questions are raised as to whether natural populations of aquatic insects can yield sufficient biomass to be of practicable and sustained use, whether some species can be brought into high-yield cultivation, and what are the requirements and limitations involved in achieving this?

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Materials, Vol. 10, Pages 835: Investigation of the Quasi-Brittle Failure of Alashan Granite Viewed from Laboratory Experiments and Grain-Based Discrete Element Modeling

Materials, Vol. 10, Pages 835: Investigation of the Quasi-Brittle Failure of Alashan Granite Viewed from Laboratory Experiments and Grain-Based Discrete Element Modeling

Materials doi: 10.3390/ma10070835

Authors: Jian Zhou Luqing Zhang Duoxing Yang Anika Braun Zhenhua Han

Granite is a typical crystalline material, often used as a building material, but also a candidate host rock for the repository of high-level radioactive waste. The petrographic texture—including mineral constituents, grain shape, size, and distribution—controls the fracture initiation, propagation, and coalescence within granitic rocks. In this paper, experimental laboratory tests and numerical simulations of a grain-based approach in two-dimensional Particle Flow Code (PFC2D) were conducted on the mechanical strength and failure behavior of Alashan granite, in which the grain-like structure of granitic rock was considered. The microparameters for simulating Alashan granite were calibrated based on real laboratory strength values and strain-stress curves. The unconfined uniaxial compressive test and Brazilian indirect tensile test were performed using a grain-based approach to examine and discuss the influence of mineral grain size and distribution on the strength and patterns of microcracks in granitic rocks. The results show it is possible to reproduce the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) and uniaxial tensile strength (UTS) of Alashan granite using the grain-based approach in PFC2D, and the average mineral size has a positive relationship with the UCS and UTS. During the modeling, most of the generated microcracks were tensile cracks. Moreover, the ratio of the different types of generated microcracks is related to the average grain size. When the average grain size in numerical models is increased, the ratio of the number of intragrain tensile cracks to the number of intergrain tensile cracks increases, and the UCS of rock samples also increases with this ratio. However, the variation in grain size distribution does not have a significant influence on the likelihood of generated microcracks.

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Materials, Vol. 10, Pages 841: Interaction of Shear and Rayleigh–Lamb Waves with Notches and Voids in Plate Waveguides

Materials, Vol. 10, Pages 841: Interaction of Shear and Rayleigh–Lamb Waves with Notches and Voids in Plate Waveguides

Materials doi: 10.3390/ma10070841

Authors: Annamaria Pau Dimitra Achillopoulou

This paper investigates the interaction of different shear- and Rayleigh–Lamb-guided waves in plates with a discontinuity such as a notch or an internal void. The problem was solved numerically using a finite element model and by exploiting an analytical solution obtainable for the double sharp changes of the cross-section that served as a reference. We aimed to elucidate the relation between the size and shape of the discontinuity and the reflection and transmission coefficients of the scattered field. Different sizes and profiles of the discontinuity were considered, with the shapes ranging from step changes of the height to ellipses, both symmetric and nonsymmetric. Regimes related to low and high values of the product frequency multiplied by the height of the plate were investigated. These showed how the mode conversion was related to the symmetry between the incident mode and the discontinuity, and to the actual existence of multiple propagating modes. The analysis presented was motivated by the need to set up procedures that exploit propagating waves not only to detect the presence of a notch, but also to characterize its size and shape.

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Energies, Vol. 10, Pages 956: Linking the Power and Transport Sectors—Part 1: The Principle of Sector Coupling

Energies, Vol. 10, Pages 956: Linking the Power and Transport Sectors—Part 1: The Principle of Sector Coupling

Energies doi: 10.3390/en10070956

Authors: Martin Robinius Alexander Otto Philipp Heuser Lara Welder Konstantinos Syranidis David Ryberg Thomas Grube Peter Markewitz Ralf Peters Detlef Stolten

