Biomphalaria straminea and other planorbids in the Dominican Republic

In addition to previous records of Biomphalaria glabrata in the Dominican Republic, the southern central communities of Haina Arriba and Boca Chica, in the National District, are reported as new localities for that species; other species collected were Biomphalaria obstructa, B. helophila, Drepanotrema lucidum and Lymnaea viatrix. Biomphalaria straminea, a potential vector of Schistosoma mansoni, was found for the first time in the country, in the River Iguamo, just outside of the community of San Pedro de Macorís.

Insertion dans les soins après une première hospitalisation dans un secteur pour psychose [Linkage to care after first hospitalisation for psychosis]

BACKGROUND: First hospitalisation for a psychotic episode causes intense distress to patients and families, but offers an opportunity to make a diagnosis and start treatment. However, linkage to outpatient psychiatric care remains a notoriously difficult step for young psychotic patients, who frequently interrupt treatment after hospitalisation. Persistence of symptoms, and untreated psychosis may therefore remain a problem despite hospitalisation and proper diagnosis. With persisting psychotic symptoms, numerous complications may arise: breakdown in relationships, loss of family and social support, loss of employment or study interruption, denial of disease, depression, suicide, substance abuse and violence. Understanding mechanisms that might promote linkage to outpatient psychiatric care is therefore a critical issue, especially in early intervention in psychotic disorders. OBJECTIVE: To study which factors hinder or promote linkage of young psychotic patients to outpatient psychiatric care after a first hospitalisation, in the absence of a vertically integrated program for early psychosis. Method. File audit study of all patients aged 18 to 30 who were admitted for the first time to the psychiatric University Hospital of Lausanne in the year 2000. For statistical analysis, chi2 tests were used for categorical variables and t-test for dimensional variables; p<0.05 was considered as statistically significant. RESULTS: 230 patients aged 18 to 30 were admitted to the Lausanne University psychiatric hospital for the first time during the year 2000, 52 of them with a diagnosis of psychosis (23%). Patients with psychosis were mostly male (83%) when compared with non-psychosis patients (49%). Furthermore, they had (1) 10 days longer mean duration of stay (24 vs 14 days), (2) a higher rate of compulsory admissions (53% vs 22%) and (3) were more often hospitalised by a psychiatrist rather than by a general practitioner (83% vs 53%). Other socio-demographic and clinical features at admission were similar in the two groups. Among the 52 psychotic patients, 10 did not stay in the catchment area for subsequent treatment. Among the 42 psychotic patients who remained in the catchment area after discharge, 20 (48%) did not attend the scheduled or rescheduled outpatient appointment. None of the socio demographic characteristics were associated with attendance to outpatient appointments. On the other hand, voluntary admission and suicidal ideation before admission were significantly related to attending the initial appointment. Moreover, some elements of treatment seemed to be associated with higher likelihood to attend outpatient treatment: (1) provision of information to the patient regarding diagnosis, (2) discussion about the treatment plan between in- and outpatient staff, (3) involvement of outpatient team during hospitalisation, and (4) elaboration of concrete strategies to face basic needs, organise daily activities or education and reach for help in case of need. CONCLUSION: As in other studies, half of the patients admitted for a first psychotic episode failed to link to outpatient psychiatric care. Our study suggests that treatment rather than patient's characteristics play a critical role in this phenomenon. Development of a partnership and involvement of patients in the decision process, provision of good information regarding the illness, clear definition of the treatment plan, development of concrete strategies to cope with the illness and its potential complications, and involvement of the outpatient treating team already during hospitalisation, all came out as critical strategies to facilitate adherence to outpatient care. While the current rate of disengagement after admission is highly concerning, our finding are encouraging since they constitute strategies that can easily be implemented. An open approach to psychosis, the development of partnership with patients and a better coordination between inpatient and outpatient teams should therefore be among the targets of early intervention programs. These observations might help setting up priorities when conceptualising new programs and facilitate the implementation of services that facilitate engagement of patients in treatment during the critical initial phase of psychotic disorders.

