The Tayside infant morbidity and mortality study: effect on health of using gas for cooking.

The relation between respiratory illness and the use of gas for cooking was examined from data on 1565 infants born to mothers who were primigravidas living in Dundee in 1980. Episodes of, and admissions to hospital for, respiratory illness were recorded during the first year of life. Both admissions and episodes were more common in infants from families using gas for cooking or heating than in infants from families using any other type of cooking or heating, but the differences were not significant. Results from this and other studies show that there is probably a small relation between respiratory illness and the use of gas appliances without a flue. To show convincingly whether such a relation exists might require a survey of 18 000-23 000 subjects. Respiratory illness was, however, strongly and positively related to parental smoking, a finding that is often made even in small studies.     

immunocytochemical localization of urokinase-type plasminogen activator in lewis lung carcinoma

The invasively growing and metasizing Lewis lung carcinoma consistently contained urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA) enzyme activity. When investigated immunocytochemically with antibodies against u-PA, different parts of individual tumors showed a pronounced heterogeneity in staining intensity. Strong staining was found in areas with invasive growth and degradation of surrounding normal tissue, while other areas were completely devoid of staining. Immunoreactivity occurred both with a perinuclear cytoplasmic localization in tumor cells and associated with apparently extracellular material. SDS PAGE of tumor extracts, under both reducing and nonreducing conditions, followed by immunoblotting, showed only one immunocytochemically stainable band with an electrophoretic mobility corresponding to that of purified proenzyme to u-PA, while no two-chain u-PA was detected. This indicates that the major part of the activator in Lewis lung carcinoma is present as one-chain pro-u-PA.     

Relation between blood pressure,weight, and plasma sugar and serum insulin levels in schoolchildren aged 9-12 years in Westland,Holland.

In 2388 schoolchildren aged 9-12 years who took part in a study of cardiovascular risk factors in Westland, Holland, plasma sugar concentrations were found to be positively correlated with systolic and diastolic blood pressure, independently of weight. Serum cholesterol levels were also related to systolic blood pressure in boys, but much less strongly than plasma sugar levels. The relation between serum insulin and blood pressure, independent of plasma sugar, was weak. The relation between plasma sugar and systolic pressure existed for both sexes and regardless of whether measurements were made in the morning or afternoon; its association with diastolic pressure was weaker, and was not so consistent over all groups. These findings suggest that the relations between risk factors for coronary heart disease that exist in adults are already evident in childhood.     

Post-construction avian mortality monitoring at Project West Wind

Abstract

Post-construction avifauna investigations were undertaken at Project West Wind, Meridian Energy Limited's 62-turbine wind farm on the Wellington south coast. These investigations were required in accordance with the resource consent conditions to quantify the level of avian mortalities occurring at the wind farm, particularly in regard to New Zealand falcon (Falco novaeseelandiae), kākā (Nestor meridionalis) and kererū (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae). This is the first comprehensive study at a New Zealand operating wind farm. The methods included three field components necessary to calculate annual estimates of mortalities across the wind farm site: routine turbine searches; carcass detection trials; and carcass removal trials. Results from years 1 and 2 of a three-year programme are presented. To date, mortalities have been recorded for 17 taxa at 18 of the 24 study turbines. There have been no recorded mortalities of falcon, kākā or kererū. Australasian harrier (Circus approximans) has been the species for which the most mortalities have been recorded. Overall estimated annual mortality rates for years 1 and 2 were calculated to be approximately six and five birds per turbine respectively.     

Genetic architecture of survival and fitness-related traits in two populations of Atlantic salmon

The additive genetic effects of traits can be used to predict evolutionary trajectories, such as responses to selection. Non-additive genetic and maternal environmental effects can also change evolutionary trajectories and influence phenotypes, but these effects have received less attention by researchers. We partitioned the phenotypic variance of survival and fitness-related traits into additive genetic, non-additive genetic and maternal environmental effects using a full-factorial breeding design within two allopatric populations of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). Maternal environmental effects were large at early life stages, but decreased during development, with non-additive genetic effects being most significant at later juvenile stages (alevin and fry). Non-additive genetic effects were also, on average, larger than additive genetic effects. The populations, generally, did not differ in the trait values or inferred genetic architecture of the traits. Any differences between the populations for trait values could be explained by maternal environmental effects. We discuss whether the similarities in architectures of these populations is the result of natural selection across a common juvenile environment.     

