SUPPORT Tools for evidence-informed health Policymaking (STP) 14: Organising and using policy dialogues to support evidence-informed policymaking

This article is part of a series written for people responsible for making decisions about health policies and programmes and for those who support these decision makers

Factors associated with breast cancer occurrence before the age of 40 in Yaoundé

Background: In Cameroon, one third of breast cancers concern women less than 40 of age and young age appeared to be an independent predictor of adverse outcome. This study aimed to determine factors associated with the development of breast cancer before the age of 40 in Yaoundé.Methods: A case-control study was conducted for 7 months, from November 1st, 2016 to May 31st, 2017 at the General Hospital and the gyneco-obstetric and Paediatric Hospital of Yaoundé. Study compared the socio-demographic, clinical and lifestyle data of 50 women less than 40 of age with breast cancer (cases) with those of 200 women below 40 of age without breast cancer (controls). Descriptive statistics, bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were performed to assess the socio-demographic, clinical and lifestyle data. Data were computed using the SPSS version 23.0 software. The significance threshold value was set at 0.05.Results: After multivariate analysis, the factors independently associated with the occurrence of breast cancer before the age of 40 were: age ≥ 30 (aOR = 2.05); family history of breast cancer (aOR = 8.65); parity ≥ 1 (aOR = 2.46); breastfeeding (aOR = 3.39); waist circumference ≥ 88 centimeters (cm) (aOR = 4.38); breast density ≥ 90                      (aOR = 2.89); physical activity ≤ 3 hours/week (aOR = 4.78). Conclusions: Breast cancer in women under 40 is associated with family history, reproductive life and women's lifestyles.  Breastfeeding more than 12 months, having a balanced diet, supplementary screening tests in women with dense breasts and practicing physical activity; would be  effective ways to prevent it in young women

A five year programme for radioisotope production at the Research Establishment.

This report summarises plans for radioisotope production at Lucas Heights over the period 1966-71 and indicates how these are based on present trends of demand for radioisotopes. The programme is discussed in terms of available staff and facilities; while some small staff increases will be required, the facilities presently being commissioned should be adequate over this period

Predictions from Lattice QCD

In the past year, we calculated with lattice QCD three quantities that were unknown or poorly known. They are the $q^2$ dependence of the form factor in semileptonic $D\to Kl\nu$ decay, the decay constant of the $D$ meson, and the mass of the $B_c$ meson. In this talk, we summarize these calculations, with emphasis on their (subsequent) confirmation by experiments.Comment: v1: talk given at the International Conference on QCD and Hadronic Physics, Beijing, June 16-20, 2005; v2: poster presented at the XXIIIrd International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, Dublin, July 25-3

A systematic review of frameworks for the interrelationships of mental health evidence and policy in low- and middle-income countries

Background: The interrelationships between research evidence and policy-making are complex. Different theoretical frameworks exist to explain general evidence–policy interactions. One largely unexplored element of these interrelationships is how evidence interrelates with, and influences, policy/political agenda-setting. This review aims to identify the elements and processes of theories, frameworks and models on interrelationships of research evidence and health policy-making, with a focus on actionability and agenda-setting in the context of mental health in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Methods: A systematic review of theories was conducted based on the BeHeMOTh search method, using a tested and refined search strategy. Nine electronic databases and other relevant sources were searched for peer-reviewed and grey literature. Two reviewers screened the abstracts, reviewed full-text articles, extracted data and performed quality assessments. Analysis was based on a thematic analysis. The included papers had to present an actionable theoretical framework/model on evidence and policy interrelationships, such as knowledge translation or evidence-based policy, specifically target the agenda-setting process, focus on mental health, be from LMICs and published in English. Results: From 236 publications included in the full text analysis, no studies fully complied with our inclusion criteria. Widening the focus by leaving out ‘agenda-setting’, we included ten studies, four of which had unique conceptual frameworks focusing on mental health and LMICs but not agenda-setting. The four analysed frameworks confirmed research gaps from LMICs and mental health, and a lack of focus on agenda-setting. Frameworks and models from other health and policy areas provide interesting conceptual approaches and lessons with regards to agenda-setting. Conclusion: Our systematic review identified frameworks on evidence and policy interrelations that differ in their elements and processes. No framework fulfilled all inclusion criteria. Four actionable frameworks are applicable to mental health and LMICs, but none specifically target agenda-setting. We have identified agenda-setting as a research theory gap in the context of mental health knowledge translation in LMICs. Frameworks from other health/policy areas could offer lessons on agenda-setting and new approaches for creating policy impact for mental health and to tackle the translational gap in LMICs

Dipole Coupling Effect of Holographic Fermion in the Background of Charged Gauss-Bonnet AdS Black Hole

We investigate the holographic fermions in the charged Gauss-Bonnet $AdS_{d}$ black hole background with the dipole coupling between fermion and gauge field in the bulk. We show that in addition to the strength of the dipole coupling, the spacetime dimension and the higher curvature correction in the gravity background also influence the onset of the Fermi gap and the gap distance. We find that the higher curvature effect modifies the fermion spectral density and influences the value of the Fermi momentum for the appearance of the Fermi surface. There are richer physics in the boundary fermion system due to the modification in the bulk gravity.Comment: 16 pages, accepted for publication in JHE

Enhanced cytotoxicity of reovirus and radiotherapy in melanoma cells is mediated through increased viral replication and mitochondrial apoptotic signalling.

