Cytomegalovirus antibodies among healthy blood donors at Lagos University Teaching Hospital

Objectives. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is found worldwide in all geographical locations and socio-economic groups and is the virus most frequently transmitted to a developing child before birth. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors for CMV antibodies among healthy blood donors at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).Methods. A cross-sectional study was carried out among consecutively recruited replacement blood donors attending the blood donor clinic at LUTH. A 5 ml blood sample was collected from each consenting participant and serum-assayed for CMV IgG/IgM using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)-based kit.Results. A total of 122 healthy donors were recruited; 96% of the donors were IgG anti-CMV positive while 19.5% were IgM anti-CMV positive. Previous history of blood transfusion was not significantly related to CMV positivity.Conclusion. The seroprevalence of CMV appears to be very high in this environment among healthy blood donors. Based on previous studies that showed a decrease in the incidence of CMV disease when blood is screened for CMV (IgM), the incidence of the disease can be decreased in Lagos if blood is screened for CMV

A phase 1 trial dose-escalation study of tipifarnib on a week-on, week-off schedule in relapsed, refractory or high-risk myeloid leukemia.

Inhibition of farnesyltransferase (FT) activity has been associated with in vitro and in vivo anti-leukemia activity. We report the results of a phase 1 dose-escalation study of tipifarnib, an oral FT inhibitor, in patients with relapsed, refractory or newly diagnosed (if over age 70) acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), on a week-on, week-off schedule. Forty-four patients were enrolled, two patients were newly diagnosed, and the rest were relapsed or refractory to previous treatment, with a median age of 61 (range 33-79). The maximum tolerated dose was determined to be 1200 mg given orally twice daily (b.i.d.) on this schedule. Cycle 1 dose-limiting toxicities were hepatic and renal. There were three complete remissions seen, two at the 1200 mg b.i.d. dose and one at the 1000 mg b.i.d. dose, with minor responses seen at the 1400 mg b.i.d. dose level. Pharmacokinetic studies performed at doses of 1400 mg b.i.d. showed linear behavior with minimal accumulation between days 1-5. Tipifarnib administered on a week-on, week-off schedule shows activity at higher doses, and represents an option for future clinical trials in AML

Observational study of the association of first insulin type in uncontrolled type 2 diabetes with macrovascular and microvascular disease

<p>Aims: To compare the risk of vascular disease, HbA1c and weight change, between first prescribed insulins in people with type 2 diabetes.</p> <p>Methods: People included in THIN United Kingdom primary care record database who began insulin (2000–2007) after poor control on oral glucose-lowering agents (OGLD) were grouped by the number of OGLDs in their treatment regimen immediately before starting insulin (n = 3,485). Within OGLD group, Cox regression compared macrovascular (all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, acute coronary syndrome and stroke) and microvascular disease (peripheral neuropathy, nephropathy, and retinopathy) between insulin type (basal, pre-mix or Neutral Protamine Hagedorn, NPH) while ANCOVAs compared haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and weight change.</p> <p>Results: Mean follow-up was 3.6 years. Rates of incident macrovascular events were similar when basal insulin was compared to pre-mix or NPH, adjusted hazard ratio versus basal: pre-mix 1.08 (95% CI 0.73, 1.59); NPH 1.00 (0.63, 1.58) after two OGLDs, and pre-mix 0.97 (0.46, 2.02); NPH 0.77 (0.32, 1.86) after three OGLDs. An increased risk of microvascular disease in NPH versus basal after 3 OGLDs, adjusted hazard ratio1.87 (1.04, 3.36), was not seen after two agents or in comparisons of basal and pre-mix. At one year, after two OGLDs, weight increase was less with basal compared with pre-mix. After three OGLDs, mean HbA1c had reduced less in basal versus pre-mix or NPH at 6–8 and at 9–11 months, and versus pre-mix at 12–14 months.</p> <p>Conclusion: We found no difference in the risk of macrovascular events between first insulins in the medium term when started during poor glycaemia control. The increased risk of microvascular events with NPH warrants further study. In certain groups, first use of basal insulin was associated with less gain in weight and decrease in HbA1c compared to other insulins.</p&gt

Using Beatboxing for Creative Rehabilitation After Laryngectomy:Experiences From a Public Engagement Project

