Correlates of mono- and dual-victims of cybergrooming and cyberbullying:evidence from four countries

Today's adolescents grow up using information and communication technologies as an integral part of their everyday life. This affords them with extensive opportunities, but also exposes them to online risks, such as cybergrooming and cyberbullying victimization. The aims of this study were to investigate correlates of cybergrooming and cyberbullying victimization and examine whether victims of both cybergrooming and cyberbullying (dual-cybervictims) show higher involvement in compulsive Internet use (CIU) and troubled offline behavior (TOB) compared to victims of either cybergrooming or cyberbullying (mono-cybervictims). The sample consisted of 2,042 Dutch, German, Thai, and U.S. adolescents (age = 11–17 years; M = 14.2; SD = 1.4). About every ninth adolescent (10.9 percent) reported either mono- or dual-cybervictimization. Second, both CIU and TOB were associated with all three types of cybervictimization, and finally, both CIU and TOB were more strongly linked to dual-cybervictimization than to both forms of mono-cybervictimization. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the associations between different forms of cybervictimization and psychological health and behavior problems among adolescents

Predominant Influence of Environmental Determinants on the Persistence and Avidity Maturation of Antibody Responses to Vaccines in Infants

BackgroundImmune responses are complex traits influenced by genetic and environmental factors. We previously reported that genetic factors control early antibody responses to vaccines in Gambian infants. For the present study, we evaluated the determinants of the memory phase of immunoglobulin G (IgG) responses MethodsAntibody responses to tetanus toxoid (TT), measles vaccines, and environmental antigens (total IgG levels) were measured in 210 Gambian twin pairs recruited at birth. Intrapair correlations for monozygous and dizygous pairs were compared to estimate the environmental and genetic components of variations in response ResultsIn contrast to antibody responses measured in infants at age 5 months, 1 month after immunization, no significant contribution of genetic factors to anti-TT antibody and total IgG levels was detected at age 12 months. Genetic factors controlled measles antibody responses in 12-month-old infants, which indicates that the increasing influence of environmental determinants on anti-TT responses was not related to the older age of the children but, rather, to the time elapsed since immunization. Environmental factors also predominantly controlled affinity maturation and the production of high-avidity antibodies to TT ConclusionsGenetic determinants control the early phase of the vaccine antibody response in Gambian infants, whereas environmental determinants predominantly influence antibody persistence and avidity maturatio

Functional balance and gait characteristics in men with lower urinary tract symptoms secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia

Objectives. To compare gait characteristics and functional balance abilities in men with LUTS secondary to BPH to those of matching controls under different conditions of increasing difficulties; single-task, dual-task motor, and dual-task cognitive. Subjects and methods. In this cross-sectional experimental study we recruited a group of 43 men diagnosed with symptomatic BPH and control group of 38 older men. Participants performed the timed up and go (TUG) and 10-meter walking tests under different conditions of increasing difficulties. Namely, single task, dual-task motor, and dual-task cognitive. Time to complete the tests and spatial and temporal gait parameters were compared between groups and conditions via mixed-design ANOVA. Results. Under dual-task conditions, individuals in both groups performed significantly worse in a functional balance task and a simple walking to usual walking. However, as the complexity of the walking task increased, from dual-task motor to dual-task cognitive, significant differences between groups emerged. In particular, men with PBH performed worse than older adults in tasks demanding increased attentional control. Conclusion. Health care providers for men with LUTS due to BPH should assess for abnormal gait and maintain vigilant for balance problems that may lead to decreased mobility and falls. Dual task approach seems a feasible method to distinguish gait and balance impairments in men with BPH

Global patient outcomes after elective surgery: prospective cohort study in 27 low-, middle- and high-income countries.

BACKGROUND: As global initiatives increase patient access to surgical treatments, there remains a need to understand the adverse effects of surgery and define appropriate levels of perioperative care. METHODS: We designed a prospective international 7-day cohort study of outcomes following elective adult inpatient surgery in 27 countries. The primary outcome was in-hospital complications. Secondary outcomes were death following a complication (failure to rescue) and death in hospital. Process measures were admission to critical care immediately after surgery or to treat a complication and duration of hospital stay. A single definition of critical care was used for all countries. RESULTS: A total of 474 hospitals in 19 high-, 7 middle- and 1 low-income country were included in the primary analysis. Data included 44 814 patients with a median hospital stay of 4 (range 2-7) days. A total of 7508 patients (16.8%) developed one or more postoperative complication and 207 died (0.5%). The overall mortality among patients who developed complications was 2.8%. Mortality following complications ranged from 2.4% for pulmonary embolism to 43.9% for cardiac arrest. A total of 4360 (9.7%) patients were admitted to a critical care unit as routine immediately after surgery, of whom 2198 (50.4%) developed a complication, with 105 (2.4%) deaths. A total of 1233 patients (16.4%) were admitted to a critical care unit to treat complications, with 119 (9.7%) deaths. Despite lower baseline risk, outcomes were similar in low- and middle-income compared with high-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Poor patient outcomes are common after inpatient surgery. Global initiatives to increase access to surgical treatments should also address the need for safe perioperative care. STUDY REGISTRATION: ISRCTN5181700

Genetic mechanisms of critical illness in COVID-19.

