Congenital Abnormalities Associated with Vitamin E Malnutrition

Congenital abnormalities are known to occur occasionally in man and farm livestock, and frequently in laboratory animals subjected to certain types of experimentation. A high percentage of the cases are fatal to the young depending on the nature and severity of the complications. In many instances death of the affected young occurs during pregnancy or parturition. Should the feti survive parturition death usually follows shortly thereafter. Extended survival occurs in a small percentage of young and these are mildly to severely handicapped in one or more of a multiplicity of ways. There are many causes of congenital abnormalities. Some are manifestations of disturbances to the germ plasm, while others are strictly somatic. In this report we are concerned with what might be termed disturbances to biochemical mechanisms of embryonic development induced by faulty nutrition. When essential nutrients are either absent from the ration or present in critically insufficient amounts, mild to severe disturbances usually occur to the feti during embryonic development

What’s Happening to Linux in Singapore?

This paper seeks to shed some light on the progress of Linux adoption in Singapore. The paper, based upon the opinions of industry experts and two case studies (the National Library Board of Singapore and Golden Village Multiplex Pte. Ltd), clarifies key Linuxadoption issues. It further discusses the pros and cons of Linux and the challenges facing this open source rival of Microsoft Windows. The paper concludes that while Linux is likely to co-exist with Windows, it is set to make some significant changes in future IT infrastructure

Relationship of Time of Therapy to Teratogeny in Maternal Avitaminosis E

The literature concerning teratogeny that is attributable to faulty nutrition of laboratory induced origin was reviewed in a previous publication (Thomas and Cheng: 1952). Any review of this subject leads to the conclusion that there are numerous conditions of nutritional insufficiency which produce congenital abnormalities. Until reported recently (Thomas and Cheng, 1952) none had been ascribed to avitaminosis E. The usual abnormality in reproduction which prevails among pregnant rats in an advanced state of avitaminosis E is fetal resorption. Adequate vitamin E therapy administered promiscuously is not sufficient to circumvent reproductive difficulties. Timing of therapy is an exceedingly important limiting condition. Therapy that is adequate when given during the first week of gestation in the rat frequently will fail if delayed until the second and third weeks of gestation. When given during the second week uterine responses will be variable. Thus, in a single uterus some feti will be resorbed, others will have developed congenital abnormalities, and still others will appear externally morphologically normal. When therapy is given during the third week the embryological contents of the uterus will be partially or completely resorbed. The purpose of this report is to show more specifically than was possible at the time of our original announcement (Thomas and Cheng, 1952) the relationship of time of therapy to incidence of teratogeny in nutritional avitaminosis E. Also, data are presented summarizing the incidence of the different types of abnormalities thus far observed which are a part of this syndrome

Comprehensive school-based health programs to improve child and adolescent health : Evidence from Zambia

While school-aged children in low- and middle-income countries remain highly exposed to acute infections, programs targeting this age group remain limited in scale and scope. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of a new and comprehensive primary school-based health intervention program on student-reported morbidity and anthropometric outcomes in Lusaka, Zambia.; A prospective matched control study identified 12 classes in 7 schools for the intervention and 12 classes in 7 matched schools as controls. Teachers in intervention schools were trained to deliver health lessons and to refer sick students to care. In addition, vitamin A and deworming medication were biannually administered to intervention students. The primary study outcome was student-reported morbidity. Secondary outcomes were weight, height, health knowledge, and absenteeism. Multivariable linear and logistic regression models were used to estimate program impact.; 380 students ages 4-16 were enrolled in the study in 2015, and 97% were followed up at endline in 2016. The intervention decreased the adjusted odds of self-reported acute illnesses by 38% (95% CI: 0.48, 0.77) and the adjusted odds of stunting by 52% (95% CI: 0.26, 0.87). It also increased health knowledge by 0.53 standard deviations (95% CI: 0.24, 0.81). No impact was found on weight (adjusted mean difference β = 0.17, 95% CI: - 1.11, 1.44) and student absenteeism (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.60, 1.33).; The results presented in this paper suggest that comprehensive school-based health programs may offer a highly effective way to improve students' health knowledge as well as their health status. Given their low cost, a more general adoption and implementation of such programs seems recommendable.; ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03607084

