Outbreak of Oropouche Virus in French Guiana Gaillet, Mélanie; Pichard, Clara; Restrepo, Johana ...
Emerging infectious diseases,
10/2021, Letnik:
27, Številka:
10
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Oropouche fever is a zoonotic dengue-like syndrome caused by Oropouche virus. In August-September 2020, dengue-like syndrome developed in 41 patients in a remote rainforest village in French Guiana. ...By PCR or microneutralization, 23 (82.1%) of 28 tested patients were positive for Oropouche virus, documenting its emergence in French Guiana.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Background
Accumulating evidence suggests that in utero exposures can influence the development of the immune system and thus contribute to disease development. Studies investigating the association ...between prenatal exposures to heavy metals and atopic diseases, however, are scarce.
Methods
Children from the EDEN birth cohort were prospectively followed up using parental questionnaires with validated questions on asthma, allergic rhinitis, eczema, and food allergy symptoms. The questionnaires were administered every 4 months during the children's first year, and then every year until the age of 5, with a final survey at the age of 8. Serum concentrations of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and manganese (Mn) were assessed in maternal blood samples collected during mid‐pregnancy and in cord blood of 651 mother‐children pairs. Hazard ratios (HR) for the incidence of each atopic disease in relation to the exposure to metals were calculated using Cox proportional hazard models.
Results
Levels of Cd in cord blood were associated with greater risk of asthma (hazard ratio 95% confidence interval for upper vs lower quartile: 1.81 1.00‐3.29), eczema (1.60 1.09‐2.35), and food allergy (3.17 1.36‐7.38), while Mn levels in maternal serum were associated with eczema (1.55 1.05‐2.28). These associations were similar in males and females and were confirmed using log concentrations of metals as exposures.
Conclusions
Our results support the hypothesis that fetal exposure to heavy metals may affect the development of asthma, eczema, and food allergy in childhood and suggest that timing of exposure in utero may have a role in these associations.
The critical role of the placenta in supporting a healthy pregnancy is mostly ensured by the extraembryonic trophoblast lineage that acts as the interface between the maternal and the foetal ...compartments. The diverse trophoblast cell subtypes that form the placenta originate from a single layer of stem cells that emerge from the embryo when the earliest cell fate decisions are occurring. Recent studies show that these trophoblast stem cells exhibit extensive plasticity as they are capable of differentiating down multiple pathways and are easily converted into embryonic stem cells in vitro. In this review, we discuss current knowledge of the mechanisms and control of the epigenesis of mouse trophoblast stem cells through a comparison with the corresponding mechanisms in pluripotent embryonic stem cells. To illustrate some of the more striking manifestations of the epigenetic plasticity of mouse trophoblast stem cells, we discuss them within the context of two paradigms of epigenetic regulation of gene expression: the imprinted gene expression of specific loci and the process of X-chromosome inactivation.
Objective. To compare the prevalence and trajectories of risky health behaviors in sexual minority (SM; lesbian/gay/bisexual/questioning/asexual) versus heterosexual undergraduates across their first ...year of post-secondary. Participants. First-year undergraduates (N = 704, M
age
=17.97 years, 24% SM) from a midsized Canadian university. Methods. Students completed monthly (September-April) online questionnaires assessing substance use (binge drinking, tobacco, cannabis, illicit drug use) and disordered eating (binge eating, fasting, purging). Results. At the outset of the academic year, SM students endorsed more frequent cannabis use, illicit drug use, fasting, and binge eating, but less frequent tobacco use, versus heterosexual students. Over the year, SM students' binge drinking frequency declined less than that of heterosexual students, but their illicit drug use decreased while that of their heterosexual peers increased, and all students reported declining disordered eating frequency. Conclusions. Campus wellness initiatives for SM students should offer prevention and harm-reduction strategies prior to or shortly after their arrival on campus.
Air pollution is known to have an impact on respiratory health. However, the assessment of this relationship is far from complete and is rarely extended to the country level. We used drug sales data, ...both Over-The-Counter (OTC) and prescription drugs, to assess exhaustively the impact of air pollution on asthma and allergy at the national level in France.
