This article proposes a three-step methodological framework called computational grounded theory, which combines expert human knowledge and hermeneutic skills with the processing power and pattern ...recognition of computers, producing a more methodologically rigorous but interpretive approach to content analysis. The first, pattern detection step, involves inductive computational exploration of text, using techniques such as unsupervised machine learning and word scores to help researchers to see novel patterns in their data. The second, pattern refinement step, returns to an interpretive engagement with the data through qualitative deep reading or further exploration of the data. The third, pattern confirmation step, assesses the inductively identified patterns using further computational and natural language processing techniques. The result is an efficient, rigorous, and fully reproducible computational grounded theory. This framework can be applied to any qualitative text as data, including transcribed speeches, interviews, open-ended survey data, or ethnographic field notes, and can address many potential research questions.
An increasing number of studies reveal that host–microbial interactome networks are coordinated, impacting human health and disease. Recently, several lines of evidence have revealed associations ...between the acquisition of a complex microbiota and adaptive immunity, supporting that host–microbiota symbiotic relationships have evolved as a means to maintain homeostasis where the role of the microbiota is to promote and educate the immune system. Here, we hypothesize an oral host–microbial interactome that could serve as an ecological chronometer of health and disease, with specific focus on caries, periodontal diseases, and cancer. We also review the current state of the art on the human oral microbiome and its correlations with host innate immunity, and host cytokine control, with the goal of using this information for disease prediction and designing novel treatments for local and systemic dysbiosis. In addition, we discuss new insights into the role of novel host–microbial signals as potential biomarkers, and their relevance for the future of precision dentistry and medicine.
Dynamic interactions between the human microbiome and the host immunity shape health and disease.Global human populations are major carriers of streptococci and Prevotella bacteria.Lifestyle habits such as a high-sugar diet, alcohol consumption, and smoking can impact oral microbial diversity, and interactions between the microbiota and the host.Members belonging to the Haemophilus genus are associated with oral health in populations of hunter-gatherers.Oral host–microbial interactome provides signals able to impact both local and systemic dysbiosis.Monitoring oral, dental, and craniofacial systems can reveal novel biomarkers for diagnostics and targeted therapies.
The dance between microbes and the immune system takes place in all biological systems, including the human body, but this interaction is especially complex in the primary gateway to the body: the ...oral cavity. Recent advances in technology have enabled deep sequencing and analysis of members and signals of these communities. In a healthy state, the oral microbiome is composed of commensals, and their genes and phenotypes may be selected by the immune system to survive in symbiosis. These highly regulated signals are modulated by a network of microbial and host metabolites. However, in a diseased state, host-microbial networks lead to dysbiosis and considerable burden to the host prior to systemic impact that extends beyond the oral compartment. Interestingly, we presented data demonstrating similarities between human and mice immune dysbiosis and discussed how this affects the host response to similar pathobionts. The host and microbial signatures of a number of disease states are currently being examined to identify potential correlations. How the oral microbiome interacts with inflammation and the immune system to cause disease remains an area of active research. In this review, we summarize recent advancements in understanding the role of oral microbiota in mediating inflammation and altering systemic health and disease. In line with these findings, it is possible that existing conditions may be resolved by targeting specific immune-microbial markers in a positive way.
Towards a common definition of global health Koplan, Jeffrey P, Prof; Bond, T Christopher, PhD; Merson, Michael H, Prof ...
The Lancet (British edition),
06/2009, Letnik:
373, Številka:
9679
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
A steady evolution of philosophy, attitude, and practice has led to the increased use of the term global health. ... on the basis of this analysis, we offer the following definition: global health is ...an area for study, research, and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide.
They go by many names: helicopter parents, hovercrafts, PFHs (Parents from Hell). The news media is filled with stories of well-intentioned parents going to ridiculous extremes to remove all ...obstacles from their child's path to greatness . . . or at least to an ivy league school. From cradle to college, they remain intimately enmeshed in their children's lives, stifling their development and creating infantilized, spoiled, immature adults unprepared to make the decisions necessary for the real world. Or so the story goes.
Drawing on a wealth of eye-opening interviews with parents across the country, Margaret K. Nelson cuts through the stereotypes and hyperbole to examine the realities of what she terms "parenting out of control." Situating this phenomenon within a broad sociological context, she finds several striking explanations for why today's prosperous and well-educated parents are unable to set realistic boundaries when it comes to raising their children. Analyzing the goals and aspirations parents have for their children as well as the strategies they use to reach them, Nelson discovers fundamental differences among American parenting styles that expose class fault lines, both within the elite and between the elite and the middle and working classes.
