A Twin Study of Early-Childhood Asthma in Puerto Ricans

Background:The relative contributions of genetics and environment to asthma in Hispanics or to asthma in children younger than 3 years are not well understood.Objective:To examine the relative contributions of genetics and environment to early-childhood asthma by performing a longitudinal twin study of asthma in Puerto Rican children ≤3 years old.Methods:678 twin infants from the Puerto Rico Neo-Natal Twin Registry were assessed for asthma at age 1 year, with follow-up data obtained for 624 twins at age 3 years. Zygosity was determined by DNA microsatellite profiling. Structural equation modeling was performed for three phenotypes at ages 1 and 3 years: physician-diagnosed asthma, asthma medication use in the past year, and ≥1 hospitalization for asthma in the past year. Models were additionally adjusted for early-life environmental tobacco smoke exposure, sex, and age.Results:The prevalences of physician-diagnosed asthma, asthma medication use, and hospitalization for asthma were 11.6%, 10.8%, 4.9% at age 1 year, and 34.1%, 40.1%, and 8.5% at 3 years, respectively. Shared environmental effects contributed to the majority of variance in susceptibility to physician-diagnosed asthma and asthma medication use in the first year of life (84%-86%), while genetic effects drove variance in all phenotypes (45%-65%) at age 3 years. Early-life environmental tobacco smoke, sex, and age contributed to variance in susceptibility.Conclusion:Our longitudinal study in Puerto Rican twins demonstrates a changing contribution of shared environmental effects to liability for physician-diagnosed asthma and asthma medication use between ages 1 and 3 years. Early-life environmental tobacco smoke reduction could markedly reduce asthma morbidity in young Puerto Rican children. © 2013 Bunyavanich et al

Fluidity and cytosolic Ca2+ concentration of circulating polymorphonuclear leukocytes at baseline in some chronic and acute clinical conditions: review of our survey

Abstract. Objective: In this mini-review we describe the behavior of polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) membrane fluidity and of PMN cytosolic Ca2+ concentration in some chronic and acute clinical conditions. Methods: PMN membrane fluidity was evaluated employing the fluorescent probe Fura-2AM, and PMN cytosolic Ca2+ concentration was evaluated using the fluorescent probe TMA-DPH. Results: From the determination of these two parameters investigated on resting PMNs, an almost constant increase in PMN cytosolic Ca2+ concentration in chronic clinical conditions, such as vascular atherosclerotic disease with and without diabetes mellitus, essential hypertension, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes mellitus of both types, and a decrease in PMN membrane fluidity in acute clinical conditions, such as juvenile acute myocardial infarction and acute ischemic stroke, are evident. Conclusion: The possible reasons for this different behavior are analyzed on the basis of pathophysiological considerations

Teaching Honors Cross-Divisional & Active-Learning Courses: Terrorism & Torture from a Global Perspective

How do we engage undergraduate students in intercultural awareness and global citizenship? One way is to better prepare them for a service-oriented, complex, multi-lingual, and globally focused workplace. Our panel will present how a public university with a metropolitan mission encourages interdisciplinary, cross-divisional, and co-taught courses where French and criminal justice professors collaborate for a global education cause

Let’s tweet again? Social networks and literature achievement in high school students

The availability of cheap Wi-Fi internet connections has encouraged schools to adopt Web 2.0 platforms for teaching, with the intention of stimulating students’ academic achievement and participation in school. Moreover, during the recent explosion of the SARS-CoV-2 crisis that forced many countries to close schools (as well as offices and factories), the widespread diffusion of these applications kept school systems going. Despite their widespread use as teaching tools, the effect of adopting Web 2.0 platforms on students’ performance has never been rigorously tested. We fill this gap in the literature by analyzing the impact of using Twitter as a teaching tool on high school students’ literature skills. Based on a large-scale, randomized controlled trial that involved 70 schools and about 1,500 students, we find that using Twitter to teach literature has an overall negative effect on students’ average achievement, reducing standardized test scores by about 25 percent of a standard deviation. The negative effect is stronger on students who usually perform better

Behaviour of the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in young subjects with acute myocardial infarction

In the last years the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been examined in cardiovascular disorders and in particular in coronary artery disease and acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Now we examined this parameter in subjects with juvenile myocardial infarction at the initial stage and after 3 and 12 months. We enrolled 123 young subjects (112 men and 11 women, mean age 39.4\ub15.8 yrs) with AMI. The time interval between the AMI onset and the investigation was 13\ub17 days. The mean value of NLR observed in young AMI subjects was significantly increased compared to normal controls (N = 1.817\ub10.711; young AMI subjects = 2.376\ub10.873, p < 0.0001). NLR does not discriminate STEMI (2.427\ub10.878) and non STEMI (2.392\ub10.868) or diabetics (2.604\ub11.000) and non diabetics (2.324\ub10.853), but it differentiates smokers (2.276\ub10.853) and non smokers (2.837\ub11.072). NLR at the initial stage is not correlated with the number of cardiovascular risk factors or with the extent of the coronary disease. In this study we found a significant decrease of neutrophil count at 3 and 12 months later AMI without any significant variation of lymphocyte and consequently we observed a decrease in NLR at these two intervals of time in comparison with the initial stage. Despite some limitations present in this study, it is interesting to underline that also in juvenile myocardial infarction this low-cost haematological marker may be considered together with other inflammatory indicators

