A 19 year population based cohort study analysing reoperation for recurrence following laparoscopic and open inguinal hernia repairs

Open Access via Springer Compact Agreement.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Decompositie van inkomensongelijkheid: Rusland 1992-2002

Introductie: Economen en sociale wetenschappers gebruiken kerngetallen om de inkomensongelijkheid van landen te beschrijven. In de meeste studies worden de Gini index, de leden van de “Generaliz Entropy” familie van indices (zoals de Theil en Atkinson coëfficiënten en de “Mean Logarithmic Deviation”), en de percentielratio’s P90/P10 en P75/P25 gebruikt. De waarden van al deze coëfficiënten vertellen iets over de inkomensongelijkheid op een bepaald moment of, via een tijdreeks van coëfficiënten, over trends in de inkomensongelijkheid. Een van de centrale vragen bij de bestudering van inkomensongelijkheid betreft die naar de onderliggende factoren. Decompositie van inkomensongelijkheid kan daar op een antwoord geven. Decompositie van inkomensongelijkheid naar subgroepen in de populatie of naar bronnen van inkomen werd in het begin van de jaren ’80 geïntroduceerd in publicaties van Bourguignon (1979) en Shorrocks (1980; 1982; 1984). Zij lieten zien dat een aantal, maar niet alle maten voor ongelijkheid additief kunnen worden gedecomponeerd. Sinds die tijd is een groot aantal sociaal-economische studies met deze (inmiddels) standaard toepassingen verschenen...

Growth of the salt-tolerant yeast Zygosaccharomyces rouxii in microtiter plates:effects of NaCl, pH and temperature on growth and fusel alcohol production from branched-chain amino acids

Zygosaccharomyces rouxii, a salt-tolerant yeast isolated from the soy sauce process, produces fusel alcohols (isoamyl alcohol, active amyl alcohol and isobutyl alcohol) from branched-chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine and valine, respectively) via the Ehrlich pathway. Using a high-throughput screening approach in microtiter plates, we have studied the effects of pH, temperature and salt concentration on growth of Z. rouxii and formation of fusel alcohols from branched-chain amino acids. Application of minor variations in pH (range 3-7) and NaCl concentrations (range 0-20%) per microtiter plate well allowed a rapid and detailed evaluation of fermentation conditions for optimal growth and metabolite production. Conditions yielding the highest cell densities were not optimal for fusel alcohol production. Maximal fusel alcohol production occurred at low pH (3.0-4.0) and low NaCl concentrations (0-4%) at 25°C. At pH 4.0-6.0 and 0-18% NaCl, considerable amounts of α-keto acids, the deaminated products from the branched-chain amino acids, accumulated extracellularly. The highest cell densities were obtained in plates incubated at 30°C. The results obtained under various incubation conditions with (deep-well) microtiter plates were validated in Erlenmeyer shake-flask cultures.

Drug mechanisms to help in managing resistant hypertension in obesity

Obesity is a major risk factor for the development of hypertension. Because the prevalence of obesity is increasing worldwide, the prevalence of obesity hypertension is also increasing. Importantly, hypertension in obesity is commonly complicated by dyslipidemia and type 2 diabetes mellitus and hence imposes a high cardiovascular disease risk. Furthermore, obesity is strongly associated with resistant hypertension. Activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the renin-angiotensin system, leading to renal sodium and water retention, links obesity with hypertension. There is also evidence for the release of factors by visceral adipose tissue promoting excessive aldosterone production, and a more central role of aldosterone in obesity hypertension is emerging. Randomized studies evaluating the effect of different classes of antihypertensive agents in obesity hypertension are scarce, short-lasting, and small. Considering the emerging role of aldosterone in the pathogenesis of obesity hypertension, mineralocorticoid receptor antagonism may play a more central role in the pharmacologic treatment of obesity hypertension in the near future

Development and validation of an alternative parameter for quantification of signals emitted by fluorescently labelled bacteria in microscopic images

