The role of childhood social position in adult type 2 diabetes: Evidence from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Copyright @ 2014 Pikhartova et al. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Background: Socioeconomic circumstances in childhood and early adulthood may influence the later onset of chronic disease, although such research is limited for type 2 diabetes and its risk factors at the different stages of life. The main aim of the present study is to examine the role of childhood social position and later inflammatory markers and health behaviours in developing type 2 diabetes at older ages using a pathway analytic approach. Methods. Data on childhood and adult life circumstances of 2,994 men and 4,021 women from English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) were used to evaluate their association with diabetes at age 50 years and more. The cases of diabetes were based on having increased blood levels of glycated haemoglobin and/or self-reported medication for diabetes and/or being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Father's job when ELSA participants were aged 14 years was used as the measure of childhood social position. Current social characteristics, health behaviours and inflammatory biomarkers were used as potential mediators in the statistical analysis to assess direct and indirect effects of childhood circumstances on diabetes in later life. Results: 12.6 per cent of participants were classified as having diabetes. A disadvantaged social position in childhood, as measured by father's manual occupation, was associated at conventional levels of statistical significance with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes in adulthood, both directly and indirectly through inflammation, adulthood social position and a risk score constructed from adult health behaviours including tobacco smoking and limited physical activity. The direct effect of childhood social position was reduced by mediation analysis (standardised coefficient decreased from 0.089 to 0.043) but remained statistically significant (p = 0.035). All three indirect pathways made a statistically significantly contribution to the overall effect of childhood social position on adulthood type 2 diabetes. Conclusions: Childhood social position influences adult diabetes directly and indirectly through inflammatory markers, adulthood social position and adult health behaviours. © 2014Pikhartova et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.Economic and Social Research Council-funded International Centre for Life Course Studies in Society and Health (RES-596-28-0001)

Incorporating climate-readiness into fisheries management strategies

Tropical oceans are among the first places to exhibit climate change signals, affecting the habitat distribution and abundance of marine fish. These changes to stocks, and subsequent impacts on fisheries production, may have considerable implications for coastal communities dependent on fisheries for food security and livelihoods. Understanding the impacts of climate change on tropical marine fisheries is therefore an important step towards developing sustainable, climate-ready fisheries management measures. We apply an established method of spatial meta-analysis to assess species distribution modelling datasets for key species targeted by the Philippines capture fisheries. We analysed datasets under two global emissions scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) and varying degrees of fishing pressure to quantify potential climate vulnerability of the target community. We found widespread responses to climate change in pelagic species in particular, with abundances projected to decline across much of the case study area, highlighting the challenges of maintaining food security in the face of a rapidly changing climate. We argue that sustainable fisheries management in the Philippines in the face of climate change can only be achieved through management strategies that allow for the mitigation of, and adaptation to, pressures already locked into the climate system for the near term. Our analysis may support this, providing fisheries managers with the means to identify potential climate change hotspots, bright spots and refugia, thereby supporting the development of climate-ready management plans

Antibody-guided in vivo imaging of Aspergillus fumigatus lung infections during anti-fungal azole treatment

This is the final version. Available on open access from Nature Research via the DOI in this recordData availability: Due to their large size, the raw imaging data that support the findings of this study are directly available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request. Derived data have been compiled in the Source Data file provided with this paper. Any remaining data supporting the findings from this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is a life-threatening lung disease of immunocompromised humans, caused by the opportunistic fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus. Inadequacies in current diagnostic procedures mean that early diagnosis of the disease, critical to patient survival, remains a major clinical challenge, and is leading to the empiric use of antifungal drugs and emergence of azole resistance. A non-invasive procedure that allows both unambiguous detection of IPA, and its response to azole treatment, is therefore needed. Here, we show that a humanised Aspergillus-specific monoclonal antibody, dual labelled with a radionuclide and fluorophore, can be used in immunoPET/MRI in vivo and 3D light sheet fluorescence microscopy ex vivo to quantify early A. fumigatus lung infections and to monitor the efficacy of azole therapy. Our antibody-guided approach reveals that early drug intervention is critical to prevent complete invasion of the lungs by the fungus, and demonstrates the power of molecular imaging as a non-invasive procedure for tracking IPA in vivo.Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-WestphaliaGoverning Mayor of Berlin including Science and ResearchFederal Ministry of Education and ResearchEuropean Union FP7Werner Siemens Foundatio

