Focus: Preventive Medicine: Firearm Injury Among Children and Adolescents in Nigerian Civilian Trauma Setting: Prevalence,Pattern, and Implications for Prevention

Firearm injury in children and adolescents and the morbidity associated with it is an appreciable burden in resource-limited settings, though it is under-reported. This study aimed to determine its prevalence and pattern in Nigerian civilian trauma setting. We undertook a retrospective study of all the patients with firearm injury aged 19 years or under who visited the Emergency Department (ED) of two tertiary hospitals in Nigeria over a period of 15 years. Of the 46,734 children and adolescents seen in the ED, firearm injury was the reason for the visit in 56 of them, giving a prevalence of 1.2 per 1000 ED attendance (95% CI: 0.9-1.6). The male-to-female ratio was 1.8:1, and the mean age was 13.98 ± 5.6 years. The preponderance of firearm injury was in the rural areas, during the dry season, at home, and in the daytime. Armed robbery (20, 35.7%) and communal clash (7, 12.5%) were the two topmost incidents leading to gunshot wounds. Armed robbery-related gunshot occurred mostly on the roads and at nighttime and involved predominantly 15-19-year-olds. Lower extremity was the topmost anatomical region involved. The majority (67%) had no pre-hospital care; the mean and median injury-hospital arrival interval respectively was 352 hrs and 4.2 hrs. Wound infection was the topmost complication. The mean hospital length of stay was 22.6 days. One (1.8%) of the patients died on the third day of hospital admission. Educational campaigns for prevention intensified during the dry season should highlight the risk of firearm injury to this age group and emphasize the importance of proper supervision and guidance of vulnerable children and adolescents. Improving the rates of pre-hospital care and early presentation of victims to the hospital should be considered in tertiary injury prevention strategies.     

Transition of hemoglobin between two tertiary conformations: determination of equilibrium and thermodynamic parameters from the reaction of 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoate) with the CysF9[93]beta sulfhydryl group

The equilibrium constant of the reaction of 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoate) with the CysF9[93]beta sulfhydryl group of hemoglobin decreases by 2 to 3 orders of magnitude between pH 5.6 and 9. The reaction is coupled to the ionizations of two groups on the protein. At 25 degrees C one group has a pK(a) of 5.31+/-0.2 when hemoglobin is in its (tertiary) r conformation, typified by the thiolate anion form of CysF9[93]beta; this changes to 7.73+/-0.4 in the (tertiary) t conformation, typified by the mixed disulfide form of the sulfhydryl. The second group ionizes with a pK(a) of 7.11+/-0.4 in the r conformation; this changes to 8.38+/-0.2 in the t conformation. K(rt), the equilibrium constant for the r<-->t isomerization process, is 0.22+/-0.06. The standard enthalpy and entropy changes for the isomerization are DeltaH(o)(rt)=24.2 kJ mol(-1) and DeltaS(o)(rt)=68.8 JK(-1)mol(-1), respectively.     

BvPRR7 is a cold responsive gene with a clock function in beet

The life cycle of flowering plants is partially defined by environmental cues like day length and temperature. In the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and temperate cereals, such as barley (Hordeum vulgare) and wheat (Triticum spp.), differences in life cycle control have been associated with a natural variation in FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) and VERNALIZATION 1-3 (VRN1-3). In sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.), variation in vernalization requirement and life cycle is determined by a major gene at the B locus. This gene has recently been identified as a pseudo-response regulator (PRR) gene BOLTING TIME CONTROL 1 (BTC1). A second gene in beet with homology to BTC1 and ARABIDOPSIS PSEUDO RESPONSE REGULATOR 7 (APRR7) in Arabidopsis was identified and termed Beta vulgaris PSEUDO RESPONSE REGULATOR 7 (BvPRR7). We functionally characterized BvPRR7 by transgenic analysis in Arabidopsis and expression profiling during development in beet. We show that BvPRR7 was diurnally regulated and responded to cold. Constitutive expression of BvPRR7 distorted diurnal rhythms and caused late flowering in Arabidopsis suggesting a conserved function of BvPRR7 in clock regulation. Conceivably, the retention of a functional role of BvPRR7 in clock regulation may have facilitated the evolution of a distinct role as major floral regulator of the second PRR7 homolog in beet, BTC1.     

测序平台在母婴肠道菌群结构分析中产生的可能偏倚

目的将两个不同的二代测序平台及其生物信息学流程进行的相同标本的微生物群分析结果的异同进行比较。方法在同一实验室采用相同的生物信息学分析方案,使用两个不同的测序平台(Ion Torrent S5-xl和Illumina HiSeq 2500)对56个(28对)母婴粪便样本进行16S rRNA扩增子测序,采用相关性分析、主成分分析(PCA)、主坐标分析(PCoA)以及MRPP分析比较两个平台产生的微生物群落结构的异同。结果 Alpha多样性除Shannon指数外,Chao1指数(t=1.96,P=0.001 1)、Observed species指数(t=2.13,P0.001 0)、PD_whole tree指数(t=2.07,P0.001 0)、Simpson指数(t=1.87,P=0.003 1)和Good coverage指数(t=2.32,P0.001 0)差异存在统计学意义。对不同分类水平下的菌群相对丰度进行分析,测序和注释的细菌种类越多,两个平台间建立的细菌相对丰度的相关性越低。PCA结果显示,超过87%的样本被聚类。通过PCoA结果将两个平台的56个样本分为两个集群(cluster),两个平台之间的重叠率为71.43%。MRPP差异分别显示了两个测序平台的菌群数据在科水平、属水平上差异存在统计学意义(A=0.094 1,P=0.001 0;A=0.085 2,P=0.002 1)。当考虑样本来源时,在科水平上,母亲组的菌群组成没有明显的测序平台差异(A=0.006 3,P=0.149 1),新生儿组差异则有统计学意义(A=0.035 2,P=0.006 1);在属水平,母、婴组的菌群组成有显著的测序平台差异(A=0.021 6,P=0.004 2;A=0.098 1,P=0.001 0)。结论相同样本在不同平台进行扩增子测序,其菌群结构相对丰度基本相似,但其多样性和相关性仍然有很大差异。为了队列研究数据的可重复性和可靠性,建议使用相同的测序平台和分析流程以减少菌群分析中的偏倚。