A call for action to support best practices in evaluation of comprehensive tobacco control evaluation strategies

The National Tobacco Control Best Practices Working Group convened a two-day workshop to support best practices in evaluation of comprehensive tobacco control strategies. A Better Practices Model, aimed at developing a self-correcting system for best practices, guided the workshop content and process. Organizers intended to identify a common surveillance and monitoring framework for tobacco control strategies in Canada by first building strong working relationships between 44 decision-makers, practitioners and researchers from 12 Canadian jurisdictions. Participants identified needs and recommendations related to increased understanding and use of uniform evaluation strategies, building capacity, and recognition of the complexity of the task of evaluating comprehensive tobacco control strategies. The workshop highlighted the need for increased communication to facilitate understanding across the different sectors of participants. It also identified the potential benefits of harmonization in evaluation of tobacco control strategies across jurisdictions. Priority actions include forming a national team to agree on a model for evaluation, conducting an environmental scan for indicators, planning evaluation / monitoring and research agendas and determining roles for various stakeholders.     

Differential responses in superior mesenteric artery blood flow may explain the variant pressor responses to clonidine in two groups with sympathetic denervation.

1. Measurement of superior mesenteric artery blood flow along with systemic and regional haemodynamic changes in blood pressure, heart rate, cardiac index, forearm blood flow, digital skin blood flow and index finger temperature were made before and after administration of clonidine (2 micrograms/kg body weight intravenously) in 10 patients with multiple-system atrophy, 10 patients with pure autonomic failure and 15 age-matched healthy control subjects. 2. After clonidine, blood pressure fell in patients with multiple-system atrophy and control subjects but not in patients with pure autonomic failure. 3. Resting superior mesenteric artery blood flow was similar in patients with multiple-system atrophy and control subjects, but was higher in patients with pure autonomic failure. The fall in blood pressure after clonidine was accompanied by active dilatation of the superior mesenteric artery in patients with multiple-system atrophy and control subjects. This did not occur in patients with pure autonomic failure. 4. After clonidine, there was a fall in cardiac index in patients with multiple-system atrophy. 5. After clonidine, changes in other haemodynamic parameters were not significant in any group, except for a fall in forearm blood flow and a rise in index finger temperature in control subjects. 6. We conclude that after clonidine there are differential superior mesenteric artery blood flow responses in the two groups with autonomic failure (multiple-system atrophy and pure autonomic failure). These may relate to differences in the site of the sympathetic lesion, which is considered to be mainly central in multiple-system atrophy but peripheral in pure autonomic failure.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Urinary concentrations of permethrin metabolites in US Army personnel in comparison with the US adult population,occupationally exposed cohorts,and other general populations

Permethrin is used to treat clothing as a personal protective measure against insect bites in military and recreational settings, and along with other pyrethroid insecticides, is sprayed in agricultural and residential sites for pest control. The widespread use of permethrin and other pyrethroid insecticides creates a potential for human exposure in occupational and non-occupational populations. This study aims to compare urinary biomarkers of pyrethroid exposure in two US military cohorts to the general US adult population from the 2009–2010 Nutritional Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Additional comparisons are made to previously published biomonitoring data from occupational and population cohort studies.Urine samples from two US military cohorts were analyzed for 3 permethrin metabolites: 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA), and cis- and trans-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)-2,2-dimethylcyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (DCCA). Biomarker concentrations were adjusted for creatinine. Geometric means were calculated and then compared to creatinine-adjusted concentrations of 3-PBA and trans-DCCA in US adults (aged 20–59) using data collected as part of the 2009–2010 NHANES. Sex- and race-standardized geometric means were calculated separately for each of the US military groups using the demographic distributions from NHANES 2009–2010. Data from other military, occupational, and non-occupational population studies were extracted from the literature for further comparison.The two US military cohorts’ geometric mean values, non-standardized and standardized, were markedly higher than what was observed in the general US adult population. Biomarkers of permethrin exposure were detected at a high frequency in military personnel wearing treated uniforms (90–100%). Detection rates of these biomarkers were similarly high in other studies of occupational exposure (67–100%) to pyrethroid insecticides.Adjusting for creatinine, the concentrations observed in the military groups were generally higher than levels seen in the general US adult population (NHANES, 2009–2010), other occupational groups (e.g., farmworkers, flight attendants, and pest control workers), and population cohorts from other countries.     

