壁型ディスプレイとの対話手法に関する研究

電気通信大学200

Epidemiology of asthma in children and adults

Asthma is a globally significant non-communicable disease with major public health consequences for both children and adults, including high morbidity, and mortality in severe cases. We have summarized the evidence on asthma trends, environmental determinants, and long-term impacts while comparing these epidemiological features across childhood asthma and adult asthma. While asthma incidence and prevalence are higher in children, morbidity, and mortality are higher in adults. Childhood asthma is more common in boys while adult asthma is more common in women, and the reversal of this sex difference in prevalence occurs around puberty suggesting sex hormones may play a role in the etiology of asthma. The global epidemic of asthma that has been observed in both children and adults is still continuing, especially in low to middle income countries, although it has subsided in some developed countries. As a heterogeneous disease, distinct asthma phenotypes, and endotypes need to be adequately characterized to develop more accurate and meaningful definitions for use in research and clinical settings. This may be facilitated by new clustering techniques such as latent class analysis, and computational phenotyping methods are being developed to retrieve information from electronic health records using natural language processing (NLP) algorithms to assist in the early diagnosis of asthma. While some important environmental determinants that trigger asthma are well-established, more work is needed to define the role of environmental exposures in the development of asthma in both children and adults. There is increasing evidence that investigation into possible gene-by-environment and environment-by-environment interactions may help to better uncover the determinants of asthma. Therefore, there is an urgent need to further investigate the interrelationship between environmental and genetic determinants to identify high risk groups and key modifiable exposures. For children, asthma may impair airway development and reduce maximally attained lung function, and these lung function deficits may persist into adulthood without additional progressive loss. Adult asthma may accelerate lung function decline and increase the risk of fixed airflow obstruction, with the effect of early onset asthma being greater than late onset asthma. Therefore, in managing asthma, our focus going forward should be firmly on improving not only short-term symptoms, but also the long-term respiratory and other health outcomes

Prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum infection in asymptomatic rural Gabonese populations

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Malaria may be perennial or epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa, and its transmission may be stable or unstable, depending on the region. The prevalence of asymptomatic <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>carriage is poorly documented in Gabon. A large survey of <it>P. falciparum </it>infection was conducted in asymptomatic individuals living in rural Gabon.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Two hundred and twenty-two villages were randomly selected in the nine administrative regions. With the participants' informed consent, blood samples were collected for thick and thin blood film examination after 20% Giemsa staining. Prevalence rates were calculated per village, per region and per ecosystem, and nationwide. Demographic risk factors were identified with STATA software version 9.0. Significance was assumed at p < 0.05.</p> <p>Results and discussion</p> <p>The prevalence of <it>P. falciparum </it>in adults was 6.2% (269/4342) nationwide, with a maximum of 37.2% in one village; a linear decrease was observed with increasing age (p = 0.045). Only 5% of the 399 children from forest areas tested positive. The prevalence was significantly higher in forest areas (7%) than in savannah (4%) and lakeland (2.5%). Within the forest region, the prevalence was significantly higher in forest grassland (10.9%) than in the mountain forest (3.5%), interior forest (6.8%) and north-eastern forest (4.5%).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p><it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>carriage remains high among adults in rural Gabon. Control measures must be adapted to the region and ecosystem. Routine treatment of asymptomatic individuals should be considered.</p

Description et évaluation d'un réseau d'épidémiosurveillance des pathologies porcines mis en place dans un district du Nord Vietnam

Background and objective: Early menarche is increasing in prevalence worldwide, prompting clinical andpublic health interest on its links with pulmonary function. We aimed to investigate the relationship betweenearly menarche and lung function in middle age.Methods: The population-based Tasmanian LongitudinalHealth Study (born 1961; n = 8583), was initiated in 1968.The 5th Decade follow-up data (mean age: 45 years)included age at menarche and complex lung function testing. The 6th Decade follow-up (age: 53 years) repeated spirometry and gas transfer factor. Multiple linear regressionand mediation analyses were performed to determine theassociation between age at menarche and adult lung function and investigate biological pathways, including the proportion mediated by adult-attained height.Results: Girls reporting an early menarche (Conclusion:Early menarche was associated withreduced adult lung function. This is the first study toinvestigate post-BD outcomes and quantify the partialrole of adult height in this association

Health-related quality of life in French adolescents and adults: norms for the DUKE Health Profile

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The continual monitoring of population health-related quality of life (HRQoL) with validated instruments helps public health agencies assess, protect, and promote population health. This study aimed to determine norms for the French adolescent and adult general population for the Duke Health Profile (DUKE) questionnaire in a large representative community sample.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We randomly selected 17,733 French people aged 12 to 75 years old in 2 steps, by households and individuals, from the National Health Barometer 2005, a periodic population study by the French National Institute for Prevention and Health Education. Quality of life and other data were collected by computer-assisted telephone interview.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Normative data for the French population were analyzed by age, gender and self-reported chronic disease. Globally, function scores (best HRQoL=100) for physical, mental, social, and general health, as well as perceived health and self-esteem, were 72.3 (SEM 0.2), 74.6 (0.2), 66.8 (0.1), 71.3 (0.1), 71.3 (0.3), 76.5 (0.1), respectively. Dysfunction scores (worst HRQoL=100) for anxiety, depression, pain and disability domains were 30.9 (0.1), 27.6 (0.2), 34.3 (0.3), 3.1 (0.1), respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The French norms for adolescents and adults for the DUKE could be used as a reference for other studies assessing HRQoL, for specific illnesses, in France and for international comparisons.</p

