Report Looks At Racial, Ethnic Differences In Certain Birth Defects
“Racial/Ethnic Differences in the Birth Prevalence of Spina Bifida — United States, 1995-2005,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: The report updates previously reported data on the prevalence of neural tube defects such as spina bifida and assesses racial/ethnic differences. The findings are based on U.S. birth certificate data for four periods from 1995 to 2005 and birth defect data from the National Vital Statistics System. Researchers compared the number of cases of spina bifida per 10,000 live births during the four periods — relative to a January 1998 mandate that folic acid be added to all enriched cereal grain products to prevent neural tube defects. The analysis indicates that from the early post-mandate period, 1999 to 2000, to the most recent surveillance period, 2003 to 2005, the prevalence of spina bifida decreased by 6.9%. The analysis also showed significant decreases in prevalence among infants with non-Hispanic black mothers, but not among infants with non-Hispanic white mothers or Hispanic mothers. “Additional public health efforts targeting women with known risk factors,” such as obesity and certain genetic factors, “likely are needed to further reduce the prevalence of spina bifida in the United States,” according to the report (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 1/9).
Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
King Nut Peanut Butter Salmonella Warning, USA
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture and the Minnesota Department of Health have issued a product advisory after their laboratories detected Salmonella bacteria in a King Nut brand creamy peanut butter 5-lbs container.
According to the MDH (Minnesota Department of Health) this particular peanut butter is distributed throughout the state to long-term care facilities, hospitals, schools, restaurants, delis, universities, cafeterias and bakeries. The MDH added that it is not clear yet whether the product is for sale in grocery stores.
The MDH urges establishments and institutions not to serve King Nut brand creamy peanut butter for the moment, and to expect additional instructions as the investigation moves further.
According to the MDH officials, Salmonella contamination was discovered after product testing was initiated following an MDH epidemiological investigation which implicated King Nut creamy peanut butter as the most probable source of infections which had struck several Minnesota residents.
Officials add that this Salmonella has the same genetic fingerprint as those which have made over 400 people sick in 42 states. They stress that for the link to be fully confirmed further tests, which are underway, are required.
State officials are coordinating their investigation with the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) and other states.
About Salmonella
– Usually causes diarrhea, which may be bloody
– Is sometimes accompanied by nausea, vomiting, headache and chills that can last up to a week
– The patient usually experiences abdominal cramps
– In most cases the sufferer also has a fever
– Symptoms become evident from 1 to 4 days after exposure to the bacteria
– Infants (babies) and people with poor health and weakened immune systems can experience the added complication of Salmonella entering their bloodstream and causing life-threatening infections
Salmonellosis is one of the most common bacterial foodborne illnesses and is caused by eating food contaminated with the Salmonella bacterium. It can be life threatening to small babies, the elderly, people undergoing chemo, who are infected with HIV, or have a weak immune system for other reasons.
To protect yourself from foodborne illness when handling raw meat or poultry, FSIS recommends you follow these guidelines:
– Before and after handling raw meat and poultry, wash your hands with warm soapy water for 20 seconds or more.
– Wash cutting boards, utensils and dishes with hot water and soap.
– Mop up spills straight away.
– Keep raw meat, poultry and fish separate from other food that is not going to be cooked.
– Use separate cutting boards for raw meat, poultry and egg products and cooked food.
– Cook raw meat and poultry to safe internal temperatures before eating (safe internal temperature for beef and pork is 160 deg F, for poultry it is 165 deg F).
– Use a food thermometer; it’s the only way to be sure the meat has reached the right temperature.
– Keep raw meat and poultry in the refrigerator: don’t leave it outside for more than two hours (this is one hour if the temperature of the room is 90 deg F or more).
– Put cooked meat and poultry in the refrigerator within two hours of cooking.
Source – Minnesota Department of Health
Written by – Christian Nordqvist
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today
Older Women Who Are More Physically Fit Have Better Cognitive Function
New research published in the international journal Neurobiology of Aging by Marc Poulin, PhD, DPhil, finds that being physically fit helps the brain function at the top of its game. An Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research Senior Scholar, Poulin finds that physical activity benefits blood flow in the brain, and, as a result, cognitive abilities.
