ADOLESCENTS IN TRANSITION TO YOUNG ADULTHOOD: EVOLUTION OF MENTAL HEALTH STATUS AND RISK FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH DEPRESSIVE AND ANXIETY DISORDER

Background: In this paper we focus on adolescents in transition towards young adulthood (ATYA). We know from international studies that the transition process makes adolescents vulnerable to mental illness. However, little is known about Belgian ATYA mental-health status. Nor are risk factors associated with their mental illness understood, in particular with regard to depressive and anxiety disorder. The aim of this study is (1) to discuss evolution in time of prevalence of depressive disorder (DD) and anxiety disorder (AD) among Belgian ATYA and (2), to identify risk factors associated with these disorders among ATYA. Subjects and methods: Data was extracted from the Belgian Health Interview Survey (BHIS), which is a cross-sectional population survey, carried out in 2001, 2004, 2008, and 2013. Information about the population’s background characteristics, health services utilization, health behaviours and mental health status were extracted and statistically analyzed. Results: ATYA prevalence of DD and AD was higher in 2013 in comparison with previous years. These changes were significant only for DD (F=4.466, p=0.004). In contrast with younger adolescents, among ATYA odds of DD were 28.2% higher (OR 1.282, 95% CI 0.967-1.698, p=0.084) and, odds of AD were 55.2% higher (OR 1.552, 95% CI 1.137-2.119, p=0.006). For ATYA, a poor quality of social support was the most predictive factor of DD (OR 11.187, 95% CI 5.530-22.629, p<0.0001) and AD (OR 6.238, 95% CI 2.845-13.676, p<0.0001); whereas, having a paid job was the most protective factor with regard to DD (OR 0.282, 95% CI 0.169-0.470, p<0.0001) and AD (OR 0.552, 95% CI 0.330-0.924, p<0.024). Conclusion: Prevalence of mental illness among Belgian ATYA appears to worsen in time. In comparison with younger adolescents, ATYA are more vulnerable to anxiety disorders. Adverse and protective risk factors were identified and discussed in a way to improve access, continuity and mental healthcare pathways for Belgian ATYA

A study of Io's sodium jets with the TRAPPIST telescopes

peer reviewe

Highly plastic genome of Microcystis aeruginosa PCC 7806, a ubiquitous toxic freshwater cyanobacterium

Background The colonial cyanobacterium Microcystis proliferates in a wide range of freshwater ecosystems and is exposed to changing environmental factors during its life cycle. Microcystis blooms are often toxic, potentially fatal to animals and humans, and may cause environmental problems. There has been little investigation of the genomics of these cyanobacteria. Results Deciphering the 5,172,804 bp sequence of Microcystis aeruginosa PCC 7806 has revealed the high plasticity of its genome: 11.7% DNA repeats containing more than 1,000 bases, 6.8% putative transposases and 21 putative restriction enzymes. Compared to the genomes of other cyanobacterial lineages, strain PCC 7806 contains a large number of atypical genes that may have been acquired by lateral transfers. Metabolic pathways, such as fermentation and a methionine salvage pathway, have been identified, Conclusion Microcystis aeruginosa PCC 7806 appears to have adopted an evolutionary strategy relying on unusual genome plasticity to adapt to eutrophic freshwater ecosystems, a property shared by another strain of M. aeruginosa (NIES-843). Comparisons of the genomes of PCC 7806 and other cyanobacterial strains indicate that a similar strategy may have also been used by the marine strain Crocosphaera watsonii WH8501 to adapt to other ecological niches, such as oligotrophic open oceans.

A national cross-sectional survey of dental anxiety in the French adult population

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Dental anxiety is a public health problem but no epidemiological study has been undertaken in France to evaluate its prevalence. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence, severity and associations of dental anxiety in a sample of the French adult population.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A convenience sample of 2725 adults (mean age = 47 years, SD16, minimum = 16, maximum = 101 years), representative of the French population with regard to age and urban distribution, completed a French version of the Corah Dental Anxiety scale (DAS) and a questionnaire relating to their dental appointments.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Moderate dental anxiety (14≥DAS≥13) was revealed for 172 persons (6.2%), while 195 (7.3%) had severe dental anxiety (DAS≥15), giving an overall prevalence of dental anxiety of 13.5%. Prevalence was lower proportionally with age (P < 0.001) and was higher in French overseas territories and in the countryside (P < 0.01). Farmers and low skilled workers were significantly more anxious than executives and shopkeepers (P < 0.001). Anxiety was associated with avoidance of care (p < 0.001) and lack of regular dental appointments (p < 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Dental anxiety in France appears to concern a similar proportion of the population as in other industrialised European, Australasian or North American countries. Recommendations for prevention and management of dental anxiety are made with reference to dental education and health care services in France.</p

