Lifelong Negative Influence of School Violence on Children.

violence in the school environment is a constant concern for educators and parents and is a serious and often lifelong burden for the young victims. School violence is not just a limited problem, variously affecting specific or isolated communities in economic advantaged or disadvantaged areas, but a global modern phenomenon involving, to various degrees, one of the core social institutions of our society.The European Paediatric Association-Union of National European Paediatric Societies and Associations (EPA/UNEPSA), through the working group on social pediatrics, supported by its European national pediatric societies members, is currently developing dedicated projects to investigate the physical, psychological, and social impacts of school violence on European children and its possible lifelong risks. The purpose of this commentary is to raise awareness on this issue among healthcare professionals involved in childcare and to emphasize the importance of their participation in programs that are developed to monitor and prevent the negative, personal, and social impact

Prevention and contrast of child abuse and neglect in the practice of European paediatricians: a multi-national pilot study

Background: Child abuse and neglect, or maltreatment, is a serious public health problem, which may cause long-term effects on children's health and wellbeing and expose them to further adulthood vulnerabilities. Studies on child maltreatment performed in Europe are scarce, and the number of participants enrolled relatively small. The aim of this multi-national European pilot study, was to evaluate the level of understanding and perception of the concepts of child abuse and neglect by European paediatricians working in different medical settings, and the attitude toward these forms of maltreatment in their practice. Methods: The study was performed by a cross-sectional, descriptive, online survey, made available online to European paediatricians members of 50 national paediatric, who belonged to four different medical settings: hospital, family care, university centres and private practice. The questionnaire, designed as a multiple choice questions survey, with a single answer option consisted of 22 questions/statements. Frequency analyses were applied. Most of the data were described using univariate analysis and Chi-squared tests were used to compare the respondents and answers and a significance level of p ≤ 0.05 applied. Results: Findings show that European paediatricians consider the training on child maltreatment currently provided by medical school curricula and paediatric residency courses to be largely insufficient and continuing education courses were considered of great importance to cover educational gaps. Physical violence was recognized by paediatricians mostly during occasional visits with a significant correlation between detecting abuse during an occasional visit and being a primary care paediatrician. Results also showed a reluctance by paediatricians to report cases of maltreatment to the competent judicial authorities. Conclusions: Data of this study may provide useful contribution to the current limited knowledge about the familiarity of European paediatricians with child maltreatment and their skills to recognize, manage and contrast abusive childhood experiences in their practice. Finally, they could provide local legislators and health authorities with information useful to further improve public health approaches and rules able to effectively address shared risk and protective factors, which could prevent child abuse and neglect from ever occurring

Poor concordance between interferon-γ release assays and tuberculin skin tests in diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection among HIV-infected individuals

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A new generation of diagnostic tests, the interferon-γ release assays (IGRAs), have been developed for the detection of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). Limited data are available on their use in HIV-infected persons.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional study was carried out at 2 HIV clinics in Atlanta to assess the utility of two IGRA tests (T-SPOT.TB [TSPOT] and QuantiFERON-TB Gold in Tube [QFT-3G]) compared to the tuberculin skin test (TST).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>336 HIV-infected persons were enrolled. Median CD4 count was 335 cells/μl and median HIV viral load was 400 copies/ml. Overall, 27 patients (8.0%) had at least 1 positive diagnostic test for LTBI: 7 (2.1%) had a positive TST; 9 (2.7%) a positive QFT-3G; and 14 (4.2%) a positive TSPOT. Agreement between the 3 diagnostic tests was poor: TST and TSPOT, [κ = 0.16, 95% CI (-0.06, 0.39)], TST and QFT-3G [κ = 0.23, 95% CI (-0.05, 0.51)], QFT-3G and TSPOT [κ = 0.06, 95% CI (-0.1, 0.2)]. An indeterminate test result occurred among 6 (1.8%) of QFT-3G and 47 (14%) of TSPOT tests. In multivariate analysis, patients with a CD4 ≤ 200 cells/μl were significantly more likely to have an indeterminate result [OR = 3.6, 95% CI (1.9, 6.8)].</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We found a low prevalence of LTBI and poor concordance between all 3 diagnostic tests. Indeterminate test results were more likely at CD4 counts ≤ 200 cells/μl. Additional studies among HIV-infected populations with a high prevalence of TB are needed to further assess the utility of IGRAs in this patient population.</p

A change in the optical polarization associated with a gamma-ray flare in the blazar 3C 279

It is widely accepted that strong and variable radiation detected over all accessible energy bands in a number of active galaxies arises from a relativistic, Doppler-boosted jet pointing close to our line of sight. The size of the emitting zone and the location of this region relative to the central supermassive black hole are, however, poorly known, with estimates ranging from light-hours to a light-year or more. Here we report the coincidence of a gamma-ray flare with a dramatic change of optical polarization angle. This provides evidence for co-spatiality of optical and gamma-ray emission regions and indicates a highly ordered jet magnetic field. The results also require a non-axisymmetric structure of the emission zone, implying a curved trajectory for the emitting material within the jet, with the dissipation region located at a considerable distance from the black hole, at about 10^5 gravitational radii.Comment: Published in Nature issued on 18 February 2010. Corresponding authors: Masaaki Hayashida and Greg Madejsk

Regression toward the mean – a detection method for unknown population mean based on Mee and Chua's algorithm

