Tobacco, Alcohol and Drug Use among Dental Undergraduates at One UK University in 2015

The aim of this study was determine the prevalence of tobacco, alcohol and illicit substance use among dental undergraduates at one UK university in 2015. A cross-sectional survey of all 344 dental undergraduates using an anonymous self-report questionnaire was carried out. The response rate was 77%, of which 29% were male and 71% female. Tobacco smoking was reported by 23.6% of males and 12.2% of females, with only 1.6% of females reporting to smoke ≥10 cigarettes per day. Alcohol consumption was reported by 85.5% of males and 84% of females, and reported levels of alcohol consumption increased since becoming undergraduates. Binge drinking was reported by 35.3% of males and 41% of female students. Only 2.6% of males and 0.5% of females reported to be current regular users of cannabis. The vast majority of respondents claimed to have never used any illicit substance. The only other reported regularly used substances by males was Ecstasy (1.3%) and by females were LSD (0.5%), Ecstasy (1.5%), Cocaine (0.5%), Inhalants (0.5%) and Ketamine (0.5%). These results are encouraging. Fewer students reported smoking than in the general population, levels of binge drinking were considerably lower than previously reported figures, as were the numbers of regular users of cannabis and other illicit substances

Dua Puluh Lima Tahun Kerja Sama Depkes RI dengan Namru-2

Buletin nomor ini diterbitkan untuk memperingati 25 tahun kerja sama antara Departemen Kesehatan RI dan U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 2 (NAMRU-2). Kerja sama ini telah menghasilkan sumbangan yang sangat berharga untuk peningkatan kesehatan baik di Indonesia maupun di dunia, khususnya di negara sedang berkembang. Hasil evaluasi vaksin typhoid dan cara pengobatan malaria serta dehidrasi berat akibat diare adalah beberapa contoh dari kerja sama ini yang sangat bermanfaat untuk mencegah penyakit dan kematian. Hasil kerja sama dalam 20 tahun pertama telah diseminarkan dalam tahun 1990 dan dipublikasikan dalam suatu nomor khusus buletin ini. Dengan staf yang terdiri dari 20 orang asing, dan 140 orang Indonesia, NAMRU-2 telah melaksanakan berbagai penelitian di berbagai daerah bersama peneliti Badan Litbangkes, Universitas, Angkatan Bersenjata serta dinas kesehatan setempat. Lebih dari 400 publikasi ilmiah telah dihasilkan oleh kerja sama ini. Dalam lima tahun terakhir penelitian berbagai aspek malaria di Irian Jaya antara lain telah menghasilkan peta resistensi obat malaria dan penemuan manfaat primakuin sebagai obat profilaksis yang aman dan relatif murah. Uji coba fase III vaksin tifoid oral Ty21a telah dilaksanakan di Sumatra Selatan, sedangkan suatu vaksin kolera oral, CVD 103 HgR, sedang diuji coba fase III di Jakarta. Penelitian genotype HIV di Indonesia yang telah dilaksanakan bersama Universitas Indonesia dan Dinas Kesehatan ABRI telah membantu memperjelas epidemi HIV/AIDS di Indonesia. Penelitian lapangan mengenai hepatitis E di Kalimantan dan Japanese Encephalitis di Bali telah memperjelas penularan dan risiko penyakit tersebut. Badan Litbangkes dan NAMRU akan melanjutkan kerjasama penelitian dan pelatihan di bidang penyakit menular dalam masa lima tahun yang akan datang. Beberapa bidang yang akan mendapat perhatian ialah surveilans berbagai penyakit infeksi yang baru dan timbul kembali (new and reemerging infections), uji coba berbagai vaksin (antara lain enterotoxigenic E. coli, hepatitis E, malaria), imunologi dan pengobatan malaria, penularan dan imunopatogenesis DHF serta epidemiologi genetik HIV

Innate Intracellular Antiviral Responses Restrict the Amplification of Defective Virus Genomes of Parainfluenza Virus 5.

