Oily fish consumption, dietary docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid intakes, and associations with neovascular age-related macular degeneration

Background: Fish intake, the major source of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), may reduce the risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Objective: We investigated the association of oily fish and dietary DHA and EPA with neovascular AMD (NV-AMD). Design: Participants aged =65 y in the cross-sectional population-based EUREYE study underwent fundus photography and were interviewed by using a food-frequency questionnaire. Fundus images were graded by the International Classification System for Age Related Maculopathy. Questionnaire data were converted to nutrient intakes with the use of food-composition tables. Survey logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs of energy-adjusted quartiles of EPA or DHA with NV-AMD, taking into account potential confounders. Results: Dietary intake data and fundus images were available for 105 cases with NV-AMD and for 2170 controls without any features of early or late AMD. Eating oily fish at least once per week compared with less than once per week was associated with a halving of the odds of NV-AMD (OR = 0.47; 95% CI: 0.33, 0.68; P = 0.002). Compared with the lowest quartile, there was a significant trend for decreased odds with increasing quartiles of either DHA or EPA. ORs in the highest quartiles were 0.32 (95% CI: 0.12, 0.87; P = 0.03) for DHA and 0.29 (95% CI: 0.11, 0.73; P = 0.02) for EPA. Conclusions: Eating oily fish at least once per week compared with less than once per week was associated with a halving of the OR for NV-AMD. © 2008 American Society for Nutrition.

Spatial characterization of salt accumulation in early stage limestone weathering using probe permeametry

This research characterizes the weathering of natural building stone using an unsteady-state portable probe permeameter. Variations between the permeability properties of fresh rock and the same rocks after the early stages of a salt weathering simulation are used to examine the effects of salt accumulation on spatial variations in surface rock permeability properties in two limestones from Spain. The Fraga and Tudela limestones are from the Ebro basin and are of Miocene age. Both stone types figure largely in the architectural heritage of Spain and, in common with many other building limestones, they are prone to physical damage from salt crystallization in pore spaces. To examine feedbacks associated with salt accumulation during the early stages of this weathering process, samples of the two stone types were subjected to simulated salt weathering under laboratory conditions using magnesium sulphate and sodium chloride at concentrations of 5% and 15%. Permeability mapping and statistical analysis (aspatial statistics and spatial prediction) before and after salt accumulation are used to assess changes in the spatial variability of permeability and to correlate these changes with salt movement, porosity change, potential rock deterioration and textural characteristics. Statistical analyses of small-scale permeability measurements are used to evaluate the drivers for decay and hence aid the prediction of the weathering behaviour of the two limestones.

Figuring Abjection: The Slave Mother in the Early Creole Novel

While twentieth century Caribbean literature in French (particularly post-Césaire) has generated a large body of criticism, writing from the nineteenth century has been largely neglected. This article begins by contextualising the Creole novel of the early nineteenth century in cultural and historical terms, before proceeding to an analysis of two novels published in 1835 by Martinican authors: Outre-mer by Louis de Maynard, and Les Créoles by Jules Levilloux. In the few studies that exist, these texts have been read in opposition to each other in terms of their portrayal of the (male) mulatto; Levilloux has generally been considered the more progressive writer in this regard. However they are in fact in striking harmony in their depiction of the black mother, a figure (in both senses, as her physiognomy is central in her portrayal) who has until now been overlooked. For both writers, the elderly black mother is an abject and wretched creature. She has necessarily to be shown to be repulsive, filthy and morally hideous in old age in order to counteract the fascination she provokes, and to embody a phantasised repellent to the desires of the white male.

Palaeobiology of an extinct Ice Age mammal: Stable isotope and cementum analysis of giant deer teeth

The extinct giant deer, Megaloceros giganteus, is among the largest and most famous of the cervids. Megaloceros remains have been uncovered across Europe and western Asia. but the highest concentrations come from Irish bogs and caves Although Megaloceros has enjoyed a great deal of attention over the centuries, paleobiological study has focused oil morphometric and distributional work until now. This paper presents quantitative data that have implications for understanding its sudden extirpation in western Europe during a period of global climate change approximately 10.600 C-14 years ago (ca 12,500 calendar years BP). We report here the first stable isotope analysis of giant deer teeth. which we combine with dental cementum accretion in order to document age, diet and life-history seasonality from birth until death Enamel delta C-13 and delta O-18 measured in the second and third molars from seven individual giant deer Suggest a grass and forbbased diet supplemented with browse in a deteriorating. possibly water-stressed, environment, and a season of birth around spring/early summer Cementurm data indicate that the ages of the specimens ranged from 6.5 to 14 years and that they possessed mature antlers by autumn, similar to extant cervids. In addition. the possibility for combining these two techniques in future mammalian paleoccological studies is considered. The data presented in this study imply that Megoloceros would have indeed been vulnerable to extirpation during the terminal Pleistocene in Ireland. and this information is relevant to understanding the broader pattern of its extinction.