“Being sedentary is now considered a risk factor for stroke and dementia,” says Poulin, a scientist in the Faculties of Medicine and Kinesiology at the University of Calgary. “This study proves for the first time that people who are fit have better blood flow to their brain. Our findings also show that better blood flow translates into improved cognition.”
The study, Effects of Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Cerebral Blood Flow on Cognitive Outcomes in Older Women, compares two groups of women whose average age was 65 years old. From a random sample of 42 women living in Calgary, the study observed women who took part in regular aerobic activity, and another group of women who were inactive. Poulin’s team recorded and measured the women’s cardiovascular health, resting brain blood flow and the reserve capacity of blood vessels in the brain, as well as cognitive functions. The team included scientists, doctors and graduate students, with MSc student Allison Brown taking a lead role.
The scientists found that compared to the inactive group, the active group had lower (10 per cent) resting and exercising arterial blood pressure, higher (5 per cent) vascular responses in the brain during submaximal exercise and when the levels of carbon dioxide in the blood were elevated, and higher (10 per cent) cognitive function scores.
One study participant, Calgarian Merceda Schmidt, 91 years old, walks about six kilometres per week to her volunteer schoolteaching and piano playing commitments. “It’s just in my nature – the batteries I got when I was born. My legs want to go,” says Schmidt. “I have to admit, I was nervous before the bike test. I could’ve done better if my shoe hadn’t fallen off.”
“The take home message from our research is that basic fitness – something as simple as getting out for a walk every day – is critical to staying mentally sharp and remaining healthy as we age,” says Poulin, a member of the Department of Physiology & Biophysics, and the Hotchkiss Brain Institute.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Poulin’s research is supported by AHFMR, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Alberta, NWT & Nunavut, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Strafford Foundation.
Source: Don McSwiney
University of Calgary
Six Newly Discovered Genes For Obesity Have A Neural Effect
Obesity is known to increase the risk of chronic disorders, such as diabetes (type 2). An international team of scientists with German participation through the Helmholtz Zentrum München identified six new obesity genes. Gene expression analyses have shown that all six genes are active in brain cells.
The international GIANT (Genetic Investigation of Anthropometric Parameters) consortium works on the discovery of obesity genes. So far, the scientists have analyzed two million DNA variations in 15 genome-wide association studies with a total of more than 32,000 participants. The hereby identified candidate genes were validated in 14 further studies including 59,000 participants. In addition to the FTO and MC4R genes already known, it was now possible for six more obesity genes to be identified: TMEM18, KCTD15, GNPDA2, SH2B1, MTCH2, and NEGR1.
Gene expression analyses have shown that all six genes are active in brain cells. Also the previously known two obesity genes, FTO and MC4R, show a similar expression pattern; in case of the MC4R gene, a genotype-dependant influence on the behavior of appetite is already established. Scientists of the German National Genome Research Network (NGFN), Prof. H.-Erich Wichmann and Dr. Iris Heid from the Helmholtz Zentrum München, Institute of Epidemiology, who lead the German participation of this consortium, emphasize: “Definitely, the two main causes for obesity are poor nutrition and lack of physical activity. But the biology of these genes suggests genetic factors underlying the different reaction of people to lifestyle and environmental conditions.”
With the exception of the SH2B1 gene, which plays a role in the leptin signalling and thus in the regulation of appetite, none of the other five genes was hitherto discussed as obesity genes. Iris Heid and her collegue Claudia Lamina from the Ludwigs-Maximilians-Universität München are enthused: “The purely statistical approach of the genome-wide association analysis can depict new aspects of the biology of weight regulation, which were previously unanticipated.”
As a next step, the scientists evaluate other anthropometric measures, in order to shed light on different aspects of obesity. In addition, they will expand and include further studies into their analysis as they have realized that the individual studies are all too small, and only by means of collaboration, is it possible to achieve further success here.