Leukocyte Rheology Before and After Chemotactic Activation in some Venous Diseases

AbstractObjective: to evaluate leukocyte rheology, polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) membrane fluidity and cytosolic Ca2+ concentration in subjects with post-phlebitic leg syndrome (PPS) and acute deep-venous leg thrombosis (DVT). Subjects: twenty-two subjects with leg PPS and 14 subjects with leg DVT. Methods: we evaluated the leukocyte filtration (unfractionated, mononuclear cells (MN) and PMN), the PMN membrane fluidity and the PMN cytosolic Ca2+ concentration. Subsequently, we evaluated the same PMN variables after in vitro chemotactic activation with 4-phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) and N -formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP). Results: at baseline we observed a significant difference in the filtration variables of unfractionated and MN cells and in PMN cytosolic Ca2+ concentration. After activation, in normal subjects and subjects with PPS and DVT, a significant variation in PMN filtration at 5 and 15 minutes was evident. In normal subjects, no variation was present in PMN membrane fluidity or cytosolic Ca2+ concentration after activation. In subjects with PPS and DVT, we found a decrease in PMN membrane fluidity and an increase in PMN cytosolic Ca2+ concentration. After PMN activation (at 5 and 15 min) Δ% of IRFR distinguished normal subjects from subjects with PPS and DVT, while no difference was found in Δ% of membrane fluidity or cytosolic Ca2+ concentration. Conclusions: there is a functional alteration of leukocytes in these patients whose mechanisms are not yet clear

Analysis of the correlations between oxidative stress, gelatinases and their tissue inhibitors in the human subjects with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is commonly associated with endothelial dysfunction, atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disorders. On the basis of this observation, our aim was to examine the oxidative status and the matrix metalloproteases (MMP) profile in a group of subjects with OSAS. We enrolled 48 subjects with OSAS defined after a 1-night cardiorespiratory sleep study, who were subsequently subdivided in two subgroups according to the severity of OSAS (low grade = L-OSAS; high grade= H-OSAS). We measured the parameters of oxidative stress, such as lipid peroxidation, protein oxidation, total antioxidant status (TAS), nitric oxide metabolites (NOx), and the plasma concentrations of the gelatinases (MMP-2 and MMP-9) and their tissue inhibitors (TIMP-1 and TIMP-2). We found a significant impairment of oxidative status in H-OSAS compared to L-OSAS and higher plasma levels of MMP-9 and TIMP-1 in H-OSAS compared to L-OSAS. In this study we observed a positive correlation between TBARS and MMP-9, a positive correlation between PC and MMP-9, and a negative correlation between NOx and MMP-9, especially in the whole group of OSAS subjects. These data underline how strong interrelationships among some parameters of the oxidative stress, in particular those reflecting lipid peroxidation, protein oxidation and NOx, and MMP-9 are evident in OSAS subjects. All these information may be useful in the clinical practice keeping in mind the cardiovascular complications generally accompanying the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

Publisher's Note: Defect Influence on Heteroepitaxial 3C-SiC Young's Modulus [Electrochem. Solid-State Lett., 14, H161 (2011)]

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Lipid peroxidation and nitric oxide metabolites in a group of subjects with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

It is known that in OSAS the plasma lipid peroxidation has an opposite behavior in comparison with nitric oxide metabolites. In the re-examination of our survey of OSAS infjects we calculated the ratio between thiobarbituric acid reactive infstances (TBARS) and nitric oxide metabolites (NOx) in relation to OSAS severity. The study has regarded 48 OSAS infjects infdivided in two infgroups according to the apnea/hypopnea index-AHI-(Low=21 infjects with AHI 30). From the obtained data it is evident that the TBARS/NOx ratio is significantly higher in the H infgroup compared to L infgroup as well as this ratio is reduced in L infgroup in comparison with the whole group of OSAS infjects. In the entire group of OSAS infjects the TBARS/NOx ratio results positively correlated with AHI and ODI and inversely correlated with mSO2

Erythrocyte deformability, plasma lipid peroxidation and plasma protein oxidation in a group of OSAS subjects

Considering that obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is usually associated with endothelial dysfunction, atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disorders, our aim was to examine the erythrocyte deformability and the oxidative status in a group of OSAS subjects. We consecutively enrolled 48 subjects with OSAS defined after a 1-night cardiorespiratory sleep study, subsequently subdivided according to the apnea/hypopnea index (AHI) value in two subgroups: Low (L = 21 subjects with AHI30). We evaluated the erythrocyte deformability, expressed as elongation index (EI) and the parameters of the oxidative status, such as lipid peroxidation (expressed as thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances TBARS) and protein oxidation (measured as carbonyl groups PC). In the entire group and in the two subgroups of OSAS subjects we found a decreased erytrocyte deformability at all shear stresses, not correlated with the plasmatic oxidative stress nor with the polysomnographic parameters. Lipid peroxidation was increased in the whole group and in the H subgroup of OSAS while protein oxidation showed a different trend. As in OSAS the osmotic fragility and the metabolism of the red cells seem to be not impaired, the oxidative damage to the red cell membrane proteins might be responsible for the reduced erythrocyte deformability. This rheological alteration, in addition to the increase in whole blood and plasma viscosity and to the erythrocyte hyperaggregation, could influence the microcircolatory profile in OSAS subjects