Risk factors for active trachoma in The Gambia.

Trachoma has been endemic in The Gambia for decades but national surveys indicate that the prevalence is falling. Risk factor data can help guide trachoma control efforts. This study investigated risk factors for active trachoma and ocular Chlamydia trachomatis infection in children aged below 10 years in two Gambian regions. The overall prevalence of C. trachomatis infection was only 0.3% (3/950) compared with 10.4% (311/2990) for active trachoma, therefore analyses were only performed for active trachoma. After adjustment, increased risk of trachoma was associated with being aged 1-2 years (odds ratio (OR) 2.20, 95% CI 1.07-4.52) and 3-5 years (OR 3.62, 95% CI 1.80-7.25) compared with <1 year, nasal discharge (OR 2.07, 95% CI 1.53-2.81), ocular discharge (OR 2.68, 95% CI 1.76-4.09) and there being at least one other child in the household with active trachoma (OR 11.28, 95% CI 8.31-15.31). Compared with other occupations, children of traders had reduced risk (OR 0.53, 95% CI 0.30-0.94). At the household level, only the presence of another child in the household with active trachoma was associated with increased risk of active trachoma, suggesting that current trachoma control interventions are effective at this level. In contrast, child-level factors were associated with increased risk after adjustment, indicating a need to increase control efforts at the child level

Age of the Laschamp excursion determined by U-Th dating of a speleothem geomagnetic record from North America

The Laschamp geomagnetic excursion was the first short-lived polarity event recognized and described in the paleomagnetic record, and to date remains the most studied geomagnetic event of its kind. In addition to its geophysical significance, the Laschamp is an important global geochronologic marker. The Laschamp excursion occurred around the time of the demise of Homo neanderthalensis, in conjunction with high-amplitude, rapid climatic oscillations leading into the Last Glacial Maximum, and coeval with a major supervolcano eruption in the Mediterranean. Thus, precise determination of the timing and duration of the Laschamp excursion would help in elucidating major scientific questions situated at the intersection of geology, paleoclimatology, and anthropology. Here we present a North American speleothem geomagnetic record of the Laschamp excursion that is directly dated using a combination of high-precision 230Th dates and annual layer counting using confocal microscopy. We have determined a maximum excursion duration that spans the interval 42,250-39,700 yr BP, and an age of 41,100 ± 350 yr BP for the main phase of the excursion, during which the virtual geomagnetic pole was situated at the southernmost latitude in the record. Our chronology provides the first age bracketing of the Laschamp excursion using radioisotopic dating, and improves on previous age determinations based on 40Ar/39Ar dating of lava flows, and orbitally-tuned sedimentary and ice-core records.This project was funded by NSF-EAR grant 1316385, a University of Minnesota McKnight Land Grant Professorship to JMF, and ERC grant 320750. Confocal microscopy was performed at the University of Minnesota Imaging Centers. We are grateful to John Geissman, Brad Singer, and James Channell for their constructive reviews. This is Institute for Rock Magnetism contribution 1506.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the Geological Society of America via http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G37490.

Contemporary hormone therapy with LHRH agonists for prostate cancer: avoiding osteoporosis and fracture.

© 2015 Polish Urological Association. All Rights Reserved.Introduction Prostate cancer is a large clinical burden across Europe. It is, in fact, the most common cancer in males, accounting for more than 92,300 deaths annually throughout the continent. Prostate cancer is androgen-sensitive; thus an androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is often used for treatment by reducing androgen to castrate levels. Several ADT agents have achieved benefits with effective palliation, but, unfortunately, severe adverse events are frequent. Contemporary ADT (Luteinising Hormone Releasing Hormone agonist - LHRHa injections) can result in side effects that include osteoporosis and fractures, compromising quality of life and survival.  Methods In this review we analysed the associated bone toxicity consequent upon contemporary ADT and based on the literature and our own experience we present future perspectives that seek to mitigate this associated toxicity both by development of novel therapies and by better identification and prediction of fracture risk. Results Preliminary results indicate that parenteral oestrogen can mitigate associated osteoporotic risk and that CT scans could provide a more accurate indicator of overall bone quality and hence fracture risk.  Conclusions As healthcare costs increase globally, cheap and effective alternatives that achieve ADT, but mitigate or avoid such bone toxicities, will be needed. More so, innovative techniques to improve both the measurement and the extent of this toxicity, by assessing bone health and prediction of fracture risk, are also required

On the Generalizability of Experimental Results

The age-old question of the generalizability of the results of experiments that are conducted in artificial laboratory settings to more realistic inferential and decision making situations is considered in this paper. Conservatism in probability revision provides an example of a result that 1) has received wide attention, including attention in terms of implications for real-world decision making, on the basis of experiments conducted in artificial settings and 2) is now apparently thought by many to be highly situational and not at all a ubiquitous phenomenon, in which case its implications for real-world decision making are not as extensive as originally claimed. In this paper we consider the questions of generalizations from the laboratory to the real world in some detail, both within the context of the experiments regarding conservatism and within a more general context. In addition, we discuss some of the difficulties inherent in experimentation in realistic settings, suggest possible procedures for avoiding or at least alleviating such difficulties, and make a plea for more realistic experiments

