Acute coronary events in general practice: the Imminent Myocardial Infarction Rotterdam Study

With the advent of coronary care units in the early sixties, the first concentrated effort was made to reduce mortality from myocardial infarction. Subsequent experience has demonstrated that in-hospital deaths, particularly those from arrhythmias, have decreased from some thirty-five per cent to below ten per cent. However, several studies had indicated that up to 60% of the total mortality from acu· te coronary events, i.e. sudden cardiac death and acute myocardial infarction, took place in pre-hospital phase 1-6 and as early as the late sixties, both clinicians and epidemiologists began to realize that the greatest further gains had to be achieved by decreasing mortality in that particular phase. In 1969, Bondurant7 stated: "the pre-hospital mortality due to ischaemic heart disease is greater than the total mortality due to any other single cause of death" and also: "the pre-hospital phase of acute myocardial infarction poses the greatest single medical problem of our nation in terms of loss of potential salvageable life". This seems to apply to the U.S.A. as well to the entire western world of today. Fulton et al. from Edinburgh, Scotland, concluded also in 1969: "The majority of deaths occur before patients with acute myocardial infarction reach hospital. Most of these are sudden and unattended medically. In many, symptoms of ischaemic heart disease have been present, but often they have passed unnoticed or at least undeclared. It is difficult to conceive of any system which would allow effective treatment of these patients. Therefore, reliable identification of those prone to sudden death and the development of prophylactlcmeasures would do as much or more to combat the problem of acute coronary attacks as any other approach. Thus, the emphasis began to swing away from further intra-hospital efforts at reducing death from coronary atherosclerotic heart disease (C.A.H.D.) to the out-of-hospital pre-coronary phase. For instance, Lown and Wolf stated in 1971: "Coronary care units, while effective in lowering hospital mortality, can not significantly reduce sudden cardiac death, which occurs primarily out-of-hospital and accounts for the majority of deaths from coronary heart disease

Onderzoek naar de kostprijs van asperges in verschillende teeltcentra : prijspeil 1956/57

In het kader van een geleidelijke algehele herziening van de kostprijsberekeningen der voornaamste groentegewassen, is in dit rapport de aspergeteelt in de 4 belangrijkste teeltcentra behandeld. De basisgegevens, welke aan de uitgevoerde berekeningen ten grondslag liggen zijn, wat de kostenkant betreft, verkregen door middel van mondelinge enquêtes bij een aantal tuinders in de desbetreffende centra. Opbrengstoijfers zijn verkregen door middel van een opbrengstenonderzoek op in totaal 125 bedrijven, waarvan per bedrijf opbrengstgegevens over 1 tot 6 oogstjaren zijn verwerkt

Direct demonstration of ATP-dependent release of SecA from a translocating preprotein by surface plasmon resonance

Translocase mediates the transport of preproteins across the inner membrane of Escherichia coli. SecA binds with high affinity to the membrane-embedded protein-conducting SecYEG complex and serves as both a receptor for secretory proteins and as an ATP-driven molecular motor. Cycles of ATP binding and hydrolysis by SecA drive the progressive movement of the preprotein across the membrane. Surface plasmon resonance allows an online monitoring of protein interactions. Here we report on the kinetic analysis of the interaction between SecA and the membrane-embedded SecYEG complex. Immobilization of membrane vesicles containing overproduced SecYEG on the Biacore Pioneer L1 chip allows the detection of high affinity SecA binding to the SecYEG complex and online monitoring of the translocation of the secretory protein proOmpA. SecA binds tightly to the SecYEG . proOmpA complex and is released only upon ATP hydrolysis. The results provide direct evidence for a model in which SecA cycles at the SecYEG complex during translocation

Carbonic anhydrases CA1 and CA4 function in atmospheric CO2-modulated disease resistance

