Sexually transmitted Human Papillomavirus type variations resulting in high grade cervical dysplasia in North-East North Dakota and North-West Minnesota

BACKGROUND: A review of Pap smear diagnoses from a reference laboratory in Grand Forks, North Dakota over a 3-year period (07/00 to 10/03) revealed a two-fold higher rate of high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion in a community in northwest Minnesota (Roseau, 0.486%) than in northeast North Dakota (Grand Forks, 0.249%), in spite of both having similar rates of low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (1.33% vs.1.30% respectively) OBJECTIVES: To identify the different types of HPV present in patient populations showing high-grade dysplasia in Grand Forks, ND and Roseau, MN. STUDY DESIGN: Formaldehyde-fixed paraffin-embedded cervical tissue samples were analyzed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect the presence of HPV type 16, 18 and 31. RESULTS: Our studies showed that 41 % of samples from Roseau were triply infected with HPV serotypes 16, 18 and 31 in comparison to 12 % from Grand Forks. CONCLUSION: Due to the small sample size we were unable to prove the study to be statistically significant. However, our results suggest that the presence of HPV 16, 18 and 31 in triply infected samples may be the cause of the higher percentage of high-grade dysplasia in Roseau, MN when compared to Grand Forks, ND

Uso de tecnologías limpias integradas a una vivienda rural costeña

En la actualidad, gran parte de la población acepta la idea de que la utilización de fuentes de energía renovable y sus tecnologías limpias asociadas son efectivas en el cuidado del medio ambiente, ya que no contaminan y ahorran energía. Sin embargo, son poquísimas las personas que realmente las utilizan en sus viviendas, tal vez por desconocimiento. Por este motivo, es necesario demostrar que integrar las diversas tecnologías limpias (solar fotovoltaica, solar térmica y eólica) a la estructura de una vivienda permite que sean aceptadas por el usuario de una manera natural. El proyecto consistió en implementar tecnologías limpias integradas a una vivienda, de modo que se puedan evaluar los beneficios obtenidos, identificar las ventajas y desventajas de estas tecnologías en el país y, además, evaluar los costos reales de su construcción e instalación.En la actualidad, gran parte de la población acepta la idea de que la utilización de fuentes de energía renovable y sus tecnologías limpias asociadas son efectivas en el cuidado del medio ambiente, ya que no contaminan y ahorran energía. Sin embargo, son poquísimas las personas que realmente las utilizan en sus viviendas, tal vez por desconocimiento. Por este motivo, es necesario demostrar que integrar las diversas tecnologías limpias (solar fotovoltaica, solar térmica y eólica) a la estructura de una vivienda permite que sean aceptadas por el usuario de una manera natural. El proyecto consistió en implementar tecnologías limpias integradas a una vivienda, de modo que se puedan evaluar los beneficios obtenidos, identificar las ventajas y desventajas de estas tecnologías en el país y, además, evaluar los costos reales de su construcción e instalación

Uso de tecnologías limpias integradas en una vivienda rural costeña

This project provides a new home for Lucy, who lost hers during the earthquake. The house collects the family memories, as well as the life style of people living in the coast, where interior and exterior are mixed up by the use of courtyards and eaves which let the family bear the harshness of the weather, where not only spatial relations but also human relationships happen. The house is located in Nuevo Imperial — a rural area in the coast. Its technical and architectural design includes renewable energy taking advantage of the solar and wind energy present in the area: solar panels for LED light bulbs, a solar water heater to avoid the use of energy, and wind turbines to charge cellphones and computers. The use of materials such as cane for wall and roof latticing, allow both transparency and shadow to get into the house. Its plastered brick walls let the users see how the days pass with pauses, without shadows.Este proyecto permite que Lucy, quien pierde su casa en el terremoto, pueda tener un nuevo hogar. La casa recoge las memorias familiares, así como el modo de vida de los habitantes costeros en donde interior y exterior se confunden a través del uso de patios y alares, que permiten sobrellevar las inclemencias del clima y posibilitan las relaciones espaciales, pero también las humanas. La vivienda está ubicada en Nuevo Imperial, una zona rural costera, y aprovecha la energía solar y eólica de la zona incorporando en su diseño técnico y arquitectónico energías renovables: paneles solares para alimentar bombillas LED, un calentador solar para usar agua caliente sin consumir energía y turbinas eólicas para recargar equipos celulares y computadoras. Se usaron materiales como caña para las celosías en muros y techos, que otorgan la transparencia pero también dan sombra, así como muros de ladrillo frotachado, que permiten percibir el transcurso pausado del día, sin sombras