The rise of the quasi-public space and its consequences for cities and culture

This article argues that whilst appearing new, quasi-public spaces have emerged from a process of investment restructuring over the last 50 years. The profound change that is set in motion is a loss of control of public space and its cultural uses in cities. The tensions set up in this transformation are illustrated by the cultural fortunes of the largest such space in London, Granary Square; and, that of the City of London that has little, if any, public space

Global organization of metabolic fluxes in the bacterium, Escherichia coli

Cellular metabolism, the integrated interconversion of thousands of metabolic substrates through enzyme-catalyzed biochemical reactions, is the most investigated complex intercellular web of molecular interactions. While the topological organization of individual reactions into metabolic networks is increasingly well understood, the principles governing their global functional utilization under different growth conditions pose many open questions. We implement a flux balance analysis of the E. coli MG1655 metabolism, finding that the network utilization is highly uneven: while most metabolic reactions have small fluxes, the metabolism's activity is dominated by several reactions with very high fluxes. E. coli responds to changes in growth conditions by reorganizing the rates of selected fluxes predominantly within this high flux backbone. The identified behavior likely represents a universal feature of metabolic activity in all cells, with potential implications to metabolic engineering.Comment: 15 pages 4 figure

Muscle fiber conduction velocity is more affected after eccentric than concentric exercise

It has been shown that mean muscle fiber conduction velocity (CV) can be acutely impaired after eccentric exercise. However, it is not known whether this applies to other exercise modes. Therefore, the purpose of this experiment was to compare the effects of eccentric and concentric exercises on CV, and amplitude and frequency content of surface electromyography (sEMG) signals up to 24 h post-exercise. Multichannel sEMG signals were recorded from biceps brachii muscle of the exercised arm during isometric maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) and electrically evoked contractions induced by motor-point stimulation before, immediately after and 2 h after maximal eccentric (ECC group, N = 12) and concentric (CON group, N = 12) elbow flexor exercises. Isometric MVC decreased in CON by 21.7 ± 12.0% (± SD, p < 0.01) and by 30.0 ± 17.7% (p < 0.001) in ECC immediately post-exercise when compared to baseline. At 2 h post-exercise, ECC showed a reduction in isometric MVC by 24.7 ± 13.7% (p < 0.01) when compared to baseline, while no significant reduction (by 8.0 ± 17.0%, ns) was observed in CON. Similarly, reduction in CV was observed only in ECC both during the isometric MVC (from baseline of 4.16 ± 0.3 to 3.43 ± 0.4 m/s, p < 0.001) and the electrically evoked contractions (from baseline of 4.33 ± 0.4 to 3.82 ± 0.3 m/s, p < 0.001). In conclusion, eccentric exercise can induce a greater and more prolonged reduction in muscle force production capability and CV than concentric exercis

Utility of salt-marsh foraminifera, testate amoebae and bulk-sediment δ13C values as sea-level indicators in Newfoundland, Canada

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.We investigated the utility of foraminifera, testate amoebae and bulk-sediment δ 13 C measurements for reconstructing Holocene relative sea level from sequences of salt-marsh sediment in Newfoundland, Canada. Modern, surface sediment was collected along transects from low to supra-tidal elevations in eastern (at Placentia) and western (at Hynes Brook and Big River) Newfoundland. Consistent with previous work, low-diversity assemblages of foraminifera display an almost binary division into a higher salt-marsh assemblage dominated by Jadammina macrescens and Balticammina pseudomacrescens and a lower salt-marsh assemblage comprised of Miliammina fusca. This pattern and composition resembles those identified at other high latitude sites with cool climates and confirms that foraminifera are sea-level indicators. The lowest occurrence of testate amoebae was at approximately mean higher high water. The composition of high salt-marsh testate amoebae assemblages (Centropyxis cassis type, Trinema spp., Tracheleuglypha dentata type, and Euglypha spp.) in Newfoundland was similar to elsewhere in the North Atlantic, but preservation bias favors removal of species with idiosomic tests over those with xenosomic tests. The mixed high salt-marsh plant community in Newfoundland results in bulk surface-sediment δ 13 C values that are typical of C 3 plants, making them indistinguishable from freshwater sediment. Therefore we propose that the utility of this proxy for reconstructing RSL in eastern North America is restricted to the coastline between Chesapeake Bay and southern Nova Scotia. Using a simple, multi-proxy approach to establish that samples in three radiocarbon-dated sediment cores formed between the lowest occurrence of testate amoebae and the highest occurrence of foraminifera, we generated three example late Holocene sea-level index points at Hynes Brook.This work was supported by NSF awards OCE-1458921, OCE-1458904 and EAR-1402017 and the Robert L. Nichols student research fund of the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences at Tufts University. Foraminiferal data from Hynes Brook and Big River were collected as part of a series of projects including “Ocean-climate variability and sea level in the North Atlantic region since AD 0” funded by the Dutch National Research Programme (NRP) on Global air pollution and Climate Change; “Coastal Records” funded by the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and “Simulations, Observations & Palaeoclimatic data: climate variability over the last 500 years” funded by the European Union