Treatment of acute diverticulitis laparoscopic lavage vs. resection (DILALA): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Perforated diverticulitis is a condition associated with substantial morbidity. Recently published reports suggest that laparoscopic lavage has fewer complications and shorter hospital stay. So far no randomised study has published any results.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>DILALA is a Scandinavian, randomised trial, comparing laparoscopic lavage (LL) to the traditional Hartmann's Procedure (HP). Primary endpoint is the number of re-operations within 12 months. Secondary endpoints consist of mortality, quality of life (QoL), re-admission, health economy assessment and permanent stoma. Patients are included when surgery is required. A laparoscopy is performed and if Hinchey grade III is diagnosed the patient is included and randomised 1:1, to either LL or HP. Patients undergoing LL receive > 3L of saline intraperitoneally, placement of pelvic drain and continued antibiotics. Follow-up is scheduled 6-12 weeks, 6 months and 12 months. A QoL-form is filled out on discharge, 6- and 12 months. Inclusion is set to 80 patients (40+40).</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>HP is associated with a high rate of complication. Not only does the primary operation entail complications, but also subsequent surgery is associated with a high morbidity. Thus the combined risk of treatment for the patient is high. The aim of the DILALA trial is to evaluate if laparoscopic lavage is a safe, minimally invasive method for patients with perforated diverticulitis Hinchey grade III, resulting in fewer re-operations, decreased morbidity, mortality, costs and increased quality of life.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>British registry (ISRCTN) for clinical trials <a href="http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN82208287">ISRCTN82208287</a><url>http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN82208287</url></p

Effects of chemokines on proliferation and apoptosis of human mesangial cells

BACKGROUND: Proliferation and apoptosis of mesangial cells (MC) are important mechanisms during nephrogenesis, for the maintenance of glomerular homeostasis as well as in renal disease and glomerular regeneration. Expression of chemokines and chemokine receptors by intrinsic renal cells, e.g. SLC/CCL21 on podocytes and CCR7 on MC is suggested to play a pivotal role during these processes. Therefore the effect of selected chemokines on MC proliferation and apoptosis was studied. METHODS: Proliferation assays, cell death assays including cell cycle analysis, hoechst stain and measurement of caspase-3 activity were performed. RESULTS: A dose-dependent, mesangioproliferative effect of the chemokine SLC/CCL21, which is constitutively expressed on human podocytes was seen via activation of the chemokine receptor CCR7, which is constitutively expressed on MC. In addition, in cultured MC SLC/CCL21 had a protective effect on cell survival in Fas-mediated apoptosis. The CXCR3 ligands IP-10/CXCL10 and Mig/CXCL9 revealed a proproliferative effect but did not influence apoptosis of MC. Both the CCR1 ligand RANTES/CCL5 and the amino-terminally modified RANTES analogue Met-RANTES which blocks CCR1 signalling had no effect on proliferation and apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS: The different effects of chemokines and their respective receptors on proliferation and apoptosis of MC suggest highly regulated, novel biological functions of chemokine/chemokine receptor pairs in processes involved in renal inflammation, regeneration and glomerular homeostasis

Significant Reduction of Antibiotic Use in the Community after a Nationwide Campaign in France, 2002–2007

Didier Guillemot and colleagues describe the evaluation of a nationwide programme in France aimed at decreasing unnecessary outpatient prescriptions for antibiotics. The campaign was successful, particularly in reducing prescriptions for children

Competition and habitat quality influence age and sex distribution in wintering rusty blackbirds.

Bird habitat quality is often inferred from species abundance measures during the breeding and non-breeding season and used for conservation management decisions. However, during the non-breeding season age and sex classes often occupy different habitats which suggest a need for more habitat-specific data. Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus) is a forested wetland specialist wintering in bottomland hardwood forests in the south-eastern U. S. and belongs to the most steeply declining songbirds in the U.S. Little information is available to support priority birds such as the Rusty Blackbird wintering in this threatened habitat. We assessed age and sex distribution and body condition of Rusty Blackbirds among the three major habitats used by this species in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley and also measured food availability. Overall, pecan groves had the highest biomass mainly driven by the amount of nuts. Invertebrate biomass was highest in forests but contributed only a small percentage to overall biomass. Age and sex classes were unevenly distributed among habitats with adult males primarily occupying pecan groves containing the highest nut biomass, females being found in forests which had the lowest nut biomass and young males primarily staying in forest fragments along creeks which had intermediate nut biomass. Males were in better body condition than females and were in slightly better condition in pecan groves. The results suggest that adult males occupy the highest quality habitat and may competitively exclude the other age and sex classes

Plant trait and vegetation data along a 1314 m elevation gradient with fire history in Puna grasslands, Per\ufa

\ua9 2024. The Author(s). Alpine grassland vegetation supports globally important biodiversity and ecosystems that are increasingly threatened by climate warming and other environmental changes. Trait-based approaches can support understanding of vegetation responses to global change drivers and consequences for ecosystem functioning. In six sites along a 1314 m elevational gradient in Puna grasslands in the Peruvian Andes, we collected datasets on vascular plant composition, plant functional traits, biomass, ecosystem fluxes, and climate data over three years. The data were collected in the wet and dry season and from plots with different fire histories. We selected traits associated with plant resource use, growth, and life history strategies (leaf area, leaf dry/wet mass, leaf thickness, specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, leaf C, N, P content, C and N isotopes). The trait dataset contains 3,665 plant records from 145 taxa, 54,036 trait measurements (increasing the trait data coverage of the regional flora by 420%) covering 14 traits and 121 plant taxa (ca. 40% of which have no previous publicly available trait data) across 33 families