Intensive care admissions and outcomes associated with short-term exposure to ambient air pollution: a time series analysis.

PURPOSE: Short-term exposure to outdoor air pollution has been positively associated with numerous measures of acute morbidity and mortality, most consistently as excess cardiorespiratory disease associated with fine particulate matter (PM2.5), particularly in vulnerable populations. It is unknown if the critically ill, a vulnerable population with high levels of cardiorespiratory disease, is affected by air pollution. METHODS: We performed a time series analysis of emergency cardiorespiratory, stroke and sepsis intensive care (ICU) admissions for the years 2008-2016, using data from the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Adult Patient Database (ANZICS-APD). Case-crossover analysis was conducted to assess the relationship between air pollution and the frequency and severity of ICU admissions having adjusted for temperature, humidity, public holidays and influenza activity. RESULTS: 46,965 episodes in 87 separate ICUs were analysed. We found no statistically significant associations with admission counts. However, ICU admissions ending in death within 30 days were significantly positively associated with short-term exposure to PM2.5 [RR 1.18, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02-1.37, per 10 µg/m3 increase]. This association was more pronounced in those aged 65 and over (RR 1.33, 95% CI 1.11-1.58, per 10 µg/m3). CONCLUSIONS: Increased ICU mortality was associated with higher levels of PM2.5. Larger studies are required to determine if the frequency of ICU admissions is positively associated with short-term exposure to air pollution

Cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers in cerebral amyloid angiopathy

BACKGROUND: There is limited data on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers in sporadic amyloid-β (Aβ) cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). OBJECTIVE: To determine the profile of biomarkers relevant to neurodegenerative disease in the CSF of patients with CAA. METHODS: We performed a detailed comparison of CSF markers, comparing patients with CAA, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and control (CS) participants, recruited from the Biomarkers and Outcomes in CAA (BOCAA) study, and a Specialist Cognitive Disorders Service. RESULTS: We included 10 CAA, 20 AD, and 10 CS participants (mean age 68.6, 62.5, and 62.2 years, respectively). In unadjusted analyses, CAA patients had a distinctive CSF biomarker profile, with significantly lower (p < 0.01) median concentrations of Aβ_{38}, Aβ_{40}, Aβ_{42}, sAβPPα, and sAβPPβ. CAA patients had higher levels of neurofilament light (NFL) than the CS group (p < 0.01), but there were no significant differences in CSF total tau, phospho-tau, soluble TREM2 (sTREM2), or neurogranin concentrations. AD patients had higher total tau, phospho-tau and neurogranin than CS and CAA groups. In age-adjusted analyses, differences for the CAA group remained for Aβ_{38}, Aβ_{40}, Aβ_{42}, and sAβPPβ. Comparing CAA patients with amyloid-PET positive (n = 5) and negative (n = 5) scans, PET positive individuals had lower (p < 0.05) concentrations of CSF Aβ_{42}, and higher total tau, phospho-tau, NFL, and neurogranin concentrations, consistent with an “AD-like” profile. CONCLUSION: CAA has a characteristic biomarker profile, suggestive of a global, rather than selective, accumulation of amyloid species; we also provide evidence of different phenotypes according to amyloid-PET positivity. Further replication and validation of these preliminary findings in larger cohorts is needed

Comparative analysis of cytokine profiles of glaucomatous tears and aqueous humour reveals potential biomarkers for trabeculectomy complications

L

The Role of Individual Variables, Organizational Variables and Moral Intensity Dimensions in Libyan Management Accountants’ Ethical Decision Making

This study investigates the association of a broad set of variables with the ethical decision making of management accountants in Libya. Adopting a cross-sectional methodology, a questionnaire including four different ethical scenarios was used to gather data from 229 participants. For each scenario, ethical decision making was examined in terms of the recognition, judgment and intention stages of Rest’s model. A significant relationship was found between ethical recognition and ethical judgment and also between ethical judgment and ethical intention, but ethical recognition did not significantly predict ethical intention—thus providing support for Rest’s model. Organizational variables, age and educational level yielded few significant results. The lack of significance for codes of ethics might reflect their relative lack of development in Libya, in which case Libyan companies should pay attention to their content and how they are supported, especially in the light of the under-development of the accounting profession in Libya. Few significant results were also found for gender, but where they were found, males showed more ethical characteristics than females. This unusual result reinforces the dangers of gender stereotyping in business. Personal moral philosophy and moral intensity dimensions were generally found to be significant predictors of the three stages of ethical decision making studied. One implication of this is to give more attention to ethics in accounting education, making the connections between accounting practice and (in Libya) Islam. Overall, this study not only adds to the available empirical evidence on factors affecting ethical decision making, notably examining three stages of Rest’s model, but also offers rare insights into the ethical views of practising management accountants and provides a benchmark for future studies of ethical decision making in Muslim majority countries and other parts of the developing world

