Mortality among Workers Exposed to Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) in an Electrical Capacitor Manufacturing Plant in Indiana: An Update

An Indiana capacitor-manufacturing cohort (n = 3,569) was exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from 1957 to 1977. The original study of mortality through 1984 found excess melanoma and brain cancer; other studies of PCB-exposed individuals have found excess non-Hodgkin lymphoma and rectal, liver, biliary tract, and gallbladder cancer. Mortality was updated through 1998. Analyses have included standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using rates for Indiana and the United States, standardized rate ratios (SRRs), and Poisson regression rate ratios (RRs). Estimated cumulative exposure calculations used a new job–exposure matrix. Mortality overall was reduced (547 deaths; SMR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.7–0.9). Non-Hodgkin lymphoma mortality was elevated (9 deaths; SMR, 1.23; 95% CI, 0.6–2.3). Melanoma remained in excess (9 deaths; SMR, 2.43; 95% CI, 1.1–4.6), especially in the lowest tertile of estimated cumulative exposure (5 deaths; SMR, 3.72; 95% CI, 1.2–8.7). Seven of the 12 brain cancer deaths (SMR, 1.91; 95% CI, 1.0–3.3) occurred after the original study. Brain cancer mortality increased with exposure (in the highest tertile, 5 deaths; SMR, 2.71; 95% CI, 0.9–6.3); the SRR dose–response trend was significant (p = 0.016). Among those working ≥90 days, both melanoma (8 deaths; SMR, 2.66; 95% CI, 1.1–5.2) and brain cancer (11 deaths; SMR, 2.12; 95% CI, 1.1–3.8) were elevated, especially for women: melanoma, 3 deaths (SMR, 5.99; 95% CI, 1.2–17.5); brain cancer, 3 deaths (SMR, 2.87; 95% CI, 0.6–8.4). These findings of excess melanoma and brain cancer mortality confirm results of the original study. Melanoma mortality was not associated with estimated cumulative exposure. Brain cancer mortality did not demonstrate a clear dose–response relationship with estimated cumulative exposure

An RxLR effector from phytophthora infestans prevents re-localisation of two plant NAC transcription factors from the endoplasmic reticulum to the nucleus

The plant immune system is activated following the perception of exposed, essential and invariant microbial molecules that are recognised as non-self. A major component of plant immunity is the transcriptional induction of genes involved in a wide array of defence responses. In turn, adapted pathogens deliver effector proteins that act either inside or outside plant cells to manipulate host processes, often through their direct action on plant protein targets. To date, few effectors have been shown to directly manipulate transcriptional regulators of plant defence. Moreover, little is known generally about the modes of action of effectors from filamentous (fungal and oomycete) plant pathogens. We describe an effector, called Pi03192, from the late blight pathogen Phytophthora infestans, which interacts with a pair of host transcription factors at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) inside plant cells. We show that these transcription factors are released from the ER to enter the nucleus, following pathogen perception, and are important in restricting disease. Pi03192 prevents the plant transcription factors from accumulating in the host nucleus, revealing a novel means of enhancing host susceptibility

Draining sterile fluid collections in acute pancreatitis? Primum non nocere!

Contains fulltext : 95829.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Prevalence of Disorders Recorded in Dogs Attending Primary-Care Veterinary Practices in England

Purebred dog health is thought to be compromised by an increasing occurence of inherited diseases but inadequate prevalence data on common disorders have hampered efforts to prioritise health reforms. Analysis of primary veterinary practice clinical data has been proposed for reliable estimation of disorder prevalence in dogs. Electronic patient record (EPR) data were collected on 148,741 dogs attending 93 clinics across central and south-eastern England. Analysis in detail of a random sample of EPRs relating to 3,884 dogs from 89 clinics identified the most frequently recorded disorders as otitis externa (prevalence 10.2%, 95% CI: 9.1-11.3), periodontal disease (9.3%, 95% CI: 8.3-10.3) and anal sac impaction (7.1%, 95% CI: 6.1-8.1). Using syndromic classification, the most prevalent body location affected was the head-and-neck (32.8%, 95% CI: 30.7-34.9), the most prevalent organ system affected was the integument (36.3%, 95% CI: 33.9-38.6) and the most prevalent pathophysiologic process diagnosed was inflammation (32.1%, 95% CI: 29.8-34.3). Among the twenty most-frequently recorded disorders, purebred dogs had a significantly higher prevalence compared with crossbreds for three: otitis externa (P = 0.001), obesity (P = 0.006) and skin mass lesion (P = 0.033), and popular breeds differed significantly from each other in their prevalence for five: periodontal disease (P = 0.002), overgrown nails (P = 0.004), degenerative joint disease (P = 0.005), obesity (P = 0.001) and lipoma (P = 0.003). These results fill a crucial data gap in disorder prevalence information and assist with disorder prioritisation. The results suggest that, for maximal impact, breeding reforms should target commonly-diagnosed complex disorders that are amenable to genetic improvement and should place special focus on at-risk breeds. Future studies evaluating disorder severity and duration will augment the usefulness of the disorder prevalence information reported herein

