Human health risk assessment: A case study involving heavy metal soil contamination after the flooding of the river Meuse during the winter of 1993-1994.

At the end of December 1993 and also at the end of January 1995, the river Meuse, one of the major rivers in Europe, flooded and river banks were inundated. We investigated the possible health risks of exposure to heavy metal concentrations in river bank soils resulting from the flooding of the river Meuse at the end of 1993. Soil and deposit samples and corresponding aerable and fodder crops were collected and analyzed for heavy metals. Although the soils of the floodplain of the river Meuse appeared severely polluted mainly by Cd and Zn, the heavy metal concentrations in the crops grown on these soils were within background ranges. Incidentally, the legal standard for Cd as endorsed by the Commodities Act was exceeded in wheat crops. The main exposure pathways for the general population were through the consumption of food crops grown on the river banks and through the direct ingestion of contaminated soils. For estimating potential human exposure in relation to soil pollution, we used a multiple pathway exposure model. For estimating the actual risk, we determined metal contents of vegetables grown in six experimental gardens. From this study, it can be concluded that there is a potential health risk for the river bank inhabitants as a consequence of Pb and Cd contaminations of the floodplain soils of the river Meuse, which are frequently inundated (averaged flooding frequency once every 2 years)

The BDNF Val66Met polymorphism moderates the relationship between cognitive reserve and executive function

The concept of cognitive reserve (CR) has been proposed to account for observed discrepancies between pathology and its clinical manifestation due to underlying differences in brain structure and function. In 433 healthy older adults participating in the Tasmanian Healthy Brain Project, we investigated whether common polymorphic variations in apolipoprotein E (APOE) or brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) influenced the association between CR contributors and cognitive function in older adults. We show that BDNF Val66Met moderates the association between CR and executive function. CR accounted for 8.5% of the variance in executive function in BDNF Val homozygotes, but CR was a nonsignificant predictor in BDNF Met carriers. APOE polymorphisms were not linked to the influence of CR on cognitive function. This result implicates BDNF in having an important role in capacity for building or accessing CR

Expression and functional analysis of Nr2e3, a photoreceptor-specific nuclear receptor, suggest common mechanisms in retinal development between avians and mammals

The photoreceptor-specific nuclear receptor (PNR; Nr2e3) is a transcription factor important for retinal development. We report here the identification and expression analysis of the avian Nr2e3. Nr2e3 mRNA is expressed in the photoreceptor layer of the neural retina during early stages of chick embryogenesis. Its temporal expression is distinct from that of a related nuclear receptor, Tlx. Chick Nr2e3 recognizes and binds to the same target DNA sequence as its vertebrate orthologs. Functional assays revealed that chick Nr2e3 acts as a transcriptional repressor. Our results suggest that Nr2e3 plays a common role in retinal development in vertebrates

The formation of professional identity in medical students: considerations for educators

<b>Context</b> Medical education is about more than acquiring an appropriate level of knowledge and developing relevant skills. To practice medicine students need to develop a professional identity – ways of being and relating in professional contexts.<p></p> <b>Objectives</b> This article conceptualises the processes underlying the formation and maintenance of medical students’ professional identity drawing on concepts from social psychology.<p></p> <b>Implications</b> A multi-dimensional model of identity and identity formation, along with the concepts of identity capital and multiple identities, are presented. The implications for educators are discussed.<p></p> <b>Conclusions</b> Identity formation is mainly social and relational in nature. Educators, and the wider medical society, need to utilise and maximise the opportunities that exist in the various relational settings students experience. Education in its broadest sense is about the transformation of the self into new ways of thinking and relating. Helping students form, and successfully integrate their professional selves into their multiple identities, is a fundamental of medical education

Dental management considerations for the patient with an acquired coagulopathy. Part 1: Coagulopathies from systemic disease

Current teaching suggests that many patients are at risk for prolonged bleeding during and following invasive dental procedures, due to an acquired coagulopathy from systemic disease and/or from medications. However, treatment standards for these patients often are the result of long-standing dogma with little or no scientific basis. The medical history is critical for the identification of patients potentially at risk for prolonged bleeding from dental treatment. Some time-honoured laboratory tests have little or no use in community dental practice. Loss of functioning hepatic, renal, or bone marrow tissue predisposes to acquired coagulopathies through different mechanisms, but the relationship to oral haemostasis is poorly understood. Given the lack of established, science-based standards, proper dental management requires an understanding of certain principles of pathophysiology for these medical conditions and a few standard laboratory tests. Making changes in anticoagulant drug regimens are often unwarranted and/or expensive, and can put patients at far greater risk for morbidity and mortality than the unlikely outcome of postoperative bleeding. It should be recognised that prolonged bleeding is a rare event following invasive dental procedures, and therefore the vast majority of patients with suspected acquired coagulopathies are best managed in the community practice setting

Delayed Imitation of Lipsmacking Gestures by Infant Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta)