The usage of renewable energy sources (RESs) to achieve greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction goals requires a holistic transformation across all sectors. Due to the fluctuating nature of RESs, it is necessary to install more wind and photovoltaics (PVs) generation in terms of nominal power than would otherwise be required in order to ensure that the power demand can always be met. In a near fully RES-based energy system, there will be times when there is an inadequate conventional load to meet the overcapacity of RESs, which will lead to demand regularly being exceeded and thereby a surplus. One approach to making productive use of this surplus, which would lead to a holistic transformation of all sectors, is "sector coupling" (SC). This paper describes the general principles behind this concept and develops a working definition intended to be of utility to the international scientific community. Furthermore, a literature review provides an overview of relevant scientific papers on the topic. Due to the challenge of distinguishing between papers with or without SC, the approach adopted here takes the German context as a case study that can be applied to future reviews with an international focus. Finally, to evaluate the potential of SC, an analysis of the linking of the power and transport sectors on a worldwide, EU and German level has been conducted and is outlined here.

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IJERPH, Vol. 14, Pages 818: Land Use and Land Cover Change in the Qinghai Lake Region of the Tibetan Plateau and Its Impact on Ecosystem Services

IJERPH, Vol. 14, Pages 818: Land Use and Land Cover Change in the Qinghai Lake Region of the Tibetan Plateau and Its Impact on Ecosystem Services

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health doi: 10.3390/ijerph14070818

Authors: Jian Gong Jingye Li Jianxin Yang Shicheng Li Wenwu Tang

Exploration of land use and land cover change (LULCC) and its impacts on ecosystem services in Tibetan plateau is valuable for landscape and environmental conservation. In this study, we conduct spatial analysis on empirical land use and land cover data in the Qinghai Lake region for 1990, 2000, and 2010 and simulate land cover patterns for 2020. We then evaluate the impacts of LULCC on ecosystem service value (ESV), and analyze the sensitivity of ESV to LULCC to identify the ecologically sensitive area. Our results indicate that, from 1990 to 2010, the area of forest and grassland increased while the area of unused land decreased. Simulation results suggest that the area of grassland and forest will continue to increase and the area of cropland and unused land will decrease for 2010–2020. The ESV in the study area increased from 694.50 billion Yuan in 1990 to 714.28 billion Yuan in 2000, and to 696.72 billion Yuan in 2020. Hydrology regulation and waste treatment are the top two ecosystem services in this region. The towns surrounding the Qinghai Lake have high ESVs, especially in the north of the Qinghai Lake. The towns with high ESV sensitivity to LULCC are located in the northwest, while the towns in the north of the Qinghai Lake experienced substantial increase in sensitivity index from 2000–2010 to 2010–2020, especially for three regulation services and aesthetic landscape provision services.

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Polymers, Vol. 9, Pages 294: Gas Barrier, Thermal, Mechanical and Rheological Properties of Highly Aligned Graphene-LDPE Nanocomposites

Polymers, Vol. 9, Pages 294: Gas Barrier, Thermal, Mechanical and Rheological Properties of Highly Aligned Graphene-LDPE Nanocomposites

Polymers doi: 10.3390/polym9070294

Authors: Karolina Gaska Roland Kádár Andrzej Rybak Artur Siwek Stanislaw Gubanski

This contribution reports on properties of low-density polyethylene-based composites filled with different amounts of graphene nanoplatelets. The studied samples were prepared in the form of films by means of the precoating technique and single screw melt-extrusion, which yields a highly ordered arrangement of graphene flakes and results in a strong anisotropy of composites morphology. The performed tests of gas permeability reveal a drastic decrease of this property with increasing filler content. A clear correlation is found between permeability and free volume fraction in the material, the latter evaluated by means of positron annihilation spectroscopy. A strong anisotropy of the thermal conductivity is also achieved and the thermal conductivity along the extrusion direction for samples filled with 7.5 wt % of GnP (graphene nanoplatelets) reached 2.2 W/m·K. At the same time, when measured through a plane, a slight decrease of thermal conductivity is found. The use of GnP filler leads also to improvements of mechanical properties. The increase of Young's modulus and tensile strength are reached as the composites become more brittle.

