Control dynamics of severe acute respiratory syndrome transmission

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a serious disease with many puzzling features. We present a simple, dynamic model to assess the epidemic potential of SARS and the effectiveness of control measures. With this model, we analysed the SARS epidemic data in Beijing. The data fitting gives the basic case reproduction number of 2.16 leading to the outbreak, and the variation of the effective reproduction number reflecting the control effect. Noticeably, our study shows that the response time and the strength of control measures have significant effects on the scale of the outbreak and the lasting time of the epidemic.

Number of prior episodes and the presence of depressive symptoms are associated with longer length of stay for patients with acute manic episodes

Background: Few studies have analyzed predictors of length of stay (LOS) in patients admitted due to acute bipolar manic episodes. The purpose of the present study was to estimate LOS and to determine the potential sociodemographic and clinical risk factors associated with a longer hospitalization. Such information could be useful to identify those patients at high risk for long LOS and to allocate them to special treatments, with the aim of optimizing their hospital management. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study recruiting adult patients with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, text revision (DSM-IV-TR) criteria) who had been hospitalized due to an acute manic episode with a Young Mania Rating Scale total score greater than 20. Bivariate correlational and multiple linear regression analyses were performed to identify independent predictors of LOS. Results: A total of 235 patients from 44 centers were included in the study. The only factors that were significantly associated to LOS in the regression model were the number of previous episodes and the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) total score at admission (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Patients with a high number of previous episodes and those with depressive symptoms during mania are more likely to stay longer in hospital. Patients with severe depressive symptoms may have a more severe or treatment-resistant course of the acute bipolar manic episode.

New genetic markers for treatment personalization in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia

La Leucemia Linfoblástica Aguda (LLA) es el cáncer pediátrico más común. Es un desorden de las células linfoblásticas, que son las precursoras de las células linfáticas, y se caracteriza por la acumulación en médula ósea y sangre de pequeñas células blásticas con poco citoplasma y cromatina dispersa. En las últimas décadas, se ha conseguido aumentar la supervivencia del 10% al 80% pero todavía hay un 20% de pacientes que no responden al tratamiento. Esta mejoría se ha conseguido mediante la implantación de terapias combinadas y la adecuación de la terapia a grupos de riesgo. Los pacientes se separan en tres grupos de riesgo, Riesgo Estándar (RE), Alto Riesgo (AR) y Muy Alto Riesgo (MAR), en base a marcadores pronósticos, entre los que se incluyen alteraciones citogenéticas. Sin embargo, a lo largo del tratamiento, nos encontramos con dos problemas:1) Por un lado, algunos de los pacientes incluidos en el grupo de RE y AR no responden bien al tratamiento y pasan AR y MAR respectivamente. Esto quiere decir que los grupos de riesgo no están bien definidos. Por lo tanto, sería de interés poder caracterizar los pacientes que realmente son RE y AR y aquéllos que desde un principio deberían haber sido considerados como de mayor riesgo.2) Por otro lado, un alto porcentaje de pacientes experimenta toxicidad, que puede llegar a ser muy grave en algunos casos, siendo necesario parar el tratamiento. Por este motivo, sería altamente beneficioso poder reconocer a los pacientes que van a ser más sensibles al tratamiento para, de ese modo, poder ajustar la dosis.Por todo esto, creemos que una mejor asignación de los pacientes de LLA a grupos de riesgo y la personalización de la dosis, mediante nuevos marcadores genéticos, permitiría mejorar la respuesta al tratamiento.En este estudio nos planteamos, por lo tanto, dos objetivos: 1) Llevar a cabo la identificación de nuevas alteraciones genéticas presentes en el tumor para una mejor caracterización del riesgo y 2) Realizar una caracterización genética del individuo que permita predecir la respuesta al tratamiento.