Main conclusion Carbonic anhydrases CA1 and CA4 attenuate plant immunity and can contribute to altered disease resistance levels in response to changing atmospheric CO2 conditions. Abstract β-Carbonic anhydrases (CAs) play an important role in CO2 metabolism and plant development, but have also been implicated in plant immunity. Here we show that the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae and application of the microbe-associated molecular pattern (MAMP) flg22 repress CA1 and CA4 gene expression in Arabidopsis thaliana. Using the CA double-mutant ca1ca4, we provide evidence that CA1 and CA4 play an attenuating role in pathogen- and flg22-triggered immune responses. In line with this, ca1ca4 plants exhibited enhanced resistance against P. syringae, which was accompanied by an increased expression of the defense-related genes FRK1 and ICS1. Under low atmospheric CO2 conditions (150 ppm), when CA activity is typically low, the levels of CA1 transcription and resistance to P. syringae in wild-type Col-0 were similar to those observed in ca1ca4. However, under ambient (400 ppm) and elevated (800 ppm) atmospheric CO2 conditions, CA1 transcription was enhanced and resistance to P. syringae reduced. Together, these results suggest that CA1 and CA4 attenuate plant immunity and that differential CA gene expression in response to changing atmospheric CO2 conditions contribute to altered disease resistance levels

Don't Miss the Moment:A Systematic Review of Ecological Momentary Assessment in Suicide Research

Suicide and suicide-related behaviors are prevalent yet notoriously difficult to predict. Specifically, short-term predictors and correlates of suicide risk remain largely unknown. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) may be used to assess how suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) unfold in real-world contexts. We conducted a systematic literature review of EMA studies in suicide research to assess (1) how EMA has been utilized in the study of STBs (i.e., methodology, findings), and (2) the feasibility, validity and safety of EMA in the study of STBs. We identified 45 articles, detailing 23 studies. Studies mainly focused on examining how known longitudinal predictors of suicidal ideation perform within shorter (hourly, daily) time frames. Recent studies have explored the prospects of digital phenotyping of individuals with suicidal ideation. The results indicate that suicidal ideation fluctuates substantially over time (hours, days), and that individuals with higher mean ideation also have more fluctuations. Higher suicidal ideation instability may represent a phenotypic indicator for increased suicide risk. Few studies succeeded in establishing prospective predictors of suicidal ideation beyond prior ideation itself. Some studies show negative affect, hopelessness and burdensomeness to predict increased ideation within-day, and sleep characteristics to impact next-day ideation. The feasibility of EMA is encouraging: agreement to participate in EMA research was moderate to high (median = 77%), and compliance rates similar to those in other clinical samples (median response rate = 70%). More individuals reported suicidal ideation through EMA than traditional (retrospective) self-report measures. Regarding safety, no evidence was found of systematic reactivity of mood or suicidal ideation to repeated assessments of STBs. In conclusion, suicidal ideation can fluctuate substantially over short periods of time, and EMA is a suitable method for capturing these fluctuations. Some specific predictors of subsequent ideation have been identified, but these findings warrant further replication. While repeated EMA assessments do not appear to result in systematic reactivity in STBs, participant burden and safety remains a consideration when studying high-risk populations. Considerations for designing and reporting on EMA studies in suicide research are discussed

Exogenous cortisol acutely influences motivated decision making in healthy young men

The glucocorticoid (GC) hormone cortisol is the end product of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis). Acute psychological stress increases HPA activity and GC release. In humans, chronic disturbances in HPA activity have been observed in affective disorders and in addictive behaviour. Recent research indicates that acute effects of GCs may be anxiolytic and increase reward sensitivity. Furthermore, cortisol acutely influences early cognitive processing of emotional stimuli. In order to extend such findings to more complex emotional-cognitive behaviour, the present study tested acute effects of 40 mg cortisol on motivated decision making in 30 healthy young men. Results showed that cortisol indeed increased risky decision making, as predicted. This effect occurred for decisions where making a risky choice could potentially yield a big reward. These results are discussed with respect to currently proposed mechanisms for cortisol's potential anxiolytic effect and GCs' involvement in reward systems.Stress-related psychiatric disorders across the life spa