Emotional cues enhance the attentional effects on spatial and temporal resolution

In the present study, we demonstrated that the emotional significance of a spatial cue enhances the effect of covert attention on spatial and temporal resolution (i.e., our ability to discriminate small spatial details and fast temporal flicker). Our results indicated that fearful face cues, as compared with neutral face cues, enhanced the attentional benefits in spatial resolution but also enhanced the attentional deficits in temporal resolution. Furthermore, we observed that the overall magnitudes of individuals’ attentional effects correlated strongly with the magnitude of the emotion × attention interaction effect. Combined, these findings provide strong support for the idea that emotion enhances the strength of a cue’s attentional response

Comparison of phylogenetic trees through alignment of embedded evolutionary distances

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The understanding of evolutionary relationships is a fundamental aspect of modern biology, with the phylogenetic tree being a primary tool for describing these associations. However, comparison of trees for the purpose of assessing similarity and the quantification of various biological processes remains a significant challenge.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We describe a novel approach for the comparison of phylogenetic distance information based on the alignment of representative high-dimensional embeddings (xCEED: Comparison of Embedded Evolutionary Distances). The xCEED methodology, which utilizes multidimensional scaling and Procrustes-related superimposition approaches, provides the ability to measure the global similarity between trees as well as incongruities between them. We demonstrate the application of this approach to the prediction of coevolving protein interactions and demonstrate its improved performance over the mirrortree, tol-mirrortree, phylogenetic vector projection, and partial correlation approaches. Furthermore, we show its applicability to both the detection of horizontal gene transfer events as well as its potential use in the prediction of interaction specificity between a pair of multigene families.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These approaches provide additional tools for the study of phylogenetic trees and associated evolutionary processes. Source code is available at <url>http://gomezlab.bme.unc.edu/tools</url>.</p

Predictive factors for new onset or progression of knee osteoarthritis one year after trauma: MRI follow-up in general practice

Objective: To prospectively evaluate prognostic factors for new onset or progression of degenerative change on follow-up MRI one year after knee trauma and the association with clinical outcome. Methods: Within a prospective observational cohort study in general practice, we studied a subgroup of 117 patients with acute knee trauma (mean age 41 years, 43% women). Degenerative change was scored on MRI at baseline and after one year follow-up. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate prognostic factors for new onset or progressive degenerative change on follow-up MRI. Association between new or progressive degeneration and clinical outcome after one year was assessed. Results: On follow-up MRI 15% of patients with pre-existing knee osteoarthritis showed progression and 26% of patients demonstrated new degenerative change. The only statistically significant prognostic variable in the multivariate analysis was bone marrow oedema on initial MRI (OR 5.29 (95% CI 1.64-17.1), p∈=∈0.005). A significant association between new or progressive degenerative change and clinical outcome was found (p∈=∈0.003). Conclusion: Bone marrow oedema on MRI for acute knee injury is strongly predictive of new onset or progression of degenerative change of the femorotibial joint on follow-up MRI one year after trauma, which is reflected in clinical outcome

