Project Energize: intervention development and 10 years of progress in preventing childhood obesity

Prevention of childhood obesity is a global priority. The school setting offers access to large numbers of children and the ability to provide supportive environments for quality physical activity and nutrition. This article describes Project Energize, a through-school physical activity and nutrition programme that celebrated its 10-year anniversary in 2015 so that it might serve as a model for similar practices, initiatives and policies elsewhere. The programme was envisaged and financed by the Waikato District Health Board of New Zealand in 2004 and delivered by Sport Waikato to 124 primary schools as a randomised controlled trial from 2005 to 2006. The programme has since expanded to include all 242 primary schools in the Waikato region and 70 schools in other regions, including 53,000 children. Ongoing evaluation and development of Project Energize has shown it to be sustainable (ongoing for >10 years), both effective (lower obesity, higher physical fitness) and cost effective (one health related cost quality adjusted life year between $18,000 and$30,000) and efficient ($45/child/year) as a childhood 'health' programme. The programme's unique community-based approach is inclusive of all children, serving a population that is 42 % Ma¯ori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. While the original nine healthy eating and seven quality physical activity goals have not changed, the delivery and assessment processes has been refined and the health service adapted over the 10 years of the programme existence, as well as adapted over time to other settings including early childhood education and schools in Cork in Ireland. Evaluation and research associated with the programme delivery and outcomes are ongoing. The dissemination of findings to politicians and collaboration with other service providers are both regarded as priorities

Human papillomavirus in amniotic fluid

BACKGROUND: There is evidence to suggest that human papillomavirus (HPV) can cross the placenta resulting in in-utero transmission. The goal of this study was to determine if HPV can be detected in amniotic fluid from women with intact amniotic membranes. METHODS: Residual amniotic fluid and cultured cell pellets from amniocentesis performed for prenatal diagnosis were used. PGMY09/11 L1 consensus primers and GP5+/GP6+ primers were used in a nested polymerase chain reaction assay for HPV. RESULTS: There were 146 paired samples from 142 women representing 139 singleton pregnancies, 2 twin pregnancies, and 1 triplet pregnancy. The women were 78% Caucasian, 5% African American, 14% Asian, and 2% Hispanic. The average age was 35.2 years with a range of 23–55 years. All samples were β-globin positive. HPV was not detected in any of the paired samples. CONCLUSION: Given the age range, race, and ethnicity of the study population, one would anticipate some evidence of HPV if it could easily cross the placenta, but there was none

Algorithms for locating extremely conserved elements in multiple sequence alignments

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In 2004, Bejerano <it>et al</it>. announced the startling discovery of hundreds of "ultraconserved elements", long genomic sequences perfectly conserved across human, mouse, and rat. Their announcement stimulated a flurry of subsequent research.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We generalize the notion of ultraconserved element in a natural way from extraordinary human-rodent conservation to extraordinary conservation over an arbitrary set of species. We call these "Extremely Conserved Elements". There is a linear time algorithm to find all such Extremely Conserved Elements in any multiple sequence alignment, provided that the conservation is required to be across all the aligned species. For the general case of conservation across an arbitrary subset of the aligned species, we show that the question of whether there exists an Extremely Conserved Element is <it>NP</it>-complete. We illustrate the linear time algorithm by cataloguing all 177 Extremely Conserved Elements in the currently available 44-vertebrate whole-genome alignment, and point out some of the characteristics of these elements.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The <it>NP</it>-completeness in the case of conservation across an arbitrary subset of the aligned species implies that it is unlikely an efficient algorithm exists for this general case. Despite this fact, for the interesting case of conservation across all or most of the aligned species, our algorithm is efficient enough to be practical. The 177 Extremely Conserved Elements that we catalog demonstrate many of the characteristics of the original ultraconserved elements of Bejerano <it>et al</it>.</p

Different genes interact with particulate matter and tobacco smoke exposure in affecting lung function decline in the general population

BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress related genes modify the effects of ambient air pollution or tobacco smoking on lung function decline. The impact of interactions might be substantial, but previous studies mostly focused on main effects of single genes. OBJECTIVES: We studied the interaction of both exposures with a broad set of oxidative-stress related candidate genes and pathways on lung function decline and contrasted interactions between exposures. METHODS: For 12679 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), change in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV(1)), FEV(1) over forced vital capacity (FEV(1)/FVC), and mean forced expiratory flow between 25 and 75% of the FVC (FEF(25-75)) was regressed on interval exposure to particulate matter >10 microm in diameter (PM10) or packyears smoked (a), additive SNP effects (b), and interaction terms between (a) and (b) in 669 adults with GWAS data. Interaction p-values for 152 genes and 14 pathways were calculated by the adaptive rank truncation product (ARTP) method, and compared between exposures. Interaction effect sizes were contrasted for the strongest SNPs of nominally significant genes (p(interaction)>0.05). Replication was attempted for SNPs with MAF<10% in 3320 SAPALDIA participants without GWAS. RESULTS: On the SNP-level, rs2035268 in gene SNCA accelerated FEV(1)/FVC decline by 3.8% (p(interaction) = 2.5x10(-6)), and rs12190800 in PARK2 attenuated FEV1 decline by 95.1 ml p(interaction) = 9.7x10(-8)) over 11 years, while interacting with PM10. Genes and pathways nominally interacting with PM10 and packyears exposure differed substantially. Gene CRISP2 presented a significant interaction with PM10 (p(interaction) = 3.0x10(-4)) on FEV(1)/FVC decline. Pathway interactions were weak. Replications for the strongest SNPs in PARK2 and CRISP2 were not successful. CONCLUSIONS: Consistent with a stratified response to increasing oxidative stress, different genes and pathways potentially mediate PM10 and tobac smoke effects on lung function decline. Ignoring environmental exposures would miss these patterns, but achieving sufficient sample size and comparability across study samples is challengin

Ultrafast heating as a sufficient stimulus for magnetization reversal in a ferrimagnet.