Correlates of smoking quit attempts: Florida Tobacco Callback Survey, 2007

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>The public health burden of tobacco-associated diseases in the USA remains high, in part because many people's attempts to quit are unsuccessful. This study examined factors associated with having lifetime or recent attempts to quit smoking among current smokers, based on a telephone survey of Florida adults.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data from the 2007 telephone-based Florida Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and its follow-up survey, the Tobacco Callback Survey, were used to assess determinants of having ever attempted to quit smoking and attempted to quit smoking in the past 12 months. All analyses were conducted using SAS.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among 3,560 current smokers, 41.5% reported having tried to quit smoking in the past 12 months while 83.4% reported having ever tried to quit. Having a history of a tobacco-related medical condition was significantly associated with both recent (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) 1.41 [Confidence Interval 1.19–1.65]) and lifetime quit attempts (AOR 1.43 [1.15–1.79]). Greater nicotine dependence and being advised by a physician to quit smoking were also positively associated with lifetime quit attempts.</p> <p>Receipt of healthcare provider advice to quit smoking in the past 12 months and a strong belief that quitting following a long history of regular smoking would not result in health benefits and belief that there are health benefits to quitting smoking were associated with lifetime quit attempts.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Targeted smoking cessation interventions are needed for smokers with selected medical conditions and with high nicotine dependence. The importance of physician advice in encouraging individuals to quit is further highlighted.</p

Effects of obesity, energy restriction and neutering on the faecal microbiota of cats

Surveys report that 25–57 % of cats are overweight or obese. The most evinced cause is neutering. Weight loss often fails; thus, new strategies are needed. Obesity has been associated with altered gut bacterial populations and increases in microbial dietary energy extraction, body weight and adiposity. This study aimed to determine whether alterations in intestinal bacteria were associated with obesity, energy restriction and neutering by characterising faecal microbiota using 16S rRNA gene sequencing in eight lean intact, eight lean neutered and eight obese neutered cats before and after 6 weeks of energy restriction. Lean neutered cats had a bacterial profile similar to obese rodents and humans, with a greater abundance (P<0·05) of Firmicutes and lower abundance (P <0·05) of Bacteroidetes compared with the other groups. The greater abundance of Firmicutes in lean neutered cats was due to a bloom in Peptostreptococcaceae. Obese cats had an 18 % reduction in fat mass after energy restriction (P<0·05). Energy reduction was concurrent with significant shifts in two low-abundance bacterial genera and trends in four additional genera. The greatest change was a reduction in the Firmicutes genus, Sarcina, from 4·54 to 0·65 % abundance after energy restriction. The short duration of energy restriction may explain why few bacterial changes were observed in the obese cats. Additional work is needed to understand how neutering, obesity and weight loss are related to changes in feline microbiota and how these microbial shifts affect host physiology

Accessibility, availability and utilisation of malaria interventions among women of reproductive age in Kilosa district in central Tanzania

This study showed that pregnant women had only average knowledge about malaria in pregnancy and intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp), and this is likely reflected in low IPTp coverage. Campaigns that provide educational messages on the risk of malaria during pregnancy and the usefulness of IPTp need to be emphasised. The research aimed to determine factors affecting accessibility, availability and utilisation of malaria interventions among women of reproductive age in Kilosa district in central Tanzania. As well, sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) stock-outs and lack of qualified health workers were common in all health facilities in the district

Copy number analysis of NIPBL in a cohort of 510 patients reveals rare copy number variants and a mosaic deletion

Funding Information No funding information provided. aThese authors contributed equally to this work

Liver-resident NK cells confer adaptive immunity in skin-contact inflammation

Liver natural killer (NK) cells were recently reported to possess memory-like properties in contact hypersensitivity (CHS) models. However, the phenotype and origin of these “memory” NK cells cannot be distinguished from other NK cell subpopulations. Here, we define the transcriptional, phenotypic, and functional features of liver NK cell subsets and their roles in mediating CHS. Liver NK cells can be divided into two distinct subsets: CD49a(+)DX5(–) and CD49a(–)DX5(+). Substantial transcriptional and phenotypic differences existed between liver CD49a(+)DX5(–) NK cells and other NK cell subsets. CD49a(+)DX5(–) NK cells possessed memory potential and conferred hapten-specific CHS responses upon hapten challenge. Importantly, CD49a(+)DX5(–) NK cells were liver resident and were present in the liver sinusoidal blood, but not the afferent and efferent blood of the liver. Moreover, they appeared to originate from hepatic hematopoietic progenitor/stem cells (HPCs/HSCs) but not from the bone marrow, and maintained their phenotypes in the steady state. Our findings of liver-resident NK cells shed new light on the acquisition of memory-like properties of NK cells