Lifecourse socioeconomic status and type 2 diabetes: the role of chronic inflammation in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

We examined the association between lifecourse socioeconomic status (SES) and the risk of type 2 diabetes at older ages, ascertaining the extent to which adult lifestyle factors and systemic inflammation explain this relationship. Data were drawn from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) which, established in 2002, is a representative cohort study of ?50-year olds individuals living in England. SES indicators were paternal social class, participants? education, participants? wealth, and a lifecourse socioeconomic index. Inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein and fibrinogen) and lifestyle factors were measured repeatedly; diabetes incidence (new cases) was monitored over 7.5 years of follow-up. Of the 6218 individuals free from diabetes at baseline (44% women, mean aged 66 years), 423 developed diabetes during follow-up. Relative to the most advantaged people, those in the lowest lifecourse SES group experienced more than double the risk of diabetes (hazard ratio 2.59; 95% Confidence Interval (CI)?=?1.81?3.71). Lifestyle factors explained 52% (95%CI:30?85) and inflammatory markers 22% (95%CI:13?37) of this gradient. Similar results were apparent with the separate SES indicators. In a general population sample, socioeconomic inequalities in the risk of type 2 diabetes extend to older ages and appear to partially originate from socioeconomic variations in modifiable factors which include lifestyle and inflammation

Evaluation of appendicitis risk prediction models in adults with suspected appendicitis

Background Appendicitis is the most common general surgical emergency worldwide, but its diagnosis remains challenging. The aim of this study was to determine whether existing risk prediction models can reliably identify patients presenting to hospital in the UK with acute right iliac fossa (RIF) pain who are at low risk of appendicitis. Methods A systematic search was completed to identify all existing appendicitis risk prediction models. Models were validated using UK data from an international prospective cohort study that captured consecutive patients aged 16–45 years presenting to hospital with acute RIF in March to June 2017. The main outcome was best achievable model specificity (proportion of patients who did not have appendicitis correctly classified as low risk) whilst maintaining a failure rate below 5 per cent (proportion of patients identified as low risk who actually had appendicitis). Results Some 5345 patients across 154 UK hospitals were identified, of which two‐thirds (3613 of 5345, 67·6 per cent) were women. Women were more than twice as likely to undergo surgery with removal of a histologically normal appendix (272 of 964, 28·2 per cent) than men (120 of 993, 12·1 per cent) (relative risk 2·33, 95 per cent c.i. 1·92 to 2·84; P < 0·001). Of 15 validated risk prediction models, the Adult Appendicitis Score performed best (cut‐off score 8 or less, specificity 63·1 per cent, failure rate 3·7 per cent). The Appendicitis Inflammatory Response Score performed best for men (cut‐off score 2 or less, specificity 24·7 per cent, failure rate 2·4 per cent). Conclusion Women in the UK had a disproportionate risk of admission without surgical intervention and had high rates of normal appendicectomy. Risk prediction models to support shared decision‐making by identifying adults in the UK at low risk of appendicitis were identified

Electrochemical monitoring of Chlorhexidine Digluconate effect on polyelectrolyte immobilized bacteria and kinetic cell adhesion

International audienceThe electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) technique has been used as a sensitive method to explore the effect of antibacterial molecules on immobilized bacteria and biofilm formation. In this work, we describe the electrochemical spectroscopy as a powerful method to monitor the effect of Chlorhexidine Digluconate (CHX-Dg) on polyelectrolyte immobilized Escherichia coli K12 MG1655 and the kinetics of cell adhesion on gold electrodes. The experimental impedance data were modelised with a Zview program to find the best equivalent electrical circuit and analyse its parameter's properties. Polyelectrolyte multilayer formation on the electrode surface and bacteria immobilization greatly increased the electron-transfer resistance (Ret) and reduced the constant phase element (CPEdl). The effect of CHX-Dg was studied in a 0.5 × 10−4 mmol l−1 to 0.5 mmol l−1 range. The relation between the evolution of Ret and CHX-Dg concentration was found to be negatively correlated. When CHX-Dg was added, the electrochemical monitoring of the bacterial kinetic adhesion showed that the electrode's capacity (CP) variation remained stable, demonstrating that the addition of CHX-Dg in the broth inhibited bacterial adhesion

