Income distribution patterns from a complete social security database

We analyze the income distribution of employees for 9 consecutive years (2001-2009) using a complete social security database for an economically important district of Romania. The database contains detailed information on more than half million taxpayers, including their monthly salaries from all employers where they worked. Besides studying the characteristic distribution functions in the high and low/medium income limits, the database allows us a detailed dynamical study by following the time-evolution of the taxpayers income. To our knowledge, this is the first extensive study of this kind (a previous japanese taxpayers survey was limited to two years). In the high income limit we prove once again the validity of Pareto's law, obtaining a perfect scaling on four orders of magnitude in the rank for all the studied years. The obtained Pareto exponents are quite stable with values around $\alpha \approx 2.5$, in spite of the fact that during this period the economy developed rapidly and also a financial-economic crisis hit Romania in 2007-2008. For the low and medium income category we confirmed the exponential-type income distribution. Following the income of employees in time, we have found that the top limit of the income distribution is a highly dynamical region with strong fluctuations in the rank. In this region, the observed dynamics is consistent with a multiplicative random growth hypothesis. Contrarily with previous results obtained for the japanese employees, we find that the logarithmic growth-rate is not independent of the income.Comment: 10 pages, 7 Figure

Intake of caffeine and its association with physical and mental health status among university students

In Western populations, the caffeine intake of young adults has received significant attention in the research literature; our knowledge in other societies remained limited. The objective of this research is to quantify the amount of ingested caffeine and how this is related to measures of physical and mental health in a Bahraini population. A semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire was used to estimate caffeine intake from coffee, tea, cocoa, soft drinks, energy drinks, chocolates, and over-the-counter medications. Associations between caffeine intake, demographic variables and 25 symptoms measured using the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-25 were examined. A convenience sample of university students in Bahrain (n = 727) was surveyed. Caffeine, in any form, was consumed by 98% of students. Mean daily caffeine consumption was 268 mg/day, with males consuming more than females. Coffee was the main source of caffeine intake, followed by black tea and energy drinks. Participants consuming 400 mg/day or more showed a statistically and significantly twice as high risk for five symptoms, these were: headaches, spells of terror or panic, feeling trapped or caught, worrying too much about things, and having feelings of worthlessness. The prevalence of caffeine intake among university students in Bahrain is high. The overall mean intake of caffeine from all sources by university students was within levels considered to be acceptable by many dietary recommendations. High caffeine intake was associated with an anxiogenic effect in the surveyed students. View Full-Tex

Up-regulation of microRNA-21 correlates with lower kidney cancer survival.

BackgroundMicroRNA-21 is up-regulated in a variety of cancers like, breast, colorectal, lung, head and neck etc. However, the regulation of miR-21 in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has not yet been studied systematically.Methods and resultsWe measured miR-21 levels in 54 pairs of kidney cancers and their normal matched tissues by real-time PCR. The expression level of miR-21 was correlated with 5 year survival and the pathological stage. Functional studies were done after inhibiting miR-21 in RCC cell lines. We studied in vitro and in vivo effects of the chemo preventive agent genistein on miR-21 expression. In 48 cases (90%), miR-21 was increased. All patients with low miR-21 expression survived 5 years, while with high miR-21 expression, only 50% survived. Higher expression of miR-21 is associated with an increase in the stage of renal cancer. Functional studies after inhibiting miRNA-21 in RCC cell lines show cell cycle arrest, induction of apoptosis and reduced invasive and migratory capabilities. Western blot analysis showed an increase in the expression of p21 and p38 MAP kinase genes and a reduction in cyclin E2. Genistein inhibited the expression of miR-21 in A-498 cells and in the tumors formed after injecting genistein treated A-498 cells in nude mice besides inhibiting tumor formation.ConclusionsThe current study shows a clear correlation between miR-21 expression and clinical characteristics of renal cancer. Thus we believe that miR-21 can be used as a tumor marker and its inhibition may prove to be useful in controlling cancers with up-regulated miR-21

PHYSICO-CHEMICAL ASSESSMENT OF WATER SAMPLES COLLECTED FROM SOME SELECTED STREAMS AND RIVERS IN DISTRICT GILGIT, PAKISTAN

This study aims to provide information about the drinking water quality of two streams in Chakarkote Sai and Demote Sai and two rivers in Gilgit and Hunza. Parameters were tested including physical, and chemical. The physical parameters were temperature, pH, electric conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), turbidity, dissolved oxygen (DO), ammonia (NH4),total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and reactive orthophosphate (PO4). The ranges of these parameters set by WHO and NEQs, as most of the Asian countries also follow the WHO standards. All the samples were tested in the EPA certified laboratory of biological sciences department Karakorum international university Gilgit Baltistan. The minimum and maximum values of temperature 15.2-18.4, PH 6.78-6.09, EC 109.3-297 µS, TDS 53.8-149 ppm, Turbidity 0.29-88.4 NTU, DO 7.1-8.9 mg/l, TN 5.63-7.13 mg/l, NH4 0.0106-0.0151 mg/l, TP 0.042-0.143mg/l, and PO4 0.0059-0.016 mg/l. Independent T test was applied separately for both streams and rivers to determine significant difference of water properties with respect to location wise. Water parameters like DO and TP were significantly, while temperature, PH, EC, TDS, turbidity, TN, NH4, PO4 were non-significant in streams and TDS, turbidity, DO and TN were significant, while temperature, PH, EC, NH4, TP, PO4 were non-significant in rivers according to area wise

