The joint influence of marital status, interpregnancy interval, and neighborhood on small for gestational age birth: a retrospective cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Interpregnancy interval (IPI), marital status, and neighborhood are independently associated with birth outcomes. The joint contribution of these exposures has not been evaluated. We tested for effect modification between IPI and marriage, controlling for neighborhood.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We analyzed a cohort of 98,330 live births in Montréal, Canada from 1997–2001 to assess IPI and marital status in relation to small for gestational age (SGA) birth. Births were categorized as subsequent-born with <it>short </it>(<12 months), <it>intermediate </it>(12–35 months), or <it>long </it>(36+ months) IPI, or as firstborn. The data had a 2-level hierarchical structure, with births nested in 49 neighborhoods. We used multilevel logistic regression to obtain adjusted effect estimates.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Marital status modified the association between IPI and SGA birth. Being unmarried relative to married was associated with SGA birth for all IPI categories, particularly for subsequent births with <it>short </it>(odds ratio [OR] 1.60, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.31–1.95) and <it>intermediate </it>(OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.26–1.74) IPIs. Subsequent births had a lower likelihood of SGA birth than firstborns. <it>Intermediate </it>IPIs were more protective for married (OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.47–0.54) than unmarried mothers (OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.56–0.76).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Being unmarried increases the likelihood of SGA birth as the IPI shortens, and the protective effect of <it>intermediate </it>IPIs is reduced in unmarried mothers. Marital status should be considered in recommending particular IPIs as an intervention to improve birth outcomes.</p

Update: cohort mortality study of workers highly exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) during the manufacture of electrical capacitors, 1940-1998

BACKGROUND: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health previously reported mortality for a cohort of workers considered highly exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) between 1939 and 1977 at two electrical capacitor manufacturing plants. The current study updated vital status, examined liver and rectal cancer mortality previously reported in excess in this cohort and evaluated mortality from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and cancers of the stomach, intestine, breast, prostate, skin (melanoma) and brain reported to be in excess in other cohort and case-control studies of PCB-exposed persons. METHODS: Mortality was updated through 1998 for 2572 workers. Age-, gender-, race- and calendar year-adjusted standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using U.S., state and county referent rates. SMRs using U.S. referent rates are reported. Duration of employment was used as a surrogate for exposure. RESULTS: Consistent with the previous follow-up, mortality from biliary passage, liver and gall bladder cancer was significantly elevated (11 deaths, SMR 2.11, CI 1.05 – 3.77), but mortality from rectal cancer was not (6 deaths, SMR 1.47, CI 0.54 – 3.21). Among women, mortality from intestinal cancer (24 deaths, SMR 1.89, CI 1.21 – 2.82) and from "other diseases of the nervous system and sense organs", which include Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, (15 deaths, SMR 2.07, CI 1.16 – 3.42) were elevated. There were four ALS deaths, all women (SMR 4.35, CI 1.19–11.14). Mortality was elevated for myeloma (7 deaths, SMR 2.11, CI 0.84 – 4.34), particularly among workers employed 10 years or more (5 deaths, SMR 2.80, CI 0.91 – 6.54). No linear associations between mortality and duration of employment were observed for the cancers of interest. CONCLUSION: This update found that the earlier reported excess in this cohort for biliary, liver and gall bladder cancer persisted with longer follow-up. Excess mortality for intestinal cancer among women was elevated across categories of duration of employment; myeloma mortality was highest among those working 10 years or more. The small numbers of deaths from liver and intestinal cancers, myeloma and nervous system diseases coupled with the lack of an exposure-response relationship with duration of employment preclude drawing definitive conclusions regarding PCB exposure and these causes of death

Perceived Parenting and Adolescent Cyber-Bullying: Examining the Intervening Role of Autonomy and Relatedness Need Satisfaction, Empathic Concern and Recognition of Humanness

