689 research outputs found

    DDT exposure in early childhood and female breast cancer: Evidence from an ecological study in Taiwan

    Get PDF
    © 2018 Elsevier Ltd Researchers still lack consensus on the association between exposure to DDT and the risk of breast cancer. One reason could be that the measurements of DDT obtained during or near the time of diagnosis may not reflect exposure during the etiologically relevant time period in a woman's life. This study undertook an ecological analysis to investigate whether exposure to DDT among cohort born between 1951 and 1959 (i.e. age 0–5 years) and who reached the age 50–54 years during 2001–2013 had an increased risk of breast cancer in adulthood. To do this, we used the number of DDT sprays in each township during the anti-malaria campaign in Taiwan in the 1950s as a proxy for direct DDT exposure. The DDT sprays were then linked to the township female breast cancer incidence rate in the 2000s when the birth cohorts had reached age 50–54 years. Insurance claims data were used to identify breast cancer cases during 1996–2013. Zero-Inflated Poisson regression was performed to estimate the effect of DDT sprays on the breast cancer incidence rate. The analysis was based on a total of 9 birth cohorts (1951–1959) in 349 townships who had lived at least up to age 50. On average, one DDT spray experienced during age 0–5 years was associated with an increase of 8 more female breast cancer cases per 100,000 during age 50–54. The effect appears to increase with the number of sprays. Our finding suggests that DDT exposure in early childhood could raise the risk of breast cancer in adulthood

    Mechanism of glucagon activation of adenylate cyclase in the presence of Mn2+

    Get PDF
    AbstractFor a variety of ligand states, adenylate cyclase activity in the presence of Mn2+ was greater than with Mg2+. Trypsin treatment of intact hepatocytes, under conditions which destroy cell surface glucagon receptors, led to a first order loss of glucagon-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity in isolated membranes assayed in the presence of Mn2+ whether or not GTP (100 μM) was present in the assays. Arrhenius plots of basal activity exhibited a break at around 22°C, those with NaF were linear and those with glucagon ± GTP (100 μM) were biphasic with a break at around 28°C. It is suggested that Mn2+ perturbs the coupling interaction between the glucagon receptor and catalytic unit of adenylate cyclase at the level of the guanine nucleotide regulatory protein. This appears to take the form of Mn2+ preventing GTP from initiating glucagon's activation of adenylate cyclase through a collision coupling mechanism

    Creating experiential learning opportunities in enterprise education: an example of a facilitator-led business simulation game in a taught setting

    Get PDF
    Purpose – Simulation in education has been well documented. Business simulation games (BSGs) are often digital and run by a third-party provider. This can create barriers to engagement from educator and student perspectives. This paper explores a facilitator-led BSG, posing the question: can facilitator-led BSGs provide practical experiential learning experiences within a taught setting. Design/methodology/approach – Exploratory inductive research recruited a sample of 45 student participants, an external examiner and a module leader. Qualitative data were collected using focus group discussion, participant obsession and facilitator reflection. Mixed-method feedback forms were also used. Findings – The facilitator-led BSG offered a flexible approach to challenge or problem-based learning, experiential learning, collaborative learning and critical reflection. Student feedback was positive, and there was an increase in engagement within all elements of the module. Originality/value – This paper presents a case study example of the implementation of a facilitator-led BSG, providing an alternative solution for teaching practitioners to structured simulations run by third-party hosts. This paper highlights a flexible approach to student-centric experiential and challenging learning through enterprise education within small-group settings. There are opportunities for further evaluation and exploration of the notion, which can be developed from this paper in future works

    The problem of political science and practical politics

    Get PDF
    Copyright @ 2006 The AuthorsWe reflect on the reasons why there is not a greater and more fruitful relationship between those who seek to understand policy and the political process from academia and those with a similar task in ‘practical politics’. We attribute this lack of engagement to three core factors: (1) from without, instrumental government visions of political science perpetuate the view that the discipline exists to serve those with power; (2) from within, scientism and abstraction diminish the discipline's stock of ‘usable’ product for ‘practical politics’; and (3) where relevant research exists, its uptake is hampered by limited communication between these spheres

    Myeloid DAP12-associating lectin (MDL)-1 regulates synovial inflammation and bone erosion associated with autoimmune arthritis.

    Get PDF
    DNAX adaptor protein 12 (DAP12) is a trans-membrane adaptor molecule that transduces activating signals in NK and myeloid cells. Absence of functional Dap12 results in osteoclast defects and bone abnormalities. Because DAP12 has no extracelluar binding domains, it must pair with cell surface receptors for signal transduction. There are at least 15 known DAP12-associating cell surface receptors with distinct temporal and cell type-specific expression patterns. Our aim was to determine which receptors may be important in DAP12-associated bone pathologies. Here, we identify myeloid DAP12-associating lectin (MDL)-1 receptor (also known as CLEC5A) as a key regulator of synovial injury and bone erosion during autoimmune joint inflammation. Activation of MDL-1 leads to enhanced recruitment of inflammatory macrophages and neutrophils to the joint and promotes bone erosion. Functional blockade of MDL-1 receptor via Mdl1 deletion or treatment with MDL-1-Ig fusion protein reduces the clinical signs of autoimmune joint inflammation. These findings suggest that MDL-1 receptor may be a therapeutic target for treatment of immune-mediated skeletal disorders

    Smoking and health-related quality of life in English general population: Implications for economic evaluations

    Get PDF
    Copyright @ 2012 Vogl et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Background: Little is known as to how health-related quality of life (HRQoL) when measured by generic instruments such as EQ-5D differ across smokers, ex-smokers and never-smokers in the general population; whether the overall pattern of this difference remain consistent in each domain of HRQoL; and what implications this variation, if any, would have for economic evaluations of tobacco control interventions. Methods: Using the 2006 round of Health Survey for England data (n = 13,241), this paper aims to examine the impact of smoking status on health-related quality of life in English population. Depending upon the nature of the EQ-5D data (i.e. tariff or domains), linear or logistic regression models were fitted to control for biology, clinical conditions, socio-economic background and lifestyle factors that an individual may have regardless of their smoking status. Age- and gender-specific predicted values according to smoking status are offered as the potential 'utility' values to be used in future economic evaluation models. Results: The observed difference of 0.1100 in EQ-5D scores between never-smokers (0.8839) and heavy-smokers (0.7739) reduced to 0.0516 after adjusting for biological, clinical, lifestyle and socioeconomic conditions. Heavy-smokers, when compared with never-smokers, were significantly more likely to report some/severe problems in all five domains - mobility (67%), self-care (70%), usual activity (42%), pain/discomfort (46%) and anxiety/depression (86%) -. 'Utility' values by age and gender for each category of smoking are provided to be used in the future economic evaluations. Conclusion: Smoking is significantly and negatively associated with health-related quality of life in English general population and the magnitude of this association is determined by the number of cigarettes smoked. The varying degree of this association, captured through instruments such as EQ-5D, may need to be fed into the design of future economic evaluations where the intervention being evaluated affects (e.g. tobacco control) or is affected (e.g. treatment for lung cancer) by individual's (or patients') smoking status
    corecore