The report of the Outbreak Control Team of the investigation of an outbreak of listeriosis in the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust during May to November 2008

This is the report of the interagency Outbreak Control Team (OCT) of an investigation of an outbreak of listeriosis which occurred during May to November 2008 in the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust.The report describes the chronology of the outbreak and the outcome of epidemiological, environmental health and microbiological investigations. The report concludes with recommendations for public health, Trusts, the Department of Health and Social Services and Public Safety, the Food Standards Agency, and those responsible for hospital food procurement.�

The Report of the Outbreak Control Team of the investigations of an outbreak of E. coli O157 associated with Flicks Restaurant in Belfast during October 2012

The Report of the Outbreak Control Team of the investigations of an outbreak of E. coli O157 associated with Flicks Restaurant in Belfast during October 2012.

The hope for an HIV vaccine based on induction of CD8+ T lymphocytes: a review

The only long-term and cost-effective solution to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic in the developing world is a vaccine that prevents individuals from becoming infected or, once infected, from passing the virus on to others. There is currently little hope for an AIDS vaccine. Conventional attempts to induce protective antibody and CD8+ lymphocyte responses against HIV and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) have failed. The enormous diversity of the virus has only recently been appreciated by vaccinologists, and our assays to determine CD8+ lymphocyte antiviral efficacy are inadequate. The central hypothesis of a CTL-based vaccine is that particularly effective CD8+ lymphocytes directed against at least five epitopes that are derived from regions under functional and structural constraints will control replication of pathogenic SIV. This would be somewhat analogous to control of virus replication by triple drug therapy or neutralizing antibodies.

The deployment of an e-book consultation and loan service : the experience of the Open University of Catalonia Library

La Biblioteca de la UOC (UOC Library) ha ofert durant tres mesos (octubre-desembre 09), en fase de prova pilot, un servei de consulta i préstec de lectors de llibres electrònics (e-readers). Aquest nou desplegament s'ha desenvolupat en consonància amb l'aposta general de la Universitat en innovació en tecnologies aplicades a l'educació, i la voluntat de potenciar les col·leccions de llibres electrònics i l'ús dels dispositius de lectura de llibres electrònics com una extensió més de la tecnologia del Campus 5.0, en el suport a l'aprenentatge dels seus estudiants durant la seva formació a la Universitat. Aquest treball presenta en detall les especificacions de la prova pilot, a més de contenir una anàlisi i avaluació dels resultats obtinguts: punts forts i punts febles, relació dels aspectes a millorar i modificar, de cara a la consolidació final del servei.

Promoting secure attachment: evaluation of the effectiveness of an early intervention pilot programme with mother-infant dyads in Santiago, Chile.

BackgroundResearch indicates that the early attachment patterns of babies could influence their socio-emotional development and prevent the emergence of problematic behaviours in the child later in life. Many studies in the field of early attachment interventions have promoted a secure attachment bond between mother and infant. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an early pilot intervention programme designed to promote a secure attachment bond in mother-infant dyads belonging to a population seeking regular treatment at urban health centres in Santiago, Chile.MethodsPrimipara mothers were randomly assigned to two intervention conditions: a secure attachment promotion programme (experimental group = 43) or an educational talk (control group = 29). The Strange Situation Assessment was used to collect data on the attachment patterns of babies.ResultsThe results show that after the intervention, there were more babies with secure attachment in the experimental group than in the control group.ConclusionsThese findings represent a preliminary step towards evaluating interventions aimed at promoting secure attachment in Chilean mother-child dyads. While the effect of the intervention is not significant, the effect size obtained is respectable and consistent with other meta-analytic findings.

Testing of Diagnostic Methods for Detection of Influenza Virusfor Optimal Performance in the Context of an Influenza Surveillance Network

Influenza surveillance networks must detect early the viruses that will cause the forthcoming annual epidemics and isolate the strains for further characterization. We obtained the highest sensitivity (95.4%) with a diagnostic tool that combined a shell-vial assay and reverse transcription-PCR on cell culture supernatants at 48 h, and indeed, recovered the strain

Estimating the motion of an underwater robot from a monocular image sequence

When underwater vehicles perform navigation close to the ocean floor, computer vision techniques can be applied to obtain quite accurate motion estimates. The most crucial step in the vision-based estimation of the vehicle motion consists on detecting matchings between image pairs. Here we propose the extensive use of texture analysis as a tool to ameliorate the correspondence problem in underwater images. Once a robust set of correspondences has been found, the three-dimensional motion of the vehicle can be computed with respect to the bed of the sea. Finally, motion estimates allow the construction of a map that could aid to the navigation of the robot

Prevention of the renarrowing of coronary arteries using drug-eluting stents in the perioperative period: an update.

