New Measure of Insulin Sensitivity Predicts Cardiovascular Disease Better than HOMA Estimated Insulin Resistance

10.1371/journal.pone.0074410PLoS ONE89-POLN

A 3D numerical approach to assess the temporal evolution of settlement damage to buildings on cavities subject to weathering

The goal of this paper is to show how a recently developed advanced hydro-chemo-mechanical (HCM) coupled constitutive and numerical model for soft rocks can be applied to predict the temporal evolution of settlement damage to buildings on cavities subject to weathering. In particular, a building damage index (BDI) and its evolution with time is proposed. The definition of the BDI is inspired by the work of Boscardin and Cording (1989) and uses the surface differential settlements obtained by finite element (FE) analyses to assess how far a building is from a non-acceptable service condition. By modelling the reactive transport of chemical species in 3D and using a coupled Chemo-Hydro-Mechanical (CHM) constitutive and numerical model, it is possible to simulate weathering scenarios and monitor the temporal evolution of surface settlements making the BDI time dependent. This approach is applied to evaluate the damage evolution of two buildings lying on two anthropic caves in a calcarenite deposit belonging to the Calcarenite di Gravina Formation. Standard and advanced experimental tests are performed on the in-situ material and the results are used to calibrate the constitutive model. The soundness of both constitutive relationship and reactive transport solver is subsequently tested by simulating two laboratory scale boundary value experiments. The first is a model footing test on dry and wet calcarenite while the second is a small scale pillar that, after the saturation induced short-term water weakening, fails due to a long term dissolution weathering process. Finally, both 2 and 3D coupled finite element (FE) analyses simulating different weathering scenarios and corresponding settlements affecting the buildings above the considered cavities are presented. Particular attention is placed on assessing the BDI and its temporal evolution

Comparison of individual-level and population-level risk factors for rhinoconjunctivitis, asthma, and eczema in the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) Phase Three

Background Symptoms of asthma, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, and atopic eczema in children cluster at both the individual and population levels. Objectives To assess individual-level and school-level risk factors for symptoms of rhinoconjunctivitis and compare them to corresponding associations with symptoms of asthma and eczema in Phase Three of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood. Methods We studied 116,863 children aged 6–7 years from 2163 schools in 59 centres and 22 countries and 224,436 adolescents aged 13–14 years from 2037 schools in 97 centres in 41 countries. Multilevel logistic regression models were fitted with random intercepts for school, centre, and country, adjusting for sex and maternal education at the child level. Associations between symptoms and a range of lifestyle and environmental risk factors were assessed for both the child's exposure and mean exposure at the school. Models were fitted for rhinoconjunctivitis, asthma, and eczema singly (unimorbidity) and for combinations of these conditions (multimorbidity). Results Generally, associations between symptoms and exposures at the school level were similar in direction and magnitude to those at the child level. Associations with multimorbidity were stronger than for unimorbidity, particularly in individuals with symptoms of all three diseases, but risk factor associations found in conventional single disease analyses persisted among children with only one condition, after excluding multimorbid groups. Comparisons of individuals with only one disease showed that many risk factor associations were consistent across the three conditions. More strongly associated with asthma were low birthweight, cat exposure in infancy, and current maternal smoking. Current paracetamol use was more strongly associated with asthma and rhinoconjunctivitis than eczema. Breastfeeding was more strongly associated with eczema than asthma or rhinoconjunctivitis. The direction and magnitude of most risk factor associations were similar in affluent and non-affluent countries, although notable exceptions include farm animal contact in infancy and larger sibships, which were associated with increased risk of rhinoconjunctivitis in non-affluent countries but reduced risk in affluent countries. In both age groups, current paracetamol use increased risk of each disease to a greater extent in affluent countries than in non-affluent countries. Effects of paracetamol and antibiotics in infancy were more consistent between richer and poorer settings. Conclusions Most of the environmental and lifestyle correlates of rhinoconjunctivitis, asthma and eczema in childhood display similarity across the three conditions, even in less affluent settings where allergic sensitisation is less likely to explain the concordant epidemiological patterns

Subgrouping the autism "spectrum": reflections on DSM-5

DSM-5 has moved autism from the level of subgroups ("apples and oranges") to the prototypical level ("fruit"). But making progress in research, and ultimately improving clinical practice, will require identifying subgroups within the autism spectrum

Are Environmental Factors for Atopic Eczema in ISAAC Phase Three due to Reverse Causation?

