Helminth Infection is Associated with Dampened Cytokine Responses to Viral and Bacterial Stimulations in Tsimane Forager-Horticulturalists

Background Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) and humans share long co-evolutionary histories over which STHs have evolved strategies to permit their persistence by downregulating host immunity. Understanding the interactions between STHs and other pathogens can inform our understanding of human evolution and contemporary disease patterns. Methodology We worked with Tsimane forager-horticulturalists in the Bolivian Amazon, where STHs are prevalent. We tested whether STHs and eosinophil levels—likely indicative of infection in this population—are associated with dampened immune responses to in vitro stimulation with H1N1 and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) antigens. Whole blood samples (n = 179) were treated with H1N1 vaccine and LPS and assayed for 13 cytokines (INF-γ, IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-7, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12p70, IL-13, GM-CSF and TNF-ɑ). We evaluated how STHs and eosinophil levels affected cytokine responses and T helper (Th) 1 and Th2-cytokine suite responses to stimulation. Results Infection with Ascaris lumbricoides was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) associated with lower response of some cytokines to H1N1 and LPS in women. Eosinophils were significantly negatively associated with some cytokine responses to H1N1 and LPS, with the strongest effects in women, and associated with a reduced Th1- and Th2-cytokine response to H1N1 and LPS in women and men. Conclusions and implications Consistent with the ‘old friends’ and hygiene hypotheses, we find that STHs were associated with dampened cytokine responses to certain viral and bacterial antigens. This suggests that STH infections may play an essential role in immune response regulation and that the lack of STH immune priming in industrialized populations may increase the risk of over-reactive immunity. Lay Summary: Indicators of helminth infection were associated with dampened cytokine immune responses to in vitro stimulation with viral and bacterial antigens in Tsimane forager-horticulturalists in the Bolivian Amazon, consistent with the ‘old friends’ and hygiene hypotheses

Optogenetic activation of cholinergic neurons in the PPT or LDT induces REM sleep

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is an important component of the natural sleep/wake cycle, yet the mechanisms that regulate REM sleep remain incompletely understood. Cholinergic neurons in the mesopontine tegmentum have been implicated in REM sleep regulation, but lesions of this area have had varying effects on REM sleep. Therefore, this study aimed to clarify the role of cholinergic neurons in the pedunculopontine tegmentum (PPT) and laterodorsal tegmentum (LDT) in REM sleep generation. Selective optogenetic activation of cholinergic neurons in the PPT or LDT during non-REM (NREM) sleep increased the number of REM sleep episodes and did not change REM sleep episode duration. Activation of cholinergic neurons in the PPT or LDT during NREM sleep was sufficient to induce REM sleep.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant DP1-OD003646)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant TR01-GM104948)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant T32-HL07901)Massachusetts General Hospital (Executive Committee on Research Fellowship)Massachusetts General Hospital. Dept. of Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Medicin

Prevalence and pattern of psychoactive substance use among government secondary school students in central Nigeria

Introduction: psychoactive substances are chemicals that affect the nervous system and alter the activity in the brain. Such substances include alcohol and other illicit drugs. This research study aimed to determine the prevalence and pattern of psychoactive substance use among students at a government secondary school in Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria. Methods: this study adopts a cross-sectional descriptive survey design. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 104 students for an invitation to fill a semi-structured questionnaire after consenting to the informed consent. Correlational analyses were performed between social characteristics and the knowledge of the effects and prevalence of substance use. Results: thirty-three point seven percent (33.7) of students reported to use psychoactive substances, with alcohol and tramadol being the most consumed. Those aged 15-19 years were found to have a higher prevalence of substances use than other ages. There was an important knowledge of the social perspective and health effects of using such substances, but they persisted in their consumption. Age and school level were observed to have a statistically significant correlation with the knowledge of the effects of drug use. Conclusion: our study shows that the prevalence and pattern of psychoactive substance use among the students are high considering their level and age. The majority of the students knew about psychoactive substance use and its social and health effects. We, therefore, recommend a multi-stakeholder effort within the community to curtail drug use among young people

Socio-environmental determinants of parasitic intestinal infections among children: a cross-sectional study in Nigeria

Background: Intestinal parasitic infections are a major public health problem among school-aged children, especially those residing in rural areas. These infections predispose the children to several other health problems. This study assesses intestinal parasitic infections among school children in a rural area in Nigeria and their socioenvironmental determinants. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 250 primary school-age children from three randomly selected schools in Elemere, a poor rural area in Kwara State, Nigeria. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to record the socio-demographic data, and stool samples were microscopically examined for intestinal parasites. Results: The overall prevalence of intestinal parasites was 23.6% (59/250). Of the infected children, the most common parasite was Ascaris lumbricoides 50.8% (30/59), followed by Giardia lamblia 28.8% (17/59), Entamoeba spp.16.9% (10/59) and Dipylidium caninum in 3.4% (2/59). Rural domicile was associated with parasitic infections (P= 0.036) compared to a semi-urban or urban residence. Compared to younger age groups, children in the higher age groups had 64% (95% confidence interval,0.15–0.90;P= 0.03) lesser parasitic infections. Conclusion: Intestinal parasitic infections are common in school children in the studied area, and may be associated with unclean water sources, poor hygiene, and economic conditions. General health education should emphasize cleanliness, personal hygiene and sanitation to prevent and control parasitic intestinal infections among schoolchildren in these communities

