Changes over time in the health and functioning of older people moving into care homes: analysis of data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Background: the number of people requiring care home support is projected to rise in future years, but little information is available on the needs of new care home residents. Objective: to measure the health and functioning of people moving into care homes and how they have changed between 2002 and 2015. Setting: English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Participants: two hundred fifty-four of the 313 (1.99%) individuals who moved from the community into a care home, and were interviewed in the survey wave prior to entry. Main outcome measures: changes over time for number of health conditions and functional deficits (deficits in activities of daily living (ADL), and instrumental ADLs (IADLs)), assessed in the survey wave prior to admission. Results: over time there were significant increases in the total number of health conditions and functional deficits amongst soon to be care home entrants (P = 0.0011), the proportion with high blood pressure (OR 1.37, 95% CI: 1.17-1.62, P < 0.0001), memory problems (OR 1.33, 95% CI: 1.11-1.61, P = 0.0021) or total number of IADL deficits (P = 0.008). Non-significant increases were observed in the proportion of care home entrants with cancer (OR 1.23, 95% CI: 0.93-1.65, P = 0.15), lung disease (OR 1.21, 95% CI: 0.85-1.75), heart disease (OR 1.12, 95% CI: 0.95-1.30) and arthritis (OR 1.11, 95% CI: 0.95-1.30). Stroke and ADL deficits did not increase. No differential ageing effect was observed. Conclusions: the support needs of care home entrants in England appear to be increasing over time. This has important implications for the provision and funding of care home places and community services.FM was supported by the Medical Research Council [Grant: MC_U105292687]. DS was funded by the National Institute for Health Research School for Primary Care Research (NIHR SPCR)

Screening for breast cancer : medicalization, visualization and the embodied experience

Women’s perspectives on breast screening (mammography and breast awareness) were explored in interviews with midlife women sampled for diversity of background and health experience. Attending mammography screening was considered a social obligation despite women’s fears and experiences of discomfort. Women gave considerable legitimacy to mammography visualizations of the breast, and the expert interpretation of these. In comparison, women lacked confidence in breast awareness practices, directly comparing their sensory capabilities with those of the mammogram, although mammography screening did not substitute breast awareness in a straightforward way. The authors argue that reliance on visualizing technology may create a fragmented sense of the body, separating the at risk breast from embodied experience

Building Support for Research Data Management: Biographies of Eight Research Universities

Academic research libraries are quickly developing support for research data management (RDM), including both new services and infrastructure. Here, we tell the stories of how eight different universities have developed programs of RDM support, focusing on the prominent role of the library in educating and assisting researchers with managing their data throughout the research lifecycle. Based on these stories, we construct timelines for each university depicting key steps in building support for RDM, and we discuss similarities and dissimilarities among universities in motivation to provide RDM support, collaborations among campus units, assessment of needs and services, and changes in staffing

Transfer RNA-derived small RNAs in the cancer transcriptome

The cellular lifetime includes stages such as differentiation, proliferation, division, senescence and apoptosis.These stages are driven by a strictly ordered process of transcription dynamics. Molecular disruption to RNA polymerase assembly, chromatin remodelling and transcription factor binding through to RNA editing, splicing, post-transcriptional regulation and ribosome scanning can result in significant costs arising from genome instability. Cancer development is one example of when such disruption takes place. RNA silencing is a term used to describe the effects of post-transcriptional gene silencing mediated by a diverse set of small RNA molecules. Small RNAs are crucial for regulating gene expression and microguarding genome integrity.RNA silencing studies predominantly focus on small RNAs such as microRNAs, short-interfering RNAs and piwi-interacting RNAs. We describe an emerging renewal of inter-est in a‘larger’small RNA, the transfer RNA (tRNA).Precisely generated tRNA-derived small RNAs, named tRNA halves (tiRNAs) and tRNA fragments (tRFs), have been reported to be abundant with dysregulation associated with cancer. Transfection of tiRNAs inhibits protein translation by displacing eukaryotic initiation factors from messenger RNA (mRNA) and inaugurating stress granule formation.Knockdown of an overexpressed tRF inhibits cancer cell proliferation. Recovery of lacking tRFs prevents cancer metastasis. The dual oncogenic and tumour-suppressive role is typical of functional small RNAs. We review recent reports on tiRNA and tRF discovery and biogenesis, identification and analysis from next-generation sequencing data and a mechanistic animal study to demonstrate their physiological role in cancer biology. We propose tRNA-derived small RNA-mediated RNA silencing is an innate defence mechanism to prevent oncogenic translation. We expect that cancer cells are percipient to their ablated control of transcription and attempt to prevent loss of genome control through RNA silencing

