Secure and Prepared Newsletter, December 22, 2009, Vol. 5, no. 25

A bi-weekly newsletter for those involved in the fields of homeland security and/or emergency management

Secure and Prepared Newsletter, January 14, 2010, Vol. 6, no. 1

A bi-weekly newsletter for those involved in the fields of homeland security and/or emergency management

Pre-hospital risk factors for inpatient death from severe febrile illness in malian children.

BACKGROUND: Inpatient case fatality from severe malaria remains high in much of sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of these deaths occur within 24 hours of admission, suggesting that pre-hospital management may have an impact on the risk of case fatality. METHODS: Prospective cohort study, including questionnaire about pre-hospital treatment, of all 437 patients admitted with severe febrile illness (presumed to be severe malaria) to the paediatric ward in Sikasso Regional Hospital, Mali, in a two-month period. FINDINGS: The case fatality rate was 17.4%. Coma, hypoglycaemia and respiratory distress at admission were associated with significantly higher mortality. In multiple logistic regression models and in a survival analysis to examine pre-admission risk factors for case fatality, the only consistent and significant risk factor was sex. Girls were twice as likely to die as boys (AOR 2.00, 95% CI 1.08-3.70). There was a wide variety of pre-hospital treatments used, both modern and traditional. None had a consistent impact on the risk of death across different analyses. Reported use of traditional treatments was not associated with post-admission outcome. INTERPRETATION: Aside from well-recognised markers of severity, the main risk factor for death in this study was female sex, but this study cannot determine the reason why. Differences in pre-hospital treatments were not associated with case fatality.

Secure and Prepared Newsletter, January 28, 2010, Vol. 6, no. 2

A bi-weekly newsletter for those involved in the fields of homeland security and/or emergency management

Secure and Prepared Newsletter, February 11, 2010, Vol. 6, no. 3

A bi-weekly newsletter for those involved in the fields of homeland security and/or emergency management

Secure and Prepared Newsletter, February 11, 2010, Vol. 6, no. 4, revision 1

A bi-weekly newsletter for those involved in the fields of homeland security and/or emergency management. NOTE: The revise addition information about Five-Year Regionalization Review on the front page.

Secure and Prepared Newsletter, February 25, 2010, Vol. 6, no. 4

A bi-weekly newsletter for those involved in the fields of homeland security and/or emergency management

Secure and Prepared Newsletter, March 11, 2010, Vol. 6, no. 5

A bi-weekly newsletter for those involved in the fields of homeland security and/or emergency management

Secure and Prepared Newsletter, March 25, 2010, Vol. 6, no. 6

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Secure and Prepared Newsletter, April 8, 2010, Vol. 6, no. 7

A bi-weekly newsletter for those involved in the fields of homeland security and/or emergency management

TCRgamma silencing during alphabeta T cell development depends upon pre-TCR-induced proliferation.

During thymus development, immature T cells become committed to two distinct lineages based upon expression of alphabeta or gammadelta TCR. In the alphabeta lineage, developing thymocytes progressively extinguish transcription of the TCRgamma genes by a poorly understood process known as gamma silencing. We show that alphabeta lineage thymocytes in mice lacking a functional pre-TCR undergo limited proliferation and fail to silence TCRgamma genes during development. Stimulation of pre-TCR-deficient immature thymocytes with anti-CD3 Abs does not directly down-regulate TCRgamma transcription but restores TCRgamma silencing following proliferation. Collectively our data reveal an important role for pre-TCR induced proliferation in activating the TCRgamma silencer in alphabeta lineage thymocytes, a process that may reinforce alphabeta or gammadelta lineage commitment.

Secure and Prepared Newsletter, April 22, 2010, Vol. 6, no. 8

A bi-weekly newsletter for those involved in the fields of homeland security and/or emergency management

Secure and Prepared Newsletter, May 6, 2010, Vol. 6, no. 9

A bi-weekly newsletter for those involved in the fields of homeland security and/or emergency management

Secure and Prepared Newsletter, May 20, 2010, Vol. 6, no. 10

A bi-weekly newsletter for those involved in the fields of homeland security and/or emergency management