415 research outputs found
A Functional ABCC11 Allele Is Essential in the Biochemical Formation of Human Axillary Odor
The characteristic human axillary odor is formed by bacterial action on odor precursors that originate from apocrine sweat glands. Caucasians and Africans possess a strong axillary odor ,whereas many Asians have only a faint acidic odor. In this study, we provide evidence that the gene ABCC11 (MRP8), which encodes an apical efflux pump, is crucial for the formation of the characteristic axillary odor and that a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) 538G â A, which is prominent among Asian people, leads to a nearly complete loss of the typical odor components in axillary sweat. The secretion of amino-acid conjugates of human-specific odorants is abolished in homozygotic carriers of the SNP, and steroidal odorants and their putative precursors are significantly reduced. Moreover, we show that ABCC11 is expressed and localized in apocrine sweat glands. These data point to a key function of ABCC11 in the secretion of odorants and their precursors from apocrine sweat glands. SNP 538G â A, which also determines human earwax type, is present on an extended haplotype, which has reached >95% frequency in certain populations in recent human evolution. A strong positive selection in mate choice for low-odorant partners with a dysfunctional ABCC11 gene seems a plausible explanation for this striking frequency of a loss-of-function allele
A pilot study of hair and cytokine balance alteration in healthy young women under major exam stress
Mouse models show that experimental stress mimicking prolonged life-stress
exposure enhances neurogenic inflammation, induces adaptive immunity cytokine-
imbalance characterized by a shift to Type 1 T-helper cell cytokines and
increases apoptosis of epithelial cells. This affects hair growth in otherwise
healthy animals. In this study, we investigate whether a prolonged
naturalistic life-stress exposure affects cytokine balance and hair parameters
in healthy humans. 33 (18 exam, 15 comparison) female medical students with
comparable sociobiological status were analyzed during a stressful final
examination period, at three points in time (T) 12 weeks apart. T1 was before
start of the learning period, T2 between the three-day written exam and an
oral examination, and T3 after a 12 week rest and recovery from the stress of
the examination period. Assessments included: self-reported distress and
coping strategies (Perceived Stress Questionnaire [PSQ], Trier Inventory for
the Assessment of Chronic Stress [TICS]), COPE), cytokines in supernatants of
stimulated peripheral blood mononucleocytes (PBMCs), and trichogram (hair
cycle and pigmentation analysis). Comparison between students participating in
the final medical exam at T2 and non-exam students, revealed significantly
higher stress perception in exam students. Time-wise comparison revealed that
stress level, TH1/TH2 cytokine balance and hair parameters changed
significantly from T1 to T2 in the exam group, but not the control. However,
no group differences were found for cytokine balance or hair parameters at T2.
The study concludes that in humans, naturalistic stress, as perceived during
participation in a major medical exam, has the potential to shift the immune
response to TH1 and transiently hamper hair growth, but these changes stay
within a physiological range. Findings are instructive for patients suffering
from hair loss in times of high stress. Replication in larger and more diverse
sample populations is required, to assess suitability of trichogram analysis
as biological outcome for stress studies
Clinical Relevance of Transjugular Liver Biopsy in Comparison with Percutaneous and Laparoscopic Liver Biopsy
Background. Transjugular liver biopsy (TJLB) is frequently used to obtain liver specimens in high-risk patients. However, TJLB sample size possibly limits their clinical relevance. Methods. 102 patients that underwent TJLB were included. Clinical parameters and outcome of TJLB were analyzed. Control samples consisted of 112 minilaparoscopic liver biopsies (mLLBs) and 100 percutaneous liver biopsies (PLBs). Results. Fewer portal tracts were detected in TJLB (4.3 ± 0.3) in comparison with PLB (11.7 ± 0.5) and mLLB (11.0 ± 0.6). No difference regarding the specification of indeterminate liver disease and staging/grading of chronic hepatitis was observed. In acute liver failure (n = 32), a proportion of hepatocellular necrosis beyond 25% was associated with a higher rate of death or liver transplantation. Conclusions. Despite smaller biopsy samples the impact on the clinical decision process was found to be comparable to PLB and mLLB. TJLB represents a helpful tool to determine hepatocellular necrosis rates in patients with acute liver failure
Prognostic ability of the German version of the STarT Back tool: analysis of 12-month follow-up data from a randomized controlled trial
Background: Stratified care is an up-to-date treatment approach suggested for patients with back pain in several guidelines. A comprehensively studied stratification instrument is the STarT Back Tool (SBT). It was developed to stratify patients with back pain into three subgroups, according to their risk of persistent disabling symptoms. The primary aim was to analyse the disability differences in patients with back pain 12âmonths after inclusion according to the subgroups determined at baseline using the German version of the SBT (STarT-G). Moreover, the potential to improve prognosis for disability by adding further predictor variables, an analysis for differences in pain intensity according to the STarT-Classification, and discriminative ability were investigated.
