Local critical stress correlates better than global maximum stress with plaque morphological features linked to atherosclerotic plaque vulnerability: an in vivo multi-patient study

Background  

It is believed that mechanical stresses play an important role in atherosclerotic plaque rupture process and may be used for better plaque vulnerability assessment and rupture risk predictions. Image-based plaque models have been introduced in recent years to perform mechanical stress analysis and identify critical stress indicators which may be linked to rupture risk. However, large-scale studies based on in vivo patient data combining mechanical stress analysis, plaque morphology and composition for carotid plaque vulnerability assessment are lacking in the current literature.     

Two common nonsynonymous paraoxonase 1 (<Emphasis Type="Italic">PON1</Emphasis>) gene polymorphisms and brain astrocytoma and meningioma

Background  

Human serum paraoxonase 1 (PON1) plays a major role in the metabolism of several organophosphorus compounds. The enzyme is encoded by the polymorphic gene PON1, located on chromosome 7q21.3. Aiming to identify genetic variations related to the risk of developing brain tumors, we investigated the putative association between common nonsynonymous PON1 polymorphisms and the risk of developing astrocytoma and meningioma.     

Can health care databases be used to identify incident cases of osteonecrosis?

Introduction  

Osteonecrosis (ON) is a rare disease associated with alcohol and glucocorticoid use. Identifying additional risk factors is difficult as the number of cases at any single center is small. We investigated whether data available in large health care databases can be used to identify incident ON cases.     

Genetics University of Toronto Thrombophilia Study in Women (GUTTSI): genetic and other risk factors for venous thromboembolism in women

Background  

Women may be at increased risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE) as compared with men. We studied the effects of genetic and biochemical markers of thrombophilia in women, in conjunction with other established risk factors for VTE.     

A farm-level study of risk factors associated with the colonization of broiler flocks with <Emphasis Type="Italic">Campylobacter</Emphasis> spp. in Iceland, 2001 – 2004

Background  

Following increased rates of human campylobacteriosis in the late 1990's, and their apparent association with increased consumption of fresh chicken meat, a longitudinal study was conducted in Iceland to identify the means to decrease the frequency of broiler flock colonization with Campylobacter. Our objective in this study was to identify risk factors for flock colonization acting at the broiler farm level.     

Quality and safety of medication use in primary care: consensus validation of a new set of explicit medication assessment criteria and prioritisation of topics for improvement

Background  

Addressing the problem of preventable drug related morbidity (PDRM) in primary care is a challenge for health care systems internationally. The increasing implementation of clinical information systems in the UK and internationally provide new opportunities to systematically identify patients at risk of PDRM for targeted medication review. The objectives of this study were (1) to develop a set of explicit medication assessment criteria to identify patients with sub-optimally effective or high-risk medication use from electronic medical records and (2) to identify medication use topics that are perceived by UK primary care clinicians to be priorities for quality and safety improvement initiatives.     

Sexual Orientation and Functional Pain in U.S. Young Adults: The Mediating Role of Childhood Abuse

Objective

Pain without known pathology, termed “functional pain,” causes much school absenteeism, medication usage, and medical visits. Yet which adolescents are at risk is not well understood. Functional pain has been linked to childhood abuse, and sexual orientation minority youth (gay, lesbian, bisexual, “mostly heterosexual,” and heterosexual with same-sex sexual contact) are more likely to be victims of childhood abuse than heterosexuals, thus may be at greater risk of functional pain.

Methods

We examined sexual orientation differences in past-year prevalence of functional headache, pelvic, and abdominal pain and multiple sites of pain in 9,864 young adults (mean age = 23 years) from a large U.S. cohort. We examined whether childhood abuse accounted for possible increased risk of functional pain in sexual minority youth.

Results

Sexual minority youth, except for gays and lesbians, were at higher risk of functional pelvic and abdominal pain and multiple sites of pain than heterosexuals. Gay and lesbian youth had elevated prevalence only of abdominal pain. Childhood abuse accounted for 14% to 33% of increased experience of multiple sites of pain in minority youth.

Conclusions

Youth who identify as “mostly heterosexual” or bisexual or who identify as heterosexual and have had same-sex partners comprised 18% of our sample. Clinicians should be aware that patients with these orientations are at elevated risk of functional pain and may be in need of treatment for sequelae of childhood abuse. Conventional categorization of sexual orientation as heterosexual or homosexual may fail to distinguish a large number of youth who do not wholly identify with either group and may be at elevated risk of health problems.     

Proteome profiling of embryo chick retina

Background  

Little is known regarding the molecular pathways that underlie the process of retinal development. The purpose of this study was to identify proteins which may be involved in development of retina. We used a proteomics-based approach to identify proteins that are up- or down-regulated during the development of the embryo chick retina.     

Menarche delay and menstrual irregularities persist in adolescents with type 1 diabetes

Background  

Menarche delay has been reported in adolescent females with type 1 diabetes (T1DM), perhaps due to poor glycemic control. We sought to compare age at menarche between adolescent females with T1DM and national data, and to identify factors associated with delayed menarche and menstrual irregularity in T1DM.     

