Cohabitation in Brazil : historical legacy and recent evolution

The availability of the micro data in the IPUMS samples for several censuses spanning a period of 40 years permits a detailed study of differentials and trends in cohabitation in Brazil than has hitherto been the case. The gist of the story is that the historical race/class and religious differentials and the historical spatial contrasts have largely been maintained, but are now operating at much higher levels than in the 1970s. During the last 40 years cohabitation has dramatically increased in all strata of the Brazilian population, and it has spread geographically to all areas in tandem with further expansions in the regions that had historically higher levels to start with. Moreover, the probability of cohabiting depends not only on individual-level characteristics but also on additional contextual effects operating at the level of meso-regions. The rise of cohabitation in Brazil fits the model of the "Second demographic transition", but it is grafted onto a historical pattern which is still manifesting itself in a number of ways

Microwave-assisted hydrolysis and extraction of tricyclic antidepressants from human hair

The objective of this research was to develop, optimize, and validate a modern, rapid method of preparation of human hair samples, using microwave irradiation, for analysis of eight tricyclic antidepressants (TCADs): nordoxepin, nortriptyline, imipramine, amitriptyline, doxepin, desipramine, clomipramine, and norclomipramine. It was based on simultaneous alkaline hair microwave-assisted hydrolysis and microwave-assisted extraction (MAH–MAE). Extracts were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography with diode-array detection (HPLC–DAD). A mixture of n-hexane and isoamyl alcohol (99:1, v/v) was used as extraction solvent and the process was performed at 60°C. Application of 1.0 mol L−1 NaOH and microwave irradiation for 40 min were found to be optimum for hair samples. Limits of detection ranged from 0.3 to 1.2 μg g−1 and LOQ from 0.9 to 4.0 μg g−1 for the different drugs. This enabled us to quantify them in hair samples within average therapeutic concentration ranges

Relationship between the morphology of the foveal avascular zone, retinal structure, and macular circulation in patients with diabetes mellitus

Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is an extremely severe and common degenerative disease. The purpose of this study was to quantify the relationship between various parameters including the Foveal Avascular Zone (FAZ) morphology, retinal layer thickness, and retinal hemodynamic properties in healthy controls and patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) with and with no mild DR (MDR) using Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (Spectralis SDOCT, Heidelberg Engineering GmbH, Germany) and the Retinal Function Imager (Optical Imaging, Ltd., Rehovot, Israel). Our results showed a higher FAZ area and diameter in MDR patients. Blood flow analysis also showed that there is a significantly smaller venous blood flow velocity in MDR patients. Also, a significant difference in roundness was observed between DM and MDR groups supporting the development of asymmetrical FAZ expansion with worsening DR. Our results suggest a potential anisotropy in the mechanical properties of the diabetic retina with no retinopathy that may trigger the FAZ elongation in a preferred direction resulting in either thinning or thickening of intraretinal layers in the inner and outer segments of the retina as a result of autoregulation. A detailed understanding of these relationships may facilitate earlier detection of DR, allowing for preservation of vision and better clinical outcomes

Analysis of chemokine and chemokine receptor expression in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) cell lines

