The Rise of Nigerian Women in the Visual Media

In Nigeria, the number of women photographers has drastically increased since the emergence of color photo laboratories and more sophisticated equipment automation. If the profession has considerably feminized itself over the past ten years in the South-West, nothing of the kind has yet happened in the rest of the country. Many young girls are placed by their parents with a studio, due to lack of means to offer them a better education. Whence an over-feminization of apprenticeship, which can but pose problems to professional authorities, who are much concerned about the future of the profession.     

Sudden death due to physical exercise in the elderly

Physical exercise has a beneficial effect to the humans. Sudden death in healthy persons engaged in physical exercise is extremely rare since healthy heart is protected from complications. The records of five elderly men who died during or immediately after exercise in the period between 1988-2001 in our region have been given, out of 23 men (and no one woman) aged 14-68 who died due to physical exercise in that time. They have been engaged in tennis, jogging and swimming recreatively. In all of them coronary heart disease has been found by the forensic autopsy. Only one has had arterial hypertension, symptoms of chest pain few years before accident and acute myocardial infarction has been found. The other four have been without symptoms. In three of them myocardial scars have been found of past myocardial infarctions. In all of them the thickness of the left ventricle wall was 15 mm or more (from 15 to 25 mm). It seems that the thickness of the wall of the left ventricle increases cardiovascular risk in persons without symptoms. In Croatia about 7% of the whole population are engaged in recreation. In this population 13% are elderly: 40,950. The reported five deaths due to recreational physical exercise in the elderly reached 1/114,660 persons every three years, or 1/573,300 persons during fourteen years.     

Sudden death due to recreational exercise in physicians

In a period from 1982-2002 we noticed five dead among Croatian male physicians aged 34 to 67, during or after recreational physical exercise: swimming, soccer, tennis and jogging. Three of them who were autopsied, have been non-smokers and without previous symptoms. In all coronary heart disease was found. The left descending anterior artery was stenotic in one and occluded in two, with myocardial scars in one. An acute myocardial infarction was found in none of them, and in two-left ventricular hypertrophy 15 and 18 mm. We could not find a recent medical record in those physicians including a clinical finding and other findings. Two physicians who were not been autopsied, had possible an alcohol cardiomyopathy. Both of them were smokers. In Croatia about 7% of the whole population are engaged in recreational physical exercise. In a period of twenty years (1982-2002) we noticed 43 sudden and unexpected deaths during or immediately after physical exercise: it reached 43/6,300,000 sudden death in Croatia in twenty years or 2.15/315,000 yearly among persons engaged in physical exercise. In Croatia there are 4,957 male physicians-specialists, and a rate of sudden cardiac death during or immediately after physical exercise in this group reached 5/99,140 in 20 years or 1/19,828 every four years. A medical check up before recreational physical exercise is essential including a clinical examination, a serum concentration of risk factors and other risk factors, an electrocardiogram at rest, a stress test and echocardiography in clinical indication, as are medical controls over persons taking exercise. This study shows that medical evaluation is important because of the underlying problems such as sudden death during exercise. In non-trained persons and in the elderly a physical exercise should be recommended of a gradually intensity, which could not exceed 6 METs.     

Screening for obesity in the offspring of first-cousin consanguineous couples: A Phase-I study in Saudi Arabia

Consanguineous or cousin marriages are very common in Saudi Arabia. However, owing to limited studies and insufficient knowledge about genetic diseases/disorders, many couples are unaware of the increased health risks for their offspring. Among the inherited and complex diseases from parents’ consanguinity, obesity is common; therefore, we examined the prevalence of obesity in the offspring of first-cousin consanguineous couples in Saudi Arabia. In this questionnaire-based study, 657 individuals (mean age = 18.7 ± 10.2 years; age range = 2–65 years) who were residing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia participated. Among them, almost 90% were native Saudis. Participants mean body mass index (BMI) was 24.5 ± 9.1 kg/m2. Sex- stratified demographic details confirmed a significant association between age and BMI (p < .001). We confirmed that adolescents and adults were more prone to develop obesity. Adults and non-Saudi participants were three times more likely to develop obesity if they had first-cousin consanguineous parents than those who did not. Of the 30% of participants who were obese, 100 will be selected for Phase II, in which we plan to perform exome sequencing.     

Bioethics for clinicians: 7. Truth telling

The standard of professional candour with patients has undergone a significant change over the past 30 years. Independent of their obligation to disclose information necessary for informed consent, physicians are increasingly expected to communicate important information to patients that is not immediately related to treatment decisions. The purpose of truth telling is not simply to enable patients to make informed choices about health care and other aspects of their lives but also to inform them about their situation. Truth telling fosters trust in the medical profession and rests on the respect owed to patients as persons. It also prevents harm, as patients who are uninformed about their situation may fail to get medical help when they should.     