Knowledge of cervical cancer, risk factors, and barriers to screening among reproductive women in Nigeria

Background: The leading cause of cancer-related fatalities among women worldwide is cervical cancer. Lack of awareness and availability of screening services in Nigeria contribute to the high incidence and fatality rates of cervical cancer. This study assesses the knowledge of cervical cancer, risk factors, and barriers to screening among reproductive women in Nigeria. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among women of reproductive age in Shao, Moro local government area of Kwara State, Nigeria, to determine their knowledge about cervical cancer, risk factors, and barriers to screening. The data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Results: A total of 326 women between the ages of 15–50 were included in the study, with the majority being married (56.1%) and having secondary school education (43.6%). Two-hundred seventy-one (83.1%) participants were aware of cervical cancer, but only 39.0% had good knowledge of the disease. Two hundred forty-three (74.5%) women were sexually active and 70% did not use condoms during sexual activity. Only 6.9% of the participants had ever been screened for cervical cancer, with 38.0% being unaware of the screening. The results showed that there was a statistically significant (P<0.001) association between the knowledge of the respondents and selected risk factors for cervical cancer such as sexual activity, previous sexually transmitted infection diagnosis, contraceptive usage, and abnormal bleeding. Conclusion: This study indicates poor knowledge of cervical cancer and that targeted health education campaigns are required to increase awareness and knowledge about cervical cancer among reproductive women in Nigeria. Efforts should also be made to improve access to cervical cancer screening services, especially in rural and underserved area

The LBNO long-baseline oscillation sensitivities with two conventional neutrino beams at different baselines

The proposed Long Baseline Neutrino Observatory (LBNO) initially consists of $\sim 20$ kton liquid double phase TPC complemented by a magnetised iron calorimeter, to be installed at the Pyh\"asalmi mine, at a distance of 2300 km from CERN. The conventional neutrino beam is produced by 400 GeV protons accelerated at the SPS accelerator delivering 700 kW of power. The long baseline provides a unique opportunity to study neutrino flavour oscillations over their 1st and 2nd oscillation maxima exploring the $L/E$ behaviour, and distinguishing effects arising from $\delta_{CP}$ and matter. In this paper we show how this comprehensive physics case can be further enhanced and complemented if a neutrino beam produced at the Protvino IHEP accelerator complex, at a distance of 1160 km, and with modest power of 450 kW is aimed towards the same far detectors. We show that the coupling of two independent sub-MW conventional neutrino and antineutrino beams at different baselines from CERN and Protvino will allow to measure CP violation in the leptonic sector at a confidence level of at least $3\sigma$ for 50\% of the true values of $\delta_{CP}$ with a 20 kton detector. With a far detector of 70 kton, the combination allows a $3\sigma$ sensitivity for 75\% of the true values of $\delta_{CP}$ after 10 years of running. Running two independent neutrino beams, each at a power below 1 MW, is more within today's state of the art than the long-term operation of a new single high-energy multi-MW facility, which has several technical challenges and will likely require a learning curve.Comment: 21 pages, 12 figure

A Long Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Experiment Using J-PARC Neutrino Beam and Hyper-Kamiokande

Document submitted to 18th J-PARC PAC meeting in May 2014. 50 pages, 41 figuresDocument submitted to 18th J-PARC PAC meeting in May 2014. 50 pages, 41 figuresDocument submitted to 18th J-PARC PAC meeting in May 2014. 50 pages, 41 figuresHyper-Kamiokande will be a next generation underground water Cherenkov detector with a total (fiducial) mass of 0.99 (0.56) million metric tons, approximately 20 (25) times larger than that of Super-Kamiokande. One of the main goals of Hyper-Kamiokande is the study of $CP$ asymmetry in the lepton sector using accelerator neutrino and anti-neutrino beams. In this document, the physics potential of a long baseline neutrino experiment using the Hyper-Kamiokande detector and a neutrino beam from the J-PARC proton synchrotron is presented. The analysis has been updated from the previous Letter of Intent [K. Abe et al., arXiv:1109.3262 [hep-ex]], based on the experience gained from the ongoing T2K experiment. With a total exposure of 7.5 MW $\times$ 10$^7$ sec integrated proton beam power (corresponding to $1.56\times10^{22}$ protons on target with a 30 GeV proton beam) to a $2.5$-degree off-axis neutrino beam produced by the J-PARC proton synchrotron, it is expected that the $CP$ phase $\delta_{CP}$ can be determined to better than 19 degrees for all possible values of $\delta_{CP}$, and $CP$ violation can be established with a statistical significance of more than $3\,\sigma$ ($5\,\sigma$) for $76$ ($58$) of the $\delta_{CP}$ parameter space

