Drunken driving and riding with a drunken driver: adolescent types at higher risk

Abstract

The leading cause of death of adolescents in developed countries is injury. Alcohol is a major contributor to adolescent injury. Most of the injury deaths in youth are caused by traffic crashes. Driving under the influence (DUI) and riding with a driver who is under the influence (RUI) of alcohol increase the risk of road crash. The focus of this study is how adolescents’ risk of DUI and RUI differ in relation to their experience of parental control and peer pressure to substance use, other risky behaviours and leisure time activities. The analyses are based on data from the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs collected from 15- to 16-year-old Finnish adolescents in 2015 (n?=?4049, response rate 88.7%). The study shows that problems tend to entangle in some adolescent groups in which DUI and RUI are also more common. Adolescents with higher probability of using various substances, of starting alcohol use at young age, of experiencing weak parental control, and high peer pressure are at higher risk of DUI and RUI. The results indicate that professionals and authorities handling underage DUI and RUI ought to consider adolescents’ situation as a whole.     

Evidence of sustained skeletal benefits from impact-loading exercise in young females: a 3-year longitudinal study.

The skeletal effects from intensive exercise throughout puberty are undefined. Forty-five female gymnasts and 52 controls were studied over 3 years, including a heredity aspect. The effects of size, maturity, exercise, and diet were identified using a multilevel regression model. Results demonstrated sustained skeletal benefits resulting from exercise throughout all stages of pubertal development. INTRODUCTION: Weight-bearing exercise is beneficial for peak bone mass development. However, whether skeletal benefits achieved with exercise are maintained if training remains intensive throughout the pubertal years is not entirely clear. The influence of familial resemblance for bone mass remains undefined in physically active versus inactive children. The aim of this study was to investigate the long-term influences of impact-loading exercise on bone quantity and quality in young females after controlling for growth, maturation, and hereditary factors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: At baseline, 45 gymnasts (G) and 52 normally active controls (C) 8-17 years of age were recruited. Anthropometry, diet, physical activity, and quantitative ultrasound (QUS) were measured annually for 3 consecutive years. DXA scans of total body (TB) and lumbar spine (LS) bone mineral content (BMC) and density (BMD) were taken three times at 1-year intervals. A multilevel regression model was fitted, and the independent effects of body size, maturity, physical activity, and diet were identified over time. To assess heredity influences, 27 G mothers and 26 C mothers volunteered for cross-sectional measurements of anthropometry, QUS, and BMC/BMD. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Gymnasts were smaller and lighter (as were their mothers) than controls, but they had significantly higher QUS and axial and appendicular BMC and BMD, with > 170 g more bone mineral in TB across puberty (after adjustment for maturity [years from peak height velocity], height, weight, energy, and protein intake). Gymnasts had up to 24-51% higher BMC and 13-28% higher BMD, depending on skeletal site. These results provide evidence of sustained skeletal benefits from impact-loading exercise, which are unlikely to result entirely from heredity, throughout pubertal years.     

P-fimbriae vaccines

To test for cross-protective capacity of two different P-fimbriae vaccines we vaccinated baboons with fimbriae purified from either Escherichia coli strain ER2 or strain JR1. The vaccinated animals showed elevated antibody titers to P-fimbriae from each of the E. coli strains used, suggesting cross-reactivity as was expected from the results of immunoprecipitation of the fimbriae. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay inhibition by heterologous P-fimbriae proved this to be true immunologic cross-reactivity.     

Depression-executive dysfunction syndrome in stroke patients.

OBJECTIVE: It has been suggested that executive dysfunction could be the core defect in patients with geriatric or vascular depression, and that this depression-dysexecutive syndrome (DES) might be related to frontal-subcortical circuit dysfunction. The authors tested this hypothesis in 158 poststroke patients, of whom 21 had both depression and executive dysfunction. Methods: In this cross-sectional cohort study, a neurological, psychiatric, and neuropsychological examination was carried out 3 months after ischemic stroke, and brain infarcts, white-matter changes, and brain atrophy were recorded by MRI. RESULTS: The 21 patients with DES had significantly more brain infarcts affecting their frontal-subcortical circuit structures than the 137 patients without DES, or the 41 patients with depression but without executive dysfunction. Patients with DES also had more severe depressive symptoms and worse psychosocial functioning, and they coped less well in complex activities of daily living. CONCLUSIONS: DES is a valid concept and may define a subgroup of poststroke patients with frontal-subcortical pathology and with distinct prognosis and treatment options.     

