Characteristics of smokers who have never tried to quit: evidence from the British Opinions and Lifestyle Survey

Background An understanding of the characteristics of smokers who have never tried to quit may be useful to help identify and target these individuals and encourage them to attempt to give up smoking. Using national survey data we investigated variables associated with smokers reporting never having tried to quit. Methods Using data from the 2007 and 2009 UK Office for National Statistics Opinions and Lifestyle Survey we identified all self-reported current smokers aged 16+. The primary outcome was response to the question ‘have you ever tried to quit smoking?’ Univariable and multivariable logistic regression quantified the association between this outcome and several potential explanatory variables, including age, sex, socioeconomic status, health status, smoking behaviour, and knowledge of the dangers of smoking. Results Desire to quit was the most significant independent predictor of whether a smoker reported never having tried to quit. Smokers who reported that their health was good or very good were more likely to report never having tried to quit than those whose health was fair, bad or very bad (OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.05-2.41). Smokers who reported that no family members, friends or colleagues had been trying to get them to quit smoking in the last year were more likely to report never having tried to quit than those who reported that someone was trying to persuade them (OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.09-2.28). Smokers who hadn’t received any cessation advice from a health professional in the last five years which they considered to be helpful were also more likely to report never having tried to quit. Conclusions Smokers who do not want to quit, who are in good health, whose friends and family are not trying to get them to quit, and who do not report receiving helpful advice to quit from a health professional, are more likely to report never having tried to quit

Effect of Myostatin Depletion on Weight Gain, Hyperglycemia, and Hepatic Steatosis during Five Months of High-Fat Feeding in Mice

The marked hypermuscularity in mice with constitutive myostatin deficiency reduces fat accumulation and hyperglycemia induced by high-fat feeding, but it is unclear whether the smaller increase in muscle mass caused by postdevelopmental loss of myostatin activity has beneficial metabolic effects during high-fat feeding. We therefore examined how postdevelopmental myostatin knockout influenced effects of high-fat feeding. Male mice with ubiquitous expression of tamoxifen-inducible Cre recombinase were fed tamoxifen for 2 weeks at 4 months of age. This depleted myostatin in mice with floxed myostatin genes, but not in control mice with normal myostatin genes. Some mice were fed a high-fat diet (60% of energy) for 22 weeks, starting 2 weeks after cessation of tamoxifen feeding. Myostatin depletion increased skeletal muscle mass ∼30%. Hypermuscular mice had ∼50% less weight gain than control mice over the first 8 weeks of high-fat feeding. During the subsequent 3 months of high-fat feeding, additional weight gain was similar in control and myostatin-deficient mice. After 5 months of high-fat feeding, the mass of epididymal and retroperitoneal fat pads was similar in control and myostatin-deficient mice even though myostatin depletion reduced the weight gain attributable to the high-fat diet (mean weight with high-fat diet minus mean weight with low-fat diet: 19.9 g in control mice, 14.1 g in myostatin-deficient mice). Myostatin depletion did not alter fasting blood glucose levels after 3 or 5 months of high-fat feeding, but reduced glucose levels measured 90 min after intraperitoneal glucose injection. Myostatin depletion also attenuated hepatic steatosis and accumulation of fat in muscle tissue. We conclude that blocking myostatin signaling after maturity can attenuate some of the adverse effects of a high-fat diet

