In the United States, health disparities in obesity and obesity-related illnesses have been the subject of growing concern. To better understand how obesity-related health disparities might relate to ...obesogenic built environments, the authors conducted a systematic review of the published scientific literature, screening for studies with relevance to disadvantaged individuals or areas, identified by low socioeconomic status, black race, or Hispanic ethnicity. A search for related terms in publication databases and topically related resources yielded 45 studies published between January 1995 and January 2009 with at least 100 participants or area residents that provided information on 1) the built environment correlates of obesity or related health behaviors within one or more disadvantaged groups or 2) the relative exposure these groups had to potentially obesogenic built environment characteristics. Upon consideration of the obesity and behavioral correlates of built environment characteristics, research provided the strongest support for food stores (supermarkets instead of smaller grocery/convenience stores), places to exercise, and safety as potentially influential for disadvantaged groups. There is also evidence that disadvantaged groups were living in worse environments with respect to food stores, places to exercise, aesthetic problems, and traffic or crime-related safety. One strategy to reduce obesity would involve changing the built environment to be more supportive of physical activity and a healthy diet. Based on the authors' review, increasing supermarket access, places to exercise, and neighborhood safety may also be promising strategies to reduce obesity-related health disparities.
Light sheet microscopy of the gerbil cochlea Hutson, Kendall A.; Pulver, Stephen H.; Ariel, Pablo ...
Journal of comparative neurology (1911),
March 2021, Letnik:
529, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Light sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) provides a rapid and complete three‐dimensional image of the cochlea. The method retains anatomical relationships—on a micrometer scale—between internal ...structures such as hair cells, basilar membrane (BM), and modiolus with external surface structures such as the round and oval windows. Immunolabeled hair cells were used to visualize the spiraling BM in the intact cochlea without time intensive dissections or additional histological processing; yet material prepared for LSFM could be rehydrated, the BM dissected out and reimaged at higher resolution with the confocal microscope. In immersion‐fixed material, details of the cochlear vasculature were seen throughout the cochlea. Hair cell counts (both inner and outer) as well as frequency maps of the BM were comparable to those obtained by other methods, but with the added dimension of depth. The material provided measures of angular, linear, and vector distance between characteristic frequency regions along the BM. Thus, LSFM provides a unique ability to rapidly image the entire cochlea in a manner applicable to model and interpret physiological results. Furthermore, the three‐dimensional organization of the cochlea can be studied at the organ and cellular level with LSFM, and this same material can be taken to the confocal microscope for detailed analysis at the subcellular level.
Light sheet microcopy is used to map frequency along the basilar membrane within intact cochleae, retaining spatial orientation and relationships with internal and external structural landmarks. Three‐dimensional measures of how frequency domains relate to one another gives insight into how the geometric organization of the cochlea may influence its physiology.
•We model population trends of bats in Great Britain from volunteer survey data.•Trained citizen scientists can be successfully used to monitor bats.•Ten species or groups show stable or increasing ...trends from at least one survey.
Bats play an important role in ecosystems and are highly relevant as indicators of environmental change. Long-term monitoring of bat populations is therefore fundamental to verifying environmental change over time. Although in the past, significant declines in bat populations have been reported across Europe, only limited data are available from systematic monitoring schemes over long periods. In this study we use data from the National Bat Monitoring Programme, a citizen science scheme drawing on over 3500 volunteers, to estimate changes in populations across Great Britain for 10 bat species or species groups between 1997 and 2012. We demonstrate uniquely how data collected on relative abundance and activity of bats by volunteers at 3272 sites using standardised, multiple survey methods (counts at roosts and bat detector surveys using tuneable, heterodyne detectors) can be successfully utilised to produce statistically robust population indices for a large proportion of a country’s bat fauna. All trends calculated, with the exception of one species (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum), had sufficient power to detect Red Alert level declines. Our results reveal a generally favourable picture for bats over the monitoring period; all species showed a stable or increasing trend from at least one survey type, although for four species where there were multiple trends from different survey types, the trend directions did not agree (Myotis nattereri, Pipistrellus pipistrellus, Pipistrellus pygmaeus and Eptesicus serotinus). This study demonstrates that use of volunteer programmes can be successful in monitoring bat populations, provided that key features including standardised survey methods and volunteer training are incorporated. Some species that are more difficult to detect and identify may however require specialist surveillance techniques.
