Moderators of the association between peer and target adolescent substance use

Associating with substance using peers is generally considered as one of the most important predictors of adolescent substance use. However, peer association does not affect all adolescents in the same way. To better understand when and under what conditions peer association is most linked with adolescent substance use (SU), this review focuses on the factors that may operate as moderators of this association. The review highlighted several potential moderators reflecting adolescents' individual characteristics (e.g., pubertal status, genes and personality), peer and parental factors (e.g., nature of relationships and parental monitoring), and contextual factors (e.g., peer, school and neighborhood context). As peer association is a broad concept, important methodological aspects were also addressed in order to illustrate how they can potentially bias interpretation. Taking these into account, we suggest that, while the effects of some moderators are clear (e.g., parental monitoring and sensation seeking), others are less straightforward (e.g., neighborhood) and need to be further examined. This review also provides recommendations for addressing different methodological concerns in the study of moderators, including: the use of longitudinal and experimental studies and the use of mediated moderation. These will be key for developing theory and effective prevention.     

Multimodal and palliative treatment of patients with pulmonary metastases

Pulmonary metastasectomy has become an important part of the multimodality treatment. Surgical practice is based on observational studies published during the last decades, since no randomized clinical trials exist on the topic. However, the overall survival can be improved after pulmonary metastasectomy in carefully selected patients. The objective of resection of pulmonary metastases is to remove all tumor while preserving as much normal pulmonary parenchyma as possible and reduce invasiveness. Contrary, nonsurgical local treatment options for pulmonary metastases include thermal ablation techniques and stereotactic ablative body radiation. Thermal ablation techniques include microwave, cryotherapy and radiofrequency ablation. The present review article gives an overview on the topic and should help thoracic surgeons to make the right decisions in their daily practice.     

EPZ011989, A Potent,Orally-Available EZH2 Inhibitor with Robust in Vivo Activity

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Norovirus antivirals: Where are we now?

Human noroviruses inflict a significant health burden on society and are responsible for approximately 699 million infections and over 200 000 estimated deaths worldwide each year. Yet despite significant research efforts, approved vaccines or antivirals to combat this pathogen are still lacking. Safe and effective antivirals are not available, particularly for chronically infected immunocompromised individuals, and for prophylactic applications to protect high-risk and vulnerable populations in outbreak settings. Since the discovery of human norovirus in 1972, the lack of a cell culture system has hindered biological research and antiviral studies for many years. Recent breakthroughs in culturing human norovirus have been encouraging, however, further development and optimization of these novel methodologies are required to facilitate more robust replication levels, that will enable reliable serological and replication studies, as well as advances in antiviral development. In the last few years, considerable progress has been made toward the development of norovirus antivirals, inviting an updated review. This review focuses on potential therapeutics that have been reported since 2010, which were examined across at least two model systems used for studying human norovirus or its enzymes. In addition, we have placed emphasis on antiviral compounds with a defined chemical structure. We include a comprehensive outline of direct-acting antivirals and offer a discussion of host-modulating compounds, a rapidly expanding and promising area of antiviral research.     

AKR Murine Leukemia Virus Genome: Frequency of Sequences in DNA of High-, Low-, and Non-Virus-Yielding Mouse Strains

Studies with a single-stranded DNA probe complementary to the RNA of mouse-tropic AKR murine leukemia virus indicate that the complete genome of the AKR-type murine leukemia virus is present in the DNA of high- and low-virus-yielding mouse strains, while DNA of non-virus-yielding strains contains only a part of the genome. Furthermore, in those strains where the genome is complete, two populations of virus-specific DNA sequences can be identified (more abundant and less abundant species) according to their rate of association with the probe. Low-virus-yielding mouse strains contain fewer copies of the less abundant species and, consequently, fewer complete viral genomes than do high-virus-yielding strains. Thus, in the ten strains tested, there is a good correlation between completeness of the genome of AKR-type murine leukemia virus in cellular DNA and the capacity of the cells to release infectious AKR-type murine leukemia virus. Moreover, the number of complete viral genomes correlates with the frequency of infectious virus production by virus-positive strains. DNA from wild Mus musculus also contained viral sequences, the sample tested showing reassociation kinetics identical to the non-virus-producing strains.     

The Relationship Between Discrimination and High-Risk Social Ties by Race/Ethnicity: Examining Social Pathways of HIV Risk

High-risk social ties portend differences in opportunity for HIV exposures and may contribute to racial/ethnic disparities in HIV transmission. Discrimination may affect the formation of high-risk social ties and has not been explored as a possible explanation for these persistent disparities. Using data from injection and non-injection drug users, we examined the association between the number of high-risk sex and drug ties with discrimination due to race, drug use, and incarceration stratified by race/ethnicity. Negative binomial regression models were used. While blacks had significantly fewer injecting ties than Latinos and whites, blacks who reported racial discrimination compared to blacks who did not, had more sex and injecting ties. Latinos who reported drug use discrimination compared to Latinos who did not also had more sex ties. Latinos and whites who reported drug use discrimination had more injecting ties than Latinos and whites who did not. Discrimination is associated with high-risk social ties among all racial/ethnic groups. But, these data highlight different forms of discrimination within racial/ethnic group are associated with risky social ties. More research is needed to confirm these findings and further explore the association between various forms of discrimination and social ties that may help explain racial/ethnic disparities in HIV.     

Vitamin D deficiency and adult asthma exacerbations

Objectives: There is growing evidence indicating a connection between vitamin D deficiency and the severity of asthma exacerbations. This study seeks to assess the relationship between vitamin D deficiency and the number and severity of asthma exacerbation in adults. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted in 92 patients being treated for asthma at the University of New Mexico Adult Asthma Clinic. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 levels were analyzed in adults with mild to severe persistent asthma. Using multi-variant modeling, the relationship was examined between serum vitamin D levels and the odds of asthma exacerbations ranging in severity from moderate to severe over the span of five years. Results: This study demonstrates that vitamin D sufficiency was significantly associated with a decreased total number of asthma exacerbations (incidence rate ratio [IRR]: 0.61, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.44–0.84, p?=?0.002), decreased total severe asthma exacerbations (IRR: 0.41, 95% CI: 0.24–0.72, p?=?0.002) and decreased emergency room visits (IRR: 0.42, 95% CI: 0.20–0.88, p?=?0.023). Conclusion: Vitamin D deficiency may be linked to the risk of severe asthma exacerbations in adults.     

Inter-laboratory study on standardized MPS libraries: evaluation of performance,concordance, and sensitivity using mixtures and degraded DNA

International Journal of Legal Medicine - We present results from an inter-laboratory massively parallel sequencing (MPS) study in the framework of the SeqForSTRs project to evaluate forensically...