Due to the progress in information technology, cyber-bullying is becoming one of the most common forms of interpersonal harm, especially among teenagers. The present study (N = 548) aimed to investigate the relation between perceived parenting style (in terms of autonomy support and psychological control) and cyber-bullying in adolescence. Thereby, the study tested for the intervening role of adolescent need satisfaction (i.e., autonomy and relatedness), empathic concern towards others, and adolescents' recognition of full humanness to cyber-bullying offenders and victims. Findings revealed both a direct and an indirect relation between parenting and cyber-bullying. More specifically, parental psychological control directly predicted cyber-bullying, whereas parental autonomy support related to less cyber-bullying indirectly, as it was associated with the satisfaction of adolescents' need for autonomy, which predicted more empathic concern towards others, which in turn differentially related to recognition of humanness to victims and bullies. The discussion focuses on the implications of the current findings

The role of simulation in intertemporal choices

One route to understanding the thoughts and feelings of others is by mentally putting one's self in their shoes and seeing the world from their perspective, i.e., by simulation. Simulation is potentially used not only for inferring how others feel, but also for predicting how we ourselves will feel in the future. For instance, one might judge the worth of a future reward by simulating how much it will eventually be enjoyed. In intertemporal choices between smaller immediate and larger delayed rewards, it is observed that as the length of delay increases, delayed rewards lose subjective value; a phenomenon known as temporal discounting. In this article, we develop a theoretical framework for the proposition that simulation mechanisms involved in empathizing with others also underlie intertemporal choices. This framework yields a testable psychological account of temporal discounting based on simulation. Such an account, if experimentally validated, could have important implications for how simulation mechanisms are investigated, and makes predictions about special populations characterized by putative deficits in simulating others

Meta-analysis of four new genome scans for lipid parameters and analysis of positional candidates in positive linkage regions

Lipid levels in plasma strongly influence the risk for coronary heart disease. To localise and subsequently identify genes affecting lipid levels, we performed four genome-wide linkage scans followed by combined linkage/association analysis. Genome-scans were performed in 701 dizygotic twin pairs from four samples with data on plasma levels of HDL- and LDL-cholesterol and their major protein constituents, apolipoprotein AI (ApoAI) and Apolipoprotein B (ApoB). To maximise power, the genome scans were analysed simultaneously using a well-established meta-analysis method that was newly applied to linkage analysis. Overall LOD scores were estimated using the means of the sample-specific quantitative trait locus (QTL) effects inversely weighted by the standard errors obtained using an inverse regression method. Possible heterogeneity was accounted for with a random effects model. Suggestive linkage for HDL-C was observed on 8p23.1 and 12q21.2 and for ApoAI on 1q21.3. For LDL-C and ApoB, linkage regions frequently coincided (2p24.1, 2q32.1, 19p13.2 and 19q13.31). Six of the putative QTLs replicated previous findings. After fine mapping, three maximum LOD scores mapped within 1cM of major candidate genes, namely APOB (LOD =2.1), LDLR (LOD =1.9) and APOE (LOD =1.7). APOB haplotypes explained 27% of the QTL effect observed for LDL-C on 2p24.1 and reduced the LOD-score by 0.82. Accounting for the effect of the LDLR and APOE haplotypes did not change the LOD score close to the LDLR gene but abolished the linkage signal at the APOE gene. In conclusion, application of a new meta-analysis approach maximised the power to detect QTLs for lipid levels and improved the precision of their location estimate. © 2005 Nature Publishing Group. All rights reserved

fMR-adaptation indicates selectivity to audiovisual content congruency in distributed clusters in human superior temporal cortex

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Efficient multisensory integration is of vital importance for adequate interaction with the environment. In addition to basic binding cues like temporal and spatial coherence, meaningful multisensory information is also bound together by content-based associations. Many functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) studies propose the (posterior) superior temporal cortex (STC) as the key structure for integrating meaningful multisensory information. However, a still unanswered question is how superior temporal cortex encodes content-based associations, especially in light of inconsistent results from studies comparing brain activation to semantically matching (congruent) versus nonmatching (incongruent) multisensory inputs. Here, we used fMR-adaptation (fMR-A) in order to circumvent potential problems with standard fMRI approaches, including spatial averaging and amplitude saturation confounds. We presented repetitions of audiovisual stimuli (letter-speech sound pairs) and manipulated the associative relation between the auditory and visual inputs (congruent/incongruent pairs). We predicted that if multisensory neuronal populations exist in STC and encode audiovisual content relatedness, adaptation should be affected by the manipulated audiovisual relation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results revealed an occipital-temporal network that adapted independently of the audiovisual relation. Interestingly, several smaller clusters distributed over superior temporal cortex within that network, adapted stronger to congruent than to incongruent audiovisual repetitions, indicating sensitivity to content congruency.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results suggest that the revealed clusters contain multisensory neuronal populations that encode content relatedness by selectively responding to congruent audiovisual inputs, since unisensory neuronal populations are assumed to be insensitive to the audiovisual relation. These findings extend our previously revealed mechanism for the integration of letters and speech sounds and demonstrate that fMR-A is sensitive to multisensory congruency effects that may not be revealed in BOLD amplitude per se.</p