Methods: Data from the control group of a randomized controlled trial were analysed. Trial participants were members of a private medical insurance with a minimum age of 18 and indicated as having persistent back pain. Measurements were made for the risk of back pain chronification using the STarT-G, disability (as primary outcome) and back pain intensity with the Chronic Pain Grade Scale (CPGS), health-related quality of life with the SF-12, psychological distress with the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4) and physical activity. Analysis of variance (ANOVA), multiple linear regression, and area under the curve (AUC) analysis were conducted.
Results: The mean age of the 294 participants was 53.5 (SD 8.7) years, and 38% were female. The ANOVA for disability and pain showed significant differences (pâ<â0.01) among the risk groups at 12âmonths. Post hoc Tukey tests revealed significant differences among all three risk groups for every comparison for both outcomes. AUC for STarT-Gâs ability to discriminate reference standard âcasesâ for chronic pain status at 12âmonths was 0.79. A prognostic model including the STarT-Classification, the variables global health, and disability at baseline explained 45% of the variance in disability at 12âmonths.
Conclusions: Disability differences in patients with back pain after a period of 12âmonths are in accordance with the subgroups determined using the STarT-G at baseline. Results should be confirmed in a study developed with the primary aim to investigate those differences
Sacred turf: the Wimbledon tennis championships and the changing politics of Englishness
© 2015 Taylor & Francis. This article is about âWimbledonâ, widely celebrated â not least in its own publicity material â as the worldâs premier tennis tournament. It examines âWimbledonâ essentially as a text (hence the inverted commas), viewed politically and historically. In this context, âWimbledonâ is seen as a signifier of a certain kind of Englishness, carefully adapted to meet changing social and economic circumstance. Loose parallels are drawn between the cultural trajectory of âWimbledonâ and that of the British royal family. The transmutations of âWimbledonâ as a tennis championship are also seen as reflecting Britainâs decline as a world power during the twentieth century
Dairy products, dietary calcium and the risk of inflammatory bowel disease: results from a European prospective cohort investigation
Background: Dairy products may be involved in the etiology of inflammatory bowel disease by modulating gut microbiota and immune responses, but data from epidemiological studies examining this relationship are limited. We investigated the association between prediagnostic intake of these foods and dietary calcium, and the subsequent development of Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Methods: In total, 401,326 participants were enrolled in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort. At recruitment, consumption of total and specific dairy products (milk, yogurt, and cheese) and dietary calcium was measured using validated food frequency questionnaires. Cases developing incident CD (n = 110) or UC (n = 244) during follow-up were matched with 4 controls. Conditional logistic regression analyses were used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), adjusted for total energy intake and smoking. Results: Compared with the lowest quartile, the ORs for the highest quartile of total dairy products and dietary calcium intake were 0.61 (95% CI, 0.32-1.19, p trend = 0.19) and 0.63 (95% CI, 0.28-1.42, p trend = 0.23) for CD, and 0.80 (95% CI, 0.50-1.30, p trend = 0.40) and 0.81 (95% CI, 0.49-1.34, p trend = 0.60) for UC, respectively. Compared with nonconsumers, individuals consuming milk had significantly reduced odds of CD (OR 0.30, 95% CI, 0.13-0.65) and nonsignificantly reduced odds of UC (OR 0.85, 95% CI, 0.49-1.47). Conclusions: Milk consumption may be associated with a decreased risk of developing CD, although a clear dose-response relationship was not established. Further studies are warranted to confirm this possible protective effect