During the replication of parainfluenza virus 5 (PIV5), copyback defective virus genomes (DVGs) are erroneously produced and are packaged into "infectious" virus particles. Copyback DVGs are the primary inducers of innate intracellular responses, including the interferon (IFN) response. While DVGs can interfere with the replication of nondefective (ND) virus genomes and activate the IFN-induction cascade before ND PIV5 can block the production of IFN, we demonstrate that the converse is also true, i.e., high levels of ND virus can block the ability of DVGs to activate the IFN-induction cascade. By following the replication and amplification of DVGs in A549 cells that are deficient in a variety of innate intracellular antiviral responses, we show that DVGs induce an uncharacterized IFN-independent innate response(s) that limits their replication. High-throughput sequencing was used to characterize the molecular structure of copyback DVGs. While there appears to be no sequence-specific break or rejoining points for the generation of copyback DVGs, our findings suggest there are region, size, and/or structural preferences selected for during for their amplification.IMPORTANCE Copyback defective virus genomes (DVGs) are powerful inducers of innate immune responses both in vitro and in vivo They impact the outcome of natural infections, may help drive virus-host coevolution, and promote virus persistence. Due to their potent interfering and immunostimulatory properties, DVGs may also be used therapeutically as antivirals and vaccine adjuvants. However, little is known of the host cell restrictions which limit their amplification. We show here that the generation of copyback DVGs readily occurs during parainfluenza virus 5 (PIV5) replication, but that their subsequent amplification is restricted by the induction of innate intracellular responses. Molecular characterization of PIV5 copyback DVGs suggests that while there are no genome sequence-specific breaks or rejoin points for the generation of copyback DVGs, genome region, size, and structural preferences are selected for during their evolution and amplification

Climate warming, euxinia and carbon isotope perturbations during the Carnian (Triassic) Crisis in South China

The Carnian Humid Episode (CHE), also known as the Carnian Pluvial Event, and associated biotic changes are major enigmas of the Mesozoic record in western Tethys. We show that the CHE also occurred in eastern Tethys (South China), suggestive of a much more widespread and probably global climate perturbation. Oxygen isotope records from conodont apatite indicate a double-pulse warming event. The CHE coincided with an initial warming of 4 °C. This was followed by a transient cooling period and then a prolonged ~7 °C warming in the later Carnian (Tuvalian 2). Carbon isotope perturbations associated with the CHE of western Tethys occurred contemporaneously in South China, and mark the start of a prolonged period of carbon cycle instability that persisted until the late Carnian. The dry-wet transition during the CHE coincides with the negative carbon isotope excursion and the temperature rise, pointing to an intensification of hydrologic cycle activities due to climatic warming. While carbonate platform shutdown in western Tethys is associated with an influx of siliciclastic sediment, the eastern Tethyan carbonate platforms are overlain by deep-water anoxic facies. The transition from oxygenated to euxinic facies was via a condensed, manganiferous carbonate (MnO content up to 15.1 wt%), that records an intense Mn shuttle operating in the basin. Significant siliciclastic influx in South China only occurred after the CHE climatic changes and was probably due to foreland basin development at the onset of the Indosinian Orogeny. The mid-Carnian biotic crisis thus coincided with several phenomena associated with major extinction events: a carbonate production crisis, climate warming, δ 13 C oscillations, marine anoxia, biotic turnover and flood basalt eruptions (of the Wrangellia Large Igneous Province)

Analysis of Paramyxovirus Transcription and Replication by High-Throughput Sequencing.