Leptin activation of mTOR pathway in intestinal epithelial cell triggers lipid droplet formation,cytokine production and increased cell proliferation

Accumulating evidence suggests that obesity and enhanced inflammatory reactions are predisposing conditions for developing colon cancer. Obesity is associated with high levels of circulating leptin. Leptin is an adipocytokine that is secreted by adipose tissue and modulates immune response and inflammation. Lipid droplets (LD) are organelles involved in lipid metabolism and production of inflammatory mediators, and increased numbers of LD were observed in human colon cancer. Leptin induces the formation of LD in macrophages in a PI3K/mTOR pathway-dependent manner. Moreover, the mTOR is a serine/threonine kinase that plays a key role in cellular growth and is frequently altered in tumors. We therefore investigated the role of leptin in the modulation of mTOR pathway and regulation of lipid metabolism and inflammatory phenotype in intestinal epithelial cells (IEC-6 cells). We show that leptin promotes a dose- and time-dependent enhancement of LD formation. The biogenesis of LD was accompanied by enhanced CXCL1/CINC-1, CCL2/MCP-1 and TGF-β production and increased COX-2 expression in these cells. We demonstrated that leptin-induced increased phosphorylation of STAT3 and AKT and a dose and time-dependent mTORC activation with enhanced phosphorilation of the downstream protein P70S6K protein. Pre-treatment with rapamycin significantly inhibited leptin effects in LD formation, COX-2 and TGF-β production in IEC-6 cells. Moreover, leptin was able to stimulate the proliferation of epithelial cells on a mTOR-dependent manner. We conclude that leptin regulates lipid metabolism, cytokine production and proliferation of intestinal cells through a mechanism largely dependent on activation of the mTOR pathway, thus suggesting that leptin-induced mTOR activation may contribute to the obesity-related enhanced susceptibility to colon carcinoma.     

Impact of Malaria Control on Mortality and Anemia among Tanzanian Children Less than Five Years of Age, 1999–2010

Background

Mainland Tanzania scaled up multiple malaria control interventions between 1999 and 2010. We evaluated whether, and to what extent, reductions in all-cause under-five child mortality (U5CM) tracked with malaria control intensification during this period.

Methods

Four nationally representative household surveys permitted trend analysis for malaria intervention coverage, severe anemia (hemoglobin <8 g/dL) prevalence (SAP) among children 6–59 months, and U5CM rates stratified by background characteristics, age, and malaria endemicity. Prevalence of contextual factors (e.g., vaccination, nutrition) likely to influence U5CM were also assessed. Population attributable risk percentage (PAR%) estimates for malaria interventions and contextual factors that changed over time were used to estimate magnitude of impact on U5CM.

Results

Household ownership of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) rose from near zero in 1999 to 64% (95% CI, 61.7–65.2) in 2010. Intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy reached 26% (95% CI, 23.6–28.0) by 2010. Sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine replaced chloroquine in 2002 and artemisinin-based combination therapy was introduced in 2007. SAP among children 6–59 months declined 50% between 2005 (11.1%; 95% CI, 10.0–12.3%) and 2010 (5.5%; 95% CI, 4.7–6.4%) and U5CM declined by 45% between baseline (1995–9) and endpoint (2005–9), from 148 to 81 deaths/1000 live births, respectively. Mortality declined 55% among children 1–23 months of age in higher malaria endemicity areas. A large reduction in U5CM was attributable to ITNs (PAR% = 11) with other malaria interventions adding further gains. Multiple contextual factors also contributed to survival gains.

