Kitchens and Pantries—Helping or Hindering? The Perspectives of Emergency Food Users in Victoria, Australia

In high-income countries, people affected by food insecurity may seek out free/subsidized food from charities. Their perceptions of the food programs provided and preferences for alternative strategies are underresearched. The aim of this study was to develop an understanding of the users’ experiences of food insecurity and gain evidence for effective responses in the future. Twelve semistructured interviews with a sample of users, who were also charity volunteers, were conducted in Victoria, Australia. A thematic analysis of the interview transcripts was undertaken. The results show that users have complex needs. Charities have both the capacity to hinder and help people maintain dignity, social inclusion, and health. Alternative community and policy food security strategies were proposed by interviewees. In the future, perspectives of affected community members must inform strategies that seek to improve people’s access to safe, nutritious, and affordable food. A human right to food framework is discussed as a mechanism to help realize food security in Australia

Glucose intolerance and gestational diabetes risk in relation to sleep duration and snoring during pregnancy: a pilot study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Insufficient sleep and poor sleep quality, considered endemic in modern society, are associated with obesity, impaired glucose tolerance and diabetes. Little, however, is known about the consequences of insufficient sleep and poor sleep quality during pregnancy on glucose tolerance and gestational diabetes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cohort of 1,290 women was interviewed during early pregnancy. We collected information about sleep duration and snoring during early pregnancy. Results from screening and diagnostic testing for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) were abstracted from medical records. Generalized linear models were fitted to derive relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) of GDM associated with sleep duration and snoring, respectively.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After adjusting for maternal age and race/ethnicity, GDM risk was increased among women sleeping ≤ 4 hours compared with those sleeping 9 hours per night (RR = 5.56; 95% CI 1.31-23.69). The corresponding RR for lean women (<25 kg/m²) was 3.23 (95% CI 0.34-30.41) and 9.83 (95% CI 1.12-86.32) for overweight women (≥ 25 kg/m²). Overall, snoring was associated with a 1.86-fold increased risk of GDM (RR = 1.86; 95% CI 0.88-3.94). The risk of GDM was particularly elevated among overweight women who snored. Compared with lean women who did not snore, those who were overweight and snored had a 6.9-fold increased risk of GDM (95% CI 2.87-16.6).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These preliminary findings suggest associations of short sleep duration and snoring with glucose intolerance and GDM. Though consistent with studies of men and non-pregnant women, larger studies that include objective measures of sleep duration, quality and apnea are needed to obtain more precise estimates of observed associations.</p

Pyrosequencing of Antibiotic-Contaminated River Sediments Reveals High Levels of Resistance and Gene Transfer Elements

The high and sometimes inappropriate use of antibiotics has accelerated the development of antibiotic resistance, creating a major challenge for the sustainable treatment of infections world-wide. Bacterial communities often respond to antibiotic selection pressure by acquiring resistance genes, i.e. mobile genetic elements that can be shared horizontally between species. Environmental microbial communities maintain diverse collections of resistance genes, which can be mobilized into pathogenic bacteria. Recently, exceptional environmental releases of antibiotics have been documented, but the effects on the promotion of resistance genes and the potential for horizontal gene transfer have yet received limited attention. In this study, we have used culture-independent shotgun metagenomics to investigate microbial communities in river sediments exposed to waste water from the production of antibiotics in India. Our analysis identified very high levels of several classes of resistance genes as well as elements for horizontal gene transfer, including integrons, transposons and plasmids. In addition, two abundant previously uncharacterized resistance plasmids were identified. The results suggest that antibiotic contamination plays a role in the promotion of resistance genes and their mobilization from environmental microbes to other species and eventually to human pathogens. The entire life-cycle of antibiotic substances, both before, under and after usage, should therefore be considered to fully evaluate their role in the promotion of resistance