A Phylogeny and Timescale for the Evolution of Pseudocheiridae (Marsupialia: Diprotodontia) in Australia and New Guinea

Pseudocheiridae (Marsupialia: Diprotodontia) is a family of endemic Australasian arboreal folivores, more commonly known as ringtail possums. Seventeen extant species are grouped into six genera (Pseudocheirus, Pseudochirulus, Hemibelideus, Petauroides, Pseudochirops, Petropseudes). Pseudochirops and Pseudochirulus are the only genera with representatives on New Guinea and surrounding western islands. Here, we examine phylogenetic relationships among 13 of the 17 extant pseudocheirid species based on protein-coding portions of the ApoB, BRCA1, ENAM, IRBP, Rag1, and vWF genes. Maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian methods were used to estimate phylogenetic relationships. Two different relaxed molecular clock methods were used to estimate divergence times. Bayesian and maximum parsimony methods were used to reconstruct ancestral character states for geographic provenance and maximum elevation occupied. We find robust support for the monophyly of Pseudocheirinae (Pseudochirulus + Pseudocheirus), Hemibelidinae (Hemibelideus + Petauroides), and Pseudochiropsinae (Pseudochirops + Petropseudes), respectively, and for an association of Pseudocheirinae and Hemibelidinae to the exclusion of Pseudochiropsinae. Within Pseudochiropsinae, Petropseudes grouped more closely with the New Guinean Pseudochirops spp. than with the Australian Pseudochirops archeri, rendering Pseudochirops paraphyletic. New Guinean species belonging to Pseudochirops are monophyletic, as are New Guinean species belonging to Pseudochirulus. Molecular dates and ancestral reconstructions of geographic provenance combine to suggest that the ancestors of extant New Guinean Pseudochirops spp. and Pseudochirulus spp. dispersed from Australia to New Guinea ∼12.1–6.5 Ma (Pseudochirops) and ∼6.0–2.4 Ma (Pseudochirulus). Ancestral state reconstructions support the hypothesis that occupation of high elevations (>3000 m) is a derived feature that evolved on the terminal branch leading to Pseudochirops cupreus, and either evolved in the ancestor of Pseudochirulus forbesi, Pseudochirulus mayeri, and Pseudochirulus caroli, with subsequent loss in P. caroli, or evolved independently in P. mayeri and P. forbesi. Divergence times within the New Guinean Pseudochirops clade are generally coincident with the uplift of the central cordillera and other highlands. Diversification within New Guinean Pseudochirulus occurred in the Plio-Pleistocene after the establishment of the Central Range and other highlands

Radiation induced CNS toxicity – molecular and cellular mechanisms

Radiotherapy of tumours proximal to normal CNS structures is limited by the sensitivity of the normal tissue. Prior to the development of prophylactic strategies or treatment protocols a detailed understanding of the mechanisms of radiation induced CNS toxicity is mandatory. Histological analysis of irradiated CNS specimens defines possible target structures prior to a delineation of cellular and molecular mechanisms. Several lesions can be distinguished: Demyelination, proliferative and degenerative glial reactions, endothelial cell loss and capillary occlusion. All changes are likely to result from complex alterations within several functional CNS compartments. Thus, a single mechanism responsible cannot be separated. At least four factors contribute to the development of CNS toxicity: (1) damage to vessel structures; (2) deletion of oligodendrocyte-2 astrocyte progenitors (O-2A) and mature oligodendrocytes; (3) deletion of neural stem cell populations in the hippocampus, cerebellum and cortex; (4) generalized alterations of cytokine expression. Several underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in radiation induced CNS toxicity have been identified. The article reviews the currently available data on the cellular and molecular basis of radiation induced CNS side effects.   http://www.bjcancer.com © 2001 Cancer Research Campaig

Development of Transgenic Cloned Pig Models of Skin Inflammation by DNA Transposon-Directed Ectopic Expression of Human β1 and α2 Integrin