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Materials, Vol. 10, Pages 836: Surface Plasmon Resonance or Biocompatibility—Key Properties for Determining the Applicability of Noble Metal Nanoparticles

Materials, Vol. 10, Pages 836: Surface Plasmon Resonance or Biocompatibility—Key Properties for Determining the Applicability of Noble Metal Nanoparticles

Materials doi: 10.3390/ma10070836

Authors: Ana Maria Craciun Monica Focsan Klara Magyari Adriana Vulpoi Zsolt Pap

Metal and in particular noble metal nanoparticles represent a very special class of materials which can be applied as prepared or as composite materials. In most of the cases, two main properties are exploited in a vast number of publications: biocompatibility and surface plasmon resonance (SPR). For instance, these two important properties are exploitable in plasmonic diagnostics, bioactive glasses/glass ceramics and catalysis. The most frequently applied noble metal nanoparticle that is universally applicable in all the previously mentioned research areas is gold, although in the case of bioactive glasses/glass ceramics, silver and copper nanoparticles are more frequently applied. The composite partners/supports/matrix/scaffolds for these nanoparticles can vary depending on the chosen application (biopolymers, semiconductor-based composites: TiO2, WO3, Bi2WO6, biomaterials: SiO2 or P2O5-based glasses and glass ceramics, polymers: polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), Gelatin, polyethylene glycol (PEG), polylactic acid (PLA), etc.). The scientific works on these materials' applicability and the development of new approaches will be targeted in the present review, focusing in several cases on the functioning mechanism and on the role of the noble metal.

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Water, Vol. 9, Pages 549: Simulation of Typhoon-Induced Storm Tides and Wind Waves for the Northeastern Coast of Taiwan Using a Tide–Surge–Wave Coupled Model

Water, Vol. 9, Pages 549: Simulation of Typhoon-Induced Storm Tides and Wind Waves for the Northeastern Coast of Taiwan Using a Tide–Surge–Wave Coupled Model

Water doi: 10.3390/w9070549

Authors: Wei-Bo Chen Lee-Yaw Lin Jiun-Huei Jang Chih-Hsin Chang

The storm tide is a combination of the astronomical tide and storm surge, which is the actual sea water level leading to flooding in low-lying coastal areas. A full coupled modeling system (Semi-implicit Eulerian-Lagrangian Finite-Element model coupled with Wind Wave Model II, SELFE-WWM-II) for simulating the interaction of tide, surge and waves based on an unstructured grid is applied to simulate the storm tide and wind waves for the northeastern coast of Taiwan. The coupled model was driven by the astronomical tide and consisted of main eight tidal constituents and the meteorological forcings (air pressure and wind stress) of typhoons. SELFE computes the depth-averaged current and water surface elevation passed to WWM-II, while WWM-II passes the radiation stress to SELFE by solving the wave action equation. Hindcasts of wind waves and storm tides for five typhoon events were developed to validate the coupled model. The detailed comparisons generally show good agreement between the simulations and measurements. The contributions of surge induced by wave and meteorological forcings to the storm tide were investigated for Typhoon Soudelor (2015) at three tide gauge stations. The results reveal that the surge contributed by wave radiation stress was 0.55 m at Suao Port due to the giant offshore wind wave (exceeding 16.0 m) caused by Typhoon Soudelor (2015) and the steep sea-bottom slope. The air pressure resulted in a 0.6 m surge at Hualien Port because of an inverted barometer effect. The wind stress effect was only slightly significant at Keelung Port, contributing 0.22 m to the storm tide. We conclude that wind waves should not be neglected when modeling typhoon-induced storm tides, especially in regions with steep sea-bottom slopes. In addition, accurate tidal and meteorological forces are also required for storm tide modeling.

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Inhibitory effect and mechanism of mesenchymal stem cells on melanoma cells

Abstract

Purpose

To explore the inhibitory effect and mechanism of MSCs on melanoma proliferation.

Methods

The inhibitory effect of MSCs on melanoma A375 cells was detected by co-culture and conditioned medium (CM) experiments using MTT method. The cell cycle was analyzed by flow cytometry. Then, Western Blot experiment detected the expression of proteins related to NF-κB signaling in A375 cells. The expression of IL-1Ra in MSCs was proved by RT-PCR. The over-expression and silencing vector pcDNA3.1-EGFP-IL-1Ra and pGPH1-IL-1R were constructed and transfected into MSCs cells. After that, the changes of inhibitory effect and cell cycle from MSCs-S and MSCs-O CM on A375 cells were explored. The expression of proteins related to NF-κB signaling in A375 cells after MSCs-S or MSCs-O CM treatment was detected by Western Blot. MSCs, MSCs-S, or MSCs-O and A375 cells were co-injected into nude mice under the arms, the growth of tumor was observed, the frozen sections were made, and H&E staining of tumor tissue was performed.

