Health Related Quality of Life in Cerebral Palsy Patients at Shriners Hospital for Children, Northern California

Cerebral Palsy• Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common motor disability of childhood.• CP patients often experience motor disorders causing activity limitation along with disturbances of sensation, perception, cognition, communication, and behavior. Patients may also experience epilepsy and secondary musculoskeletal issues.• The clinical manifestations of CP vary greatly from patient to patient and there is a wide array of development, level of functioning, and social comfort among the CP population

Corrigendum to "Cutaneous Plasmacytosis with Perineural Involvement".

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/2014/840845.]

A gene regulatory network armature for T lymphocyte specification

Choice of a T lymphoid fate by hematopoietic progenitor cells depends on sustained Notch–Delta signaling combined with tightly regulated activities of multiple transcription factors. To dissect the regulatory network connections that mediate this process, we have used high-resolution analysis of regulatory gene expression trajectories from the beginning to the end of specification, tests of the short-term Notch dependence of these gene expression changes, and analyses of the effects of overexpression of two essential transcription factors, namely PU.1 and GATA-3. Quantitative expression measurements of >50 transcription factor and marker genes have been used to derive the principal components of regulatory change through which T cell precursors progress from primitive multipotency to T lineage commitment. Our analyses reveal separate contributions of Notch signaling, GATA-3 activity, and down-regulation of PU.1. Using BioTapestry (www.BioTapestry.org), the results have been assembled into a draft gene regulatory network for the specification of T cell precursors and the choice of T as opposed to myeloid/dendritic or mast-cell fates. This network also accommodates effects of E proteins and mutual repression circuits of Gfi1 against Egr-2 and of TCF-1 against PU.1 as proposed elsewhere, but requires additional functions that remain unidentified. Distinctive features of this network structure include the intense dose dependence of GATA-3 effects, the gene-specific modulation of PU.1 activity based on Notch activity, the lack of direct opposition between PU.1 and GATA-3, and the need for a distinct, late-acting repressive function or functions to extinguish stem and progenitor-derived regulatory gene expression

Industry differences in psychological distress and distress-related productivity loss: A cross-sectional study of Australian workers

Objective: This research uses Australian survey data to identify industries with high rates of psychological distress, and to estimate productivity impacts in the form of work loss and cutback days. Methods: Analyzing cross-sectional data from the 2017/2018 National Health Survey, industry prevalence of psychological distress (Kessler Screening Scale) was compared using ordered logistic regression. Productivity outcomes were distress-related work loss days and work cutback days in the previous 4 weeks. Losses were analyzed using zero-inflated negative binomial regression. Results: The sample consisted of 9073 employed workers [4497 males (49.6%), 4576 females (50.4%)]. Compared to the reference industry, Health, the odds of very high distress for males were highest in Information media and telecommunications (OR 2.4; 95% CI 1.2–4.6) and Administrative and support services (OR 2.5; 95% CI 1.2–5.0), while for females the odds were highest in Accommodation and food services (OR 2.0; 95% CI 1.5–2.8) followed by Retail (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.2–2.0). Very high distress was associated excess productivity losses. Industry of occupation did not impact on productivity loss over and above distress. Conclusions: Substantial psychological distress was reported which impacted on productivity. High-risk industries included Information media and telecommunications, Accommodation and food services, and Retail

MF2293

Fadi Aramouni et al, Food safety, Kansas State University, October 1997

Microbial flora of commercially produced vacuum packaged, cooked beef roast

Commercially produced vacuum packaged, fully cooked, microwaveable beef roasts from four producers were purchased from local retail markets. Salt concentration, pH, water activity (aw), and percent moisture, fat and protein were determined. Samples of both package juice and homogenized beef plus juice were analyzed for the presence of aerobic, anaerobic and lactic acid bacteria and clostridia-type organisms. The cooked beef products had pH values from 5.82 to 6.19, water activity of 0.992 to 0.997, and contained 0.34 to 1.07% salt, 61.89 to 72.39% moisture, 4.29 to 18.21% fat and 15.92 to 20.62% protein. No growth was detected in juice for aerobic, anaerobic or lactic acid bacteria or clostridia-type organisms. Combined beef and juice had less than 2 CFU/g for aerobic, anaerobic or lactic acid bacteria or clostridia-type organisms. Cooking and chilling schedules used in the manufacture of the four products we evaluated in this study limited survival and outgrowth of microorganisms

Efecto de la aplicación de un campo electromagnético sobre el contenido de proteínas solubles y carbohidratos de embriones cigóticos de Coffea arabica L. cultivados in vitro

