Why Prison Dental Care Matters: Legal, Policy, and Practical Concerns

Even when controlling for demographic characteristics, prisoners are far more likely than people in the general population to suffer from periodontal disease, to have unresolved oral health issues, to have decayed teeth, and/or to be missing teeth. Correlates of poor oral health, such as poor nutrition and smoking, are more prevalent among people of lower socioeconomic status, and this same population is at a higher risk than others for offending and incarceration. For some, prison is the only time in their adult lives when they will have seen a dentist. There are few free dental clinics in communities, regardless of economic climate, and there are almost none that serve adults. Dental care is expensive, and dental insurance is rarely provided to employees in lower income jobs. Therefore, many will enter correctional facilities having been financially precluded from seeking dental care even if they had wanted it. [excerpt

An immunohistochemical analysis of stathmin 1 expression in uterine smooth muscle tumors: differential expression in leiomyosarcomas and leiomyomas

The oncogenic phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-AKT-mammlian target of rapamycin pathway (PI3K-AKT-mTOR) pathway is known to be activated in uterine smooth muscle tumors, and Stathmin 1 (STMN1) expression has been identified as a marker of PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway activation. We hypothesized that STMN1 may have some diagnostic utility and explored how well STMN1 expression correlated with histologic classifications of uterine smooth muscle tumors into benign and malignant groupings. 84 smooth muscle tumors were assessed for STMN1 expression by immunohistochemistry. These included spindle cell leiomyosarcoma (n=32), conventional spindle cell leiomyomas (n=30), atypical (symplastic) leiomyoma (n=5), cellular leiomyoma (n=7), smooth muscle tumor of uncertain malignant potential (n=4), mitotically active leiomyomas (n=2), benign metastasizing leiomyoma (n=3), and cotyledonoid dissecting leiomyoma (n=1). All spindle cell leiomyosarcomas were positive (32/32 positive; 100%) as compared with conventional leiomyomata (11/30; 37%) (

British Society of Gastroenterology Best Practice Guidance: outpatient management of cirrhosis - part 3: special circumstances

\ua9 2023 BMJ Publishing Group. All rights reserved.The prevalence of cirrhosis has risen significantly over recent decades and is predicted to rise further. Widespread use of non-invasive testing means cirrhosis is increasingly diagnosed at an earlier stage. Despite this, there are significant variations in outcomes in patients with cirrhosis across the UK, and patients in areas with higher levels of deprivation are more likely to die from their liver disease. This three-part best practice guidance aims to address outpatient management of cirrhosis, in order to standardise care and to reduce the risk of progression, decompensation and mortality from liver disease. Part 1 addresses outpatient management of compensated cirrhosis: screening for hepatocellular cancer, varices and osteoporosis, vaccination and lifestyle measures. Part 2 concentrates on outpatient management of decompensated disease including management of ascites, encephalopathy, varices, nutrition as well as liver transplantation and palliative care. In this, the third part of the guidance, we focus on special circumstances encountered in managing people with cirrhosis, namely surgery, pregnancy, travel, managing bleeding risk for invasive procedures and portal vein thrombosis

British Society of Gastroenterology Best Practice Guidance: outpatient management of cirrhosis - part 1: compensated cirrhosis

\ua9 2023 BMJ Publishing Group. All rights reserved.The prevalence of cirrhosis has risen significantly over recent decades and is predicted to rise further. Widespread use of non-invasive testing means cirrhosis is increasingly diagnosed at an earlier stage. Despite this, there are significant variations in outcomes in patients with cirrhosis across the UK, and patients in areas with higher levels of deprivation are more likely to die from their liver disease. This three-part best practice guidance aims to address outpatient management of cirrhosis, in order to standardise care and to reduce the risk of progression, decompensation and mortality from liver disease. Here, in part one, we focus on outpatient management of compensated cirrhosis, encompassing hepatocellular cancer surveillance, screening for varices and osteoporosis, vaccination and lifestyle measures. We also introduce a compensated cirrhosis care bundle for use in the outpatient setting. Part two concentrates on outpatient management of decompensated disease including management of ascites, encephalopathy, varices, nutrition as well as liver transplantation and palliative care. The third part of the guidance covers special circumstances encountered in managing people with cirrhosis: surgery, pregnancy, travel, managing bleeding risk for invasive procedures and portal vein thrombosis

Soil biochemistry and microbial activity in vineyards under conventional and organic management at Northeast Brazil.