Micronucleus frequency in children exposed to biomass burning in the Brazilian Legal Amazon region: a control case study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Amazon represents an area of 61% of Brazilian territory and is undergoing major changes resulting from disorderly economic development, especially the advance of agribusiness. Composition of the atmosphere is controlled by several natural and anthropogenic processes, and emission from biomass burning is one with the major impact on human health. The aim of this study was to evaluate genotoxic potential of air pollutants generated by biomass burning through micronucleus assay in exfoliated buccal cells of schoolchildren in the Brazilian Amazon region.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study was conducted during the dry seasons in two regions of the Brazilian Amazon. The assay was carried out on buccal epithelial cells of 574 schoolchildren between 6-16 years old.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results show a significant difference between micronucleus frequencies in children exposed to biomass burning compared to those in a control area.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The present study demonstrated that in situ biomonitoring using a sensitive and low cost assay (buccal micronucleus assay) may be an important tool for monitoring air quality in remote regions. It is difficult to attribute the increase in micronuclei frequency observed in our study to any specific toxic element integrated in the particulate matters. However, the contribution of the present study lies in the evidence that increased exposure to fine particulate matter generates an increased micronuclei frequency in oral epithelial cells of schoolchildren.</p

Prevalence of metabolic syndrome-related disorders in a large adult population in Turkey

BACKGROUND: There are few existing large population studies on the epidemiology of metabolic syndrome-related disorders of Turkey. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of metabolic syndrome-related disorders in the Turkish adult population, to address sex, age, educational and geographical differences, and to examine blood pressure, body mass index, fasting blood glucose and serum lipids in Turkey. METHODS: This study was executed under the population study "The Healthy Nutrition for Healthy Heart Study" conducted between December 2000 and December 2002 by the Health Ministry of Turkey. Overall, 15,468 Caucasian inhabitants aged over 30 were recruited in 14 centers in the seven main different regions of Turkey. The data were analyzed with the Students' t, ANOVA or Chi-Square tests. RESULTS: Overall, more than one-third (35.08 %) of the participants was obese. The hypertensive people ratio in the population was 13.66 %, while these ratios for DM and metabolic syndrome were 4.16 % and 17.91 %, respectively. The prevalence of hypertension, metabolic syndrome and obesity were higher in females than males, whereas diabetes mellitus was higher in males than females. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome and related disorders were found to be significantly different across educational attainments for both men and women. The prevalence of hypertension increased with age, while it was remarkable that in the age group of 60–69 years, prevalence of diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome reached a peak value and than decreased. For obesity, the peak prevalence occurred in the 50–59 year old group. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome and related disorders were found to be significantly different according to geographical region. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, high prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome, particularly among women, is one of the major public health problems in Turkey. Interestingly, obesity prevalence is relatively high, but the prevalence of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia is relatively low in Turkish people. Future studies may focus on elucidating the reasons behind this controversy. Our findings may be helpful in formulating public health policy and prevention strategies on future health in Turkey

Identification of Estrogen Receptor Dimer Selective Ligands Reveals Growth-Inhibitory Effects on Cells That Co-Express ERα and ERβ

Estrogens play essential roles in the progression of mammary and prostatic diseases. The transcriptional effects of estrogens are transduced by two estrogen receptors, ERα and ERβ, which elicit opposing roles in regulating proliferation: ERα is proliferative while ERβ is anti-proliferative. Exogenous expression of ERβ in ERα-positive cancer cell lines inhibits cell proliferation in response to estrogen and reduces xenografted tumor growth in vivo, suggesting that ERβ might oppose ERα's proliferative effects via formation of ERα/β heterodimers. Despite biochemical and cellular evidence of ERα/β heterodimer formation in cells co-expressing both receptors, the biological roles of the ERα/β heterodimer remain to be elucidated. Here we report the identification of two phytoestrogens that selectively activate ERα/β heterodimers at specific concentrations using a cell-based, two-step high throughput small molecule screen for ER transcriptional activity and ER dimer selectivity. Using ERα/β heterodimer-selective ligands at defined concentrations, we demonstrate that ERα/β heterodimers are growth inhibitory in breast and prostate cells which co-express the two ER isoforms. Furthermore, using Automated Quantitative Analysis (AQUA) to examine nuclear expression of ERα and ERβ in human breast tissue microarrays, we demonstrate that ERα and ERβ are co-expressed in the same cells in breast tumors. The co-expression of ERα and ERβ in the same cells supports the possibility of ERα/β heterodimer formation at physio- and pathological conditions, further suggesting that targeting ERα/β heterodimers might be a novel therapeutic approach to the treatment of cancers which co-express ERα and ERβ

