Role of the employment status and education of mothers in the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections in Mexican rural schoolchildren

<p><b>Background:</b> Intestinal parasitic infections are a public health problem in developing countries such as Mexico. As a result, two governmental programmes have been implemented: a) "National Deworming Campaign" and b) "Opportunities" aimed at maternal care. However, both programmes are developed separately and their impact is still unknown. We independently investigated whether a variety of socio-economic factors, including maternal education and employment levels, were associated with intestinal parasite infection in rural school children.</p> <p><b>Methods:</b> This cross-sectional study was conducted in 12 rural communities in two Mexican states. The study sites and populations were selected on the basis of the following traits: a) presence of activities by the national administration of albendazole, b) high rates of intestinal parasitism, c) little access to medical examination, and d) a population having less than 2,500 inhabitants. A total of 507 schoolchildren (mean age 8.2 years) were recruited and 1,521 stool samples collected (3 per child). Socio-economic information was obtained by an oral questionnaire. Regression modelling was used to determine the association of socio-economic indicators and intestinal parasitism.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> More than half of the schoolchildren showed poliparasitism (52%) and protozoan infections (65%). The prevalence of helminth infections was higher in children from Oaxaca (53%) than in those from Sinaloa (33%) (p < 0.0001). Giardia duodenalis and Hymenolepis nana showed a high prevalence in both states. Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura and Entamoeba hystolitica/dispar showed low prevalence. Children from lower-income families and with unemployed and less educated mothers showed higher risk of intestinal parasitism (odds ratio (OR) 6.0, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.6–22.6; OR 4.5, 95% CI 2.5–8.2; OR 3.3, 95% CI 1.5–7.4 respectively). Defecation in open areas was also a high risk factor for infection (OR 2.4, 95% CI 2.0–3.0).</p> <p><b>Conclusion:</b> Intestinal parasitism remains an important public health problem in Sinaloa (north-western Mexico) and Oaxaca (south-eastern Mexico). Lower income, defecation in open areas, employment status and a lower education level of mothers were the significant factors related to these infections. We conclude that mothers should be involved in health initiatives to control intestinal parasitism in Mexico.</p&gt

An informatics model for tissue banks – Lessons learned from the Cooperative Prostate Cancer Tissue Resource

BACKGROUND: Advances in molecular biology and growing requirements from biomarker validation studies have generated a need for tissue banks to provide quality-controlled tissue samples with standardized clinical annotation. The NCI Cooperative Prostate Cancer Tissue Resource (CPCTR) is a distributed tissue bank that comprises four academic centers and provides thousands of clinically annotated prostate cancer specimens to researchers. Here we describe the CPCTR information management system architecture, common data element (CDE) development, query interfaces, data curation, and quality control. METHODS: Data managers review the medical records to collect and continuously update information for the 145 clinical, pathological and inventorial CDEs that the Resource maintains for each case. An Access-based data entry tool provides de-identification and a standard communication mechanism between each group and a central CPCTR database. Standardized automated quality control audits have been implemented. Centrally, an Oracle database has web interfaces allowing multiple user-types, including the general public, to mine de-identified information from all of the sites with three levels of specificity and granularity as well as to request tissues through a formal letter of intent. RESULTS: Since July 2003, CPCTR has offered over 6,000 cases (38,000 blocks) of highly characterized prostate cancer biospecimens, including several tissue microarrays (TMA). The Resource developed a website with interfaces for the general public as well as researchers and internal members. These user groups have utilized the web-tools for public query of summary data on the cases that were available, to prepare requests, and to receive tissues. As of December 2005, the Resource received over 130 tissue requests, of which 45 have been reviewed, approved and filled. Additionally, the Resource implemented the TMA Data Exchange Specification in its TMA program and created a computer program for calculating PSA recurrence. CONCLUSION: Building a biorepository infrastructure that meets today's research needs involves time and input of many individuals from diverse disciplines. The CPCTR can provide large volumes of carefully annotated prostate tissue for research initiatives such as Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPOREs) and for biomarker validation studies and its experience can help development of collaborative, large scale, virtual tissue banks in other organ systems

PON1 and Neurodevelopment in Children from the CHAMACOS Study Exposed to Organophosphate Pesticides in Utero