Identifying early signs of aggression: psychometric properties of the cardiff infant contentiousness scale

Our aim was to develop an age-appropriate measure of early manifestations of aggression. We constructed a questionnaire about normative developmental milestones into which a set of items measuring infants’ use of physical force against people and expressed anger were included. These items comprise the Cardiff Infant Contentiousness Scale (CICS). Evidence for the reliability and validity of the CICS is provided from analyses of a sample of N5310 British infants, assessed at a mean age of 6 months as part of a larger longitudinal study of the development of aggression. The informants’ CICS ratings demonstrated reasonable levels of internal consistency and interrater agreement. Informants’ ratings were validated by observations of infants’ distress in response to restraint in a car seat. Longitudinal analyses revealed that contentiousness was stable over time and that contentiousness at 6 months predicted infants’ later use of force with peers. When used in the company of other methods, the simple four-item CICS scale could serve as a useful screen for early manifestations of aggressiveness in human infants.

WASP-26b: a 1-Jupiter-mass planet around an early-G-type star

We report the discovery of WASP-26b, a moderately over-sized Jupiter-mass exoplanet transiting its 11.3-mag early-G-type host star (1SWASP J001824.70-151602.3; TYC 5839-876-1) every 2.7566 days. A simultaneous fit to transit photometry and radial-velocity measurements yields a planetary mass of 1.02 ± 0.03 MJup and radius of 1.32 ± 0.08 RJup. The host star, WASP-26, has a mass of 1.12 ± 0.03 M? and a radius of 1.34 ± 0.06 R? and is in a visual double with a fainter K-type star. The two stars are at least a common-proper motion pair with a common distance of around 250 ± 15 pc and an age of 6 ± 2 Gy.

Elevated AGE-modified ApoB in sera of euglycemic, normolipidemic patients with atherosclerosis: relationship to tissue AGEs.:relationship to tissue AGEs

BACKGROUND: Advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) are implicated in the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic vascular disease of diabetic and nondiabetic etiology. Recent research suggests that advanced glycation of ApoB contributes to the development of hyperlipidemia. AGE-specific receptors, expressed on vascular endothelium and mononuclear cells, may be involved in both the clearance of, and the inflammatory responses to AGEs. The aim of this study was to examine whether there is a relationship between serum AGE-ApoB and AGEs in arterial tissue of older normolipidemic nondiabetic patients with occlusive atherosclerotic disease, compared with age-matched and younger asymptomatic persons.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Serum AGE-ApoB was measured by ELISA in 21 cardiac bypass patients. Furthermore, an AGE-specific monoclonal antibody, and polyclonal antibodies against anti-AGE-receptor (anti-AGE-R) 1 and 2 were used to explore the localization and distribution of AGEs and AGE-R immunoreactivity (IR) in arterial segments excised from these patients.

RESULTS: Serum AGE-ApoB levels were significantly elevated in the asymptomatic, older population, compared with those in young healthy persons (259 +/- 24 versus 180 +/- 21 AGE U/mg of ApoB, p < 0.01). Higher AGE-ApoB levels were observed in those patients with atherosclerosis (329 +/- 23 versus 259 +/- 24 AGE U/mg ApoB, p < 0.05). Comparisons of tissue AGE-collagen with serum AGE-ApoB levels showed a significant correlation (r = 0.707, p < 0.01). In early lesions, AGE-IR occurred mostly extracellularly. In fatty streaks and dense, cellular atheromatous lesions, AGE-IR was visible within lipid-containing smooth muscle cells and macrophages, while in late-stage, acellular plaques, AGE-IR occurred mostly extracellularly. AGE-R1 and -R2 were observed on vascular endothelial and smooth-muscle cells and on infiltrating mononuclear cells in the early-stage lesions, whereas in dense, late-stage plaques, they colocalized mostly with lipid-laden macrophages. On tissue sections, scoring of AGE-immunofluorescence correlated with tissue AGE and plasma AGE-ApoB.