The management of patients scheduled for surgery with a coronary stent, and receiving 1 or more antiplatelet drugs, has many controversies. The premature discontinuation of antiplatelet drugs substantially increases the risk of stent thrombosis (ST), myocardial infarction, and cardiac death, and surgery under an altered platelet function could also lead to an increased risk of bleeding in the perioperative period. Because of the conflict in the recommendations, this article reviews the current antiplatelet protocols after positioning a coronary stent, the evidence of increased risk of ST associated with the withdrawal of antiplatelet drugs and increased bleeding risk associated with its maintenance, the different perioperative antiplatelet protocols when patients are scheduled for surgery or need an urgent operation, and the therapeutic options if excessive bleeding occurs.

GLP-1 protects beta-cells against apoptosis by enhancing the activity of an IGF-2/IGF-1 receptor autocrine loop

GLP-1 protects β-cells against apoptosis by still incompletely understood mechanisms. In a recent study, we searched for novel anti-apoptotic pathways by performing comparative transcriptomic analysis of islets from Gipr-/-;Glp-1r-/- mice, which show increased susceptibility to cytokine-induced apoptosis. We observed a strong reduction in IGF-1R expression in the knockout islets suggesting a link between the gluco-incretin and IGF-1R signaling pathways. Using MIN6 and primary islet cells, we demonstrated that GLP-1 strongly stimulates IGF-1R expression and that activation of the IGF-1R/Akt signaling pathway required active secretion of IGF-2 by the β-cells. We showed that inactivation of the IGF-1 receptor gene in β-cells or preventing its up-regulation by GLP-1, as well as suppressing IGF-2 expression or action, blocked the protective effect of GLP-1 against cytokine-induced apoptosis. Thus, an IGF-2/IGF-1 receptor autocrine loop operates in β-cells and GLP-1 increases its activity by enhancing IGF-1R expression and by stimulating IGF-2 secretion. This mechanism is required for GLP-1 to protect β-cells against apoptosis.

Prefrailty and chronic morbidity in the youngest old: an insight from the Lausanne Cohort Lc65+.

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the prevalence of prefrailty, frailty, comorbidity, and disability in the youngest old and to identify chronic diseases associated with individual frailty criteria. DESIGN: Population-based cohort study of noninstitutionalized elderly adults at baseline; cross-sectional analysis. SETTING: Lausanne, Switzerland. PARTICIPANTS: One thousand two hundred eighty-three individuals with complete data on frailty, aged 65 to 70 (58.5% women). MEASUREMENTS: Frailty was assessed according to an adaptation of Fried's criteria (shrinking, weakness, exhaustion, slowness, and low activity, three criteria needed for the diagnosis of frailty, 1 to 2 for prefrailty). Other outcomes were diseases diagnosed by a doctor (≥ 2 chronic diseases: comorbidity) and limitations in activities of daily living (ADLs, basic and instrumental). RESULTS: At baseline, of 1,283 participants 71.1% were classified as nonfrail, 26.4% as prefrail, and 2.5% as frail. The proportion of women increased across these three groups (56.5%, 62.8%, and 71.9%, respectively; P = .01), as did the proportion of individuals with one or more chronic diseases (68.0%, 82.8%, and 90.6%, respectively; P < .001) and the proportion with basic or instrumental ADL disability (1.6%, 10.3%, and 59.4%, respectively; P < .001). Weakness (low grip strength) was the most frequent criterion (14.3%). Prefrail participants had significantly more comorbidity and ADL disability than nonfrail participants (P < .001). When present in isolation, weakness was associated with two to three times greater prevalence of coronary heart disease, other heart diseases, diabetes mellitus, and arthritis. Similarly, a significant association was identified between exhaustion and depression. CONCLUSION: Prefrailty is common in the youngest old. The most prevalent frailty criterion is weakness, which is associated with cardiovascular diseases. Longitudinal studies of the evolution of prefrailty should explore the role of potential interactions between individual frailty criteria and specific chronic diseases.

Predictors of local malaria outbreaks: an approach to the development of an early warning system in Colombia

Risk factor surveillance is a complementary tool of morbidity and mortality surveillance that improves the likelihood that public health interventions are implemented in a timely fashion. The aim of this study was to identify population predictors of malaria outbreaks in endemic municipalities of Colombia with the goal of developing an early warning system for malaria outbreaks. We conducted a multiple-group, exploratory, ecological study at the municipal level. Each of the 290 municipalities with endemic malaria that we studied was classified according to the presence or absence of outbreaks. The measurement of variables was based on historic registries and logistic regression was performed to analyse the data. Altitude above sea level [odds ratio (OR) 3.65, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.34-9.98], variability in rainfall (OR 1.85, 95% CI 1.40-2.44) and the proportion of inhabitants over 45 years of age (OR 0.17, 95% CI 0.08-0.38) were factors associated with malaria outbreaks in Colombian municipalities. The results suggest that environmental and demographic factors could have a significant ability to predict malaria outbreaks on the municipal level in Colombia. To advance the development of an early warning system, it will be necessary to adjust and standardise the collection of required data and to evaluate the accuracy of the forecast models.