Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of asthma in ethnically diverse North American populations.

Asthma is a common disease with a complex risk architecture including both genetic and environmental factors. We performed a meta-analysis of North American genome-wide association studies of asthma in 5,416 individuals with asthma (cases) including individuals of European American, African American or African Caribbean, and Latino ancestry, with replication in an additional 12,649 individuals from the same ethnic groups. We identified five susceptibility loci. Four were at previously reported loci on 17q21, near IL1RL1, TSLP and IL33, but we report for the first time, to our knowledge, that these loci are associated with asthma risk in three ethnic groups. In addition, we identified a new asthma susceptibility locus at PYHIN1, with the association being specific to individuals of African descent (P = 3.9 × 10(-9)). These results suggest that some asthma susceptibility loci are robust to differences in ancestry when sufficiently large samples sizes are investigated, and that ancestry-specific associations also contribute to the complex genetic architecture of asthma

Oral squamous cell cancer: early detection and the role of alcohol and smoking

Objective: Oral squamous cell carcinoma has a remarkable incidence worldwide and a fairly onerous prognosis, encouraging further research on factors that might modify disease outcome. Data sources: A web-based search for all types of articles published was initiated using Medline/Pub Med, with the key words such as oral cancer, alcohol consumption, genetic polymorphisms, tobacco smoking and prevention. The search was restricted to articles published in English, with no publication date restriction (last update 2010). Review Methods: In this review article, we approach the factors for a cytologic diagnosis during OSCC development and the markers used in modern diagnostic technologies as well. We also reviewed available studies of the combined effects of alcohol drinking and genetic polymorphisms on alcohol-related cancer risk. Results: The interaction of smoking and alcohol significantly increases the risk for aero-digestive cancers. The interaction between smoking and alcohol consumption seems to be responsible for a significant amount of disease. Conclusion: Published scientific data show promising pathways for the future development of more effective prognosis. There is a clear need for new prognostic indicators, which could be used in diagnostics and, therefore a better selection of the most effective treatment can be achieved

The effects of self-generated versus supplied interactive images on the long-term retention of ELF vocabulary by college students

The present study. using a between-participants factorial ANOVA design, investigated the extent to which self-generated interactive images (standard keyword) were more effective than researcher-supplied images (keyword + interaction) in the long-term retention of EFL vocabulary by college students. It also assessed the extent to which these two versions of the keyword method were more effective than the rote method. The results indicated that the effectiveness of self--generated images was statistically comparable to that of researcherdeveloped ones. Additionalll, the results indicated that only, the standard versión of the keyword method produced significantly superior long-term recall to the rote method

Spanish Civil Protection System as a Part of European Union Emergency Response

European Union is a union of sovereign democratic countries which commonly agreed to integrate and, depending on the area, cooperate towards achieving better quality of life of European citizens. In the case of safety and security, since it is still national domain mainly, rather cooperation than integration aspect is prevailing. Since threats do not respect administrative borders it is the most important to do as much as possible for the cooperation improvement which, in fundamentals, could be done by knowing and understanding each other’s national civil protection and emergency response systems. Things are getting even more complicated if the object of scientific inquires in this respect is a country which is actually a federation of autonomous states as in the case of Spain or Germany. Then the national system as a matter of fact is being composed of a few or even several autonomous regional systems which are constituted and regulated on the regional level of the federation. This type of situation results from the historical, political, geographical backgrounds and due to many more reasons, however, it is always good to put a question how such systems operate in case of emergency? In order to present a synthetic description of the Spanish civil protection and emergency response system scientific methods of cognition such as the critical analysis of legal acts and normative documents as well as synthesis were used in the research. The study concluded with the future challenges for the system which should be undertaken to improve its efficiency

Identifying the Importance of Disaster Resilience Dimensions across Different Countries Using the Delphi Method