Alcohol ingestion lowers supine blood pressure,causes splanchnic vasodilatation and worsens postural hypotension in primary autonomic failure

Patients with pure autonomic failure (PAF) and multiple system atrophy (MSA) may complain of feeling lightheaded after alcohol ingestion particularly on assumption of the upright posture. The reasons for this have not been investigated. We therefore studied the effects of oral alcohol (40% vodka in sugar-free orange juice) and placebo (juice only) on the systemic and regional (including superior mesenteric artery, SMA) blood flow in nine patients with PAF and six patients with MSA. After alcohol, there was a fall in supine blood pressure (BP) and vasodilatation in the SMA but no change in cardiac output, or forearm muscle and cutaneous blood flow in either PAF or MSA; BP fell further during head-up tilt with no changes in levels of plasma catecholamines. After placebo, there were no changes while supine. We conclude that alcohol lowers supine BP and dilates the SMA with no change in muscle or cutaneous blood flow. Alcohol also enhances the fall in BP during head-up tilt. This may explain the symptoms experienced by PAF and MSA patients after alcohol.     

Online repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to the parietal operculum disrupts haptic memory for grasping

The parietal operculum (OP) contains haptic memory on the geometry of objects that is readily transferrable to the motor cortex but a causal role of OP in memory‐guided grasping is only speculative. We explored this issue by using online high‐frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). The experimental task was performed by blindfolded participants acting on objects of variable size. Trials consisted in three phases: haptic exploration of an object, delay, and reach‐grasp movement onto the explored object. Motor performance was evaluated by the kinematics of finger aperture. Online rTMS was applied to the left OP region separately in each of the three phases of the task. The results showed that rTMS altered grip aperture only when applied in the delay phase to the OP. In a second experiment a haptic discriminative (match‐to‐sample) task was carried out on objects similar to those used in the first experiment. Online rTMS was applied to the left OP. No psychophysical effects were induced by rTMS on the detection of explicit haptic object size. We conclude that neural activity in the OP region is necessary for proficient memory‐guided haptic grasping. The function of OP seems to be critical while maintaining the haptic memory trace and less so while encoding it or retrieving it. Hum Brain Mapp 36:4262–4271, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc .     

LYM2-dependent chitin perception limits molecular flux via plasmodesmata

Chitin acts as a pathogen-associated molecular pattern from fungal pathogens whose perception triggers a range of defense responses. We show that LYSIN MOTIF DOMAIN-CONTAINING GLYCOSYLPHOSPHATIDYLINOSITOL-ANCHORED PROTEIN 2 (LYM2), the Arabidopsis homolog of a rice chitin receptor-like protein, mediates a reduction in molecular flux via plasmodesmata in the presence of chitin. For this response, lym2-1 mutants are insensitive to the presence of chitin, but not to the flagellin derivative flg22. Surprisingly, the chitin-recognition receptor CHITIN ELCITOR RECEPTOR KINASE 1 (CERK1) is not required for chitin-induced changes to plasmodesmata flux, suggesting that there are at least two chitin-activated response pathways in Arabidopsis and that LYM2 is not required for CERK1-mediated chitin-triggered defense responses, indicating that these pathways are independent. In accordance with a role in the regulation of intercellular flux, LYM2 is resident at the plasma membrane and is enriched at plasmodesmata. Chitin-triggered regulation of molecular flux between cells is required for defense responses against the fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea, and thus we conclude that the regulation of symplastic continuity and molecular flux between cells is a vital component of chitin-triggered immunity in Arabidopsis.