Comparing Governmental Agendas: Evolution of the Prioritization of Issues in the USA and Spain

This paper is the first step in a long term project investigating policy stability and change in Spain from an agenda setting perspective and comparing the Spanish policy agenda to that of other advanced democracies. Here we begin to compare the allocation of issue attention in Spain and the USA by comparing the substance of annual President and Prime Minister speeches from 1982 to 2005. Existing research argues that the public agenda has become more crowded, competitive and volatile in recent years. We find that in both countries there has been a transformation of the political agenda towards an increasing diversity of issues. However, most of the volatility in executive attention seems to be explained by salient events rather than by issue crowding. We conclude by discussing some limitations of executive speeches as a measure of governmental issue attention and directions for future research.

Pollution and pollutant transport in the geosphere - An introduction to the symposium

Environmental research in earth sciences is focused on the geosphere, i.e. (1) waters and sediments of rivers, lakes and oceans, and (2) soils and underlying shallow rock formations,both water-unsaturated and -saturated. The subsurface is studied down to greater depths at sites where waste repositories or tunnels are planned and mining activities exist. In recent years, earth scientists have become more and more involved in pollution problems related to their classical field of interest, e.g. groundwater, ore deposits, or petroleum and non-metal natural deposits (gravel, clay, cement precursors). Major pollutants include chemical substances, radioactive isotopes and microorganisms. Mechanisms which govern the transport of pollutants are of physical, chemical (dissolution, precipitation, adsorption), or microbiological (transformation) nature. Land-use planning must reflect a sustainable development and sound scientific criteria. Today's environmental pollution requires working teams with an interdisciplinary background in earth sciences, hydrology, chemistry, biology, physics as well as engineering. This symposium brought together for the first time in Switzerland earth and soil scientists, physicists and chemists, to present and discuss environmental issues concerning the geosphere.

A gene knockout approach in mice to identify glucose sensors controlling glucose homeostasis.

A key aspect of glucose homeostasis is the constant monitoring of blood glucose concentrations by specific glucose sensing units. These sensors, via stimulation of hormone secretion and activation of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), regulate tissue glucose uptake, utilization or production. The best described glucose detection system is that of the pancreatic beta-cells which controls insulin secretion. Secretion of other hormones, in particular glucagon, and activation of the ANS, are regulated by glucose through sensing mechanisms which are much less well characterized. Here I review some of the studies we have performed over the recent years on a mouse model of impaired glucose sensing generated by inactivation of the gene for the glucose transporter GLUT2. This transporter catalyzes glucose uptake by pancreatic beta-cells, the first step in the signaling cascade leading to glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Inactivation of its gene leads to a loss of glucose sensing and impaired insulin secretion. Transgenic reexpression of the transporter in GLUT2/beta-cells restores their normal secretory function and rescues the mice from early death. As GLUT2 is also expressed in other tissues, these mice were then studied for the presence of other physiological defects due to absence of this transporter. These studies led to the identification of extra-pancreatic, GLUT2-dependent, glucose sensors controlling glucagon secretion and glucose utilization by peripheral tissues, in part through a control of the autonomic nervous system.

On decomposing the causes of changes in income-related health inequality with longitudinal data

Regression-based decomposition procedures are used to both standardise the concentration index and to determine the contribution of inequalities in the individual health determinants to the overall value of the index. The main contribution of this paper is to develop analogous procedures to decompose the income-related health mobility and health-related income mobility indices first proposed in Allanson, Gerdtham and Petrie (2010) and subsequently extended in Petrie, Allanson and Gerdtham (2010) to account for deaths. The application of the procedures is illustrated by an empirical study that uses British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) data to analyse the performance of Scotland in tackling income-related health inequalities relative to England & Wales over the five year period 1999 to 2004.