Genotoxic potential generated by biomass burning in the Brazilian Legal Amazon by Tradescantia micronucleus bioassay: a toxicity assessment study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Brazilian Amazon has suffered impacts from non-sustainable economic development, especially owing to the expansion of agricultural commodities into forest areas. The Tangará da Serra region, located in the southern of the Legal Amazon, is characterized by non-mechanized sugar cane production. In addition, it lies on the dispersion path of the pollution plume generated by biomass burning. The aim of this study was to assess the genotoxic potential of the atmosphere in the Tangará da Serra region, using <it>Tradescantia pallida </it>as <it>in situ </it>bioindicator.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study was conducted during the dry and rainy seasons, where the plants were exposed to two types of exposure, active and passive.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results showed that in all the sampling seasons, irrespective of exposure type, there was an increase in micronucleus frequency, compared to control and that it was statistically significant in the dry season. A strong and significant relationship was also observed between the increase in micronucleus incidence and the rise in fine particulate matter, and hospital morbidity from respiratory diseases in children.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Based on the results, we demonstrated that pollutants generated by biomass burning in the Brazilian Amazon can induce genetic damage in test plants that was more prominent during dry season, and correlated with the level of particulates and elevated respiratory morbidity.</p

On the origin of glioma

Glioma is the most frequent primary brain tumor of adults that has a presumably glial origin. Although our knowledge regarding molecular mechanisms and signaling pathways involved in gliomagenesis has increased immensely during the past decade, high-grade glioma remains a lethal disease with dismal prognosis. The failure of current therapies has to a large extent been ascribed the functional heterogeneity of glioma cells. One reason for this heterogeneity is most certainly the large number of variations in genetic alterations that can be found in high-grade gliomas. Another factor that may influence glioma heterogeneity could be the cell type from which the glioma is initiated. The cell of origin for glioma is still undefined, and additional knowledge about this issue may prove critical for a more complete understanding of glioma biology. Based on information from patients, developmental biology, and experimental glioma models, the most putative target cells include astrocytes, neural stem cells, and oligodendrocyte precursor cells, which are all discussed in more detail in this article. Animal modeling of glioma suggests that these three cell types have the capability to be the origin of glioma, and we have reason to believe that, depending on the initiating cell type, prognosis and response to therapy may be significantly different. Thus, it is essential to explore further the role of cellular origin in glioma

Pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes

Cancer is driven by genetic change, and the advent of massively parallel sequencing has enabled systematic documentation of this variation at the whole-genome scale(1-3). Here we report the integrative analysis of 2,658 whole-cancer genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types from the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We describe the generation of the PCAWG resource, facilitated by international data sharing using compute clouds. On average, cancer genomes contained 4-5 driver mutations when combining coding and non-coding genomic elements; however, in around 5% of cases no drivers were identified, suggesting that cancer driver discovery is not yet complete. Chromothripsis, in which many clustered structural variants arise in a single catastrophic event, is frequently an early event in tumour evolution; in acral melanoma, for example, these events precede most somatic point mutations and affect several cancer-associated genes simultaneously. Cancers with abnormal telomere maintenance often originate from tissues with low replicative activity and show several mechanisms of preventing telomere attrition to critical levels. Common and rare germline variants affect patterns of somatic mutation, including point mutations, structural variants and somatic retrotransposition. A collection of papers from the PCAWG Consortium describes non-coding mutations that drive cancer beyond those in the TERT promoter(4); identifies new signatures of mutational processes that cause base substitutions, small insertions and deletions and structural variation(5,6); analyses timings and patterns of tumour evolution(7); describes the diverse transcriptional consequences of somatic mutation on splicing, expression levels, fusion genes and promoter activity(8,9); and evaluates a range of more-specialized features of cancer genomes(8,10-18).Peer reviewe