Risk indicators for severe impaired oral health among indigenous Australian young adults

Background Oral health impairment comprises three conceptual domains; pain, appearance and function. This study sought to: (1) estimate the prevalence of severe oral health impairment as assessed by a summary oral health impairment measure, including aspects of dental pain, dissatisfaction with dental appearance and difficulty eating, among a birth cohort of Indigenous Australian young adults (n = 442, age range 16-20 years); (2) compare prevalence according to demographic, socio-economic, behavioural, dental service utilisation and oral health outcome risk indicators; and (3) ascertain the independent contribution of those risk indicators to severe oral health impairment in this population. Methods Data were from the Aboriginal Birth Cohort (ABC) study, a prospective longitudinal investigation of Aboriginal individuals born 1987-1990 at an Australian regional hospital. Data for this analysis pertained to Wave-3 of the study only. Severe oral health impairment was defined as reported experience of toothache, poor dental appearance and food avoidance in the last 12 months. Logistic regression models were used to evaluate effects of demographic, socio-economic, behavioural, dental service utilisation and clinical oral disease indicators on severe oral health impairment. Effects were quantified as odds ratios (OR). Results The percent of participants with severe oral health impairment was 16.3 (95% CI 12.9-19.7). In the multivariate model, severe oral health impairment was associated with untreated dental decay (OR 4.0, 95% CI 1.6-9.6). In addition to that clinical indicator, greater odds of severe oral health impairment were associated with being female (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.2-3.6), being aged 19-20 years (OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.2-3.6), soft drink consumption every day or a few days a week (OR 2.6, 95% 1.2-5.6) and non-ownership of a toothbrush (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.1-3.4). Conclusions Severe oral health impairment was prevalent among this population. The findings suggest that public health strategies that address prevention and treatment of dental disease, self-regulation of soft drink consumption and ownership of oral self-care devices are needed if severe oral health impairment among Indigenous Australian young adults is to be reduced.Lisa M Jamieson, Kaye F Roberts-Thomson and Susan M Sayer

Using Expression and Genotype to Predict Drug Response in Yeast

Personalized, or genomic, medicine entails tailoring pharmacological therapies according to individual genetic variation at genomic loci encoding proteins in drug-response pathways. It has been previously shown that steady-state mRNA expression can be used to predict the drug response (i.e., sensitivity or resistance) of non-genotyped mammalian cancer cell lines to chemotherapeutic agents. In a real-world setting, clinicians would have access to both steady-state expression levels of patient tissue(s) and a patient's genotypic profile, and yet the predictive power of transcripts versus markers is not well understood. We have previously shown that a collection of genotyped and expression-profiled yeast strains can provide a model for personalized medicine. Here we compare the predictive power of 6,229 steady-state mRNA transcript levels and 2,894 genotyped markers using a pattern recognition algorithm. We were able to predict with over 70% accuracy the drug sensitivity of 104 individual genotyped yeast strains derived from a cross between a laboratory strain and a wild isolate. We observe that, independently of drug mechanism of action, both transcripts and markers can accurately predict drug response. Marker-based prediction is usually more accurate than transcript-based prediction, likely reflecting the genetic determination of gene expression in this cross

Zebrafish Kidney Phagocytes Utilize Macropinocytosis and Ca2+-Dependent Endocytic Mechanisms

Background: The innate immune response constitutes the first line of defense against invading pathogens and consists of a variety of immune defense mechanisms including active endocytosis by macrophages and granulocytes. Endocytosis can be used as a reliable measure of selective and non-selective mechanisms of antigen uptake in the early phase of an immune response. Numerous assays have been developed to measure this response in a variety of mammalian and fish species. The small size of the zebrafish has prevented the large-scale collection of monocytes/macrophages and granulocytes for these endocytic assays. Methodology/Principal Findings: Pooled zebrafish kidney hematopoietic tissues were used as a source of phagocytic cells for flow-cytometry based endocytic assays. FITC-Dextran, Lucifer Yellow and FITC-Edwardsiella ictaluri were used to evaluate selective and non-selective mechanisms of uptake in zebrafish phagocytes. Conclusions/Significance: Zebrafish kidney phagocytes characterized as monocytes/macrophages, neutrophils and lymphocytes utilize macropinocytosis and Ca 2+-dependant endocytosis mechanisms of antigen uptake. These cells do not appear to utilize a mannose receptor. Heat-killed Edwardsiella ictaluri induces cytoskeletal interactions for internalization in zebrafish kidney monocytes/macrophages and granulocytes. The proposed method is easy to implement and should prove especially useful in immunological, toxicological and epidemiological research