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Regression to the mean (RTM) occurs in situations of repeated measurements when extreme values are followed by measurements in the same subjects that are closer to the mean of the basic population. In uncontrolled studies such changes are likely to be interpreted as a real treatment effect.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Several statistical approaches have been developed to analyse such situations, including the algorithm of Mee and Chua which assumes a known population mean <it>μ</it>. We extend this approach to a situation where <it>μ </it>is unknown and suggest to vary it systematically over a range of reasonable values. Using differential calculus we provide formulas to estimate the range of <it>μ </it>where treatment effects are likely to occur when RTM is present.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We successfully applied our method to three real world examples denoting situations when (a) no treatment effect can be confirmed regardless which <it>μ </it>is true, (b) when a treatment effect must be assumed independent from the true <it>μ </it>and (c) in the appraisal of results of uncontrolled studies.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our method can be used to separate the wheat from the chaff in situations, when one has to interpret the results of uncontrolled studies. In meta-analysis, health-technology reports or systematic reviews this approach may be helpful to clarify the evidence given from uncontrolled observational studies.</p

TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

A Retrospective Cohort Study of the Potency of lipid-lowering therapy and Race-gender Differences in LDL cholesterol control

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Reasons for race and gender differences in controlling elevated low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol may be related to variations in prescribed lipid-lowering therapy. We examined the effect of lipid-lowering drug treatment and potency on time until LDL control for black and white women and men with a baseline elevated LDL.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We studied 3,484 older hypertensive patients with dyslipidemia in 6 primary care practices over a 4-year timeframe. Potency of lipid-lowering drugs calculated for each treated day and summed to assess total potency for at least 6 and up to 24 months. Cox models of time to LDL control within two years and logistic regression models of control within 6 months by race-gender adjust for: demographics, clinical, health care delivery, primary/specialty care, LDL measurement, and drug potency.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Time to LDL control decreased as lipid-lowering drug potency increased (P < 0.001). Black women (N = 1,440) received the highest potency therapy (P < 0.001) yet were less likely to achieve LDL control than white men (N = 717) (fully adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 0.66 [95% CI 0.56-0.78]). Black men (N = 666) and white women (N = 661) also had lower adjusted HRs of LDL control (0.82 [95% CI 0.69, 0.98] and 0.75 [95% CI 0.64-0.88], respectively) than white men. Logistic regression models of LDL control by 6 months and other sensitivity models affirmed these results.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Black women and, to a lesser extent, black men and white women were less likely to achieve LDL control than white men after accounting for lipid-lowering drug potency as well as diverse patient and provider factors. Future work should focus on the contributions of medication adherence and response to treatment to these clinically important differences.</p

On the importance of long-term functional assessment after stroke to improve translation from bench to bedside

Despite extensive research efforts in the field of cerebral ischemia, numerous disappointments came from the translational step. Even if experimental studies showed a large number of promising drugs, most of them failed to be efficient in clinical trials. Based on these reports, factors that play a significant role in causing outcome differences between animal experiments and clinical trials have been identified; and latest works in the field have tried to discard them in order to improve the scope of the results. Nevertheless, efforts must be maintained, especially for long-term functional evaluations. As observed in clinical practice, animals display a large degree of spontaneous recovery after stroke. The neurological impairment, assessed by basic items, typically disappears during the firsts week following stroke in rodents. On the contrary, more demanding sensorimotor and cognitive tasks underline other deficits, which are usually long-lasting. Unfortunately, studies addressing such behavioral impairments are less abundant. Because the characterization of long-term functional recovery is critical for evaluating the efficacy of potential therapeutic agents in experimental strokes, behavioral tests that proved sensitive enough to detect long-term deficits are reported here. And since the ultimate goal of any stroke therapy is the restoration of normal function, an objective appraisal of the behavioral deficits should be done

Progress and challenges in the vaccine-based treatment of head and neck cancers

Head and neck (HN) cancer represents one of the most challenging diseases because the mortality remains high despite advances in early diagnosis and treatment. Although vaccine-based approaches for the treatment of advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck have achieved limited clinical success, advances in cancer immunology provide a strong foundation and powerful new tools to guide current attempts to develop effective cancer vaccines. This article reviews what has to be rather what has been done in the field for the development of future vaccines in HN tumours

The structure of N=2 supersymmetric nonlinear sigma models in AdS_4

We present a detailed study of the most general N=2 supersymmetric sigma models in four-dimensional anti-de Sitter space AdS_4 formulated in terms of N=1 chiral superfields. The target space is demonstrated to be a non-compact hyperkahler manifold restricted to possess a special Killing vector field which generates an SO(2) group of rotations on the two-sphere of complex structures and necessarily leaves one of them invariant. All hyperkahler cones, that is the target spaces of N=2 superconformal sigma models, prove to possess such a vector field that belongs to the Lie algebra of an isometry group SU(2) acting by rotations on the complex structures. A unique property of the N=2 sigma models constructed is that the algebra of OSp(2|4) transformations closes off the mass shell. We uncover the underlying N=2 superfield formulation for the N=2 sigma models constructed and compute the associated N=2 supercurrent. We give a special analysis of the most general systems of self-interacting N=2 tensor multiplets in AdS_4 and their dual sigma models realized in terms of N=1 chiral multiplets. We also briefly discuss the relationship between our results on N=2 supersymmetric sigma models formulated in the N=1 AdS superspace and the off-shell sigma models constructed in the N=2 AdS superspace in arXiv:0807.3368.Comment: 84 pages; v2: typos corrected, version published in JHE