An Analysis of the Economic Burden of Air Pollution on Population Health and Environmental Policy in the Czech Republic

Following the collapse of the communist government, the Czech Republic was burdened with substantial levels of air pollution that it continues to struggle with today. This article analyzes the ways in which the communist regime contributed to air pollution and the current barriers to improving air quality. It also examines the effectiveness of current environmental policies and the difficulties of balancing environmental, economic, and social priorities

Translating Research as an Approach to Enhance Science Engagement

The impact of research depends on the effective communication of discoveries. Scientific writing is the primary tool for the dissemination of research, and is an important skill that biomedical trainees have to develop. Despite its importance, scientific writing is not part of the mainstream curriculum. One strategy used to teach scientific writing is holding a journal club style discussion of primary research literature that the students are asked to read. However, this activity can result in a passive learning experience and limit the development of trainees’ scientific writing skills. In order to improve trainees’ written communication skills, we tested an exercise that involved generating a revised article describing prior research, in essence “translating” the science into basic language. Following the guidelines set out by “Frontiers for Young Minds” and feedback received from “Young Reviewers”, we wrote a revised article with a simpler description of the research. In this article, we describe this scientific writing exercise, which may ultimately serve as a model for scientists to share their research more efficiently in order to promote better public health outcomes

Impacto del tratamiento de extracto de malta con hemoglobina en niños diagnosticados con anemia ferropénica del consultorio médico Emmanuel Orsini Nueva Vida de Ciudad Sandino-2013-2014

El presente estudio es descriptivo, de corte transversal, en el que se recolecto información para Evaluar el impacto del tratamiento de extracto de malta con hemoglobina durante el periodo de seis meses a un año en una muestra de 35 niños/as diagnosticados/as con anemia ferropénica del Consultorio Médico Emmanuel Orsini- Nueva Vida de Ciudad Sandino, año 2013-2014. La información se obtuvo mediante una entrevista a los jefes de familia de los participantes y una ficha de recolección de datos de cada expediente clínico. Los principales hallazgos de este estudio son: el 54.28% de la población es de sexo femenino. Las edades de la muestra oscilan de 1 año de edad a 12. El 91.43% proceden de la ciudad y el 88.57% de la muestra recibe educación escolar. Como resultados de valoraciones nutricionales realizadas en el año 2013 según indicador peso/talla se obtuvo que el 45.71% se encuentran en un peso óptimo para su talla, y en el 2014 hubo un incremento al 60% de la muestra. Con respecto al indicador peso/edad en el año 2014 el 51.42% se encontraba en estado de normalidad y posteriormente el siguiente año alcanzo un porcentaje del 68.57%, con lo que respecta a desnutrición severa ni uno de los dos años hubieron casos existentes de este. Y por último bajo esta clasificación del punteo z, el indicador talla/ edad muestro un 60% de niños que se encontraba en normalidad para el primer año del estudio, y para el 2014 se incrementó un 2%.85 por ciento, con lo que respecta a retardo moderado de un 14.28% se disminuyó a un 2.85% respectivamente. Los niveles de hemoglobina previos al tratamiento revelaban 2 casos con anemia grave, 12 casos anemia moderada, 19 casos anemia leve y 2 casos sin anemia. En los exámenes después del tratamiento e intervenciones no se encuentran casos de anemia grave, anemia moderada 5 casos con una reducción notoria en más del 50% de la población. Anemia leve 7 casos y sin anemia 23 casos. El patrón de consumo de alimentos se basa en alimentos básicos como el arroz, el aceite y azúcar con un consumo diario y el consumo de frutas (banano) y vegetales (tomate, cebolla y chiltoma) es casi inexistente, sin embargo De los alimentos de origen animal son consumidos únicamente el huevo por el 94.28% de la población y con una frecuencia de 3 a 6 veces por seman

Perspectives on Medication-Related and Other Health Disparities Affecting Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Other Pacific Islanders: A Qualitative Study

Background and Purpose: The present body of literature has little information regarding factors behind gaps in health status affecting Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities, and methods to address them. We sought to examine pharmacists’ and other health care professionals’ perceptions of AANHPI health disparities and their ideas for solutions involving pharmacists, pharmacy schools, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Methods: In-depth individual interviews were conducted with ten academic pharmacists and four other health care professionals knowledgeable about AANHPI disparities, with a focus on medication-related disparities. Results: Commonly identified factors behind disparities included poor communication, low socioeconomic status, cultural inhibitions creating a reluctance to seek care, and limited access to care. Suggested strategies for community pharmacists to reduce disparities included one-on-one care focused on outcomes, translated materials and translation services, and tracking adherence to medications. Participants suggested that colleges of pharmacy could continue community health events, encourage students to be culturally aware, and conduct health disparities research, and that the FDA could provide translated information, research funding, and requirements for greater ethnic diversity in clinical trials. Conclusion: Experts believe that pharmacists have the potential to help close the health care gap for AANHPI populations

Correlation of Clinical Symptoms with Temporal and Frontoparietal Lobe Response During an Auditory \u27Odball\u27 Task of Chronic and First Episode Schizophrenia Patients (N=190)