CONCLUSIONS: (1) The correlation between arterial tissue AGEs and circulating AGE-ApoB suggests a causal link between AGE modification of lipoproteins and atherosclerosis. AGE-specific receptors may contribute to this process. (2) Serum AGE-ApoB may serve to predict atherosclerosis in asymptomatic patients.

Early Childhood Development of Late-Preterm Infants: A Systematic Review

CONTEXT: Late-preterm infants (LPIs) born at 34 to 36 weeks' gestation are increasingly regarded as being at risk for adverse developmental outcomes. To date, the early childhood development of LPIs has not been systematically considered.

OBJECTIVE: To undertake a broad examination of literature relating to early childhood development at the ages of 1 to 7 years of LPIs born at 34 to 36 weeks' gestation.

METHODS: We conducted a systematic review of early childhood outcomes in LPIs by using 9 electronic databases (January 1980 to March 2010). Bibliographies were reviewed. After examination of abstracts, ineligible studies were excluded. A specifically designed data-extraction form was used. The methodologic quality of included studies was assessed by using well-documented quality-appraisal guidelines.

RESULTS: Of 4581 studies, 10 (3 prospective and 7 retrospective cohort) were included. Studies were heterogeneous, and poorer outcomes were reported among LPIs in relation to neurodevelopmental disabilities, educational ability, early-intervention requirements, medical disabilities, and physical growth in comparison to term-born children. No identified study used healthy nonadmitted LPIs as a comparison group for admitted LPIs.

CONCLUSIONS: Evidence suggests that LPIs are at increased risk of adverse developmental outcomes and academic difficulties up to 7 years of age in comparison to term infants. An infant control group matched for gestational age has not been used; thus, for LPIs, the effect of neonatal admission on longer-term outcomes has not been fully explored. Systematic measurement of early childhood outcomes is lacking, and focused long-term follow-up studies are needed to investigate early childhood development after late-preterm birth. Pediatrics 2011;127:1111-1124

Incised palaeo-channels of the Late Middle Pleistocene Thames: age, origins and implications for fluvial palaeogeography and sea-level reconstruction in the southern North Sea Basin.

Multidisciplinary investigations of the infills of steeply-incised buried channels on the coast of Essex, England, provide important insights into late Middle Pleistocene climate and sea-level change and have a direct bearing on the differentiation of MIS 11 and MIS 9 in terrestrial records. New data are presented from Rochford and Burnham-on-Crouch where remnants of two substantial palaeo-channels filled with interglacial sediment can be directly related to the terrace stratigraphy of the Thames. The sediments in both channels accumulated in an estuarine environment early in an interglacial when mixed oak forest was becoming established. Lithological evidence suggests that the interglacial beds post-date the brackish-water infill of an older palaeo-channel ascribed to the Hoxnian and correlated with part of MIS 11, and pre-date terrace gravels (Barling Gravel) ascribed to MIS 8. An MIS 9 attribution is supported by molluscan biostratigraphy, palaeo-salinity and amino-acid racemization data. The relative sea-level record in this area thus includes evidence for two major marine transgressions during MIS 11 and MIS 9, with local maxima of >10 m O.D. Both are associated with sediments that show ‘Hoxnian’ palynological affinities. The wider significance of these findings, and of an intermediate phase of pronounced fluvial incision during MIS 10, is discussed.

Evidence of association of APOE with age-related macular degeneration: a pooled analysis of 15 studies.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of incurable visual impairment in high-income countries. Previous studies report inconsistent associations between AMD and apolipoprotein E (APOE), a lipid transport protein involved in low-density cholesterol modulation. Potential interaction between APOE and sex, and smoking status has been reported. We present a pooled analysis (n = 21,160) demonstrating associations between late AMD and APOe4 (odds ratio [OR] = 0.72 per haplotype; confidence interval [CI]: 0.65-0.74; P = 4.41×10(-11) ) and APOe2 (OR = 1.83 for homozygote carriers; CI: 1.04-3.23; P = 0.04), following adjustment for age group and sex within each study and smoking status. No evidence of interaction between APOE and sex or smoking was found. Ever smokers had significant increased risk relative to never smokers for both neovascular (OR = 1.54; CI: 1.38-1.72; P = 2.8×10(-15) ) and atrophic (OR = 1.38; CI: 1.18-1.61; P = 3.37×10(-5) ) AMD but not early AMD (OR = 0.94; CI: 0.86-1.03; P = 0.16), implicating smoking as a major contributing factor to disease progression from early signs to the visually disabling late forms. Extended haplotype analysis incorporating rs405509 did not identify additional risks beyond e2 and e4 haplotypes. Our expanded analysis substantially improves our understanding of the association between the APOE locus and AMD. It further provides evidence supporting the role of cholesterol modulation, and low-density cholesterol specifically, in AMD disease etiology.

