Ocular sequelae of congenital toxoplasmosis in Brazil compared with Europe

Toxoplasmic retinochoroiditis appears to be more severe in Brazil, where it is a leading cause of blindness, than in Europe, but direct comparisons are lacking. Evidence is accumulating that more virulent genotypes of Toxoplasma gondii predominate in South America

External Scientific Report - Updated food composition database for nutrient intake

This report is the final report of the EFSA contract CFT/EFSA/DCM/2011/03. The aim of the project was to provide EFSA with an updated food composition database covering approximately 1750 foods in combination with additional FoodEx2 facet descriptors included in the EFSA FoodEx2 classification system, and to expand the dataset to include harmonised information on the most common composite recipes of European countries and harmonised information on food supplements. Proposals for models of nutrient composition, composite dishes and food supplement databases were developed as well as guidelines for mapping food data in national datasets to EFSA FoodEx2 codes and facet descriptors. A model for data transfer, compatible with the EuroFIR technical annex and CEN Food Data Standard, and the EFSA data structure was developed and tested. Fourteen national food database compiler organisations supplied initial food lists mapped to the EFSA food list. Information on commonly consumed composite dishes was provided by compilers from thirteen countries and information on food supplements was provided by compilers from eight countries. Datasets compatible with EFSA‟s data structure were produced based on the models. In addition, guidelines developed and limitations of the data produced are discussed.EFS

The effectiveness of conventional trickling filter treatment plants at reducing concentrations of copper in wastewaters

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in Science of the Total Environment. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2009 Elsevier B.V.Eight different sewage treatment works were sampled in the North West of England. The effectiveness of the conventional treatment processes (primary sedimentation and biological trickling filters) as well as various tertiary treatment units in terms of both total and dissolved copper removal was evaluated. The removal of total copper across primary sedimentation averaged 53% and were relatively consistent at all sites, however, at three sites the removal of dissolved copper also occurred at this stage of treatment. Removal of total copper by the biological trickling filters averaged 49%, however, substantial dissolution of copper occurred at two sites, which highlighted the unpredictability of this treatment process in the removal of dissolved copper. Copper removal during tertiary treatment varied considerably even for the same treatment processes installed at different sites, primarily due to the variability of insoluble copper removal, with little effect on copper in the dissolved form being observed. The proportion of dissolved copper increased significantly during treatment, from an average of 22% in crude sewages to 55% in the final effluents. There may be the potential to optimise existing, conventional treatment processes (primary or biological treatment) to enhance dissolved copper removal, possibly reducing the requirement for installing any tertiary processes specifically for the removal of copper.United Utilities PL

Guidelines for the Li-Fraumeni and heritable TP53-related cancer syndromes

Fifty years after the recognition of the Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS), our perception of cancers related to germline alterations of TP53 has drastically changed: (i) germline TP53 alterations are often identified among children with cancers, in particular soft-tissue sarcomas, adrenocortical carcinomas, central nervous system tumours, or among adult females with early breast cancers, without familial history. This justifies the expansion of the LFS concept to a wider cancer predisposition syndrome designated heritable TP53-related cancer (hTP53rc) syndrome; (ii) the interpretation of germline TP53 variants remains challenging and should integrate epidemiological, phenotypical, bioinformatics prediction, and functional data; (iii) the penetrance of germline disease-causing TP53 variants is variable, depending both on the type of variant (dominant-negative variants being associated with a higher cancer risk) and on modifying factors; (iv) whole-body MRI (WBMRI) allows early detection of tumours in variant carriers and (v) in cancer patients with germline disease-causing TP53 variants, radiotherapy, and conventional genotoxic chemotherapy contribute to the development of subsequent primary tumours. It is critical to perform TP53 testing before the initiation of treatment in order to avoid in carriers, if possible, radiotherapy and genotoxic chemotherapies. In children, the recommendations are to perform clinical examination and abdominal ultrasound every 6 months, annual WBMRI and brain MRI from the first year of life, if the TP53 variant is known to be associated with childhood cancers. In adults, the surveillance should include every year clinical examination, WBMRI, breast MRI in females from 20 until 65 years and brain MRI until 50 years

A new experiment for the determination of the 18F(p,alpha) reaction rate at nova temperatures

The 18F(p,alpha) reaction was recognized as one of the most important for gamma ray astronomy in novae as it governs the early 511 keV emission. However, its rate remains largely uncertain at nova temperatures. A direct measurement of the cross section over the full range of nova energies is impossible because of its vanishing value at low energy and of the short 18F lifetime. Therefore, in order to better constrain this reaction rate, we have performed an indirect experiment taking advantage of the availability of a high purity and intense radioactive 18F beam at the Louvain La Neuve RIB facility. We present here the first results of the data analysis and discuss the consequences.Comment: Contribution to the Classical Novae Explosions conference, Sitges, Spain, 20-24 May 2002, 5 pages, 3 figure

Prevalence of Oral Pain and Barriers to use of Emergency Oral Care Facilities Among Adult Tanzanians.