Oncolytic viruses selectively target and replicate in cancer cells, providing us with a unique tool with which to target and kill tumour cells. These viruses come from a diverse range of viral families including reovirus type 3 Dearing (RT3D), a non-pathogenic human double-stranded RNA oncolytic virus, which has been shown to be an effective therapeutic agent, both as a mono-therapy and in combination with traditional chemotherapeutic drugs. This study investigated the interaction between RT3D and radiotherapy in melanoma cell lines with a BRAF mutant, Ras mutant or BRAF/Ras wild type genotype. The data indicates that RT3D combined with radiotherapy significantly increased cytotoxicity relative to either single agent, independent of genotype, both in vitro and in vivo. The mechanism of enhanced cytotoxicity was dependent on an increase in viral replication, mediated by CUG2 up-regulation and subsequent down-regulation of pPKR and p-eIF2α, leading to the activation of mitochondrial apoptotic signalling resulting in increased cell death

SNP selection for genes of iron metabolism in a study of genetic modifiers of hemochromatosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We report our experience of selecting tag SNPs in 35 genes involved in iron metabolism in a cohort study seeking to discover genetic modifiers of hereditary hemochromatosis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We combined our own and publicly available resequencing data with HapMap to maximise our coverage to select 384 SNPs in candidate genes suitable for typing on the Illumina platform.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Validation/design scores above 0.6 were not strongly correlated with SNP performance as estimated by Gentrain score. We contrasted results from two tag SNP selection algorithms, LDselect and Tagger. Varying r²from 0.5 to 1.0 produced a near linear correlation with the number of tag SNPs required. We examined the pattern of linkage disequilibrium of three levels of resequencing coverage for the transferrin gene and found HapMap phase 1 tag SNPs capture 45% of the ≥ 3% MAF SNPs found in SeattleSNPs where there is nearly complete resequencing. Resequencing can reveal adjacent SNPs (within 60 bp) which may affect assay performance. We report the number of SNPs present within the region of six of our larger candidate genes, for different versions of stock genotyping assays.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A candidate gene approach should seek to maximise coverage, and this can be improved by adding to HapMap data any available sequencing data. Tag SNP software must be fast and flexible to data changes, since tag SNP selection involves iteration as investigators seek to satisfy the competing demands of coverage within and between populations, and typability on the technology platform chosen.</p

Chromosomal-level assembly of the Asian Seabass genome using long sequence reads and multi-layered scaffolding

We report here the ~670 Mb genome assembly of the Asian seabass (Lates calcarifer), a tropical marine teleost. We used long-read sequencing augmented by transcriptomics, optical and genetic mapping along with shared synteny from closely related fish species to derive a chromosome-level assembly with a contig N50 size over 1 Mb and scaffold N50 size over 25 Mb that span ~90% of the genome. The population structure of L. calcarifer species complex was analyzed by re-sequencing 61 individuals representing various regions across the species' native range. SNP analyses identified high levels of genetic diversity and confirmed earlier indications of a population stratification comprising three clades with signs of admixture apparent in the South-East Asian population. The quality of the Asian seabass genome assembly far exceeds that of any other fish species, and will serve as a new standard for fish genomics

Flow cytometric determination of genome size in European sunbleak Leucaspius delineatus (Heckel, 1843)

The aim of this study was to compare DNA content in hepatocyte and erythrocyte nuclei of the European sunbleak, Leucaspius delineatus, in relation to nuclear and cell size by means of flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy. The DNA standards, chicken and rainbow trout erythrocytes, were prepared in parallel with both cell types, with initial separation of liver cells in pepsin solution followed by cell filtering. Standards and investigated cells were stained with a mixture of propidium iodide, citric acid, and Nonidet P40 in the presence of RNAse, and fluorescence of at least 50,000 nuclei was analyzed by flow cytometry. Average cell size was determined by flow cytometry, using fresh cell suspension in relation to latex beads of known diameter. The size of nuclei was examined on the basis of digital micrographs obtained by fluorescence microscopy after nuclei staining with DAPI. The sunbleak’s erythrocyte nuclei contain 2.25 ± 0.06 pg of DNA, whereas the hepatocyte nuclei contain 2.46 ± 0.06 pg of DNA. This difference in DNA content was determined spectroscopically using isolated DNA from the two cell types. The modal diameters of the erythrocytes and hepatocytes were estimated to be 5.1 ± 0.2 and 22.3 ± 5.0 μm, respectively, and the corresponding modal dimensions of their nuclei (measured as surface area) were 15.2 and 21.4 μm2, respectively. The nucleoplasmic index, as calculated from diameters estimated from surface area of nuclear profiles, was 2.51 for the erythrocytes compared with 0.08 for hepatocytes