Conversion des résidus de micro-algues en bio-liant pour bitumes

SSCI-VIDE+ECI2D:ING+DLA:NOG:CGENational audienceLes micro-algues sont des micro-organismes capables de croitre très rapidement, dans des photobioréacteursou bassins. Cette biomasse qui compte encore des milliers d’espèces inconnues, est composéede lipides, carbohydrates et protéines. Certaines micro-algues sont exploitées pour l’un de leur composantà forte valeur ajoutée comme par exemple la phycocyanine de la spiruline. Suite à l’extraction de lamolécule souhaitée, les restes des micro-algues ne sont pas exploités alors qu’ils contiennent encore deslipides et autres composés carbonés valorisables. Le projet Algoroute a comme objectif de produire un bioliantpour remplacer le bitume pétrolier (liant des enrobés routiers) à partir de ces déchets. Dans ce but,une liquéfaction hydrothermale a été effectuée sur les résidus et a conduit à l’obtention d’une phasehydrophobe dont les propriétés rhéologiques ont été mesurées

Conversion des résidus de micro-algues en bio-liant pour bitumes

SSCI-VIDE+ECI2D:ING+DLA:NOG:CGENational audienceLes micro-algues sont des micro-organismes capables de croitre très rapidement, dans des photobioréacteursou bassins. Cette biomasse qui compte encore des milliers d’espèces inconnues, est composéede lipides, carbohydrates et protéines. Certaines micro-algues sont exploitées pour l’un de leur composantà forte valeur ajoutée comme par exemple la phycocyanine de la spiruline. Suite à l’extraction de lamolécule souhaitée, les restes des micro-algues ne sont pas exploités alors qu’ils contiennent encore deslipides et autres composés carbonés valorisables. Le projet Algoroute a comme objectif de produire un bioliantpour remplacer le bitume pétrolier (liant des enrobés routiers) à partir de ces déchets. Dans ce but,une liquéfaction hydrothermale a été effectuée sur les résidus et a conduit à l’obtention d’une phasehydrophobe dont les propriétés rhéologiques ont été mesurées

Characterization and assessment of potential microRNAs involved in phosphate-induced aortic calcification

Medial artery calcification, a hallmark of type 2 diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease (CKD), is known as an independent risk factor for cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. Hyperphosphatemia associated with CKD is a strong stimulator of vascular calcification but the molecular mechanisms regulating this process remain not fully understood. We showed that calcification was induced after exposing Sprague-Dawley rat aortic explants to high inorganic phosphate level (P i , 6 mM) as examined by Alizarin red and Von Kossa staining. This calcification was associated with high Tissue-Nonspecific Alkaline Phosphatase (TNAP) activity, vascular smooth muscle cells de-differentiation, manifested by downregulation of smooth muscle 22 alpha (SM22?) protein expression which was assessed by immunoblot analysis, immunofluorescence, and trans-differentiation into osteo-chondrocyte-like cells revealed by upregulation of Runt related transcription factor 2 (Runx2), TNAP, osteocalcin, and osteopontin mRNA levels which were determined by quantitative real-time PCR. To unravel the possible mechanism(s) involved in this process, microRNA (miR) expression profile, which was assessed using TLDA technique and thereafter confirmed by individual qRT-PCR, revealed differential expression 10 miRs, five at day 3 and 5 at day 6 post P i treatment versus control untreated aortas. At day 3, miR-200c, -155, 322 were upregulated and miR-708 and 331 were downregulated. After 6 days of treatment, miR-328, -546, -301a were upregulated while miR-409 and miR-542 were downregulated. Our results indicate that high P i levels trigger aortic calcification and modulation of certain miRs. These observations suggest that mechanisms regulating aortic calcification might involve miRs, which warrant further investigations in future studies. - 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Lebanese University and the Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS), Grant number: 05-06-2014 (EH) Authors are grateful to the Lebanese University (LU) and the Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS-L) for providing PhD scholarships to Maya Fakhry and Najwa Skafi