Human Prion Diseases in the United States

BACKGROUND: Prion diseases are a family of rare, progressive, neurodegenerative disorders that affect humans and animals. The most common form of human prion disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), occurs worldwide. Variant CJD (vCJD), a recently emerged human prion disease, is a zoonotic foodborne disorder that occurs almost exclusively in countries with outbreaks of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. This study describes the occurrence and epidemiology of CJD and vCJD in the United States. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Analysis of CJD and vCJD deaths using death certificates of US residents for 1979-2006, and those identified through other surveillance mechanisms during 1996-2008. Since CJD is invariably fatal and illness duration is usually less than one year, the CJD incidence is estimated as the death rate. During 1979 through 2006, an estimated 6,917 deaths with CJD as a cause of death were reported in the United States, an annual average of approximately 247 deaths (range 172-304 deaths). The average annual age-adjusted incidence for CJD was 0.97 per 1,000,000 persons. Most (61.8%) of the CJD deaths occurred among persons >or=65 years of age for an average annual incidence of 4.8 per 1,000,000 persons in this population. Most deaths were among whites (94.6%); the age-adjusted incidence for whites was 2.7 times higher than that for blacks (1.04 and 0.40, respectively). Three patients who died since 2004 were reported with vCJD; epidemiologic evidence indicated that their infection was acquired outside of the United States. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Surveillance continues to show an annual CJD incidence rate of about 1 case per 1,000,000 persons and marked differences in CJD rates by age and race in the United States. Ongoing surveillance remains important for monitoring the stability of the CJD incidence rates, and detecting occurrences of vCJD and possibly other novel prion diseases in the United States

Association of acute toxic encephalopathy with litchi consumption in an outbreak in Muzaffarpur, India, 2014: a case-control study

Background Outbreaks of unexplained illness frequently remain under-investigated. In India, outbreaks of an acute neurological illness with high mortality among children occur annually in Muzaffarpur, the country’s largest litchi cultivation region. In 2014, we aimed to investigate the cause and risk factors for this illness. Methods In this hospital-based surveillance and nested age-matched case-control study, we did laboratory investigations to assess potential infectious and non-infectious causes of this acute neurological illness. Cases were children aged 15 years or younger who were admitted to two hospitals in Muzaffarpur with new-onset seizures or altered sensorium. Age-matched controls were residents of Muzaffarpur who were admitted to the same two hospitals for a non-neurologic illness within seven days of the date of admission of the case. Clinical specimens (blood, cerebrospinal fluid, and urine) and environmental specimens (litchis) were tested for evidence of infectious pathogens, pesticides, toxic metals, and other non-infectious causes, including presence of hypoglycin A or methylenecyclopropylglycine (MCPG), naturally-occurring fruit-based toxins that cause hypoglycaemia and metabolic derangement. Matched and unmatched (controlling for age) bivariate analyses were done and risk factors for illness were expressed as matched odds ratios and odds ratios (unmatched analyses). Findings Between May 26, and July 17, 2014, 390 patients meeting the case definition were admitted to the two referral hospitals in Muzaffarpur, of whom 122 (31%) died. On admission, 204 (62%) of 327 had blood glucose concentration of 70 mg/dL or less. 104 cases were compared with 104 age-matched hospital controls. Litchi consumption (matched odds ratio [mOR] 9·6 [95% CI 3·6 – 24]) and absence of an evening meal (2·2 [1·2–4·3]) in the 24 h preceding illness onset were associated with illness. The absence of an evening meal significantly modified the effect of eating litchis on illness (odds ratio [OR] 7·8 [95% CI 3·3–18·8], without evening meal; OR 3·6 [1·1–11·1] with an evening meal). Tests for infectious agents and pesticides were negative. Metabolites of hypoglycin A, MCPG, or both were detected in 48 [66%] of 73 urine specimens from case-patients and none from 15 controls; 72 (90%) of 80 case-patient specimens had abnormal plasma acylcarnitine profiles, consistent with severe disruption of fatty acid metabolism. In 36 litchi arils tested from Muzaffarpur, hypoglycin A concentrations ranged from 12·4 μg/g to 152·0 μg/g and MCPG ranged from 44·9 μg/g to 220·0 μg/g. Interpretation Our investigation suggests an outbreak of acute encephalopathy in Muzaffarpur associated with both hypoglycin A and MCPG toxicity. To prevent illness and reduce mortality in the region, we recommended minimising litchi consumption, ensuring receipt of an evening meal and implementing rapid glucose correction for suspected illness. A comprehensive investigative approach in Muzaffarpur led to timely public health recommendations, underscoring the importance of using systematic methods in other unexplained illness outbreaks