(c) 2018 The AuthorsSome previously described environmental associations for atopic eczema may be due to reverse causation. We explored the role of reverse causation by comparing individual- and school-level results for multiple atopic eczema risk factors. The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (i.e, ISAAC) Phase Three surveyed children in schools (the sampling unit) regarding atopic eczema symptoms and potential risk factors. We assessed the effect of these risk factors on atopic eczema symptoms using mixed-effect logistic regression models, first with individual-level exposure data and second with school-level exposure prevalence. Overall, 546,348 children from 53 countries were included. At ages 6-7 years, the strongest individual-level associations were with current paracetamol use (odds ratio [OR] = 1.45, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.37-1.54), which persisted at school-level (OR = 1.55, 95% CI = 1.10-2.21), early-life antibiotics (OR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.34-1.48), and early-life paracetamol use (OR = 1.28, 95% CI = 1.21-1.36), with the former persisting at the school level, whereas the latter was no longer observed (OR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.00-1.82 and OR = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.69-1.28, respectively). At ages 13-14 years, the strongest associations at the individual level were with current paracetamol use (OR = 1.57, 95% CI = 1.51-1.63) and open-fire cooking (OR = 1.46, 95% CI = 1.33-1.62); both were stronger at the school level (OR = 2.57, 95% CI = 1.84-3.59 and OR = 2.38, 95% CI = 1.52-3.73, respectively). Association with exposure to heavy traffic (OR = 1.31, 95% CI = 1.27-1.36) also persisted at the school level (OR = 1.40, 95% CI = 1.07-1.82). Most individual- and school-level effects were consistent, tending to exclude reverse causation.Publishe

Potential asthma risk factors do not account for global asthma symptom prevalence patterns and time trends in children and adolescents.

BACKGROUND: The International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) and the Global Asthma Network (GAN) conducted a series of global asthma prevalence surveys, between 1990 and 2020, in adolescents aged 13-14 and children aged 6-7 years. We used them to assess whether potential asthma risk factors explain global asthma symptom prevalence trends over this period. METHOD: We fitted mixed-effects linear regression models to estimate associations between centre-level risk factor prevalence and both the mid-point asthma symptom prevalence and the change per decade. We also estimated the 2019 asthma symptom prevalence across all included centres. RESULTS: For adolescents, across 50 centres in 26 countries there was weak evidence that decreasing asthma prevalence over time was associated with regular fast-food consumption and frequent television viewing. However, frequent television viewing, along with heavy truck traffic, were associated with higher prevalence of asthma symptoms at the study mid-point. For children, across 41 centres in 21 countries, no risk factors were associated with time trends in asthma symptom prevalence, but truck traffic and paracetamol in the first year of life were associated with higher mid-point prevalence.We estimated the 2019 asthma symptom prevalence, across a total of 124 centres, to be 12.8% (11.4%, 14.2%) with little evidence of a difference by age. Low-income countries had lower prevalence (children 5.2% [2.5%, 7.8%], adolescents 5.3% [2.8%, 7.8%]), than lower-middle-, upper-middle- and high-income countries (all approximately 14-15%). Including risk factors in the models did not change the estimates. CONCLUSION: Potential asthma risk factors do not seem to explain the global prevalence patterns or time trends. Country income accounts for some of the differences, but the unexplained variation is very high

Nothing Lasts Forever: Environmental Discourses on the Collapse of Past Societies