The São Francisco Submedium Valley is located at the Brazilian semiarid region and is an important center for irrigated fruit growing. This region is responsible for 97% of the national exportation of table grapes, including seedless grapes. Based on the fact that orgThe São Francisco Submedium Valley is located at the Brazilian semiarid region and is an important center for irrigated fruit growing. This region is responsible for 97% of the national exportation of table grapes, including seedless grapes. Based on the fact that organic fertilization can improve soil quality, we compared the effects of conventional and organic soil management on microbial activity and mycorrhization of seedless grape crops. We measured glomerospores number, most probable number (MPN) of propagules, richness of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) species, AMF root colonization, EE-BRSP production, carbon microbial biomass (C-MB), microbial respiration, fluorescein diacetate hydrolytic activity (FDA) and metabolic coefficient (qCO2). The organic management led to an increase in all variables with the exception of EE-BRSP and qCO2. Mycorrhizal colonization increased from 4.7% in conventional crops to 15.9% in organic crops. Spore number ranged from 4.1 to 12.4 per 50 g-1 soil in both management systems. The most probable number of AMF propagules increased from 79 cm-3 soil in the conventional system to 110 cm-3 soil in the organic system. Microbial carbon, CO2 emission, and FDA activity were increased by 100 to 200% in the organic crop. Thirteen species of AMF were identified, the majority in the organic cultivation system. Acaulospora excavata, Entrophospora infrequens, Glomus sp.3 and Scutellospora sp. were found only in the organically managed crop. S. gregaria was found only in the conventional crop. Organically managed vineyards increased mycorrhization and general soil microbial activity

Development of high-throughput methods to screen disease caused by Rhizoctonia solani AG 2-1 in oilseed rape

Background: Rhizoctonia solani (Kühn) is a soil-borne, necrotrophic fungus causing damping off, root rot and stem canker in many cultivated plants worldwide. Oilseed rape (OSR, Brassica napus) is the primary host for anastomosis group (AG) 2-1 of R. solani causing pre- and post-emergence damping-off resulting in death of seedlings and impaired crop establishment. Presently, there are no known resistant OSR genotypes and the main methods for disease control are fungicide seed treatments and cultural practices. The identification of sources of resistance for crop breeding is essential for sustainable management of the disease. However, a high-throughput, reliable screening method for resistance traits is required. The aim of this work was to develop a low cost, rapid screening method for disease phenotyping and identification of resistance traits. Results: Four growth systems were developed and tested: (1) nutrient media plates, (2) compost trays, (3) light expanded clay aggregate (LECA) trays, and (4) a hydroponic pouch and wick system. Seedlings were inoculated with virulent AG 2-1 to cause damping-off disease and grown for a period of 4–10 days. Visual disease assessments were carried out or disease was estimated through image analysis using ImageJ. Conclusion: Inoculation of LECA was the most suitable method for phenotyping disease caused by R. solani AG 2-1 as it enabled the detection of differences in disease severity among OSR genotypes within a short time period whilst allowing measurements to be conducted on whole plants. This system is expected to facilitate identification of resistant germplasm

Agronomic Management of Indigenous Mycorrhizas

Many of the advantages conferred to plants by arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) are associated to the ability of AM plants to explore a greater volume of soil through the extraradical mycelium. Sieverding (1991) estimates that for each centimetre of colonized root there is an increase of 15 cm3 on the volume of soil explored, this value can increase to 200 cm3 depending on the circumstances. Due to the enhancement of the volume of soil explored and the ability of the extraradical mycelium to absorb and translocate nutrients to the plant, one of the most obvious and important advantages resulting from mycorrhization is the uptake of nutrients. Among of which the ones that have immobilized forms in soil, such as P, assume particular significance. Besides this, many other benefits are recognized for AM plants (Gupta et al, 2000): water stress alleviation (Augé, 2004; Cho et al, 2006), protection from root pathogens (Graham, 2001), tolerance to toxic heavy metals and phytoremediation (Audet and Charest, 2006; Göhre and Paszkowski, 2006), tolerance to adverse conditions such as very high or low temperature, high salinity (Sannazzaro et al, 2006), high or low pH (Yano and Takaki, 2005) or better performance during transplantation shock (Subhan et al, 1998). The extraradical hyphae also stabilize soil aggregates by both enmeshing soil particles (Miller e Jastrow, 1992) and producing a glycoprotein, golmalin, which may act as a glue-like substance to adhere soil particles together (Wright and Upadhyaya, 1998). Despite the ubiquous distribution of mycorrhizal fungi (Smith and Read, 2000) and only a relative specificity between host plants and fungal isolates (McGonigle and Fitter, 1990), the obligate nature of the symbiosis implies the establishment of a plant propagation system, either under greenhouse conditions or in vitro laboratory propagation. These techniques result in high inoculum production costs, which still remains a serious problem since they are not competitive with production costs of phosphorus fertilizer. Even if farmers understand the significance of sustainable agricultural systems, the reduction of phosphorus inputs by using AM fungal inocula alone cannot be justified except, perhaps, in the case of high value crops (Saioto and Marumoto, 2002). Nurseries, high income horticulture farmers and no-agricultural application such as rehabilitation of degraded or devegetated landscapes are examples of areas where the use of commercial inoculum is current. Another serious problem is quality of commercial available products concerning guarantee of phatogene free content, storage conditions, most effective application methods and what types to use. Besides the information provided by suppliers about its inoculum can be deceiving, as from the usually referred total counts, only a fraction may be effective for a particular plant or in specific soil conditions. Gianinazzi and Vosátka (2004) assume that progress should be made towards registration procedures that stimulate the development of the mycorrhizal industry. Some on-farm inoculum production and application methods have been studied, allowing farmers to produce locally adapted isolates and generate a taxonomically diverse inoculum (Mohandas et al, 2004; Douds et al, 2005). However the inocula produced this way are not readily processed for mechanical application to the fields, being an obstacle to the utilization in large scale agriculture, especially row crops, moreover it would represent an additional mechanical operation with the corresponding economic and soil compaction costs. It is well recognized that inoculation of AM fungi has a potential significance in not only sustainable crop production, but also environmental conservation. However, the status quo of inoculation is far from practical technology that can be widely used in the field. Together a further basic understanding of the biology and diversity of AM fungi is needed (Abbott at al, 1995; Saito and Marumoto, 2002). Advances in ecology during the past decade have led to a much more detailed understanding of the potential negative consequences of species introductions and the potential for negative ecological consequences of invasions by mycorrhizal fungi is poorly understood. Schwartz et al, (2006) recommend that a careful assessment documenting the need for inoculation, and the likelihood of success, should be conducted prior to inoculation because inoculations are not universally beneficial. Agricultural practices such as crop rotation, tillage, weed control and fertilizer apllication all produce changes in the chemical, physical and biological soil variables and affect the ecological niches available for occupancy by the soil biota, influencing in different ways the symbiosis performance and consequently the inoculum development, shaping changes and upset balance of native populations. The molecular biology tools developed in the latest years have been very important for our perception of these changes, ensuing awareness of management choice implications in AM development. In this context, for extensive farming systems and regarding environmental and economic costs, the identification of agronomic management practices that allow controlled manipulation of the fungal community and capitalization of AM mutualistic effect making use of local inoculum, seem to be a wise option for mycorrhiza promotion and development of sustainable crop production