Nelson goes on to explore the new ways technology shapes modern parenting. From baby monitors to cell phones (often referred to as the world's longest umbilical cord), to social networking sites, and even GPS devices, parents have more tools at their disposal than ever before to communicate with, supervise, and even spy on their children. These play important and often surprising roles in the phenomenon of parenting out of control. Yet the technologies parents choose, and those they refuse to use, often seem counterintuitive. Nelson shows that these choices make sense when viewed in the light of class expectations.
Today's parents are faced with unprecedented opportunities and dangers for their children, and are evolving novel strategies to adapt to these changes. Nelson's lucid and insightful work provides an authoritative examination of what happens when these new strategies go too far.
Summary Background Injecting drug use is an important risk factor for transmission of viral hepatitis, but detailed, transparent estimates of the scale of the issue do not exist. We estimated ...national, regional, and global prevalence and population size for hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) in injecting drug users (IDUs). Methods We systematically searched for data for HBV and HCV in IDUs in peer-reviewed databases (Medline, Embase, and PsycINFO), grey literature, conference abstracts, and online resources, and made a widely distributed call for additional data. From 4386 peer-reviewed and 1019 grey literature sources, we reviewed 1125 sources in full. We extracted studies into a customised database and graded them according to their methods. We included serological reports of HCV antibodies (anti-HCV), HBV antibodies (anti-HBc), or HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) in studies of IDUs with more than 40 participants (<100% HIV-positive) and sampling frames that did not exclude participants on the basis of age or sex. With endorsed decision rules, we calculated prevalence estimates with anti-HCV and anti-HBc as proxies for exposure and HBsAg as proxy for current infection. We combined these estimates with IDU population sizes to calculate the number of IDUs with positive HBV or HCV statuses. Findings We located eligible reports with data for prevalence of anti-HCV in IDUs for 77 countries; midpoint prevalence estimates suggested 60–80% of IDUs had anti-HCV in 25 countries and more than 80% of IDUs did so in 12 countries. About 10.0 million (range 6.0–15.2) IDUs worldwide might be anti-HCV positive. China (1.6 million), USA (1.5 million), and Russia (1.3 million) had the largest such populations. We identified eligible HBsAg reports for 59 countries, with midpoint prevalence estimates of 5–10% in 21 countries and more than 10% in ten countries. Worldwide, we estimate 6.4 million IDUs are anti-HBc positive (2.3–9.7 million), and 1.2 million (0.3–2.7 million) are HBsAg positive. Interpretation More IDUs have anti-HCV than HIV infection, and viral hepatitis poses a key challenge to public health. Variation in the coverage and quality of existing research creates uncertainty around estimates. Improved and more complete data and reporting are needed to estimate the scale of the issue, which will inform efforts to prevent and treat HCV and HBV in IDUs. Funding WHO and US National Institutes of Health (NIDA R01 DA018609).
Mature microRNAs (miRNAs), derived through cleavage of pre-miRNAs by the Dicer1 enzyme, regulate protein expression in many cell-types including cells in the pancreatic islets of Langerhans. To ...investigate the importance of miRNAs in mouse insulin secreting β-cells, we have generated mice with a β-cells specific disruption of the Dicer1 gene using the Cre-lox system controlled by the rat insulin promoter (RIP). In contrast to their normoglycaemic control littermates (RIP-Cre(+/-) Dicer1(Δ/wt)), RIP-Cre(+/-)Dicer1(flox/flox) mice (RIP-Cre Dicer1(Δ/Δ)) developed progressive hyperglycaemia and full-blown diabetes mellitus in adulthood that recapitulated the natural history of the spontaneous disease in mice. Reduced insulin gene expression and concomitant reduced insulin secretion preceded the hyperglycaemic state and diabetes development. Immunohistochemical, flow cytometric and ultrastructural analyses revealed altered islet morphology, marked decreased β-cell mass, reduced numbers of granules within the β-cells and reduced granule docking in adult RIP-Cre Dicer1(Δ/Δ) mice. β-cell specific Dicer1 deletion did not appear to disrupt fetal and neonatal β-cell development as 2-week old RIP-Cre Dicer1(Δ/Δ) mice showed ultrastructurally normal β-cells and intact insulin secretion. In conclusion, we have demonstrated that a β-cell specific disruption of the miRNAs network, although allowing for apparently normal β-cell development, leads to progressive impairment of insulin secretion, glucose homeostasis and diabetes development.
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