100 research outputs found
Complementary Feeding Practices for South Asian Young Children Living in High-Income Countries: A Systematic Review
Sub-optimal nutrition among South Asian (SA) children living in high-income countries is a significant problem. High rates of obesity have been observed in this population, and differential complementary feeding practices (CFP) have been highlighted as a key influence. Our aim was to undertake a systematic review of studies assessing CFP in children under two years of age from SA communities living in high-income countries, including dietary diversity, timing, frequency and promotors/barriers. Searches covered January 1990âJuly 2018 using MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health, Web of Science, BanglaJOL, OVID Maternity and Infant Care, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, POPLINE and World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Health Library. Eligible studies were primary research on CFP in SA children aged 0â2 years. Search terms were âchildrenâ, âfeedingâ and âSouth Asianâ, and derivatives. Quality appraisal used the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information (EPPI) Weight of Evidence scoring. From 50,713 studies, 13 were extracted with ten from the UK, and one each from the USA, Canada and Singapore. Sub-optimal CFP were found in all studies. All ten studies investigating timing reported complementary feeding (CF) being commenced before six months. Promoters/barriers influencing CFP included income, lack of knowledge, and incorrect advice. This is the first systematic review to evaluate CFP in SA children living in high-income countries and these findings should inform the development of effective interventions for SA infants in these settings
Sampling interplanetary dust from Antarctic air
We built a collector to filter interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) larger than 5 ÎŒm from the clean air at the Amundsen Scott South Pole station. Our sampling strategy used long duration, continuous dry filtering of nearâsurface air in place of short duration, highâspeed impact collection on flags flown in the stratosphere. We filtered ~10 m of clean Antarctic air through 20 cm diameter, 3 ”m filters coupled to a suction blower of modest power consumption (5â6 kW). Our collector ran continuously for 2 years and yielded 41 filters for analyses. Based on stratospheric concentrations, we predicted that each monthâs collection would provide 300â900 IDPs for analysis. We identified 19 extraterrestrial (ET) particles on the 66 cm of filter examined, which represented ~0.5% of the exposed filter surfaces. The 11 ET particles larger than 5 ”m yield about a fifth of the expected flux based on >5 ”m stratospheric ET particle flux. Of the 19 ET particles identified, four were chondritic porous IDPs, seven were FeNiS beads, two were FeNi grains, and six were chondritic material with FeNiS components. Most were <10 ”m in diameter and none were cluster particles. Additionally, a carbonârich candidate particle was found to have a small N isotopic enrichment, supporting an ET origin. Many other candidate grains, including chondritic glasses and Cârich particles with Mg and Si and FeS grains, require further analysis to determine if they are ET. The vast majority of exposed filter surfaces remain to be examined
Filovirus RefSeq Entries: Evaluation and Selection of Filovirus Type Variants, Type Sequences, and Names
Sequence determination of complete or coding-complete genomes of viruses is becoming common practice for supporting the work of epidemiologists, ecologists, virologists, and taxonomists. Sequencing duration and costs are rapidly decreasing, sequencing hardware is under modification for use by non-experts, and software is constantly being improved to simplify sequence data management and analysis. Thus, analysis of virus disease outbreaks on the molecular level is now feasible, including characterization of the evolution of individual virus populations in single patients over time. The increasing accumulation of sequencing data creates a management problem for the curators of commonly used sequence databases and an entry retrieval problem for end users. Therefore, utilizing the data to their fullest potential will require setting nomenclature and annotation standards for virus isolates and associated genomic sequences. The National Center for Biotechnology Informationâs (NCBIâs) RefSeq is a non-redundant, curated database for reference (or type) nucleotide sequence records that supplies source data to numerous other databases. Building on recently proposed templates for filovirus variant naming [ ()////-], we report consensus decisions from a majority of past and currently active filovirus experts on the eight filovirus type variants and isolates to be represented in RefSeq, their final designations, and their associated sequences
Spatial navigation deficits â overlooked cognitive marker for preclinical Alzheimer disease?