Dynamics of Streptococcus pneumoniae Serotypes Causing Acute Otitis Media Isolated from Children with Spontaneous Middle-Ear Drainage over a 12-Year Period (1999–2010) in a Region of Northern Spain

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Soluble Angiopoietin Receptor Tie-2 In Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction And Its Detection By Optical Protein-Chip

The Tie-2 receptor has been shown to play a role in angiogenesis in atherosclerosis. The conventional method assaying the level of soluble Tie-2 (sTie-2) was ELISA. However, this method has some disadvantages. The aims of this research are to establish a more simple detection method, the optical protein-chip based on imaging ellipsomtry (OPC-IE) applying to Tie-2 assay. The sTie-2 biosensor surface on silicon wafer was prepared first, and then serum levels of sTie-2 in 38 patients with AMI were measured on admission (day 1), day 2, day 3 and day 7 after onset of chest pain and 41 healthy controls by ELISA and OPC-IE in parallel. Median level of sTie-2 increased significantly in the AMI patients when compared with the controls. Statistics showed there was a significant correlation in sTie-2 results between the two methods (r=0.923, P0.01). The result of this study showed that the level of sTie-2 increased in AMI, and OPC-IE assay was a fast, reliable, and convenient technique to measure sTie-2 in serum.

Acute toxicities of Basudine and Gammalin 20 to Aphyosemin gairdneri

Effects of Basudine and Gammalin 20 on the fingerlings of Aphyosemin gairdneri were investigated using static bioassays and continuous aeration over a period of 48 hours. The 48 hours LC sub(50) of the exposed fish to Basudine and Gammalin 20 were determined to be 194.99 mu g dm super(3) and 95.50 mu g dm super(3) respectively. Gammalin 20 was more toxic than Basudine. The behavioural responses observed include agitation, erratic swimming, loss of equilibrium, period of quiescence and death. It is concluded that repeated applications of these herbicides should be avoided before stocking ponds with fish

Acute toxicity of Gammalin 20 to Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus (Lacepede)

The impact of acute exposure of Gammalin 20 (an organochlorine pesticide) was investigated in a static bioassay test over a 96-(4-day) period on the fingerlings of Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus (lacepede). The 96-hLC sub(50) of Gammalin 20 was determined as 2.31 Ug/l with lower and upper limits of toxicities as 2.10 and 4.44 Ug/l respectively. At higher concentrations, the colour of the exposed fish became darker, opercular movement slowed down while pigmentation pattern increased and respiratory distress was observed, erratic swimming, tonic convulsion and no response to gentle prodding, and finally death. The implications of these results were discussed with a suggestion of the total ban on the use of Gammalin 20 in capture fisheries due to its harmful and persistence nature in the aquatic environment

Acute toxicity of atrazine to Oreochromis niloticus fingerlings

Acute toxicity of atrazine to Oreochromis niloticus was undertaken to find the lethal concentration (LC) 50 of atrazine using fingerlings. Different concentrations were prepared in mg/L. There were six different concentrations with a control and each treatment was replicated three times. A total number of twenty-one aquaria were used. The highest concentration was 30mg/L. Ten test organisms were used in each aquarium. At 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours there were LC 50 of 15.6mg/L, 14mg/L, 11mg/L and 9.4, respectively. At 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours there were mean survivals of 49.0%, 34.3%, 28.6% and 28.1%, respectively

Pharmacogenetics of MicroRNAs and MicroRNAs Biogenesis Machinery in Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Despite the clinical success of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) therapy, toxicity is frequent. Therefore, it would be useful to identify predictors of adverse effects. In the last years, several studies have investigated the relationship between genetic variation and treatment-related toxicity. However, most of these studies are focused in coding regions. Nowadays, it is known that regions that do not codify proteins, such as microRNAs (miRNAs), may have an important regulatory function. MiRNAs can regulate the expression of genes affecting drug response. In fact, the expression of some of those miRNAs has been associated with drug response. Genetic variations affecting miRNAs can modify their function, which may lead to drug sensitivity. The aim of this study was to detect new toxicity markers in pediatric B-ALL, studying miRNA-related polymorphisms, which can affect miRNA levels and function. We analyzed 118 SNPs in pre-miRNAs and miRNA processing genes in association with toxicity in 152 pediatric B-ALL patients all treated with the same protocol (LAL/SHOP). Among the results found, we detected for the first time an association between rs639174 in DROSHA and vomits that remained statistically significant after FDR correction. DROSHA had been associated with alterations in miRNAs expression, which could affect genes involved in drug transport. This suggests that miRNA-related SNPs could be a useful tool for toxicity prediction in pediatric B-ALL.