Trainability of cold induced vasodilatation in fingers and toes

Subjects that repeatedly have to expose the extremities to cold may benefit from a high peripheral temperature to maintain dexterity and tissue integrity. Therefore, we investigated if repeated immersions of a hand and a foot in cold water resulted in increased skin temperatures. Nine male and seven female subjects (mean 20.4; SD 2.2 years) immersed their right (trained) hand and foot simultaneously in 8°C water, 30 min daily for 15 days. During the pre and post-test (days 1 and 15, respectively) the left (untrained) hand and foot were immersed as well. Pain, tactile sensitivity and skin temperatures were measured every day. Mean (SD) toe temperature of the trained foot increased from 9.49°C (0.89) to 10.03°C (1.38) (p < 0.05). The trained hand, however, showed a drop in mean finger temperature from 9.28°C (0.54) to 8.91°C (0.44) (p < 0.001) and the number of cold induced vasodilation (CIVD) reactions decreased from 52% during the first test to 24% during the last test. No significant differences occurred in the untrained extremities. Pain diminished over time and tactile sensitivity decreased with skin temperature. The combination of less CIVD responses in the fingers after training, reduced finger skin temperatures in subjects that did show CIVD and the reduced pain and tactile sensitivity over time may lead to an increased risk for finger cold injuries. It is concluded that repeated cold exposure of the fingers does not lead to favorable adaptations, but may instead increase the injury risk

Reliability and validity of the Infant and Toddler Quality of Life Questionnaire (ITQOL) in a general population and respiratory disease sample

Objective: To evaluate feasibility, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and concurrent and discriminative validity of the Infant and Toddler Quality of Life Questionnaire (ITQOL) for parents of pre-school children with 12 scales (103-items) covering physical and psychosocial domains and impact of child health on parents, in comparison with the TNO-AZL Pre-school Children Quality of Life Questionnaire (TAPQOL). Methods: Parents of children from a random general population sample (2 months-4 years old; n = 500) and of an outpatient clinic sample of children with respiratory disease (5 months-51/2 years old; n = 217) were mailed ITQOL and TAPQOL questionnaires; a retest was sent after two weeks. Results: Feasibility: The response was ≥80% with few missing and non-unique ITQOL-answers (25% at maximum score). Internal consistency: All Cronbach's α >0.70. Test-retest Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICCs) were moderate or adequate (≥0.50; p < 0.01) for 10 ITQOL-scales. Validity: ITQOL-scales, with a few exceptions, correlated better with predefined parallel TAPQOL scales than with non-parallel scales. Five to eight ITQOL-scales discriminated clearly between children with few and with many parent-reported chronic conditions, between children with and without doctor-diagnosed respiratory disease and with a low and a high parent-reported medical consumption (p < 0.05). Conclusions: This study supported the evidence that the ITQOL is a feasible instrument with adequate psychometric properties. The study provided reference ITQOL scores for gender/age subgroups. We recommend repeated evaluations of the ITQOL in varied populations, especially among very young children, including repeated assessments of test-retest characteristics and evaluations of responsiveness to change. We recommend developing and evaluating a shortened ITQOL version

Cervical Mucus Properties Stratify Risk for Preterm Birth

Background: Ascending infection from the colonized vagina to the normally sterile intrauterine cavity is a well-documented cause of preterm birth. The primary physical barrier to microbial ascension is the cervical canal, which is filled with a dense and protective mucus plug. Despite its central role in separating the vaginal from the intrauterine tract, the barrier properties of cervical mucus have not been studied in preterm birth. Methods and Findings: To study the protective function of the cervical mucus in preterm birth we performed a pilot case-control study to measure the viscoelasticity and permeability properties of mucus obtained from pregnant women at high-risk and low-risk for preterm birth. Using extensional and shear rheology we found that cervical mucus from women at high-risk for preterm birth was more extensible and forms significantly weaker gels compared to cervical mucus from women at low-risk of preterm birth. Moreover, permeability measurements using fluorescent microbeads show that high-risk mucus was more permeable compared with low-risk mucus. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that critical biophysical barrier properties of cervical mucus in women at high-risk for preterm birth are compromised compared to women with healthy pregnancy. We hypothesize that impaired barrier properties of cervical mucus could contribute to increased rates of intrauterine infection seen in women with preterm birth. We furthermore suggest that a robust association of spinnbarkeit and preterm birth could be an effectively exploited biomarker for preterm birth prediction.Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Charles E. Reed Faculty Initiative FundBurroughs Wellcome Fund (Preterm Birth Research Grant)National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research Fellowship Progra