Human infants are capable of accurately matching facial gestures of an experimenter within a few hours after birth, a phenomenon called neonatal imitation. Recent studies have suggested that rather than being a simple reflexive-like behavior, infants exert active control over imitative responses and ‘provoke’ previously imitated gestures even after a delay of up to 24 h. Delayed imitation is regarded as the hallmark of a sophisticated capacity to control and flexibly engage in affective communication and has been described as an indicator of innate protoconversational readiness. However, we are not the only primates to exhibit neonatal imitation, and delayed imitation abilities may not be uniquely human. Here we report that 1-week-old infant rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) who show immediate imitation of a lipsmacking gesture also show delayed imitation of lipsmacking, facilitated by a tendency to refrain from lipsmacking toward a still face during baseline measurements. Individual differences in delayed imitation suggest that differentially matured cortical mechanisms may be involved, allowing some newborns macaques to actively participate in communicative exchanges from birth. Macaque infants are endowed with basic social competencies of intersubjective communication that indicate cognitive and emotional commonality between humans and macaques, which may have evolved to nurture an affective mother-infant relationship in primates

Vitamin D supplementation and breast cancer prevention : a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials

In recent years, the scientific evidence linking vitamin D status or supplementation to breast cancer has grown notably. To investigate the role of vitamin D supplementation on breast cancer incidence, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials comparing vitamin D with placebo or no treatment. We used OVID to search MEDLINE (R), EMBASE and CENTRAL until April 2012. We screened the reference lists of included studies and used the “Related Article” feature in PubMed to identify additional articles. No language restrictions were applied. Two reviewers independently extracted data on methodological quality, participants, intervention, comparison and outcomes. Risk Ratios and 95% Confident Intervals for breast cancer were pooled using a random-effects model. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I2 test. In sensitivity analysis, we assessed the impact of vitamin D dosage and mode of administration on treatment effects. Only two randomized controlled trials fulfilled the pre-set inclusion criteria. The pooled analysis included 5372 postmenopausal women. Overall, Risk Ratios and 95% Confident Intervals were 1.11 and 0.74–1.68. We found no evidence of heterogeneity. Neither vitamin D dosage nor mode of administration significantly affected breast cancer risk. However, treatment efficacy was somewhat greater when vitamin D was administered at the highest dosage and in combination with calcium (Risk Ratio 0.58, 95% Confident Interval 0.23–1.47 and Risk Ratio 0.93, 95% Confident Interval 0.54–1.60, respectively). In conclusions, vitamin D use seems not to be associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer development in postmenopausal women. However, the available evidence is still limited and inadequate to draw firm conclusions. Study protocol code: FARM8L2B5L

A Smart Toy Intervention to Promote Emotion Regulation in Middle Childhood: Feasibility Study

BACKGROUND: A common challenge with existing psycho-social prevention interventions for children is the lack of effective, engaging, and scalable delivery mechanisms, especially beyond in-person therapeutic or school-based contexts. Although digital technology has the potential to address these issues, existing research on technology-enabled interventions for families remains limited. This paper focuses on emotion regulation (ER) as an example of a core protective factor that is commonly targeted by prevention interventions. // OBJECTIVE: The aim of this pilot study was to provide an initial validation of the logic model and feasibility of in situ deployment for a new technology-enabled intervention, designed to support children's in-the-moment ER efforts. The novelty of the proposed approach relies on delivering the intervention through an interactive object (a smart toy) sent home with the child, without any prior training necessary for either the child or their carer. This study examined (1) engagement and acceptability of the toy in the homes during 1-week deployments, and (2) qualitative indicators of ER effects, as reported by parents and children. In total, 10 families (altogether 11 children aged 6-10 years) were recruited from 3 predominantly underprivileged communities in the United Kingdom, as low SES populations have been shown to be particularly at risk for less developed ER competencies. Children were given the prototype, a discovery book, and a simple digital camera to keep at home for 7 to 8 days. Data were gathered through a number of channels: (1) semistructured interviews with parents and children prior to and right after the deployment, (2) photos children took during the deployment, and (3) touch interactions automatically logged by the prototype throughout the deployment. // RESULTS: Across all families, parents and children reported that the smart toy was incorporated into the children's ER practices and engaged with naturally in moments the children wanted to relax or calm down. Data suggested that the children interacted with the toy throughout the deployment, found the experience enjoyable, and all requested to keep the toy longer. Children's emotional connection to the toy appears to have driven this strong engagement. Parents reported satisfaction with and acceptability of the toy. // CONCLUSIONS: This is the first known study on the use of technology-enabled intervention delivery to support ER in situ. The strong engagement, incorporation into children's ER practices, and qualitative indications of effects are promising. Further efficacy research is needed to extend these indicative data by examining the psychological efficacy of the proposed intervention. More broadly, our findings argue for the potential of a technology-enabled shift in how future prevention interventions are designed and delivered: empowering children and parents through child-led, situated interventions, where participants learn through actionable support directly within family life, as opposed to didactic in-person workshops and a subsequent skills application