Characterization and Prevalence of a New Porcine Calicivirus in Swine, United States

Real-time reverse transcription PCR revealed that new St-Valerien–like porcine caliciviruses are prevalent (2.6%–80%; 23.8% overall) in finisher pigs in North Carolina. One strain, NC-WGP93C, shares 89.3%–89.7% genomic nucleotide identity with Canadian strains. Whether these viruses cause disease in pigs or humans or are of food safety concern requires further investigation

Distinct sex-specific gene expression changes in the placenta in association with childhood allergy

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of allergic disease has risen significantly during recent years. A major component of the susceptibility to allergic disease is determined in prenatal life, when the placenta plays a central role in fetal growth and development. In this study, we aimed to identify the patterns of gene expression in the placenta that may program early immune function to increase susceptibility to allergy. METHODS: A set of immune genes known to be associated with asthma, allergy and inflammation were selected for analysis by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) on placental tissue from infants who did or did not develop an allergy by 2 years of age. Analysis was performed on males and females separately for each allergy type including eczema, rhinitis or asthma. RESULTS: Of 11 candidate allergy-associated genes tested by qRT-PCR, 4 were found to be associated with the development of specific childhood allergy types (P < 0.05). These included MMP9 for both males and females that developed eczema, TLR7 for females that developed eczema, KITL1 for males that developed rhinitis and ORMDL3 for females that developed asthma. CONCLUSIONS: This study has identified altered expression of placental genes involved in inflammation in association with the development of specific allergies in childhood. The current data provide supporting evidence implicating the placenta in programming the fetal immune system in early life.Astrud R Tuck, Luke E Grzeskowiak, Annette Osei-Kumah, Zarqa Saif, Suzanne M Edwards, Andrew Tai, Susan L Prescott, MeriTulic, Richard Saffery, and Vicki L Clifto

Local tumor progression patterns after radiofrequency ablation of colorectal cancer liver metastases

PURPOSE:We aimed to evaluate patterns of local tumor progression (LTP) after radiofrequency ablation (RF ablation) of colorectal cancer liver metastases (CRCLM) and to highlight the percentage of LTP not attributable to lesion size or RF ablation procedure-related factors (heat sink or insufficient ablation margin).METHODS:CRCLM treated by RF ablation at a single tertiary care center from 2004–2012, with a minimum of six months of postprocedure follow-up, were included in this retrospective study. LTP morphology was classified as focal nodular (270°), or crescentic (90°–270°). Initial metastasis size, minimum ablation margin size, morphology of LTP, presence of a heat sink, and time to progression were recorded independently by two radiologists.RESULTS:Thirty-two of 127 RF ablation treated metastases (25%) with a mean size of 23 mm (standard deviation 12 mm) exhibited LTP. Fifteen of 32 LTPs (47%) were classified as focal nodular, with seven having no procedure-related factor to explain recurrence. Ten of 32 LTPs (31%) were circumferential, with four having no procedure-related factor to explain recurrence. Seven of 32 LTPs (22%) were crescentic, with two having no procedure-related factor to explain recurrence. Of the 13 lesions without any obvious procedure-related reason for LTP, six (46%) were <3 cm in size.CONCLUSION:Although LTP in RF ablation treated CRCLM can often be explained by procedure-related factors or size of the lesion, in this study up to six (5%) of the CRCLM we treated showed LTP without any reasonable cause

IGF2BP2 alternative variants associated with glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies negative diabetes in Malaysian subjects

Background: The association of Insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA-binding protein 2 (IGF2BP2) common variants (rs4402960 and rs1470579) with type 2 diabetes (T2D) has been performed in different populations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of alternative variants of IGF2BP2; rs6777038, rs16860234 and rs7651090 with glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies (GADA) negative diabetes in Malaysian Subjects. Methods/Principal Findings: IGF2BP2; rs6777038, rs16860234 and rs7651090 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped in 1107 GADA negative diabetic patients and 620 control subjects of Asian from Malaysia. The additive genetic model adjusted for age, race, gender and BMI showed that alternative variants; rs6777038, rs16860234 and rs7651090 of IGF2BP2 associated with GADA negative diabetes (OR = 1.21; 1.36; 1.35, P = 0.03; 0.0004; 0.0002, respectively). In addition, the CCG haplotype and diplotype CCG-TCG increased the risk of diabetes (OR = 1.51, P = 0.01; OR = 2.36, P = 0.009, respectively). Conclusions/Significance: IGF2BP2 alternative variants were associated with GADA negative diabetes. The IGF2BP2 haplotypes and diplotypes increased the risk of diabetes in Malaysian subject