Measuring Human-Animal Attachment in a Large U.S. Survey: Two Brief Measures for Children and Their Primary Caregivers

Researchers in the human-animal interaction (HAI) field face a challenge in generalizing the impact of pet ownership and companion animal interaction from small samples to larger populations. While researchers in Europe and Australia have included measures of pet ownership and attachment in surveys for some time (e.g., the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children), survey researchers in the United States have been slow to incorporate questions related to HAI in population representative studies. One reason for this may be that many of the current HAI-related measures involve long, complex scales. From the survey administration perspective, using complex scales is costly in terms of both time and money. The development and validation of brief measures of HAI will facilitate the inclusion of these measures in larger surveys. This paper describes the psychometric properties of two brief attachment measures used in the first population-representative study of child development in the United States that includes HAI items, the 2014 Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) Child Development Supplement (CDS). We use two measures derived from the 29 item CENSHARE Pet Attachment Survey, one for children aged 8–17 (6-items) and one for the primary caregiver (3 items). The results suggest that such brief measures of attachment to pets are psychometrically valid and are a practical method of measuring HAI attachment in larger surveys using only a few survey items. We encourage HAI researchers to work with other ongoing surveys to incorporate these and comparable HAI measures

Seroprevalence of Human T-lymphotropic virus type-1 and -2 infections among first-time United States Blood Donors 2000-2009

Background: Human T-lymphotropic virus types 1 and 2 (HTLV-1 and –2) are prevalent at low-level among United States blood donors, but recent data on their prevalence is lacking. Methods: Data on all first-time blood donors in a large network of United States blood centers was examined during the period 2000-2009. Anti-HTLV-1 and -2 was measured by enzyme immunoassay (EIA) screening with type-specific confirmation by immunofluorescence or RIBA. Prevalence and odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for associations with demographic characteristics were assessed using multivariable logistic regression. Results: Among 2,047,740 first-time donors, 104 donors were seropositive for HTLV-I (prevalence 5.1 (95% CI: 4.1 - 6.1) per 100,000) and 300 donors were seropositive for HTLV-2 infection (prevalence 14.7 (95% CI 13.0 - 16.3) per 100,000). Prevalence was lower than reported in the 1990’s but stable from 2000 to 2009. HTLV-1 seropositivity was associated with female sex (OR = 1.56, 95% CI 1.05-2.32); older age; and Black (IR = 25.29, 9% CI 13.14- 48.68) and Asian (OR = 21.43, 95% CI 10.31-44.53) race/ethnicity. HTLV-2 seropositivity was associated with female sex (OR = 2.13, 95% CI 1.67-2.73); older age; and non-white race/ethnicity; residence in the Western (OR=4.12, 95% CI 2.16-7.82) and Southwestern (OR=2.47, 95% CI 1.28-4.78; both vs. Northern) U.S.; and lower educational level. Conclusions: HTLV-1 and -2 prevalences among U.S. blood donors declined since the early 1990’s but were stable since 2000. Higher prevalence of HTLV-2 in the West and Southwest may be attributed to endemic foci among Amerindians

Associations between West Nile virus infection and symptoms reported by blood donors identified through nucleic acid test screening.

BackgroundBlood collected in the United States and Canada is screened for West Nile virus (WNV) using nucleic acid testing (NAT). The role that donor-reported symptoms of infection disclosed at or shortly after donation may play in enhancing blood safety has been debated. Little data are available on subsequent manifestations of WNV-specific disease outcomes in viremic donors.Study design and methodsDonors with initially reactive NAT results were informed by telephone and asked to complete symptom interviews. The questionnaires are focused on three time periods: the week before, the day of, and the 2 weeks after donation. Symptoms and risk factors were compared between confirmed-positive and false-positive donors (classified based on confirmatory NAT and serology). Additional analyses comparing confirmed-positive symptomatic and asymptomatic donors were conducted.ResultsA total of 423 of 536 initially reactive donors were interviewed between 2003 and 2006: 292 confirmed-positive for WNV and 131 false-positive. Individual symptoms were not significant predictors of WNV infection, except skin rash in the week before donation (odds ratio [OR], 3.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-7.9) and body aches in the period after donation (OR, 2.8; 95% CI, 1.1-7.4). Specific combinations of symptoms were not good predictors of infection, but donors with three or more concurrent symptoms before donation were more likely to have WNV infection (OR, 2.5; 95% CI, 1.2-5.1). Demographic characteristics, predonation symptoms, and serology profiles in confirmed-positive donors did not predict postdonation symptom severity. Thirty-five confirmed-positive donors (12%) sought medical care for WNV infection, with two hospitalizations, but no cases of neuroinvasive disease.ConclusionThe number rather than type of symptoms is associated with confirmed WNV infection, but the overall predictive value is low. Very few infected donors develop clinically significant disease

Associations between West Nile virus infection and symptoms reported by blood donors identified through nucleic acid test screening.