Maize x Teosinte Hybrid Cobs Do Not Prevent Crop Gene Introgression

Maize x Teosinte Hybrid Cobs Do Not Prevent Crop Gene Introgression. Whether introgression from crops to wild relatives can occur is an important component of transgene risk assessment. In the case of maize, which co-occurs with its wild relative teosinte in Mexico, the possibility of introgression has been controversial. Maize is cross-compatible with teosinte, and spontaneous hybridization is known to occur. Some scientists have hypothesized that the maize x teosinte cob infructescence will prevent progeny dispersal, thus preventing introgression. Motivated by a prior study where we found maize x teosinte hybrid fruits naturally dispersed under field conditions, we tested whether hybrid cobs hold their fruits as tightly as maize cobs. We found the force required to detach hybrid fruits was substantially and significantly less than that for maize. Consequently, we expect that introgression of transgenes from maize into teosinte in Mexico should occur largely unimpeded by the hybrid cob.La mazorca o elote híbrido de maíz x teocintle no impide la introgresión de genes transgénicos provenientes del cultivo. La introgresión entre el maíz cultivado y el maíz silvestre, o teocintle, es un componente importante en la evaluación ambiental relacionada con los riesgos de la introducción de genes transgénicos. La posibilidad de introgresión entre el maíz domesticado y el teocintle ha sido un tema controversial, en particular en México, donde maíz y teocintle coexisten. El maíz es compatible con el teocintle y la hibridización espontánea ocurre entre ellos. Algunos científicos han planteado como hipótesis que al cruzar el maíz con teocintle, la estructura interna de la infrutescencia que sujeta los frutos conocida como la mazorca de maíz o el elote, impide la dispersión de la progenie evitando que la introgresión ocurra. Los resultados de un estudio previo evidencian la dispersión de los frutos híbridos del maíz x teocintle en condiciones naturales. Motivados por estos resultados, hemos decidido investigar si la mazorca o el elote de las infrutescencias del híbrido sujetan los frutos con una fuerza comparable o mayor a la del maíz. Nuestras mediciones implican que la fuerza necesaria para liberar los frutos híbridos son substancial y significativamente menores que aquellas necesarias para desprender los frutos del maíz. Como conclusión sugerimos que en México, la mazorca o el elote no representan una barrera que impida la introgresión de los genes transgénicos del maíz al teocintle

Racial Segregation, Income Inequality, and Mortality in US Metropolitan Areas

Evidence of the association between income inequality and mortality has been mixed. Studies indicate that growing income inequalities reflect inequalities between, rather than within, racial groups. Racial segregation may play a role. We examine the role of racial segregation on the relationship between income inequality and mortality in a cross-section of US metropolitan areas. Metropolitan areas were included if they had a population of at least 100,000 and were at least 10% black (N = 107). Deaths for the time period 1991–1999 were used to calculate age-adjusted all-cause mortality rates for each metropolitan statistical area (MSA) using direct age-adjustment techniques. Multivariate least squares regression was used to examine associations for the total sample and for blacks and whites separately. Income inequality was associated with lower mortality rates among whites and higher mortality rates among blacks. There was a significant interaction between income inequality and racial segregation. A significant graded inverse income inequality/mortality association was found for MSAs with higher versus lower levels of black–white racial segregation. Effects were stronger among whites than among blacks. A positive income inequality/mortality association was found in MSAs with higher versus lower levels of Hispanic–white segregation. Uncertainty regarding the income inequality/mortality association found in previous studies may be related to the omission of important variables such as racial segregation that modify associations differently between groups. Research is needed to further elucidate the risk and protective effects of racial segregation across groups

Cultivation-Independent Methods Reveal Differences among Bacterial Gut Microbiota in Triatomine Vectors of Chagas Disease

Chagas disease is one of the most important endemic diseases of South and Central America. Its causative agent is the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, which is transmitted to humans by blood-feeding insects known as triatomine bugs. These vectors mainly belong to Rhodnius, Triatoma and Panstrongylus genera of Reduviidae. The bacterial communities in the guts of these vectors may have important effects on the biology of T. cruzi. For this reason, we analyzed the bacterial diversity hosted in the gut of different species of triatomines using cultivation-independent methods. Among Rhodnius sp., we observed similar bacterial communities from specimens obtained from insectaries or sylvatic conditions. Endosymbionts of the Arsenophonus genus were preferentially associated with insects of the Panstrongylus and Triatoma genera, whereas the bacterial genus Serratia and Candidatus Rohrkolberia were typical of Rhodnius and Dipetalogaster, respectively. The diversity of the microbiota tended to be the largest in the Triatoma genus, with species of both Arsenophonus and Serratia being detected in T. infestans