Cranberry A-type proanthocyanidins selectively target acute myeloid leukemia cells

Most elderly patients affected with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) will relapse and die of their disease even after achieving complete remission, thus emphasizing the urgent need for new therapeutic approaches with minimum toxicity to normal hematopoietic cells. Cranberry (Vaccinium spp.) extracts have exhibited anticancer and chemopreventive properties that have been mostly attributed to A-type proanthocyanidin (A-PAC) compounds. A-PACs, isolated from a commercially available cranberry extract, were evaluated for their effects on leukemia cell lines, primary AML samples, and normal CD34+ cord blood specimens. Our results indicated potent and specific antileukemia activity in vitro. In addition, the antileukemia activity of A-PACs extended to malignant progenitor and stem cell populations, sparing their normal counterparts. The antileukemia effects of A-PACs were also observed in vivo using patient derived xenografts. Surprisingly, we found that the mechanism of cell death was driven by activation of NF-κB. Overall, our data suggest that A-PACs could be used to improve treatments for AML by targeting leukemia stem cells through a potentially novel pathway

Climate seasonality limits leaf carbon assimilation and wood productivity in tropical forests

The seasonal climate drivers of the carbon cycle in tropical forests remain poorly known, although these forests account for more carbon assimilation and storage than any other terrestrial ecosystem. Based on a unique combination of seasonal pan-tropical data sets from 89 experimental sites (68 include aboveground wood productivity measurements and 35 litter productivity measurements), their associated canopy photosynthetic capacity (enhanced vegetation index, EVI) and climate, we ask how carbon assimilation and aboveground allocation are related to climate seasonality in tropical forests and how they interact in the seasonal carbon cycle. We found that canopy photosynthetic capacity seasonality responds positively to precipitation when rainfall is < 2000ĝ€-mmĝ€-yrĝ'1 (water-limited forests) and to radiation otherwise (light-limited forests). On the other hand, independent of climate limitations, wood productivity and litterfall are driven by seasonal variation in precipitation and evapotranspiration, respectively. Consequently, light-limited forests present an asynchronism between canopy photosynthetic capacity and wood productivity. First-order control by precipitation likely indicates a decrease in tropical forest productivity in a drier climate in water-limited forest, and in current light-limited forest with future rainfall < 2000ĝ€-mmĝ€-yrĝ'1. Author(s) 2016.Fil: Wagner, Fabien H.. Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais; BrasilFil: Hérault, Bruno. Ecologie Des Forets de Guyane; BrasilFil: Bonal, Damien. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique; FranciaFil: Stahl, Clment. Universiteit Antwerp; BélgicaFil: Anderson, Liana O.. National Center For Monitoring And Early Warning Of Natural Disasters; BrasilFil: Baker, Timothy R.. University Of Leeds; Reino UnidoFil: Sebastian Becker, Gabriel. Universidad de Hohenheim; AlemaniaFil: Beeckman, Hans. Royal Museum For Central Africa; BélgicaFil: Boanerges Souza, Danilo. Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia, Inovações. Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia; BrasilFil: Cesar Botosso, Paulo. Ministerio da Agricultura Pecuaria e Abastecimento de Brasil. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria; BrasilFil: Bowman, David M. J. S.. University of Tasmania; AustraliaFil: Bräuning, Achim. Universitat Erlangen-Nuremberg; AlemaniaFil: Brede, Benjamin. Wageningen University And Research Centre; Países BajosFil: Irving Brown, Foster. Universidade Federal Do Acre; BrasilFil: Julio Camarero, Jesus. Instituto Boliviano de Investigacion Forestal Bolivia; BoliviaFil: Camargo, Plnio Barbosa. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Cardoso, Fernanda C.G.. Universidade Federal do Paraná; BrasilFil: Carvalho, Fabrcio Alvim. Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora; BrasilFil: Castro, Wendeson. Universidade Federal Do Acre; BrasilFil: Koloski Chagas, Rubens. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Chave, Jrome. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Chidumayo, Emmanuel N.. University Of Zambia; ZambiaFil: Clark, Deborah A.. University Of Missouri-st. Louis; Estados UnidosFil: Regina Capellotto Costa, Flavia. Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia, Inovações. Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia; BrasilFil: Couralet, Camille. Royal Museum For Central Africa; BélgicaFil: Henrique Da Silva Mauricio, Paulo. Universidade Federal Do Acre; BrasilFil: Dalitz, Helmut. Universidad de Hohenheim; AlemaniaFil: Resende De Castro, Vinicius. Universidade Federal de Vicosa; BrasilFil: Milani, Jaanan Eloisa De Freitas. Universidade Federal do Paraná; BrasilFil: Roig Junent, Fidel Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Museo de Historia Natural de San Rafael - Ianigla | Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Museo de Historia Natural de San Rafael - Ianigla | Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Museo de Historia Natural de San Rafael - Ianigla; Argentin