Spreading of complex regional pain syndrome: not a random process

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) generally remains restricted to one limb but occasionally may spread to other limbs. Knowledge of the spreading pattern of CRPS may lead to hypotheses about underlying mechanisms but to date little is known about this process. The objective is to study patterns of spread of CRPS from a first to a second limb and the factors associated with this process. One hundred and eighty-five CRPS patients were retrospectively evaluated. Cox’s proportional hazards model was used to evaluate factors that influenced spread of CRPS symptoms. Eighty-nine patients exhibited CRPS in multiple limbs. In 72 patients spread from a first to a second limb occurred showing a contralateral pattern in 49%, ipsilateral pattern in 30% and diagonal pattern in 14%. A trauma preceded the onset in the second limb in 37, 44 and 91%, respectively. The hazard of spread of CRPS increased with the number of limbs affected. Compared to patients with CRPS in one limb, patients with CRPS in multiple limbs were on average 7 years younger and more often had movement disorders. In patients with CRPS in multiple limbs, spontaneous spread of symptoms generally follows a contralateral or ipsilateral pattern whereas diagonal spread is rare and generally preceded by a new trauma. Spread is associated with a younger age at onset and a more severely affected phenotype. We argue that processes in the spinal cord as well as supraspinal changes are responsible for spontaneous spread in CRPS

Examination of polymorphic glutathione S-transferase (GST) genes, tobacco smoking and prostate cancer risk among Men of African Descent: A case-control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Polymorphisms in <it>glutathione S-transferase </it>(GST) genes may influence response to oxidative stress and modify prostate cancer (PCA) susceptibility. These enzymes generally detoxify endogenous and exogenous agents, but also participate in the activation and inactivation of oxidative metabolites that may contribute to PCA development. Genetic variations within selected <it>GST </it>genes may influence PCA risk following exposure to carcinogen compounds found in cigarette smoke and decreased the ability to detoxify them. Thus, we evaluated the effects of polymorphic <it>GSTs </it>(<it>M1</it>, <it>T1</it>, and <it>P1</it>) alone and combined with cigarette smoking on PCA susceptibility.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In order to evaluate the effects of <it>GST </it>polymorphisms in relation to PCA risk, we used TaqMan allelic discrimination assays along with a multi-faceted statistical strategy involving conventional and advanced statistical methodologies (e.g., Multifactor Dimensionality Reduction and Interaction Graphs). Genetic profiles collected from 873 men of African-descent (208 cases and 665 controls) were utilized to systematically evaluate the single and joint modifying effects of <it>GSTM1 </it>and <it>GSTT1 </it>gene deletions, <it>GSTP1 </it>105 Val and cigarette smoking on PCA risk.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We observed a moderately significant association between risk among men possessing at least one variant <it>GSTP1 </it>105 Val allele (OR = 1.56; 95%CI = 0.95-2.58; p = 0.049), which was confirmed by MDR permutation testing (p = 0.001). We did not observe any significant single gene effects among <it>GSTM1 </it>(OR = 1.08; 95%CI = 0.65-1.82; p = 0.718) and <it>GSTT1 </it>(OR = 1.15; 95%CI = 0.66-2.02; p = 0.622) on PCA risk among all subjects. Although the <it>GSTM1</it>-<it>GSTP1 </it>pairwise combination was selected as the best two factor LR and MDR models (p = 0.01), assessment of the hierarchical entropy graph suggested that the observed synergistic effect was primarily driven by the <it>GSTP1 </it>Val marker. Notably, the <it>GSTM1</it>-<it>GSTP1 </it>axis did not provide additional information gain when compared to either loci alone based on a hierarchical entropy algorithm and graph. Smoking status did not significantly modify the relationship between the <it>GST </it>SNPs and PCA.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A moderately significant association was observed between PCA risk and men possessing at least one variant <it>GSTP1 </it>105 Val allele (p = 0.049) among men of African descent. We also observed a 2.1-fold increase in PCA risk associated with men possessing the <it>GSTP1 </it>(Val/Val) and <it>GSTM1 </it>(*1/*1 + *1/*0) alleles. MDR analysis validated these findings; detecting <it>GSTP1 </it>105 Val (p = 0.001) as the best single factor for predicting PCA risk. Our findings emphasize the importance of utilizing a combination of traditional and advanced statistical tools to identify and validate single gene and multi-locus interactions in relation to cancer susceptibility.</p