This project was financed by the German National Genome Research Network (NGFN, head of the Obesity Network: Prof. Johannes Hebebrand, University of Duisburg-Essen; Project Leader Helmholtz Zentrum München: PD Dr. Thomas Illig), the National Institutes of Health, USA, and the Munich Center of Health Sciences of the LMU Munich. The genotyping was carried out at the Institute for Human Genetics of the Helmholtz Zentrum München under the leadership of Prof. Thomas Meitinger.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Original publication:
Willer et al.: Six New Loci Associated with Body Mass Index Highlight a Neuronal Influence on Body Weight Regulation. Nature Genetics 2008. (DOI 10.1038/ng.287)
http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v41/n1/abs/ng.287.html
Source: Ulrike Koller
Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health
Women’s Brains Recognize, Encode Smell Of Male Sexual Sweat
A new Rice University study published in the Journal of Neuroscience found that socioemotional meanings, including sexual ones, are conveyed in human sweat.
Denise Chen, assistant professor of psychology at Rice, looked at how the brains of female volunteers processed and encoded the smell of sexual sweat from men.
The results of the experiment indicated the brain recognizes chemosensory communication, including human sexual sweat.
Scientists have long known that animals use scent to communicate.
Chen’s study represents an effort to expand knowledge of how humans’ sense of smell complement their more powerful senses of sight and hearing.
The experiment directly studied natural human sexual sweat using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Nineteen healthy female subjects inhaled olfactory stimuli from four sources, one of which was sweat gathered from sexually aroused males.
The research showed that several parts of the brain are involved in processing the emotional value of the olfactory information. These include the right fusiform region, the right orbitofrontal cortex and the right hypothalamus.
“With the exception of the hypothalamus, neither the orbitofrontal cortex nor the fusiform region is considered to be associated with sexual motivation and behavior,” Chen said. “Our results imply that the chemosensory information from natural human sexual sweat is encoded more holistically in the brain rather than specifically for its sexual quality.”
Humans are evolved to respond to salient socioemotional information.
Distinctive neural mechanisms underlie the processing of emotions in facial and vocal expressions. The findings help explain the neural mechanism for human social chemosignals.
The understanding of human smell at the neural level is still at the beginning stage. The present work is the first fMRI study of human social chemosignals.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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The research, co-authored by Chen and Wen Zhou, graduate student in the Psychology Department, appeared in the December 31 issue of Journal of Neuroscience.
The research was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health.
Source: David Ruth
Rice University
New Study Examines ‘A Life In Pain’ – The Experiences Of Older People
It’s debilitating, isolating and can lead to severe depression – yet pain is widely accepted as something to be expected and regarded as ‘normal’ in later life.
Now a new study from The University of Nottingham examines older people’s experiences of pain and how best Government, the NHS and social care agencies can address the issue.
The report, Pain in older people: reflections and experiences from an older person’s perspective, aims to highlight the issue of pain in older people by exploring their experiences of living and coping with persistent pain.
Funded by Help the Aged and the British Pain Society, the study saw researchers interview older people about their experiences of pain and how it affected their lives, both physically and psychologically. Literature on pain in older people was also reviewed.
The report – which reveals that nearly five million people over the age of 65 are in some degree of pain and discomfort in the UK – has already led to questions being asked of the Government in the House of Lords.
By interviewing older people, the researchers identified specific themes in the way that they communicate, cope with and experience their pain. These include;
- The stiff upper lip – “I understand my generation very well. We learned our attitude to pain from British society in general and from our families. It was: ‘Don’t make a fuss’.”
Claire Rayner OBE, 76, journalist. - Becoming a burden – “Later this year my wife and I will be celebrating our 46th anniversary. We have the opportunity to go to New York for a long weekend with family and friends. However, I simply cannot endure the flight. If I were to sit for an extended period, such as six hours, in a confined space, I would be unable to walk far for the next few days. I feel I would be too much of a burden to the others if I were to go.”