In this study, an alternative parameter for quantifying the signals of fluorescently labelled bacteria (e.g. propidium iodide, Cyanine 3, etc.) in microscopic images was investigated. Three common parameters (mean grey value (MGV), mean grey value which is corrected for the background (MGVcwB) and the signal to background ratio (SBR) per bacterial cell) are used as reference parameters. As an alternative, the coefficient of variation (CV) is defined as the ratio of the logarithm of the standard deviation and the logarithm of the mean grey value of a bacterial cell in a microscopic image. The actual fluorescence value was safeguarded by measuring commercially available fluorescence latex microspheres at regular time intervals within our study. The precision and the correlation of the respective values of MGV, MGVcwB, SBR and CV taken from identical images were measured and subsequently normalized in order to enhance the inter-parameter comparability. The average precision of CV was the highest (89% +/- 14) with decreasing numbers for MGVcwB, SBR, and MGV (78% +/- 25, 71% +/- 32, and, 52% +/- 22, respectively). Changes in operational parameters, e.g., microscope settings, protocol steps, etc., yielded good results for the CV but less precise results for MGV, MGVcwB, and SBR in the analyses of identical images. In conclusion, using the alternative parameter CV, changes in the composition of microbial ecosystems may thus be investigated at the highest precision level

Exposure to low-dose radiation and the risk of breast cancer among women with a familial or genetic predisposition:a meta-analysis

Women with familial or genetic aggregation of breast cancer are offered screening outside the population screening programme. However, the possible benefit of mammography screening could be reduced due to the risk of radiation-induced tumours. A systematic search was conducted addressing the question of how low-dose radiation exposure affects breast cancer risk among high-risk women. A systematic search was conducted for articles addressing breast cancer, mammography screening, radiation and high-risk women. Effects of low-dose radiation on breast cancer risk were presented in terms of pooled odds ratios (OR). Of 127 articles found, 7 were selected for the meta-analysis. Pooled OR revealed an increased risk of breast cancer among high-risk women due to low-dose radiation exposure (OR = 1.3, 95% CI: 0.9- 1.8). Exposure before age 20 (OR = 2.0, 95% CI: 1.3-3.1) or a mean of a parts per thousand yen5 exposures (OR = 1.8, 95% CI: 1.1-3.0) was significantly associated with a higher radiation-induced breast cancer risk. Low-dose radiation increases breast cancer risk among high-risk women. When using low-dose radiation among high-risk women, a careful approach is needed, by means of reducing repeated exposure, avoidance of exposure at a younger age and using non-ionising screening techniques

Deglaciation of Fennoscandia

To provide a new reconstruction of the deglaciation of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet, in the form of calendar-year time-slices, which are particularly useful for ice sheet modelling, we have compiled and synthesized published geomorphological data for eskers, ice-marginal formations, lineations, marginal meltwater channels, striae, ice-dammed lakes, and geochronological data from radiocarbon, varve, optically-stimulated luminescence, and cosmogenic nuclide dating. This 25 is summarized as a deglaciation map of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet with isochrons marking every 1000 years between 22 and 13 cal kyr BP and every hundred years between 11.6 and final ice decay after 9.7 cal kyr BP. Deglaciation patterns vary across the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet domain, reflecting differences in climatic and geomorphic settings as well as ice sheet basal thermal conditions and terrestrial versus marine margins. For example, the ice sheet margin in the high-precipitation coastal setting of the western sector responded sensitively to climatic variations leaving a detailed record of prominent moraines and ice-marginal deposits in many fjords and coastal valleys. Retreat rates across the southern sector differed between slow retreat of the terrestrial margin in western and southern Sweden and rapid retreat of the calving ice margin in the Baltic Basin. Our reconstruction is consistent with much of the published research. However, the synthesis of a large amount of existing and new data support refined reconstructions in some areas. For example, we locate the LGM extent of the ice sheet in northwestern Russia further east than previously suggested and conclude that it occurred at a later time than the rest of the ice sheet, at around 17-15 cal kyr BP, and propose a slightly different chronology of moraine formation over southern Sweden based on improved correlations of moraine segments using new LiDAR data and tying the timing of moraine formation to Greenland ice core cold stages. Retreat rates vary by as much as an order of magnitude in different sectors of the ice sheet, with the lowest rates on the high-elevation and maritime Norwegian margin. Retreat rates compared to the climatic information provided by the Greenland ice core record show a general correspondence between retreat rate and climatic forcing, although a close match between retreat rate and climate is unlikely because of other controls, such as topography and marine versus terrestrial margins. Overall, the time slice reconstructions of Fennoscandian Ice Sheet deglaciation from 22 to 9.7 cal kyr BP provide an important dataset for understanding the contexts that underpin spatial and temporal patterns in retreat of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet, and are an important resource for testing and refining ice sheet models