Electromagnetic fields have been applied to increase plant growth and in vitro germination of coffee. Even though it is not clear yet the mechanisms developed during the interaction of electromagnetic fields and plant tissue. This study aimed to determine the effect of applying an electromagnetic field on the concentration of soluble proteins and carbohydrates of coffee zygotic embryos during in vitro establishment stage. After three days of embryos establishment the treatment was applied with 2ì T magnetic induction level and 60 Hz frequency for an exposure time of 3 minutes. An electromagnetic stimulator for in vitro cultures BioNaK-03 was used. Embryos free of electromagnetic treatment were used as controls. The content of protein and carbohydrates was determined after 6 weeks of culture. Results showed a significant increase in the concentrations of these compounds in treated embryos. The application of electromagnetic fields at this stage of culture could improved the quality of plants obtained from coffee zygotic embryos by changing the way of some physiological and biochemical processes. This leads to increase the vigour and ensure a better plant development at later stages.Key words: Caturra rojo, coffee, in vitro plantsLos campos electromagnéticos han sido aplicados para acelerar el crecimiento y germinación de plantas in vitro de cafeto, sin embargo aún no queda claro cuáles son los mecanismos que se desarrollan durante la interacción de los campos electromagnéticos y el tejido vegetal. Este trabajo tuvo como objetivo determinar el efecto de la aplicación de un campo electromagnético sobre la concentración de proteínas solubles y carbohidratos de embriones cigóticos de cafeto durante la fase de establecimiento in vitro. A los tres días de establecidos los embriones se aplicó el tratamiento magnético con nivel de inducción de 2μT y frecuencia de 60 Hz durante un tiempo de exposición de 3 minutos. Para ello se empleó un estimulador electromagnético para cultivos in vitro BioNaK-03. Como control se emplearon embriones que no recibieron tratamiento electromagnético. A las 6 semanas de cultivo se determinó el contenido de proteínas y carbohidratos. Los resultados mostraron un incremento significativo de las concentraciones de estos compuestos para los embriones tratados. La aplicación de campos electromagnéticos en esta fase de cultivo puede contribuir a mejorar la calidad de las plantas obtenidas de embriones cigóticos de cafeto al modificar el curso de algunos procesos fisiológicos y bioquímicos. Esto conllevaría a un aumento del vigor y aseguraría un mejor desarrollo de la planta en fases posteriores.Palabras clave: Caturra rojo, café, plantas in vitr

A prospective cohort study of dietary indices and incidence of epithelial ovarian cancer

Background: Several dietary indices have been developed to measure overall diet quality, including the Healthy Eating Index-2005 (HEI-2005), which measures adherence to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines from the USDA; the Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI-2010), which is based on foods and nutrients predictive of chronic disease risk; and the Alternate Mediterranean Diet Score (aMDS), which is an index that characterizes traditional food patterns of Mediterranean countries. Few studies have evaluated diet quality and ovarian cancer risk. Methods: We assessed the associations of the HEI-2005, AHEI-2010, and aMDS with risk of epithelial ovarian cancer prospectively among women in the Nurses’ Health Study. We used Cox proportional hazards models, adjusting for known ovarian cancer risk factors. Results: During 24 years of follow-up, we documented 696 incident epithelial ovarian cancer cases among 82,948 women with diet information. The multivariate adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence interval; Ptrend) of epithelial ovarian cancer comparing the highest with the lowest quintile were 1.03 (0.80-1.34; 0.77) for the AHEI-2010, 0.85 (0.65-1.12; 0.57) for the HEI-2005, and 0.91 (0.71-1.18; 0.44) for the aMDS. Conclusions: We did not observe any clear association of three diet quality scores with ovarian cancer risk. Further work should other metrics of evaluating diet quality that may be more relevant cancer risk. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13048-014-0112-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Infants' and toddlers' language development during the pandemic: Socioeconomic status mattered

The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has raised concerns about children’s development. Here, we examined the impact of the pandemic on Canadian infants’ and toddlers’ (N = 539) language development. Specifically, we assessed changes in 11- to 34-month-olds’ activities that are known to affect vocabulary development (i.e., screen and reading times). We also compared these children’s vocabulary sizes with those of 1365 children collected before the pandemic using standardized vocabulary assessments. Our results show that screen and reading times were most negatively affected in lower-income children. For vocabulary growth, no measurable change was detected in middle- and high-income children, but lower-income 19- to 29-month-olds fared worse during the pandemic than during pre-pandemic times. Moving forward, these data indicate that educators and policymakers should pay particular attention to children from families with lower socioeconomic status during times of crisis and stress

Transcription factor expression dynamics of early T-lymphocyte specification and commitment

Mammalian T lymphocytes are a prototype for development from adult pluripotent stem cells. While T-cell specification is driven by Notch signaling, T-lineage commitment is only finalized after prolonged Notch activation. However, no T-lineage specific regulatory factor has been reported that mediates commitment. We used a gene-discovery approach to identify additional candidate T-lineage transcription factors and characterized expression of > 100 regulatory genes in early T-cell precursors using realtime RT-PCR. These regulatory genes were also monitored in multilineage precursors as they entered T-cell or non-T-cell pathways in vitro; in non-T cells ex vivo; and in later T-cell developmental stages after lineage commitment. At least three major expression patterns were observed. Transcription factors in the largest group are expressed at relatively stable levels throughout T-lineage specification as a legacy from prethymic precursors, with some continuing while others are downregulated after commitment. Another group is highly expressed in the earliest stages only, and is downregulated before or during commitment. Genes in a third group undergo upregulation at one of three distinct transitions, suggesting a positive regulatory cascade. However, the transcription factors induced during commitment are not T-lineage specific. Different members of the same transcription factor family can follow opposite trajectories during specification and commitment, while factors co-expressed early can be expressed in divergent patterns in later T-cell development. Some factors reveal new regulatory distinctions between αβ and γδ T-lineage differentiation. These results show that T-cell identity has an essentially complex regulatory basis and provide a detailed framework for regulatory network modeling of T-cell specification