The Poison Pen: Bedside Diagnosis of Urinary Diquat

Diquat is a bipyridyl herbicide with nephrotoxic effects. This in vitro study demonstrates a colorimetric test for detection of diquat in human urine. Urine specimens using ten concentrations of diquat herbicide solution and controls for urine and glyphosate were prepared. A two-step assay (addition of bicarbonate followed by sodium dithionite) was performed, with a resulting color change of the original solution for each specimen. Color change intensity was noted immediately and after 30 min, by gross visual inspection. A green color with concentration-dependent intensity was detected in all specimens, in which concentrations of diquat solution ranged from 0.73 to 730 mg/L. This colorimetric effect disappeared after 30 min. The sodium bicarbonate/dithionite test may be useful as a qualitative bedside technique for the detection of urinary diquat in the appropriate clinical setting

Macro-Climatic Distribution Limits Show Both Niche Expansion and Niche Specialization among C4 Panicoids

Grasses are ancestrally tropical understory species whose current dominance in warm open habitats is linked to the evolution of C4 photosynthesis. C4 grasses maintain high rates of photosynthesis in warm and water stressed environments, and the syndrome is considered to induce niche shifts into these habitats while adaptation to cold ones may be compromised. Global biogeographic analyses of C4 grasses have, however, concentrated on diversity patterns, while paying little attention to distributional limits. Using phylogenetic contrast analyses, we compared macro-climatic distribution limits among ~1300 grasses from the subfamily Panicoideae, which includes 4/5 of the known photosynthetic transitions in grasses. We explored whether evolution of C4 photosynthesis correlates with niche expansions, niche changes, or stasis at subfamily level and within the two tribes Paniceae and Paspaleae. We compared the climatic extremes of growing season temperatures, aridity, and mean temperatures of the coldest months. We found support for all the known biogeographic distribution patterns of C4 species, these patterns were, however, formed both by niche expansion and niche changes. The only ubiquitous response to a change in the photosynthetic pathway within Panicoideae was a niche expansion of the C4 species into regions with higher growing season temperatures, but without a withdrawal from the inherited climate niche. Other patterns varied among the tribes, as macro-climatic niche evolution in the American tribe Paspaleae differed from the pattern supported in the globally distributed tribe Paniceae and at family level.Fil: Aagesen, Lone. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion. Academia Nacional de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion; ArgentinaFil: Biganzoli, Fernando. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Métodos Cuantitativos y Sistemas de Información; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Bena, María Julia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion. Academia Nacional de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion; ArgentinaFil: Godoy Bürki, Ana Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion. Academia Nacional de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion; ArgentinaFil: Reinheimer, Renata. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Zuloaga, Fernando Omar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion. Academia Nacional de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion; Argentin

Addition to "Nanostars carrying multifunctional neurotrophic dendrimers protect neurons in preclinical in vitro models of neurodegenerative disorders".

In the original version of this article (p. 47457), some acknowledgments were not included. In the revised Acknowledgments section provided below, we additionally provide The REC reference for the ethical approval of the human astrocyte isolation, an acknowledgment to Dr. Alize Proust at the Francis Crick Institute for establishing the triple coculture BBB model used in this study, and the reference and the grant number for the source of the human fetal material. This does not affect the results or conclusions of our work

Effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit of a single annual professional intervention for the prevention of childhood dental caries in a remote rural Indigenous community

Background The aim of the study is to reduce the high prevalence of tooth decay in children in a remote, rural Indigenous community in Australia, by application of a single annual dental preventive intervention. The study seeks to (1) assess the effectiveness of an annual oral health preventive intervention in slowing the incidence of dental caries in children in this community, (2) identify the mediating role of known risk factors for dental caries and (3) assess the cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit of the intervention. Methods/design The intervention is novel in that most dental preventive interventions require regular re-application, which is not possible in resource constrained communities. While tooth decay is preventable, self-care and healthy habits are lacking in these communities, placing more emphasis on health services to deliver an effective dental preventive intervention. Importantly, the study will assess cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness for broader implementation across similar communities in Australia and internationally. Discussion There is an urgent need to reduce the burden of dental decay in these communities, by implementing effective, cost-effective, feasible and sustainable dental prevention programs. Expected outcomes of this study include improved oral and general health of children within the community; an understanding of the costs associated with the intervention provided, and its comparison with the costs of allowing new lesions to develop, with associated treatment costs. Findings should be generalisable to similar communities around the world. The research is registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR), registration number ACTRN12615000693527; date of registration: 3rd July 2015

Prenatal Organochlorine Compound Exposure, Rapid Weight Gain, and Overweight in Infancy