Ben Kelk, 68, retired security guard. - An isolating experience – “Your life tends to revolve around pain and yet, at the same time, it’s not something that’s seen as being something you can talk about too much. This is why I use the word ‘lonely’, and I think pain can make you feel lonely because you feel that you’re the only one suffering and can cope with it, and that is a lonely experience.”
Janet Allcock, 73, retired healthcare worker. - Psychological effects – “I worry a lot about my pain and sometimes I think about what I have done in the past and can no longer do for myself and my family. I know that worrying can bring your health down, but I can’t help worrying about it. I find it very difficult to sleep and I am not able to sleep on my side – some nights I cannot sleep at all.”
Nur Uddin, 70, lives with wife and family. - Response of the medical profession – “Doctors sometimes see you as an illness rather than a whole person.”
Dorothy Bristow, 68, member of BackCare: the charity for Healthier Backs.
“I feel reluctant to keep going and pestering my doctor about my pain because when you get to my age, and especially if you’re a woman, you feel he’s going to think I’m being neurotic. And because pain can’t be seen, it’s probably not easy for him to understand how much pain I’m actually in.”
Janet Allcock, as above. - Not being able to do ‘normal’ things – “It’s the little things that annoy – not being able to paint one’s own toenails, essential with summer sandals! Two walking sticks mean I can’t hold my grandchild’s hand. Small things – yes – but they matter.”
Dorothy Bristow, as above.
“Simple tasks like lifting a grandchild from their cot and bringing them downstairs become a cause for concern, as I’m conscious that if my knee goes an accident could easily happen.”
Ben Kelk, as above.
The report raises points for discussion and recommends ways in which agencies dealing with pain in older people – from the Government and policy-makers to the NHS and regulatory bodies – can help address this problem. These include suggestions that primary care trusts should encourage practice nurses and GPs to raise their awareness of the effect of pain in older people, and that Government should fund educational campaigns to do this; specialist pain services need to be tailored to older people and made more accessible; and including standards on pain management on recognised healthcare professional training schemes.
Dr Nick Allcock, Associate Professor in the University’s School of Nursing, Midwifery and Physiotherapy and Co-Director of the Nottingham Centre for Evidence Based Nursing and Midwifery, led the study. He said: “Pain in older people is highly prevalent and widely accepted as something to be expected and regarded as ‘normal’ in later life. Hence, suffering associated with persistent pain in older people often occurs without the appropriate assessment and treatment.
“Ageist and discriminatory attitudes towards older people in pain must be challenged and ended. Pain in older people needs to be seen as a priority. It is not a normal part of ageing. Much more can and must be done to improve help and support.
When questioned in the House of Lords on the subject of pain in older people following the release of the report, Lord Darzi of Denham, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department of Health, responded: “As a clinician, I agree that the assessment and management of pain should be at the heart of all good clinical practice. I therefore welcome this report, which sets out the important issues relating to pain in later life and reflects older people’s experiences. It will raise awareness of important issues among those responsible for meeting effectively the healthcare needs of their local population.
“It is imperative to understand that no one, irrespective of age, should tolerate pain. I appreciate that awareness in this area is extremely important, because we are living in a century when all of us are getting older and, at the same time, there is a suggestion that pain is a symptom of ageing, which it is not. As far as concerns age discrimination, older people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect in all care settings. This important document will increase awareness among the public and patients. At the same time, it will remind clinicians that they should give higher regard to chronic pain. I take most of the recommendations and could not agree more with some of the other work that has been done in this field.”
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Click here to download a copy of the full report, Pain in older people: reflections and experiences from an older person’s perspective.
The University of Nottingham is ranked in the UK’s Top 10 and the World’s Top 100 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and Times Higher (THE) World University Rankings.
It provides innovative and top quality teaching, undertakes world-changing research, and attracts talented staff and students from 150 nations. Described by The Times as Britain’s “only truly global university”, it has invested continuously in award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. Twice since 2003 its research and teaching academics have won Nobel Prizes. The University has won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in both 2006 (International Trade) and 2007 (Innovation – School of Pharmacy), and was named Entrepreneurial University of the Year at the Times Higher Education Awards 2008.