BackgroundParaoxonase 1 (PON1) detoxifies oxon derivatives of some organophosphate (OP) pesticides, and its genetic polymorphisms influence enzyme activity and quantity. We previously reported that maternal urinary concentrations of dialkyl phosphate (DAP) metabolites, a marker of OP pesticide exposure, were related to poorer mental development and maternally reported symptoms consistent with pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) in 2-year-olds participating in the Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas (CHAMACOS) study.ObjectiveWe determined whether PON1 genotypes and enzyme measurements were associated with child neurobehavioral development and whether PON1 modified the association of in utero exposure to OPs (as assessed by maternal DAPs) and neurobehavior.MethodsWe measured DAP concentrations in maternal urine during pregnancy, PON1₁₉₂ and PON1₋₁₀₈ genotypes in mothers and children, and arylesterase (ARYase) and paraoxonase (POase) in maternal, cord, and 2-year-olds' blood. We assessed 353 2-year-olds on the Mental Development Index (MDI) and Psychomotor Development Index (PDI) of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development and queried their mothers on the Child Behavior Checklist to obtain a score for PDD.ResultsChildren with the PON1(-108T) allele had poorer MDI scores and somewhat poorer PDI scores. Children were less likely to display PDD when they or their mothers had higher ARYase activity and when their mothers had higher POase activity. The association between DAPs and MDI scores was strongest in children with PON1(-108T) allele, but this and other interactions between DAPs and PON1 polymorphisms or enzymes were not significant.ConclusionPON1 was associated with child neurobehavioral development, but additional research is needed to confirm whether it modifies the relation with in utero OP exposure

Chromosome Tips Damaged in Anaphase Inhibit Cytokinesis

Genome maintenance is ensured by a variety of biochemical sensors and pathways that repair accumulated damage. During mitosis, the mechanisms that sense and resolve DNA damage remain elusive. Studies have demonstrated that damage accumulated on lagging chromosomes can activate the spindle assembly checkpoint. However, there is little known regarding damage to DNA after anaphase onset. In this study, we demonstrate that laser-induced damage to chromosome tips (presumptive telomeres) in anaphase of Potorous tridactylis cells (PtK2) inhibits cytokinesis. In contrast, equivalent irradiation of non-telomeric chromosome regions or control irradiations in either the adjacent cytoplasm or adjacent to chromosome tips near the spindle midzone during anaphase caused no change in the eventual completion of cytokinesis. Damage to only one chromosome tip caused either complete absence of furrow formation, a prolonged delay in furrow formation, or furrow regression. When multiple chromosome tips were irradiated in the same cell, the cytokinesis defects increased, suggesting a potential dose-dependent mechanism. These results suggest a mechanism in which dysfunctional telomeres inhibit mitotic exit

Haunted by the Presence of Death: Prisons, Abolitionism and the Right to Life

This chapter explores how prisons in England and Wales are haunted by the presence of death. It details how prisoners experience civil death (death in law), social death (death as a worthy human being) and corporeal death (literal death of the body). The chapter discusses two different but associated abolitionist strategies to contest the prison as a place of death: (i) naming the people who have died and recognising their continued humanity, as a way to promote greater penal accountability; and, (ii) direct action as a way of ‘making something happen’. Overall, the chapter points to the need for a dedicated democratic public space (an agora) committed to rational, informed debate that recognises the inherent deadly outcomes of imprisonment

Extramedullary plasmacytoma (EMP): Report of a case manifested as a mediastinal mass and multiple pulmonary nodules and review of literature

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Extramedullary plasmacytoma (EMP) is a rare plasma cell neoplasm of soft tissue without bone marrow involvement or other systemic characteristics of multiple myeloma</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 42 year-old woman presented with intermittent dry cough of 10 months duration. Her breathing sound was slightly coarse without rales or rhonchi on auscultation. CT scan revealed a right anterior mediastinal shadow with multiple pulmonary nodular lesions. A video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) was performed. Histopathology showed it to be a myeloma.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This is the first presentation of EMP with a mediastinal mass with multiple pulmonary nodules.</p

Can Geographical Factors Determine the Choices of Farmers in the Ethiopian Highlands to Trade in Livestock Markets?

Proximity and affiliation to the local market appear to be two of the most relevant factors to explain farmer's choices to select a particular trading point. Physical barriers may limit the options , especially in developing countries. A network of villages linked by traders/farmer-traders sharing livestock markets was built with field data collected in 75 villages from 8 kebelles in the Wassona Werna wereda of the Ethiopian Highlands. Two exponential random graph models were fitted with various geographical and demographic attributes of the nodes (dyadic independent model) and three internal network structures (dyadic dependent model). Several diagnostic methods were applied to assess the goodness of fit of the models. The odds of an edge where the distance to the main market Debre Behran and the difference in altitude between two connected villages are both large increases significantly so that villages far away from the main market and at different altitude are more likely to be linked in the network than randomly. The odds of forming an edge between two villages in Abamote or Gudoberet kebelles are approximately 75% lower than an edge between villages in any other kebelles (p<0.05). The conditional log-odds of two villages forming a tie that is not included in a triangle, a 2-star or a 3-star is extremely low, increasing the odds significantly (p<0.05) each time a node is in a 2-star structure and decreasing it when a node is in a 3-star (p<0.05) or in a triangle formation (p<0.05)), conditional on the rest of the network. Two major constraining factors, namely distance and altitude, are not deterrent for the potential contact of susceptible small ruminant populations in the Highlands of Ethiopia

