Lack of insurance coverage and urgent care use for asthma: A retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: Asthma is a common chronic disease with profound impacts upon individuals and the US health care system. Inadequate health care coverage has been associated with more frequent and severe exacerbations of the disease. We examined the relationship between adequacy of health care coverage and use of emergent care of adults with asthma. METHODS: The 2001 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System was the source of data on adults with current asthma. Bivariate and multiple logistic regression analysis modeled identifiable factors in predicting urgent or emergent care. RESULTS: Key variables included demographics and information on self-reported gaps in health care coverage. The primary outcome was emergency room or urgent care visits for worsening of asthma symptoms. Of 16,234 subjects nationally with current asthma, 2,195 from eight states had valid responses to a supplemental module asking about emergency room use or urgent care visits because of asthma. Thirty four percent of these individuals required such care in the previous year. Having an interruption in health care coverage in the past year was associated with an increased risk of needed urgent or emergent care (crude Odds Ratio [OR] 1.48, 95% confidence intervals [CI]1.03, 2.1). The association was not statistically significant in the adjusted multivariate model including race/ethnicity, employment status, gender, age, education and the ability to identify a primary physician (adjusted OR 1.2, 95% CI 0.8, 1.8). CONCLUSION: This study provides population-level, generalizable evidence of increased risk of exacerbations of asthma in adults and (1) their demographic characteristics, and (2) continuous adequate health care coverage

An efficient arabinoxylan-debranching α-L-arabinofuranosidase of family GH62 from Aspergillus nidulans contains a secondary carbohydrate binding site.

An α-L-arabinofuranosidase of GH62 from Aspergillus nidulans FGSC A4 (AnAbf62A-m2,3) has an unusually high activity towards wheat arabinoxylan (WAX) (67 U/mg; k cat = 178/s, K m = 4.90 mg/ml) and arabinoxylooligosaccharides (AXOS) with degrees of polymerisation (DP) 3-5 (37-80 U/mg), but about 50 times lower activity for sugar beet arabinan and 4-nitrophenyl-α-L-arabinofuranoside. α-1,2- and α-1,3-linked arabinofuranoses are released from monosubstituted, but not from disubstituted, xylose in WAX and different AXOS as demonstrated by NMR and polysaccharide analysis by carbohydrate gel electrophoresis (PACE). Mutants of the predicted general acid (Glu(188)) and base (Asp(28)) catalysts, and the general acid pK a modulator (Asp(136)) lost 1700-, 165- and 130-fold activities for WAX. WAX, oat spelt xylan, birchwood xylan and barley β-glucan retarded migration of AnAbf62A-m2,3 in affinity electrophoresis (AE) although the latter two are neither substrates nor inhibitors. Trp(23) and Tyr(44), situated about 30 Å from the catalytic site as seen in an AnAbf62A-m2,3 homology model generated using Streptomyces thermoviolaceus SthAbf62A as template, participate in carbohydrate binding. Compared to wild-type, W23A and W23A/Y44A mutants are less retarded in AE, maintain about 70 % activity towards WAX with K i of WAX substrate inhibition increasing 4-7-folds, but lost 77-96 % activity for the AXOS. The Y44A single mutant had less effect, suggesting Trp(23) is a key determinant. AnAbf62A-m2,3 seems to apply different polysaccharide-dependent binding modes, and Trp(23) and Tyr(44) belong to a putative surface binding site which is situated at a distance of the active site and has to be occupied to achieve full activity.This work is supported by the Danish Council for Independent Research|Natural Sciences (FNU) [grant number 09-072151], by 1/3 PhD fellowship from the Technical University of Denmark (to CW) and by a Hans Christian Ørsted postdoctoral fellowship from DTU (to DC).This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7417-

A Survey of Laboratory and Statistical Issues Related to Farmworker Exposure Studies

Developing internally valid, and perhaps generalizable, farmworker exposure studies is a complex process that involves many statistical and laboratory considerations. Statistics are an integral component of each study beginning with the design stage and continuing to the final data analysis and interpretation. Similarly, data quality plays a significant role in the overall value of the study. Data quality can be derived from several experimental parameters including statistical design of the study and quality of environmental and biological analytical measurements. We discuss statistical and analytic issues that should be addressed in every farmworker study. These issues include study design and sample size determination, analytical methods and quality control and assurance, treatment of missing data or data below the method’s limits of detection, and post-hoc analyses of data from multiple studies

Gene silencing in tick cell lines using small interfering or long double-stranded RNA

