MATERNAL ANEMIA AND POSTPARTUM WEIGHT CHANGE ASSOCIATED WITH DECREASED MATERNAL-INFANT INTERACTION IN A RURAL KENYAN POPULATION

Associations between maternal nutritional factors including energy intake, body mass index, postpartum weight change, and anemia status and maternal-infant interactions were examined in 124 mother-infant pairs from a marginally malnourished, rural Kenyan population. Anemic mothers spent less time holding and caring for their infants than nonanemic mothers. Mothers who retained their pregnancy weight gain or were able to gain weight postpartum spent more time looking at their infants than mothers who lost weight postpartum. Maternal food intake per se was not associated with patterns of infant interaction. Lower birth weight infants were held more, cared for more, and looked at face-to-face more by their mothers. Older sisters tended to be more involved in infant interactions with higher birth weight infants.     

Correction: Phase I clinical study of the recombinant antibody-toxin scFv(FRP5)-ETA specific for the ErbB2/HER2 receptor in patients with advanced solid malignomas

Overcoming dendritic cell (DC) dysfunction is a prerequisite for successful active immunotherapy against breast cancer. CD40 ligand (CD40L), a key molecule in the interface between T-lymphocytes and DCs, seems to be instrumental in achieving that goal. Commenting on our data that CD40L protects circulating DCs from apoptosis induced by breast tumor products, Lenahan and Avigan highlighted the potential of CD40L for immunotherapy. We expand on that argument by pointing to additional findings that CD40L not only rescues genuine DCs but also functionally improves populations of immature antigen-presenting cells that fill the DC compartment in patients with breast cancer.     

Another new organ! is this a golden age of discovery in anatomy?

Twice in fifteen months the popular press has published reports of the discovery of a new human organ. The claims that the mesentery and interstitium are organs come from medical practitioners, not from anatomical scientists. Although both of these anatomical entities are important in the functioning of the body, neither satisfies the requirements that an organ be composed of two or more tissues and perform a special function. Also missing in the recent claim that the interstitium, that is, connective tissues with fluid‐filled spaces, is an organ, is a statement to that effect in the original research report. Alas, it appears to be much ado about nothing. Clin. Anat. 31:648–649, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Transgendered and re‐flected borrowed Greek nouns in anatomical Latin

In this survey, almost 30 borrowed words in anatomical Latin were found to differ from the original Greek noun in gender and/or inflection. A third of these cases were judged to be errors. The rest are long‐standing or widely‐accepted exceptions to the usual adoption rules for borrowed Greek words. Possible linguistic explanations for these exceptions are presented. Clin. Anat. 31:306–309, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

An electrophysiological investigation of discourse coherence in healthy adults

This study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate discourse-coherence processing. Because there are scant data on ERP indices of discourse coherence in typical adults, it is important to study a non-clinical population before examining clinical populations. Twelve adults listened to a story with sentences in a coherent versus incoherent order. Sequences of nonsense syllables served as a control. ERPs in the 200–400?ms time window, reflecting phonological and lexical processing, and in the 600–900?ms time window, reflecting later discourse processing for integration, were investigated. Results revealed a right anterior and posterior positivity that was greater for coherent than for incoherent discourse during the 600–900?ms time window. These findings point to an index of discourse coherence and further suggest that ERPs can be used as a clinical tool to study discourse-processing disorders in populations with brain damage, such as aphasia and traumatic brain injury.     

Improving the U.S. EPA toxic release inventory database for environmental health research

In 1986, Congress passed the Emergency Planning and Community Right‐to‐Know Act (EPCRA) in response to the tragic death of thousands of people in Bhopal, India, following the accidental release of the toxic gas methyl isocyanate (MIC) from a Union Carbide facility. As a component of EPCRA, certain manufacturers are required to report annually the total mass (pounds per year, 1b/yr) of toxic chemicals released into the environment (air, water, land, or underground injection), treated on‐site, or shipped off‐site for further waste treatment. This information is compiled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) into a publicly accessible database known as the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). The TRI database is designed to encourage pollution prevention and waste reduction by increasing public access to and knowledge of environmental chemical releases. EPCRA has been generally considered by industry, government, and community representatives as one of the most successful environmental laws in U.S. history. Over the past few years, EPA has initiated a three‐phased expansion to EPCRA reporting requirements that will enhance the overall usefulness of the TRI database. The focus of this article is to discuss these changes and highlight several current uses of the TRI database in environmental health research.