Its students are much in demand from ‘blue-chip’ employers. Winners of Students in Free Enterprise for four years in succession, and current holder of UK Graduate of the Year, they are accomplished artists, scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, innovators and fundraisers. Nottingham graduates consistently excel in business, the media, the arts and sport. Undergraduate and postgraduate degree completion rates are amongst the highest in the United Kingdom.
Source: Tara de Cozar
University of Nottingham
New Study Suggests Spirituality, Not Religious Practices, Determine How Happy Children Are
To make children happier, we may need to encourage them to develop a strong sense of personal worth, according to Dr. Mark Holder from the University of British Columbia in Canada and his colleagues Dr. Ben Coleman and Judi Wallace. Their research1 shows that children who feel that their lives have meaning and value and who develop deep, quality relationships – both measures of spirituality – are happier. It would appear, however, that their religious practices have little effect on their happiness. These findings have been published in the online edition of Springer’s Journal of Happiness Studies.
Both spirituality (an inner belief system that a person relies on for strength and comfort) and religiousness (institutional religious rituals, practices and beliefs) have been linked to increased happiness in adults and adolescents. In contrast, very little work has been done on younger children. In an effort to identify strategies to increase children’s happiness, Holder and colleagues set out to better understand the nature of the relationship between spirituality, religiousness and happiness in children aged 8 to 12 years. A total of 320 children, from four public schools and two faith-based schools, completed six different questionnaires to rate their happiness, their spirituality, their religiousness and their temperament. Parents were also asked to rate their child’s happiness and temperament.
The authors found that those children who said they were more spiritual were happier. In particular, the personal (i.e. meaning and value in one’s own life) and communal (i.e. quality and depth of inter-personal relationships) aspects of spirituality were strong predictors of children’s happiness. Spirituality explained up to 27 percent of the differences in happiness levels amongst children.
A child’s temperament was also an important predictor of happiness. In particular, happier children were more sociable and less shy. The relationship between spirituality and happiness remained strong, even when the authors took temperament into account. However, counter intuitively, religious practices – including attending church, praying and meditating – had little effect on a child’s happiness.
According to the authors, “enhancing personal meaning may be a key factor in the relation between spirituality and happiness.” They suggest that strategies aimed at increasing personal meaning in children – such as expressing kindness towards others and recording these acts of kindness, as well as acts of altruism and volunteering – may help to make children happier.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Reference
1. Holder MD, Coleman B, & Wallace J (2008). Spirituality, religiousness, and happiness in children aged 8-12 years. Journal of Happiness Studies DOI 10.1007/s10902-008-9126-1
Source: Joan Robinson
Springer
Schistosomiasis: Comprehensive, Elimination Strategy Can Significantly Block This Devastating Parasitic Disease
In the January 8, 2009 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), schistosomiasis expert Charles H. King M.D., Professor of International Health at the Center for Global Health and Diseases at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine concludes global eradication of schistosomiasis is feasible if the current infection control strategy shifts to a proactive, comprehensive elimination strategy. Dr. King supports the community-based trial by Wang et al. as a viable model for interrupting disease transmission by using a combination strategy, including supplementary education and sanitation, with many secondary environmental benefits.
Schistosomiasis, also known as “snail fever,” is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting more than 207 million people worldwide, often in the poorest areas. The decades-long disorder has challenged researchers for many years. The 1980s offered the last major advance when a large scale drug delivery program proved effective in reducing the infectious burden and morbidity, yet this treatment-based success failed to stem the parasite’s transmission. With subsequent study of transmission ecology, researchers now attribute the transmission to external factors such as “superspreaders” – very few people who are responsible for the majority of transmission; to “hot spots” of transmission where human-snail interaction is high; and to the ongoing infection of domestic and wild animals with the parasite.
Dr. King writes, “As Wang et al. show, in high-risk ecological settings, drug treatment alone may suppress transmission only partially. In such environments, any program based solely on drug delivery will need to be continued for decades (or perhaps indefinitely) to prevent a reemergence of infection and disease. It is only through the incorporation of additional strategies for interruption of parasite transmission that all forms of schistosomiasis-associated disease can be prevented.”