BackgroundBlood collected in the United States and Canada is screened for West Nile virus (WNV) using nucleic acid testing (NAT). The role that donor-reported symptoms of infection disclosed at or shortly after donation may play in enhancing blood safety has been debated. Little data are available on subsequent manifestations of WNV-specific disease outcomes in viremic donors.Study design and methodsDonors with initially reactive NAT results were informed by telephone and asked to complete symptom interviews. The questionnaires are focused on three time periods: the week before, the day of, and the 2 weeks after donation. Symptoms and risk factors were compared between confirmed-positive and false-positive donors (classified based on confirmatory NAT and serology). Additional analyses comparing confirmed-positive symptomatic and asymptomatic donors were conducted.ResultsA total of 423 of 536 initially reactive donors were interviewed between 2003 and 2006: 292 confirmed-positive for WNV and 131 false-positive. Individual symptoms were not significant predictors of WNV infection, except skin rash in the week before donation (odds ratio [OR], 3.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-7.9) and body aches in the period after donation (OR, 2.8; 95% CI, 1.1-7.4). Specific combinations of symptoms were not good predictors of infection, but donors with three or more concurrent symptoms before donation were more likely to have WNV infection (OR, 2.5; 95% CI, 1.2-5.1). Demographic characteristics, predonation symptoms, and serology profiles in confirmed-positive donors did not predict postdonation symptom severity. Thirty-five confirmed-positive donors (12%) sought medical care for WNV infection, with two hospitalizations, but no cases of neuroinvasive disease.ConclusionThe number rather than type of symptoms is associated with confirmed WNV infection, but the overall predictive value is low. Very few infected donors develop clinically significant disease

Mystique Is a New Insulin-like Growth Factor-I-regulated PDZ-LIM Domain Protein That Promotes Cell Attachment and Migration and Suppresses Anchorage-independent Growth

By comparing differential gene expression in the insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-IR null cell fibroblast cell line (R– cells) with cells overexpressing the IGF-IR (R+ cells), we identified the Mystique gene expressed as alternatively spliced variants. The human homologue of Mystique is located on chromosome 8p21.2 and encodes a PDZ LIM domain protein (PDLIM2). GFP-Mystique was colocalized at cytoskeleton focal contacts with α-actinin and β1-integrin. Only one isoform of endogenous human Mystique protein, Mystique 2, was detected in cell lines. Mystique 2 was more abundant in nontransformed MCF10A breast epithelial cells than in MCF-7 breast carcinoma cells and was induced by IGF-I and cell adhesion. Overexpression of Mystique 2 in MCF-7 cells suppressed colony formation in soft agarose and enhanced cell adhesion to collagen and fibronectin. Point mutation of either the PDZ or LIM domain was sufficient to reverse suppression of colony formation, but mutation of the PDZ domain alone was sufficient to abolish enhanced adhesion. Knockdown of Mystique 2 with small interfering RNA abrogated both adhesion and migration in MCF10A and MCF-7 cells. The data indicate that Mystique is an IGF-IR–regulated adapter protein located at the actin cytoskeleton that is necessary for the migratory capacity of epithelial cells

Tregs control the development of symptomatic West Nile virus infection in humans and mice

West Nile virus (WNV) causes asymptomatic infection in most humans, but for undefined reasons, approximately 20% of immunocompetent individuals develop West Nile fever, a potentially debilitating febrile illness, and approximately 1% develop neuroinvasive disease syndromes. Notably, since its emergence in 1999, WNV has become the leading cause of epidemic viral encephalitis in North America. We hypothesized that CD4+ Tregs might be differentially regulated in subjects with symptomatic compared with those with asymptomatic WNV infection. Here, we show that in 32 blood donors with acute WNV infection, Tregs expanded significantly in the 3 months after index (RNA+) donations in all subjects. Symptomatic donors exhibited lower Treg frequencies from 2 weeks through 1 year after index donation yet did not show differences in systemic T cell or generalized inflammatory responses. In parallel prospective experimental studies, symptomatic WNV-infected mice also developed lower Treg frequencies compared with asymptomatic mice at 2 weeks after infection. Moreover, Treg-deficient mice developed lethal WNV infection at a higher rate than controls. Together, these results suggest that higher levels of peripheral Tregs after infection protect against severe WNV disease in immunocompetent animals and humans

LRRK2 exonic variants and risk of multiple system atrophy.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between common exonic variants in the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) gene and risk of multiple system atrophy (MSA). METHODS: One series from the United States (92 patients with pathologically confirmed MSA, 416 controls) and a second series from the United Kingdom (85 patients with pathologically confirmed MSA, 352 controls) were included in this case-control study. We supplemented these data with those of 53 patients from the United States with clinically probable or possible MSA. Seventeen common LRRK2 exonic variants were genotyped and assessed for association with MSA. RESULTS: In the combined series of 177 patients with pathologically confirmed MSA and 768 controls, there was a significant association between LRRK2 p.M2397T and MSA (odds ratio [OR] = 0.60, p = 0.002). This protective effect was observed more strongly in the US series (OR = 0.46, p = 0.0008) than the UK series (OR = 0.82, p = 0.41). We observed other noteworthy associations with MSA for p.G1624G (OR = 0.63, p = 0.006) and p.N2081D (OR = 0.15, p = 0.010). The p.G1624G-M2397T haplotype was significantly associated with MSA in the US series (p < 0.0001) and combined series (p = 0.003) but not the UK series (p = 0.67). Results were consistent when additionally including the US patients with clinical MSA, where the strongest single-variant association was again observed for p.M2397T (OR = 0.59, p = 0.0005). CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide evidence that LRRK2 exonic variants may contribute to susceptibility to MSA. Validation in other series and meta-analytic studies will be important