Mandatory childhood vaccination: Should Norway follow?

Systematic public vaccination constitutes a tremendous health success, perhaps the greatest achievement of biomedicine so far. There is, however, room for improvement. Each year, 1.5 million deaths could be avoided with enhanced immunisation coverage. In recent years, many countries have introduced mandatory childhood vaccination programmes in an attempt to avoid deaths. In Norway, however, the vaccination programme has remained voluntary. Our childhood immunisation programme covers protection for twelve infectious diseases, and Norwegian children are systematically immunised from six weeks to sixteen years of age. In this article, we address the question of whether our country, Norway, should make the childhood vaccination programme mandatory. This question has received considerable public attention in the media, yet surprisingly little academic discussion has followed. The aim of the article is to systematically discuss whether it is morally justified to introduce a mandatory childhood vaccination programme in Norway. Our discussion proceeds as follows: We begin by presenting relevant background information on the history of vaccines and the current Norwegian childhood vaccination programme. Next, we discuss what we consider to be the most central arguments against mandatory childhood vaccination: the argument from the standpoints of parental rights, bodily integrity, naturalness, mistrust, and immunisation coverage. After that, we examine the central arguments in favour of mandatory childhood vaccination from the standpoints of harm, herd immunity, and as a precautionary strategy. We conclude that there are convincing moral arguments in favour of adopting a policy of mandatory childhood vaccination in Norway.publishedVersio

Bilateral Simultaneous Retinal Detachment in Pseudophakia

Cataract surgery is the most frequent surgical intervention, with approximately 700,000 operations per year in Germany alone. One of the most serious complications is retinal detachment, with a reported incidence rate of pseudophakic retinal detachment of 0.75-1.65%. We report the case of a patient who suffered from a simultaneous bilateral pseudophakic retinal detachment. Interestingly, the bilateral detachments in the left and the right eye started with only some hours' delay. He had no acute trigger for the retinal detachment and no risk factors besides the cataract surgery performed on both eyes some weeks earlier. Simultaneous bilateral retinal detachments will be more common, due to increasing numbers of cataract surgeries and the demographic development. We conclude that funduscopy should be regularly performed in mydriasis to avoid sight-threatening simultaneous bilateral retinal detachments

Bilateral Simultaneous Retinal Detachment in Pseudophakia

Cataract surgery is the most frequent surgical intervention, with approximately 700,000 operations per year in Germany alone. One of the most serious complications is retinal detachment, with a reported incidence rate of pseudophakic retinal detachment of 0.75-1.65%. We report the case of a patient who suffered from a simultaneous bilateral pseudophakic retinal detachment. Interestingly, the bilateral detachments in the left and the right eye started with only some hours' delay. He had no acute trigger for the retinal detachment and no risk factors besides the cataract surgery performed on both eyes some weeks earlier. Simultaneous bilateral retinal detachments will be more common, due to increasing numbers of cataract surgeries and the demographic development. We conclude that funduscopy should be regularly performed in mydriasis to avoid sight-threatening simultaneous bilateral retinal detachments

Cognitive and Motor Decline in Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Parkinson's Disease Dementia

Funding Information: The University of Stavanger supported M.C.G. The CamPaIGN study has received funding from the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council, the Patrick Berthoud Trust, and the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (BRC‐1215‐20014). The ICICLE‐PD study was funded by Parkinson's UK (J‐0802, G‐1301, G‐1507) and supported by the Lockhart Parkinson's Disease Research Fund, National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Newcastle Biomedical Research Unit and Centre based at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Newcastle University. The PICNICS study was funded by the Cure Parkinson's Trust, the Van Geest Foundation, the Medical Research Council, Parkinson's UK, and the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (BRC‐1215‐20014). The NYPUM study was supported by grants from the Swedish Medical Research Council, Erling‐Persson Foundation, the Swedish Brain Foundation (Hjärnfonden), Umeå University, Västerbotten County Council, King Gustaf V and Queen Victoria Freemason Foundation, Swedish Parkinson Foundation, Swedish Parkinson Research Foundation, Kempe Foundation, Swedish PD Association, the European Research Council, and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. The PINE study was funded by Parkinson's UK (grant numbers G0502, G0914, and G1302), the Scottish Chief Scientist Office (CAF/12/05, PCL/17/10), Academy of Medical Sciences, NHS Grampian endowments, the BMA Doris Hillier award, RS Macdonald Trust, the BUPA Foundation, and SPRING. The PARKWEST study was supported by the Research Council of Norway (grant# 177966), the Western Norway Regional Health Authority (grant# 911218 and # 911949), Reberg legacy and the Norwegian Parkinson's Research Foundation. The PICC collaboration has been supported by The Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government (PCL/17/10), the Academy of Medical Sciences, Parkinson's UK (initial collaborator meeting) and the Norwegian Association for Public Health. The DEMVEST Study was supported by the regional health authorities of Western Norway, Helse‐Vest (grant# 911973). Motol University Hospital's Czech Brain Aging Study was supported by the National Institute for Neurological Research (Programme EXCELES, ID Project No. LX22NPO5107)—Funded by the European Union—Next Generation EU and by Charles University grant PRIMUS 22/MED/011. The Sant Pau Initiative on Neurodegeration (SPIN) cohort was supported by the Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitario (FIS), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI14/01126, PI17/01019 and PI20/01473 to JF, PI13/01532 and PI16/01825 to RB, PI18/00335 to MCI, PI18/00435 and INT19/00016 to DA, PI17/01896 and AC19/00103to AL) and the CIBERNED program (Program 1, Alzheimer Disease to AL), jointly funded by Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional, Unión Europea, “Una manera de hacer Europa”. It was also supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIA grants 1R01AG056850‐01A1; R21AG056974; and R01AG061566), by Generalitat de Catalunya (2017‐SGR‐547, SLT006/17/125, SLT006/17/119, SLT002/16/408) and “Marató TV3” foundation grants 20141210, 044412 and 20142610. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health. The sponsors were not involved in the study design, in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, in the writing of the report, or in the decision to submit the article for publication. The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest relevant to this work. Funding Sources and Conflicts of Interest:Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Dimethyl Sulfoxide Induces Both Direct and Indirect Tau Hyperphosphorylation

Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is widely used as a solvent or vehicle for biological studies, and for treatment of specific disorders, including traumatic brain injury and several forms of amyloidosis. As Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brains are characterized by deposits of β-amyloid peptides, it has been suggested that DMSO could be used as a treatment for this devastating disease. AD brains are also characterized by aggregates of hyperphosphorylated tau protein, but the effect of DMSO on tau phosphorylation is unknown. We thus investigated the impact of DMSO on tau phosphorylation in vitro and in vivo. One hour following intraperitoneal administration of 1 or 2 ml/kg DMSO in mice, no change was observed in tau phosphorylation. However, at 4 ml/kg, tau was hyperphosphorylated at AT8 (Ser202/Thr205), PHF-1 (Ser396/Ser404) and AT180 (Thr231) epitopes. At this dose, we also noticed that the animals were hypothermic. When the mice were maintained normothermic, the effect of 4 ml/kg DMSO on tau hyperphosphorylation was prevented. On the other hand, in SH-SY5Y cells, 0.1% DMSO induced tau hyperphosphorylation at AT8 and AT180 phosphoepitopes in normothermic conditions. Globally, these findings demonstrate that DMSO can induce tau hyperphosphorylation indirectly via hypothermia in vivo, and directly in vitro. These data should caution researchers working with DMSO as it can induce artifactual results both in vivo and in vitro

On the need for rigorous welfare and methodological reporting for the live capture of large carnivores: A response to de Araujo et al. (2021)

1.De Araujo et al. (Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13516) described the development and application of a wire foot snare trap for the capture of jaguars Panthera onca and cougars Puma concolor. Snares are a commonly used and effective means of studying large carnivores. However, the article presented insufficient information to replicate the work and inadequate consideration and description of animal welfare considerations, thereby risking the perpetuation of poor standards of reporting. 2.Appropriate animal welfare assessments are essential in studies that collect data from animals, especially those that use invasive techniques, and are key in assisting researchers to choose the most appropriate capture method. It is critical that authors detail all possible associated harms and benefits to support thorough review, including equipment composition, intervention processes, general body assessments, injuries (i.e. cause, type, severity) and post-release behaviour. We offer a detailed discussion of these shortcomings. 3.We also discuss broader but highly relevant issues, including the capture of non-target animals and the omission of key methodological details. The level of detail provided by authors should allow the method to be properly assessed and replicated, including those that improve trap selectivity and minimize or eliminate the capture of non-target animals. 4.Finally, we discuss the central role that journals must play in ensuring that published research conforms to ethical, animal welfare and reporting standards. Scientific studies are subject to ever-increasing scrutiny by peers and the public, making it more important than ever that standards are upheld and reviewed. 5. We conclude that the proposal of a new or refined method must be supported by substantial contextual discussion, a robust rationale and analyses and comprehensive documentation

