Increased Mortality from Lung Cancer and Bronchiectasis in Young Adults after Exposure to Arsenic in Utero and in Early Childhood

Arsenic in drinking water is an established cause of lung cancer, and preliminary evidence suggests that ingested arsenic may also cause nonmalignant lung disease. Antofagasta is the second largest city in Chile and had a distinct period of very high arsenic exposure that began in 1958 and lasted until 1971, when an arsenic removal plant was installed. This unique exposure scenario provides a rare opportunity to investigate the long-term mortality impact of early-life arsenic exposure. In this study, we compared mortality rates in Antofagasta in the period 1989–2000 with those of the rest of Chile, focusing on subjects who were born during or just before the peak exposure period and who were 30–49 years of age at the time of death. For the birth cohort born just before the high-exposure period (1950–1957) and exposed in early childhood, the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) for lung cancer was 7.0 [95% confidence interval (CI), 5.4–8.9; p < 0.001] and the SMR for bronchiectasis was 12.4 (95% CI, 3.3–31.7; p < 0.001). For those born during the high-exposure period (1958–1970) with probable exposure in utero and early childhood, the corresponding SMRs were 6.1 (95% CI, 3.5–9.9; p < 0.001) for lung cancer and 46.2 (95% CI, 21.1–87.7; p < 0.001) for bronchiectasis. These findings suggest that exposure to arsenic in drinking water during early childhood or in utero has pronounced pulmonary effects, greatly increasing subsequent mortality in young adults from both malignant and nonmalignant lung disease

Challenges in context-aware mobile language learning: the MASELTOV approach

Smartphones, as highly portable networked computing devices with embedded sensors including GPS receivers, are ideal platforms to support context-aware language learning. They can enable learning when the user is en-gaged in everyday activities while out and about, complementing formal language classes. A significant challenge, however, has been the practical implementation of services that can accurately identify and make use of context, particularly location, to offer meaningful language learning recommendations to users. In this paper we review a range of approaches to identifying context to support mobile language learning. We consider how dynamically changing aspects of context may influence the quality of recommendations presented to a user. We introduce the MASELTOV project’s use of context awareness combined with a rules-based recommendation engine to present suitable learning content to recent immigrants in urban areas; a group that may benefit from contextual support and can use the city as a learning environment

Cultural effects on neurodevelopmental testing in children from six European countries: An analysis of NUTRIMENTHE Global Database

Cultural background is an important variable influencing neuropsychological performance. Multinational projects usually involve gathering data from participants from different countries and/or different cultures. Little is known about the influence of culture on neuropsychological testing results in children and especially in European children. The objectives of this study were to compare neuropsychological performance of children from six European countries (Belgium, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland and Spain) using a comprehensive neuropsychological battery and to apply a statistical procedure to reduce the influence of country/cultural differences in neuropsychological performance. As expected, the results demonstrated differences in neuropsychological performance among children of the six countries involved. Cultural differences remained after adjusting for other confounders related to neuropsychological execution, such as sex, type of delivery, maternal age, gestational age and maternal educational level. Differences between countries disappeared and influence of culture was considerably reduced when standardised scores by country and sex were used. These results highlight the need for developing specific procedures to compare neuropsychological performance among children from different cultures to be used in multicentre studies

Foodways in transition: food plants, diet and local perceptions of change in a Costa Rican Ngäbe community

Background Indigenous populations are undergoing rapid ethnobiological, nutritional and socioeconomic transitions while being increasingly integrated into modernizing societies. To better understand the dynamics of these transitions, this article aims to characterize the cultural domain of food plants and analyze its relation with current day diets, and the local perceptions of changes given amongst the Ngäbe people of Southern Conte-Burica, Costa Rica, as production of food plants by its residents is hypothesized to be drastically in recession with an decreased local production in the area and new conservation and development paradigms being implemented. Methods Extensive freelisting, interviews and workshops were used to collect the data from 72 participants on their knowledge of food plants, their current dietary practices and their perceptions of change in local foodways, while cultural domain analysis, descriptive statistical analyses and development of fundamental explanatory themes were employed to analyze the data. Results Results show a food plants domain composed of 140 species, of which 85 % grow in the area, with a medium level of cultural consensus, and some age-based variation. Although many plants still grow in the area, in many key species a decrease on local production–even abandonment–was found, with much reduced cultivation areas. Yet, the domain appears to be largely theoretical, with little evidence of use; and the diet today is predominantly dependent on foods bought from the store (more than 50 % of basic ingredients), many of which were not salient or not even recognized as ‘food plants’ in freelists exercises. While changes in the importance of food plants were largely deemed a result of changes in cultural preferences for store bought processed food stuffs and changing values associated with farming and being food self-sufficient, Ngäbe were also aware of how changing household livelihood activities, and the subsequent loss of knowledge and use of food plants, were in fact being driven by changes in social and political policies, despite increases in forest cover and biodiversity. Conclusions Ngäbe foodways are changing in different and somewhat disconnected ways: knowledge of food plants is varied, reflecting most relevant changes in dietary practices such as lower cultivation areas and greater dependence on food from stores by all families. We attribute dietary shifts to socioeconomic and political changes in recent decades, in particular to a reduction of local production of food, new economic structures and agents related to the State and globalization