The development of contingent reciprocity in children

Cooperation between nonrelatives is common in humans. Reciprocal altruism is a plausible evolutionary mechanism for cooperation within unrelated pairs, as selection may favor individuals who selectively cooperate with those who have cooperated with them in the past. Reciprocity is often observed in humans, but there is only limited evidence of reciprocal altruism in other primate species, raising questions about the origins of human reciprocity. Here, we explore how reciprocity develops in a sample of American children ranging from 3 to 7.5 years of age, and also compare children's behavior to that of chimpanzees in prior studies to gain insight into the phylogeny of human reciprocity. Children show a marked tendency to respond contingently to both prosocial and selfish acts, patterns that have not been seen among chimpanzees in prior studies. Our results show that reciprocity increases markedly with age in this population of children, and by about 5.5 years of age children consistently match the previous behavior of their partners.     

Microarray data analysis: from disarray to consolidation and consensus

In just a few years, microarrays have gone from obscurity to being almost ubiquitous in biological research. At the same time, the statistical methodology for microarray analysis has progressed from simple visual assessments of results to a weekly deluge of papers that describe purportedly novel algorithms for analysing changes in gene expression. Although the many procedures that are available might be bewildering to biologists who wish to apply them, statistical geneticists are recognizing commonalities among the different methods. Many are special cases of more general models, and points of consensus are emerging about the general approaches that warrant use and elaboration.     

Survey of Cervical Cytology in General Practice

In a practice in an industrial area a cervical cytology service was offered to women, and in the years 1967-70 280 cervical smears were carried out. In 1971 all women born between 1 January 1920 and 31 December 1935 who had not had a cervical smear taken in the preceding four years were sent a letter explaining the service and inviting them to attend. Those who did not attend received a second letter and, if necessary, a visit by a nurse in an effort to persuade them to do so.Eventually 88·4% of the women in this age group who could be traced attended, and 16 abnormal cervical smears were reported. As a result of cone biopsy 12 women were found to have carcinoma in situ.     

Genetic and dietary salt contributors to insulin resistance in Dahl salt-sensitive (S) rats

There has in recent years been great concern about possible cardiac side effects of thiazolidinediones (TZDs). We present a case-report of a 60 year-old male who developed significant mitral regurgitation during six months treatment with pioglitazone in parallel with laboratory indications of fluid retention. Echocardiography six months after discontinuation of medication showed regression of mitral regurgitation and the laboratory parameters were also normalized. It is noteworthy that six months treatment with pioglitazone could induce significant valve dysfunction, which was reversible, and this underlines the importance of carefully monitoring patients when placing them on treatment with TZDs.     

Deportation proceedings against Canadian MDs may hold lesson for others heading south

Two Alberta physicians who emigrated to a medically underserviced part of Kentucky have learned a harsh lesson about American immigration law. Drs. David Zetter and Sabina Seitz had been settled in western Kentucky for 2 years when the US government launched deportation proceedings against them. American officials allege that they misrepresented themselves when they entered the US on a temporary visa. They may be allowed to stay following a public outcry against their deportation.     

Oral Contraceptives and Breast Neoplasia: A Retrospective Study

Between 1 December 1968 and 31 December 1971 345 women aged 16-39 years with a lump in the breast (90 malignant and 255 benign) were interviewed at five London teaching hospitals together with 347 matched controls suffering from acute medical or surgical conditions or admitted to hospital for routine elective surgery. Questions were asked about each patient''s medical, obstetric, menstrual, contraceptive, and social histories.The data do not suggest that the use of oral contraceptives is related in any way to the risk of breast cancer but provide some evidence that the preparations may actually protect against benign breast disease. This protective effect is largely confined to women who continue to use oral contraceptives and have used them altogether for more than two years. Such women appear to have only about 25% as great a risk of being admitted to hospital for a breast biopsy as women who have never used oral contraceptives at all.     

Beliefs about age and physical demands of work in shiftworkers

The aim of the study was to investigate the differences between shiftworkers and non-shiftworkers in terms of several aspects of aging. Our interest was in particular focused on the differences observed in the assessment of subjective age, and physical, mental and social demands of work. Subjects were workers in a medical setting, 54 shiftworkers and 53 non-shiftworkers of the comparable chronological age. Subjective age measures included cognitive age, desired age and beliefs about age. The results showed that shiftworkers, compared to non-shiftworkers, reported being more physically tired by their work and that their work required more physical effort. No differences were found in reports of mental and social effort or tension produced by work. According to our data on subjective age measures, the subjects in either group felt approximately five years younger than their chronological age, desired to be ten years younger and believed that the person who is two years younger than them is most successful in its job. There were no differences between shift- and non-shiftworkers in terms of cognitive age, but shiftworkers were inclined to choose younger age as their desired age, and believed that younger people are more successful in their work.     

Citation decay in animal science

The half-life of literature in animal science is about 5–6 years, which is short in comparison to many other fields of scientific research. Only about 10% of the citations in animal-science articles refer to articles which were published more than 20 years before the appearance of the papers which cite them. Probably only a small proportion of the older works cited deserve to be called classics. Historical reviews of literature in scientific specialisations are likely to recover many still useful data and ideas.     