The seeds of divergence: the economy of French North America, 1688 to 1760

Generally, Canada has been ignored in the literature on the colonial origins of divergence with most of the attention going to the United States. Late nineteenth century estimates of income per capita show that Canada was relatively poorer than the United States and that within Canada, the French and Catholic population of Quebec was considerably poorer. Was this gap long standing? Some evidence has been advanced for earlier periods, but it is quite limited and not well-suited for comparison with other societies. This thesis aims to contribute both to Canadian economic history and to comparative work on inequality across nations during the early modern period. With the use of novel prices and wages from Quebec—which was then the largest settlement in Canada and under French rule—a price index, a series of real wages and a measurement of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are constructed. They are used to shed light both on the course of economic development until the French were defeated by the British in 1760 and on standards of living in that colony relative to the mother country, France, as well as the American colonies. The work is divided into three components. The first component relates to the construction of a price index. The absence of such an index has been a thorn in the side of Canadian historians as it has limited the ability of historians to obtain real values of wages, output and living standards. This index shows that prices did not follow any trend and remained at a stable level. However, there were episodes of wide swings—mostly due to wars and the monetary experiment of playing card money. The creation of this index lays the foundation of the next component. The second component constructs a standardized real wage series in the form of welfare ratios (a consumption basket divided by nominal wage rate multiplied by length of work year) to compare Canada with France, England and Colonial America. Two measures are derived. The first relies on a “bare bones” definition of consumption with a large share of land-intensive goods. This measure indicates that Canada was poorer than England and Colonial America and not appreciably richer than France. However, this measure overestimates the relative position of Canada to the Old World because of the strong presence of land-intensive goods. A second measure is created using a “respectable” definition of consumption in which the basket includes a larger share of manufactured goods and capital-intensive goods. This second basket better reflects differences in living standards since the abundance of land in Canada (and Colonial America) made it easy to achieve bare subsistence, but the scarcity of capital and skilled labor made the consumption of luxuries and manufactured goods (clothing, lighting, imported goods) highly expensive. With this measure, the advantage of New France over France evaporates and turns slightly negative. In comparison with Britain and Colonial America, the gap widens appreciably. This element is the most important for future research. By showing a reversal because of a shift to a different type of basket, it shows that Old World and New World comparisons are very sensitive to how we measure the cost of living. Furthermore, there are no sustained improvements in living standards over the period regardless of the measure used. Gaps in living standards observed later in the nineteenth century existed as far back as the seventeenth century. In a wider American perspective that includes the Spanish colonies, Canada fares better. The third component computes a new series for Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is to avoid problems associated with using real wages in the form of welfare ratios which assume a constant labor supply. This assumption is hard to defend in the case of Colonial Canada as there were many signs of increasing industriousness during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The GDP series suggest no long-run trend in living standards (from 1688 to circa 1765). The long peace era of 1713 to 1740 was marked by modest economic growth which offset a steady decline that had started in 1688, but by 1760 (as a result of constant warfare) living standards had sunk below their 1688 levels. These developments are accompanied by observations that suggest that other indicators of living standard declined. The flat-lining of incomes is accompanied by substantial increases in the amount of time worked, rising mortality and rising infant mortality. In addition, comparisons of incomes with the American colonies confirm the results obtained with wages— Canada was considerably poorer. At the end, a long conclusion is provides an exploratory discussion of why Canada would have diverged early on. In structural terms, it is argued that the French colony was plagued by the problem of a small population which prohibited the existence of scale effects. In combination with the fact that it was dispersed throughout the territory, the small population of New France limited the scope for specialization and economies of scale. However, this problem was in part created, and in part aggravated, by institutional factors like seigneurial tenure. The colonial origins of French America’s divergence from the rest of North America are thus partly institutional

Mandatory childhood vaccination: Should Norway follow?

Systematic public vaccination constitutes a tremendous health success, perhaps the greatest achievement of biomedicine so far. There is, however, room for improvement. Each year, 1.5 million deaths could be avoided with enhanced immunisation coverage. In recent years, many countries have introduced mandatory childhood vaccination programmes in an attempt to avoid deaths. In Norway, however, the vaccination programme has remained voluntary. Our childhood immunisation programme covers protection for twelve infectious diseases, and Norwegian children are systematically immunised from six weeks to sixteen years of age. In this article, we address the question of whether our country, Norway, should make the childhood vaccination programme mandatory. This question has received considerable public attention in the media, yet surprisingly little academic discussion has followed. The aim of the article is to systematically discuss whether it is morally justified to introduce a mandatory childhood vaccination programme in Norway. Our discussion proceeds as follows: We begin by presenting relevant background information on the history of vaccines and the current Norwegian childhood vaccination programme. Next, we discuss what we consider to be the most central arguments against mandatory childhood vaccination: the argument from the standpoints of parental rights, bodily integrity, naturalness, mistrust, and immunisation coverage. After that, we examine the central arguments in favour of mandatory childhood vaccination from the standpoints of harm, herd immunity, and as a precautionary strategy. We conclude that there are convincing moral arguments in favour of adopting a policy of mandatory childhood vaccination in Norway

Cyclodextrin-assisted capillary electrophoresis for determination of the cyclic nitramine explosives RDX, HMX and CL-20 comparison with high-performance liquid chromatography

A sulfobutyl ether-beta-cyclodextrin-assisted electrokinetic chromatographic method was developed to rapidly resolve and detect the cyclic nitramine explosives 2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitro-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaaza-isowurtzitane (CL-20), octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (HMX) and hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) and their related degradation intermediates in environmental samples. Development of the electrophoretic method required the measurement of the aqueous solubility of CL-20 which was determined to be 3.59+-0.74 mg/l at 25degreeC (95% confidence interval, n = 3). The performance of the method was then compared to results obtained from existing high-performance liquid chromatography methods including US Environmental Protection Agency method 8330. (c) Biosciences Information Services.NRC publication: Ye