Laryngectomy is the surgical removal of the larynx (voice box), usually performed in patients with advanced stages of throat cancer. The psychosocial impact of losing the voice is significant, affecting a person’s professional and social life in a devastating way, and a proportion of this patient group subsequently must overcome depression (22–30%) and social isolation (40%). The profound changes to anatomical structures involved in voicing and articulation, as a result of surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy (separately or in combination with one another), introduce challenges faced in speech rehabilitation and voice production that complicate social reintegration and quality of life. After laryngectomy, breathing, voicing, articulation and tongue movement are major components in restoring communication. Regular exercise of the chest, neck and oropharyngeal muscles, in particular, is important in controlling these components and keeping the involved structures supple. It is, however, a difficult task for a speech therapist to keep the patient engaged and motivated to practice these exercises. We have adopted a multidisciplinary approach to explore the use of basic beatboxing techniques to create a wide variety of exercises that are seen as fun and interactive and that maximize the use of the structures important in alaryngeal phonation. We herein report on our empirical work in developing patients’ skills, particularly relating to voiced and unvoiced consonants to improve intelligibility. In collaboration with a professional beatboxing performer, we produced instructional online video materials to support patients working on their own and/or with support from speech therapists. Although the present paper is focused predominantly on introducing the structure of the conducted workshops, the rationale for their design and the final public engagement performance, we also include feedback from participants to commence the critical discourse about whether this type of activity could lead to systematic underlying research and robustly assessed interventions in the future. Based on this exploratory work, we conclude that the innovative approach that we employed was found to be engaging, useful, informative and motivating. We conclude by offering our views regarding the limitations of our work and the implications for future empirical research

Entropy Projection Curved Gabor with Random Forest and SVM for Face Recognition

In this work, we propose a workflow for face recognition under occlusion using the entropy projection from the curved Gabor filter, and create a representative and compact features vector that describes a face. Despite the reduced vector obtained by the entropy projection, it still presents opportunity for further dimensionality reduction. Therefore, we use a Random Forest classifier as an attribute selector, providing a 97% reduction of the original vector while keeping suitable accuracy. A set of experiments using three public image databases: AR Face, Extended Yale B with occlusion and FERET illustrates the proposed methodology, evaluated using the SVM classifier. The results obtained in the experiments show promising results when compared to the available approaches in the literature, obtaining 98.05% accuracy for the complete AR Face, 97.26% for FERET and 81.66% with Yale with 50% occlusion

Effects of cigarette smoke on endothelial function of pulmonary arteries in the guinea pig

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cigarette smoking may contribute to pulmonary hypertension in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by altering the structure and function of pulmonary vessels at early disease stages. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of long-term exposure to cigarette smoke on endothelial function and smooth muscle-cell proliferation in pulmonary arteries of guinea pigs.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>19 male Hartley guinea pigs were exposed to the smoke of 7 cigarettes/day, 5 days/week, for 3 and 6 months. 17 control guinea pigs were sham-exposed for the same periods. Endothelial function was evaluated in rings of pulmonary artery and aorta as the relaxation induced by ADP. The proliferation of smooth muscle cells and their phenotype in small pulmonary vessels were evaluated by immunohistochemical expression of α-actin and desmin. Vessel wall thickness, arteriolar muscularization and emphysema were assessed morphometrically. The expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) was evaluated by Real Time-PCR.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Exposure to cigarette smoke reduced endothelium-dependent vasodilatation in pulmonary arteries (ANOVA p < 0.05) but not in the aorta. Endothelial dysfunction was apparent at 3 months of exposure and did not increase further after 6 months of exposure. Smoke-exposed animals showed proliferation of poorly differentiated smooth muscle cells in small vessels (p < 0.05) after 3 months of exposure. Prolonged exposure resulted in full muscularization of small pulmonary vessels (p < 0.05), wall thickening (p < 0.01) and increased contractility of the main pulmonary artery (p < 0.05), and enlargement of the alveolar spaces. Lung expression of eNOS was decreased in animals exposed to cigarette smoke.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In the guinea pig, exposure to cigarette smoke induces selective endothelial dysfunction in pulmonary arteries, smooth muscle cell proliferation in small pulmonary vessels and reduced lung expression of eNOS. These changes appear after 3 months of exposure and precede the development of pulmonary emphysema.</p

Biomarkers of Lead Exposure and DNA Methylation within Retrotransposons

Background: DNA methylation is an epigenetic mark that regulates gene expression. Changes in DNA methylation within white blood cells may result from cumulative exposure to environmental metals such as lead. Bone lead, a marker of cumulative exposure, may therefore better predict DNA methylation than does blood lead. Objective: In this study we compared associations between lead biomarkers and DNA methylation. Methods: We measured global methylation in participants of the Normative Aging Study (all men) who had archived DNA samples. We measured patella and tibia lead levels by K-X-Ray fluorescence and blood lead by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. DNA samples from blood were used to determine global methylation averages within CpG islands of long interspersed nuclear elements-1 (LINE-1) and Alu retrotransposons. A mixed-effects model using repeated measures of Alu or LINE-1 as the dependent variable and blood/bone lead (tibia or patella in separate models) as the primary exposure marker was fit to the data. Results: Overall mean global methylation (± SD) was 26.3 ± 1.0 as measured by Alu and 76.8 ± 1.9 as measured by LINE-1. In the mixed-effects model, patella lead levels were inversely associated with LINE-1 (β = −0.25; p less than 0.01) but not Alu (β = −0.03; p = 0.4). Tibia lead and blood lead did not predict global methylation for either Alu or LINE-1. Conclusion: Patella lead levels predicted reduced global DNA methylation within LINE-1 elements. The association between lead exposure and LINE-1 DNA methylation may have implications for the mechanisms of action of lead on health outcomes, and also suggests that changes in DNA methylation may represent a biomarker of past lead exposure