Dr. King and his colleagues at the Center for Global Health and Diseases at Case Western Reserve University are part of a new movement to control and reduce schistosomiasis. In a 2005 meta-analysis published in The Lancet, [King CH, Dickman K, Tisch DJ. Reassessment of the cost of chronic helmintic infection: a meta-analysis of disability-related outcomes in endemic schistosomiasis. Lancet 2005;365:1561-9]. Dr. King and his colleagues examined the disease burden and found it was substantially greater than had previously been estimated by the medical community in global disease burden assessments. The risk of the disease’s many subtle complications had been previously overlooked, causing as significant underestimation of the disease’s true disability. Since then, Dr. King and team have advocated for a comprehensive approach to controlling the spread of this preventable and curable disease.
“If the process of schistosoma infection continues unchecked, its disabling effects in the context of rural poverty will always limit the potential benefits of drug-treatment programs while also necessitating that treatment continue indefinitely. Obviously, the elimination of schistosomiasis will be a long-term process requiring a long-term investment, but we must shoulder the necessary extra effort, including long-term planning intersectoral government coordination and decades-long commitment,” concludes Dr. King.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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About Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Founded in 1843, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine is the largest medical research institution in Ohio and 15th largest among the nation’s medical schools for research funding from the National Institutes of Health. Eleven Nobel Laureates have been affiliated with the school.
The School of Medicine is recognized throughout the international medical community for outstanding achievements in teaching and in 2002, became the third medical school in history to receive a pre-eminent review from the national body responsible for accrediting the nation’s academic medical institutions. The School’s innovative and pioneering Western Reserve2 curriculum interweaves four themes–research and scholarship, clinical mastery, leadership, and civic professionalism–to prepare students for the practice of evidence-based medicine in the rapidly changing health care environment of the 21st century.
Annually, the School of Medicine trains more than 600 M.D. and M.D./Ph.D. students and ranks in the top 25 among U.S. research-oriented medical schools as designated by U.S. News and World Report Guide to Graduate Education. The School of Medicine’s primary clinical affiliate is University Hospitals and is additionally affiliated with MetroHealth Medical Center, the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, with which it established the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University in 2002. http://casemed.case.edu.
Source: Jessica Studeny
Case Western Reserve University
Identification Of Structure Mediating Spread Of Antibiotic Resistance
Scientists have identified the structure of a key component of the bacteria behind such diseases as whooping cough, peptic stomach ulcers and Legionnaires’ disease. The research, funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), sheds light on how antibiotic resistance genes spread from one bacterium to another. The research may help scientists develop novel treatments for these diseases and novel ways to curtail the spread of antibiotic resistance.
Antibiotic resistance spreads when genetic material is exchanged between two bacteria, one of which has mutated to be resistant to the drugs. This exchange is facilitated by a multi-component device known as a type IV secretion system, which acts to transport antibiotic resistance genes from within one cell, through its membrane and into a neighbouring cell.
Type IV secretion systems also play an essential role in transporting toxins or proteins from within bacteria into the cells of the body, causing diseases. Examples of Gram-negative bacterial pathogens using such a device are Helicobacter pylori (which causes peptic ulcers), Legionella pneumophila (which causes Legionnaires’ disease), and Bordetella pertussis (which causes whooping cough).
Now, in a paper published in the journal Science, scientists from the Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology (ISMB) at Birkbeck, University of London, and UCL (University College London) describe the structure of the core complex of a type IV secretion system, viewed using cryoelectron microscopy (a form of electron microscopy where the sample is studied at very low temperatures).
“Type IV secretion systems play key roles in secreting toxins which give certain bacteria their disease-causing properties and, importantly, are also directly involved in the spread of antibiotic resistance,” says Professor Gabriel Waksman, Director of the ISMB and lead author of the study. “This is why they have become obvious targets in the vast effort required to fight infectious diseases caused by bacteria.”
