Trends of atropinic (anticholinergic) exposure in the elderly: a 10‐year analysis in the French EGB database

Atropinic drugs are known to potentially induce physical and/or mental impairments in the elderly. The aim of this study was to investigate trends of atropinic exposure in patients ≥65 years in France between 2006 and 2015. A repeated cross‐sectional study was performed quarterly from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2015, in the ‘Echantillon Généraliste des Bénéficiaires (EGB)’, a representative sample of the French population. Exposed patients were identified using the Anticholinergic Durán's list. Outcomes were rate of patients exposed to at least one atropinic drug (atropinic prevalence rate) and atropinic burden per patient (sum of atropinic burden scores). Interrupted time series were used to analyze the impact of market withdrawal of some drugs with atropinic properties during the period of the study. The number of patients ≥65 years registered in the EGB ranged from 75 611 in 2006 to 95 389 in 2015. Atropinic prevalence rate decreased significantly from 45.6% in 2006 to 33.2% in 2015 (?12.4%, slope significance P < 0.05). Subjects aged ≥85 years were the most exposed. Total atropinic burden decreased significantly between 2006 and 2015 (2.2 ± 1.7 in 2006; 2.0 ± 1.5 in 2015; slope significance P < 0.05), especially in patients ≥85 years. Market withdrawals for safety reasons of some atropinic drugs were significantly associated with a decrease in the atropinic prevalence rate (P < 0.05) and atropinic burden per patient (P < 0.05). In conclusion, atropinic drug exposure in the elderly significantly decreased in France between 2006 and 2015. This decrease can be partly explained by regulatory measures against some atropinic drugs.     

Variants and new entities of bladder cancer

Pathological evaluation of bladder cancer typically reveals great tumour heterogeneity, and therefore the common observation of urothelial carcinoma exhibiting a wide variety of histopathological patterns is not surprising. Some of these patterns are so distinctive that they have been recognised as specific variants of urothelial carcinoma. Classifications have recently been revised in the 2016 World Health Organisation (WHO) classification of tumours of the urinary system and male genital organs. The current WHO classifications clarify terminological issues and provide better definition criteria, but also incorporate some new entities. Many of these variants have important prognostic or therapeutic implications worth knowing by the urologist and oncologist, but also represent diagnostic challenges in daily pathology practice. This review will discuss the features of variants of urothelial carcinoma in the context of our current clinical practice. Histological variations and new entities of bladder cancer not included in the current WHO classification of urothelial tumours will be briefly discussed.     

Combining different assays and chemical analysis to characterize the genotoxicity of waters impacted by textile discharges

Waters receiving textile discharges can exhibit genotoxic and mutagenic activity, which has been related to the presence of dyes and aromatic amines as synthesis precursors or byproducts. The aim of this study was to identify dyes and aromatic amines in water samples impacted by textile discharges, and to evaluate the genotoxic responses of these samples using the Salmonella/microsome assay in strains TA98 and YG1041, and the Fpg‐modified comet assay in the RTL‐W1 fish cell line. The genotoxicity of river samples downstream of the discharge was greater than the upstream samples in both of the Ames tests. The Fpg‐modified comet assay detected similar levels of DNA damage in the upstream and downstream samples. Mutagenicity was not detected with TA98, except for the Quilombo River samples, but when YG1041 was used as the tester strain mutagenicity was detected for all sites with a very different profile in upstream sites relative to the other sites. The mutagenic response strongly indicated that aromatic amines or dyes were contributing to the mutagenic activity downstream. The impact of textile discharges was also confirmed by chemical analysis, because the highest concentrations of azo dyes and aromatic amines were detected in the river downstream. This study shows the value of combining assays measuring complementary endpoints to better characterize the mutagenicity of environmental samples, with the advantage that this approach provides an indication of what classes of compounds are responsible for the effect. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 57:559–571, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A critical review of the effects of wearable cameras on memory

The rise of “lifelogging” in this era of rapid technological innovation has led to great interest in whether or not such technologies could be used to rehabilitate memory. Despite the growing number of studies using lifelogging, such as with wearable cameras, there is a lack of a theoretical framework to support its effective use. The present review focuses on the use of wearable cameras. We propose that wearable cameras can be particularly effective for memory rehabilitation if they can evoke more than a mere familiarity with previous stimuli, and reinstate previous thoughts, feelings and sensory information: recollection. Considering that, in memory impairment, self-initiated processes to reinstate previous encoding conditions are compromised, we invoke the environmental support hypothesis as a theoretical motivation. Twenty-five research studies were included in this review. We conclude that, despite the general acceptance of the value of wearable cameras as a memory rehabilitation technique, only a small number of studies have focused on recollection. We highlight a set of methodological issues that should be considered for future research, including sample size, control condition used, and critical measures of memory and other domains. We conclude by suggesting that research should focus on the theory-driven measure of efficacy described in this review, so that lifelogging technologies can contribute to memory rehabilitation in a meaningful and effective manner.     

Interplay between the QseC and QseE Bacterial Adrenergic Sensor Kinases in Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium Pathogenesis

The bacterial adrenergic sensor kinases QseC and QseE respond to epinephrine and/or norepinephrine to initiate a complex phosphorelay regulatory cascade that modulates virulence gene expression in several pathogens. We have previously shown that QseC activates virulence gene expression in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. Here we report the role of QseE in S. Typhimurium pathogenesis as well as the interplay between these two histidine sensor kinases in gene regulation. An S. Typhimurium qseE mutant is hampered in the invasion of epithelial cells and intramacrophage replication. The ΔqseC strain is highly attenuated for intramacrophage survival but has only a minor defect in invasion. However, the ΔqseEC strain has only a slight attenuation in invasion, mirroring the ΔqseC strain, and has an intermediary intramacrophage replication defect in comparison to the ΔqseE and ΔqseC strains. The expressions of the sipA and sopB genes, involved in the invasion of epithelial cells, are activated by epinephrine via QseE. The expression levels of these genes are still decreased in the ΔqseEC double mutant, albeit to a lesser extent, congruent with the invasion phenotype of this mutant. The expression level of the sifA gene, important for intramacrophage replication, is decreased in the qseE mutant and the ΔqseEC double mutant grown in vitro. However, as previously reported by us, the epinephrine-dependent activation of this gene occurs via QseC. In the systemic model of S. Typhimurium infection of BALB/c mice, the qseC and qseE mutants are highly attenuated, while the double mutant has an intermediary phenotype. Altogether, these data suggest that both adrenergic sensors play an important role in modulating several aspects of S. Typhimurium pathogenesis.