Traffic Accidents—Epidemiology and Medical Aspects of Prevention

Injuries and deaths from traffic accidents are a public health problem of epidemic proportions and justify intensive epidemiological research. The human factor is responsible for the majority of traffic accidents. The literature concerning the human factor is reviewed, and it is concluded that psychosocial influences are most important, though medical conditions may be responsible for 3 to 4% of accidents. Problems concerning the medical examination of drivers are discussed and the need is emphasized to find some means of removing from the road those drivers who continue to drive in spite of repeated medical advice not to do so. Some of the medical conditions influencing driver safety are discussed. It is recommended that each Division of The Canadian Medical Association should publish a guide for physicians who examine drivers. The advantages of a uniform guide in Canada are stressed.     

Celebrating 20 years of historical papers in Photosynthesis Research

This Editorial has four goals: (1) to inform the readers of ‘Photosynthesis Research‘ about the past of the ‘Historical corner’; which began 20 years ago; (2) to encourage photosynthesis researchers and historians of science to contact me for publishing papers of historical interest; these include: (a) Obituaries and Tributes; (b) historical papers on current and past discoveries and controversies; (c) history of research in specific laboratories, or in specific countries, or at specific conferences; (d) Personal perspectives (not discussed any further); (3) to encourage researchers not to discard, but to save correspondence and data of their discoveries for the future historians by donating them to their Archives, when appropriate (not discussed any further); and (4) to reinforce to the readers that the concept of two-light reaction and two-pigment system was already there in 1959. I mention here three key papers presented at the IX^th International Botanical Congress, held at Montreal Canada (in August, 1959) prior to the famous April 9, 1960 paper by Robert Hill and Fay Bendall on the ‘Z-scheme’ of photosynthesis, that was based on thermodynamic and energetic considerations. ^★ This Historical corner Editorial is dedicated to Bessel Kok (1918–1978).     

Epidemiology of the dermatophytoses in the Florence area of Italy: 1985–1990

Between 1985 and 1990 we observed 2085 cases of dermatophytoses in the Florence area of Italy.Trichophyton rubrum andMicrosporum canis were the major etiological agents. 126 cases of dermatophytoses observed during this period were caused byTrichophyton mentagrophytes. Most of the patients came from rural areas or they kept pets.Epidermophyton floccosum ranked fourth in frequency (95 cases). The patients were adults and mainly males, most of whom engaged in sports or lived in group environments.Microsporum gypseum was isolated in 31 cases. Infections occurred directly from contact with soil or domestic animals. We report the principal clinical data concerning these last three dermatophyte infections.     

The Role of Cohesiveness in the Permeability of the Spatial Assemblies of FG Nucleoporins

Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) conduct selective, bidirectional transport across the nuclear envelope. The NPC passageway is lined by intrinsically disordered proteins that contain hydrophobic phenylalanine-glycine (FG) motifs, known as FG nucleoporins (FG nups), that play the key role in the NPC transport mechanism. Cohesive interactions among the FG nups, which arise from the combination of hydrophobic, electrostatic, and other forces, have been hypothesized to control the morphology of the assemblies of FG nups in the NPC, as well as their permeability with respect to the transport proteins. However, the role of FG nup cohesiveness is still vigorously debated. Using coarse-grained polymer theory and numerical simulations, we study the effects of cohesiveness on the selective permeability of in vitro FG nup assemblies in different geometries that have served as proxies for the morphological and transport properties of the NPC. We show that in high-density FG nup assemblies, increase in cohesiveness leads to the decrease in their permeability, in accordance with the accepted view. On the other hand, the permeability of low-density assemblies is a nonmonotonic function of the cohesiveness, and a moderate increase in cohesiveness can enhance permeability. The density- and cohesiveness-dependent effects on permeability are explained by considering the free-energy cost associated with penetrating the FG nup assemblies. We discuss the implications of these findings for the organization and function of the NPC.     

Statistical Use in Clinical Studies: Is There Evidence of a Methodological Shift?

Background

Several studies indicate that the statistical education model and level in medical training fails to meet the demands of clinicians, especially when they want to understand published clinical research. We investigated how study designs and statistical methods in clinical studies have changed in the last twenty years, and we identified the current trends in study designs and statistical methods in clinical studies.

Methods

We reviewed 838 eligible clinical study articles that were published in 1990, 2000, and 2010 in four journals New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Journal of the American Medical Association and Nature Medicine. The study types, study designs, sample designs, data quality controls, statistical methods and statistical software were examined.

Results

Substantial changes occurred in the past twenty years. The majority of the studies focused on drug trials (61.6%, n = 516). In 1990, 2000, and 2010, there was an incremental increase in RCT studies (74.4%, 82.8%, and 84.0%, respectively, p = 0.013). Over time, there was increased attention on the details of selecting a sample and controlling bias, and there was a higher frequency of utilizing complex statistical methods. In 2010, the most common statistical methods were confidence interval for superiority and non-inferiority comparison (41.6%), survival analysis (28.5%), correction analysis for covariates (18.8%) and Logistic regression (15.3%).

Conclusions

These findings indicate that statistical measures in clinical studies are continuously developing and that the credibility of clinical study results is increasing. These findings provide information for future changes in statistical training in medical education.     

