Improving Collection of Second Blood Pressure for Patients in Primary Care Who Present with an Elevated Reading

Purpose: Early diagnosis of hypertension is critical to prevent complications such as renal and cardiovascular diseases. Many healthcare facilities do not have a blood pressure training program educating appropriate staff on importance of accurate blood pressure readings and techniques. The purpose of this project is to improve the number of patients with elevated blood pressure reading at the OneWorld Quick Sick Clinic. Methods: Health aides/Health Assistants/Medical assistants at OneWorld Quick Sick will receive blood pressure training to review proper techniques. During this training they will also be educated on appropriate follow-up blood pressure readings and a new technique to document elevated readings. Results: Pre-data collection was obtained over a four-month period in the Quick Sick Clinic. These results indicated that only 24.1%-56.9% of patients during this time received a second blood pressure reading. Post-data collection after the health aide training showed an increase in the average range from 50%-58.6%. Conclusions: Implementation of the health aide blood pressure training program showed positive results in appropriate follow up blood pressure collection. There were also another two locations that participated after the initiation in Quick Sick. This further showed evidence of the effectiveness of the blood pressure training program

Expanding Our Understanding of Ovarian Cancer Risk: The Role of Incomplete Pregnancies

Background: Parity is associated with decreased risk of invasive ovarian cancer; however, the relationship between incomplete pregnancies and invasive ovarian cancer risk is unclear. This relationship was examined using 15 case-control studies from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC). Histotype-specific associations, which have not been examined previously with large sample sizes, were also evaluated. / Methods: A pooled analysis of 10 470 invasive epithelial ovarian cancer cases and 16 942 controls was conducted. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between incomplete pregnancies and invasive epithelial ovarian cancer were estimated using logistic regression. All models were conditioned on OCAC study, race and ethnicity, age, and education level and adjusted for number of complete pregnancies, oral contraceptive use, and history of breastfeeding. The same approach was used for histotype-specific analyses. / Results: Ever having an incomplete pregnancy was associated with a 16% reduction in ovarian cancer risk (OR = 0.84, 95% CI = 0.79 to 0.89). There was a trend of decreasing risk with increasing number of incomplete pregnancies (2-sided Ptrend < .001). An inverse association was observed for all major histotypes; it was strongest for clear cell ovarian cancer. / Conclusions: Incomplete pregnancies are associated with a reduced risk of invasive epithelial ovarian cancer. Pregnancy, including incomplete pregnancy, was associated with a greater reduction in risk of clear cell ovarian cancer, but the result was broadly consistent across histotypes. Future work should focus on understanding the mechanisms underlying this reduced risk

Methyl Complexes of the Transition Metals

Organometallic chemistry can be considered as a wide area of knowledge that combines concepts of classic organic chemistry, that is, based essentially on carbon, with molecular inorganic chemistry, especially with coordination compounds. Transition-metal methyl complexes probably represent the simplest and most fundamental way to view how these two major areas of chemistry combine and merge into novel species with intriguing features in terms of reactivity, structure, and bonding. Citing more than 500 bibliographic references, this review aims to offer a concise view of recent advances in the field of transition-metal complexes containing M-CH fragments. Taking into account the impressive amount of data that are continuously provided by organometallic chemists in this area, this review is mainly focused on results of the last five years. After a panoramic overview on M-CH compounds of Groups 3 to 11, which includes the most recent landmark findings in this area, two further sections are dedicated to methyl-bridged complexes and reactivity.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación Projects CTQ2010–15833, CTQ2013-45011 - P and Consolider - Ingenio 2010 CSD2007 - 00006Junta de Andalucía FQM - 119, Projects P09 - FQM - 5117 and FQM - 2126EU 7th Framework Program, Marie Skłodowska - Curie actions C OFUND – Agreement nº 26722

The Mouse Immunoglobulin Heavy Chain V-D Intergenic Sequence Contains Insulators That May Regulate Ordered V(D)J Recombination

During immunoglobulin heavy chain (Igh) V(D)J recombination, D to J precedes V to DJ recombination in an ordered manner, controlled by differential chromatin accessibility of the V and DJ regions and essential for correct antibody assembly. However, with the exception of the intronic enhancer Eμ, which regulates D to J recombination, cis-acting regulatory elements have not been identified. We have assembled the sequence of a strategically located 96-kb V-D intergenic region in the mouse Igh and analyzed its activity during lymphocyte development. We show that Eμ-dependent D antisense transcription, proposed to open chromatin before D to J recombination, extends into the V-D region for more than 30 kb in B cells before, during, and after V(D)J recombination and in T cells but terminates 40 kb from the first V gene. Thus, subsequent V antisense transcription before V to DJ recombination is actively prevented and must be independently activated. To find cis-acting elements that regulate this differential chromatin opening, we identified six DNase I-hypersensitive sites (HSs) in the V-D region. One conserved HS upstream of the first D gene locally regulates D genes. Two further conserved HSs near the D region mark a sharp decrease in antisense transcription, and both HSs bind CTCF in vivo. Further, they both possess enhancer-blocking activity in vivo. Thus, we propose that they are enhancer-blocking insulators preventing Eμ-dependent chromatin opening extending into the V region. Thus, they are the first elements identified that may control ordered V(D)J recombination and correct assembly of antibody genes

Erratum: Racial/ethnic differences in the epidemiology of ovarian cancer: a pooled analysis of 12 case-control studies (International journal of epidemiology (2018) 47 2 (460-472))

One of the authors did not declare a potential conflict of interest. The statement in the article should have read: “Conflict of interest: Patricia Moorman has received compensation for work related to litigation in regard to talc and ovarian cancer. The other authors declare no conflicts.