Expression of hereditary hemochromatosis C282Y HFE protein in HEK293 cells activates specific endoplasmic reticulum stress responses

Background  

Hereditary Hemochromatosis (HH) is a genetic disease associated with iron overload, in which individuals homozygous for the mutant C282Y HFE associated allele are at risk for the development of a range of disorders particularly liver disease. Conformational diseases are a class of disorders associated with the expression of misfolded protein. HFE C282Y is a mutant protein that does not fold correctly and consequently is retained in the Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER). In this context, we sought to identify ER stress signals associated with mutant C282Y HFE protein expression, which may have a role in the molecular pathogenesis of HH.     

Cognate peptide-receptor ligand mapping by directed phage display

Background  

A rapid phage display method for the elucidation of cognate peptide specific ligand for receptors is described. The approach may be readily integrated into the interface of genomic and proteomic studies to identify biologically relevant ligands.     

Immune response to Mycoplasma pneumoniae P1 and P116 in patients with atypical pneumonia analyzed by ELISA

Background  

Serology is often used for the diagnosis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae. It is important to identify specific antigens that can distinguish between the presence or absence of antibodies against M. pneumoniae. The two proteins, P116 and P1, are found to be immunogenic. By using these in ELISA it is possible to identify an immune response against M. pneumoniae in serum samples.     

A cross-sectional study of the nutritional status of community-dwelling people with idiopathic Parkinson's disease

Background  

Parkinson's disease (PD) patients have an increased risk of under-nutrition, but we are unaware of any population based prevalence studies of under-nutrition in PD. The main objective of this study was to identify the prevalence, and nature, of under-nutrition in a representative population of people with PD.     

Bone mineral density and body composition in postmenopausal women with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis

Introduction  

The aim of the present study was to compare bone mineral density (BMD) and body composition (BC) measurements as well as identify risk factors for low BMD and osteoporotic fractures in postmenopausal women with psoriasis (Ps) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA).     

Epidemiological and Virological Characteristics of Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) School Outbreaks in China in 2009

Background

During the 2009 pandemic influenza H1N1 (2009) virus (pH1N1) outbreak, school students were at an increased risk of infection by the pH1N1 virus. However, the estimation of the attack rate showed significant variability.

Methods

Two school outbreaks were investigated in this study. A questionnaire was designed to collect information by interview. Throat samples were collected from all the subjects in this study 6 times and sero samples 3 times to confirm the infection and to determine viral shedding. Data analysis was performed using the software STATA 9.0.

Findings

The attack rate of the pH1N1 outbreak was 58.3% for the primary school, and 52.9% for the middle school. The asymptomatic infection rates of the two schools were 35.8% and 37.6% respectively. Peak virus shedding occurred on the day of ARI symptoms onset, followed by a steady decrease over subsequent days (p = 0.026). No difference was found either in viral shedding or HI titer between the symptomatic and the asymptomatic infectious groups.

Conclusions

School children were found to be at a high risk of infection by the novel virus. This may be because of a heightened risk of transmission owing to increased mixing at boarding school, or a lack of immunity owing to socio-economic status. We conclude that asymptomatically infectious cases may play an important role in transmission of the pH1N1 virus.     

Identification of a small optimal subset of CpG sites as bio-markers from high-throughput DNA methylation profiles

Background  

DNA methylation patterns have been shown to significantly correlate with different tissue types and disease states. High-throughput methylation arrays enable large-scale DNA methylation analysis to identify informative DNA methylation biomarkers. The identification of disease-specific methylation signatures is of fundamental and practical interest for risk assessment, diagnosis, and prognosis of diseases.     

A surrogate-based approach for post-genomic partner identification

Background  

Modern drug discovery is concerned with identification and validation of novel protein targets from among the 30,000 genes or more postulated to be present in the human genome. While protein-protein interactions may be central to many disease indications, it has been difficult to identify new chemical entities capable of regulating these interactions as either agonists or antagonists.     

Association between meniscal tears and the peak external knee adduction moment and foot rotation during level walking in postmenopausal women without knee osteoarthritis: a cross-sectional study

Introduction  

Meniscal injury is a risk factor for the development and progression of knee osteoarthritis, yet little is known about risk factors for meniscal pathology. Joint loading mediated via gait parameters may be associated with meniscal tears, and determining whether such an association exists was the aim of this study.     

Identifying new lignin bioengineering targets: 1. Monolignol-substitute impacts on lignin formation and cell wall fermentability

Background  

Recent discoveries highlighting the metabolic malleability of plant lignification indicate that lignin can be engineered to dramatically alter its composition and properties. Current plant biotechnology efforts are primarily aimed at manipulating the biosynthesis of normal monolignols, but in the future apoplastic targeting of phenolics from other metabolic pathways may provide new approaches for designing lignins that are less inhibitory toward the enzymatic hydrolysis of structural polysaccharides, both with and without biomass pretreatment. To identify promising new avenues for lignin bioengineering, we artificially lignified cell walls from maize cell suspensions with various combinations of normal monolignols (coniferyl and sinapyl alcohols) plus a variety of phenolic monolignol substitutes. Cell walls were then incubated in vitro with anaerobic rumen microflora to assess the potential impact of lignin modifications on the enzymatic degradability of fibrous crops used for ruminant livestock or biofuel production.