Allocation and funding of speech and language therapy for children with developmental language disorders across Europe and beyond

Background: Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) have a significant deficit in spoken language ability which affects their communication skills, education, mental health, employment and social inclusion. Aim: The present study reports findings from a survey by EU network COST ACTION 1406 and aims to explore differences in service delivery and funding of SLT services for children with DLD across Europe and beyond. Methods and procedures: The survey was completed by 5024 European professionals. COST countries were grouped into Nordic, Anglo-Saxon, Continental, Mediterranean, Central/Eastern and Non-European categories. The use of direct, indirect and mixed interventions, and their relationship to funding available (public, private or mixed) were considered for further analysis. Outcomes and results: The results revealed that for direct therapy, there were more cases than expected receiving private funding. For indirect therapy, fewer than expected received private and more than expected public funding. For mixed therapy, fewer cases than expected received private funding. Conclusions and implications: The results implies that other factors than evidence-based practices, practitioners experience, and patient preferences, drive choices in therapy. More research is needed to gain a better understanding of factors affecting the choice of therapy

Non-homologous end-joining pathway associated with occurrence of myocardial infarction: gene set analysis of genome-wide association study data

<p>Purpose: DNA repair deficiencies have been postulated to play a role in the development and progression of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The hypothesis is that DNA damage accumulating with age may induce cell death, which promotes formation of unstable plaques. Defects in DNA repair mechanisms may therefore increase the risk of CVD events. We examined whether the joints effect of common genetic variants in 5 DNA repair pathways may influence the risk of CVD events.</p> <p>Methods: The PLINK set-based test was used to examine the association to myocardial infarction (MI) of the DNA repair pathway in GWAS data of 866 subjects of the GENetic DEterminants of Restenosis (GENDER) study and 5,244 subjects of the PROspective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at Risk (PROSPER) study. We included the main DNA repair pathways (base excision repair, nucleotide excision repair, mismatch repair, homologous recombination and non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ)) in the analysis.</p> <p>Results: The NHEJ pathway was associated with the occurrence of MI in both GENDER (P = 0.0083) and PROSPER (P = 0.014). This association was mainly driven by genetic variation in the MRE11A gene (PGENDER = 0.0001 and PPROSPER = 0.002). The homologous recombination pathway was associated with MI in GENDER only (P = 0.011), for the other pathways no associations were observed.</p> <p>Conclusion: This is the first study analyzing the joint effect of common genetic variation in DNA repair pathways and the risk of CVD events, demonstrating an association between the NHEJ pathway and MI in 2 different cohorts.</p&gt

Research agenda for preventing mosquito-transmitted diseases through improving the built environment in sub-Saharan Africa

Mosquito-transmitted diseases are a major threat to health in sub-Saharan Africa, but could be reduced through modifications to the built environment. Here we report findings from a major workshop held to identify the research gaps in this area, namely: (1) evidence of the health benefits to changes to the built environment, (2) understanding how mosquitoes enter buildings, (3) novel methods for reducing mosquito-house entry, (4) sustainable approaches for reducing mosquito habitats, (5) case studies of micro-financing for healthy homes and (6) methods for increasing scale-up. Multidisciplinary research is essential to build out mosquito-transmitted diseases, and not build them in

Survival of Ascaris eggs and hygienic quality of human excreta in Vietnamese composting latrines

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>For centuries farmers in Vietnam have fertilized their fields with human excreta collected directly from their household latrines. Contrary to the official guideline of six-month storage, the households usually only store human excreta for three to four months before use, since this is the length of time that farmers have available to produce fertilizer between two cropping seasons. This study aimed to investigate whether hygienically safe fertilizer could be produced in the latrines within this period of time.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>By inoculating eggs of the helminth parasite indicator <it>Ascaris suum </it>into heaps of human excreta, a die-off experiment was conducted under conditions similar to those commonly used in Vietnamese latrines. Half a ton of human excreta was divided into five heaps containing increasing concentrations of lime from 0% to 11%.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Regardless of the starting pH, which varied from 9.4 to 11.6, a >99% die-off of eggs was obtained after 105 to 117 days of storage for all lime concentrations and 97% of eggs were non-viable after 88 days of storage. The most critical parameter found to determine the die-off process was the amount of ammonia (urine) in the excreta which indicates that longer storage periods are needed for parasite egg die-off if urine is separated from the excreta.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>By inactivating >99% of all <it>A</it>. <it>suum </it>eggs in human excreta during a storage period of only three months the commonly used Double Vault Composting (DVC) latrine, in which urine is not separated, could therefore potentially provide a hygienic acceptable fertilizer.</p

