Karlberg, J., Fryer, J. G., Engström, I. and Karlherg, P. (Departments of Anatomy and Paediatrics I, University of Gothenburg, Sweden and the Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, ...University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA). Analysis of linear growth using a mathematical model. II. From 3 to 21 years of age. Acta Paediatr Scand Suppl 337:12, 1987.
The‘ICP growth model’(ICP = Infancy, Childhood and Puberty components) represents linear growth from 3 years of age to maturity by a combination of a slowly decelerating childhood component together with a sigmoid puberty component, the latter acting only during adolescence. Linear growth is analysed for 157 longitudinally followed healthy infants using this model. The main aim is to assess the ability of the ICP model to describe and evaluate individual growth patterns in healthy children with particular emphasis on the considerable individual variation in the timing of puberty and the shape of the pubertal growth spurt. The use of the model to evaluate growth longitudinally over both short and long periods is also outlined.
Reference values based on the ICP approach, the ICP Standard, seem to have a number of advantages in comparison with cross‐sectional standards. In the‘Prepubertal ICP Standard’, the contribution of the puberty component is omitted. The standard can be applied on an individual basis to evaluate prepubertal growth and pubertal onset, independently of the timing of puberty. By using the‘Pubertal ICP Standard’both the difference in pubertal maturation and the negative relationship between the size of the pubertal gain and the timing of puberty are taken into account. The fact that the gain in the puberty component is time‐invariant, and can thus be aligned with the timing of puberty for an individual child, forms the basis of this approach. The analyses have also revealed a new predictor for final height, which is termed HAPO (height adjusted for pubertal onset). This predictor is based on age and attained size at onset of puberty‐the‘onset’regression line.
Many Western children with congenital heart disease (CHD) show significant growth retardation. In this study postnatal growth was examined in Chinese children with symptomatic CHD in Hong Kong, in ...relation to their diagnosis and the time of surgery. 363 children of four years old or younger, who were admitted at Grantham Hospital, Hong Kong, in 1994 and 1995, were subdivided into six diagnostic categories and categorised into cyanotic and acyanotic groups. While a reduced birth weight SDS was present in 18% of patients, at the time of operation approximately 40% of them had subnormal weight and height values. Girls were more impaired in weight and weight-for-height than boys (-1.90 SDS vs -1.52 SDS, and -0.90 SDS vs -0.46 SDS, respectively). Children with acyanotic lesions were more affected in growth than those with cyanotic lesions, but they were also operated on at an older age than children in the latter group. Left to right shunt and common intracardiac mixing were particularly associated with wasting; transposition of the great arteries and pulmonary outflow tract obstruction with stunting; while children with left ventricular outflow obstruction revealed a proportional growth retardation in weight and height. Age at operation did not seem to have an independent effect on postnatal growth in children with CHD. As with Western children, growth retardation is a common feature in Chinese children with symptomatic cardiac defects. Haemodynamics, age at operation and nutritional influences are discussed as potential aetiologic factors.
Summary
The human mast cell line (HMC)‐1 cell line is growth‐factor independent because of a constitutive activity of the receptor tyrosine kinase Kit. Such deregulated Kit activity has also been ...suggested causative in gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs) and mastocytosis. HMC‐1 is the only established continuously growing human mast cell line and has therefore been widely employed for in vitro studies of human mast cell biology. In this paper we describe two sublines of HMC‐1, named HMC‐1560 and HMC‐1560,816, with different phenotypes and designated by the locations of specific mutations in the c‐kit proto‐oncogene. Activating mutations in the Kit receptor were characterized using the pyrosequencing™ method. Both sublines have a heterozygous T to G mutation at codon 560 in the juxtamembrane region of the c‐kit gene causing an amino acid substitution of Gly‐560 for Val. In contrast, only HMC‐1560,816 cells have the c‐kitV816 mutation found in mast cell neoplasms causing an Asp→Val substitution in the intracellular kinase domain. Kit was constitutively phosphorylated on tyrosine residues and associated with phosphatidylinositol 3′‐kinase (PI 3‐kinase) in both variants of HMC‐1, but this did not lead to a constitutive phosphorylation of Akt or extracellular regulated protein kinase (ERK), which are signalling molecules normally activated by the interaction of stem cell factor (SCF) with Kit. The documentation and characterization of two sublines of HMC‐1 cells provides both information on the biological consequences of mutations in Kit and recognition of the availability of what in reality are two distinct cultured human mast cell lines.
Traveler's thrombosis : A systematic review ANSARI, Mohammed T; CHEUNG, Bernard M. Y; JIA QING HUANG ...
Journal of travel medicine,
05/2005, Letnik:
12, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Anecdotal evidence suggests a possible link between travel and venous thromboembolism (VTE). We systematically evaluated the evidence from observational studies.
We searched studies evaluating the ...risk of venous thrombosis in relation to traveling from MEDLINE and EMBASE up tp March 2004, together with a hand search of reference lists from retrieved literature, and we contacted some of the experts. Observational studies estimating the risks of VTE and isolated calf vein thrombosis were eligible. Methodologic quality was assessed based on prior criteria, and meta-analysis was considered where applicable.
A total of 194 English-language publications were initially identified. Sixteen studies were included: 9 case-control, 2 prospective controlled, and 5 other observational studies. They differed drastically in study designs, selection of controls where applicable, mode and duration of travel, and subtypes of VTE under consideration. Ten studies concluded that travel, mostly through air and of prolonged duration, is a risk factor for venous thrombosis and/or pulmonary embolism, and the risk increases for passengers with preexisting venous thrombosis risk factors. Outcomes examined ranged from asymptomatic isolated calf muscle vein thrombosis to severe fatal pulmonary embolism.
