Dietary intake and risk of asthma in children and adults : protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Diet has been proposed to modulate the risk of asthma in children and adults. An increasing body of epidemiological studies have been published in the last year investigating the association between dietary intake and asthma. As part of the Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guideline Task Force on 'Lifestyle Interventions in Allergy and Asthma' funded by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, we will use a systematic approach to review the evidence from published scientific literature on dietary intake and asthma in children and adults. Methods: This systematic review will be carried out following the PRISMA guidelines. The protocol has been published in PROSPERO (CRD42016036078). We will review the evidence from epidemiological studies in children (from the age of 2 years) and adults and dietary intake of foods and nutrients. Discussion: The findings from this review will be used as a reference to inform guideline recommendations.Peer reviewe

Capture Hi-C identifies a novel causal gene, IL20RA, in the pan-autoimmune genetic susceptibility region 6q23.

BACKGROUND: The identification of causal genes from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) is the next important step for the translation of genetic findings into biologically meaningful mechanisms of disease and potential therapeutic targets. Using novel chromatin interaction detection techniques and allele specific assays in T and B cell lines, we provide compelling evidence that redefines causal genes at the 6q23 locus, one of the most important loci that confers autoimmunity risk. RESULTS: Although the function of disease-associated non-coding single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at 6q23 is unknown, the association is generally assigned to TNFAIP3, the closest gene. However, the DNA fragment containing the associated SNPs interacts through chromatin looping not only with TNFAIP3, but also with IL20RA, located 680 kb upstream. The risk allele of the most likely causal SNP, rs6927172, is correlated with both a higher frequency of interactions and increased expression of IL20RA, along with a stronger binding of both the NFκB transcription factor and chromatin marks characteristic of active enhancers in T-cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our results highlight the importance of gene assignment for translating GWAS findings into biologically meaningful mechanisms of disease and potential therapeutic targets; indeed, monoclonal antibody therapy targeting IL-20 is effective in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis, both with strong GWAS associations to this region

Quality management in coastal container liner shipping from the point of view of cost management

S ciljem poboljšanja upravljanja kvalitetom i sigurnošću u pomorskom prometu međunarodne pomorske organizacije propisale su i uvele mnoga pravila i standarde. U posljednje vrijeme ta pravila i standardi dodatno su se postrožili sa svrhom uklanjanja podstandardnih brodova i brodara iz pomorstva. Primjena tih novih pravila i standarda upravljanja sigurnošću i kvalitetom na brodovima iziskuje od brodara povećane troškove. Troškovi upravljanja kvalitetom imaju sve značajniji udio u troškovima poslovanja brodara. Iz tog razloga uobičajenoj podjeli troškova broda na fiksne i komercijalne troškove te troškove goriva i maziva potrebno je dodati i troškove upravljanja kvalitetom. Zahvaljujući takvoj podjeli troškova, brodaru je omogućeno preciznije upravljanje troškovima poslovanja te planiranje poslovnih odluka.In order to improve quality and safety management in maritime transport the International Maritime Organization has brought in a large number of regulations and standards. Those rules and standards have lately become stricter in order to remove sub-standard vessels and shipping operators from the market. Application of the new regulations and standards regarding quality and safety management on board a vessel has incurred additional costs on shipping operators. Quality management costs are an increasingly important part of a shipping operator’s business costs. For that reason the common division of vessel costs into fixed costs, commercial costs and fuelling costs should be added quality management costs. Thanks to such a division of costs shipping operators can have more efficient business cost management and more accurate business plans

Blood and sputum eosinophils in COPD; relationship with bacterial load.