Evaluation of a Previously Suggested Plasma Biomarker Panel to Identify Alzheimer's Disease

There is an urgent need for biomarkers in plasma to identify Alzheimer's disease (AD). It has previously been shown that a signature of 18 plasma proteins can identify AD during pre-dementia and dementia stages (Ray et al, Nature Medicine, 2007). We quantified the same 18 proteins in plasma from 174 controls, 142 patients with AD, and 88 patients with other dementias. Only three of these proteins (EGF, PDG-BB and MIP-1δ) differed significantly in plasma between controls and AD. The 18 proteins could classify patients with AD from controls with low diagnostic precision (area under the ROC curve was 63%). Moreover, they could not distinguish AD from other dementias. In conclusion, independent validation of results is important in explorative biomarker studies

Herbivory by a Phloem-Feeding Insect Inhibits Floral Volatile Production

There is extensive knowledge on the effects of insect herbivory on volatile emission from vegetative tissue, but little is known about its impact on floral volatiles. We show that herbivory by phloem-feeding aphids inhibits floral volatile emission in white mustard Sinapis alba measured by gas chromatographic analysis of headspace volatiles. The effect of the Brassica specialist aphid Lipaphis erysimi was stronger than the generalist aphid Myzus persicae and feeding by chewing larvae of the moth Plutella xylostella caused no reduction in floral volatile emission. Field observations showed no effect of L. erysimi-mediated floral volatile emission on the total number of flower visits by pollinators. Olfactory bioassays suggested that although two aphid natural enemies could detect aphid inhibition of floral volatiles, their olfactory orientation to infested plants was not disrupted. This is the first demonstration that phloem-feeding herbivory can affect floral volatile emission, and that the outcome of interaction between herbivory and floral chemistry may differ depending on the herbivore's feeding mode and degree of specialisation. The findings provide new insights into interactions between insect herbivores and plant chemistry

Epstein-Barr Virus BGLF4 Kinase Retards Cellular S-Phase Progression and Induces Chromosomal Abnormality

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) induces an uncoordinated S-phase-like cellular environment coupled with multiple prophase-like events in cells replicating the virus. The EBV encoded Ser/Thr kinase BGLF4 has been shown to induce premature chromosome condensation through activation of condensin and topoisomerase II and reorganization of the nuclear lamina to facilitate the nuclear egress of nucleocapsids in a pathway mimicking Cdk1. However, the observation that RB is hyperphosphorylated in the presence of BGLF4 raised the possibility that BGLF4 may have a Cdk2-like activity to promote S-phase progression. Here, we investigated the regulatory effects of BGLF4 on cell cycle progression and found that S-phase progression and DNA synthesis were interrupted by BGLF4 in mammalian cells. Expression of BGLF4 did not compensate Cdk1 defects for DNA replication in S. cerevisiae. Using time-lapse microscopy, we found the fate of individual HeLa cells was determined by the expression level of BGLF4. In addition to slight cell growth retardation, BGLF4 elicits abnormal chromosomal structure and micronucleus formation in 293 and NCP-TW01 cells. In Saos-2 cells, BGLF4 induced the hyperphosphorylation of co-transfected RB, while E2F1 was not released from RB-E2F1 complexes. The E2F1 regulated activities of the cyclin D1 and ZBRK1 promoters were suppressed by BGLF4 in a dose dependent manner. Detection with phosphoamino acid specific antibodies revealed that, in addition to Ser780, phosphorylation of the DNA damage-responsive Ser612 on RB was enhanced by BGLF4. Taken together, our study indicates that BGLF4 may directly or indirectly induce a DNA damage signal that eventually interferes with host DNA synthesis and delays S-phase progression