Impact Factor: outdated artefact or stepping-stone to journal certification?

A review of Garfield's journal impact factor and its specific implementation as the Thomson Reuters Impact Factor reveals several weaknesses in this commonly-used indicator of journal standing. Key limitations include the mismatch between citing and cited documents, the deceptive display of three decimals that belies the real precision, and the absence of confidence intervals. These are minor issues that are easily amended and should be corrected, but more substantive improvements are needed. There are indications that the scientific community seeks and needs better certification of journal procedures to improve the quality of published science. Comprehensive certification of editorial and review procedures could help ensure adequate procedures to detect duplicate and fraudulent submissions.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figures, 6 table

Genetic aspects of dental disorders

The document attached has been archived with permission from the Australian Dental Association. An external link to the publisher’s copy is included.This paper reviews past and present applications of quantitative and molecular genetics to dental disorders. Examples are given relating to craniofacial development (including malocclusion), oral supporting tissues (including periodontal diseases) and dental hard tissues (including defects of enamel and dentine as well as dental caries). Future developments and applications to clinical dentistry are discussed. Early investigations confirmed genetic bases to dental caries, periodontal diseases and malocclusion, but research findings have had little impact on clinical practice. The complex multifactorial aetiologies of these conditions, together with methodological problems, have limited progress until recently. Present studies are clarifying previously unrecognized genetic and phenotypic heterogeneities and attempting to unravel the complex interactions between genes and environment by applying new statistical modelling approaches to twin and family data. linkage studies using highly polymorphic DNA markers are providing a means of locating candidate genes, including quantitative trait loci (QTL). In future, as knowledge increases: it should be possible to implement preventive strategies for those genetically-predisposed individuals who are identified-predisposed individuals who are identified to be at risk.Grant C. Townsend, Michael J. Aldred and P. Mark Bartol

Protein kinase C and cardiac dysfunction: a review

Heart failure (HF) is a physiological state in which cardiac output is insufficient to meet the needs of the body. It is a clinical syndrome characterized by impaired ability of the left ventricle to either fill or eject blood efficiently. HF is a disease of multiple aetiologies leading to progressive cardiac dysfunction and it is the leading cause of deaths in both developed and developing countries. HF is responsible for about 73,000 deaths in the UK each year. In the USA, HF affects 5.8 million people and 550,000 new cases are diagnosed annually. Cardiac remodelling (CD), which plays an important role in pathogenesis of HF, is viewed as stress response to an index event such as myocardial ischaemia or imposition of mechanical load leading to a series of structural and functional changes in the viable myocardium. Protein kinase C (PKC) isozymes are a family of serine/threonine kinases. PKC is a central enzyme in the regulation of growth, hypertrophy, and mediators of signal transduction pathways. In response to circulating hormones, activation of PKC triggers a multitude of intracellular events influencing multiple physiological processes in the heart, including heart rate, contraction, and relaxation. Recent research implicates PKC activation in the pathophysiology of a number of cardiovascular disease states. Few reports are available that examine PKC in normal and diseased human hearts. This review describes the structure, functions, and distribution of PKCs in the healthy and diseased heart with emphasis on the human heart and, also importantly, their regulation in heart failure

Permissive Hypotension in Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants (≤1000 gm)

∙ The authors have no financial conflicts of interest. © Copyright: Yonsei University College of Medicine 2012 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Licens

Contesting longstanding conceptualisations of urban green space

Ever since the Victorian era saw the creation of “parks for the people,” health and wellbeing benefits have been considered a primary benefit of urban parks and green spaces. Today, public health remains a policy priority, with illnesses and conditions such as diabetes, obesity and depression a mounting concern, notably in increasingly urbanised environments. Urban green space often is portrayed as a nature-based solution for addressing such health concerns. In this chapter, Meredith Whitten investigates how the health and wellbeing benefits these spaces provide are limited by a narrow perspective of urban green space. Whitten explores how our understandings of urban green space remain rooted in Victorian ideals and calls into question how fit for purpose they are in twenty-first-century cities. Calling on empirical evidence collected in three boroughs in London with changing and increasing demographic populations, she challenges the long-held cultural underpinnings that lead to urban green space being portrayed “as a panacea to urban problems, yet treating it as a ‘cosmetic afterthought’” (Whitten, M, Reconceptualising green space: planning for urban green space in the contemporary city. Doctoral thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, U.K. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/. Accessed 12 Jun 2019, 2019b, p 18)

Understanding adolescent and young adult use of family physician services: a cross-sectional analysis of the Canadian Community Health Survey