Results

The proliferation of A375 cells was inhibited and the cell cycle of A375 was arrested by MSCs. The expressions of cytokines related to NF-κB signaling were down-regulated. Over-expression and silence of Interleukin 1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra), specifically blocking activation of NF-κB signaling, indicated that inhibitory effect from MSCs was enhanced or weakened respectively, which suggested that IL-1Ra was involved in the inhibitory effect. In vivo, tumor initiation and growth were significantly inhibited when A375 cells were co-injected with MSCs into nude mice, which were related to the expression level of IL-1Ra.

Conclusion

MSCs could inhibit the proliferation and tumor initiation of melanoma A375 cells through NF-κB signaling. MSCs could secret IL-1Ra and inhibit expressions of NF-κB signaling-related factors of tumor cells, and cause cell cycle arrest in G1 phase.

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Determining the worldwide epidemiology of surgical site infections after gastrointestinal resection surgery: protocol for a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study (GlobalSurg 2)

Introduction

Surgical site infection (SSI) is the most common complication following major gastrointestinal surgery, affecting between 25% and 40% of patients. The rate of SSI doubles from low-income to high-income settings, persisting after risk adjustment. The relative impact of antibiotic-resistant organisms and the effectiveness of antibiotic prophylaxis globally are unknown. This study aims to determine SSI rates following gastrointestinal surgery across worldwide hospital settings.

Methods and analysis

This multicentre, international, prospective cohort study will be undertaken by any hospital providing emergency or elective gastroenterological surgical services. Centres will collect observational data on consecutive patients undergoing emergency or elective gastrointestinal resection, cholecystectomy or appendicectomy during a 6-month period. The primary outcome is the incidence of SSI with secondary outcomes describing the organisms causing SSIs, including their antibiotic susceptibility, and the microbiological tests used to identify them.

Ethics and dissemination

This project will not affect clinical practice and has been classified as clinical audit following research ethics review. The protocol will be disseminated through the international GlobalSurg network.

Trial registration number

NCT02662231.

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The impact of healthcare professionals personality and religious beliefs on the decisions to forego life sustaining treatments: an observational, multicentre, cross-sectional study in Greek intensive care units

Objectives

To assess the opinion of intensive care unit (ICU) personnel and the impact of their personality and religious beliefs on decisions to forego life-sustaining treatments (DFLSTs).

Setting

Cross-sectional, observational, national study in 18 multidisciplinary Greek ICUs, with >6 beds, between June and December 2015.

Participants

149 doctors and 320 nurses who voluntarily and anonymously answered the End-of-Life (EoL) attitudes, Personality (EPQ) and Religion (SpREUK) questionnaires. Multivariate analysis was used to detect the impact of personality and religious beliefs on the DFLSTs.

Results

The participation rate was 65.7%. Significant differences in DFLSTs between doctors and nurses were identified. 71.4% of doctors and 59.8% of nurses stated that the family was not properly informed about DFLST and the main reason was the family's inability to understand medical details. 51% of doctors expressed fear of litigation and 47% of them declared that this concern influenced the information given to family and nursing staff. 7.5% of the nurses considered DFLSTs dangerous, criminal or illegal. Multivariate logistic regression identified that to be a nurse and to have a high neuroticism score were independent predictors for preferring the term 'passive euthanasia' over 'futile care' (OR 4.41, 95% CI 2.21 to 8.82, p<0.001, and OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.03 to 2.72, p<0.05, respectively). Furthermore, to be a nurse and to have a high-trust religious profile were related to unwillingness to withdraw mechanical ventilation. Fear of litigation and non-disclosure of the information to the family in case of DFLST were associated with a psychoticism personality trait (OR 2.45, 95% CI 1.25 to 4.80, p<0.05).

Conclusion

We demonstrate that fear of litigation is a major barrier to properly informing a patient's relatives and nursing staff. Furthermore, aspects of personality and religious beliefs influence the attitudes of ICU personnel when making decisions to forego life-sustaining treatments.