Invasive Fungal Infection in Romania: Changing Incidence and Epidemiology During Six Years of Surveillance in a Tertiary Hospital

The present study aimed to evaluate the incidence of candidemia, the trend of species distribution and the antifungal susceptibility patterns of all invasive strains of Candida spp. isolated over a 6-year period in an Eastern European University hospital. A total number of 156 isolates were reidentified by MALDI-TOF and tested for susceptibility by Sensititre^TM YeastOne?. Isolates were assigned as non-susceptible or belonging to the wild type according to the new CLSI (2017, 2018) break points and epidemiological cut-off values. C. parapsilosis (37.82%) was the most frequently isolated yeast, followed by C. albicans (26.28%). The general tendency of the species distribution during the surveyed period shifted towards an increase in C. parapsilosis and C. lusitaniae isolates. Fluconazole resistance was present in 23.52% of C. glabrata, 5.08% of C. parapsilosis and in none of the C. albicans, C. tropicalis and C. lusitaniae isolates. Echinocandin resistance was present only in 1(5.88%) C. glabrata isolate. The study emphasises the importance of monitoring local epidemiologic data and antifungal susceptibility trends due to the diversity of affected patient groups in our hospital.     

Nutritional control of copper uptake in the cyanobacteriumNostoc calcicola Bréb

Summary The kinetics of Cu uptake in nutritionally starved cells of the diazotrophic cyanobacteriumNostoc calcicola Bréb. have been compared with those in cells recovering from starvation. Unstarved cyanobacterial cells assimilated 97.0 nmol Cu mg^–1 protein within 1 h when incubated in medium containing 40 M Cu. Uptake was markedly inhibited in carbon-starved cells and, to a lesser extent, in cells starved of nitrogen or sulphur. The intracellular concentrations of protein and photopigments were markedly lower in cells starved of carbon, nitrogen, sulphur or phosphorus, whilst that of carbohydrate was lower in cells starved of carbon, sulphur or phosphorus, but almost doubled in cells starved of nitrogen. The ability to assimilate Cu was partially restored in cells after 72 h of recovery from phosphorus or sulphur deprivation, but showed little improvement during recovery from carbon or nitrogen starvation. A possible role of phosphorus in regulating Cu transport and accumulation is discussed.     

Bistability Analysis of an Apoptosis Model in the Presence of Nitric Oxide

Bistability in apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is crucial for the healthy functioning of multicellular organisms. The aim in this study is to show the presence of bistability in a mitochondria-dependent apoptosis model under nitric oxide effects using chemical reaction network theory. The model equations are a set of coupled ordinary differential equations arising from the assumed mass action kinetics. Whether these equations have a capacity for bistability (cell survival and apoptosis) is determined using a modular approach in which the model is decomposed into modules. Each module contains only a subset of the whole model and is analyzed separately. It is seen that bistability in a module is preserved throughout the whole model after adding the remaining reactions in the pathway on these modules. It is also found that inhibitor effect of some proteins and the appearance of a reacting protein in a later stage as a product is a desired feature but not sufficient for bistability (in the absence of cooperativity effects). On the whole model, two apoptotic and two cell survival states are obtained depending on the initial cell conditions. The results suggest that the antiapoptotic effects of nitric oxide species are responsible for the bistable character of the apoptotic pathway when cooperativity is not assumed in the apoptosome formation.     

Spatiotemporal Dynamics of the Epidemic Transmission in a Predator-Prey System

Epidemic transmission is one of the critical density-dependent mechanisms that affect species viability and dynamics. In a predator-prey system, epidemic transmission can strongly affect the success probability of hunting, especially for social animals. Predators, therefore, will suffer from the positive density-dependence, i.e., Allee effect, due to epidemic transmission in the population. The rate of species contacting the epidemic, especially for those endangered or invasive, has largely increased due to the habitat destruction caused by anthropogenic disturbance. Using ordinary differential equations and cellular automata, we here explored the epidemic transmission in a predator-prey system. Results show that a moderate Allee effect will destabilize the dynamics, but it is not true for the extreme Allee effect (weak or strong). The predator-prey dynamics amazingly stabilize by the extreme Allee effect. Predators suffer the most from the epidemic disease at moderate transmission probability. Counter-intuitively, habitat destruction will benefit the control of the epidemic disease. The demographic stochasticity dramatically influences the spatial distribution of the system. The spatial distribution changes from oil-bubble-like (due to local interaction) to aggregated spatially scattered points (due to local interaction and demographic stochasticity). It indicates the possibility of using human disturbance in habitat as a potential epidemic-control method in conservation.     

Famine Foods of Brazil’s Seasonal Dry Forests: Ethnobotanical and Nutritional Aspects

Famine Foods of Brazil’s Seasonal Dry Forests: Ethnobotanical and Nutritional Aspects. Famine foods are used by people in times of food scarcity. Although the northeast of Brazil regularly faces periods of drought that cause a shortage of traditional foods, the use of famine foods is insufficiently recorded. The purpose of this study was to record the knowledge of famine food in two rural Caatinga communities, Carão and Cachoeira, in the states of Pernambuco and Paraiba, respectively, and to determine the chemical composition of the major famine foods utilized. The ethnobotanical aspect was divided into two stages: free lists and semistructured interviews. Based on the interviews, the main famine foods known by communities were selected for nutritional analysis. The study revealed that certain foods are used by communities only in times of shortages. Carão showed a higher species richness than Cachoeira, but the food knowledge was more widespread among the interviewees in Cachoeira. In Carão, the main species mentioned were Dioclea grandiflora and Manihot dichotoma, whereas in Cachoeira, Encholirium spectabile and Pilosocereus gounellei were the major species indicated. The species examined had a high carbohydrate content, especially D. grandiflora, Manihot glaziovii, and M. dichotoma, and could be used for complementary feeding of the population if adverse effects could be minimized. Mandevilla tenuiflora is indicated for future studies of potential agro-industrial applications and the beneficial aspects of its root, which could represent an alternative source of income for the population.