Patterns of Exacerbations of Chronic Non-Infectious Uveitis in Pregnancy and Puerperium

Purpose: To determine patterns of exacerbations of recurrent non-infectious uveitis during pregnancy and puerperium. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Methods: The medical records of 32 women with a history of chronic non-infectious uveitis, who were pregnant during their follow-up at the Ocular Immunology and Uveitis Service of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, from 1983 through 2003, were reviewed. The uveitis relapse rate during pregnancy was compared to the relapse rate during pregnancy-free periods in these women and to the relapse rate in a control group of women of childbearing age with recurrent non-infectious uveitis. Results: Among the 32 women who were pregnant during follow-up (40 pregnancies), the rate of flare-ups during pregnancy (1.0 recurrence per year) was lower than that observed during non-pregnant periods (2.4 per year; p < 0.001) and lower than that observed in the non-pregnant control group (3.1 per year; p < 0.001). Flare-ups were most frequent in the first trimester of pregnancy and decreased markedly in the second and third trimesters (2.3, 0.5, and 0.4 recurrences per year, respectively; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Pregnancy is associated with lower numbers of flare-ups of non-infectious uveitis compared to the non-pregnant state. If flare-ups do occur during pregnancy, they happen predominantly in the first trimester.     

Interventions to Promote Physical Activity in Young People Conducted in the Hours Immediately After School: A Systematic Review

Background  

After school is a critical period in the physical activity and sedentary behaviour patterns of young people. Interventions to promote physical activity during these hours should be informed by existing evidence.     

Series Spiral Advancement Flap: An Alternative to the Ellipse

BACKGROUND: Surgical excision of skin lesions is a common dermatologic procedure. OBJECTIVE: An alternative to the elliptical excision is described. METHODS: We present an excisional technique that creates a series of nonepidermal outwardly spiraling flaps. The surgical defect is closed with specially tunneled absorbable suture. RESULTS: There has been no increase in infectious complications or wound failures compared with standard ellipses. Proper patient and lesion selection aids in obtaining an acceptable outcome. CONCLUSION: The series spiral advancement flap has the potential to become a useful and common surgical technique.     

Multiple water source use in rural Vanuatu: are households choosing the safest option for drinking?

Households in low- and middle-income countries commonly make use of multiple water sources. However, it remains unclear to what extent their drinking water choices are optimal from a health perspective. This matched cohort study across 10 islands in Vanuatu examined communities with both a groundwater and rainwater source to determine whether their preferred drinking option was the safest in microbial terms. In communities that preferred to drink rainwater, 56.5% of rainwater sources had ‘high-risk’ or ‘very high risk’ Escherichia coli contamination (> 10 MPN/100 mL) compared with 26.1% of groundwater sources (p = 0.092). Moreover, a preference for drinking rainwater was significantly associated with rainwater sources having ‘high-risk’ or ‘very high risk’ levels of E. coli contamination (p = 0.045). Results show that communities do not necessarily choose the safest water source for drinking. Findings also highlight the need to bolster local capacity to manage water quality risks and for Sustainable Development Goal monitoring to distinguish between protected and unprotected rainwater tanks.     

The effects of gloves on grip strength and three-point pinch.

No-glove, leather-glove, nitrile-glove, and vinyl-glove conditions were evaluated to determine their effects on grip strength and three-point pinch. Forty-one adult volunteers from a local university and local hospital participated in the two-day study. The order of testing was randomly assigned. A hydraulic hand dynamometer and a hydraulic pinch gauge were used to evaluate grip strength and three-point pinch with no glove and with each glove type. Grip strength and three-point pinch were tested on separate days. Grip strength test results showed statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) for no glove vs. leather glove, no glove vs. nitrile glove, no glove vs. vinyl glove, leather glove vs. nitrile glove, and leather glove vs. vinyl glove, but no statistically significant difference for nitrile glove vs. vinyl glove. Three-point pinch test results also showed statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) for no glove vs. leather glove, leather glove vs. nitrile glove, and leather glove vs. vinyl glove, but no statistically significant differences for no glove vs. nitrile glove, no glove vs. vinyl glove, and nitrile glove vs. vinyl glove. The results indicate that glove type may have clinical applications for occupational and physical therapists whose patients use gloves in the workplace.     

Ionic mechanisms underlying excitatory effects of serotonin on embryonic rat motoneurons in long-term culture

The actions of serotonin were investigated on motoneurons isolated from embryonic day 14 rat spinal cord and enriched by metrizamide density gradient centrifugation. Trophic support was provided by a spinal cord glial monolayer, ciliary neurotrophic factor and heat-inactivated serum. Cultures were maintained for 17–83 days and investigated using whole-cell patch-clamp recording. Serotonin evoked slow depolarizations (6.2±0.7 or 9.3±1.3 mV in the presence of 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione and strychnine, ₅₀ 8.2 nM), which were reversibly blocked by 0.1 μM ketanserin. Serotonin generated synaptic potentials in motoneurons, lowered the threshold for repetitive firing and changed the slope of the current intensity–firing frequency relationship. The inward current evoked by serotonin (−147±15.2 pA) was ascribed to a complex ionic mechanism, which varied amongst neurons in the sampled population. It was due to closure of barium-sensitive potassium channels, effects on I_h and increase in a separate mixed cation current which comprised both transient voltage-sensitive and sustained components.

We conclude that serotonergic responses develop in motoneurons cultured under these conditions in the absence of serotonergic input, sensory neurons or many interneurons.     

Diversity of expressed cytochrome P450 genes in the adult Mediterranean Fruit Fly, Ceratitis capitata

The cytochrome P450s comprise a superfamily of mostly microsomal haemoproteins which play a dominant role in the metabolism of a variety of endogenous and foreign compounds. The use of a degenerate PCR primer targeted to the haem-binding decapeptide unique to the cytochrome P450 superfamily resulted in the identification of 14 novel cytochrome P450s in the Mediterranean Fruit Fly, Ceratitis capitata. Analysis of the relative frequency of individual isoforms within the pool of isolated sequences suggests that the CYP4 and CYP6 P450 families contain the most highly expressed isoforms in adult C. capitata. Phylogenetic analyses of the conceptual amino acid translations of PCR-amplified cDNAs provides evidence that one of isolated sequences may represent a new P450 family.