Please die during office hours : periodicity of cardiovascular events in switzerland between 1969 and 2007

Purpose: to evaluate and compare the periodical patterns of death from cardiovascular disease (CVD), including acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and stroke in the Swiss population between the years 1969 and 2007.¦Methods: Swiss mortality database for the period of 1969- 2007 (2'362'430 deaths overall). The number of deaths due to CVD, AMI and stroke according to the time of day, day of the week and month were assessed, overall and after dividing the events according to gender and age (< 65 or ≥65 years old).¦Results: In general and for all four subgroups according to age and sex, there is a daily variation in the number of deaths with a first peak in the morning (8h00 -12h00) and a smaller second peak in the late afternoon (14h - 18h). Both males and females have similar hourly patterns, although the magnitude of the difference diminishes in older patients particularly for people who die from stroke. For the weekly variation, there seems to be a significant trend only in the younger population with the lowest mortality rates on Sunday and the highest on Mondays for all diseases. When it comes to seasonal variation according to month, the trend is more significant in the elder patients with the highest death rates during the winter months (+31%) and the lowest in the summer (July/August).¦Conclusion: There is a timely pattern for CVD, AMI and stroke deaths in Switzerland. This pattern changes according to the age and sex of the patients. Knowing this trend, its triggering factors and consequences, perhaps there could be measures put in place to prevent, diagnose and treat the population which is the most vulnerable at certain times.

Determinants of hepatitis A vaccine immunity in a cohort of human immunodeficiency virus-infected children living in Switzerland.

Vaccination in HIV-infected children is often less effective than in healthy children. The goal of this study was to assess vaccine responses to hepatitis A virus (HAV) in HIV-infected children. Children of the Swiss Mother and Child HIV Cohort Study (MoCHiV) were enrolled prospectively. Recommendations for initial, catch-up, and additional HAV immunizations were based upon baseline antibody concentrations and vaccine history. HAV IgG was assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with a protective cutoff value defined as ≥10 mIU/ml. Eighty-seven patients were included (median age, 11 years; range, 3.4 to 21.2 years). Forty-two patients were seropositive (48.3%) for HAV. Among 45 (51.7%) seronegative patients, 36 had not received any HAV vaccine dose and were considered naïve. Vaccine responses were assessed after the first dose in 29/35 naïve patients and after the second dose in 33/39 children (25 initially naïve patients, 4 seronegative patients, and 4 seropositive patients that had already received 1 dose of vaccine). Seroconversion was 86% after 1 dose and 97% after 2 doses, with a geometric mean concentration of 962 mIU/ml after the second dose. A baseline CD4(+) T cell count below 750 cells/μl significantly reduced the post-2nd-dose response (P = 0.005). Despite a high rate of seroconversion, patients with CD4(+) T cell counts of <750/μl had lower anti-HAV antibody concentrations. This may translate into a shorter protection time. Hence, monitoring humoral immunity may be necessary to provide supplementary doses as needed.

IgM immunoglobulins reacting with the phenolic glycolipid-1 antigen from Mycobacterium leprae in sera of leprosy patients and their contacts

For the first time in Brazil it was investigated the occurrence of IgM anti-PGL-1 in the sera of household contacts of leprozy patients using the ELISA methodology. The sera of the multipatients. It was observed a high subclinical infection incidence among household contacts (19.4%). The percentage of leprosy development was 5% (1/21) among the seropositive contact group. This finding suggests that serology could be useful as prognostic test, but for better definition is necessary to tet a population from endemic area for long period time.

Report of Balanorchis anastrophus in Pará state with surface topography by scanning electron microscopy

Balanorchis anastrophus Fischoeder, 1901 from the reticulum from Bos taurus is reported for the first time in State of Pará, Brazil. The surface topography as revealed by scanning electron microscopy is presented.

