Population, sexual and reproductive health, rights and sustainable development: forging a common agenda.

This article suggests that sexual and reproductive health and rights activists seeking to influence the post-2015 international development paradigm must work with sustainable development advocates concerned with a range of issues, including climate change, environmental issues, and food and water security, and that a way of building bridges with these communities is to demonstrate how sexual and reproductive health and rights are relevant for these issues. An understanding of population dynamics, including urbanization and migration, as well as population growth, can help to clarify these links. This article therefore suggests that whether or not sexual and reproductive health and rights activists can overcome resistance to discussing "population", become more knowledgeable about other sustainable development issues, and work with others in those fields to advance the global sustainable development agenda are crucial questions for the coming months. The article also contends that it is possible to care about population dynamics (including ageing and problems faced by countries with a high proportion of young people) and care about human rights at the same time. It expresses concern that, if sexual and reproductive health and rights advocates do not participate in the population dynamics discourse, the field will be left free for those for whom respecting and protecting rights may be less of a priority

Using sequence data to identify alternative routes and risk of infection: a case-study of campylobacter in Scotland

<b>Background:</b> Genetic typing data are a potentially powerful resource for determining how infection is acquired. In this paper MLST typing was used to distinguish the routes and risks of infection of humans with Campylobacter jejuni from poultry and ruminant sources.<p></p> <b>Methods:</b> C. jejuni samples from animal and environmental sources and from reported human cases confirmed between June 2005 and September 2006 were typed using MLST. The STRUCTURE software was used to assign the specific sequence types of the sporadic human cases to a particular source. We then used mixed case-case logistic regression analysis to compare the risk factors for being infected with C. jejuni from different sources.<p></p> <b>Results:</b> A total of 1,599 (46.3%) cases were assigned to poultry, 1,070 (31.0%) to ruminant and 67 (1.9%) to wild bird sources; the remaining 715 (20.7%) did not have a source that could be assigned with a probability of greater than 0.95. Compared to ruminant sources, cases attributed to poultry sources were typically among adults (odds ratio (OR) = 1.497, 95% confidence intervals (CIs) = 1.211, 1.852), not among males (OR = 0.834, 95% CIs = 0.712, 0.977), in areas with population density of greater than 500 people/km(2) (OR = 1.213, 95% CIs = 1.030, 1.431), reported in the winter (OR = 1.272, 95% CIs = 1.067, 1.517) and had undertaken recent overseas travel (OR = 1.618, 95% CIs = 1.056, 2.481). The poultry assigned strains had a similar epidemiology to the unassigned strains, with the exception of a significantly higher likelihood of reporting overseas travel in unassigned strains.<p></p> <b>Conclusions:</b> Rather than estimate relative risks for acquiring infection, our analyses show that individuals acquire C. jejuni infection from different sources have different associated risk factors. By enhancing our ability to identify at-risk groups and the times at which these groups are likely to be at risk, this work allows public health messages to be targeted more effectively. The rapidly increasing capacity to conduct genetic typing of pathogens makes such traced epidemiological analysis more accessible and has the potential to substantially enhance epidemiological risk factor studies

Revisiting the pulsational characteristics of the exoplanet host star β Pictoris

Context. Exoplanet properties crucially depend on the parameters of their host stars: more accurate stellar parameters yield more accurate exoplanet characteristics. When the exoplanet host star shows pulsations, asteroseismology can be used for an improved description of the stellar parameters. Aims. We aim to revisit the pulsational properties of β Pic and identify its pulsation modes from normalized amplitudes in five different passbands. We also investigate the potential presence of a magnetic field. Methods. We conducted a frequency analysis using three seasons of BRITE-Constellation observations in the two BRITE filters, the about 620-day-long bRing light curve, and the nearly 8-year-long SMEI photometric time series. We calculated normalized amplitudes using all passbands and including previously published values obtained from ASTEP observations. We investigated the magnetic properties of β Pic using spectropolarimetric observations conducted with the HARPSpol instrument. Using 2D rotating models, we fit the normalized amplitudes and frequencies through Monte Carlo Markov chains. Results. We identify 15 pulsation frequencies in the range from 34 to 55 d−1, where two, F13 at 53.6917 d−1 and F11 at 50.4921 d−1, display clear amplitude variability. We use the normalized amplitudes in up to five passbands to identify the modes as three ℓ = 1, six ℓ = 2, and six ℓ = 3 modes. β Pic is shown to be non-magnetic with an upper limit of the possible undetected dipolar field of 300 Gauss. Conclusions. Multiple fits to the frequencies and normalized amplitudes are obtained, including one with a near equator-on inclination for β Pic, which corresponds to our expectations based on the orbital inclination of β Pic b and the orientation of the circumstellar disk. This solution leads to a rotation rate of 27% of the Keplerian breakup velocity, a radius of 1.497 ± 0.025 R⊙, and a mass of 1.797 ± 0.035 M⊙. The ∼2% errors in radius and mass do not account for uncertainties in the models and a potentially erroneous mode-identification.D.R.R. acknowledges the support of the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) to the ESRR project under grant ANR16-CE31-0007 as well as financial support from the Programme National de Physique Stellaire (PNPS) of the CNRS/INSU co-funded by the CEA and the CNES. A.Pi. acknowledges support from the NCN grant 2016/21/B/ST9/01126. APo was responsible for image processing and automation of photometric routines for the data registered by the BRITE nano-satellite constellation, and was supported by the statutory activities grant BK/200/RAU1/2018 t.3. GH thanks the Polish National Center for Science (NCN) for support through grant 2015/18/A/ST9/00578. The research of S.M.R. and A.F.J.M. has been supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada. GAW acknowledges Discovery Grant support from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada. MI was the recipient of an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT130100235) funded by the Australian Government. SNM is a U.S. Department of Defense SMART scholar sponsored by the U.S. Navy through SSC-LANT. Part of this research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. E.E.M. and S.N.M. acknowledge support from the NASA NExSS program. The bRing observatory at Siding Springs, Australia was supported by a University of Rochester University Research Award