The WHO Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification system was used to describe the distribution of sales of drugs of class R03 (Drugs for obstructive airways diseases, overall for asthma) and R06 (Antihistamines for systemic use). We performed a Quasi-Poisson regression model with a generalized additive model (GAM) to estimate the relationship (Relative Risks and 95% Confidence Interval) between drug sales and air pollutants, that is Particulate Matter with a diameter less than 2.5 micrometers (PM
2.5
) and less than 10 micrometers (PM
10
) and Nitrogen dioxide (NO
2
), as assessed using the high-resolution CHIMERE dispersion model. We designed unadjusted and adjusted single-pollutant models as well as two-pollutant models.
PM
2.5
, PM
10
, and NO
2
were significantly and positively associated with sales of R03 and R06 class drugs, after adjustment for potential confounders. Results were confirmed in the two-pollutant model for PM
10
and NO
2
but not for PM
2.5
.
Our study confirms the presence of an association between major air pollutants and the sales of drugs against asthma and allergies. Further studies on larger databases and over several years are necessary to confirm and better understand these results.
Technological advances in synthetic biology have made in vitro modification, or even creation, of viruses easier and more affordable. Several research studies using synthesis of potential pandemic ...pathogens led to controversies in the 2010's. More recently, the hypothesis that Covid-19 pandemics could originate from a lab escape is still under debate. In France, a legislative vacuum remains concerning the synthesis of modified pathogens. Initiating a collective reflection process towards setting of a legal framework on this type of work is timely so that research continues to provide profit to society rather than hazard.
Les avancées techniques en biologie de synthèse rendent de plus en plus accessibles la modification ou même la fabrication de virus en laboratoire. Plusieurs travaux de recherche fondés sur la ...synthèse de pathogènes à potentiel pandémique ont créé la polémique au cours des années 2010 et, aujourd’hui encore, l’éventualité qu’une fuite de laboratoire soit à l’origine de la pandémie de Covid-19 fait débat. En France, un vide juridique subsiste concernant la synthèse de pathogènes modifiés. Une réflexion concertée vers un encadrement légal de ce type de recherche apparaît donc nécessaire et urgent pour que la recherche continue de représenter un bénéfice, plutôt qu’un risque, pour la société.
Technological advances in synthetic biology have made
in vitro
modification, or even creation, of viruses easier and more affordable. Several research studies using synthesis of potential pandemic pathogens led to controversies in the 2010’s. More recently, the hypothesis that Covid-19 pandemics could originate from a lab escape is still under debate. In France, a legislative vacuum remains concerning the synthesis of modified pathogens. Initiating a collective reflection process towards setting of a legal framework on this type of work is timely so that research continues to provide profit to society rather than hazard.
Few investigations have related objective assessments of indoor air pollutants to respiratory health in farmers, in spite of the many rural environmental hazards to which they are exposed. Chemical ...air pollution has been particularly neglected.
We investigated the relationships of indoor exposure to particulate matter (PM) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to respiratory health in farmers.
Nineteen VOCs (5 families) and PM (from ultrafine to total suspended particles (TSP)) were objectively assessed in dwellings and workplaces in 109 French farmers during a week. To take into account multiple exposures, scores of exposure were computed for total VOCs and VOCs families. Individuals filled a standardized questionnaire and underwent spirometry with bronchodilation test.
On average, VOCs concentrations were higher in dwellings than in workplaces. The reverse was observed for PM. When considering the mean concentrations of air pollutants for the whole farm (dwellings + workplaces), asthma (9.3%) was positively associated with elevated exposure to benzene (adjusted odds-ratio (ORa) = 6.64, 95%CI: 1.56-28.27), trichloroethylene (4.80, 1.00-23.30) and halogenated hydrocarbons score (2.9, 95% 1.3-6.8). Early airway obstruction (FEF
< 80%, with normal FEV
and FVC and FEV/FVC ≥ 70%) (29.8%) was related to elevated exposure to 2-butoxyetylacetate (11.49, 1.55-85.37) and glycol ethers score (2.0; 1.0-4.1) in the whole farm and to PM
(ORa = 5.26, 95% CI: 1.09-25.28) in the granary/stable. The risk of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (FEV/FVC < 70%) (COPD) (4.26%) was found to be larger with elevated exposure to aldehydes (OR = 3.95, 1.09-14.26).
Indoor chemical air pollution is detrimental to farmers' respiratory health. More epidemiological investigations with detailed exposure assessments and clinical measures of respiratory effects are needed in rural settings to corroborate these findings.
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