BACKGROUND: Primary health care is known to have positive effects on population health and may reduce at-risk behavior and health problems in adolescence. Yet little is known about the factors that are associated with adolescent and young adult utilization of family physician services. It is critical to determine the factors associated with utilization to inform effective primary health care policy. We address this gap in the primary health care literature by examining three issues concerning adolescent and young adult family physician use: inequity; the unique developmental stage of adolescence; and the distinction between utilization (users versus non-users) and intensity (high users versus low users). METHODS: We conducted nested logistic regressions for two outcomes: utilization and intensity of family physician services for early adolescence, middle adolescence, and young adulthood using the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey. RESULTS: Chronic conditions were associated with utilization in early and middle adolescence and intensity in all age groups. Respondents from Quebec had lower odds of utilization. Those without a regular medical doctor had much lower odds of being users. The factors associated with use in early and middle adolescence were in keeping with parental involvement while the factors in young adulthood show the emerging independence of this group. CONCLUSIONS: We highlight key messages not known previously for adolescent and young adult use of family physician services. There is inequity concerning regional variation and for those who do not have a regular medical doctor. There is variation in factors associated with family physician services across the three age groups of adolescence. Health care and health care policies aimed at younger adolescents must consider that parents are still the primary decision-maker while older adolescents are more autonomous. There is variation in the factors associated with the two outcomes of utilization and intensity of services. Factors associated with utilization must be understood when considering the equitability of access to primary health care while factors associated with intensity must be understood when considering appropriate use of resources. The understanding gained from this study can inform health care policy that is responsive to the critical developmental stage of adolescence and young adulthood

Reduced Stability and Increased Dynamics in the Human Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA) Relative to the Yeast Homolog

Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA) is an essential factor for DNA replication and repair. PCNA forms a toroidal, ring shaped structure of 90 kDa by the symmetric association of three identical monomers. The ring encircles the DNA and acts as a platform where polymerases and other proteins dock to carry out different DNA metabolic processes. The amino acid sequence of human PCNA is 35% identical to the yeast homolog, and the two proteins have the same 3D crystal structure. In this report, we give evidence that the budding yeast (sc) and human (h) PCNAs have highly similar structures in solution but differ substantially in their stability and dynamics. hPCNA is less resistant to chemical and thermal denaturation and displays lower cooperativity of unfolding as compared to scPCNA. Solvent exchange rates measurements show that the slowest exchanging backbone amides are at the β-sheet, in the structure core, and not at the helices, which line the central channel. However, all the backbone amides of hPCNA exchange fast, becoming undetectable within hours, while the signals from the core amides of scPCNA persist for longer times. The high dynamics of the α-helices, which face the DNA in the PCNA-loaded form, is likely to have functional implications for the sliding of the PCNA ring on the DNA since a large hole with a flexible wall facilitates the establishment of protein-DNA interactions that are transient and easily broken. The increased dynamics of hPCNA relative to scPCNA may allow it to acquire multiple induced conformations upon binding to its substrates enlarging its binding diversity

The NOD/RIP2 Pathway Is Essential for Host Defenses Against Chlamydophila pneumoniae Lung Infection

Here we investigated the role of the Nod/Rip2 pathway in host responses to Chlamydophila pneumoniae–induced pneumonia in mice. Rip2−/− mice infected with C. pneumoniae exhibited impaired iNOS expression and NO production, and delayed neutrophil recruitment to the lungs. Levels of IL-6 and IFN-γ levels as well as KC and MIP-2 levels in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were significantly decreased in Rip2−/− mice compared to wild-type (WT) mice at day 3. Rip2−/− mice showed significant delay in bacterial clearance from the lungs and developed more severe and chronic lung inflammation that continued even on day 35 and led to increased mortality, whereas WT mice cleared the bacterial load, recovered from acute pneumonia, and survived. Both Nod1−/− and Nod2−/− mice also showed delayed bacterial clearance, suggesting that C. pneumoniae is recognized by both of these intracellular receptors. Bone marrow chimera experiments demonstrated that Rip2 in BM-derived cells rather than non-hematopoietic stromal cells played a key role in host responses in the lungs and clearance of C. pneumoniae. Furthermore, adoptive transfer of WT macrophages intratracheally was able to rescue the bacterial clearance defect in Rip2−/− mice. These results demonstrate that in addition to the TLR/MyD88 pathway, the Nod/Rip2 signaling pathway also plays a significant role in intracellular recognition, innate immune host responses, and ultimately has a decisive impact on clearance of C. pneumoniae from the lungs and survival of the infectious challenge