Low energy kaon nuclei interaction studies at DAΦNE

A preliminar study of these kind of hadronic interactions is being done by the AMADEUS collabo- ration by analyzing the existent KLOE data

Treatment of Rat Spinal Cord Injury with the Neurotrophic Factor Albumin-Oleic Acid: Translational Application for Paralysis, Spasticity and Pain

Sensorimotor dysfunction following incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI) is often characterized by the debilitating symptoms of paralysis, spasticity and pain, which require treatment with novel pleiotropic pharmacological agents. Previous in vitro studies suggest that Albumin (Alb) and Oleic Acid (OA) may play a role together as an endogenous neurotrophic factor. Although Alb can promote basic recovery of motor function after iSCI, the therapeutic effect of OA or Alb-OA on a known translational measure of SCI associated with symptoms of spasticity and change in nociception has not been studied. Following T9 spinal contusion injury in Wistar rats, intrathecal treatment with: i) Saline, ii) Alb (0.4 nanomoles), iii) OA (80 nanomoles), iv) Alb-Elaidic acid (0.4/80 nanomoles), or v) Alb-OA (0.4/80 nanomoles) were evaluated on basic motor function, temporal summation of noxious reflex activity, and with a new test of descending modulation of spinal activity below the SCI up to one month after injury. Albumin, OA and Alb-OA treatment inhibited nociceptive Tibialis Anterior (TA) reflex activity. Moreover Alb-OA synergistically promoted early recovery of locomotor activity to 50±10% of control and promoted de novo phasic descending inhibition of TA noxious reflex activity to 47±5% following non-invasive electrical conditioning stimulation applied above the iSCI. Spinal L4–L5 immunohistochemistry demonstrated a unique increase in serotonin fibre innervation up to 4.2±1.1 and 2.3±0.3 fold within the dorsal and ventral horn respectively with Alb-OA treatment when compared to uninjured tissue, in addition to a reduction in NR1 NMDA receptor phosphorylation and microglia reactivity. Early recovery of voluntary motor function accompanied with tonic and de novo phasic descending inhibition of nociceptive TA flexor reflex activity following Alb-OA treatment, mediated via known endogenous spinal mechanisms of action, suggests a clinical application of this novel neurotrophic factor for the treatment of paralysis, spasticity and pain

Seasonality in Human Zoonotic Enteric Diseases: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND: Although seasonality is a defining characteristic of many infectious diseases, few studies have described and compared seasonal patterns across diseases globally, impeding our understanding of putative mechanisms. Here, we review seasonal patterns across five enteric zoonotic diseases: campylobacteriosis, salmonellosis, vero-cytotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC), cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis in the context of two primary drivers of seasonality: (i) environmental effects on pathogen occurrence and pathogen-host associations and (ii) population characteristics/behaviour. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We systematically reviewed published literature from 1960-2010, resulting in the review of 86 studies across the five diseases. The Gini coefficient compared temporal variations in incidence across diseases and the monthly seasonality index characterised timing of seasonal peaks. Consistent seasonal patterns across transnational boundaries, albeit with regional variations was observed. The bacterial diseases all had a distinct summer peak, with identical Gini values for campylobacteriosis and salmonellosis (0.22) and a higher index for VTEC (Gini  0.36). Cryptosporidiosis displayed a bi-modal peak with spring and summer highs and the most marked temporal variation (Gini = 0.39). Giardiasis showed a relatively small summer increase and was the least variable (Gini = 0.18). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Seasonal variation in enteric zoonotic diseases is ubiquitous, with regional variations highlighting complex environment-pathogen-host interactions. Results suggest that proximal environmental influences and host population dynamics, together with distal, longer-term climatic variability could have important direct and indirect consequences for future enteric disease risk. Additional understanding of the concerted influence of these factors on disease patterns may improve assessment and prediction of enteric disease burden in temperate, developed countries

Parsimonious Gene Correlation Network Analysis (PGCNA): a tool to define modular gene co-expression for refined molecular stratification in cancer

Cancers converge onto shared patterns that arise from constraints placed by the biology of the originating cell lineage and microenvironment on programs driven by oncogenic events. Here we define consistent expression modules reflecting this structure in colon and breast cancer by exploiting expression data resources and a new computationally efficient approach that we validate against other comparable methods. This approach, Parsimonious Gene Correlation Network Analysis (PGCNA), allows comparison of network structures between these cancer types identifying shared modules of gene co-expression reflecting: cancer hallmarks, functional and structural gene batteries, copy number variation and biology of originating lineage. These networks along with the mapping of outcome data at gene and module level provide an interactive resource that generates context for relationships between genes within and between such modules. Assigning module expression values (MEVs) provides a tool to summarize network level gene expression in individual cases illustrating potential utility in classification and allowing analysis of linkage between module expression and mutational state. Exploiting TCGA data thus defines both recurrent patterns of association between module expression and mutation at data-set level, and exemplifies the polarization of mutation patterns with the leading edge of module expression at individual case level. We illustrate the scalable nature of the approach within immune response related modules, which in the context of breast cancer demonstrates the selective association of immune subsets, in particular mast cells, with the underlying mutational pattern. Together our analyses provide evidence for a generalizable framework to enhance molecular stratification in cancer