Mortality among Pesticide Applicators Exposed to Chlorpyrifos in the Agricultural Health Study

BACKGROUND: Chlorpyrifos is one of the most widely used organophosphate insecticides in the United States. Although the toxicity of chlorpyrifos has been extensively studied in animals, the epidemiologic data are limited. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether agricultural chlorpyrifos exposure was associated with mortality, we examined deaths among pesticide applicators in the Agricultural Health Study, a prospective study of licensed pesticide applicators in Iowa and North Carolina. METHODS: A total of 55,071 pesticide applicators were included in this analysis. Detailed pesticide exposure data and other information were obtained from self-administered questionnaires completed at the time of enrollment (1993–1997). Lifetime chlorpyrifos use was divided into tertiles. Poisson regression analysis was used to evaluate the exposure–response relationships between chlorpyrifos use and causes of death after adjustment for potential confounders. RESULTS: A total of 1,851 deaths (588 among chlorpyrifos users) were observed during the study period, 1993–2001. The relative risk (RR) of death from all causes combined among applicators exposed to chlorpyrifos was slightly lower than that for nonexposed applicators (RR = 0.90; 95% confidence interval, 0.81–1.01). For most causes of death analyzed, there was no evidence of an exposure–response relationship. However, the relative risks for mortality from suicide and non-motor-vehicle accidents were increased 2-fold in the highest category of chlorpyrifos exposure days. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings of a possible association between chlorpyrifos use and external causes of death were based on small numbers. However, the findings may reflect a link between chlorpyrifos and depression or other neurobehavioral symptoms that deserves further evaluation

Mammography screening: views from women and primary care physicians in Crete

Background: Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women and a leading cause of death from cancer in women in Europe. Although breast cancer incidence is on the rise worldwide, breast cancer mortality over the past 25 years has been stable or decreasing in some countries and a fall in breast cancer mortality rates in most European countries in the 1990s was reported by several studies, in contrast, in Greece have not reported these favourable trends. In Greece, the age-standardised incidence and mortality rate for breast cancer per 100.000 in 2006 was 81,8 and 21,7 and although it is lower than most other countries in Europe, the fall in breast cancer mortality that observed has not been as great as in other European countries. There is no national strategy for screening in this country. This study reports on the use of mammography among middleaged women in rural Crete and investigates barriers to mammography screening encountered by women and their primary care physicians. Methods: Design: Semi-structured individual interviews. Setting and participants: Thirty women between 45–65 years of age, with a mean age of 54,6 years, and standard deviation 6,8 from rural areas of Crete and 28 qualified primary care physicians, with a mean age of 44,7 years and standard deviation 7,0 serving this rural population. Main outcome measure: Qualitative thematic analysis. Results: Most women identified several reasons for not using mammography. These included poor knowledge of the benefits and indications for mammography screening, fear of pain during the procedure, fear of a serious diagnosis, embarrassment, stress while anticipating the results, cost and lack of physician recommendation. Physicians identified difficulties in scheduling an appointment as one reason women did not use mammography and both women and physicians identified distance from the screening site, transportation problems and the absence of symptoms as reasons for non-use. Conclusion: Women are inhibited from participating in mammography screening in rural Crete. The provision of more accessible screening services may improve this. However physician recommendation is important in overcoming women's inhibitions. Primary care physicians serving rural areas need to be aware of barriers preventing women from attending mammography screening and provide women with information and advice in a sensitive way so women can make informed decisions regarding breast caner screening