The daily association between affect and alcohol use: a meta-analysis of individual participant data

Influential psychological theories hypothesize that people consume alcohol in response to the experience of both negative and positive emotions. Despite two decades of daily diary and ecological momentary assessment research, it remains unclear whether people consume more alcohol on days they experience higher negative and positive affect in everyday life. In this preregistered meta-analysis, we synthesized the evidence for these daily associations between affect and alcohol use. We included individual participant data from 69 studies (N = 12,394), which used daily and momentary surveys to assess affect and the number of alcoholic drinks consumed. Results indicate that people are not more likely to drink on days they experience high negative affect, but are more likely to drink and drink heavily on days high in positive affect. People self-reporting a motivational tendency to drink-to-cope and drink-to-enhance consumed more alcohol, but not on days they experienced higher negative and positive affect. Results were robust across different operationalizations of affect, study designs, study populations, and individual characteristics. These findings challenge the long-held belief that people drink more alcohol following increases in negative affect. Integrating these findings under different theoretical models and limitations of this field of research, we collectively propose an agenda for future research to explore open questions surrounding affect and alcohol use.The present study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Grant MOP-115104 (Roisin M. O’Connor), Canadian Institutes of Health Research Grant MSH-122803 (Roisin M. O’Connor), John A. Hartford Foundation Grant (Paul Sacco), Loyola University Chicago Research Support Grant (Tracy De Hart), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Grant T03OH008435 (Cynthia Mohr), National Institutes of Health (NIH) Grant F31AA023447 (Ryan W. Carpenter), NIH Grant R01AA025936 (Kasey G. Creswell), NIH Grant R01AA025969 (Catharine E. Fairbairn), NIH Grant R21AA024156 (Anne M. Fairlie), NIH Grant F31AA024372 (Fallon Goodman), NIH Grant R01DA047247 (Kevin M. King), NIH Grant K01AA026854 (Ashley N. Linden-Carmichael), NIH Grant K01AA022938 (Jennifer E. Merrill), NIH Grant K23AA024808 (Hayley Treloar Padovano), NIH Grant P60AA11998 (Timothy Trull), NIH Grant MH69472 (Timothy Trull), NIH Grant K01DA035153 (Nisha Gottfredson), NIH Grant P50DA039838 (Ashley N. Linden-Carmichael), NIH Grant K01DA047417 (David M. Lydon-Staley), NIH Grant T32DA037183 (M. Kushner), NIH Grant R21DA038163 (A. Moore), NIH Grant K12DA000167 (M. Potenza, Stephanie S. O’Malley), NIH Grant R01AA025451 (Bruce Bartholow, Thomas M. Piasecki), NIH Grant P50AA03510 (V. Hesselbrock), NIH Grant K01AA13938 (Kristina M. Jackson), NIH Grant K02AA028832 (Kevin M. King), NIH Grant T32AA007455 (M. Larimer), NIH Grant R01AA025037 (Christine M. Lee, M. Patrick), NIH Grant R01AA025611 (Melissa Lewis), NIH Grant R01AA007850 (Robert Miranda), NIH Grant R21AA017273 (Robert Miranda), NIH Grant R03AA014598 (Cynthia Mohr), NIH Grant R29AA09917 (Cynthia Mohr), NIH Grant T32AA07290 (Cynthia Mohr), NIH Grant P01AA019072 (P. Monti), NIH Grant R01AA015553 (J. Morgenstern), NIH Grant R01AA020077 (J. Morgenstern), NIH Grant R21AA017135 (J. Morgenstern), NIH Grant R01AA016621 (Stephanie S. O’Malley), NIH Grant K99AA029459 (Marilyn Piccirillo), NIH Grant F31AA022227 (Nichole Scaglione), NIH Grant R21AA018336 (Katie Witkiewitz), Portuguese State Budget Foundation for Science and Technology Grant UIDB/PSI/01662/2020 (Teresa Freire), University of Washington Population Health COVID-19 Rapid Response Grant (J. Kanter, Adam M. Kuczynski), U.S. Department of Defense Grant W81XWH-13-2-0020 (Cynthia Mohr), SANPSY Laboratory Core Support Grant CNRS USR 3413 (Marc Auriacombe), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Grant (N. Galambos), and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Grant (Andrea L. Howard)

Physics potential of a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment using a J-PARC neutrino beam and Hyper-Kamiokande

39 pages, 26 figures, submitted to PTE