Current literature is controversial over any association between travel and VTE, and although the quality and power of these studies have been variable, studies of higher quality have shown a strong and significant association between prolonged air travel and VTE. No conclusions could be drawn about other modes of transportation. Since VTE is a disease of multifactorial causation, those with preexisting VTE risk factors are most vulnerable.
Table 1 shows that babies of low birth weight (<=2.5kg) had lower mean values of forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), and FEV1/FVC ratio at the age of 30 years, ...adjusted for sex, adult height, and smoking.
Inclusive Higgs boson production at large transverse momentum is induced by different production channels. We focus on the leading production mechanism through gluon fusion, and perform a consistent ...combination of the state of the art calculations obtained in the infinite-top-mass effective theory at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) and in the full Standard Model (SM) at next-to-leading order (NLO). We thus present approximate QCD predictions for this process at NNLO, and a study of the corresponding perturbative uncertainties. This calculation is then compared with those obtained with commonly used event generators, and we observe that the description of the considered kinematic regime provided by these tools is in good agreement with state of the art calculations. Finally, we present accurate predictions for other production channels such as vector boson fusion, and associated production with a gauge boson, and with a
t\bar{t}
t
t
‾
pair. We find that, at large transverse momentum, the contribution of other production modes is substantial, and therefore must be included for a precise theory prediction of this observable.
Cytokines such as interleukin 3 (IL‐3), kit ligand (KL), and flt3 ligand (FL) promote survival of hematopoietic stem cells and myeloid progenitor cells. In many cell types, members of the Bcl‐2 gene ...family are major regulators of survival, but the mediating mechanisms are not fully understood. Using two myeloid progenitor cell lines, FDCP‐mix and FDC‐P1, as well as primary mouse bone marrow progenitors, we demonstrate that KL‐mediated survival is dependent on the activation of phosphatidylinositol‐3 (PI‐3) kinase. The inhibitor LY294002 was able to completely abolish survival mediated by KL, whereas IL‐3 and FL were only partially affected. Although all three cytokines induced phosphorylation of protein kinase B (PKB), only KL required PI‐3 kinase activity to elicit survival in hematopoietic progenitors. In contrast, pretreatment of cells with inhibitors to the MAP kinase pathway did not affect the survival. We next established if IL‐3 and FL activated antiapoptotic Bcl‐2 and the related genes Bcl‐XL and Mcl‐1. By RNA protection assay and Western blot analysis, we show that all three genes are induced by IL‐3, whereas FL induces Bcl‐2 and to some extent Bcl‐XL. Importantly, KL could not sustain their expression. Moreover, use of inhibitors implied that IL‐3 was mainly exerting its effect on Bcl‐2 at the level of transcription. The addition of LY294002 did not affect the expression of Bcl‐2 and Bcl‐XL, and thus, we conclude that expression of antiapoptotic Bcl‐2 family member genes is not dependent on PI‐3 kinase activity. Our results indicate that cytokines exert distinct survival effects and that FL and IL‐3 are capable of sustaining progenitor survival by up‐regulating the expression of Bcl‐2 and related genes.
This study tests the hypothesis that size at birth is associated with diarrhoeal incidence from birth to 24 mo of age, and the hypothesis that diarrhoeal incidence from birth to 24 mo is associated ...with body size at age 24 mo. This is a longitudinal study of 1476 infants born in Lahore, Pakistan, in 1984–1987. Diarrhoeal incidence was enumerated monthly. A generalized estimating equations approach with Poisson regression showed that birthlength standard deviation score (SDS) and ponderal index at birth (rate ratio = 1.01 and 1.00; each p > 0.05) were not significantly associated with diarrhoeal incidence. Multiple linear regression showed that diarrhoeal incidence was significantly associated with weight SDS and body mass index at 24 mo (regression coefficient or β=−0.58 and −1.02; each p < 0.05), but not with height SDS (β=−0.10; p > 0.05). The associations were mainly due to a transient effect of diarrhoea in the period 18–24 mo.
Conclusion: Prevention of low birthweight is unlikely to have an impact on diarrhoeal incidence in infants. Control of diarrhoeal incidence may not improve the growth of infants in developing countries.
Evaluation of perinatal care — introduction
European journal of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive biology/European journal of obstetrics & gynecology and reproductive biology,
01/1983
Journal Article
Infants who died showing the syndrome of sudden infant death (SIDS) and infants who survived attacks of lifelessness (AL) were examined in a prospective epidemiological multicentre study over 24 ...months covering close to 40% of all births in Sweden. Seventy SIDS cases and 34 cases of AL were observed, giving an incidence for SIDS of 0.94/1000 and for AL of 0.46/1000. This SIDS incidence is higher than that observed during the seventies. The boy/girl ratio was 1.4: 1 for SIDS and 1.6: 1 for AL. The age distribution for AL resembled that for SIDS. Similarities were also seen with regard to place of occurrence. Sixty per cent of the SIDS cases occurred during the daytime/evening. Twenty‐nine per cent of the infants with AL had more than one apneic spell during the three‐day‐period around the attack, indicating a period of respiratory instability, but only 12% had such spells later on. None of the infants who had had AL died from SIDS. The possible relationship between AL and SIDS is discussed.
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