Gram-negative bacteria have a double membrane. At the core of the type IV secretion system is a double-walled chamber which spans the two membranes and opens at one side. Dr Waksman believes this chamber may offer a new pathway for targeting these bacteria.
“If we can inhibit the secretion systems that mediate transfer of antibiotic resistance genes from one bacterial pathogen to another, we could potentially prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance genes,” he says. “For those pathogens that use type IV secretion system for secretion of toxins, the system can be targeted directly for inhibition. In both cases, this would have a considerable impact on public health.”
Type IV secretion systems were first discovered in Agrobacterium tumefaciens, which uses the system to transfer tumour-inducing DNA into plants, causing “crown gall”, which can be devastating to crops such as grape vines, sugar beet and rhubarb. However, crop scientists have been able to successfully exploit this transfer system as a way of introducing new genes into industrial crops, conferring herbicide-resistance and resistance to pathogens.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Source: Craig Brierley
Wellcome Trust
Phone And Internet Counselling For The Overweight
Counselling via the phone and internet can help weight management in overweight individuals, according to a Dutch study published in the open access journal, BMC Public Health.
The project compared counselling via phone and e-mail with the standard practice of issuing self-help literature in approximately 1400 workers as an aid to weight management. The study was undertaken by a group led by Willem Van Mechelen of the Department of Public and Occupational Health/EMGO Institute of VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. This study was funded by The Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development, The Netherlands Heart Foundation and Body@Work TNO-VUmc.
Globally, obesity rates are increasing. However, few people receive professional help in weight management programmes; the reasons for this are unknown. The face-to-face counselling of these programmes requires frequent visits to a treatment facility, making it less appealing for those with busy lifestyles. In cases like this, counselling by phone or via the internet may be of greater use. Trials evaluating phone counselling for weight loss programmes have shown mixed results, and few trials have evaluated e-mail based counselling, but those that have found the results encouraging. The impacts of the two have not, however, been compared.
The study set out to assess the effects of fortnightly counselling sessions by phone or internet on weight loss and diet in overweight workers after six months.
The participants in this study, each with a BMI greater than 25 (the level considered overweight), were employees recruited from seven companies. They were randomly split into three groups: a control group, one which received written programme-materials and counselling via phone and another which had access to an interactive programme-website and received counselling via e-mail. All of the participants, including the control group, received self-help brochures that emphasised the importance of physical exercise and diet. The counselling received by the internet and phone groups included encouragement to fit physical activity into their normal routine, such as taking a walk at lunch, and stressed eating a healthy diet. These interventions were continued for up to 6 months.
The researchers assessed the body weight of each participant and each was given a questionnaire by which their food intake, physical activity and waist measurements were assessed. These measurements were taken again six months later.
Overall, all the groups had significant weight loss and reduced their fat intake, but those in the phone group lost the most weight and had the greatest improvement in diet. There were no overall significant differences between the phone and internet groups and both groups that received counselling lost more weight than participants who did not. Those in the phone group also increased their physical activity to a greater extent.
The authors concluded that lifestyle counselling by phone and e-mail is effective for weight management. According to Van Mechelen, “this could form the basis of improvements in weight management programmes for those unwilling to seek face-to-face counselling. Future studies should evaluate the cost effectiveness of such schemes.”
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Notes:
1. Phone and e-mail counselling are effective for weight management in an overweight working population: a randomized controlled trial
Marieke F Van Wier, Geertje AM Ariëns, J Caroline Dekkers, Ingrid JM Hendriksen, Tjabe Smid and Willem Van Mechelen
BMC Public Health (in press)
Article available at journal website: http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcpublichealth/
All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central’s open access policy.
2. BMC Public Health is an open access journal publishing original peer-reviewed research articles in all aspects of epidemiology and public health medicine. BMC Public Health (ISSN 1471-2458) is indexed/tracked/covered by PubMed, MEDLINE, CAS, Scopus, EMBASE, Thomson Scientific (ISI) and Google Scholar.
3. BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector.
Source: Graeme Baldwin
BioMed Central
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