Influence of Dry Soil on the Ability of Formosan Subterranean Termites, Coptotermes formosanus, to Locate Food Sources

The effect of barriers of dry soil on the ability of Formosan subterranean termites, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae), to construct tunnels and find food was evaluated. Termite movement and wood consumption in a three—chambered apparatus were compared between treatments with dry soil in the center container and treatments where the soil in the center container was moist. When a wood block was located in the release container, termites fed significantly more on that block, regardless of treatment or soil type. In the treatment with dry clay, none of the termites tunneled through the dry clay barrier to reach the distal container. When termites had to tunnel through a barrier of dry sand, topsoil, or clay to reach the sole wood block, there was no effect on wood consumption for the sand treatment, but there was significantly less feeding on wood in the treatments with dry topsoil or clay. When foraging arenas had a section of dry sand in the center, the dry sand significantly reduced tunneling in the distal section after 3 days, but not after 10 days. There was a highly significant effect on the ability of termites to colonize food located in dry sand. Only one feeding station located in dry sand was colonized by termites, compared with 11 feeding stations located in moist sand

Review of key knowledge gaps in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency detection with regard to the safe clinical deployment of 8-aminoquinoline treatment regimens: a workshop report.

The diagnosis and management of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is a crucial aspect in the current phases of malaria control and elimination, which will require the wider use of 8-aminoquinolines for both reducing Plasmodium falciparum transmission and achieving the radical cure of Plasmodium vivax. 8-aminoquinolines, such as primaquine, can induce severe haemolysis in G6PD-deficient individuals, potentially creating significant morbidity and undermining confidence in 8-aminoquinoline prescription. On the other hand, erring on the side of safety and excluding large numbers of people with unconfirmed G6PD deficiency from treatment with 8-aminoquinolines will diminish the impact of these drugs. Estimating the remaining G6PD enzyme activity is the most direct, accessible, and reliable assessment of the phenotype and remains the gold standard for the diagnosis of patients who could be harmed by the administration of primaquine. Genotyping seems an unambiguous technique, but its use is limited by cost and the large range of recognized G6PD genotypes. A number of enzyme activity assays diagnose G6PD deficiency, but they require a cold chain, specialized equipment, and laboratory skills. These assays are impractical for care delivery where most patients with malaria live. Improvements to the diagnosis of G6PD deficiency are required for the broader and safer use of 8-aminoquinolines to kill hypnozoites, while lower doses of primaquine may be safely used to kill gametocytes without testing. The discussions and conclusions of a workshop conducted in Incheon, Korea in May 2012 to review key knowledge gaps in G6PD deficiency are reported here

University of Michigan Library Informational Posters for CI Days 2013

The University of Michigan Library displayed a series of four posters to inform participants in the annual CyberInfrastructure (CI) Days about services, activities, and resources available to them to support their research needs. CI Days is coordinated and hosted by Advanced Research Computing at the University of Michigan, a part of the office of the Vice President for Research.Advanced Research Computing at the University of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/101738/1/CIDays13_ORCIDFinal.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/101738/2/CIDays13_DataCite_Final.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/101738/3/CIDays13_Poster_Sferdean_Li_York_Green.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/101738/4/CI Days info poster.pdf-

Results of the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR's Search for Double-Beta Decay of 76Ge to Excited States of 76Se

The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR is searching for double-beta decay of 76Ge to excited states (E.S.) in 76Se using a modular array of high purity Germanium detectors. 76Ge can decay into three E.S.s of 76Se. The E.S. decays have a clear event signature consisting of a ββ-decay with the prompt emission of one or two γ-rays, resulting in with high probability in a multi-site event. The granularity of the DEMONSTRATOR detector array enables powerful discrimination of this event signature from backgrounds. Using 21.3 kg-y of isotopic exposure, the DEMONSTRATOR has set world leading limits for each E.S. decay, with 90% CL lower half-life limits in the range of (0.56 2.1) ⋅ 1024 y. In particular, for the 2v transition to the first 0+ E.S. of 76Se, a lower half-life limit of 0.68 ⋅ 1024 at 90% CL was achieved