Interviews With Mothers of Young Children in the SEED for Oklahoma Kids College Savings Experiment

Interviews With Mothers of Young Children in the SEED for Oklahoma Kids College Savings Experimen

Contraception for adolescents with lupus

Sexually active adolescents, including young women with lupus, are at high risk for unplanned pregnancy. Unplanned pregnancy among teens with lupus is associated with an elevated risk of poor maternal and fetal outcomes. The provision of effective contraception is a crucial element of care for a sexually-active young woman with lupus. Unfortunately, providers may be hesitant to prescribe contraception to this group due to concerns about increasing the risk of lupus complications. This article reviews the risks and benefits of currently-available contraceptives for young women with lupus. Providers are encouraged to consider long-term, highly-effective contraception, such as implantables and intrauterine devices, for appropriately selected adolescents with lupus

Diphtheria in the Postepidemic Period, Europe, 2000–2009

Efforts must be made to maintain high vaccination coverage

Improved parental dietary quality is associated with children’s dietary intake through the home environment

Background Improving access to supermarkets has been shown to improve some dietary outcomes, yet there is little evidence for such effects on children. Relatedly, there is a dearth of research assessing the impact of a structural change (i.e. supermarket in a former food desert) on the home environment and its relationship with children’s diet. Objective Assess the relative impact of the home environment on children’s diet after the introduction of a new supermarket in a food desert. Methods Among a randomly selected cohort of households living in a food desert, parental diet was assessed before and after the opening of a full-service supermarket. The home environment and children’s intake of fruits and vegetables was measured at one point – after the store’s opening. Structural equation models were used to estimate the pathways between changes in parental dietary quality at follow-up and children’s dietary intake through the home environment. ResultsParental dietary improvement after the supermarket opened was associated with having a better home environment (β = 0.45, p = 0.001) and with healthier children’s dietary intake (β = 0.46, p Conclusions Policy solutions designed to improve diet among low-resource communities should take into account the importance of the home environment

Identification of molecular markers of delayed graft function based on the regulation of biological ageing

Introduction: Delayed graft function is a prevalent clinical problem in renal transplantation for which there is no objective system to predict occurrence in advance. It can result in a significant increase in the necessity for hospitalisation post-transplant and is a significant risk factor for other post-transplant complications. Methodology: The importance of microRNAs (miRNAs), a specific subclass of small RNA, have been clearly demonstrated to influence many pathways in health and disease. To investigate the influence of miRNAs on renal allograft performance post-transplant, the expression of a panel of miRNAs in pre-transplant renal biopsies was measured using qPCR. Expression was then related to clinical parameters and outcomes in two independent renal transplant cohorts. Results: Here we demonstrate, in two independent cohorts of pre-implantation human renal allograft biopsies, that a novel pre-transplant renal performance scoring system (GRPSS), can determine the occurrence of DGF with a high sensitivity (>90%) and specificity (>60%) for donor allografts pre-transplant, using just three senescence associated microRNAs combined with donor age and type of organ donation. Conclusion: These results demonstrate a relationship between pre-transplant microRNA expression levels, cellular biological ageing pathways and clinical outcomes for renal transplantation. They provide for a simple, rapid quantitative molecular pre-transplant assay to determine post-transplant allograft function and scope for future intervention. Furthermore, these results demonstrate the involvement of senescence pathways in ischaemic injury during the organ transplantation process and an indication of accelerated bio-ageing as a consequence of both warm and cold ischaemia

The impact of protocol assignment for older adolescents with Hodgkin lymphoma

Background and Purpose: Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) treatment has evolved to reduce or avoid radiotherapy (RT) dose and volume and minimize the potential for late effects. Some older adolescents are treated on adult protocols. The purpose of this study is to examine the protocol assignment of older adolescents and its impact on radiation dose to relevant thoracic structures. Materials and Methods: Cooperative group data were reviewed and 12 adolescents were randomly selected from a pediatric HL protocol. Treatment plans were generated per one pediatric and two adult protocols. Dose volume histograms for heart, lung, and breast allowed comparison of radiation dose to these sites across these three protocols. Results: A total of 15.2% of adolescents were treated on adult HL protocols and received significantly higher radiation dosage to heart and lung compared to pediatric HL protocols. Adolescents treated on either pediatric or adult protocols received similar RT dose to breast. Conclusion: Older adolescents treated on adult HL protocols received higher RT dose to thoracic structures except breast. Level of nodal involvement may impact overall RT dose to breast. The impact of varying field design and RT dose on survival, local, and late effects needs further study for this vulnerable age group