A neighborhood statistics model for predicting stream pathogen indicator levels

Because elevated levels of water-borne Escherichia coli in streams are a leading cause of water quality impairments in the U.S., water-quality managers need tools for predicting aqueous E. coli levels. Presently, E. coli levels may be predicted using complex mechanistic models that have a high degree of unchecked uncertainty or simpler statistical models. To assess spatio-temporal patterns of instream E. coli levels, herein we measured E. coli, a pathogen indicator, at 16 sites (at four different times) within the Squaw Creek watershed, Iowa, and subsequently, the Markov Random Field model was exploited to develop a neighborhood statistics model for predicting instream E. coli levels. Two observed covariates, local water temperature (degrees Celsius) and mean cross-sectional depth (meters), were used as inputs to the model. Predictions of E. coli levels in the water column were compared with independent observational data collected from 16 in-stream locations. The results revealed that spatio-temporal averages of predicted and observed E. coli levels were extremely close. Approximately 66 % of individual predicted E. coli concentrations were within a factor of 2 of the observed values. In only one event, the difference between prediction and observation was beyond one order of magnitude. The mean of all predicted values at 16 locations was approximately 1 % higher than the mean of the observed values. The approach presented here will be useful while assessing instream contaminations such as pathogen/pathogen indicator levels at the watershed scale

Changing Patterns of Microhabitat Utilization by the Threespot Damselfish, Stegastes planifrons, on Caribbean Reefs

Background: The threespot damselfish, Stegastes planifrons (Cuvier), is important in mediating interactions among corals, algae, and herbivores on Caribbean coral reefs. The preferred microhabitat of S. planifrons is thickets of the branching staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis. Within the past few decades, mass mortality of A. cervicornis from white-band disease and other factors has rendered this coral a minor ecological component throughout most of its range. Methodology/Principal Findings: Survey data from Jamaica (heavily fished), Florida and the Bahamas (moderately fished), the Cayman Islands (lightly to moderately fished), and Belize (lightly fished) indicate that distributional patterns of S. planifrons are positively correlated with live coral cover and topographic complexity. Our results suggest that speciesspecific microhabitat preferences and the availability of topographically complex microhabitats are more important than the abundance of predatory fish as proximal controls on S. planifrons distribution and abundance. Conclusions/Significance: The loss of the primary microhabitat of S. planifrons—A. cervicornis—has forced a shift in the distribution and recruitment of these damselfish onto remaining high-structured corals, especially the Montastraea annulari

The 2018 Lake Louise Acute Mountain Sickness Score.

Roach, Robert C., Peter H. Hackett, Oswald Oelz, Peter Bärtsch, Andrew M. Luks, Martin J. MacInnis, J. Kenneth Baillie, and The Lake Louise AMS Score Consensus Committee. The 2018 Lake Louise Acute Mountain Sickness Score. High Alt Med Biol 19:1-4, 2018.- The Lake Louise Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) scoring system has been a useful research tool since first published in 1991. Recent studies have shown that disturbed sleep at altitude, one of the five symptoms scored for AMS, is more likely due to altitude hypoxia per se, and is not closely related to AMS. To address this issue, and also to evaluate the Lake Louise AMS score in light of decades of experience, experts in high altitude research undertook to revise the score. We here present an international consensus statement resulting from online discussions and meetings at the International Society of Mountain Medicine World Congress in Bolzano, Italy, in May 2014 and at the International Hypoxia Symposium in Lake Louise, Canada, in February 2015. The consensus group has revised the score to eliminate disturbed sleep as a questionnaire item, and has updated instructions for use of the score

Update of the Scientific Opinion on opium alkaloids in poppy seeds

The CONTAM Panel wishes to thank the hearing experts: Pavel Cihlar, Daniel Doerge and Vaclav Lohr for the support provided to this scientific output. The CONTAM Panel acknowledges all European competent institutions and other stakeholders that provided occurrence data on opium alkaloids in food, and supported the data collection for the Comprehensive European Food Consumption Database. Adopted: 22 March 2018 Reproduction of the images listed below is prohibited and permission must be sought directly from the copyright holder:Figure A.1 in Appendix A: © Elsevier.Peer reviewedPublisher PD