Gene silencing by RNA interference (RNAi) is an important research tool in many areas of biology. To effectively harness the power of this technique in order to explore tick functional genomics and tick-microorganism interactions, optimised parameters for RNAi-mediated gene silencing in tick cells need to be established. Ten cell lines from four economically important ixodid tick genera (Amblyomma, Hyalomma, Ixodes and Rhipicephalus including the sub-species Boophilus) were used to examine key parameters including small interfering RNA (siRNA), double stranded RNA (dsRNA), transfection reagent and incubation time for silencing virus reporter and endogenous tick genes. Transfection reagents were essential for the uptake of siRNA whereas long dsRNA alone was taken up by most tick cell lines. Significant virus reporter protein knockdown was achieved using either siRNA or dsRNA in all the cell lines tested. Optimum conditions varied according to the cell line. Consistency between replicates and duration of incubation with dsRNA were addressed for two Ixodes scapularis cell lines; IDE8 supported more consistent and effective silencing of the endogenous gene subolesin than ISE6, and highly significant knockdown of the endogenous gene 2I1F6 in IDE8 cells was achieved within 48 h incubation with dsRNA. In summary, this study shows that gene silencing by RNAi in tick cell lines is generally more efficient with dsRNA than with siRNA but results vary between cell lines and optimal parameters need to be determined for each experimental system

The genome sequence of <i>Trypanosoma brucei gambiense</i>, causative agent of chronic Human African Trypanosomiasis

&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Background:&lt;/b&gt; &lt;i&gt;Trypanosoma brucei gambiense&lt;/i&gt; is the causative agent of chronic Human African Trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness, a disease endemic across often poor and rural areas of Western and Central Africa. We have previously published the genome sequence of a &lt;i&gt;T. b. brucei&lt;/i&gt; isolate, and have now employed a comparative genomics approach to understand the scale of genomic variation between &lt;i&gt;T. b. gambiense&lt;/i&gt; and the reference genome. We sought to identify features that were uniquely associated with &lt;i&gt;T. b. gambiense&lt;/i&gt; and its ability to infect humans.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Methods and findings:&lt;/b&gt; An improved high-quality draft genome sequence for the group 1 &lt;i&gt;T. b. gambiense&lt;/i&gt; DAL 972 isolate was produced using a whole-genome shotgun strategy. Comparison with &lt;i&gt;T. b. brucei&lt;/i&gt; showed that sequence identity averages 99.2% in coding regions, and gene order is largely collinear. However, variation associated with segmental duplications and tandem gene arrays suggests some reduction of functional repertoire in &lt;i&gt;T. b. gambiense&lt;/i&gt; DAL 972. A comparison of the variant surface glycoproteins (VSG) in &lt;i&gt;T. b. brucei&lt;/i&gt; with all &lt;i&gt;T. b. gambiense&lt;/i&gt; sequence reads showed that the essential structural repertoire of VSG domains is conserved across &lt;i&gt;T. brucei&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Conclusions:&lt;/b&gt; This study provides the first estimate of intraspecific genomic variation within &lt;i&gt;T. brucei&lt;/i&gt;, and so has important consequences for future population genomics studies. We have shown that the &lt;i&gt;T. b. gambiense&lt;/i&gt; genome corresponds closely with the reference, which should therefore be an effective scaffold for any &lt;i&gt;T. brucei&lt;/i&gt; genome sequence data. As VSG repertoire is also well conserved, it may be feasible to describe the total diversity of variant antigens. While we describe several as yet uncharacterized gene families with predicted cell surface roles that were expanded in number in &lt;i&gt;T. b. brucei&lt;/i&gt;, no &lt;i&gt;T. b. gambiense&lt;/i&gt;-specific gene was identified outside of the subtelomeres that could explain the ability to infect humans.&lt;/p&gt

Effect of floor type on the performance, physiological and behavioural responses of finishing beef steers

