Rickettsial Seroepidemiology among Farm Workers, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China

High seroprevalence rates for Anaplasma phagocytophilum (8.8%), Coxiella burnetii (6.4%), Bartonella henselae (9.6%), and Rickettsia typhi (4.1%) in 365 farm workers near Tianjin, People’s Republic of China, suggest that human infections with these zoonotic bacteria are frequent and largely unrecognized. Demographic features of seropositive persons suggest distinct epidemiology, ecology, and risks

Impeded Nedd4-1-Mediated Ras Degradation Underlies Ras-Driven Tumorigenesis

RAS genes are among the most frequently mutated proto-oncogenes in cancer. However, how Ras stability is regulated remains largely unknown. Here, we report a regulatory loop involving the E3 ligase Nedd4-1, Ras, and PTEN. We found that Ras signaling stimulates the expression of Nedd4-1, which in turn acts as an E3 ubiquitin ligase that regulates Ras levels. Importantly, Ras activation, either by oncogenic mutations or by epidermal growth factor (EGF) signaling, prevents Nedd4-1-mediated Ras ubiquitination. This leads to Ras-induced Nedd4-1 overexpression, and subsequent degradation of the tumor suppressor PTEN in both human cancer samples and cancer cells. Our study thus unravels the molecular mechanisms underlying the interplay of Ras, Nedd4-1, and PTEN and suggests a basis for the high prevalence of Ras-activating mutations and EGF hypersignaling in cancer. © 2014 The Authors

Television food advertising towards children : a content analysis of the Singapore advertising landscape and experimental study on the placement of pro-nutritional advertisements

Food advertising has been recognized as one of the contributing factors to rising childhood obesity. This study aims to examine food and beverage (F&B) advertising as well as persuasion strategies in health communication in the form of pro-nutritional advertisements, in the context of children’s television viewing. In Study One, we mapped out the food advertising landscape by content analyzing F&B advertisements (ads) across six television channels over two weeks in Singapore. Results show that there is a disproportionately large quantity of junk F&B ads and no pro-nutritional advertisement (PNA) by health authorities on Singapore television. In Study Two, an experiment was conducted on 364 children aged 10-13 years old to investigate the effects of message order and time delay on a combination of PNA and F&B ads in influencing children’s food consumption intention. Two-way ANOVA tests reveal that the optimal placement of PNA is when the PNA is placed after F&B ads in the presence of time delay. Children exposed to this condition chose significantly lower amount of total food items and unhealthy food items as compared to other conditions. Results indicated that message order and time delay are pertinent factors in determining the effectiveness of the PNA in moderating the negative effects of F&B ads. Implications on advertising regulations and health promotion are discussed.Bachelor of Communication Studie

Evaluation of health education interventions on Chinese factory workers’ knowledge, practices, and behaviors related to infectious disease

Background: Workplaces are a common location for infectious disease transmission among adults. To provide recommendations regarding appropriate health promotion programs, we evaluated the impact of three different interventions on factory workers. Methods: In a prospective intervention study carried out from October 2012 to June 2013, three factories were selected and each was assigned a different intervention method (i.e. self-study group, manager training group and interactional group discussion group). Participants were scored on their knowledge, behavior, and hygienic practices related to infectious disease prevention both before and after the intervention. Results: A total of 1154 participants completed the survey before the intervention and 1111 completed the survey after. The sum infectious disease knowledge score in the manager training group was higher after the intervention (9.09/12) than before (8.63/12, t = 4.47, p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in sum infectious disease knowledge score pre and post intervention for both the self-study group and the interactional group discussion. Conclusions: Overall, change in health behaviors and hygiene practices were not as affected compared to changes in knowledge after interventions related to infectious disease health promotion. Training managers who then interact with workers may be an effective and efficient way of educating workers on health issues. Keywords: Employee health program, Worksite health promotion, Health education, Infectious diseases, Respiratory illness, Enteric illnes