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Oral glucocorticoid use and osteonecrosis in children and adults with chronic inflammatory diseases: a population-based cohort study

Objectives

We studied oral glucocorticoids and osteonecrosis, a rare but serious bone disease, in individuals with various chronic inflammatory diseases. We hypothesised that we would find stronger associations in adults versus children and in people with autoimmune diseases.

Design

Retrospective cohort study.

Setting

Population-representative data (1994–2013) from general practices in the UK.

Participants

Children and adults diagnosed with asthma; inflammatory bowel disease; juvenile, psoriatic or rheumatoid arthritis; psoriasis; or systemic lupus.

Exposures

Oral glucocorticoid patterns.

Primary and secondary outcome measures

Diagnosed osteonecrosis (primary) and osteonecrosis plus clinical features (eg, symptoms, pain medication, surgical repair) (secondary). Discrete time failure models estimated the adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of incident osteonecrosis following oral glucocorticoid exposure. Hypothesis testing was one sided (with corresponding 90% CI) since glucocorticoids were unlikely protective.

Results

After adjusting for demographic, disease-related and health utilisation factors, glucocorticoid exposure was associated with osteonecrosis in adults (ages 18–49, aHR 2.1 (90% CI 1.5 to 2.9); ages ≥50, aHR 1.3 (90% CI 1.01 to 1.7)). However, low-dose glucocorticoids, corresponding to average doses <7.5 mg prednisolone daily and maximum doses <30 mg daily, were not associated with osteonecrosis in adults. Furthermore, even at high glucocorticoid doses, there was no evidence of increased osteonecrosis among glucocorticoid-exposed children (p=0.04 for interaction by age) (any glucocorticoid exposure, ages 2–9: aHR 1.1 (90% CI 0.7 to 1.7); ages 10–17: aHR 0.6 (90% CI 0.3 to 1.6)). Arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and lupus were independently associated with osteonecrosis, but there was a similar dose relationship between glucocorticoids and osteonecrosis among adults with low-risk and high-risk diseases.

Conclusions

Glucocorticoid use was clearly associated with osteonecrosis in a dose-related fashion in adults, especially young adults, but this risk was not detectable in children. The absolute risk of glucocorticoid-associated osteonecrosis in the general paediatric population and in adults taking low glucocorticoid doses is at most extremely small.

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A unified multi-level model approach to assessing patient responsiveness including; return to normal, minimally important differences and minimal clinically important improvement for patient reported outcome measures

Objective

This article reviews and compares four commonly used approaches to assess patient responsiveness with a treatment or therapy (return to normal (RTN), minimal important difference (MID), minimal clinically important improvement (MCII), OMERACT-OARSI [Outcome Measures in Rheumatology—Osteoarthris Reseach Society International] (OO)) and demonstrates how each of the methods can be formulated in a multilevel modelling (MLM) framework.

Design

Cohort study.

Setting

A cohort of patients undergoing total hip and knee replacement were recruited from a single UK National Health Service hospital.

Population

400 patients from the Arthroplasty Pain Experience cohort study undergoing total hip (n=210) and knee (n=190) replacement who completed the Intermittent and Constant Osteoarthritis Pain questionnaire prior to surgery and then at 3, 6 and 12 months after surgery.

Primary outcomes

The primary outcome was defined as a response to treatment following total hip or knee replacement. We compared baseline scores, change scores and proportion of individuals defined as 'responders' using traditional and MLM approaches with patient responsiveness.

Results

Using existing approaches, baseline and change scores are underestimated, and the variance of baseline and change scores overestimated in comparison with MLM approaches. MLM increases the proportion of individuals defined as responding in RTN, MID and OO criteria compared with existing approaches. Using MLM with the MCII criteria reduces the number of individuals identified as responders.

Conclusion

MLM improves the estimation of the SD of baseline and change scores by explicitly incorporating measurement error into the model and avoiding regression to the mean when making individual predictions. Using refined definitions of responsiveness may lead to a reduction in misclassification when attempting to predict who does and does not respond to an intervention and clarifies the similarities between existing methods.