Conclusion

Marked declines in U5CM occurred in Tanzania between 1999 and 2010 with high impact from ITNs and ACTs. High-risk children (1–24 months of age in high malaria endemicity) experienced the greatest declines in mortality and SAP. Malaria control should remain a policy priority to sustain and further accelerate progress in child survival.     

Selected anthropometric variables and aerobic fitness as predictors of cardiovascular disease risk in children

The aim of this study was to assess the suitability of body mass index, waist circumference, waist-to-height ratio and aerobic fitness as predictors of cardiovascular risk factor clustering in children. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 290 school boys and girls from 6 to 10 years old, randomly selected. Blood was collected after a 12-hour fasting period. Blood pressure, waist circumference (WC), height and weight were evaluated according to international standards. Aerobic fitness (AF) was assessed by the 20-metre shuttle-run test. Clustering was considered when three of these factors were present: high systolic or diastolic blood pressure, high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high triglycerides, high plasma glucose, high insulin concentrations and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. A ROC curve identified the cut-off points of body mass index (BMI), WC, waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and AF as predictors of risk factor clustering. BMI, WC and WHR resulted in significant areas under the ROC curves, which was not observed for AF. The anthropometric variables were good predictors of cardiovascular risk factor clustering in both sexes, whereas aerobic fitness should not be used to identify cardiovascular risk factor clustering in these children.     

Vorkommen und Funktion sensibler Erregungssubstanzen und sie abbauender Fermente im Tierreich

Zusammenfassung Im Zentralnervensystem der Wirbeltiere wird die Erregung sensibler Nerven durch eine eigene, von ihnen gebildete Erregungssubstanz vermittelt, welche durch ein Ferment rasch wieder abgebaut wird (Hellauer und Umrath ⁴⁹). Das Ferment läßt sich durch Strychnin, Pikrotoxin, Brucin und Cardiazol hemmen (Hellauer und Umrath ⁵⁰). Diese Pharmaka bewirken daher Erregung und charakteristische Krämpfe.Durch einen neuen Test an Bienen konnte gezeigt werden, daß die sensiblen Nerven der Arthropoden eine von der der Wirbeltiere etwas verschiedene Erregungssubstanz bilden. Ihr fermentativer Abbau wird durch Pikrotoxin und Cardiazol gehemmt, nicht aber durch Strychnin.An einer großen Anzahl von Arten aus dem ganzen Tierreich wurden die Reaktionen auf Strychnin, Pikrotoxin und Cardiazol geprüft. Es zeigte sich, daß bestimmte Tiergruppen jeweils verschiedene sensible Erregungssubstanzen und dementsprechend verschiedene abbauende Fermente besitzen. Es ergaben sich interessante Beziehungen zur Systematik: Die Deuterostomier (Vertebraten, Tunikaten, Echinodermen, Chätognathen) erwiesen sich hinsichtlich der sensiblen Erregungssubstanz und des sie abbauenden Fermentes als einheitliche Gruppe (Hemmung des Abbaues durch Strychnin, Pikrotoxin und Cardiazol). Einheitlich sind auch die Arthropoden (Hemmung durch Pikrotoxin und Cardiazol). Bei Mollusken hemmt ausschließlich Strychnin, das auch bei verschiedenen anderen Gruppen der Protostomier diese Wirkung hat, wenn auch zum Teil schwächer. Pikrotoxin hemmt außer bei Deuterostomiern und Arthropoden nur noch bei Turbellarien und Nemertinen, bei denen auch Strychnin und Cardiazol wirksam sind.Die sensible Erregungssubstanz der Clitellaten ist Acetylcholin.Bei Cölenteraten erwiesen sich die Pharmaka als unwirksam. Bei Ciliaten ist das Vorkommen einer sensiblen Erregungssubstanz mit fermentativem Abbau (Hemmung durch Strychnin) möglich.Die Wirkungsweise von Strychnin, Pikrotoxin, Brucin und Cardiazol wird besprochen.