Association between Chronic Arsenic Exposure and Nutritional Status among the Women of Child Bearing Age: A Case-Control Study in Bangladesh

The role of nutritional factors in arsenic metabolism and toxicity is yet to be fully elucidated. A low protein diet results in decreased excretion of DMA and increased tissue retention of arsenic in experimental studies. Malnourished women carry a higher risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Chronic exposure to high arsenic (>50 μg/L) through drinking water also increases the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. The synergistic effects (if any) of malnutrition and chronic arsenic exposure may worsen the adverse pregnancy outcomes. This population based case control study reports the association between chronic arsenic exposure and nutritional status among the rural women in Bangladesh. 348 cases (BMI < 18.5) and 360 controls (BMI 18.5–24.99) were recruited from a baseline survey conducted among 2,341 women. An excess risk for malnutrition was observed among the participants chronically exposed to higher concentrations of arsenic in drinking water after adjusting for potential confounders such as participant’s age, religion, education, monthly household income and history of oral contraceptive pills. Women exposed to arsenic >50 μg/L were at 1.9 times (Odds Ratio = 1.9, 95% CI = 1.1–3.6) increased risk of malnutrition compared to unexposed. The findings of this study suggest that chronic arsenic exposure is likely to contribute to poor nutritional status among women of 20–45 years

Recommendations of the LHC Dark Matter Working Group: Comparing LHC searches for dark matter mediators in visible and invisible decay channels and calculations of the thermal relic density

Weakly-coupled TeV-scale particles may mediate the interactions between normal matter and dark matter. If so, the LHC would produce dark matter through these mediators, leading to the familiar “mono-X” search signatures, but the mediators would also produce signals without missing momentum via the same vertices involved in their production. This document from the LHC Dark Matter Working Group suggests how to compare searches for these two types of signals in case of vector and axial-vector mediators, based on a workshop that took place on September 19/20, 2016 and subsequent discussions. These suggestions include how to extend the spin-1 mediated simplified models already in widespread use to include lepton couplings. This document also provides analytic calculations of the relic density in the simplified models and reports an issue that arose when ATLAS and CMS first began to use preliminary numerical calculations of the dark matter relic density in these models

Comparison of visual and refractive results of Toric Implantable Collamer Lens with bioptics for myopic astigmatism

PURPOSE: To compare visual and refractive results of Toric Implantable Collamer Lens (TICL) and bioptics (ICL plus excimer corneal surgery) to treat myopic astigmatism. METHODS: Eighty-one eyes underwent TICL implantation and 83 eyes were treated with bioptics (corneal ablation was performed between 1.5 and 6 months after ICL implantation). Uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA), corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), refraction, adverse events, safety, and efficacy were evaluated 12 months postoperatively. RESULTS: At 12 months postoperatively, the mean spherical equivalent was -0.15 ± 0.36 diopters (D) in the TICL group and -0.08 ± 0.26 D in the bioptics group (p = 0.099). Sixty-six (81.5 %) and 78 (94.0 %) eyes were within ±0.50 D for TICL and bioptics groups, respectively. The mean Snellen UDVA was not statistically different between both procedures (p = 0.909); 53 (65.4 %) and 54 (65.1 %) eyes achieved at least 20/25 or better in TICL and bioptics groups, respectively. No eye had lost more than two lines of CDVA, and 32.1 % of eyes (26/81) in the TICL group and 57.8 % of eyes (48/83) in the bioptics group had better postoperative UDVA than preoperative CDVA (p < 0.001). Safety was not statistically different between groups (p = 0.464) while efficacy was significantly higher in the bioptics group (p = 0.000). Two eyes with a TICL were treated to correct TICL decentration. CONCLUSIONS: Bioptics showed slightly better outcomes in some clinical measures such as uncorrected visual acuity, efficacy, and refractive predictability. TICL implantation shows reliable results similar to bioptics. A single procedure with TICL implantation might be preferred, eliminating the inherent risks of laser treatments and the risks of a second surgical procedure.The authors have no proprietary interests in any of the materials mentioned in this article. This research was supported in part by a Universitat de Valencia Research Grant to Robert Montes-Mico (#SAF2009-13342 and #SAF2008-01114-E#) and Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia of Portugal through a Grant to Paulo Fernandes (#FCT-SFRH-BD-34303-2007#)