Fever, febrile seizures, and epileptogenesis

Febrile seizures (FS) are common and are associated with increased probability of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). However, whether FS can provoke TLE in the nonpredisposed brain is unknown. Using an immature rat model, we established that long FS cause TLE, and that duration of FS governed the severity of epilepsy. Epileptogenesis was accompanied, perhaps causally, by ion channel dysfunction and inflammatory changes. Because FS are a prevalent antecedent of TLE, studying the epileptogenesis that follows them provides powerful insight and potential therapies for epilepsy. For an expanded treatment of this topic see Jasper's Basic Mechanisms of the Epilepsies, Fourth Edition (Noebels JL, Avoli M, Rogawski MA, Olsen RW, Delgado-Escueta AC, eds) published by Oxford University Press (available on the National Library of Medicine Bookshelf [NCBI] at). © 2010 International League Against Epilepsy

Strategic Planning for Local Tourism Destinations: An Analysis of Tourism

This paper reports on a study of the planning practices of local tourism destinations. The tourism plans of 30 local tourism destinations in Queensland, Australia were analyzed to determine the extent to which sustainability principles, namely strategic planning and stakeholder participation, were integrated into the planning process. Utilizing a tourism planning process evaluation instrument developed by Simpson (2001), it was found that local tourism destinations are not integrating sustainability principles in their planning processes

Blood Mercury Reporting in NHANES: Identifying Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, and Multiracial Groups

INTRODUCTION: Asians, Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans are a potentially high-risk group for dietary exposure to methylmercury through fish consumption. However, blood mercury levels in this group have not been identified in recent reports of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for the years 1999–2002. METHODS: We used NHANES data from 1999–2002 to obtain population estimates of blood mercury levels among women of childbearing age classified as belonging to the “other” racial/ethnic group (Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, and multiracial; n = 140). Blood mercury levels in this group were compared with those among all other women participants, classified as Mexican American, non-Hispanic black, non-Hispanic white, and “other” Hispanic. RESULTS: An estimated 16.59 ± 4.0% (mean ± SE) of adult female participants who self-identified as Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, or multiracial (n = 140) had blood mercury levels ≥5.8 μg/L, and 27.26 ± 4.22% had levels ≥3.5 μg/L. Among remaining survey participants (n = 3,497), 5.08 ± 0.90% had blood mercury levels ≥5.8 μg/L, and 10.86 ± 1.45% had levels ≥3.5 μg/L. CONCLUSIONS: Study subjects in NHANES who self-identified as Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, or multiracial had a higher prevalence of elevated blood mercury than all other racial/ethnic participants in the survey. Future studies should address reasons for the high mercury levels in this group and explore possible interventions for lowering risk of methylmercury exposure in this population

Small RNA analysis in Sindbis virus infected human HEK293 cells

In contrast to the defence mechanism of RNA interference (RNAi) in plants and invertebrates, its role in the innate response to virus infection of mammals is a matter of debate. Since RNAi has a well-established role in controlling infection of the alphavirus Sindbis virus (SINV) in insects, we have used this virus to investigate the role of RNAi in SINV infection of human cells

A Mouse Model of Pulmonary Metastasis from Spontaneous Osteosarcoma Monitored In Vivo by Luciferase Imaging

BACKGROUND: Osteosarcoma (OSA) is lethal when metastatic after chemotherapy and/or surgical treatment. Thus animal models are necessary to study the OSA metastatic spread and to validate novel therapies able to control the systemic disease. We report the development of a syngeneic (Balb/c) murine OSA model, using a cell line derived from a spontaneous murine tumor. METHODOLOGY: The tumorigenic and metastatic ability of OSA cell lines were assayed after orthotopic injection in mice distal femur. Expression profiling was carried out to characterize the parental and metastatic cell lines. Cells from metastases were propagated and engineered to express Luciferase, in order to follow metastases in vivo. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Luciferase bioluminescence allowed to monitor the primary tumor growth and revealed the appearance of spontaneous pulmonary metastases. In vivo assays showed that metastasis is a stable property of metastatic OSA cell lines after both propagation in culture and luciferase trasduction. When compared to parental cell line, both unmodified and genetically marked metastatic cells, showed comparable and stable differential expression of the enpp4, pfn2 and prkcd genes, already associated to the metastatic phenotype in human cancer. CONCLUSIONS: This OSA animal model faithfully recapitulates some of the most important features of the human malignancy, such as lung metastatization. Moreover, the non-invasive imaging allows monitoring the tumor progression in living mice. A great asset of this model is the metastatic phenotype, which is a stable property, not modifiable after genetic manipulation

Benthic community structure and ecosystem functions in above- and below-waterfall pools in Borneo

Waterfalls are geomorphic features that often partition streams into discrete zones. Our study examined aquatic communities, litter decomposition and periphyton growth rates for above- and below-waterfall pools in Ulu Temburong National Park, Brunei. We observed higher fish densities in below-waterfall pools (0.24 fish m−2 vs. 0.02 fish m−2 in above-waterfall pools) and higher shrimp abundance in above-waterfall pools (eight shrimp/pool vs. less than one shrimp/pool in below-waterfall pools). However, macroinvertebrate densities (excluding shrimp) were similar among both pool types. Ambient periphyton was higher in below-waterfall pools in 2013 (4.3 vs. 2.8 g m−2 in above-waterfall pools) and 2014 (4.8 vs. 3.4 g m−2 in above-waterfall pools), while periphyton growth rates varied from 0.05 to 0.26 g m−2 days−1 and were significantly higher in below-waterfall pools in 2014. Leaf litter decomposition rates (0.001 to 0.024 days−1) did not differ between pool types, suggesting that neither shrimp nor fish densities had consistent impacts on this ecosystem function. Regardless, this research demonstrates the varied effects of biotic and abiotic factors on community structure and ecosystem function. Our results have highlighted the importance of discontinuities, such as waterfalls, in tropical streams.</p

Bayesian Classification and Regression Trees for Predicting Incidence of Cryptosporidiosis

Background Classification and regression tree (CART) models are tree-based exploratory data analysis methods which have been shown to be very useful in identifying and estimating complex hierarchical relationships in ecological and medical contexts. In this paper, a Bayesian CART model is described and applied to the problem of modelling the cryptosporidiosis infection in Queensland, Australia. Methodology/Principal Findings We compared the results of a Bayesian CART model with those obtained using a Bayesian spatial conditional autoregressive (CAR) model. Overall, the analyses indicated that the nature and magnitude of the effect estimates were similar for the two methods in this study, but the CART model more easily accommodated higher order interaction effects. Conclusions/Significance A Bayesian CART model for identification and estimation of the spatial distribution of disease risk is useful in monitoring and assessment of infectious diseases prevention and control