The disorder of schizophrenia is defined by the presence of positive and negative clinical symptoms. One of the hallmark positive symptoms is the presence of auditory hallucinations which have previously been studied to involve bilateral temporal lobe anamolies. Our study seeks to further define and potentially quantify these anamolies in temporal lobe response by looking at the correlation of clinical symptoms with temporal lobe activation. To accomplish this task we have subjected 22 first episode and 64 chronic patients along with 104 matched healthy controls to a functional MRI scan while undergoing an auditory oddball\u27 task. Analysis of this data is unique in the use of independent component analysis (ICA) via Matlab toolbox (GIFT). Results showed expected positive activation patterns for temporal lobe activity across all participants but revealed no statistically significant differences within patient populations (first episode (FE) vs. chronic) or between patients and matched healthy controls. We observed strong correlation coefficients for both patient groups as positive symptoms were negatively correlated to temporal lobe response (FE rho = -0.31, chronic rho = -0.20). Negative symptoms were positively correlated but only statistically significant for first episode patients (rho = +0.23). This data is consistent with other studies involving EEG recordings of P300 amplitude response. Finally, in analyzing frontoparietal (FP) lobe activation we showed statistically signficant activation differences between patients and controls. This result could potentially be used as a future diagnostic test. In addition, we uncovered another point of asymmetry in first episode patients whose right FP lobe showed a nearly two-fold correlation coefficient value versus the left FP lobe for negative symptoms. This unique asymmetry could offer a new area of focus for future researchers into the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.\u2

Serine Proteolytic Pathway Activation Reveals an Expanded Ensemble of Wound Response Genes in Drosophila

After injury to the animal epidermis, a variety of genes are transcriptionally activated in nearby cells to regenerate the missing cells and facilitate barrier repair. The range and types of diffusible wound signals that are produced by damaged epidermis and function to activate repair genes during epidermal regeneration remains a subject of very active study in many animals. In Drosophila embryos, we have discovered that serine protease function is locally activated around wound sites, and is also required for localized activation of epidermal repair genes. The serine protease trypsin is sufficient to induce a striking global epidermal wound response without inflicting cell death or compromising the integrity of the epithelial barrier. We developed a trypsin wounding treatment as an amplification tool to more fully understand the changes in the Drosophila transcriptome that occur after epidermal injury. By comparing our array results with similar results on mammalian skin wounding we can see which evolutionarily conserved pathways are activated after epidermal wounding in very diverse animals. Our innovative serine protease-mediated wounding protocol allowed us to identify 8 additional genes that are activated in epidermal cells in the immediate vicinity of puncture wounds, and the functions of many of these genes suggest novel genetic pathways that may control epidermal wound repair. Additionally, our data augments the evidence that clean puncture wounding can mount a powerful innate immune transcriptional response, with different innate immune genes being activated in an interesting variety of ways. These include puncture-induced activation only in epidermal cells in the immediate vicinity of wounds, or in all epidermal cells, or specifically in the fat body, or in multiple tissues

Microinjection Wound Assay and In vivo Localization of Epidermal Wound Response Reporters in Drosophila Embryos.

The Drosophila embryo develops a robust epidermal layer that serves both to protect the internal cells from a harsh external environment as well as to maintain cellular homeostasis. Puncture injury with glass needles provides a direct method to trigger a rapid epidermal wound response that activates wound transcriptional reporters, which can be visualized by a localized reporter signal in living embryos or larvae. Puncture or laser injury also provides signals that promote the recruitment of hemocytes to the wound site. Surprisingly, severe (through and through) puncture injury in late stage embryos only rarely disrupts normal embryonic development, as greater than 90% of such wounded embryos survive to adulthood when embryos are injected in an oil medium that minimizes immediate leakage of hemolymph from puncture sites. The wound procedure does require micromanipulation of the Drosophila embryos, including manual alignment of the embryos on agar plates and transfer of the aligned embryos to microscope slides. The Drosophila epidermal wound response assay provides a quick system to test the genetic requirements of a variety of biological functions that promote wound healing, as well as a way to screen for potential chemical compounds that promote wound healing. The short life cycle and easy culturing routine make Drosophila a powerful model organism. Drosophila clean wound healing appears to coordinate the epidermal regenerative response, with the innate immune response, in ways that are still under investigation, which provides an excellent system to find conserved regulatory mechanisms common to Drosophila and mammalian epidermal wounding

Grass-finished Beef Pilot Project: Cattle Performance

Consumer interest in the potential benefits of grass-finished beef is high, but adoption of this approach to cattle feeding has been limited in Iowa. Although some producers successfully meet this niche market demand, consistently producing a high-value carcass from forage-fed cattle is challenging. Intramuscular fat or marbling is a major factor in quality grading of beef. Marbling is heavily influenced by cattle genetics and energy concentration of the diet. Finishing cattle on grain is a proven approach to consistently produce a high-value carcass for the commodity beef market. Researchers at Iowa State University have pioneered the use of ultrasound measurements to select Angus cattle with high-marbling potential. Forage quality can be manipulated through pasture management, ultimately influencing cattle growth and performance. It is hypothesized that grass-finished cattle will consistently produce high value carcasses if excellent pasture management is combined with combining high-marbling genetics