LSST: from Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products

(Abridged) We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). A vast array of science will be enabled by a single wide-deep-fast sky survey, and LSST will have unique survey capability in the faint time domain. The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a wide-field ground-based system sited at Cerro Pach\'{o}n in northern Chile. The telescope will have an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg$^2$ field of view, and a 3.2 Gigapixel camera. The standard observing sequence will consist of pairs of 15-second exposures in a given field, with two such visits in each pointing in a given night. With these repeats, the LSST system is capable of imaging about 10,000 square degrees of sky in a single filter in three nights. The typical 5$\sigma$ point-source depth in a single visit in $r$ will be $\sim 24.5$ (AB). The project is in the construction phase and will begin regular survey operations by 2022. The survey area will be contained within 30,000 deg$^2$ with $\delta<+34.5^\circ$, and will be imaged multiple times in six bands, $ugrizy$, covering the wavelength range 320--1050 nm. About 90\% of the observing time will be devoted to a deep-wide-fast survey mode which will uniformly observe a 18,000 deg$^2$ region about 800 times (summed over all six bands) during the anticipated 10 years of operations, and yield a coadded map to $r\sim27.5$. The remaining 10\% of the observing time will be allocated to projects such as a Very Deep and Fast time domain survey. The goal is to make LSST data products, including a relational database of about 32 trillion observations of 40 billion objects, available to the public and scientists around the world.Comment: 57 pages, 32 color figures, version with high-resolution figures available from https://www.lsst.org/overvie

Impact of previous sepsis on the accuracy of procalcitonin for the early diagnosis of blood stream infection in critically ill patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Blood stream infections (BSI) are life-threatening infections in intensive care units (ICU), and prognosis is highly dependent on early detection. Procalcitonin levels have been shown to accurately and quickly distinguish between BSI and noninfectious inflammatory states in critically ill patients. It is, however, unknown to what extent a recent history of sepsis (namely, secondary sepsis) can affect diagnosis of BSI using PCT.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>review of the medical records of every patient with BSI in whom PCT dosage at the onset of sepsis was available between 1^stSeptember, 2006 and 31^stJuly, 2007.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>179 episodes of either primary (<it>n </it>= 117) or secondary (<it>n </it>= 62) sepsis were included. Procalcitonin levels were found to be markedly lower in patients with secondary sepsis than in those without (6.4 [9.5] vs. 55.6 [99.0] ng/mL, respectively; <it>p </it>< 0.001), whereas the SOFA score was similar in the two groups. Although patients in the former group were more likely to have received steroids and effective antibiotic therapy prior to the BSI episode, and despite a higher proportion of candidemia in this group, a low PCT value was found to be independently associated with secondary sepsis (Odd Ratio = 0.33, 95% Confidence Interval: 0.16–0.70; <it>p </it>= 0.004). Additional patients with suspected but unconfirmed sepsis were used as controls (<it>n </it>= 23). Thus, diagnostic accuracy of PCT as assessed by the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curves (AUROCC) measurement was decreased in the patients with secondary sepsis compared to those without (AUROCC = 0.805, 95% CI: 0.699–0.879, vs. 0.934, 95% CI: 0.881–0.970, respectively; <it>p </it>< 0.050).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In a critically ill patient with BSI, PCT elevation and diagnosis accuracy could be lower if sepsis is secondary than in those with a first episode of infection.</p