Haplotype analysis suggest common founders in carriers of the recurrent BRCA2 mutation, 3398delAAAAG, in French Canadian hereditary breast and/ovarian cancer families

BACKGROUND: The 3398delAAAAG mutation in BRCA2 was recently found to recur in breast and/or ovarian cancer families from the French Canadian population of Quebec, a population that has genetic attributes consistent with a founder effect. To characterize the contribution of this mutation in this population, this study established the frequency of this mutation in breast and ovarian cancer cases unselected for family history of cancer, and determined if mutation carriers shared a common ancestry. METHODS: The frequency was estimated by assaying the mutation in series of French Canadian breast cancer cases diagnosed before age 41 (n = 60) or 80 (n = 127) years of age, and ovarian cancer cases (n = 80) unselected for family history of cancer by mutation analysis. Haplotype analysis was performed to determine if mutation carriers shared a common ancestry. Members from 11 families were analyzed using six polymorphic microsatellite markers (cen-D13S260-D13S1699-D13S1698-D13S1697-D13S1701-D13S171-tel) spanning approximately a 3.6 cM interval at the chromosomal region 13q13.1, which contains BRCA2. Allele frequencies were estimated by genotyping 47 unaffected female individuals derived from the same population. Haplotype reconstruction of unaffected individuals was performed using the program PHASE. RESULTS: The recurrent BRCA2 mutation occurred in 1 of 60 (1.7%) women diagnosed with breast cancer before 41 years of age and one of 80 (1.3%) women with ovarian cancer. No mutation carriers were identified in the series of breast cancer cases diagnosed before age 80. Mutation carriers harboured one of two haplotypes, 7-3-9-3 – [3/4]-7, that varied with marker D13S1701 and which occurred at a frequency of 0.001. The genetic analysis of D13S1695, a polymorphic marker located approximately 0.3 cM distal to D13S171, did not favour a genetic recombination event to account for the differences in D13S1701 alleles within the haplotype. Although mutation carriers harbour genotypes that are frequent in the French Canadian population, neither mutation-associated haplotype was plausible in reconstructed haplotypes of 47 individuals of French Canadian descent. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that mutation carriers share a related ancestry; further supporting the concept that recurrent BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in the French Canadian population could be attributed to common founders. This finding provides further support for targeted screening of recurrent mutations in this population before large-scale mutation analyses are performed

Cholesterol Homeostasis in Two Commonly Used Human Prostate Cancer Cell-Lines, LNCaP and PC-3

BACKGROUND:Recently, there has been renewed interest in the link between cholesterol and prostate cancer. It has been previously reported that in vitro, prostate cancer cells lack sterol-mediated feedback regulation of the major transcription factor in cholesterol homeostasis, sterol-regulatory element binding protein 2 (SREBP-2). This could explain the accumulation of cholesterol observed in clinical prostate cancers. Consequently, perturbed feedback regulation to increased sterol levels has become a pervasive concept in the prostate cancer setting. Here, we aimed to explore this in greater depth. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:After altering the cellular cholesterol status in LNCaP and PC-3 prostate cancer cells, we examined SREBP-2 processing, downstream effects on promoter activity and expression of SREBP-2 target genes, and functional activity (low-density lipoprotein uptake, cholesterol synthesis). In doing so, we observed that LNCaP and PC-3 cells were sensitive to increased sterol levels. In contrast, lowering cholesterol levels via statin treatment generated a greater response in LNCaP cells than PC-3 cells. This highlighted an important difference between these cell-lines: basal SREBP-2 activity appeared to be higher in PC-3 cells, reducing sensitivity to decreased cholesterol levels. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE:Thus, prostate cancer cells are sensitive to changing sterol levels in vitro, but the extent of this regulation differs between prostate cancer cell-lines. These results shed new light on the regulation of cholesterol metabolism in two commonly used prostate cancer cell-lines, and emphasize the importance of establishing whether or not cholesterol homeostasis is perturbed in prostate cancer in vivo

Communally breeding bats use physiological and behavioural adjustments to optimise daily energy expenditure

Small endotherms must change roosting and thermoregulatory behaviour in response to changes in ambient conditions if they are to achieve positive energy balance. In social species, for example many bats, energy expenditure is influenced by environmental conditions, such as ambient temperature, and also by social thermoregulation. Direct measurements of daily fluctuations in metabolic rates in response to ambient and behavioural variables in the field have not been technologically feasible until recently. During different reproductive periods, we investigated the relationships between ambient temperature, group size and energy expenditure in wild maternity colonies of Bechstein’s bats (Myotis bechsteinii). Bats used behavioural and physiological adjustments to regulate energy expenditure. Whether bats maintained normothermia or used torpor, the number of bats in the roosts as well changed with reproductive status and ambient temperature. During pregnancy and lactation, bats remained mostly normothermic and daily group sizes were relatively large, presumably to participate in the energetic benefits of social thermoregulation. In contrast, smaller groups were formed on days when bats used torpor, which occurred mostly during the post-lactation period. Thus, we were able to demonstrate on wild animals under natural conditions the significance of behavioural and physiological flexibility for optimal thermoregulatory behaviour in small endotherms