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Exploring the relationship between frequent internet use and health and social care resource use in a community-based cohort of older adults: an observational study in primary care

Objectives

Given many countries' ageing populations, policymakers must consider how to mitigate or reduce health problems associated with old age, within budgetary constraints. Evidence of use of digital technology in delaying the onset of illness and reducing healthcare service use is mixed, with no clear consensus as yet. Our aim was to investigate the relationship between frequent internet use and patterns of health or social care resource use in primary care attendees who took part in a study seeking to improve the health of older adults.

Methods

Participants recruited from primary care, aged >65 and living in semirural or urban areas in the south of England, were followed up at 3 and 6 months after completing a comprehensive questionnaire with personalised feedback on their health and well-being. We performed logistic regression analyses to investigate relationships between frequent internet use and patterns of service use, controlling for confounding factors, and clustering by general practitioner practice. Four categories of service use data were gathered: use of primary National Health Service (NHS) care; secondary NHS care; other community health and social care services; and assistance with washing, shopping and meals.

Results

Our results show, in this relatively healthy population, a positive relationship (OR 1.72, 95% CI 1.33 to 2.23) between frequent internet use and use of any other community-based health services (physiotherapist, osteopath/chiropractor, dentist, optician/optometrist, counselling service, smoking cessation service, chiropodist/podiatrist, emergency services, other non-specific health services) and no relationship with the other types of care. No causal relationship can be postulated due to the study's design.

Conclusions

No observed relationship between frequent internet use and primary or secondary care use was found, suggesting that older adults without internet access are not disadvantaged regarding healthcare use. Further research should explore how older people use the internet to access healthcare and the impact on health.

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Are there patient-related factors that influence sickness certification in patients with severe subjective health complaints? A cross-sectional exploratory study from different European countries

Objectives

To develop hypotheses about whether there are patient-related factors that influence physicians' decision-making that can explain why some patients with severe subjective health complaints (SHCs) are more likely to be granted sick leave than others.

Design

Exploratory cross-sectional.

Setting

Assessments of patient-related factors after watching nine authentic video recordings of patients with severe SHC from a Norwegian general practice. Our previous study showed that three of these nine patients were less likely than the remaining six patients to be granted sick leave by physicians from five European countries.

Participants

In total, 10 assessors from Norway, the Netherlands and France.

Outcomes

The direction in which the assessments may contribute towards the decision to grant a sickness certificate (increasing or decreasing the likelihood of granting sick leave).

Results

Physicians consider a wide variety of patient-related factors when assessing sickness certification. The overall assessment of these factors may provide an indication of whether a patient is more likely or less likely to be granted sick leave. Additionally, some single questions (notable functional limitations in the consultation, visible suffering, a clear purpose for sick leave and psychiatric comorbidity) may indicate differences between the two patient groups.

Conclusions

Next to the overall assessment, no notable effect of the complaints on functioning and suffering, a lack of a clear purpose for sick leave and the absence of psychiatric comorbidity may be factors that could help guide the decision to grant sick leave. These hypotheses should be tested and validated in representative samples of professionals involved in sickness certification. This may help to understand the tacit knowledge we believe physicians have when assessing work capacity of patients with severe SHC.

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Influences on university students intention to receive recommended vaccines: a cross-sectional survey

Objectives

To explore predictors of university students' intention to receive a recommended vaccine and the main sources of vaccine-related information accessed by university students.

Setting

Participants were recruited from University College London (UK) in summer 2015.

Participants

177 university students participated. The majority of participants were female (58%), White (68%) and had no religion (58%). Participants were aged 18 to 42 (mean age=23.6).

Primary and secondary outcome measures

Primary outcome measures included vaccine attitude, perceived subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, perceived self-efficacy, past receipt of recommended childhood vaccines, perceived adverse reaction to past vaccination and needle fear. As a secondary outcome sources of vaccine-related information were assessed.

Results

Students classified as high intenders were more likely to have received all recommended childhood vaccines (OR 3.57; 95% CI 1.21 to 10.59; p=0.022), be less afraid of needles (OR 2.44; 95% CI 1.12 to 5.36; p=0.026) and to have lived in the UK until at least the age of 4 compared with those not living in the UK until at least the age of 4 (OR 0.39; 95% CI 0.18 to 0.83; p=0.015) and those who lived both in the UK and elsewhere (OR 0.42; 95% CI 0.04 to 4.06; p=0.424). The multivariable model explained 25.5% of variance in intention to receive a recommended vaccine. The internet was the most commonly reported source of vaccination information.