Host-mediated lung inflammation is present1, and drives mortality2, in the critical illness caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Host genetic variants associated with critical illness may identify mechanistic targets for therapeutic development3. Here we report the results of the GenOMICC (Genetics Of Mortality In Critical Care) genome-wide association study in 2,244 critically ill patients with COVID-19 from 208 UK intensive care units. We have identified and replicated the following new genome-wide significant associations: on chromosome 12q24.13 (rs10735079, P = 1.65 × 10-8) in a gene cluster that encodes antiviral restriction enzyme activators (OAS1, OAS2 and OAS3); on chromosome 19p13.2 (rs74956615, P = 2.3 × 10-8) near the gene that encodes tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2); on chromosome 19p13.3 (rs2109069, P = 3.98 ×  10-12) within the gene that encodes dipeptidyl peptidase 9 (DPP9); and on chromosome 21q22.1 (rs2236757, P = 4.99 × 10-8) in the interferon receptor gene IFNAR2. We identified potential targets for repurposing of licensed medications: using Mendelian randomization, we found evidence that low expression of IFNAR2, or high expression of TYK2, are associated with life-threatening disease; and transcriptome-wide association in lung tissue revealed that high expression of the monocyte-macrophage chemotactic receptor CCR2 is associated with severe COVID-19. Our results identify robust genetic signals relating to key host antiviral defence mechanisms and mediators of inflammatory organ damage in COVID-19. Both mechanisms may be amenable to targeted treatment with existing drugs. However, large-scale randomized clinical trials will be essential before any change to clinical practice

Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models in basic and translational breast cancer research

Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models of a growing spectrum of cancers are rapidly supplanting long-established traditional cell lines as preferred models for conducting basic and translational preclinical research. In breast cancer, to complement the now curated collection of approximately 45 long-established human breast cancer cell lines, a newly formed consortium of academic laboratories, currently from Europe, Australia, and North America, herein summarizes data on over 500 stably transplantable PDX models representing all three clinical subtypes of breast cancer (ER+, HER2+, and "Triple-negative" (TNBC)). Many of these models are well-characterized with respect to genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic features, metastatic behavior, and treatment response to a variety of standard-of-care and experimental therapeutics. These stably transplantable PDX lines are generally available for dissemination to laboratories conducting translational research, and contact information for each collection is provided. This review summarizes current experiences related to PDX generation across participating groups, efforts to develop data standards for annotation and dissemination of patient clinical information that does not compromise patient privacy, efforts to develop complementary data standards for annotation of PDX characteristics and biology, and progress toward "credentialing" of PDX models as surrogates to represent individual patients for use in preclinical and co-clinical translational research. In addition, this review highlights important unresolved questions, as well as current limitations, that have hampered more efficient generation of PDX lines and more rapid adoption of PDX use in translational breast cancer research

Common, low-frequency, rare, and ultra-rare coding variants contribute to COVID-19 severity

The combined impact of common and rare exonic variants in COVID-19 host genetics is currently insufficiently understood. Here, common and rare variants from whole-exome sequencing data of about 4000 SARS-CoV-2-positive individuals were used to define an interpretable machine-learning model for predicting COVID-19 severity. First, variants were converted into separate sets of Boolean features, depending on the absence or the presence of variants in each gene. An ensemble of LASSO logistic regression models was used to identify the most informative Boolean features with respect to the genetic bases of severity. The Boolean features selected by these logistic models were combined into an Integrated PolyGenic Score that offers a synthetic and interpretable index for describing the contribution of host genetics in COVID-19 severity, as demonstrated through testing in several independent cohorts. Selected features belong to ultra-rare, rare, low-frequency, and common variants, including those in linkage disequilibrium with known GWAS loci. Noteworthily, around one quarter of the selected genes are sex-specific. Pathway analysis of the selected genes associated with COVID-19 severity reflected the multi-organ nature of the disease. The proposed model might provide useful information for developing diagnostics and therapeutics, while also being able to guide bedside disease management. © 2021, The Author(s)

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data