The study of the collapse of past societies raises many questions for the theory and practice of archaeology. Interest in collapse extends as well into the natural sciences and environmental and sustainability policy. Despite a range of approaches to collapse, the predominant paradigm is environmental collapse, which I argue obscures recognition of the dynamic role of social processes that lie at the heart of human communities. These environmental discourses, together with confusion over terminology and the concepts of collapse, have created widespread aporia about collapse and resulted in the creation of mixed messages about complex historical and social processes

Evaluating Sex and Age Differences in ADI-R and ADOS Scores in a Large European Multi-site Sample of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Research on sex-related differences in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has been impeded by small samples. We pooled 28 datasets from 18 sites across nine European countries to examine sex differences in the ASD phenotype on the ADI-R (376 females, 1763 males) and ADOS (233 females, 1187 males). On the ADI-R, early childhood restricted and repetitive behaviours were lower in females than males, alongside comparable levels of social interaction and communication difficulties in females and males. Current ADI-R and ADOS scores showed no sex differences for ASD severity. There were lower socio-communicative symptoms in older compared to younger individuals. This large European ASD sample adds to the literature on sex and age variations of ASD symptomatology

Asthma inflammatory phenotypes on four continents: most asthma is non-eosinophilic

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/BACKGROUND: Most studies assessing pathophysiological heterogeneity in asthma have been conducted in high-income countries (HICs), with little known about the prevalence and characteristics of different asthma inflammatory phenotypes in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). This study assessed sputum inflammatory phenotypes in five centres, in Brazil, Ecuador, Uganda, New Zealand (NZ) and the United Kingdom (UK). METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 998 asthmatics and 356 non-asthmatics in 2016-20. All centres studied children and adolescents (age range 8-20 years), except the UK centre which involved 26-27 year-olds. Information was collected using questionnaires, clinical characterization, blood and induced sputum. RESULTS: Of 623 asthmatics with sputum results, 39% (243) were classified as eosinophilic or mixed granulocytic, i.e. eosinophilic asthma (EA). Adjusted for age and sex, with NZ as baseline, the UK showed similar odds of EA (odds ratio 1.04, 95% confidence interval 0.37-2.94) with lower odds in the LMICs: Brazil (0.73, 0.42-1.27), Ecuador (0.40, 0.24-0.66) and Uganda (0.62, 0.37-1.04). Despite the low prevalence of neutrophilic asthma in most centres, sputum neutrophilia was increased in asthmatics and non-asthmatics in Uganda. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first time that sputum induction has been used to compare asthma inflammatory phenotypes in HICs and LMICs. Most cases were non-eosinophilic, including in settings where corticosteroid use was low. A lower prevalence of EA was observed in the LMICs than in the HICs. This has major implications for asthma prevention and management, and suggests that novel prevention strategies and therapies specifically targeting non-eosinophilic asthma are required globally.Publishe

Visual Scan Paths and Recognition of Facial Identity in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typical Development

Background: Previous research suggests that many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have impaired facial identity recognition, and also exhibit abnormal visual scanning of faces. Here, two hypotheses accounting for an association between these observations were tested: i) better facial identity recognition is associated with increased gaze time on the Eye region; ii) better facial identity recognition is associated with increased eye-movements around the face. Methodology and Principal Findings: Eye-movements of 11 children with ASD and 11 age-matched typically developing (TD) controls were recorded whilst they viewed a series of faces, and then completed a two alternative forced-choice recognition memory test for the faces. Scores on the memory task were standardized according to age. In both groups, there was no evidence of an association between the proportion of time spent looking at the Eye region of faces and age-standardized recognition performance, thus the first hypothesis was rejected. However, the 'Dynamic Scanning Index' - which was incremented each time the participant saccaded into and out of one of the core-feature interest areas - was strongly asso ciated with age-standardized face recognition scores in both groups, even after controlling for various other potential predictors of performance. Conclusions and Significance: In support of the second hypothesis, results suggested that increased saccading between core-features was associated with more accurate face recognition ability, both in typical development and ASD. Causal directions of this relationship remain undetermined.10 page(s