Conclusions

Findings provide an indication of the factors that may need to be addressed by interventions aiming to increase uptake of recommended vaccines in a university population. Future research is recommended using a prospective cohort design.

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Regioselective 1,4-Hydroboration of Pyridines Catalyzed by an Acid-Initiated Boronium Cation

Chem. Commun., 2017, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C7CC04988A, Communication

Evan Keyzer, Sky Kang, Schirin Hanf, Dominic S Wright
The reaction of the commercially available ammonium salt NH₄BPh₄ with a pyridine-activated pinacolborane species generates a boronium cation that facilitates the 1,4-selective hydroboration of pyridines in polar solvents. This catalytic...
The content of this RSS Feed (c) The Royal Society of Chemistry

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How do trends in mortality inequalities by deprivation and education in Scotland and England & Wales compare? A repeat cross-sectional study

Objective

To compare the trends in mortality inequalities by educational attainment with trends using area deprivation.

Setting

Scotland and England & Wales (E&W).

Participants

All people resident in Scotland and E&W between 1981 and 2011 aged 35–79 years.

Primary outcome measures

Absolute inequalities (measured using the Slope Index of Inequality (SII)) and relative inequalities (measured using the Relative Index of Inequality (RII)) in all-cause mortality.

Results

Relative inequalities in mortality by area deprivation have consistently increased for men and women in Scotland and E&W between 1981–1983 and 2010–2012. Absolute inequalities increased for men and women in Scotland, and for women in E&W, between 1981–1983 and 2000–2002 before subsequently falling. For men in E&W, absolute inequalities were more stable until 2000–2002 before a subsequent decline. Both absolute and relative inequalities were consistently higher in men and in Scotland. These trends contrast markedly with the reported declines in mortality inequalities by educational attainment and apparent improvement of Scotland's inequalities with those in E&W.

Conclusions

Trends in health inequalities differ when assessed using different measures of socioeconomic status, reflecting either genuinely variable trends in relation to different aspects of social stratification or varying error or bias. There are particular issues with the educational attainment data in Great Britain prior to 2001 that make these education-based estimates less certain.

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Health Tip: Eat Less Sugar

-- Too much sugar makes you gain weight and can harm your health. And you have to be especially careful about how much sugar you eat if you have diabetes. The American Heart Association advises: Not adding table sugar, syrup or honey to cereal,...

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Health Tip: If Heartburn Doesn't Go Away

-- If eating the right foods and taking medication doesn't ease your heartburn, there may be a bigger issue. The American College of Gastroenterology says you should be concerned about heartburn symptoms if you're: Having a difficult time...

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Thoracic Epidural Catheter Placement in a Preoperative Block Area Improves Operating Room Efficiency and Decreases Epidural Failure Rate.

Related Articles

Thoracic Epidural Catheter Placement in a Preoperative Block Area Improves Operating Room Efficiency and Decreases Epidural Failure Rate.

Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2017 Jul 20;:

Authors: Gleicher Y, Singer O, Choi S, McHardy P

Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The primary aim of this study was to review the impact of inserting thoracic epidural catheters in a preoperative block room setting on operating room efficiency.
METHODS: We conducted a retrospective preintervention/postintervention review of thoracic epidurals inserted over a 12-month period. The review included 6 months of data prior to implementation of the regional anesthesia block room and 6 months of data following implementation. The primary outcome measure was anesthesia-controlled operating room time, defined as time from patient arrival to the operating room to time of surgical site sterile preparation. Secondary measures included operating room waiting time for the patient arrival, thoracic epidural failure rate, and number of epidural insertion attempts.
RESULTS: Data from thoracic epidurals for 112 patients of preblock room and 142 patients of postblock room implementation were collected. Anesthesia-controlled operating room time was reduced by an average of 22.9 minutes per patient (95% confidence interval, 19.3-26.3 minutes; P < 0.01). Average operating room waiting time for patient arrival increased by 3.8 minutes (95% confidence interval, 1.0-6.5 minutes; P < 0.01), resulting in net operating room time savings of 19.1 minutes per epidural. The epidural failure rate decreased from 16.0% to 5.6% (P < 0.01). There was no difference in the number of epidural insertion attempts made per patient.
CONCLUSIONS: Insertion of thoracic epidural analgesia in a preoperative block room setting can significantly reduce anesthesia-controlled operating room time and epidural failure rates.

