Early detection of neuropathy in leprosy: A comparison of five tests for field settings

Background: Early detection and treatment of neuropathy in leprosy is important to prevent disabilities. A recent study showed that the Nerve Conduction Studies (NCS) and Warm Detection Thresholds (WDT) tests can detect leprosy neuropathy the earliest. These two tests are not practical under field conditions, however, because they require climate-controlled rooms and highly trained staff and are expensive. We assessed the usefulness of alternative test methods and their sensitivity and specificity to detect neuropathy at an early stage. Methods: Through a literature search we identified five alternative devices that appeared user-friendly, more affordable, portable and/or battery-operated: the Neuropad®, Vibratip™, NC-Stat®DPNCheck™, NeuroQuick and the Thermal Sensibility Tester (TST), assessing respectively sweat function, vibration sensation, nerve conduction, cold sensation and warm sensation. In leprosy patients in Bangladesh, the posterior tibial and sural nerves that tested normal for the monofilament test and voluntary muscle test were assessed with the NCS and WDT as reference standard tests. The alternative devices were then tested on 94 nerves with abnormal WDT and/or NCS results and on 94 unaffected nerves. Sensitivity and specificity were the main outcomes. Results: The NeuroQuick and the TST showed very good sensitivity and specificity. On the sural nerve, the NeuroQuick had both a sensitivity and a specificity of 86%. The TST had a sensitivity of 83% and a specificity of 82%. Both the NC-Stat®DPNCheck™ and Vibratip™ had a high specificity (88% and 100%), but a low sensitivity (16% and 0%). On the posterior tibial nerve, the NeuroQuick and the TST also showed good sensitivity, but the sensitivity was lower than for the sural nerve. The Neuropad® had a sensitivity of 56% and a specificity of 61%. Conclusions: The NeuroQuick and TST are good candidates for further field-testing for reliability and reproducibility. The feasibility of production on a larger scale should be examined

Effects of cigarette smoke extract on human airway smooth muscle cells in COPD

We hypothesised that the response to cigarette smoke in airway smooth muscle (ASM) cells from smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) would be intrinsically different from smokers without COPD, producing greater pro-inflammatory mediators and factors relating to airway remodelling. ASM cells were obtained from smokers with or without COPD, and then stimulated with cigarette smoke extract (CSE) or transforming growth factor-β1. The production of chemokines and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) were measured by ELISA, and the deposition of collagens by extracellular matrix ELISA. The effects of CSE on cell attachment and wound healing were measured by toluidine blue attachment and cell tracker green wound healing assays. CSE increased the release of CXCL8 and CXCL1 from human ASM cells, and cells from smokers with COPD produced more CSE-induced CXCL1. The production of MMP-1, -3 and -10, and the deposition of collagen VIII alpha 1 (COL8A1) were increased by CSE, especially in the COPD group which had higher production of MMP-1 and deposition of COL8A1. CSE decreased ASM cell attachment and wound healing in the COPD group only. ASM cells from smokers with COPD were more sensitive to CSE stimulation, which may explain, in part, why some smokers develop COPD. Copyright ©ERS 2014

The International Surface Pressure Databank version 2

The International Surface Pressure Databank (ISPD) is the world's largest collection of global surface and sea-level pressure observations. It was developed by extracting observations from established international archives, through international cooperation with data recovery facilitated by the Atmospheric Circulation Reconstructions over the Earth (ACRE) initiative, and directly by contributing universities, organizations, and countries. The dataset period is currently 1768–2012 and consists of three data components: observations from land stations, marine observing systems, and tropical cyclone best track pressure reports. Version 2 of the ISPD (ISPDv2) was created to be observational input for the Twentieth Century Reanalysis Project (20CR) and contains the quality control and assimilation feedback metadata from the 20CR. Since then, it has been used for various general climate and weather studies, and an updated version 3 (ISPDv3) has been used in the ERA-20C reanalysis in connection with the European Reanalysis of Global Climate Observations project (ERA-CLIM). The focus of this paper is on the ISPDv2 and the inclusion of the 20CR feedback metadata. The Research Data Archive at the National Center for Atmospheric Research provides data collection and access for the ISPDv2, and will provide access to future versions