Recent commentary on the health consequences of natural disasters has suggested a dearth of research on understanding the antecedents prior to the disaster that are associated with health ...consequences after the disaster. Utilizing data from a two-wave panel survey of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, conducted just prior to and six weeks after the January 2010 earthquake, we test factors prior to the quake hypothesized to be associated with food insecurity after the quake.
Using random Global Positioning System (GPS) sampling, we re-interviewed 93.1% (N = 1732) of the original 1,800 households interviewed in 2009. Respondents were queried with regard to mortalities, injuries, food security, housing, and other factors after the quake.
Child food insecurity was found to be common on all three indices of food security (17.2%-22.6%). Additionally, only 36.5% of school-aged children were attending school prior to the quake. Findings suggest that prior schooling was associated with a substantial reduction on food insecurity indices (OR 0.62-0.75). Findings further suggest that several household characteristics were associated with food insecurity for children. Prior chronic/acute illnesses, poor living conditions, remittances from abroad, primary respondent mental health, and histories of criminal and other human rights violations committed against family members prior to the quake were associated with food insecurity after the earthquake. Earned household income after the quake was only associated with one of the measures of food insecurity.
Food insecurity for children was common after the quake. Those households vulnerable on multiple dimensions prior to the quake were also vulnerable to food insecurity after the quake. Remittances from abroad were leading protective factors for food security. Because Haiti is well known for the potentiality of both hurricanes and earthquakes, reconstruction and redevelopment should focus on ameliorating potential vulnerabilities to poor outcomes in these natural disasters.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
One major obstacle in validating drugs for the treatment or prevention of hearing loss is the limited data available on the distribution and concentration of drugs in the human inner ear. Although ...small animal models offer some insights into inner ear pharmacokinetics, their smaller organ size and different barrier (round window membrane) permeabilities compared to humans can complicate study interpretation. Therefore, developing a reliable large animal model for inner ear drug delivery is crucial. The inner and middle ear anatomy of domestic pigs closely resembles that of humans, making them promising candidates for studying inner ear pharmacokinetics. However, unlike humans, the anatomical orientation and tortuosity of the porcine external ear canal frustrates local drug delivery to the inner ear.
In this study, we developed a surgical technique to access the tympanic membrane of pigs. To assess hearing pre- and post-surgery, auditory brainstem responses to click and pure tones were measured. Additionally, we performed 3D segmentation of the porcine inner ear images and used this data to simulate the diffusion of dexamethasone within the inner ear through fluid simulation software (FluidSim).
We have successfully delivered dexamethasone and dexamethasone sodium phosphate to the porcine inner ear via the intratympanic injection. The recorded auditory brainstem measurements revealed no adverse effects on hearing thresholds attributable to the surgery. We have also simulated the diffusion rates for dexamethasone and dexamethasone sodium phosphate into the porcine inner ear and confirmed the accuracy of the simulations using in-vivo data.
We have developed and characterized a method for conducting pharmacokinetic studies of the inner ear using pigs. This animal model closely mirrors the size of the human cochlea and the thickness of its barriers. The diffusion time and drug concentrations we reported align closely with the limited data available from human studies. Therefore, we have demonstrated the potential of using pigs as a large animal model for studying inner ear pharmacokinetics.
Cochlear synaptopathy is the loss of synapses between the inner hair cells and the auditory nerve despite survival of sensory hair cells. The findings of extensive cochlear synaptopathy in animals ...after moderate noise exposures challenged the long-held view that hair cells are the cochlear elements most sensitive to insults that lead to hearing loss. However, cochlear synaptopathy has been difficult to identify in humans. We applied novel algorithms to determine hair cell and neural contributions to electrocochleographic (ECochG) recordings from the round window of animal and human subjects. Gerbils with normal hearing provided training and test sets for a deep learning algorithm to detect the presence of neural responses to low frequency sounds, and an analytic model was used to quantify the proportion of neural and hair cell contributions to the ECochG response. The capacity to detect cochlear synaptopathy was validated in normal hearing and noise-exposed animals by using neurotoxins to reduce or eliminate the neural contributions. When the analytical methods were applied to human surgical subjects with access to the round window, the neural contribution resembled the partial cochlear synaptopathy present after neurotoxin application in animals. This result demonstrates the presence of viable hair cells not connected to auditory nerve fibers in human subjects with substantial hearing loss and indicates that efforts to regenerate nerve fibers may find a ready cochlear substrate for innervation and resumption of function.