PMID: 28727584 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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Minimum Effective Volume of Lidocaine for Ultrasound-Guided Costoclavicular Block.

Related Articles

Minimum Effective Volume of Lidocaine for Ultrasound-Guided Costoclavicular Block.

Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2017 Jul 19;:

Authors: Sotthisopha T, Elgueta MF, Samerchua A, Leurcharusmee P, Tiyaprasertkul W, Gordon A, Finlayson RJ, Tran Q

Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This dose-finding study aimed to determine the minimum effective volume in 90% of patients (MEV90) of lidocaine 1.5% with epinephrine 5 μg/mL for ultrasound-guided costoclavicular block.
METHODS: Using an in-plane technique and a lateral-to-medial direction, the block needle was positioned in the middle of the 3 cords of the brachial plexus in the costoclavicular space. The entire volume of lidocaine was deposited in this location. Dose assignment was carried out using a biased-coin-design up-and-down sequential method, where the total volume of local anesthetic administered to each patient depended on the response of the previous one. In case of failure, the next subject received a higher volume (defined as the previous volume with an increment of 2.5 mL). If the previous patient had a successful block, the next subject was randomized to a lower volume (defined as the previous volume with a decrement of 2.5 mL), with a probability of b = 0.11, or the same volume, with a probability of 1 - b = 0.89. Success was defined, at 30 minutes, as a minimal score of 14 of 16 points using a sensorimotor composite scale. Patients undergoing surgery of the elbow, forearm, wrist, or hand were prospectively enrolled until 45 successful blocks were obtained. This clinical trial was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (ID NCT02932670).
RESULTS: Fifty-seven patients were included in the study. Using isotonic regression and bootstrap confidence interval, the MEV90 for ultrasound-guided costoclavicular block was estimated to be 34.0 mL (95% confidence interval, 33.4-34.4 mL). All patients with a minimal composite score of 14 points at 30 minutes achieved surgical anesthesia intraoperatively.
CONCLUSIONS: For ultrasound-guided costoclavicular block, the MEV90 of lidocaine 1.5% with epinephrine 5 μg/mL is 34 mL. Further dose-finding studies are required for other concentrations of lidocaine, other local anesthetic agents, and multiple-injection techniques.

PMID: 28723837 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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Prognostic factors of patients with linear IgA bullous dermatosis

Linked Article: Gottlieb et al. Br J Dermatol 2017; 177:212–222.

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New technology discloses the tumour margin of extramammary Paget disease?

Linked Article: Murata et al. Br J Dermatol 2017; 177:229–237

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Biologics for psoriasis: more drugs, new patient categories, but fresh challenges for clinical dermatologists

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Antimalarials in cutaneous lupus erythematous subtypes

Linked Article: Chasset et al. Br J Dermatol 2017; 177:188–196.

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Cover image: Intralymphatic histiocytosis with giant blanching violaceous plaques

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Pathogenesis of morphoea: knowledge gaps in subtypes and comparisons to systemic sclerosis

Linked Article: Saracino et al. Br J Dermatol 2017; 177:34–46.

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Clinical significance of immunoglobulin E in bullous pemphigoid

Linked Article: Hashimoto et al. Br J Dermatol 2017; 177:141–151.

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Positive about negative: no need for a pink cloud of fluff and justifications

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Folliculotropic mycosis fungoides is a heterogenous group

Linked Article: van Santen et al. Br J Dermatol 2017; 177:223–228.

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Plain language summaries

Linked Comment: Wu et al. Br J Dermatol 2017; 177:72–83

Linked Comment: Tashiro et al. Br J Dermatol 2017; 177:158–167

Linked Comment: Senet et al. Br J Dermatol 2017; 177:206–211

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Linked Comment: Chasset et al. Br J Dermatol 2017; 177:188–196

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