A genome-wide association study to identify genetic markers associated with endometrial cancer grade

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Impact of inhaled corticosteroids on growth in children with asthma: systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Long-term inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) may reduce growth velocity and final height of children with asthma. We aimed to evaluate the association between ICS use of >12 months and growth. Methods: We initially searched MEDLINE and EMBASE in July 2013, followed by a PubMed search updated to December 2014. We selected RCTs and controlled observational studies of ICS use in patients with asthma. We conducted random effects meta-analysis of mean differences in growth velocity (cm/year) or final height (cm) between groups. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I2 statistic. Results: We found 23 relevant studies (twenty RCTs and three observational studies) after screening 1882 hits. Meta-analysis of 16 RCTs showed that ICS use significantly reduced growth velocity at one year follow-up (mean difference -0.48 cm/year (95% CI -0.66 to -0.29)). There was evidence of a dose-response effect in three RCTs. Final adult height showed a mean reduction of -1.20 cm (95% CI -1.90 cm to -0.50 cm) with budesonide versus placebo in a high quality RCT. Meta-analysis of two lower quality observational studies revealed uncertainty in the association between ICS use and final adult height, pooled mean difference -0.85 cm (95% CI -3.35 to 1.65). Conclusion: Use of ICS for >12 months in children with asthma has a limited impact on annual growth velocity. In ICS users, there is a slight reduction of about a centimeter in final adult height, which when interpreted in the context of average adult height in England (175 cm for men and 161 cm for women), represents a 0.7% reduction compared to non-ICS users

Beyond Legalism in Turbulent Times: Re-grounding UK Social Work in a Richer International Human Rights Perspective

Human rights have always been intrinsically woven into social work, but in the UK, often in a way that is either vague or wholly legalistic. In this article, we make a case for embedding a broader and richer concept of human rights in UK social work practice and education. We contrast the international social work perspective on human rights with that of UK professional codes and suggest that the narrow and uninterrogated conceptualisation of human rights in the UK may be acting as a barrier to UK social workers fully understanding and engaging with broader human rights agendas of the sort found in international practice. We argue for the merits of regrounding UK social work in this broader human rights concept, in which radical and emancipatory approaches can be underpinned by a common and unifying rights-orientated perspective. We make this argument, initially, in the context of the Human Rights Act 1998 remaining in UK law, which we see as entirely necessary for the protection of human rights in social work in the country, but insufficient for a broader, richer concept. We also, however, consider a scenario in which the Act is replaced by a British Bill of Rights and argue that such a development would present a further urgent need for embedding a broader human rights concept in UK social work. We close by setting out some of what such a concept might involve

Prevalence of human papillomavirus antibodies in young female subjects in England

Sera from 1483 female subjects in England aged 10–29 years were tested. The age-standardised seroprevalence was 10.7% (95% confidence intervals 9.0–12.3) for human papillomavirus (HPV) 6, 2.7% (1.8–3.6) for HPV 11, 11.9% (10.2–13.6) for HPV 16, 4.7% (3.5–5.8) for HPV 18, and 20.7% (18.6–22.7) for any of the four types

The developmental effects of media-ideal internalization and self-objectification processes on adolescents’ negative body-feelings, dietary restraint, and binge eating

Despite accumulated experimental evidence of the negative effects of exposure to media-idealized images, the degree to which body image, and eating related disturbances are caused by media portrayals of gendered beauty ideals remains controversial. On the basis of the most up-to-date meta-analysis of experimental studies indicating that media-idealized images have the most harmful and substantial impact on vulnerable individuals regardless of gender (i.e., “internalizers” and “self-objectifiers”), the current longitudinal study examined the direct and mediated links posited in objectification theory among media-ideal internalization, self-objectification, shame and anxiety surrounding the body and appearance, dietary restraint, and binge eating. Data collected from 685 adolescents aged between 14 and 15 at baseline (47 % males), who were interviewed and completed standardized measures annually over a 3-year period, were analyzed using a structural equation modeling approach. Results indicated that media-ideal internalization predicted later thinking and scrutinizing of one’s body from an external observer’s standpoint (or self-objectification), which then predicted later negative emotional experiences related to one’s body and appearance. In turn, these negative emotional experiences predicted subsequent dietary restraint and binge eating, and each of these core features of eating disorders influenced each other. Differences in the strength of these associations across gender were not observed, and all indirect effects were significant. The study provides valuable information about how the cultural values embodied by gendered beauty ideals negatively influence adolescents’ feelings, thoughts and behaviors regarding their own body, and on the complex processes involved in disordered eating. Practical implications are discussed

Statistical Inference for Multi-Pathogen Systems

There is growing interest in understanding the nature and consequences of interactions among infectious agents. Pathogen interactions can be operational at different scales, either within a co-infected host or in host populations where they co-circulate, and can be either cooperative or competitive. The detection of interactions among pathogens has typically involved the study of synchrony in the oscillations of the protagonists, but as we show here, phase association provides an unreliable dynamical fingerprint for this task. We assess the capacity of a likelihood-based inference framework to accurately detect and quantify the presence and nature of pathogen interactions on the basis of realistic amounts and kinds of simulated data. We show that when epidemiological and demographic processes are well understood, noisy time series data can contain sufficient information to allow correct inference of interactions in multi-pathogen systems. The inference power is dependent on the strength and time-course of the underlying mechanism: stronger and longer-lasting interactions are more easily and more precisely quantified. We examine the limitations of our approach to stochastic temporal variation, under-reporting, and over-aggregation of data. We propose that likelihood shows promise as a basis for detection and quantification of the effects of pathogen interactions and the determination of their (competitive or cooperative) nature on the basis of population-level time-series data

Negative emotions in children with newly diagnosed epilepsy.

Purpose: To understand the emotional predicament in children with recently diagnosed idiopathic or cryptogenic epilepsy. Methods: We used the well-tried method of structured projection for the first time in children with epilepsy. Thirty-six children with epilepsy, aged 7-15 years (mean age, 9.5 years) and in 35 control children aged 7-15 years (mean age, 9.4 years), attributed shame and guilt in relation to three types of situation (non- illness related, illness related, and epilepsy related). Children were evaluated twice: shortly after diagnosis, before antiepileptic drug (AED) use and after an interval of 3 months. Results: Children with epilepsy and healthy controls were similar in their way of attributing shame and guilt. However, the type of situation was of influence: Both children with epilepsy and healthy children attributed more shame to incompetence due to epilepsy than to incompetence due to other illnesses. Conclusions: Increased affective problems in childhood epilepsy cannot be explained by excessive attribution of shame and guilt, affects known to be important precursors of psychopathology, yet both healthy children and children with epilepsy attribute more shame to epilepsy than to other illnesses. Epilepsy is not like any other disease