Costs of Testing for Ocular Chlamydia trachomatis Infection Compared to Mass Drug Administration for Trachoma in The Gambia: Application of Results from the PRET Study

Background Mass drug administration (MDA) treatment of active trachoma with antibiotic is recommended to be initiated in any district where the prevalence of trachoma inflammation, follicular (TF) is ≥10% in children aged 1–9 years, and then to continue for at least three annual rounds before resurvey. In The Gambia the PRET study found that discontinuing MDA based on testing a sample of children for ocular Chlamydia trachomatis(Ct) infection after one MDA round had similar effects to continuing MDA for three rounds. Moreover, one round of MDA reduced disease below the 5% TF threshold. We compared the costs of examining a sample of children for TF, and of testing them for Ct, with those of MDA rounds. Methods The implementation unit in PRET The Gambia was a census enumeration area (EA) of 600–800 people. Personnel, fuel, equipment, consumables, data entry and supervision costs were collected for census and treatment of a sample of EAs and for the examination, sampling and testing for Ct infection of 100 individuals within them. Programme costs and resource savings from testing and treatment strategies were inferred for the 102 EAs in the study area, and compared. Results Census costs were $103.24 per EA plus initial costs of$108.79. MDA with donated azithromycin cost $227.23 per EA. The mean cost of examining and testing 100 children was$796.90 per EA, with Ct testing kits costing $4.80 per result. A strategy of testing each EA for infection is more expensive than two annual rounds of MDA unless the kit cost is less than$1.38 per result. However stopping or deciding not to initiate treatment in the study area based on testing a sample of EAs for Ct infection (or examining children in a sample of EAs) creates savings relative to further unnecessary treatments. Conclusion Resources may be saved by using tests for chlamydial infection or clinical examination to determine that initial or subsequent rounds of MDA for trachoma are unnecessary

Variation in RNA Virus Mutation Rates across Host Cells

It is well established that RNA viruses exhibit higher rates of spontaneous mutation than DNA viruses and microorganisms. However, their mutation rates vary amply, from 10−6 to 10−4 substitutions per nucleotide per round of copying (s/n/r) and the causes of this variability remain poorly understood. In addition to differences in intrinsic fidelity or error correction capability, viral mutation rates may be dependent on host factors. Here, we assessed the effect of the cellular environment on the rate of spontaneous mutation of the vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), which has a broad host range and cell tropism. Luria-Delbrück fluctuation tests and sequencing showed that VSV mutated similarly in baby hamster kidney, murine embryonic fibroblasts, colon cancer, and neuroblastoma cells (approx. 10−5 s/n/r). Cell immortalization through p53 inactivation and oxygen levels (1–21%) did not have a significant impact on viral replication fidelity. This shows that previously published mutation rates can be considered reliable despite being based on a narrow and artificial set of laboratory conditions. Interestingly, we also found that VSV mutated approximately four times more slowly in various insect cells compared with mammalian cells. This may contribute to explaining the relatively slow evolution of VSV and other arthropod-borne viruses in nature

Determinants of Natural Mating Success in the Cannibalistic Orb-Web Spider Argiope bruennichi

Monogynous mating systems (low male mating rates) occur in various taxa and have evolved several times independently in spiders. Monogyny is associated with remarkable male mating strategies and predicted to evolve under a male-biased sex ratio. While male reproductive strategies are well documented and male mating rates are easy to quantify, especially in sexually cannibalistic species, female reproductive strategies, the optimal female mating rate, and the factors that affect the evolution of female mating rates are still unclear. In this study, we examined natural female mating rates and tested the assumption of a male-biased sex ratio and female polyandry in a natural population of Argiope bruennichi in which we controlled female mating status prior to observations. We predicted variation in female mating frequencies as a result of spatial and temporal heterogeneity in the distribution of mature females and males. Females had a low average mating rate of 1.3 and the majority copulated only once. Polyandry did not entirely result from a male-biased sex-ratio but closely matched the rate of male bigamy. Male activity and the probability of polyandry correlated with factors affecting pheromone presence such as virgin females' density. We conclude that a strong sex ratio bias and high female mating rates are not necessary components of monogynous mating systems as long as males protect their paternity effectively and certain frequencies of bigyny stabilise the mating system