Transgressive Little Pests: Hiker Descriptions of “Shelter Mice” on the Appalachian Trail

Running between Springer Mountain in the state of Georgia, and Mount Katahdin in Maine, the Appalachian Trail (AT) is a more than 2,000 mile long “wilderness” corridor in the United States. People aiming to undertake a trek of the entire length of the trail can expect to spend approximately six months of their lives on it, sleeping outdoors or in the rudimentary, three-sided shelters that are dotted along it. This paper looks at hiker narratives that described unpleasant encounters between themselves and the mice (Mus musculus and Peromyscus maniculatus) who inhabit these shelters. Many people who attempt to hike the entire length of the AT also choose to blog about their experiences on the trail, thereby creating a parallel community online of AT “thru hikers” as they are known. The data for this study were retrieved from blogs posted by AT thru hikers over the years 2015 and 2016. The most common response to shelter mice was one expressing deep discomfort. This paper asks what it was like to live in close proximity to a species that people usually avoid, what about mice meant that they were perceived as distasteful and even disgusting, and how hikers thought about these nonhuman animals and made sense of their encounters with them afterwards. It is found that hiker reactions to shelter mice were informed largely by their perception of them as being transgressive.     

Successful correction of velopharyngeal stress incompetence in musicians playing wind instruments

Two professional musicians who played wind instruments developed velopharyngeal stress incompetence which prevented them from generating the high intraoral pressures required to play their instruments. In both cases, we did a V-Y pushback with a superiorly-based pharyngeal flap. At 1 1/2 and two years postoperatively, both patients remain free of velopharyngeal incompetence and are actively engaged in their musical careers.     

Cessation of childbearing in the absence of contraception in Sri Lanka

In data from the Sri Lanka Fertility Survey, 1975, the cessation of childbearing is examined among women who have never used contraception. The sample consisted of 6810 currently or previously married women, 57% of whom reported that they had never used contraception. Cessation of childbearing is studied according to age and marriage duration. The variables analyzed are age at last birth, proportions infertile during the last 5 or 7 years, and the infertile open interval. The duration of breastfeeding is taken into account where necessary, and the contraceptive users and nonusers are compared where appropriate. Non-users tend to cease childbearing early, and therefore are infertile for longer periods during their marriages. It is probably age of the 1st child that influences decisions on future fertility. Among women aged 45-49 who married before age 20 and continued in their 1st marriage, mean age at last live birth in non-users, was 34.5 years, about 2 years earlier than in those who had used contraception. Non-users who married at any age below 30 years cease childbearing well below age 40. The proportion not currently pregnant and infertile over the past 5 years increases with marriage duration among the fertile non-users in each age group. When age at last birth and the duration of breastfeeding in the open interval are taken into account and the reference period is increased to 7 years, the period of infertility increases with marriage duration among nonpregnant non-users below age 45. The proportion of women who were currently not pregnant and had remained infertile over the past 7 years is higher among the older non-users whose 1st child was born more than 10 years ago.     

Developments in the study of smooth muscle research: reflections on 42 years.

This review of smooth muscle research in my laboratory covers over 40 years. It focuses on research on the control of myometrium, blood vessels, gastrointestinal muscle, and airway muscle and highlights the major findings and those who made them. My goal is to show how science can be rewarding both in terms of findings and in terms of the people who make them.     

An outbreak of Paragonimus westermani infection among Cambodian technical intern trainees in Japan,exhibiting various extrapulmonary lesions

We encountered an outbreak of paragonimiasis among Cambodian technical intern trainees (TITs) at a food-processing factory in Fukuoka, Japan. The patients were 20–28 years old, seven females and two males, who had been in Japan for one to four years. All of them had consumed raw or undercooked Japanese mitten crab they purchased at a local grocery store near their training place. CT images showed multiple lesions not only in the lungs but in the extrapulmonary organs as well, such as subcutaneous tissues, abdominal muscles, and mesentery, in most of the patients. Their medical records indicated that all of them acquired infection in Japan, not in Cambodia. Diagnosis was made serologically and the patients were treated with praziquantel successfully. Foreign workers and TITs are increasing in Japan so rapidly, that food borne-infections, including paragonimiasis, should be considered in people from developing countries who have exotic dietary habits.     

Some of the best online Darwin resources

Ask most men or women in the street who Charles Darwin was and the chances are that they will know something of the work he did: the work that has revolutionised our understanding of the living world and our place in it. The 200th centenary of his birth was in February 2009. Over the 150 years since the publication of his seminal work On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection, the quality of his scientific thinking, experimenting and writing — leading to the formulation of his ideas about evolution — has had the single most profound impact on the development of modern biology. During this year a number of dedicated Darwin websites have been created and this edition of Webwatch describes a small number of the best of them.