We have developed a high-throughput sequencing (HTS) workflow for investigating paramyxovirus transcription and replication. We show that sequencing of oligo(dT)-selected polyadenylated mRNAs, without considering the orientation of the RNAs from which they had been generated, cannot accurately be used to analyze the abundance of viral mRNAs because genomic RNA copurifies with the viral mRNAs. The best method is directional sequencing of infected cell RNA that has physically been depleted of ribosomal and mitochondrial RNA followed by bioinformatic steps to differentiate data originating from genomes from viral mRNAs and antigenomes. This approach has the advantage that the abundance of viral mRNA (and antigenomes) and genomes can be analyzed and quantified from the same data. We investigated the kinetics of viral transcription and replication during infection of A549 cells with parainfluenza virus type 2 (PIV2), PIV3, PIV5, or mumps virus and determined the abundances of individual viral mRNAs and readthrough mRNAs. We found that the mRNA abundance gradients differed significantly between all four viruses but that for each virus the pattern remained relatively stable throughout infection. We suggest that rapid degradation of non-poly(A) mRNAs may be primarily responsible for the shape of the mRNA abundance gradient in parainfluenza virus 3, whereas a combination of this factor and disengagement of RNA polymerase at intergenic sequences, particularly those at the NP:P and P:M gene boundaries, may be responsible in the other viruses.IMPORTANCE High-throughput sequencing (HTS) of virus-infected cells can be used to study in great detail the patterns of virus transcription and replication. For paramyxoviruses, and by analogy for all other negative-strand RNA viruses, we show that directional sequencing must be used to distinguish between genomic RNA and mRNA/antigenomic RNA because significant amounts of genomic RNA copurify with poly(A)-selected mRNA. We found that the best method is directional sequencing of total cell RNA, after the physical removal of rRNA (and mitochondrial RNA), because quantitative information on the abundance of both genomic RNA and mRNA/antigenomes can be simultaneously derived. Using this approach, we revealed new details of the kinetics of virus transcription and replication for parainfluenza virus (PIV) type 2, PIV3, PIV5, and mumps virus, as well as on the relative abundance of the individual viral mRNAs

New timing and geochemical constraints on the Capitanian (Middle Permian) extinction and environmental changes in deep-water settings: evidence from the Lower Yangtze region of South China

The Capitanian (Guadalupian) witnessed one of the major crises of the Phanerozoic and, like many other extinctions, it coincided with the eruption of a large igneous province, in this case the Emeishan Traps of SW China. However, the timing and causal relationships of this event are in dispute. This study concentrates on the deep-water chert–mudstone strata of the Gufeng Formation and its transition to the Yinping Formation at Chaohu. Zircons from tuffs in the uppermost Gufeng Formation yield a U–Pb age of 261.6 ± 1.6 Ma, and comparison with sections around Emeishan suggests that the tuffs appeared in the Jinogondolella altudaensis conodont zone and persisted to the Jinogondolella xuanhanensis zone. This coincides with the Emeishan eruptions, and suggests that the tuffs probably derived from this province. Mineralogical and geochemical characteristics also show the tuffs are of acid volcanogenic origin and have a geochemical fingerprint of the Emeishan large igneous province. Our dating shows that a crisis amongst radiolarian and a subsequent productivity decline occurred during the middle Capitanian, prior to the Guadalupian–Lopingian boundary. The Emeishan eruptions began immediately before this, indicating a likely causal relationship between these events. Major regression and marine anoxia/euxinia are two other important extinction-relevant environmental changes that occurred during this critical interval

Mercury chemostratigraphy across the Cambrian Series 2 – Series 3 boundary: evidence for increased volcanic activity coincident with extinction?

Flood basalt volcanism represented by the Kalkarindji Province (Australia) is temporally associated with a trilobite mass extinction at the Cambrian Series 2 – Series 3 boundary, providing one of the oldest potential links between volcanism and biotic crisis in the Phanerozoic. However, the relative timing of flood basalt volcanism (Kalkarindji Province, Australia) and the trilobite extinctions, first recorded in North America, is not known. Mercury (Hg) enrichment in the sedimentary record provides a potential proxy for volcanism which may facilitate improved chronologies of eruption and extinction. Here we report mercury records for three sections from mid-shelf strata of the Great Basin (western USA) that straddle the Series 2 – Series 3 boundary. One section (Oak Springs Summit, NV) features a Hg enrichment at the start of the extinction interval, but mercury anomalies are also present at lower levels. These older anomalies may record either earlier phases of Kalkarindji volcanism, eruptions in other locations, or may be the result of sedimentary and/or diagenetic processes affecting the Hg record. In the Carrara Formation at Emigrant Pass, CA, the precise extinction horizon is not well defined, but a carbon isotope anomaly (the Redlichiid-Olenellid Extinction Carbon isotope Event; ROECE) provides a stratigraphic tie point to the Oak Springs Summit section. At Emigrant Pass, Hg enrichments precede the ROECE interval and are absent in the inferred extinction zone. The Pioche Formation at Ruin Wash, NV, lacks Hg enrichment at the extinction horizon but contains older enrichments. The inconsistent Hg records between the three sections demonstrate that factors controlling Hg accumulation and preservation in marine sedimentary environments are not yet fully understood. The effects of redox fluctuations may complicate one-to-one association of sedimentary Hg enrichments and massive volcanism at the Cambrian Series 2 – Series 3 boundary and elsewhere in the geologic record

