Global Population Health and Well-Being in the 21st Century: Toward New Paradigms, Policy and Practice

Global Population Health and Well-Being in the 21st Century: Toward New Paradigms, Policy and Practic

DNA Hypomethylation, Ambient Particulate Matter, and Increased Blood Pressure: Findings From Controlled Human Exposure Experiments

Background: Short‐term exposures to fine (<2.5 μm aerodynamic diameter) ambient particulate‐matter (PM) have been related with increased blood pressure (BP) in controlled‐human exposure and community‐based studies. However, whether coarse (2.5 to 10 μm) PM exposure increases BP is uncertain. Recent observational studies have linked PM exposures with blood DNA hypomethylation, an epigenetic alteration that activates inflammatory and vascular responses. No experimental evidence is available to confirm those observational data and demonstrate the relations between PM, hypomethylation, and BP. Methods and Results: We conducted a cross‐over trial of controlled‐human exposure to concentrated ambient particles (CAPs). Fifteen healthy adult participants were exposed for 130 minutes to fine CAPs, coarse CAPs, or HEPA‐filtered medical air (control) in randomized order with ≥2‐week washout. Repetitive‐element (Alu, long interspersed nuclear element‐1 [LINE‐1]) and candidate‐gene (TLR4, IL‐12, IL‐6, iNOS) blood methylation, systolic and diastolic BP were measured pre‐ and postexposure. After adjustment for multiple comparisons, fine CAPs exposure lowered Alu methylation (β‐standardized=−0.74, adjusted‐P=0.03); coarse CAPs exposure lowered TLR4 methylation (β‐standardized=−0.27, adjusted‐P=0.04). Both fine and coarse CAPs determined significantly increased systolic BP (β=2.53 mm Hg, P=0.001; β=1.56 mm Hg, P=0.03, respectively) and nonsignificantly increased diastolic BP (β=0.98 mm Hg, P=0.12; β=0.82 mm Hg, P=0.11, respectively). Decreased Alu and TLR4 methylation was associated with higher postexposure DBP (β‐standardized=0.41, P=0.04; and β‐standardized=0.84, P=0.02; respectively). Decreased TLR4 methylation was associated with higher postexposure SBP (β‐standardized=1.45, P=0.01). Conclusions: Our findings provide novel evidence of effects of coarse PM on BP and confirm effects of fine PM. Our results provide the first experimental evidence of PM‐induced DNA hypomethylation and its correlation to BP.Version of Recor

Depression and family support in breast cancer patients

MTS, migration and invasion assays in DCIS.COM cells that were previously transduced with scrambled control (Control) or BCL9 KD shRNA. The control cells and BCL9 KD cells were re-transduced with empty vector (EV), BCL9 overexpression (BCL9-OE) and BCL9 KD. BCL9-OE was achieved by transduction using the PCDH-BCL9 (BCL9-OE) acquired from Dr. Carrasco [11]. A Western blot analysis was performed using anti-BCL9, anti-vimentin, anti-E-cadherin antibodies, and anti-β-actin as a loading control. B MTS assay on control cells transduced with EV (control + EV), or BCL9-OE (control + BCL9-OE), BCL9-KD transduced with EV (BCL9 KD + EV), and BCL9-KD transduced with BCL9-OE (BCL9 KD + BCL9-OE). Bar graphs represent mean absorbance at 490 nm normalized to control ± standard error of the mean (SEM) (n = 6). C, D Representative images of the migration and invasion assays. Bar graph represents percent area of cells migrated (left) and invaded (right) under the membrane after 24 h. Invasion and migration were determined by ImageJ analysis of microscopic images per sample, the data are mean values normalized to control ± SEM (n = 3). E TopFlash and FopFlash reporter activity in DCIS.COM transduced as above that were either treated with Wnt3A or control conditioned medium (CM). Data represent mean ± SEM (n = 3, letters indicate statistically significant difference). (PDF 964 kb

Association of Brucella Meningoencephalitis with Cerebrospinal Fluid Shunt in A Child: A Case Report