The purpose of this work was to analyze chemokine and chemokine receptor expression in untreated and in irradiated squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) tumor cell lines, aiming at the establishment of assays to test for the relevance of chemokine and chemokine receptor expression in the response of SCCHN to radiotherapy and radiochemotherapy. Five low passage and 10 established SCCHN lines, as well as two normal cell lines, were irradiated at 2 Gy or sham-irradiated, and harvested between 1 and 48 h after treatment. For chemokines with CC and CXC structural motifs and their receptors, transcript levels of target and reference genes were quantified relatively by real-time PCR. In addition, CXCL1 and CXCL12 protein expression was analyzed by ELISA. A substantial variation in chemokine and chemokine receptor expression between SCCHN was detected. Practically, all cell lines expressed CCL5 and CCL20, while CCL2 was expressed in normal cells and in some of the tumor cell lines. CXCL1, CXCL2, CXCL3, CXCL10, and CXCL11 were expressed in the vast majority of the cell lines, while the expression of CXCL9 and CXCL12 was restricted to fibroblasts and few tumor cell lines. None of the analyzed cell lines expressed the chemokines CCL3, CCL4, or CCL19. Of the receptors, transcript expression of CCR1, CCR2, CCR3, CCR5, CCR7, CCXR2, and CCXR3 was not detected, and CCR6, CXCR1, and CXCR4 expression was restricted to few tumor cells. Radiation caused up- and down-regulation with respect to chemokine expressions, while for chemokine receptor expressions down-regulations were prevailing. CXCL1 and CXCL12 protein expression corresponded well with the mRNA expression. We conclude that the substantial variation in chemokine and chemokine receptor expression between SCCHN offer opportunities for the establishment of assays to test for the relevance of chemokine and chemokine receptor expression in the response of SCCHN to radiotherapy and radiochemotherapy

The additional value of patient-reported health status in predicting 1-year mortality after invasive coronary procedures: A report from the Euro Heart Survey on Coronary Revascularisation

Objective: Self-perceived health status may be helpful in identifying patients at high risk for adverse outcomes. The Euro Heart Survey on Coronary Revascularization (EHS-CR) provided an opportunity to explore whether impaired health status was a predictor of 1-year mortality in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) undergoing angiographic procedures. Methods: Data from the EHS-CR that included 5619 patients from 31 member countries of the European Society of Cardiology were used. Inclusion criteria for the current study were completion of a self-report measure of health status, the EuroQol Questionnaire (EQ-5D) at discharge and information on 1-year follow-up, resulting in a study population of 3786 patients. Results: The 1-year mortality was 3.2% (n = 120). Survivors reported fewer problems on the five dimensions of the EQ-5D as compared with non-survivors. A broad range of potential confounders were adjusted for, which reached a p<0.10 in the unadjusted analyses. In the adjusted analyses, problems with self-care (OR 3.45; 95% CI 2.14 to 5.59) and a low rating (≤ 60) on health status (OR 2.41; 95% CI 1.47 to 3.94) were the most powerful independent predictors of mortality, among the 22 clinical variables included in the analysis. Furthermore, patients who reported no problems on all five dimensions had significantly lower 1-year mortality rates (OR 0.47; 95% CI 0.28 to 0.81). Conclusions: This analysis shows that impaired health status is associated with a 2-3-fold increased risk of all-cause mortality in patients with CAD, independent of other conventional risk factors. These results highlight the importance of including patients' subjective experience of their own health status in the evaluation strategy to optimise risk stratification and management in clinical practice

The V471A polymorphism in autophagy-related gene ATG7 modifies age at onset specifically in Italian Huntington disease patients

The cause of Huntington disease (HD) is a polyglutamine repeat expansion of more than 36 units in the huntingtin protein, which is inversely correlated with the age at onset of the disease. However, additional genetic factors are believed to modify the course and the age at onset of HD. Recently, we identified the V471A polymorphism in the autophagy-related gene ATG7, a key component of the autophagy pathway that plays an important role in HD pathogenesis, to be associated with the age at onset in a large group of European Huntington disease patients. To confirm this association in a second independent patient cohort, we analysed the ATG7 V471A polymorphism in additional 1,464 European HD patients of the “REGISTRY” cohort from the European Huntington Disease Network (EHDN). In the entire REGISTRY cohort we could not confirm a modifying effect of the ATG7 V471A polymorphism. However, analysing a modifying effect of ATG7 in these REGISTRY patients and in patients of our previous HD cohort according to their ethnic origin, we identified a significant effect of the ATG7 V471A polymorphism on the HD age at onset only in the Italian population (327 patients). In these Italian patients, the polymorphism is associated with a 6-years earlier disease onset and thus seems to have an aggravating effect. We could specify the role of ATG7 as a genetic modifier for HD particularly in the Italian population. This result affirms the modifying influence of the autophagic pathway on the course of HD, but also suggests population-specific modifying mechanisms in HD pathogenesis