Integrins constitute a superfamily of transmembrane signaling receptors that play pivotal roles in cutaneous homeostasis by modulating cell growth and differentiation as well as inflammatory responses in the skin. Subrabasal expression of integrins α2 and/or β1 entails hyperproliferation and aberrant differentiation of keratinocytes and leads to dermal and epidermal influx of activated T-cells. The anatomical and physiological similarities between porcine and human skin make the pig a suitable model for human skin diseases. In efforts to generate a porcine model of cutaneous inflammation, we employed the Sleeping Beauty DNA transposon system for production of transgenic cloned Göttingen minipigs expressing human β1 or α2 integrin under the control of a promoter specific for subrabasal keratinocytes. Using pools of transgenic donor fibroblasts, cloning by somatic cell nuclear transfer was utilized to produce reconstructed embryos that were subsequently transferred to surrogate sows. The resulting pigs were all transgenic and harbored from one to six transgene integrants. Molecular analyses on skin biopsies and cultured keratinocytes showed ectopic expression of the human integrins and localization within the keratinocyte plasma membrane. Markers of perturbed skin homeostasis, including activation of the MAPK pathway, increased expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-1α, and enhanced expression of the transcription factor c-Fos, were identified in keratinocytes from β1 and α2 integrin-transgenic minipigs, suggesting the induction of a chronic inflammatory phenotype in the skin. Notably, cellular dysregulation obtained by overexpression of either β1 or α2 integrin occurred through different cellular signaling pathways. Our findings mark the creation of the first cloned pig models with molecular markers of skin inflammation. Despite the absence of an overt psoriatic phenotype, these animals may possess increased susceptibility to severe skin damage-induced inflammation and should be of great potential in studies aiming at the development and refinement of topical therapies for cutaneous inflammation including psoriasis

The range of the golden-mantle tamarin, Saguinus tripartitus (Milne Edwards, 1878): distributions and sympatry of four tamarin species in Colombia, Ecuador, and northern Peru

A detailed understanding of the range of the golden-mantle tamarin, Saguinus tripartitus (Milne Edwards, 1878), in Amazonian Peru and Ecuador is of particular relevance, not only because it is poorly known but also because it was on the basis of its supposed sympatry with the saddleback tamarin (S. fuscicollis lagonotus) that Thorington (Am J Primatol 15:367–371, 1988) argued that it is a distinct species rather than a saddleback tamarin subspecies, as was believed by Hershkovitz (Living new world monkeys, vol I. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1977). A number of surveys have been carried out since 1988 in the supposed range of S. tripartitus, in both Ecuador and Peru. Here we summarize and discuss these issues and provide a new suggestion for the geographic range of this species; that is, between the ríos Napo and Curaray in Peru and extending east into Ecuador. We also review current evidence for the distributions of Spix’s black-mantle tamarin (S. nigricollis nigricollis), Graells’ black-mantle tamarin (S. n. graellsi), and the saddleback tamarin (S. fuscicollis lagonotus), which are also poorly known, and examine the evidence regarding sympatry between them. We conclude that despite the existence of a number of specimens with collecting localities that indicate overlap in their geographic ranges, the fact that the four tamarin species are of similar size and undoubtedly very similar in their feeding habits militates strongly against the occurrence of sympatry among them

Feasibility of a cohort study on health risks caused by occupational exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields

Breckenkamp J, Berg-Beckhoff G, Muenster E, et al. Feasibility of a cohort study on health risks caused by occupational exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields. Environmental Health. 2009;8(1):23.Background: The aim of this study was to examine the feasibility of performing a cohort study on health risks from occupational exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) in Germany. Methods: A set of criteria was developed to evaluate the feasibility of such a cohort study. The criteria aimed at conditions of exposure and exposure assessment (level, duration, preferably on an individual basis), the possibility to assemble a cohort and the feasibility of ascertaining various disease endpoints. Results: Twenty occupational settings with workers potentially exposed to RF-EMF and, in addition, a cohort of amateur radio operators were considered. Based on expert ratings, literature reviews and our set of predefined criteria, three of the cohorts were identified as promising for further evaluation: the personnel (technicians) of medium/short wave broadcasting stations, amateur radio operators, and workers on dielectric heat sealers. After further analyses, the cohort of workers on dielectric heat sealers seems not to be feasible due to the small number of exposed workers available and to the difficulty of assessing exposure (exposure depends heavily on the respective working process and mixture of exposures, e.g. plastic vapours), although exposure was highest in this occupational setting. The advantage of the cohort of amateur radio operators was the large number of persons it includes, while the advantage of the cohort of personnel working at broadcasting stations was the quality of retrospective exposure assessment. However, in the cohort of amateur radio operators the exposure assessment was limited, and the cohort of technicians was hampered by the small number of persons working in this profession. Conclusion: The majority of occupational groups exposed to RF-EMF are not practicable for setting up an occupational cohort study due to the small numbers of exposed subjects or due to exposure levels being only marginally higher than those of the general public