How to Cite This Article: Abdinia B, Barzegar M, Maleki M, Behbod H, Oskoui Sh. Association of Brucella Meningoencephalitis with Cerebrospinal Fluid Shunt in a Child: a Case Report. Iran J Child Neurol. 2013 Winter:7(1):35-38. Brucellosis is an endemic zoonosis in Iran. It is a systemic infection that can involve any organs or systems of the body and have variable presentations. Ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt infections due to brucellosis have been rarely reported in the literatures.This  is  the  history  of  a  four  years  old  boy  who  developed  Brucella meningoencephalitis at the age of 42 months, whilst he had a VP shunt in situ for hydrocephalus treatment. Also, he presented brucellosis as acute abdomen. This patient was treated with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, gentamicin and rifampicin. The shunt was extracted and all clinical and laboratory test abnormalities subsided through this management.We propose that in a patient with Brucella meningoencephalitis, the cerebrospinal  fluid shunt  system  can  be  extracted  and  treatment  with appropriate combination of antibiotics could be successful. Moreover, it shows that brucellosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis for acute abdomen and ascites in endemic regions.References1. Hasanjani Roushan MR, Mohrez M, Samilnejad Gangi SM, Soleimani Amiri MJ, Hajiahmadi M. Epidemiological features and clinical manifestations in 469 adult patients with brucellosis in babol, Northern Iran. Epidemiol infect 2004;132(6):1109-142. Bouza E, García de la Torre M, Parras F, Guerrero A, Rodríguez-Créixems M, Gobernado J. Brucellar meningitis. Brucellar meningitis. Rev Infect Dis 1987; 9(4):810-22.3. Young EJ. Brucella species. In: Mandell GL, Bennett JE, Dolin R, eds. Mandell, Douglas and Bennetts Õs Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. 5th ed. New York: Churchill Livingstone; 2000. p. 86-93.4. Feiz J, Sabbaghian H, Miralai M. Brucellosis due to Brucella melitensis in children. Clinical and epidemiological observations on 95 patients studied in Central Iran. Clin Pediatr 1978;17:904-7.5. Young EJ. Human brucellosis. Rev Infect Dis 1983; 5(5):821-42.6. Llorens-Terol J, Busquets RM. Brucellosis treated with rifampicin. Arch Dis Child 1980;55(6):486-8.7. FeizJ, Sabbaghian H, Miralai M. Brucellosis due to Brucella melitensis in children. Clinical and epidemiological observations on 95 patients studied in Central Iran. Clin Pediatr 1978;17:904-7.8. Wald SL, McLaurin RL. Cerebrospinal fluid antibiotic levels during treatment of shunt infections. J Neurosurg 1980;52(1):41-6.

Global Population Health and Well-Being in the 21st Century: Toward New Paradigms, Policy and Practice

by George R Lueddeke, 476 p., 2016, Springer Publishing, New York, ISBN 978-082612767-9Read: Introductory pages and chapter

Genome wide mapping reveals PDE4B as an IL-2 induced STAT5 target gene in activated human PBMCs and lymphoid cancer cells

IL-2 is the primary growth factor for promoting survival and proliferation of activated T cells that occurs following engagement of the Janus Kinase (JAK)1-3/and Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (STAT) 5 signaling pathway. STAT5 has two isoforms: STAT5A and STAT5B ( commonly referred to as STAT5) which, in T cells, play redundant roles transcribing cell cycle and survival genes. As such, inhibition of STAT5 by a variety of mechanisms can rapidly induce apoptosis in certain lymphoid tumor cells, suggesting that it and its target genes represent therapeutic targets to control certain lymphoid diseases. To search for these molecules we aligned IL-2 regulated genes detected by Affymetrix gene expression microarrays with the STAT5 cistrome identified by chip-on-ChIP analysis in an IL-2-dependent human leukemia cell line, Kit225. Select overlapping genes were then validated using qRT(2)PCR medium-throughput arrays in human PHA-activated PBMCs. Of 19 putative genes, one key regulator of T cell receptor signaling, PDE4B, was identified as a novel target, which was readily up-regulated at the protein level (3 h) in IL-2 stimulated, activated human PBMCs. Surprisingly, only purified CD8+ primary T-cells expressed PDE4B, but not CD4+ cells. Moreover, PDE4B was found to be highly expressed in CD4+ lymphoid cancer cells, which suggests that it may represent a physiological role unique to the CD8+ and lymphoid cancer cells and thus might represent a target for pharmaceutical intervention for certain lymphoid diseases