Spanish Golden Age Poetry in Motion: The Dynamics of Creation and Conversation.

The fourteen essays of this volume engage in distinct ways with the matter of motion in early modern Spanish poetics, without limiting the dialectic of stasis and movement to any single sphere or manifestation. Interrogation of the interdependence of tradition and innovation, poetry, power and politics, shifting signifiers, the intersection of topography and deviant temporalities, the movement between the secular and the sacred, tensions between centres and peripheries, issues of manuscript circulation and reception, poetic calls and echoes across continents and centuries, and between creative writing and reading subjects, all demonstrate that Helgerson's central notion of conspicuous movement is relevant beyond early sixteenth-century secular poetics, By opening it up we approximate a better understanding of poetry's flexible spatio-temporal co-ordinates in a period of extraordinary historical circumstances and conterminous radical cultural transformation

Comparisons between different polychemotherapy regimens for early breast cancer: meta-analyses of long-term outcome among 100,000 women in 123 randomised trials

Background Moderate di?erences in e?cacy between adjuvant chemotherapy regimens for breast cancer are plausible, and could a? ect treatment choices. We sought any such di?erences.

Methods We undertook individual-patient-data meta-analyses of the randomised trials comparing: any taxane-plusanthracycline-based regimen versus the same, or more, non-taxane chemotherapy (n=44 000); one anthracyclinebased regimen versus another (n=7000) or versus cyclo phosphamide, methotrexate, and ?uorouracil (CMF; n=18 000); and polychemotherapy versus no chemotherapy (n=32 000). The scheduled dosages of these three drugs and of the anthracyclines doxorubicin (A) and epirubicin (E) were used to de? ne standard CMF, standard 4AC, and CAF and CEF. Log-rank breast cancer mortality rate ratios (RRs) are reported.

Findings In trials adding four separate cycles of a taxane to a ?xed anthracycline-based control regimen, extending treatment duration, breast cancer mortality was reduced (RR 0·86, SE 0·04, two-sided signi?cance [2p]=0·0005). In trials with four such extra cycles of a taxane counterbalanced in controls by extra cycles of other cytotoxic drugs, roughly doubling non-taxane dosage, there was no signi?cant di?erence (RR 0·94, SE 0·06, 2p=0·33). Trials with CMF-treated controls showed that standard 4AC and standard CMF were equivalent (RR 0·98, SE 0·05, 2p=0·67), but that anthracycline-based regimens with substantially higher cumulative dosage than standard 4AC (eg, CAF or CEF) were superior to standard CMF (RR 0·78, SE 0·06, 2p=0·0004). Trials versus no chemotherapy also suggested greater mortality reductions with CAF (RR 0·64, SE 0·09, 2p<0·0001) than with standard 4AC (RR 0·78, SE 0·09, 2p=0·01) or
standard CMF (RR 0·76, SE 0·05, 2p<0·0001). In all meta-analyses involving taxane-based or anthracycline-based regimens, proportional risk reductions were little a? ected by age, nodal status, tumour diameter or di?erentiation (moderate or poor; few were well di?erentiated), oestrogen receptor status, or tamoxifen use. Hence, largely independently of age (up to at least 70 years) or the tumour characteristics currently available to us for the patients selected to be in these trials, some taxane-plus-anthracycline-based or higher-cumulative-dosage anthracycline-based regimens (not requiring stem cells) reduced breast cancer mortality by, on average, about one-third. 10-year overall mortality di?erences paralleled breast cancer mortality di?erences, despite taxane, anthracycline, and other toxicities.

Interpretation 10-year gains from a one-third breast cancer mortality reduction depend on absolute risks without chemotherapy (which, for oestrogen-receptor-positive disease, are the risks remaining with appropriate endocrine therapy). Low absolute risk implies low absolute bene?t, but information was lacking about tumour gene expression markers or quantitative immunohistochemistry that might help to predict risk, chemosensitivity, or both.

Ranibizumab versus Bevacizumab to Treat Neovascular Age-related Macular Degeneration: One-Year Findings from the IVAN Randomized Trial.

Purpose
To compare the efficacy and safety of ranibizumab and bevacizumab intravitreal injections to treat neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD).

Design
Multicenter, noninferiority factorial trial with equal allocation to groups. The noninferiority limit was 3.5 letters. This trial is registered (ISRCTN92166560).