BACKGROUND: Sputum and blood eosinophil counts predict corticosteroid effects in COPD patients. Bacterial infection causes increased airway neutrophilic inflammation. The relationship of eosinophil counts with airway bacterial load in COPD patients is uncertain. We tested the hypothesis that bacterial load and eosinophil counts are inversely related. METHODS: COPD patients were seen at stable state and exacerbation onset. Sputum was processed for quantitative polymerase chain reaction detection of the potentially pathogenic microorganisms (PPM) H. influenzae, M. catarrhalis and S. pneumoniae. PPM positive was defined as total load ≥1 × 104copies/ml. Sputum and whole blood were analysed for differential cell counts. RESULTS: At baseline, bacterial counts were not related to blood eosinophils, but sputum eosinophil % was significantly lower in patients with PPM positive compared to PPM negative samples (medians: 0.5% vs. 1.25% respectively, p = 0.01). Patients with PPM positive samples during an exacerbation had significantly lower blood eosinophil counts at exacerbation compared to baseline (medians: 0.17 × 109/L vs. 0.23 × 109/L respectively, p = 0.008), while no blood eosinophil change was observed with PPM negative samples. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate an inverse relationship between bacterial infection and eosinophil counts. Bacterial infection may influence corticosteroid responsiveness by altering the profile of neutrophilic and eosinophilic inflammation

Appendix 8.4 Mutual Information Tables from PhD, Characterising the wild mouse bone marrow: composition and cellular heterogeneity

Appendix 8.4 Mutual Information Tables from PhD, Characterising the wild mouse bone marrow: composition and cellular heterogeneit

Appendix 8.3 Flowjo Files from PhD, Characterising the wild mouse bone marrow: composition and cellular heterogeneity

Appendix 8.3 Flowjo Files from PhD, Characterising the wild mouse bone marrow: composition and cellular heterogeneit

Supplementary material from "Minimizing fungal disease deaths will allow the UNAIDS target of reducing annual AIDS deaths below 500 000 by 2020 to be realized"

Deaths from AIDS (1 500 000 in 2013) have been falling more slowly than anticipated with improved access to antiretroviral therapy. Opportunistic infections account for most AIDS-related mortality, with a median age of death in the mid-30s. About 360 000 (24%) of AIDS deaths are attributed to tuberculosis. Fungal infections deaths in AIDS are estimated at more than 700 000 deaths (47%) annually. Rapid diagnostic tools and antifungal agents are available for these diseases and would likely have a major impact in reducing deaths. Scenarios for reduction of avoidable deaths were constructed based on published outcomes of the real-life impact of diagnostics and generic antifungal drugs to 2020. Annual deaths could fall for cryptococcal disease by 70 000, Pneumocystis pneumonia by 162 500, disseminated histoplasmosis by 48 000 and chronic pulmonary aspergillosis by 33 500, with approximately 60% coverage of diagnostics and antifungal agents. If factored in with the 90–90–90 campaign rollout and its effect, AIDS deaths could fall to 426 000 by 2020, with further reductions possible with increased coverage. Action could and should be taken by donors, national and international public health agencies, NGOs and governments to achieve the UNAIDS mortality reduction target, by scaling up capability to detect and treat fungal disease in AIDS.This article is part of the themed issue ‘Tackling emerging fungal threats to animal health, food security and ecosystem resilience’

A quantitative model for macrophage activation predicts tunable distance thresholds for propagation of inflammationes in response LPS stimulation

Label free analysis of the secretome of RAW264.7 murine macrophages in response to LPS stimulation

Supplementary Video 3 - L. monocytogenes response to spent media

Supplementary Video 3. L. monocytogenes exposed to spent host cell media. 1.0 x 107 Lm-dsRed-PactA-GFP was incubated for 2 hours at 37°C in spent media (bottom) (retrieved as described in Section 2.6.1). Representative video of 3 biological replicate experiment show upregulation of PrfA-regulated virulence genes via PactA-GFP (green) expression and the formation of aggregates occurs when exposed to spent media, but not fresh media. Scale bar 10 μm

ExampleData1.xlsx

The first of two example datasets referenced in the instructions of how to use ClinCirc. These datasets are computer generated