Про підготовку навчального посібника з краєзнавства для вищих навчальних закладів України

У статті обґрунтовується необхідність підготовки навчального посібника з національного краєзнавства для вищих навчальних закладів України, висвітлено стан його підготовки, концепція та окремі, найбільш важливі і дискусійні аспекти змісту майбутнього посібника.В статье обосновывается необходимость подготовки учебного пособия по национальному краеведению для высших учебных заведений Украины, показана степень его подготовки, концепция и отдельные, наиболее важные и дискуссионные аспекты будущего учебника.In the article the necessity of preparation of the tutorial of local history for higher educational establishments in Ukraine is settled down, the state of its preparation, conception and particular, most essential and debatable aspects of the content of the manual are covered

A Potent Tartrate Resistant Acid Phosphatase Inhibitor to Study the Function of TRAP in Alveolar Macrophages.

The enzyme tartrate resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP, two isoforms 5a and 5b) is highly expressed in alveolar macrophages, but its function there is unclear and potent selective inhibitors of TRAP are required to assess functional aspects of the protein. We found higher TRAP activity/expression in lungs of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma compared to controls and more TRAP activity in lungs of mice with experimental COPD or asthma. Stimuli related to asthma and/or COPD were tested for their capacity to induce TRAP. Receptor activator of NF-κb ligand (RANKL) and Xanthine/Xanthine Oxidase induced TRAP mRNA expression in mouse macrophages, but only RANKL also induced TRAP activity in mouse lung slices. Several Au(III) coordination compounds were tested for their ability to inhibit TRAP activity and [Au(4,4'-dimethoxy-2,2'-bipyridine)Cl2][PF6] (AubipyOMe) was found to be the most potent inhibitor of TRAP5a and 5b activity reported to date (IC50 1.3 and 1.8 μM respectively). AubipyOMe also inhibited TRAP activity in murine macrophage and human lung tissue extracts. In a functional assay with physiological TRAP substrate osteopontin, AubipyOMe inhibited mouse macrophage migration over osteopontin-coated membranes. In conclusion, higher TRAP expression/activity are associated with COPD and asthma and TRAP is involved in regulating macrophage migration

Convergent Transcription of Interferon-stimulated Genes by TNF-α and IFN-α Augments Antiviral Activity against HCV and HEV

IFN-α has been used for decades to treat chronic hepatitis B and C, and as an off-label treatment for

Power grip, pinch grip, manual muscle testing or thenar atrophy - which should be assessed as a motor outcome after carpal tunnel decompression? A systematic review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Objective assessment of motor function is frequently used to evaluate outcome after surgical treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). However a range of outcome measures are used and there appears to be no consensus on which measure of motor function effectively captures change. The purpose of this systematic review was to identify the methods used to assess motor function in randomized controlled trials of surgical interventions for CTS. A secondary aim was to evaluate which instruments reflect clinical change and are psychometrically robust.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The bibliographic databases Medline, AMED and CINAHL were searched for randomized controlled trials of surgical interventions for CTS. Data on instruments used, methods of assessment and results of tests of motor function was extracted by two independent reviewers.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Twenty-two studies were retrieved which included performance based assessments of motor function. Nineteen studies assessed power grip dynamometry, fourteen studies used both power and pinch grip dynamometry, eight used manual muscle testing and five assessed the presence or absence of thenar atrophy. Several studies used multiple tests of motor function. Two studies included both power and pinch strength and reported descriptive statistics enabling calculation of effect sizes to compare the relative responsiveness of grip and pinch strength within study samples. The study findings suggest that tip pinch is more responsive than lateral pinch or power grip up to 12 weeks following surgery for CTS.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Although used most frequently and known to be reliable, power and key pinch dynamometry are not the most valid or responsive tools for assessing motor outcome up to 12 weeks following surgery for CTS. Tip pinch dynamometry more specifically targets the thenar musculature and appears to be more responsive. Manual muscle testing, which in theory is most specific to the thenar musculature, may be more sensitive if assessed using a hand held dynamometer – the Rotterdam Intrinsic Handheld Myometer. However further research is needed to evaluate its reliability and responsiveness and establish the most efficient and psychometrically robust method of evaluating motor function following surgery for CTS.</p