Background: Although it has been hypothesized that fetal exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals may increase obesity risk, empirical data are limited, and it is uncertain how early in life any effects may begin. Objectives: We explored whether prenatal exposure to several organochlorine compounds (OCs) is associated with rapid growth in the first 6 months of life and body mass index (BMI) later in infancy. Methods: Data come from the INMA (Infancia y Medio-Ambiente) Child and Environment birth cohort in Spain, which recruited 657 women in early pregnancy. Rapid growth during the first 6 months was defined as a change in weight-for-age z-scores > 0.67, and elevated BMI at 14 months, as a z-score ≥ the 85th percentile. Generalized linear models were used to estimate the risk of rapid growth or elevated BMI associated with 2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)-1,1-dichloroethylene (DDE), hexachlorobenzene, β-hexachlorohexane, and polychlorinated biphenyls in first-trimester maternal serum. Results: After multivariable adjustment including other OCs, DDE exposure above the first quartile was associated with doubling of the risk of rapid growth among children of normal-weight (BMI < 25 kg/m2), but not overweight, mothers. DDE was also associated with elevated BMI at 14 months (relative risk per unit increase in log DDE = 1.50; 95% confidence interval, 1.11–2.03). Other OCs were not associated with rapid growth or elevated BMI after adjustment. Conclusions: In this study we found prenatal DDE exposure to be associated with rapid weight gain in the first 6 months and elevated BMI later in infancy, among infants of normal-weight mothers. More research exploring the potential role of chemical exposures in early-onset obesity is needed.This work was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Health (FIS-PI041436), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Red INMA G03/176 and CB06/02/0041), the Generalitat de Catalunya-CIRIT (Consejo Interdepartamental de Investigación e Innovación Tecnológica) (1999SGR 00241), and the Fundació Roger Torne

Psychological, social and welfare interventions for psychological health and well-being of torture survivors

Background: Torture is widespread, with potentially broad and long-lasting impact across physical, psychological, social and other areas of life. Its complex and diverse effects interact with ethnicity, gender, and refugee experience. Health and welfare agencies offer varied rehabilitation services, from conventional mental health treatment to eclectic or needs-based interventions. This review is needed because relatively little outcome research has been done in this field, and no previous systematic review has been conducted. Resources are scarce, and the challenges of providing services can be considerable. Objectives: To assess beneficial and adverse effects of psychological, social and welfare interventions for torture survivors, and to comp are these effects with those reported by active and inactive controls. Search methods: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were identified through a search of PsycINFO, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINA HL), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTR AL) and the Cochrane Depression, Anxiety and Neurosis Specialise d Register (CCDANCTR), the Latin American and Caribbean Health Science Information Database (LILACS), the Open System for Information on Grey Literature in Europe (OpenSIGLE), the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (WHO ICTRP) and Published International Literature On Traumatic Stress (PILOTS) all years to 11 April 2013; searches of Cochrane resources, international trial registries and the main biomedical databases were updated on 20 June 2014. We also searched the On line Library of Dignity (Danish Institute against Torture), reference lists of reviews and included studies and the most frequently cited journals, up to April 2013 but not repeated for 2014. Investigators were contacted to provide updates or details as necessary. Selection criteria: Full publications of RCTs or quasi-RCTs of psychological, social or welfare interventions for survivors of torture against any active or inactive comparison condition. Data collection and analysis: We included all major sources of grey literature in our search and used standard methodological procedures as expected by The Cochrane Collaboration for collecting data, evaluating risk of bias and using GRADE (Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation) methods to assess the quality of evidence. Main results: Nine RCTs were included in this review. All were of psychological interventions; none provided social or welfare interventions. The nine trials provided data for 507 adults; none involved children or adolescents. Eight of the nine studies described individual treatment, and one discussed group treatment. Six trials were conducted in Europe, and three in different African countries. Most people were refugees in their thirties and forties; most met the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at the outset. Four trials used narrative exposure therapy (NET), one cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT ) and the other four used mixed methods for trauma symptoms, one of which included reconciliation methods. Five interventions were compared with active controls, such as psychoeducation; four used treatment as usual or waiting list/no treatment; we analysed all control conditions together. Duration of therapy varied from one hour to longer than 20 hours with a median of around 12 to 15 hours. All trials reported effects on distress and on PTSD, and two reported on quality of life. Five studies followed up participants for at least six months. No immediate benefits of psychological therapy were noted in comparison with controls in terms of our primary outcome of distress (usually depression), nor for PTSD symptoms, PTSD caseness, or quality of life. At six-month follow-up, three NET and one CBT study (86 participants) showed moderate effect sizes for intervention over control in reduction of distress (standardised me an difference (SMD) -0.63, 95% confidence interval (CI) -1.07 to -0.19) and of PTSD symptoms (SMD -0.52, 95% CI -0.97 to -0.07). However, the quality of evidence was very low, and risk of bias resulted from researcher/therapist allegiance to treatment methods, effects of uncertain asylum status of some people and real-time non-standardised translation of assessment measures. No measures of adverse events were described, nor of participation, social functioning, quantity of social or family relationships, proxy measures by third parties or satisfaction with treatment. Too few studies were identified for review authors to attempt sensitivity analyses. Authors’ conclusions: Very low-quality evidence suggests no differences between psychological therapies and controls in terms of immediate effects on post- traumatic symptoms, distress or quality of life; however, NET and CBT were found to confer moderate benefits in reducing dis tress and PTSD symptoms over the medium term (six months after treatment). Evidence was of very low quality, mainly because non- standardised assessment methods using interpreters were applied, and sample sizes were very small. Most eligible trials also revealed medium to high risk of bias. Further, attention to the cultural appropriateness of interventions or to their psychometric qualities was inadequate, and assessment measures used were unsuitable. As such, these findings should be interpreted with caution. No data were available on whether symptom reduction enabled improvements in quality of life, participation in community life, or in social and family relationships in the medium term. Details of adverse events and treatment satisfaction were not available immediately after treatment nor in the medium term. Future research should aim to address these gaps in the evidence and should include larger sample sizes when possible. Problems of torture survivors need to be defined far more broadly than by PTSD symptoms, and re cognition given to the contextual influences of being a torture survivor, including as an asylum seeker or refugee, on psychological and social health