Supplementary Materials: The following are available online at https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/su14159162/s1, Figure S1: Results of the internal cluster validity indices, S8: Survey used in the Delphi process, Table S1: Countries selected in the research, Table S2: Imputation of missing values: identification of the nearest neighbors, geographical meaningfulness, and availability of data, Table S3: Clusters of countries considering 3 clusters, Table S4: Clusters of countries considering 4 clusters, Table S5. Clusters of countries considering 5 clusters, Table S6: Clusters of countries considering 6 clusters, Table S7: First structure of the proposed DRI, Table S8: Average scores (sc) and normalized weights (w) of the Social sub-dimensions by cluster, Table S9: Average scores (sc) and normalized weights (w) of the Economic sub-dimensions by cluster, Table S10: Average scores (sc) and normalized weights (w) of the Environmental sub-dimensions by cluster, Table S11: Average scores (sc) and normalized weights (w) of the Habitat sub-dimensions by cluster, Table S12: Average scores (sc) and normalized weights (w) of the Infrastructure sub-dimensions by cluster, Table S13: Average scores (sc) and normalized weights (w) of the Institutional sub-dimensions by cluster.Informed Consent Statement: Informed consent of the participants was waived according to a Statement from the Ethics Committee of the Centre for Social Studies (CE-CES).The article proposes a framework establishing a disaster resilience index applicable worldwide that accounts for differences between countries in terms of development and in terms of the relevance of several resilience dimensions. To achieve this index, countries were clustered using an indicator that reflected their performance according to the Sustainable Development Goals. For each cluster of countries, a Delphi process was used to obtain scores for every resilience dimension and sub-dimension that were then transformed into weights that varied from cluster to cluster to reflect differences in sustainable development. The article discusses the methodology that led to the quantification of the weights according to the Delphi process, as well as its results. The results highlighted the anticipated differences between different groups of countries, but also reflected cluster-specific features that should be accounted for when analyzing disaster resilience. The article also discusses different applications and possible improvements of the proposed framework based on comments collected during the Delphi process

Amelioration of lapine osteoarthritis by treatment with glycosaminoglycan–peptide association complex (Rumalon)

The chondroprotective potential of glycosaminoglycan–peptide association complex (GP‐C) was examined in the medial meniscectomy model of lapine osteoarthritis (OA). Prophylactic treatment with increasing doses of intramuscular GP‐C (0.05–0.5 ml/kg) caused a significant reduction in OA lesion area and histologic scores, and the effect on disease activity appeared to be dose related. The DNA and uronic acid contents of OA tissue were unaffected by prophylactic treatment with GP‐C. However, levels of hydroxyproline in OA cartilage increased to near control levels with prophylactic treatment. Cartilage levels of active and total metalloproteinases that digest proteoglycans were elevated in rabbits with OA; prophylactic treatment with low‐dose GP‐C (0.05 ml/kg) produced a significant reduction in active, but not total, enzyme. Cartilage levels of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases in animals with OA were comparable with control levels, but rose with increasing doses of GP‐C. We also investigated GP‐C as a therapeutic treatment in animals that had already developed OA lesions. Carbon black retention and histologic score returned to near‐normal after therapeutic treatment with GP‐C. Uronic acid and hydroxyproline levels were decreased in OA cartilage. Therapeutic treatment with GP‐C had no statistically significant effect on uronic acid levels, but was associated with increased hydroxyproline content in the cartilage. The changes in metalloproteinase and metalloproteinase inhibitor were similar to those found in the studies of prophylactic treatment. The findings in this animal model may help explain some of the beneficial effects of GP‐C in human OA

FDG-PET/CT in colorectal cancer:potential for vascular-metabolic imaging to provide markers of prognosis

PURPOSE: This study assesses the potential for vascular-metabolic imaging with FluoroDeoxyGlucose (FDG)–Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) perfusion to provide markers of prognosis specific to the site and stage of colorectal cancer. METHODS: This prospective observational study comprised of participants with suspected colorectal cancer categorized as either (a) non-metastatic colon cancer (M0colon), (b) non-metastatic rectal cancer (M0rectum), or (c) metastatic colorectal cancer (M+). Combined FDG-PET/CT perfusion imaging was successfully performed in 286 participants (184 males, 102 females, age: 69.60 ± 10 years) deriving vascular and metabolic imaging parameters. Vascular and metabolic imaging parameters alone and in combination were investigated with respect to overall survival. RESULTS: A vascular-metabolic signature that was significantly associated with poorer survival was identified for each patient group: M0colon – high Total Lesion Glycolysis (TLG) with increased Permeability Surface Area Product/Blood Flow (PS/BF), Hazard Ratio (HR) 3.472 (95% CI: 1.441–8.333), p = 0.006; M0rectum – high Metabolic Tumour Volume (MTV) with increased PS/BF, HR 4.567 (95% CI: 1.901–10.970), p = 0.001; M+ participants, high MTV with longer Time To Peak (TTP) enhancement, HR 2.421 (95% CI: 1.162–5.045), p = 0.018. In participants with stage 2 colon cancer as well as those with stage 3 rectal cancer, the vascular-metabolic signature could stratify the prognosis of these participants. CONCLUSION: Vascular and metabolic imaging using FDG-PET/CT can be used to synergise prognostic markers. The hazard ratios suggest that the technique may have clinical utility