Ophthalmic findings in dyslexic schoolchildren.

The ophthalmic findings of 55 dyslexic 12 to 13-year-old Finnish schoolchildren and 50 age, sex, and social class-matched control children were evaluated. On a neuropsychological basis the children could be divided into six subgroups: general deficiency, general language, visuomotor, naming, mixed, and normal. The two groups did not differ significantly from each other in visual acuity, cycloplegic refraction, the amount of phorias and tropias, stereo acuity, fusion, or accommodation. Convergence near point > or = 8 cm was, however, statistically more frequent in the dyslexic group. This finding was also significant in the general deficiency subgroup compared with the other subgroups. The most conspicuous common denominator in those with dyslexia was revealed to be the convergence insufficiency type of exodeviation, occurring in 38% of the general deficiency dyslexic subgroup and in 36% of the visuomotor dyslexic subgroup. This finding suggests a low accommodative convergence/accommodation ratio in these children.     

Auditory event-related potentials and cognitive function of preterm children at five years of age.

OBJECTIVE: In our previous study, auditory event-related potentials (AERPs) in preterm 1-year-old children had a positive deflection at 150-350 ms that correlated positively with their 2-year neurodevelopmental outcome. In a study of the same subjects at age 5, our aim was to assess AERPs and their relationship to neuropsychological test results. METHODS: Preterm small (SGA, n=13), appropriate for gestational age (AGA, n=15), and control (n=13) children were assessed with an Easy paradigm presenting a large frequency change accompanied with occasional novel sounds, and a Challenging paradigm presenting small frequency and duration changes with a rapid rate. The preterm children underwent neurocognitive tests. RESULTS: Easy paradigm. The P1 response to frequency deviant was smaller and MMN larger in the preterm than in the control children. Challenging paradigm. The P1 response to standard, frequency, and duration deviants was smaller in the preterm than in the control children. The N2 response to frequency deviant was larger in the preterm than in the control children. AGA and SGA children had similar AERPs. The P1, N2, and MMN amplitudes correlated with verbal IQ and NEPSY language subtests. CONCLUSIONS: Small P1 response(s) appears to be typical for preterm children. SIGNIFICANCE: Small P1 response in preterm children may suggest altered primary auditory processing.     

Probing the ability of the coat and vertex protein of the membrane-containing bacteriophage PRD1 to display a meningococcal epitope

Bacteriophage PRD1 is an icosahedral dsDNA virus with a diameter of 740 A and an outer protein shell composed of 720 copies of major coat protein P3. Spike complexes at the vertices are composed of a pentameric base (protein P31) and a spike structure (proteins P5 and P2) where the N-terminal region of the trimeric P5 is associated with the base and the C-terminal region of P5 is associated with receptor-binding protein P2. The functionality of proteins P3 and P5 was investigated using insertions and deletions. It was observed that P3 did not tolerate changes whereas P5 tolerated changes much more freely. These properties support the hypothesis that viruses have core structures and functions, which remain stable over time, as well as other elements, responsible for host interactions, which are evolutionally more fluid. The insertional probe used was the apex of exposed loop 4 of group B meningococcal outer membrane protein PorA, a medically important subunit vaccine candidate. It was demonstrated that the epitope could be displayed on the virus surface as part of spike protein P5.     

Importance of the superficial tissue layer for the indentation stiffness of articular cartilage

Indentation testing is a widely used technique for nondestructive mechanical analysis of articular cartilage. Although cartilage shows an inhomogeneous, layered structure with anisotropic mechanical properties, most theoretical indentation models assume material homogeneity and isotropy. In the present study, quantitative polarized light microscopy (PLM) measurements from canine cartilage were utilized to characterize thickness and structure of the superficial, collageneous tissue layer as well as to reveal its relation to experimental indentation measurements. In addition to experimental analyses, a layered, transversely isotropic finite element (FE) model was developed and the effect of superficial (tangential) tissue layer with high elastic modulus in the direction parallel to articular surface on the indentation response was studied. The experimental indentation stiffness was positively correlated with the relative thickness of the superficial cartilage layer. Also the optical retardation, which reflects the degree of parallel organization of collagen fibrils as well as collagen content, was related to indentation stiffness. FE results indicated effective stiffening of articular cartilage under indentation due to high transverse modulus of the superficial layer. The present results suggest that indentation testing is an efficient technique for the characterization of the superficial degeneration of articular cartilage.