Hittitology today: Studies on Hittite and Neo-Hittite Anatolia in Honor of Emmanuel Larocheâs 100th Birthday
Il y a 100 ans, Emmanuel Laroche voyait le jour. Savant Ă la fois passionnĂ© de linguistique indo-europĂ©enne et dâAntiquitĂ©, il marqua durablement lâhittitologie par ses nombreuses contributions dans des domaines aussi variĂ©s que lâhistoire des religions proche-orientales, la philologie cunĂ©iforme ou encore la grammaire du hittite, du louvite et du hourrite. Ce colloque organisĂ© en lâhonneur de son centenaire a Ă©tĂ© lâoccasion de faire le point sur les avancĂ©es de lâhittitologie actuelle, avancĂ©es auxquelles il participa tout au long de sa vie et qui se poursuivent aprĂšs lui. Les axes thĂ©matiques qui sont abordĂ©s dans ce volume sont ceux quâEmmanuel Laroche dĂ©veloppa de son vivant, Ă savoir la linguistique des langues anatoliennes, la philologie et lâĂ©pigraphie cunĂ©iforme et hiĂ©roglyphique, les religions de lâAnatolie hittite et nĂ©o-hittite, lâhistoire et la gĂ©ographie historique, mais aussi lâarchĂ©ologie proche-orientale, domaine quâEmmanuel Laroche cĂŽtoya de prĂšs. Ajoutons Ă ces domaines celui de lâhistoriographie qui illustre, entre autres choses, lâimpact des travaux dâEmmanuel Laroche dans lâhittitologie dâaujourdâhui.100 years ago, Emmanuel Laroche was born. As a scholar who was fascinated both by Indo-European Linguistics and Ancient Near Eastern and Classical Studies, he had a durable impact on Hittitology through his numerous contributions. His publications dealt with History of Near Eastern Religions, Cuneiform Philology, and Hittite, Luwian, and Hurrian grammar, among many other topics. This conference was organized in honor of his 100th birthday. Its aim was to discuss the recent developments in Hittitology, the ones to whom Emmanuel Laroche contributed and the ones which occurred after his time. The following themes are dealt with in this volume: Anatolian Linguistics, Cuneiform and Hieroglyphic Philology and Epigraphy, Religions of Bronze and Early Iron Age Anatolia, History and Historical Geography of Asia Minor, but also Near Eastern Archaeology, as Emmanuel Laroche was also very close to this discipline. Let us add to those fields Historiography which illustrates, among other things, the impact of Emmanuel Larocheâs work on todayâs Hittitology
Measurement of the top quark forward-backward production asymmetry and the anomalous chromoelectric and chromomagnetic moments in pp collisions at âs = 13 TeV
Abstract The parton-level top quark (t) forward-backward asymmetry and the anomalous chromoelectric (dÌ t) and chromomagnetic (ÎŒÌ t) moments have been measured using LHC pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected in the CMS detector in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fbâ1. The linearized variable AFB(1) is used to approximate the asymmetry. Candidate t t ÂŻ events decaying to a muon or electron and jets in final states with low and high Lorentz boosts are selected and reconstructed using a fit of the kinematic distributions of the decay products to those expected for t t ÂŻ final states. The values found for the parameters are AFB(1)=0.048â0.087+0.095(stat)â0.029+0.020(syst),ÎŒÌt=â0.024â0.009+0.013(stat)â0.011+0.016(syst), and a limit is placed on the magnitude of | dÌ t| < 0.03 at 95% confidence level. [Figure not available: see fulltext.
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