Handedness and the corpus callosum: A review and further analysis of discordant twins

Handedness effects with respect to regional corpus callosum (CC) anatomy remain open to question. Midsagittal CC tracings were obtained from structural MRIs in 21 female monozygotic twin pairs with discordant handedness (MZHd). The CC was divided into 99 percentile widths which were grouped into seven regions based on Denenberg’s (1989, 1991b) factor analysis. Results showed that left handed (LH) twins had significantly larger regional widths in CC region W22–39 compared to right handed (RH) twins, an effect present in 19/21 MZHd pairs. Cross-study analyses revealed CC W22–39 to have the highest variation across female singletons (Cowell et al., 1992, 1993). In the adjacent genu region (W3–18), CC size did not differ between RH and LH twins. However, when twins were reclassified according to handedness direction and consistency to form consistent RH, non-consistent RH, consistent LH and non-consistent LH groups, patterns of CC size in W3–18 closely matched those of singleton women (Cowell et al., 1993). Namely, CC W3–18 was larger in consistent compared to non-consistent RHs. Results support a claim that CC region W22–39, interconnecting premotor cortex in females, provides for environmentally influenced components of handedness, given the difference within MZHd twin pairs. By contrast, CC W3–18, connecting prefrontal cortex, was sensitive to direction and consistency of handedness, both in twins and singletons, a result consistent with combined genetic and environmental effects. Findings highlight the significance of MZHd twin studies in elucidating the developmental mechanisms underpinning structure–function asymmetry, cortical interconnectivity and neurodevelopmental bases of left hand preference

Detection of ground motions using high-rate GPS time-series

Monitoring surface deformation in real-time help at planning and protecting infrastructures and populations, manage sensitive production (i.e. SEVESO-type) and mitigate long-term consequences of modifications implemented. We present RT-SHAKE, an algorithm developed to detect ground motions associated with landslides, sub-surface collapses, subsidences, earthquakes or rock falls. RT-SHAKE detects first transient changes in individual GPS time series before investigating for spatial correlation(s) of observations made at neighbouring GPS sites and eventually issue a motion warning. In order to assess our algorithm on fast (seconds to minute), large (from 1cm to meters) and spatially consistent surface motions, we use the 1Hz GEONET GNSS network data of the Tohoku-Oki MW9.0 2011 as a test scenario. We show the delay of detection of seismic wave arrival by GPS records is of ~10 seconds with respect to an identical analysis based on strong-motion data and this time delay depends on the level of the time-variable noise. Nevertheless, based on the analysis of the GPS network noise level and ground motion stochastic model, we show that RT-SHAKE can narrow the range of earthquake magnitude, by setting a lower threshold of detected earthquakes to MW6.5-7, if associated with a real-time automatic earthquake location system

Social Media Marketing : Facebook’s Potential for the Sporting Goods Industrie

Mit der vorliegenden Arbeit, Social Media Marketing - Das Potential von Facebook für die Sportartikelindustrie, wird das Potential von Facebook für das Marketing untersucht. Dies wird anhand der zwei Sportartikelhersteller Adidas und Nike und deren Präsenz in dem Sozialen Netzwerk durchgeführt. Einleitend werden die Begriffe E-Commerce, Web 2.0, Digital Marketing und Social Media genauer beschrieben. Anhand dieser wird die Entwicklung der Bedeutung der Medien für die Gesellschaft dargestellt. Der Vergleich der Facebook Pages Adidas Football und Nike Football zeigt die unterschiedlichen und vielfältigen Möglichkeiten des Marketing durch Social Media Instrumente. Dies konnte genauer durch die Analyse der Key Performence Indicators, der Betrachtung der unterschiedlichen Marketingstrategien und der Durchführung eines Experteninterviews aufgeführt werden. Das enorme Potential von Facebook für die Sportartikelindustrie konnte bestätigt werden