Participants
People >50 years of age with untreated nAMD in the study eye who read =25 letters on the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study chart.

Methods
We randomized participants to 4 groups: ranibizumab or bevacizumab, given either every month (continuous) or as needed (discontinuous), with monthly review.

Main Outcome Measures
The primary outcome is at 2 years; this paper reports a prespecified interim analysis at 1 year. The primary efficacy and safety outcome measures are distance visual acuity and arteriothrombotic events or heart failure. Other outcome measures are health-related quality of life, contrast sensitivity, near visual acuity, reading index, lesion morphology, serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels, and costs.

Results
Between March 27, 2008 and October 15, 2010, we randomized and treated 610 participants. One year after randomization, the comparison between bevacizumab and ranibizumab was inconclusive (bevacizumab minus ranibizumab -1.99 letters, 95% confidence interval [CI], -4.04 to 0.06). Discontinuous treatment was equivalent to continuous treatment (discontinuous minus continuous -0.35 letters; 95% CI, -2.40 to 1.70). Foveal total thickness did not differ by drug, but was 9% less with continuous treatment (geometric mean ratio [GMR], 0.91; 95% CI, 0.86 to 0.97; P = 0.005). Fewer participants receiving bevacizumab had an arteriothrombotic event or heart failure (odds ratio [OR], 0.23; 95% CI, 0.05 to 1.07; P = 0.03). There was no difference between drugs in the proportion experiencing a serious systemic adverse event (OR, 1.35; 95% CI, 0.80 to 2.27; P = 0.25). Serum VEGF was lower with bevacizumab (GMR, 0.47; 95% CI, 0.41 to 0.54; P<0.0001) and higher with discontinuous treatment (GMR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.07 to 1.42; P = 0.004). Continuous and discontinuous treatment costs were £9656 and £6398 per patient per year for ranibizumab and £1654 and £1509 for bevacizumab; bevacizumab was less costly for both treatment regimens (P<0.0001).

Conclusions
The comparison of visual acuity at 1 year between bevacizumab and ranibizumab was inconclusive. Visual acuities with continuous and discontinuous treatment were equivalent. Other outcomes are consistent with the drugs and treatment regimens having similar efficacy and safety.

Financial Disclosure(s)
Proprietary or commercial disclosures may be found after the references.

Carotenoids and co-antioxidants in age-related maculopathy:design and methods

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), is the leading cause of blind registration in the Western World among individuals 65 years or older. Early AMD, a clinical state without overt functional loss, is said to be present clinically when yellowish deposits known as drusen and/or alterations of fundus pigmentation are seen in the macular retina. Although the etiopathogenesis of AMD remains uncertain, there is a growing body of evidence in support of the view that cumulative oxidative damage plays a causal role. Appropriate dietary antioxidant supplementation is likely to be beneficial in maintaining visual function in patients with AMD, and preventing or delaying the progression of early AMD to late AMD. The Carotenoids in Age-Related Maculopathy (CARMA) Study is a randomized and double-masked clinical trial of antioxidant supplementation versus placebo in 433 participants with either early AMD features of sufficient severity in at least one eye or any level of AMD in one eye with late AMD (neovascular AMD or central geographic atrophy) in the fellow eye. The aim of the CARMA Study is to investigate whether lutein and zeaxanthin, in combination with co-antioxidants (vitamin C, E, and zinc), has a beneficial effect on visual function and/or prevention of progression from early to late stages of disease. The primary outcome is improved or preserved distance visual acuity at 12 months. Secondary outcomes include improved or preserved interferometric acuity, contrast sensitivity, shape discrimination ability, and change in AMD severity as monitored by fundus photography. This article outlines the CARMA Study design and methodology, including its rationale.

Attention Engagement in Early Infancy

We report a longitudinal study investigating developmental changes in the structure of attention engagement during early infancy. Forty-three infants were observed monthly from 2 to 4 months. Attention engagement was assessed from play interactions with parents, using a coding system developed by Bakeman and Adamson (1984). The results indicated a developmental transition in attention engagement at 3 months: after this age infants engaged for longer periods and in a wider variety of states. Most infants displayed person engagement at 2 months, passive joint engagement at 3 months, and object engagement at 4 months. To address whether emerging abilities of attention engagement allow infants to follow the attention of social partners, we compared attention engagement to performance on an experimental measure of attention control (reported by Perra & Gattis, 2010). Analyses revealed a positive relation between passive joint engagement and checking back, suggesting that changes in passive joint engagement reflect the development in attention control.