22 research outputs found
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia: distinct and overlapping changes in eating behaviour and metabolism.
Metabolic changes incorporating fluctuations in weight, insulin resistance, and cholesterol concentrations have been identified in several neurodegenerative disorders. Whether these changes result from the neurodegenerative process affecting brain regions necessary for metabolic regulation or whether they drive the degenerative process is unknown. Emerging evidence from epidemiological, clinical, pathological, and experimental studies emphasises a range of changes in eating behaviours and metabolism in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). In ALS, metabolic changes have been linked to disease progression and prognosis. Furthermore, changes in eating behaviour that affect metabolism have been incorporated into the diagnostic criteria for FTD, which has some clinical and pathological overlap with ALS. Whether the distinct and shared metabolic and eating changes represent a component of the proposed spectrum of the two diseases is an intriguing possibility. Moreover, future research should aim to unravel the complex connections between eating, metabolism, and neurodegeneration in ALS and FTD, and aim to understand the potential for targeting modifiable risk factors in disease development and progression.This work was supported by funding to Forefront, a collaborative research group dedicated to the study of frontotemporal dementia and motor neurone disease, from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) program grant (#1037746 to GH, MK and JH) and the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders Memory Node (#CE110001021 to OP and JH) and other grants/sources (NHMRC project grant #1003139). We are grateful to the research participants involved with the ForeFront research studies. RA is a Royal Australasian College of Physicians PhD scholar and MND Australia PhD scholar. MI is an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award Fellow (#DE130100463). OP is an NHMRC Career Development Research Fellow (#1022684). GH is a NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow (#1079679). L.M.I. is a NHMRC Senior Research Fellow (#1003083).This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(15)00380-4
Targeted anti-staphylococcal therapy with endolysins in atopic dermatitis and the effect on steroid use, disease severity and the microbiome: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial (MAAS trial)
Interaction between voriconazole and flucloxacillin during treatment of disseminated Scedosporium apiospermum infection
Spatial distribution of leprosy in India: an ecological study
CITATION: Grantz, Kyra H., et al. 2018. Spatial distribution of leprosy in India : an ecological study. Infectious Diseases of Poverty, 7:20, doi:10.1186/s40249-018-0402-y.The original publication is available at https://idpjournal.biomedcentral.comBackground: As leprosy elimination becomes an increasingly realistic goal, it is essential to determine the factors
that contribute to its persistence. We evaluate social and economic factors as predictors of leprosy annual new case
detection rates within India, where the majority of leprosy cases occur.
Methods: We used correlation and linear mixed effect regressions to assess whether poverty, illiteracy, nighttime
satellite radiance (an index of development), and other covariates can explain district-wise annual new case detection
rate and Grade 2 disability diagnoses.
Results: We find only weak evidence of an association between poverty and annual new case detection rates at the
district level, though illiteracy and satellite radiance are statistically significant predictors of leprosy at the district level.
We find no evidence of rapid decline over the period 2008–2015 in either new case detection or new Grade 2 disability.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest a somewhat higher rate of leprosy detection, on average, in poorer districts; the
overall effect is weak. The divide between leprosy case detection and true incidence of clinical leprosy complicates
these results, particularly given that the detection rate is likely disproportionately lower in impoverished settings.
Additional information is needed to distinguish the determinants of leprosy case detection and transmission during
the elimination epoch.https://idpjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40249-018-0402-yPublisher's versio