Differentiation of Glioma and Radiation Injury in Rats Using In Vitro Produce Magnetically Labeled Cytotoxic T-Cells and MRI

A limitation with current imaging strategies of recurrent glioma undergoing radiotherapy is that tumor and radiation injury cannot be differentiated with post contrast CT or MRI, or with PET or other more complex parametric analyses of MRI data. We propose to address the imaging limitation building on emerging evidence indicating that effective therapy for recurrent glioma can be attained by sensitized T-cells following vaccination of primed dendritic cells (DCs). The purpose of this study was to determine whether cord blood T-cells can be sensitized against glioma cells (U-251) and if these sensitized cytotoxic T-cells (CTLs) can be used as cellular magnetic resonance imaging probes to identify and differentiate glioma from radiation necrosis in rodent models.Cord blood T and CD14+ cells were collected. Isolated CD14+ cells were then converted to dendritic cells (DCs), primed with glioma cell lysate and used to sensitize T-cells. Phenotypical expression of the generated DCs were analyzed to determine the expression level of CD14, CD86, CD83 and HLA-DR. Cells positive for CD25, CD4, CD8 were determined in generated CTLs. Specificity of cytotoxicity of the generated CTLs was also determined by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release assay. Secondary proliferation capacity of magnetically labeled and unlabeled CTLs was also determined. Generated CTLs were magnetically labeled and intravenously injected into glioma bearing animals that underwent MRI on days 3 and 7 post- injection. CTLs were also administered to animals with focal radiation injury to determine whether these CTLs accumulated non-specifically to the injury sites. Multi-echo T2- and T2*-weighted images were acquired and R2 and R2* maps created. Our method produced functional, sensitized CTLs that specifically induced U251 cell death in vitro. Both labeled and unlabeled CTLs proliferated equally after the secondary stimulation. There were significantly higher CD25 positive cells (p = <0.006) in CTLs. In addition, T2- and T2*-weighted MR images showed increased low signal intensity areas in animals that received labeled CTLs as compared to the images from animals that received control cells. Histological analysis confirmed the presence of iron positive cells in sites corresponding to MRI low signal intensity regions. Significant differences (p = <0.001) in tumor R2 and R2* values were observed among the groups of animals. Animals with radiation injury exhibited neither MRI hypointense areas nor presence of iron positive cells.Our results indicate that T-cells can be effectively sensitized by in vitro methods and used as cellular probes to identify and differentiate glioma from radiation necrosis

Stomach cancer and occupational exposure to asbestos: a meta-analysis of occupational cohort studies

BACKGROUND: A recent Monographs Working Group of the International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded that there is limited evidence for a causal association between exposure to asbestos and stomach cancer. METHODS: We performed a meta-analysis to quantitatively evaluate this association. Random effects models were used to summarise the relative risks across studies. Sources of heterogeneity were explored through subgroup analyses and meta-regression. RESULTS: We identified 40 mortality cohort studies from 37 separate papers, and cancer incidence data were extracted for 15 separate cohorts from 14 papers. The overall meta-SMR for stomach cancer for total cohort was 1.15 (95% confidence interval 1.03–1.27), with heterogeneous results across studies. Statistically significant excesses were observed in North America and Australia but not in Europe, and for generic asbestos workers and insulators. Meta-SMRs were larger for cohorts reporting a SMR for lung cancer above 2 and cohort sizes below 1000. CONCLUSIONS: Our results support the conclusion by IARC that exposure to asbestos is associated with a moderate increased risk of stomach cancer