A Genome-wide Association Study of Circulating Levels of Atorvastatin and Its Major Metabolites

Atorvastatin (ATV) is frequently prescribed and generally well tolerated, but can lead to myotoxicity, especially at higher doses. A genome‐wide association study of circulating levels of ATV, 2‐hydroxy (2‐OH) ATV, ATV lactone (ATV L), and 2‐OH ATV L was performed in 590 patients who had been hospitalized with a non‐ST elevation acute coronary syndrome 1 month earlier and were on high‐dose ATV (80 mg or 40 mg daily). The UGT1A locus (lead single nucleotide polymorphism, rs887829) was strongly associated with both increased 2‐OH ATV/ATV (P = 7.25 × 10−16) and 2‐OH ATV L/ATV L (P = 3.95 × 10−15) metabolic ratios. Moreover, rs45446698, which tags CYP3A7*1C, was nominally associated with increased 2‐OH ATV/ATV (P = 6.18 × 10−7), and SLCO1B1 rs4149056 with increased ATV (P = 2.21 × 10−6) and 2‐OH ATV (P = 1.09 × 10−6) levels. In a subset of these patients whose levels of ATV and metabolites had also been measured at 12 months after hospitalization (n = 149), all of these associations remained, except for 2‐OH ATV and rs4149056 (P = 0.057). Clinically, rs4149056 was associated with increased muscular symptoms (odds ratio (OR) 3.97; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.29–12.27; P = 0.016) and ATV intolerance (OR 1.55; 95% CI 1.09–2.19; P = 0.014) in patients (n = 870) primarily discharged on high‐dose ATV. In summary, both novel and recognized genetic associations have been identified with circulating levels of ATV and its major metabolites. Further study is warranted to determine the clinical utility of genotyping rs4149056 in patients on high‐dose ATV

Validation of the Center for Neurologic Study Bulbar Function Scale–Chinese version in a population with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Abstract Objective The Center for Neurologic Study Bulbar Function Scale (CNS-BFS) was specifically designed as a self-reported measure of bulbar function. The purpose of this research was to validate the Chinese translation of the CNS-BFSC as an effective measurement for the Chinese population with ALS. Methods A total of 111 ALS patients were included in this study. The CNS-BFSC score, three bulbar function items from the ALSFRS-R, and visual analog scale (VAS) score for speech, swallowing and salivation were assessed in the present study. Forty-six ALS patients were retested on the same scale 5–10 days after the first evaluation. Results The CNS-BFSC sialorrhea, speech and swallowing subscores were separately correlated with the VAS subscores (p  0.05). The Cronbach’s α of the CNS-BFSC was 0.972. Conclusion The Chinese version of the CNS-BFSC has acceptable efficacy and reliability for the assessment of bulbar dysfunction in ALS patients

Spaceborne Observations of Lightning NO₂ in the Arctic

The Arctic region is experiencing notable warming as well as more lightning. Lightning is the dominant source of upper tropospheric nitrogen oxides (NOx), which are precursors for ozone and hydroxyl radicals. In this study, we combine the nitrogen dioxide (NO2) observations from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) with Vaisala Global Lightning Dataset 360 to evaluate lightning NO2 (LNO2) production in the Arctic. By analyzing consecutive TROPOMI NO2 observations, we determine the lifetime and production efficiency of LNO2 during the summers of 2019–2021. Our results show that the LNO2 production efficiency over the ocean is ∼6 times higher than over continental regions. Additionally, we find that a higher LNO2 production efficiency is often correlated with lower lightning rates. The summertime lightning NOx emission in the Arctic (north of 70° N) is estimated to be 219 ± 116 Mg of N, which is equal to 5% of anthropogenic NOx emissions. However, for the span of a few hours, the Arctic LNO2 density can even be comparable to anthropogenic NO2 emissions in the region. These new findings suggest that LNO2 can play an important role in the upper-troposphere/lower-stratosphere atmospheric chemical processes in the Arctic, particularly during the summer