peer-reviewedBackground:The study objective was to investigate the effect of bare concrete slats (Control), two types of mats [(Easyfix mats (mat 1) and Irish Custom Extruder mats (mat 2)] fitted on top of concrete slats, and wood-chip to simulate deep bedding (wood-chip placed on top of a plastic membrane overlying the concrete slats) on performance, physiological and behavioral responses of finishing beef steers. One-hundred and forty-four finishing steers (503 kg; standard deviation 51.8 kg) were randomly assigned according to their breed (124 Continental cross and 20 Holstein–Friesian) and body weight to one of four treatments for 148 days. All steers were subjected to the same weighing, blood sampling (jugular venipuncture), dirt and hoof scoring pre study (day 0) and on days 23, 45, 65, 86, 107, 128 and 148 of the study. Cameras were fitted over each pen for 72 h recording over five periods and subsequent 10 min sampling scans were analysed. Results: Live weight gain and carcass characteristics were similar among treatments. The number of lesions on the hooves of the animals was greater (P < 0.05) on mats 1 and 2 and wood-chip treatments compared with the animals on the slats. Dirt scores were similar for the mat and slat treatments while the wood-chip treatment had greater dirt scores. Animals housed on either slats or wood-chip had similar lying times. The percent of animals lying was greater for animals housed on mat 1 and mat 2 compared with those housed on concrete slats and wood chips. Physiological variables showed no significant difference among treatments. Conclusions: In this exploratory study, the performance or welfare of steers was not adversely affected by slats, differing mat types or wood-chip as underfoot material

Evaluation of Petrifilm™ Select E. coli Count Plate medium to discriminate antimicrobial resistant Escherichia coli

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Screening and enumeration of antimicrobial resistant <it>Escherichia coli </it>directly from samples is needed to identify emerging resistant clones and obtain quantitative data for risk assessment. Aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of 3M™ Petrifilm™ Select <it>E. coli </it>Count Plate (SEC plate) supplemented with antimicrobials to discriminate antimicrobial-resistant and non-resistant <it>E. coli</it>.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>A range of <it>E. coli </it>isolates were tested by agar dilution method comparing the Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) for eight antimicrobials obtained by Mueller-Hinton II agar, MacConkey agar and SEC plates. Kappa statistics was used to assess the levels of agreement when classifying strains as resistant, intermediate or susceptible.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>SEC plate showed that 74% of all strains agreed within ± 1 log₂dilution when comparing MICs with Mueller-Hinton II media. High agreement levels were found for gentamicin, ampicillin, chloramphenicol and cefotaxime, resulting in a kappa value of 0.9 and 100% agreement within ± 1 log₂dilution. Significant variances were observed for oxytetracycline and sulphamethoxazole. Further tests showed that the observed discrepancy in classification of susceptibility to oxytetracycline by the two media could be overcome when a plate-dependent breakpoint of 64 mg/L was used for SEC plates. For sulphamethoxazole, SEC plates provided unacceptably high MICs.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>SEC plates showed good agreement with Mueller-Hinton II agar in MIC studies and can be used to screen and discriminate resistant <it>E. coli </it>for ampicillin, cephalothin, streptomycin, chloramphenicol, cefotaxime and gentamicin using CLSI standardized breakpoints, but not for sulphamethoxazole. SEC plates can also be used to discriminate oxytetracycline-resistant <it>E. coli </it>if a plate-dependent breakpoint value of 64 mg/L is used.</p

Lignocellulose degradation mechanisms across the Tree of Life.

Organisms use diverse mechanisms involving multiple complementary enzymes, particularly glycoside hydrolases (GHs), to deconstruct lignocellulose. Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) produced by bacteria and fungi facilitate deconstruction as does the Fenton chemistry of brown-rot fungi. Lignin depolymerisation is achieved by white-rot fungi and certain bacteria, using peroxidases and laccases. Meta-omics is now revealing the complexity of prokaryotic degradative activity in lignocellulose-rich environments. Protists from termite guts and some oomycetes produce multiple lignocellulolytic enzymes. Lignocellulose-consuming animals secrete some GHs, but most harbour a diverse enzyme-secreting gut microflora in a mutualism that is particularly complex in termites. Shipworms however, house GH-secreting and LPMO-secreting bacteria separate from the site of digestion and the isopod Limnoria relies on endogenous enzymes alone. The omics revolution is identifying many novel enzymes and paradigms for biomass deconstruction, but more emphasis on function is required, particularly for enzyme cocktails, in which LPMOs may play an important role.The work of the teams at York, Portsmouth and Cambridge on development of ideas expressed in this review was supported by grants from BBSRC (BB/H531543/1, BB/L001926/1, BB/1018492/1, BB/K020358/1). The workshop was supported by a US Partnering grant from BBSRC (BB/G016208/1) to Cragg and a BBSRC/FAPESP grant to Bruce (BB/1018492/1). Watts was supported by Marie Curie FP7-RG 276948. Goodell acknowledges support from USDA Hatch Project S-1041 VA-136288. Distel acknowledges support from NSF Award IOS1442759 and NIH Award Number U19 TW008163. Beckham thanks the US Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office for funding. We appreciated the hospitality of the Linnean Society in allowing us to meet in inspirational surroundings under portraits of Linnaeus, Darwin and Wallace.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpa.2015.10.01