Seawater redox variations during the deposition of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation, United Kingdom (Upper Jurassic): evidence from molybdenum isotopes and trace metal ratios

The Kimmeridge Clay Formation (KCF) and its equivalents worldwide represent one of the most prolonged periods of organic carbon accumulation of the Mesozoic. In this study, we use the molybdenum (Mo) stable isotope system in conjunction with a range of trace metal paleoredox proxies to assess how seawater redox varied both locally and globally during the deposition of the KCF. Facies with lower organic carbon contents (TOC 1–7 wt %) were deposited under mildly reducing (suboxic) conditions, while organic-rich facies (TOC >7 wt %) accumulated under more strongly reducing (anoxic or euxinic) local conditions. Trace metal abundances are closely linked to TOC content, suggesting that the intensity of reducing conditions varied repeatedly during the deposition of the KCF and may have been related to orbitally controlled climate changes. Long-term variations in ?98/95Mo are associated with the formation of organic-rich intervals and are related to third-order fluctuations in relative sea level. Differences in the mean ?98/95Mo composition of the organic-rich intervals suggest that the global distribution of reducing conditions was more extensive during the deposition of the Pectinatites wheatleyensis and lower Pectinatites hudlestoni zones than during the deposition of the upper Pectinatites hudlestoni and Pectinatites pectinatus zones. The global extent of reducing conditions during the Kimmerigidan was greater than today but was less widespread than during the Toarcian (Early Jurassic) oceanic anoxic event. This study also demonstrates that the Mo isotope system in Jurassic seawater responded to changes in redox conditions in a manner consistent with its behavior in present-day sedimentary environment

Hormonal induction of spawning in 4 species of frogs by coinjection with a gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist and a dopamine antagonist

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>It is well known that many anurans do not reproduce easily in captivity. Some methods are based on administration of mammalian hormones such as human chorionic gonadotropin, which are not effective in many frogs. There is a need for simple, cost-effective alternative techniques to induce spawning.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Our new method is based on the injection of a combination of a gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist and a dopamine antagonist. We have named this formulation AMPHIPLEX, which is derived from the combination of the words amphibian and amplexus. This name refers to the specific reproductive behavior of frogs when the male mounts and clasps the female to induce ovulation and to fertilize the eggs as they are laid.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We describe the use of the method and demonstrate its applicability for captive breeding in 3 different anuran families. We tested several combinations of GnRH agonists with dopamine antagonists using Lithobates pipiens. The combination of des-Gly¹⁰, D-Ala⁶, Pro-LHRH (0.4 microrams/g body weight) and metoclopramide (10 micrograms/g BWt. MET) was most effective. It was used in-season, after short-term captivity and in frogs artificially hibernated under laboratory conditions. The AMPHIPLEX method was also effective in 3 Argentinian frogs, <it>Ceratophrys ornata</it>, <it>Ceratophrys cranwelli</it> and <it>Odontophrynus americanus</it>.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our approach offers some advantages over other hormonally-based techniques. Both sexes are injected only once and at the same time, reducing handling stress. AMPHIPLEX is a new reproductive management tool for captive breeding in Anura.</p