Oral pain has been the major cause of the attendances in the dental clinics in Tanzania. Some patients postpone seeing the dentist for as long as two to five days. This study determines the prevalence of oral pain and barriers to use of emergency oral care in Tanzania. Questionnaire data were collected from 1,759 adult respondents aged 18 years and above. The study area covered six urban and eight rural study clusters, which had been selected using the WHO Pathfinder methodology. Chi-square tests and logistic regression analyses were performed to identify associations.\ud Forty two percent of the respondents had utilized the oral health care facilities sometimes in their lifetime. About 59% of the respondents revealed that they had suffered from oral pain and/or discomfort within the twelve months that preceded the study, but only 26.5% of these had sought treatment from oral health care facilities. The reasons for not seeking emergency care were: lack of money to pay for treatment (27.9%); self medication (17.6%); respondents thinking that pain would disappear with time (15.7%); and lack of money to pay for transport to the dental clinic (15.0%). Older adults were more likely to report that they had experienced oral pain during the last 12 months than the younger adults (OR = 1.57, CI 1.07-1.57, P < 0.001). Respondents from rural areas were more likely report dental clinics far from home (OR = 5.31, CI = 2.09-13.54, P < 0.001); self medication at home (OR = 3.65, CI = 2.25-5.94, P < 0.001); and being treated by traditional healer (OR = 5.31, CI = 2.25-12.49, P < 0.001) as reasons for not seeking emergency care from the oral health care facilities than their counterparts from urban areas. Oral pain and discomfort were prevalent among adult Tanzanians. Only a quarter of those who experienced oral pain or discomfort sought emergency oral care from oral health care facilities. Self medication was used as an alternative to using oral care facilities mainly by rural residents. Establishing oral care facilities in rural areas is recommended

On the support of versioning in distributed key-value stores

The ability to access and query data stored in multiple versions is an important asset for many applications, such as Web graph analysis, collaborative editing platforms, data forensics, or correlation mining. The storage and retrieval of versioned data requires a specific API and support from the storage layer. The choice of the data structures used to maintain versioned data has a fundamental impact on the performance of insertions and queries. The appropriate data structure also depends on the nature of the versioned data and the nature of the access patterns. In this paper we study the design and implementation space for providing versioning support on top of a distributed key-value store (KVS). We define an API for versioned data access supporting multiple writers and show that a plain KVS does not offer the necessary synchronization power for implementing this API. We leverage the support for listeners at the KVS level and propose a general construction for implementing arbitrary types of data structures for storing and querying versioned data. We explore the design space of versioned data storage ranging from a flat data structure to a distributed sharded index. The resulting system, \system, is implemented on top of an industrial-grade open-source KVS, Infinispan. Our evaluation, based on real-world Wikipedia access logs, studies the performance of each versioning mechanisms in terms of load balancing, latency and storage overhead in the context of different access scenarios

Urban seismic risk assessment using the Disruption Index: the case of the volcanic region of Mt. Etna (Italy)

This paper presents the ongoing activities for the assessment of the urban seismic risk at Mt. Etna volcano using the “Disruption Index” approach. We use updated information on the historic main seismicity, seismogenic faults and intensity attenuation that in a recent research project produced probabilistic seismic hazard maps and scenarios expressed in terms of macroseismic intensity. To apply the Disruption Index at Etna, we consider a probabilistic approach for seismic hazard evaluation based jointly on macroseismic fields and fault parameters. For information on the urban scale vulnerability, we use a GIS to organise data relating to buildings and network systems (e.g. typologies, schools, strategic structures, lifelines) related to the municipalities more exposed to seismic risk. The convolution of ground motion and vulnerability/ impact is based on a Monte Carlo simulation. We present here some preliminary results on the identification of nodes that are responsible for major disruption in urban systems.Co-financed by the EU - Civil Protection Financial Instrument, in the framework the European project ”Urban disaster Prevention Strategies using MAcroseismic Fields and FAult Sources (Acronym: UPStrat-MAFA, Grant Agreement N. 23031/2011/613486/SUB/A5). http://ec.europa.eu/echo/funding/cp_projects2011_en.htmPublishedLisbon - Portugal4.1. Metodologie sismologiche per l'ingegneria sismicaope

Organotins: Sources and Impacts on Health and Environment

Organotin compounds are used as biocides, plastic stabilizers, and catalysts for the production of polyurethanes and silicones. Their notoriety is due to tributyltin (TBT), a potent biocide extensively used in antifouling paints until the beginning of the 21st century. As a consequence of its widespread use, TBT was responsible for the contamination of the marine environment at a global scale, causing several deleterious effects toward nontarget organisms, including imposex in gastropods, which is still considered the best example of endocrine disruption in wildlife. In mammals, including humans, organotins' negative effects comprise cardiotoxicity, neurotoxicity, immunotoxicity, and endocrine/metabolic dysfunction, including obesity