Arbuscular mycorrhizal colonisation of roots of grass species differing in invasiveness

Recent research indicates that the soil microbial community, particularly arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), can influence plant invasion in several ways. We tested if 1) invasive species are colonised by AMF to a lower degree than resident native species, and 2) AMF colonisation of native plants is lower in a community inhabited by an invasive species than in an uninvaded resident community. The two tests were run in semiarid temperate grasslands on grass (Poaceae) species, and the frequency and intensity of mycorrhizal colonisation, and the proportion of arbuscules and vesicles in plant roots have been measured. In the first test, grasses representing three classes of invasiveness were included: invasive species, resident species becoming abundant upon disturbance, and non-invasive native species. Each class contained one C3 and one C4 species. The AMF colonisation of the invasive Calamagrostis epigejos and Cynodon dactylon was consistently lower than that of the non-invasive native Chrysopogon gryllus and Bromus inermis, and contained fewer arbuscules than the post-disturbance dominant resident grasses Bothriochloa ischaemum and Brachypodium pinnatum. The C3 and C4 grasses behaved alike despite their displaced phenologies in these habitats. The second test compared AMF colonisation for sand grassland dominant grasses Festuca vaginata and Stipa borysthenica in stands invaded by either C. epigejos or C. dactylon, and in the uninvaded natural community. Resident grasses showed lower degree of AMF colonisation in the invaded stand compared to the uninvaded natural community with F. vaginata responding so to both invaders, while S. borysthenica responding to C. dactylon only. These results indicate that invasive grasses supposedly less reliant on AMF symbionts have the capacity of altering the soil mycorrhizal community in such a way that resident native species can establish a considerably reduced extent of the beneficial AMF associations, hence their growth, reproduction and ultimately abundance may decline. Accumulating evidence suggests that such indirect influences of invasive alien plants on resident native species mediated by AMF or other members of the soil biota is probably more the rule than the exception

Diagnostic accuracy of the aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index for the prediction of hepatitis B-related fibrosis: a leading meta-analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI), a tool with limited expense and widespread availability, is a promising noninvasive alternative to liver biopsy for detecting hepatic fibrosis. The objective of this study was to systematically review the performance of the APRI in predicting significant fibrosis and cirrhosis in hepatitis B-related fibrosis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Areas under summary receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROC), sensitivity and specificity were used to examine the accuracy of the APRI for the diagnosis of hepatitis B-related significant fibrosis and cirrhosis. Heterogeneity was explored using meta-regression.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Nine studies were included in this meta-analysis (n = 1,798). Prevalence of significant fibrosis and cirrhosis were 53.1% and 13.5%, respectively. The summary AUCs of the APRI for significant fibrosis and cirrhosis were 0.79 and 0.75, respectively. For significant fibrosis, an APRI threshold of 0.5 was 84% sensitive and 41% specific. At the cutoff of 1.5, the summary sensitivity and specificity were 49% and 84%, respectively. For cirrhosis, an APRI threshold of 1.0-1.5 was 54% sensitive and 78% specific. At the cutoff of 2.0, the summary sensitivity and specificity were 28% and 87%, respectively. Meta-regression analysis indicated that the APRI accuracy for both significant fibrosis and cirrhosis was affected by histological classification systems, but not influenced by the interval between Biopsy & APRI or blind biopsy.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our meta-analysis suggests that APRI show limited value in identifying hepatitis B-related significant fibrosis and cirrhosis.</p