FIRE (facilitating implementation of research evidence) : a study protocol

Research evidence underpins best practice, but is not always used in healthcare. The Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (PARIHS) framework suggests that the nature of evidence, the context in which it is used, and whether those trying to use evidence are helped (or facilitated) affect the use of evidence. Urinary incontinence has a major effect on quality of life of older people, has a high prevalence, and is a key priority within European health and social care policy. Improving continence care has the potential to improve the quality of life for older people and reduce the costs associated with providing incontinence aids

Results from the CERN pilot CLOUD experiment

During a 4-week run in October–November 2006, a pilot experiment was performed at the CERN Proton Synchrotron in preparation for the Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets (CLOUD) experiment, whose aim is to study the possible influence of cosmic rays on clouds. The purpose of the pilot experiment was firstly to carry out exploratory measurements of the effect of ionising particle radiation on aerosol formation from trace H2SO4 vapour and secondly to provide technical input for the CLOUD design. A total of 44 nucleation bursts were produced and recorded, with formation rates of particles above the 3 nm detection threshold of between 0.1 and 100 cm -3 s -1, and growth rates between 2 and 37 nm h -1. The corresponding H2O concentrations were typically around 106 cm -3 or less. The experimentally-measured formation rates and htwosofour concentrations are comparable to those found in the atmosphere, supporting the idea that sulphuric acid is involved in the nucleation of atmospheric aerosols. However, sulphuric acid alone is not able to explain the observed rapid growth rates, which suggests the presence of additional trace vapours in the aerosol chamber, whose identity is unknown. By analysing the charged fraction, a few of the aerosol bursts appear to have a contribution from ion-induced nucleation and ion-ion recombination to form neutral clusters. Some indications were also found for the accelerator beam timing and intensity to influence the aerosol particle formation rate at the highest experimental SO2 concentrations of 6 ppb, although none was found at lower concentrations. Overall, the exploratory measurements provide suggestive evidence for ion-induced nucleation or ion-ion recombination as sources of aerosol particles. However in order to quantify the conditions under which ion processes become significant, improvements are needed in controlling the experimental variables and in the reproducibility of the experiments. Finally, concerning technical aspects, the most important lessons for the CLOUD design include the stringent requirement of internal cleanliness of the aerosol chamber, as well as maintenance of extremely stable temperatures (variations below 0.1 °C

Antimicrobial resistance of isolated Streptococcus pneumoniae in a hospital of the Brazilian public system

Streptococcus pneumoniae is the predominant bacterial agent that affects the human population with pneumonia. This disease is an important cause of death in the elderly and the children under five years old. in this study, 29 strains of invasive S. pneumoniae were isolated from 29 patients of pneumonia, bacteremia and meningitis in the laboratory of the Municipal Hospital in Paulinia, Brazil, from May 2006 to October 2007. Patients' age ranged from 8 months old to 60 years old. These strains of S. pneumoniae were isolated from blood, pleural fluid and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients. After typing of encapsulated strains of S. pneumoniae through quellung reaction, their resistance to antimicrobial agents was gauged through Disc Diffusion Technique followed by determination of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). Among the 29 strains analyzed, 23 were methicillin-sensitive and six were methicillin-resistant and penicillin intermediate resistant. No strain presented full resistance to penicillin. Serotyping was performed only in two samples, which belonged to serotype 18. Our data may alert ambulatory regarding the incidence of pneumococcal strains resistant to the most common drugs due to inappropriate use of antimicrobials and also collaborate to the elaboration of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines specific to each region.NEPASHosp Municipal Paulinia, Setor Microbiol, Paulinia, SP, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Farm Bioquim, Diadema, SP, BrazilFac Med ABC, Dept Morfol Fisiol, Lab Escrita Cientif, Santo Andre, BrazilUniv Estadual Paulista, Fac Filosofia & Ciencias, Dept Fonoaudiol, Marilia, SP, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Farm Bioquim, Diadema, SP, BrazilWeb of Scienc