Meat and Nicotinamide:A Causal Role in Human Evolution, History, and Demographics

Hunting for meat was a critical step in all animal and human evolution. A key brain-trophic element in meat is vitamin B 3 /nicotinamide. The supply of meat and nicotinamide steadily increased from the Cambrian origin of animal predators ratcheting ever larger brains. This culminated in the 3-million-year evolution of Homo sapiens and our overall demographic success. We view human evolution, recent history, and agricultural and demographic transitions in the light of meat and nicotinamide intake. A biochemical and immunological switch is highlighted that affects fertility in the ‘de novo’ tryptophan-to-kynurenine-nicotinamide ‘immune tolerance’ pathway. Longevity relates to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide consumer pathways. High meat intake correlates with moderate fertility, high intelligence, good health, and longevity with consequent population stability, whereas low meat/high cereal intake (short of starvation) correlates with high fertility, disease, and population booms and busts. Too high a meat intake and fertility falls below replacement levels. Reducing variances in meat consumption might help stabilise population growth and improve human capital

Long-term immunological follow-up of children with haemophilus influenzae serotype b vaccine failure in the United Kingdom.

BACKGROUND: It is not known how long children with Haemophilus influenzae serotype b (Hib) vaccine failure retain protective Hib antibody concentrations after infection. The objective of this study was to determine Hib antibody concentrations in children several years after infection and to identify risk factors for low antibody concentrations. METHODS: The families of children from the United Kingdom who developed invasive Hib disease after prior immunization with Hib conjugate vaccine (i.e., Hib vaccine failure) from October 1992 through December 2005 were asked to complete a questionnaire. A blood sample was also obtained from each child. RESULTS: Of 323 families approached, 260 (80.5%) returned a completed questionnaire, and 175 (54.2%) children provided a blood sample. The median age at follow-up was 8.4 years (interquartile range [IQR], 6.2-15.4 years), and the median duration of follow-up was 4.1 years (IQR, 3.5-9.7 years). Twenty-seven children (16.1%) had been born prematurely and/or had an underlying medical condition, and 18 (10.8%) had immunoglobulin deficiency. The median Hib antibody concentration was 0.70 microg/mL (IQR, 0.22-5.8 microg/mL). Overall, 95 children (56.9%) had antibody concentrations <1.0 microg/mL, and 27 (16.2%) had antibody concentrations <0.15 microg/mL. All 3 children with Down syndrome and 10 (42%) of 24 children aged <5 years at follow-up had Hib antibody concentrations <0.15 microg/mL. An antibody concentration <0.15 microg/mL was independently associated with underlying conditions, young age at onset of Hib disease, and shorter time from Hib disease to follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: More than one-half of the children with Hib vaccine failure had antibody concentrations below those considered to confer long-term protection, which suggests that these children might be at further risk of invasive Hib disease and would benefit from another dose of Hib vaccine

Long-term complications and risk of other serious infections following invasive Haemophilus influenzae serotype b disease in vaccinated children.

This study describes the long-term complications in children with Haemophilus influenzae serotype b (Hib) vaccine failure and to determine their risk of other serious infections. The families of 323 children with invasive Hib disease after appropriate vaccination (i.e. vaccine failure) were contacted to complete a questionnaire relating to their health and 260 (80.5%) completed the questionnaire. Of the 124 children with meningitis, 18.5% reported serious long-term sequelae and a further 12.1% of parents attributed other problems to Hib meningitis. Overall, 14% (32/231 cases) of otherwise healthy children and 59% (17/29 cases) of children with an underlying condition developed at least one other serious infection requiring hospital admission. In a Poisson regression model, the risk of another serious infection was independently associated with the presence of an underlying medical condition (incidence risk ratio (IRR) 7.6, 95% CI 4.8-12.1; p&lt;0.0001), both parents having had a serious infection (IRR 4.1, 95% CI 1.6-10.3; p=0.003), requirement of more than two antibiotic courses per year (IRR 2.3, 95% CI 1.4-3.6; p=0.001) and the presence of a long-term complication after Hib infection (IRR 1.8, 95% CI 1.1-3.1; p=0.03). Thus, rates of long-term sequelae in children with vaccine failure who developed Hib meningitis are similar to those in unvaccinated children in the pre-vaccine era. One in seven otherwise healthy children (14%) with Hib vaccine failure will go on to suffer another serious infection requiring hospital admission in childhood, which is higher than would be expected for the UK paediatric population

Gestão de operações na prática: as empresas e os desafios de contexto concorrencial

O presente artigo tem por objetivo apresentar os resultados de uma pesquisa levada a efeito junto a empresas de manufatura que operam em regime de concorrência. A pesquisa foi dirigida a busca de evidências referentes à utilização de ferramentas e metodologias de gestão de operações, considerando seus vários aspectos e também a pluralidade de autores e pesquisadores que tratam desse assunto. Para formar uma base teórica para subsidiar a análise e apresentação das conclusões, foi feita uma breve revisão da bibliografia, buscando enfocar as contribuições de alguns autores principais e as estruturas de análise por eles sugerida. O resultado foi um quadro representativo das práticas verificadas. Configurando um contexto sistêmico de análise, dentro do qual podem ser visualizadas, claramente, as relações de causa-efeito entre as ações gerenciais (estratégicas e do dia a dia) e a realidade de contexto concorrencial enfrentada em cada caso.<br>This paper outlines the results of a survey conducted involving manufacturing firms, operating in a competitive context. The survey was done to collect evidences about the use of modern operations management methodologies and tools, considering the various aspects and contributions of several authors. To compose a theoretical basis as a support for analysis and conclusions, this paper presents a brief comments about a bibliographic revision, involving some contributions of the main authors and the structure of analysis being suggested. The results obtained presents a very illustrative framework of the practices addopted by the firms, virtually a systemic context analysis, that allows to view clearly the cause-effects relationships between the managerial actions (strategic and day-to-day) and the reality of its concurrent'tal context