Accelerated ageing and renal dysfunction links lower socioeconomic status and dietary phosphate intake

Background: We have sought to explore the impact of dietary Pi intake on human age related health in the pSoBid cohort (n=666) to explain the disparity between health and deprivation status in this cohort. As hyperphosphataemia is a driver of accelerated ageing in rodent models of progeria we tested whether variation in Pi levels in man associate with measures of biological ageing and health. Results: We observed significant relationships between serum Pi levels and markers of biological age (telomere length (p=0.040) and DNA methylation content (p=0.028), gender and chronological age (p=0.032). When analyses were adjusted for socio-economic status and nutritional factors, associations were observed between accelerated biological ageing (telomere length, genomic methylation content) and dietary derived Pi levels among the most deprived males, directly related to the frequency of red meat consumption. Conclusions: Accelerated ageing is associated with high serum Pi levels and frequency of red meat consumption. Our data provide evidence for a mechanistic link between high intake of Pi and age-related morbidities tied to socio-economic status

Treatment of wastewater solutions from anodizing industry by membrane distillation and membrane crystallization

The treatment of wastewater containing various metal ions is a challenging issue in the anodizing industry. The current study investigates the application of membrane distillation/crystallization (MD/MCr) for the simultaneous recovery of freshwater and sodium sulfate from wastewater originating from a Danish anodizing industry. MD/MCr experiments were performed on supernatant from wastewater obtained after centrifugation. The effect of various feed temperatures and cross-flow velocities on flux and crystal characteristics was investigated. The crystal growth in the feed tank was monitored through the use of an online PaticleView microscope. The crystals’ morphology and form were determined by using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), respectively, while inductively coupled plasma (ICP) was applied to determine the purity of the obtained crystals. The weight and dimensions of the MD/MCr unit that were required to treat the specific amount of wastewater were evaluated as a function of the feed inlet temperature. It was demonstrated that the application of MCr allows extracting high-purity sodium sulfate crystals and more than 80% freshwater from the wastewater

Marker-dependent associations among oxidative stress, growth and survival during early life in a wild mammal

Oxidative stress (OS) is hypothesized to be a key physiological mechanism mediating life-history trade-offs, but evidence from wild populations experiencing natural environmental variation is limited. We tested the hypotheses that increased early life growth rate increases OS, and that increased OS reduces first-winter survival, in wild Soay sheep (Ovis aries) lambs. We measured growth rate and first-winter survival for four consecutive cohorts, and measured two markers of oxidative damage (malondialdehyde (MDA), protein carbonyls (PC)) and two markers of antioxidant (AOX) protection (total AOX capacity (TAC), superoxide dismutase (SOD)) from blood samples. Faster lamb growth was weakly associated with increased MDA, but not associated with variation in the other three markers. Lambs with higher SOD activity were more likely to survive their first winter, as were male but not female lambs with lower PC concentrations. Survival did not vary with MDA or total TAC. Key predictions relating OS to growth and survival were therefore supported in some OS markers, but not others. This suggests that different markers capture different aspects of the complex relationships between individual oxidative state, physiology and fitness, and that overarching hypotheses relating OS to life-history variation cannot be supported or refuted by studying individual markers

Prognostic factors for relapse in patients with clinical stage I testicular non-seminoma: A nationwide, population-based cohort study

BACKGROUND: Approximately 30% of patients with clinical stage I non-seminoma (CSI-NS) relapse. Current risk stratification is based on lymphovascular invasion (LVI) alone. The extent to which additional tumor characteristics can improve risk prediction remains unclear.OBJECTIVE: To determine the most important prognostic factors for relapse in CSI-NS patients.DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Population-based cohort study including all patients with CSI-NS diagnosed in Denmark between 2013 and 2018 with follow-up until 2022. Patients were identified in the prospective Danish Testicular Cancer database. By linkage to the Danish National Pathology Registry, histological slides from the orchiectomy specimens were retrieved.OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Histological slides were reviewed blinded to the clinical outcome. Clinical data were obtained from medical records. The association between prespecified potential prognostic factors and relapse was assessed using Cox regression analysis. Model performance was evaluated by discrimination (Harrell's C-index) and calibration.RESULTS: Of 453 patients included, 139 patients (30.6%) relapsed during a median follow-up of 6.3 years. Tumor invasion into the hilar soft tissue of the testicular hilum, tumor size, LVI and embryonal carcinoma were independent predictors of relapse. The estimated 5-year risk of relapse ranged from &lt; 5% to &gt; 85%, depending on the number of risk factors. After internal model validation, the model had an overall concordance statistic of 0.75. Model calibration was excellent.CONCLUSION AND RELEVANCE: The identified prognostic factors provide a much more accurate risk stratification than current clinical practice, potentially aiding clinical decision-making.</p

University students and staff able to maintain low daily contact numbers during various COVID-19 guideline periods

UK universities re-opened in September 2020, amidst the coronavirus epidemic. During the first term, various national social distancing measures were introduced, including banning groups of >6 people and the second lockdown in November; however, outbreaks among university students occurred. We aimed to measure the University of Bristol staff and student contact patterns via an online, longitudinal survey capturing self-reported contacts on the previous day. We investigated the change in contacts associated with COVID-19 guidance periods: post-first lockdown (23/06/2020–03/07/2020), relaxed guidance period (04/07/2020–13/09/2020), ‘rule-of-six’ period (14/09/2020–04/11/2020) and the second lockdown (05/11/2020–25/11/2020). In total, 722 staff (4199 responses) and 738 students (1906 responses) were included in the study. For staff, daily contacts were higher in the relaxed guidance and ‘rule-of-six’ periods than the post-first lockdown and second lockdown. Mean student contacts dropped between the ‘rule-of-six’ and second lockdown periods. For both staff and students, the proportion meeting with groups larger than six dropped between the ‘rule-of-six’ period and the second lockdown period, although was higher for students than for staff. Our results suggest university staff and students responded to national guidance by altering their social contacts. Most contacts during the second lockdown were household contacts. The response in staff and students was similar, suggesting that students can adhere to social distancing guidance while at university. The number of contacts recorded for both staff and students were much lower than those recorded by previous surveys in the UK conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic

Prevalence and Characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children Aged 4 Years - Early Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, Seven Sites, United States, 2010, 2012, and 2014

Problem/Condition: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is estimated to affect up to 3% of children in the United States. Public health surveillance for ASD among children aged 4 years provides information about trends in prevalence, characteristics of children with ASD, and progress made toward decreasing the age of identification of ASD so that evidence-based interventions can begin as early as possible. Period Covered: 2010, 2012, and 2014. Description of System: The Early Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (Early ADDM) Network is an active surveillance system that provides biennial estimates of the prevalence and characteristics of ASD among children aged 4 years whose parents or guardians lived within designated sites. During surveillance years 2010, 2012, or 2014, data were collected in seven sites: Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Utah, and Wisconsin. The Early ADDM Network is a subset of the broader ADDM Network (which included 13 total sites over the same period) that has been conducting ASD surveillance among children aged 8 years since 2000. Each Early ADDM site covers a smaller geographic area than the broader ADDM Network. Early ADDM ASD surveillance is conducted in two phases using the same methods and project staff members as the ADDM Network. The first phase consists of reviewing and abstracting data from children's records, including comprehensive evaluations performed by community professionals. Sources for these evaluations include general pediatric health clinics and specialized programs for children with developmental disabilities. In addition, special education records (for children aged >= 3 years) were reviewed for Arizona, Colorado, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Utah, and early intervention records (for children aged 0 to = 60% data on cognitive test scores (Arizona, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Utah), the frequency of co-occurring intellectual disabilities was significantly higher among children aged 4 years than among those aged 8 years for each site in each surveillance year except Arizona in 2010. The percentage of children with ASD who had a first evaluation by age 36 months ranged from 48.8% in Missouri in 2012 to 88.9% in Wisconsin in 2014. The percentage of children with a previous ASD diagnosis from a community provider varied by site, ranging from 43.0% for Arizona in 2012 to 86.5% for Missouri in 2012. The median age at earliest known ASD diagnosis varied from 28 months in North Carolina in 2014 to 39.0 months in Missouri and Wisconsin in 2012. In 2014, the ASD prevalence based on the DSM-IV-TR case definition was 20% higher than the prevalence based on the DSM-5 (17.0 versus 14.1 per 1,000, respectively). Trends in ASD prevalence and characteristics among children aged 4 years during the study period were assessed for the three sites with data for all 3 years and consistent data sources (Arizona, Missouri, and New Jersey) using the DSM-IV-TR case definition; prevalence was higher in 2014 than in 2010 among children aged 4 years in New Jersey and was stable in Arizona and Missouri. In Missouri, ASD prevalence was higher among children aged 8 years than among children aged 4 years. The percentage of children with ASD who had a comprehensive evaluation by age 36 months was stable in Arizona and Missouri and decreased in New Jersey. In the three sites, no change occurred in the age at earliest known ASD diagnosis during 2010-2014. Interpretation: The findings suggest that ASD prevalence among children aged 4 years was higher in 2014 than in 2010 in one site and remained stable in others. Among children with ASD, the frequency of cognitive impairment was higher among children aged 4 years than among those aged 8 years and suggests that surveillance at age 4 years might more often include children with more severe symptoms or those with co-occurring conditions such as intellectual disability. In the sites with data for all years and consistent data sources, no change in the age at earliest known ASD diagnosis was found, and children received their first developmental evaluation at the same or a later age in 2014 compared with 2010. Delays in the initiation of a first developmental evaluation might adversely affect children by delaying access to treatment and special services that can improve outcomes for children with ASD. Public Health Action: Efforts to increase awareness of ASD and improve the identification of ASD by community providers can facilitate early diagnosis of children with ASD. Heterogeneity of results across sites suggests that community-level differences in evaluation and diagnostic services as well as access to data sources might affect estimates of ASD prevalence and age of identification. Continuing improvements in providing developmental evaluations to children as soon as developmental concerns are identified might result in earlier ASD diagnoses and earlier receipt of services, which might improve developmental outcomes.This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Contacts and behaviours of university students during the COVID-19 pandemic at the start of the 2020/2021 academic year

University students have unique living, learning and social arrangements which may have implications for infectious disease transmission. To address this data gap, we created CONQUEST (COroNavirus QUESTionnaire), a longitudinal online survey of contacts, behaviour, and COVID-19 symptoms for University of Bristol (UoB) staff/students. Here, we analyse results from 740 students providing 1261 unique records from the start of the 2020/2021 academic year (14/09/2020–01/11/2020), where COVID-19 outbreaks led to the self-isolation of all students in some halls of residences. Although most students reported lower daily contacts than in pre-COVID-19 studies, there was heterogeneity, with some reporting many (median = 2, mean = 6.1, standard deviation = 15.0; 8% had ≥ 20 contacts). Around 40% of students’ contacts were with individuals external to the university, indicating potential for transmission to non-students/staff. Only 61% of those reporting cardinal symptoms in the past week self-isolated, although 99% with a positive COVID-19 test during the 2 weeks before survey completion had self-isolated within the last week. Some students who self-isolated had many contacts (mean = 4.3, standard deviation = 10.6). Our results provide context to the COVID-19 outbreaks seen in universities and are available for modelling future outbreaks and informing policy