Uso de tecnologías limpias integradas en una vivienda rural costeña

This project provides a new home for Lucy, who lost hers during the earthquake. The house collects the family memories, as well as the life style of people living in the coast, where interior and exterior are mixed up by the use of courtyards and eaves which let the family bear the harshness of the weather, where not only spatial relations but also human relationships happen. The house is located in Nuevo Imperial — a rural area in the coast. Its technical and architectural design includes renewable energy taking advantage of the solar and wind energy present in the area: solar panels for LED light bulbs, a solar water heater to avoid the use of energy, and wind turbines to charge cellphones and computers. The use of materials such as cane for wall and roof latticing, allow both transparency and shadow to get into the house. Its plastered brick walls let the users see how the days pass with pauses, without shadows.Este proyecto permite que Lucy, quien pierde su casa en el terremoto, pueda tener un nuevo hogar. La casa recoge las memorias familiares, así como el modo de vida de los habitantes costeros en donde interior y exterior se confunden a través del uso de patios y alares, que permiten sobrellevar las inclemencias del clima y posibilitan las relaciones espaciales, pero también las humanas. La vivienda está ubicada en Nuevo Imperial, una zona rural costera, y aprovecha la energía solar y eólica de la zona incorporando en su diseño técnico y arquitectónico energías renovables: paneles solares para alimentar bombillas LED, un calentador solar para usar agua caliente sin consumir energía y turbinas eólicas para recargar equipos celulares y computadoras. Se usaron materiales como caña para las celosías en muros y techos, que otorgan la transparencia pero también dan sombra, así como muros de ladrillo frotachado, que permiten percibir el transcurso pausado del día, sin sombras

Shared Neuroanatomical Substrates of Impaired Phonological Working Memory Across Reading Disability and Autism

Background Individuals with reading disability and individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are characterized, respectively, by their difficulties in reading and social communication, but both groups often have impaired phonological working memory (PWM). It is not known whether the impaired PWM reflects distinct or shared neuroanatomical abnormalities in these two diagnostic groups. Methods White-matter structural connectivity via diffusion weighted imaging was examined in 64 children, age 5 to 17 years, with reading disability, ASD, or typical development, who were matched on age, gender, intelligence, and diffusion data quality. Results Children with reading disability and children with ASD exhibited reduced PWM compared with children with typical development. The two diagnostic groups showed altered white matter microstructure in the temporoparietal portion of the left arcuate fasciculus and in the occipitotemporal portion of the right inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF), as indexed by reduced fractional anisotropy and increased radial diffusivity. Moreover, the structural integrity of the right ILF was positively correlated with PWM ability in the two diagnostic groups but not in the typically developing group. Conclusions These findings suggest that impaired PWM is transdiagnostically associated with shared neuroanatomical abnormalities in ASD and reading disability. Microstructural characteristics in left arcuate fasciculus and right ILF may play important roles in the development of PWM. The right ILF may support a compensatory mechanism for children with impaired PWM

New Perspectives on Transforming States' Health and Human Services: Practical Commentaries on the First Year of the Work Support Strategies Initiative

Millions of low-income working families in America today are struggling to make ends meet. While working hard, often in low-wage jobs, many of these families are living close to the edge of hardship and have little or no resources to fall back on in case of emergencies. Public benefit programs can make a huge difference in the well-being of these working families, providing help with food, child care, and health insurance expenses. These programs help families address immediate needs and weather short-term crises, such as repairing a car needed to get to work or dealing with an unexpected health problem. They can make it possible for families to hold onto their jobs in these emergencies, stabilizing employment and keeping families from falling further into poverty. Yet many families that are eligible for public benefit programs do not participate. Although the recession and its aftermath led to unprecedented increases in receipt of nutrition assistance through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the latest data (from 2010) show that only 65 percent of the eligible working poor are participating. Similarly, of all children eligible for public health insurance coverage through Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program, only 86 percent are participating. The participation rate for public health insurance for parents is only 66 percent. And, these participation rates vary widely across states.The Work Support Strategies, or WSS, Initiative is motivated by the value public benefit programs can provide to working families and the belief that the states and localities administering these programs can improve how eligible families access and retain these benefits. In the first year of the demonstration, nine states took on the challenge of streamlining, integrating, and improving the provision of work support benefits through their SNAP, Medicaid, and child care programs (and, in some states, additional programs such as heating assistance and cash welfare). While most states hope their efforts will also reduce burden on caseworkers and administrative costs in these systems, all are motivated to improve the lives of the families they serve