The question of how, and how fast, magnetization can be reversed is a topic of great practical interest for the manipulation and storage of magnetic information. It is generally accepted that magnetization reversal should be driven by a stimulus represented by time-non-invariant vectors such as a magnetic field, spin-polarized electric current, or cross-product of two oscillating electric fields. However, until now it has been generally assumed that heating alone, not represented as a vector at all, cannot result in a deterministic reversal of magnetization, although it may assist this process. Here we show numerically and demonstrate experimentally a novel mechanism of deterministic magnetization reversal in a ferrimagnet driven by an ultrafast heating of the medium resulting from the absorption of a sub-picosecond laser pulse without the presence of a magnetic field

A Uniform Genomic Minor Histocompatibility Antigen Typing Methodology and Database Designed to Facilitate Clinical Applications

BACKGROUND: Minor Histocompatibility (H) antigen mismatches significantly influence the outcome of HLA-matched allogeneic stem cell transplantation. The molecular identification of human H antigens is increasing rapidly. In parallel, clinical application of minor H antigen typing has gained interest. So far, relevant and simple tools to analyze the minor H antigens in a quick and reliable way are lacking. METHODOLOGY AND FINDINGS: We developed a uniform PCR with sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP) for 10 different autosomal minor H antigens and H-Y. This genomic minor H antigen typing methodology allows easy incorporation in the routine HLA typing procedures. DNA from previously typed EBV-LCL was used to validate the methodology. To facilitate easy interpretation for clinical purposes, a minor H database named dbMinor (http://www.lumc.nl/dbminor) was developed. Input of the minor H antigen typing results subsequently provides all relevant information for a given patient/donor pair and additional information on the putative graft-versus-host, graft-versus-tumor and host-versus-graft reactivities. SIGNIFICANCE: A simple, uniform and rapid methodology was developed enabling determination of minor H antigen genotypes of all currently identified minor H antigens. A dbMinor database was developed to interpret the genomic typing for its potential clinical relevance. The combination of the minor H antigen genomic typing methodology with the online dbMinor database and applications facilitates the clinical application of minor H antigens anti-tumor targets after stem cell transplantation

Hyperuricemia Is Independently Associated with Coronary Heart Disease and Renal Dysfunction in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

AIMS: To investigate the relationship between hyperuricemia (HUA) and the clinical backgrounds in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. METHODS: After a cross-sectional study evaluating the association of HUA with the clinical characteristics in 1,213 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and the incidence of diabetic macroangiopathies was investigated in a prospective observational study in 1,073 patients during a 3.5 year period. HUA was defined by serum uric acid levels >327 μmol/L or as patients using allopurinol. RESULTS: The frequency of HUA was significantly higher in the diabetic patients (32% in men and 15% in women) than in the normal controls (14% in men and 1% in women). In total, HUA was found in 299 (25%) of the patients during the cross-sectional study. Even after adjusting for sex, drinking status, treatment for diabetes mellitus, body mass index, hypertension, use of diuretics, hyperlipidemia, HbA1c and/or the eGFR, the HUA was independently associated with some diabetic complications. The eGFR was significantly reduced in HUA patients compared to those with normouricemia in the 12 months after observation was started. HUA was also an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease even after adjustment in the Cox proportional hazard model. CONCLUSIONS: HUA is a associated with diabetic micro- and macroangiopathies. HUA is a predictor of coronary heart disease and renal dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, the influence of HUA is considered to be limited

Association of Alpha B-Crystallin Genotypes with Oral Cancer Susceptibility, Survival, and Recurrence in Taiwan

BACKGROUND: Alpha B-crystallin (CRYAB) is a protein that functions as "molecular chaperone" in preserving intracellular architecture and cell membrane. Also, CRYAB is highly antiapoptotic. Abnormal CRYAB expression is a prognostic biomarker for oral cancer, while its genomic variations and the association with carcinogenesis have never been studied. METHODOLOGY/FINDING: Therefore, we hypothesized that CRYAB single nucleotide polymorphisms may be associated with oral cancer risk. In this hospital-based study, the association of CRYAB A-1215G (rs2228387), C-802G (rs14133) and intron2 (rs2070894) polymorphisms with oral cancer in a Taiwan population was investigated. In total, 496 oral cancer patients and 992 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were genotyped and analyzed. A significantly different frequency distribution was found in CRYAB C-802G genotypes, but not in A-1215G and intron2 genotypes, between the oral cancer and control groups. The CRYAB C-802G G allele conferred an increased risk of oral cancer (P = 1.49×10(-5)). Patients carrying CG/GG at CRYAB C-802G were of lower 5-year survival and higher recurrence rate than those of CC (P<0.05). CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results provide the first evidence that the G allele of CRYAB C-802G is correlated with oral cancer risk and this polymorphism may be a useful marker for oral cancer recurrence and survival prediction for clinical reference