New host records and localities of some Monogenea from brazilian marine fishes with scanning electron microscopy of Bicotylophora trachinoti (Mac Callum, 1921)

Bicotylophora trachinoti (Mac Callum, 1921) from Trachinotus carolinus L.; Pseudanthocotyloides heterocotyle (Van Beneden, 1871) from Cetengraulis edentulus (Cuvier), and Decapterus punctatus (Cuvier), new host records; Pseudomazocraes selene Hargis, 1957 from Selene vomer (L.) and Caranx latus Agassiz, new host record, are reported for the first time in Brazil from the coast of Rio de Janeiro State. The marine fishes Diplectrum sp. and Pomatomus saltatrix (L.) are respectively new host records for Pseudotagia cupida (Hargis, 1956) and Macrovalvitrema sinaloense Caballero & Bravo Hollis, 1955. Measurements, original figures and photos in scanning electron microscopy of B. trachinoti are presented. The egg with filaments is reffered for the first time in the genus Pseudanthocotyloides.

Morphological features of collagen degradation in advanced hepatic schistosomiasis of man

Optical and electron microscopical evidences of focal matrix degradation were frequently seen in liver sections taken from patients with periportal ("pipe-stem") fibrosis caused by schistosomiasis mansoni. Besides present of focal areas of rarefaction, fragmentation and dispersion of collagen fibers, the enlargend portal spaces also showed hyperplasia of elastic tisue and disarray of smooth muscle fibers following the destrution of portal vein branches. Ultrastructural cahnges represented by focal lytic and/or electron dense alterations of colagen fibrils were similar to those first seen in experimental material and designated as "chronic collagen degradation". Elastin and related microfibrils were also affected by focal condensation, fragmentation, distorsion and dissolution. Schistosome eggs were scanty in the tissue sections examined. Matrix degradation represented involuting changes related to the progressive diminution of parasite aggression, which occurs spontaneously with age or after cure by chemotherapy. Changes of focal matrix degradation now being described represent the basic morphological counterpart of periportal fibrosis involution documented clinically, especially by ultrasonography, in patients with hepatosplenic schistosomiasis submitted to curative chemotherapy.

PIDD orchestrates translesion DNA synthesis in response to UV irradiation.

PIDD has been implicated in survival and apoptotic pathways in response to DNA damage, and a role for PIDD was recently identified in non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) repair induced by γ-irradiation. Here, we present an interaction of PIDD with PCNA, first identified in a proteomics screen. PCNA has essential functions in DNA replication and repair following UV irradiation. Translesion synthesis (TLS) is a process that prevents UV irradiation-induced replication blockage and is characterized by PCNA monoubiquitination and interaction with the TLS polymerase eta (polη). Both of these processes are inhibited by p21. We report that PIDD modulates p21-PCNA dissociation, and promotes PCNA monoubiquitination and interaction with polη in response to UV irradiation. Furthermore, PIDD deficiency leads to a defect in TLS that is associated, both in vitro and in vivo, with cellular sensitization to UV-induced apoptosis. Thus, PIDD performs key functions upon UV irradiation, including TLS, NHEJ, NF-κB activation and cell death.

A new species of Probursata Bravo-Hollis, 1984 (Mogenea: Heteraxinidae: Heteraxininae) parasite of Oligoplites spp. (Osteichthyes: Carangidae) from the coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Probursata brasiliensis n. sp., a gill filament parasite of carangid fishes, O. palometa (Cuvier), Oligoplites saurus (Bloch & Schneider), and O. saliens (Bloch), from the Brazilian coast, is described and illustrated. The new species differs from Probursata veraecrucis Bravo-Hollis, 1984, the type and only species of this genus by the presence of spines in the auricular expansions of the genital atrium, by the trifurcate supplementary process of the clamp's midsclerite, and by having a larger number of tests and clamps. This is the first record of the genus Probursata Bravo-Hollis, 1984, in the South Atlantic Ocean.

Biomphalaria occidentalis paraense, 1981 in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil

A population of Biomphalaria occidentalis was found for the first time in the State of Minas Gerais. It was probavly introduced into the Várzea das Flores dam, in the municipality of Contagem, the area o0f study, during fish stocking in 1985. There is possibility of "competitive exclusion"between that species and B. glabrata, previously the only Biomphalaria found in the region. The present geographical distribution of B. occidentalis in Brazil is listed.