Standard and routine metabolic rates of juvenile sandbar sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus), including the effects of body mass and acute temperature change*

Standard and routine metabolic rates (SMRs and RMRs, respectively) of juvenile sandbar sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus) were measured over a range of body sizes (n=34) and temperatures normally associated with western Atlantic coastal nursery areas. The mean SMR Q10 (increase in metabolic rate with temperature) was 2.9 ±0.2. Heart rate decreased with increasing body mass but increased with temperature at a Q10 of 1.8−2.2. Self-paired measures of SMR and RMR were obtained for 15 individuals. Routine metabolic rate averaged 1.8 ±0.1 times the SMR and was not correlated with body mass. Assuming the maximum metabolic rate of sandbar sharks is 1.8−2.75 times the SMR (as is observed in other elasmobranch species), sandbar sharks are using between 34% and 100% of their metabolic scope just to sustain their routine continuous activity. This limitation may help to explain their slow individual and population growth rates, as well as the slow recoveries from overfishing of many shark stocks worl

Liver genomic responses to ciguatoxin: evidence for activation of Phase I and Phase II detoxification pathways following an acute hypothermic response in mice

Ciguatoxins (CTX) are polyether neurotoxins that target voltage-gated sodium channels and are responsible for ciguatera, the most common fish-borne food poisoning in humans. This study characterizes the global transcriptional response of mouse liver to a symptomatic dose (0.26 ng/g) of the highly potent Pacific ciguatoxin-1 (P-CTX-1). At 1 h post-exposure 2.4% of features on a 44K whole genome array were differentially expressed (p ≤ 0.0001), increasing to 5.2% at 4 h and decreasing to 1.4% by 24 h post-CTX exposure. Data were filtered (|fold change| ≥ 1.5 and p ≤ 0.0001 in at least one time point) and a trend set of 1550 genes were used for further analysis. Early gene expression was likely influenced prominently by an acute 4°C decline in core body temperature by 1 h, which resolved by 8 h following exposure. An initial downregulation of 32 different solute carriers, many involved in sodium transport, was observed. Differential gene expression in pathways involving eicosanoid biosynthesis and cholesterol homeostasis was also noted. Cytochrome P450s (Cyps) were of particular interest due to their role in xenobiotic metabolism. Twenty-seven genes, mostly members of Cyp2 and Cyp4 families, showed significant changes in expression. Many Cyps underwent an initial downregulation at 1 h but were quickly and strongly upregulated at 4 and 24 h post-exposure. In addition to Cyps, increases in several glutathione S-transferases were observed, an indication that both phase I and phase II metabolic reactions are involved in the hepatic response to CTX in mice.

Acute effect of sumithion on certain blood parameters and mortality rate of fish, Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch)

The acute toxic effect of the toxicant sumithion (50% E.C.) on mortality rate (after 24, 48, 72, and 96 h), total RBC count and haemoglobin content (after 48 and 72 h) on Heteropneustes fossilis was investigated at four concentrations (9.7, 10.7 and 11.1 ppm). The sumithion treated fishes showed lower RBC and Hb levels than the untreated ones. A gradual decrease in the total RBC counts and Hb contents was recorded with increasing concentration of toxicant after 72 h but the blood showed fluctuating values after 48 h of treatment.