Does breastfeeding at six months predict cognitive development?

There is controversy over whether the method of feeding in infancy affects intellectual development. We investigated the relationship between breastfeeding status at 6 months of age and long-term cognitive development in a cohort of 375 children born in Port Pirie, South Australia, between 1979 and 1982. Cognitive assessments were conducted at ages 2, 4, 7 and 11 to 13 years. After adjustment for sociodemographic, environmental and biomedical factors, a small, statistically non-significant, beneficial effect of breastfeeding on cognitive functioning was observed. Compared with the bottle-fed children, the breast-fed children had a 3.4 (95% C1 -0.1 to 6.9), 1.3 (-2.3 to 4.9), 1.2 (-2.0 to 4.4) and 0.8 (-1.9 to 3.5) point advantage on the Bayley Mental Developmental Index at age 2 years, the McCarthy General Cognitive Index at age 4 years and the Wechsler Full-Scale IQ at ages 7 and 11 to 13 years, respectively. Our data suggest that any beneficial effect of breastfeeding on cognitive development is quite small in magnitude.     

基膜聚糖基因在侵袭转移子宫内膜癌组织中的表达

目的探讨不同侵袭、转移性的子宫内膜癌组织中基膜聚糖基因(Lumican)的表达差异性。方法选取48例子宫内膜癌以及正常内膜组织,采用半定量RT-PCR及Western blot分别检测LumicanmRNA及蛋白表达水平,SPSS 13.0软件包统计分析Lumican在不同侵袭、转移性的子宫内膜癌组织中的表达差异性。结果 Lumican mRNA及蛋白在内膜癌组织中表达明显低于正常内膜组织[(0.54±0.042)vs.(0.87±0.035);(0.42±0.026)vs.(0.83±0.037)],且表达水平间的差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。48例子宫内膜癌组织中,子宫浅肌层侵犯组(22例)、子宫深肌层侵犯组(11例)或宫颈及宫旁侵犯组(11例)、淋巴结转移组(4例)四组之间组织中Lumican mRNA及蛋白表达差异有统计学意义(P<0.05);子宫深肌层侵犯与宫颈及宫旁侵犯组之间Lumican表达差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)。结论 Lumican在子宫内膜癌组织中表达水平下调;Lumican的表达与子宫内膜癌组织侵袭、转移性负相关。Lumican的低表达可能参与子宫内膜癌的侵袭、转移恶性生物学行为过程。     

Socio-environmental predictors of Barmah forest virus transmission in coastal areas, Queensland, Australia

Objective  To assess the socio-environmental predictors of Barmah forest virus (BFV) transmission in coastal areas, Queensland, Australia.
Methods  Data on BFV notified cases, climate, tidal levels and socioeconomic index for area (SEIFA) in six coastal cities, Queensland, for the period 1992–2001 were obtained from the relevant government agencies. Negative binomial regression models were used to assess the socio-environmental predictors of BFV transmission.
Results  The results show that maximum and minimum temperature, rainfall, relative humidity, high and low tide were statistically significantly associated with BFV incidence at lags 0–2 months. The fitted negative binomial regression models indicate a significant independent association of each of maximum temperature (β = 0.139, P  = 0.000), high tide (β = 0.005, P  = 0.000) and SEIFA index (β = −0.010, P  = 0.000) with BFV transmission after adjustment for confounding variables.
Conclusions  The transmission of BFV disease in Queensland coastal areas seemed to be determined by a combination of local social and environmental factors. The model developed in this study may have applications in the control and prevention of BFV disease in these areas.     

青年人胃癌119例临床与内镜及病理特点分析

目的探讨青年人胃癌的临床、内镜及病理特点.方法 1986年1月至2004年8月间我院确诊≤35岁的青年人胃癌119例,对其临床、内镜及病理特征进行总结分析.结果青年人胃癌随着年龄的增长发病率增高,男性多于女性,但≤30岁患者女性多于男性;临床表现缺乏特异性,易与慢性胃炎和溃疡病相混淆,易延误诊断,临床晚期癌多见;内镜受检率较低,以BorrmannⅢ型多见;病理组织学分化差,恶性程度高.结论提高对青年人胃癌的认识,重视胃病检查,特别是胃镜检查,做到早期诊断、早期治疗,是改善预后的     

Bayesian Spatiotemporal Analysis of Socio-Ecologic Drivers of Ross River Virus Transmission in Queensland,Australia

This study aims to examine the impact of socio-ecologic factors on the transmission of Ross River virus (RRV) infection and to identify areas prone to social and ecologic-driven epidemics in Queensland, Australia. We used a Bayesian spatiotemporal conditional autoregressive model to quantify the relationship between monthly variation of RRV incidence and socio-ecologic factors and to determine spatiotemporal patterns. Our results show that the average increase in monthly RRV incidence was 2.4% (95% credible interval (CrI): 0.1–4.5%) and 2.0% (95% CrI: 1.6–2.3%) for a 1°C increase in monthly average maximum temperature and a 10 mm increase in monthly average rainfall, respectively. A significant spatiotemporal variation and interactive effect between temperature and rainfall on RRV incidence were found. No association between Socio-economic Index for Areas (SEIFA) and RRV was observed. The transmission of RRV in Queensland, Australia appeared to be primarily driven by ecologic variables rather than social factors.     

Mosquito species (Diptera: Culicidae) and the transmission of Ross River virus in Brisbane, Australia

This study aimed to identify the major mosquito vectors of Ross River virus (family Togaviridae, genus Alphavirus, RRV) and to explore the threshold of mosquito abundance necessary for RRV transmission in Brisbane, Australia. Data on the monthly counts of RRV cases by statistical local areas from the Queensland Health and the monthly mosquito abundance in Brisbane between November 1998 and December 2001 from the Brisbane City Council were used to assess the pairwise relationship between mosquito abundance and the incidence of RRV disease over a range of time lags using cross-correlations. We used time series Poisson regression models to identify major mosquito species associated with incidence of RRV after adjusting for overdispersion, maximum temperature, autocorrelation, and seasonality. Our results show that Aedes vigilax (Skuse) (relative risk [RR] = 1.32; 95% CI = 1.01-1.74 per 100 mosquitoes per trap) and Culex annulirostris (Skuse) (RR = 1.14, 95% CI = 1.04-1.24 per 100 mosquitoes per trap) were most strongly associated with RRV transmission at a lag of 1 mo. Classification and regression tree (CART) analyses indicate that the occurrence of RRV was associated with an average monthly mosquito abundance ofAedes vigilax above 72 and Cx. annulirostris above 52. The validation analyses indicate that the crude agreement between predicted values and actual observations was 76% (sensitivity, 61%; specificity, 80%). The results may have applications as a decision support tool in planning disease control and risk-management programs.