Detection of incipient Alzheimer disease (AD) pathophysiology is critical to identify preclinical individuals and target potentially disease-modifying therapies towards them. Current neuroimaging and biomarker research is strongly focused in this direction, with the aim of establishing AD fingerprints to identify individuals at high risk of developing this disease. By contrast, cognitive fingerprints for incipient AD are virtually non-existent as diagnostics and outcomes measures are still focused on episodic memory deficits as the gold standard for AD, despite their low sensitivity and specificity for identifying at-risk individuals. This Review highlights a novel feature of cognitive evaluation for incipient AD by focusing on spatial navigation and orientation deficits, which are increasingly shown to be present in at-risk individuals. Importantly, the navigation system in the brain overlaps substantially with the regions affected by AD in both animal models and humans. Notably, spatial navigation has fewer verbal, cultural and educational biases than current cognitive tests and could enable a more uniform, global approach towards cognitive fingerprints of AD and better cognitive treatment outcome measures in future multicentre trials. The current Review appraises the available evidence for spatial navigation and/or orientation deficits in preclinical, prodromal and confirmed AD and identifies research gaps and future research priorities
Virus nomenclature below the species level : a standardized nomenclature for laboratory animal-adapted strains and variants of viruses assigned to the family Filoviridae
The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) organizes the classification of
viruses into taxa, but is not responsible for the nomenclature for taxa members. International
experts groups, such as the ICTV Study Groups, recommend the classification and naming of
viruses and their strains, variants, and isolates. The ICTV Filoviridae Study Group has recently
introduced an updated classification and nomenclature for filoviruses. Subsequently, and
together with numerous other filovirus experts, a consistent nomenclature for their natural
genetic variants and isolates was developed that aims at simplifying the retrieval of sequence
data from electronic databases. This is a first important step toward a viral genome annotation
standard as sought by the US National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). Here, this
work is extended to include filoviruses obtained in the laboratory by artificial selection through
passage in laboratory hosts. The previously developed template for natural filovirus genetic
variant naming ( //<year of
sampling>/-) is retained, but it is proposed to
adapt the type of information added to each field for laboratory animal-adapted variants. For
instance, the full-length designation of an Ebola virus Mayinga variant adapted at the State
Research Center for Virology and Biotechnology âVectorâ to cause disease in guinea pigs after
seven passages would be akin to âEbola virus VECTOR/C.porcellus-lab/COD/1976/Mayinga-
GPA-P7â. As was proposed for the names of natural filovirus variants, we suggest using the fulllength
designation in databases, as well as in the method section of publications. Shortened
designations (such as âEBOV VECTOR/C.por/COD/76/May-GPA-P7â) and abbreviations (such
as âEBOV/May-GPA-P7â) could be used in the remainder of the text depending on how critical it is to convey information contained in the full-length name. âEBOVâ would suffice if only one
EBOV strain/variant/isolate is addressed.This work was funded in part by the Joint Science and Technology Office for Chem Bio Defense (proposal #TMTI0048_09_RD_T to SB).http://www.springerlink.com/content/0304-8608/hb2013ab201
Virus nomenclature below the species level : a standardized nomenclature for filovirus strains and variants rescued from cDNA
Specific alterations (mutations, deletions,
insertions) of virus genomes are crucial for the functional
characterization of their regulatory elements and their expression products, as well as a prerequisite for the creation
of attenuated viruses that could serve as vaccine
candidates. Virus genome tailoring can be performed either
by using traditionally cloned genomes as starting materials,
followed by site-directed mutagenesis, or by de novo synthesis
of modified virus genomes or parts thereof. A systematic
nomenclature for such recombinant viruses is
necessary to set them apart from wild-type and laboratoryadapted
viruses, and to improve communication and collaborations
among researchers who may want to use
recombinant viruses or create novel viruses based on them.
A large group of filovirus experts has recently proposed
nomenclatures for natural and laboratory animal-adapted
filoviruses that aim to simplify the retrieval of sequence
data from electronic databases. Here, this work is extended
to include nomenclature for filoviruses obtained in the
laboratory via reverse genetics systems. The previously
developed template for natural filovirus genetic variant
naming,\virus name[(\strain[/)\isolation host-suffix[/
\country of sampling[/\year of sampling[/\genetic
variant designation[-\isolate designation[, is retained, but we propose to adapt the type of information added to each
field for cDNA clone-derived filoviruses. For instance, the
full-length designation of an Ebola virus Kikwit variant
rescued from a plasmid developed at the US Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention could be akin to ââEbola
virus H.sapiens-rec/COD/1995/Kikwit-abc1ââ (with the
suffix âârecââ identifying the recombinant nature of the virus
and ââabc1ââ being a placeholder for any meaningful isolate
designator). Such a full-length designation should be used
in databases and the methods section of publications.
Shortened designations (such as ââEBOV H.sap/COD/95/
Kik-abc1ââ) and abbreviations (such as ââEBOV/Kik-abc1ââ)
could be used in the remainder of the text, depending on
how critical it is to convey information contained in the
full-length name. ââEBOVââ would suffice if only one
EBOV strain/variant/isolate is addressed.http://link.springer.com/journal/705hb201
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