Molecular targets in the discovery and development of novel antimetastatic agents: current progress and future prospects

Tumour invasion and metastasis have been recognized as major causal factors in the morbidity and mortality among cancer patients. Many advances in the knowledge of cancer metastasis have yielded an impressive array of attractive drug targets, including enzymes, receptors and multiple signalling pathways. The present review summarizes the molecular pathogenesis of metastasis and the identification of novel molecular targets used in the discovery of antimetastatic agents. Several promising targets have been highlighted, including receptor tyrosine kinases, effector molecules involved in angiogenesis, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), urokinase plasminogen activator, adhesion molecules and their receptors, signalling pathways (e.g. phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, phospholipase Cγ1, mitogen-activated protein kinases, c-Src kinase, c-Met kinases and heat shock protein. The discovery and development of potential novel therapeutics for each of the targets are also discussed in this review. Among these, the most promising agents that have shown remarkable clinical outcome are anti-angiogenic agents (e.g. bevacizumab). Newer agents, such as c-Met kinase inhibitors, are still undergoing preclinical studies and are yet to have their clinical efficacy proven. Some therapeutics, such as first-generation MMP inhibitors (MMPIs; e.g. marimastat) and more selective versions of them (e.g. prinomastat, tanomastat), have undergone clinical trials. Unfortunately, these drugs produced serious adverse effects that led to the premature termination of their development. In the future, third-generation MMPIs and inhibitors of signalling pathways and adhesion molecules could form valuable novel classes of drugs in the anticancer armamentarium to combat metastasis

An Improved and Novel De-Ramping Technique for Linear Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave Synthetic Aperture Radar

In this paper, a novel de-ramping technique for linear frequency modulated continuous wave (LFM-CW) synthetic aperture radar (SAR), named as the fixed delay deramping technique is introduced. The received and adaptive fixed delay version of transmitted signals was mixed to increase the processing gain of a system. Furthermore, in this study, the practical mode of de-ramping technique for LFM-CW SAR was considered against the related works assumed as the ideal mode. Similar to this work, the practical mode should consider the desired and undesired part of the de-ramped signal. In addition, the closed form equations for processing gain of the proposed deramping technique were derived. All in all, the simulation section illustrates a substantial improvement of the processing gain of the fixed de-ramping based on the proposed approach in comparison to the conventional methods

Cancer Stem Cells and Side Population Cells in Breast Cancer and Metastasis

In breast cancer it is never the primary tumour that is fatal; instead it is the development of metastatic disease which is the major cause of cancer related mortality. There is accumulating evidence that suggests that Cancer Stem Cells (CSC) may play a role in breast cancer development and progression. Breast cancer stem cell populations, including side population cells (SP), have been shown to be primitive stem cell-like populations, being long-lived, self-renewing and highly proliferative. SP cells are identified using dual wavelength flow cytometry combined with Hoechst 33342 dye efflux, this ability is due to expression of one or more members of the ABC transporter family. They have increased resistance to chemotherapeutic agents and apoptotic stimuli and have increased migratory potential above that of the bulk tumour cells making them strong candidates for the metastatic spread of breast cancer. Treatment of nearly all cancers usually involves one first-line agent known to be a substrate of an ABC transporter thereby increasing the risk of developing drug resistant tumours. At present there is no marker available to identify SP cells using immunohistochemistry on breast cancer patient samples. If SP cells do play a role in breast cancer progression/Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC), combining chemotherapy with ABC inhibitors may be able to destroy both the cells making up the bulk tumour and the cancer stem cell population thus preventing the risk of drug resistant disease, recurrence or metastasis