Uprooting and Re-Routing a Settled Sense of Place: Reading Settler Literary Cartographies of Northwestern British Columbia

The places of northwestern British Columbia, and the Indigenous and settler peoples who find work, build homes, establish communities, and sustain culture in these places, are often perceived as peripheral or overlooked, existing on the edge or outside of the notice, care, and understanding of the people and places seemingly at the centre of national or global significance. When attention is turned to northwestern British Columbia, it is often to report on issues related to the legacy and ongoing work of settler colonial dispossession of Indigenous peoples from their land, including missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, particularly along the infamous Highway of Tears; the successes and failures of the federal and provincial governments to respect Indigenous rights and title, such as in the landmark Delgamuukw-Gisdaywa court case; and First Nations’ acts of resistance, like the Unist’ot’en Camp, to resource transportation or extraction projects on their territories that they have not consented to. In this project, I turn to the work of writers and poets in northwestern British Columbia who portray and examine in their writing what it means—and what it could mean—for both Indigenous and settler peoples to call the same land home. In particular, I argue that the poetry and literary nonfiction of settler poet, essayist, and cultural geographer Sarah de Leeuw constructs creative narrative maps that unsettle readers from the certainty they might have in the success of settler colonialism. Additionally, her creative representations of personal experiences in the distinct physical and cultural geographies of the region call for reorienting ourselves in the way we think about and move through northwestern British Columbia so that we might envision other ways—potentially decolonial ways that respect Indigenous rights and title and dismantle settler privilege—of living, working, profiting, and building futures in these places. Each chapter in this dissertation takes up a significant theme in de Leeuw’s collections of literary nonfiction, Unmarked: Landscapes Along Highway 16 (2004) and Where It Hurts (2017), and her long poem, Skeena (2015), and locates my critical close reading of the texts at the intersections of scholarly and public dialogues, especially as they are unfolding in British Columbia, related to reconciliation and decolonization, settler colonialism, and literary cartography as a form and methodology of creative writing and reading practice. As the literary writing and culture of northwestern British Columbia continues to flourish and to grow its readership, I hope this critical analysis of the work of one of its emerging authors meaningfully contributes to and highlights the ongoing opportunity for examining the ways in which settler stories about the places they call home can collaborate in the work of creating and sustaining a more just world

Lung eQTLs to Help Reveal the Molecular Underpinnings of Asthma

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified loci reproducibly associated with pulmonary diseases; however, the molecular mechanism underlying these associations are largely unknown. The objectives of this study were to discover genetic variants affecting gene expression in human lung tissue, to refine susceptibility loci for asthma identified in GWAS studies, and to use the genetics of gene expression and network analyses to find key molecular drivers of asthma. We performed a genome-wide search for expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) in 1,111 human lung samples. The lung eQTL dataset was then used to inform asthma genetic studies reported in the literature. The top ranked lung eQTLs were integrated with the GWAS on asthma reported by the GABRIEL consortium to generate a Bayesian gene expression network for discovery of novel molecular pathways underpinning asthma. We detected 17,178 cis- and 593 trans- lung eQTLs, which can be used to explore the functional consequences of loci associated with lung diseases and traits. Some strong eQTLs are also asthma susceptibility loci. For example, rs3859192 on chr17q21 is robustly associated with the mRNA levels of GSDMA (P = 3.55 × 10(-151)). The genetic-gene expression network identified the SOCS3 pathway as one of the key drivers of asthma. The eQTLs and gene networks identified in this study are powerful tools for elucidating the causal mechanisms underlying pulmonary disease. This data resource offers much-needed support to pinpoint the causal genes and characterize the molecular function of gene variants associated with lung diseases