Gene Therapy Restores Auditory and Vestibular Function in a Mouse Model of Usher Syndrome Type 1c

Because there are currently no biological treatments for deafness, we sought to advance gene therapy approaches to treat genetic deafness. We reasoned that gene delivery systems that target auditory and vestibular sensory cells with high efficiency would be required to restore complex auditory and balance function. We focused on Usher Syndrome, a devastating genetic disorder that causes blindness, balance disorders and profound deafness, and used a knock-in mouse model, Ush1c c.216G>A, which carries a cryptic splice site mutation found in French-Acadian patients with Usher Syndrome type IC (USH1C). Following delivery of wild-type Ush1c into the inner ears of neonatal Ush1c c.216G>A mice, we find recovery of gene and protein expression, restoration of sensory cell function, rescue of complex auditory function and recovery of hearing and balance behavior to near wild-type levels. The data represent unprecedented recovery of inner ear function and suggest that biological therapies to treat deafness may be suitable for translation to humans with genetic inner ear disorders

Multi-ancestry genome-wide association meta-analysis of Parkinson?s disease

Although over 90 independent risk variants have been identified for Parkinson’s disease using genome-wide association studies, most studies have been performed in just one population at a time. Here we performed a large-scale multi-ancestry meta-analysis of Parkinson’s disease with 49,049 cases, 18,785 proxy cases and 2,458,063 controls including individuals of European, East Asian, Latin American and African ancestry. In a meta-analysis, we identified 78 independent genome-wide significant loci, including 12 potentially novel loci (MTF2, PIK3CA, ADD1, SYBU, IRS2, USP8, PIGL, FASN, MYLK2, USP25, EP300 and PPP6R2) and fine-mapped 6 putative causal variants at 6 known PD loci. By combining our results with publicly available eQTL data, we identified 25 putative risk genes in these novel loci whose expression is associated with PD risk. This work lays the groundwork for future efforts aimed at identifying PD loci in non-European populations

COVID-19 symptoms at hospital admission vary with age and sex: results from the ISARIC prospective multinational observational study

Background: The ISARIC prospective multinational observational study is the largest cohort of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. We present relationships of age, sex, and nationality to presenting symptoms. Methods: International, prospective observational study of 60 109 hospitalized symptomatic patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 recruited from 43 countries between 30 January and 3 August 2020. Logistic regression was performed to evaluate relationships of age and sex to published COVID-19 case definitions and the most commonly reported symptoms. Results: ‘Typical’ symptoms of fever (69%), cough (68%) and shortness of breath (66%) were the most commonly reported. 92% of patients experienced at least one of these. Prevalence of typical symptoms was greatest in 30- to 60-year-olds (respectively 80, 79, 69%; at least one 95%). They were reported less frequently in children (≤ 18 years: 69, 48, 23; 85%), older adults (≥ 70 years: 61, 62, 65; 90%), and women (66, 66, 64; 90%; vs. men 71, 70, 67; 93%, each P < 0.001). The most common atypical presentations under 60 years of age were nausea and vomiting and abdominal pain, and over 60 years was confusion. Regression models showed significant differences in symptoms with sex, age and country. Interpretation: This international collaboration has allowed us to report reliable symptom data from the largest cohort of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. Adults over 60 and children admitted to hospital with COVID-19 are less likely to present with typical symptoms. Nausea and vomiting are common atypical presentations under 30 years. Confusion is a frequent atypical presentation of COVID-19 in adults over 60 years. Women are less likely to experience typical symptoms than men

Buddy taping versus splint immobilization for paediatric finger fractures: a randomized controlled trial

The purpose of this single-centre randomized controlled trial was to assess the non-inferiority of buddy taping versus splint immobilization of extra-articular paediatric finger fractures. Secondary fracture displacement was the primary outcome; patient comfort, cost and range of finger motion were secondary outcomes. Ninety-nine children were randomly assigned to taping or splinting. Sixty-nine fractures were undisplaced; 31 were displaced and required reduction before taping or splinting. Secondary displacement occurred in one patient in the taping and three in the splinting group. The risk difference was below the predefined non-inferiority level of 5%. All secondary displacements occurred in the 31 displaced fractures after reduction and were in little fingers. Patient comfort was significantly higher and cost lower in the taping group. We conclude from this study the non-inferiority of buddy taping versus splint immobilization of extra-articular paediatric finger fractures in general. We advise treatment may need to be individualized for patients with displaced fractures because we cannot make any absolute conclusions for these fractures. Level of evidence: I