Selected sociodemographic factors and related differences in patterns of alcohol use among university students in Slovakia

Background: Alcohol use and misuse and their relation to sociodemograhic factors are well studied among university students in Western European countries and the USA, but less is known about students in Eastern Europe. The historical past as communistic countries might have affected the social life among these populations, which is again one of the main factors determining the alcohol consumption among university students. The aim of our study was to assess the association of selected sociodemographic factors with different patterns of alcohol use among university students in Slovakia. Methods: A sample of 813 young adults (mean age 21.1 years, 63.8% females; response rate of 71%) from four universities in Kosice answered questions about their sociodemographic background and about alcohol use. To obtain a detailed picture of different aspects, alcohol use was measured by four variables: frequency of alcohol use, heavy episodic drinking, frequency of drunkenness and problem drinking. Four separate logistic regression models were used to assess the association between sociodemographic and alcohol-related variables. To assess the potentially different effects in both genders, all two-way interactions with gender were tested. Results: While 41% of the students drank alcohol once a week or more often, 77% reported heavy episodic drinking and 49% had been drunk more than once in the last month. Problem drinking existed in 23.3% of the sample. Gender was consistently associated with all four alcohol-related variables, with males being at higher risk. A higher study year was associated only with lower levels of heavy episodic drinking, but displayed no association with the other studied variables. Living with parents during the semester was consistently associated with less frequent heavy episodic drinking, drunkenness episodes, and problem drinking while having an intimate relationship was associated with less problem drinking only. Conclusions: Our findings for the university students from Slovakia are in line with previous studies in Western Europe. Additionally, it appears that frequent alcohol use, excessive alcohol use (heavy episodic drinking and drunkenness) and problem drinking among university students represent a continuum and are influenced by the same sociodemographic factors

State of the art review: the data revolution in critical care

This article is one of ten reviews selected from the Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine 2015 and co-published as a series in Critical Care. Other articles in the series can be found online at http://ccforum.com/series/annualupdate2015. Further information about the Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine is available from http://www.springer.com/series/8901

Benchmarking the scientific output of industrial wastewater research in Arab world by utilizing bibliometric techniques

Rapid population growth, worsening of the climate, and severity of freshwater scarcity are global challenges. In Arab world countries, where water resources are becoming increasingly scarce, the recycling of industrial wastewater could improve the efficiency of freshwater use. The benchmarking of scientific output of industrial wastewater research in the Arab world is an initiative that could support in shaping up and improving future research activities. This study assesses the scientific output of industrial wastewater research in the Arab world. A total of 2032 documents related to industrial wastewater were retrieved from 152 journals indexed in the Scopus databases; this represents 3.6 % of the global research output. The h-index of the retrieved documents was 70. The total number of citations, at the time of data analysis, was 34,296 with an average citation of 16.88 per document. Egypt, with a total publications of 655 (32.2 %), was ranked the first among the Arab countries followed by Saudi Arabia 300 (14.7 %) and Tunisia 297 (14.6 %). Egypt also had the highest h-index, assumed with Saudi Arabia, the first place in collaboration with other countries. Seven hundred fifteen (35.2 %) documents with 66 countries in Arab/non-Arab country collaborations were identified. Arab researchers collaborated mostly with researchers from France 239 (11.7 %), followed by the USA 127 (6.2 %). The top active journal was Desalination 126 (6.2 %), and the most productive institution was the National Research Center, Egypt 169 (8.3 %), followed by the King Abdul-Aziz University, Saudi Arabia 75 (3.7 %). Environmental Science was the most prevalent field of interest 930 (45.8 %). Despite the promising indicators, there is a need to close the gap in research between the Arab world and the other nations. Optimizing the investments and developing regional experiences are key factors to promote the scientific research