In Europe, two bat lyssaviruses referred to as European bat lyssaviruses (EBLVs) types 1 and 2 (genotypes 5 and 6 respectively) which are closely related to classical rabies virus are responsible for ...an emerging zoonosis. EBLVs are host restricted to bats, and have been known to infect not only their primary hosts but also in rare circumstances, induce spillover infections to terrestrial mammals including domestic livestock, wildlife and man. Although spillover infections have occurred, there has been no evidence that the virus adapted to a new host. Since 1977, four human deaths from EBLVs have been reported. None of them had a record of prophylactic rabies immunization. Only fragmentary data exist about the effectiveness of current vaccines in cross-protection against EBLVs. It is clear that EBLV in bats cannot be eliminated using conventional strategies similar to the control programmes based on vaccine baits used for fox rabies in Europe during the 1980s. Due to the protected status of bats in Europe, our knowledge of EBLV prevalence and epidemiology is limited. It is possible that EBLV is under-reported and that the recorded cases of EBLV represent only a small proportion of the actual number of infected bats. For this reason, any interaction between man and bats in Europe must be considered as a possible exposure. Human exposure through biting incidents, especially unprovoked attacks, should be treated immediately with rabies post-exposure treatment and the bat, where possible, retained for laboratory analysis. Preventative measures include educating all bat handlers of the risks posed by rabies-infected animals and advising them to be immunized. This review provides a brief history of EBLVs, their distribution in host species and the public health risks.
OBJECTIVE:To investigate the association of collaboration between intensive care unit (ICU) physicians and nurses and patient outcome.
DESIGN:Prospective, descriptive, correlational study using ...self-report instruments.
SETTINGS:A community teaching hospital medical ICU, a university teaching hospital surgical ICU, and a community non-teaching hospital mixed ICU, all in upstate New York.
SUBJECTS:Ninety-seven attending physicians, 63 resident physicians, and 162 staff nurses.
PROCEDURE:When patients were ready for transfer from the ICU to an area of less intensive care, questionnaires were used to assess care providers' reports of collaboration in making the transfer decision. After controlling for severity of illness, the association between interprofessional collaboration and patient outcome was assessed. Unit-level organizational collaboration and patient outcomes were ranked.
MEASURES:Healthcare providers' reported levels of collaboration, patient severity of illness and individual risk, patient outcomes of death or readmission to the ICU, unit-level collaboration, and unit patient risk of negative outcome.
MAIN RESULTS:Medical ICU nurses' reports of collaboration were associated positively with patient outcomes. No other associations between individual reports of collaboration and patient outcome were found. There was a perfect rank order correlation between unit-level organizational collaboration and patient outcomes across the three units.
CONCLUSIONS:The study offered some support for the importance of physician-nurse collaboration in ICU care delivery, a variable susceptible to intervention and further study.
Posterior expectation is widely used as a Bayesian point estimator. In this note we extend it from parametric models to nonparametric models using empirical likelihood, and develop a nonparametric ...analogue of James-Stein estimation. We use the Laplace method to establish asymptotic approximations to our proposed posterior expectations, and show by simulation that they are often more efficient than the corresponding classical nonparametric procedures, especially when the underlying data are skewed.
Delivery of pharmaceutical therapeutics to the inner ear to treat and prevent hearing loss is challenging. Systemic delivery is not effective as only a small fraction of the therapeutic agent reaches ...the inner ear. Invasive surgeries to inject through the round window membrane (RWM) or cochleostomy may cause damage to the inner ear. An alternative approach is to administer drugs into the middle ear using an intratympanic injection, with the drugs primarily passing through the RWM to the inner ear. However, the RWM is a barrier, only permeable to a small number of molecules. To study and enhance the RWM permeability, we developed an ex vivo porcine RWM model, similar in structure and thickness to the human RWM. The model is viable for days, and drug passage can be measured at multiple time points. This model provides a straightforward approach to developing effective and non-invasive delivery methods to the inner ear.
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•The porcine round window membrane (RWM) mimics the human RWM in structure and thickness•The porcine RWM model, extracted from fresh tissue, remains viable for up to five days•Drug passage and permeability can be measured at multiple time points via the RWM model•The RWM model is a valued tool for testing techniques aimed at enhancing RWM permeability
Drug delivery system; Health technology; Membranes
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