Alteration of Sequence Specificity of the Type IIS Restriction Endonuclease BtsI

The Type IIS restriction endonuclease BtsI recognizes and digests at GCAGTG(2/0). It comprises two subunits: BtsIA and BtsIB. The BtsIB subunit contains the recognition domain, one catalytic domain for bottom strand nicking and part of the catalytic domain for the top strand nicking. BtsIA has the rest of the catalytic domain that is responsible for the DNA top strand nicking. BtsIA alone has no activity unless it mixes with BtsIB to reconstitute the BtsI activity. During characterization of the enzyme, we identified a BtsIB mutant R119A found to have a different digestion pattern from the wild type BtsI. After characterization, we found that BtsIB(R119A) is a novel restriction enzyme with a previously unreported recognition sequence CAGTG(2/0), which is named as BtsI-1. Compared with wild type BtsI, BtsI-1 showed different relative activities in NEB restriction enzyme reaction buffers NEB1, NEB2, NEB3 and NEB4 and less star activity. Similar to the wild type BtsIB subunit, the BtsI-1 B subunit alone can act as a bottom nicking enzyme recognizing CAGTG(-/0). This is the first successful case of a specificity change among this restriction endonuclease type

Oral chondroitin sulfate and prebiotics for the treatment of canine Inflammatory Bowel Disease: a randomized, controlled clinical trial

BACKGROUND Canine inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic enteropathy of unknown etiology, although microbiome dysbiosis, genetic susceptibility, and dietary and/or environmental factors are hypothesized to be involved in its pathogenesis. Since some of the current therapies are associated with severe side effects, novel therapeutic modalities are needed. A new oral supplement for long-term management of canine IBD containing chondroitin sulfate (CS) and prebiotics (resistant starch, β-glucans and mannaoligosaccharides) was developed to target intestinal inflammation and oxidative stress, and restore normobiosis, without exhibiting any side effects. This double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in dogs with IBD aims to evaluate the effects of 180 days administration of this supplement together with a hydrolyzed diet on clinical signs, intestinal histology, gut microbiota, and serum biomarkers of inflammation and oxidative stress. RESULTS Twenty-seven client-owned biopsy-confirmed IBD dogs were included in the study, switched to the same hydrolyzed diet and classified into one of two groups: supplement and placebo. Initially, there were no significant differences between groups (p > 0.05) for any of the studied parameters. Final data analysis (supplement: n = 9; placebo: n = 10) showed a significant decrease in canine IBD activity index (CIBDAI) score in both groups after treatment (p < 0.001). After treatment, a significant decrease (1.53-fold; p < 0.01) in histologic score was seen only in the supplement group. When groups were compared, the supplement group showed significantly higher serum cholesterol (p < 0.05) and paraoxonase-1 (PON1) levels after 60 days of treatment (p < 0.01), and the placebo group showed significantly reduced serum total antioxidant capacity (TAC) levels after 120 days (p < 0.05). No significant differences were found between groups at any time point for CIBDAI, WSAVA histologic score and fecal microbiota evaluated by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). No side effects were reported in any group. CONCLUSIONS The combined administration of the supplement with hydrolyzed diet over 180 days was safe and induced improvements in selected serum biomarkers, possibly suggesting a reduction in disease activity. This study was likely underpowered, therefore larger studies are warranted in order to demonstrate a supplemental effect to dietary treatment of this supplement on intestinal histology and CIBDAI