Development and validation of the EUROFORGEN NAME (North African and Middle Eastern) ancestry panel

Inference of biogeographic origin is an important factor in clinical, population and forensic genetics. The information provided by AIMs (Ancestry Informative Markers) can allow the differentiation of major continental population groups, and several AIM panels have been developed for this purpose. However, from these major population groups, Eurasia covers a wide area between two continents that is difficult to differentiate genetically. These populations display a gradual genetic cline from West Europe to South Asia in terms of allele frequency distribution. Although differences have been reported between Europe and South Asia, Middle East populations continue to be a target of further investigations due to the lack of genetic variability, therefore hampering their genetic differentiation from neighboring populations. In the present study, a custom-built ancestry panel was developed to analyze North African and Middle Eastern populations, designated the ‘NAME’ panel. The NAME panel contains 111 SNPs that have patterns of allele frequency differentiation that can distinguish individuals originating in North Africa and the Middle East when combined with a previous set of 126 Global AIM-SNPs.     

Esophageal Surveillance Practices in Esophageal Atresia Patients: A Survey by the Eastern Pediatric Surgery Network

IntroductionEndoscopic surveillance guidelines for patients with repaired esophageal atresia (EA) rely primarily on expert opinion. Prior to embarking on a prospective EA surveillance registry, we sought to understand EA surveillance practices within the Eastern Pediatric Surgery Network (EPSN).MethodsAn anonymous, 23-question Qualtrics survey was emailed to 181 physicians (surgeons and gastroenterologists) at 19 member institutions. Likert scale questions gauged agreement with international EA surveillance guideline-derived statements. Multiple-choice questions assessed individual and institutional practices.ResultsThe response rate was 77%. Most respondents (80%) strongly agree or agree that EA surveillance endoscopy should follow a set schedule, while only 36% claimed to perform routine upper GI endoscopy regardless of symptoms. Many institutions (77%) have an aerodigestive clinic, even if some lack a multi-disciplinary EA team. Most physicians (72%) expressed strong interest in helping develop evidence-based guidelines.ConclusionsOur survey reveals physician agreement with current guidelines but weak adherence. Surveillance methods vary greatly, underscoring the lack of evidence-based data to guide EA care. Aerodigestive clinics may help implement surveillance schedules. Respondents support evidence-based protocols, which bodes well for care standardization. Results will inform the first multi-institutional EA databases in the United States (US), which will be essential for evidence-based care.Level of EvidenceThis is a prognosis study with level 4 evidence.     

Adherence to the Mediterranean diet and weight status in children: the role of parental feeding practices

Abstract

The study examines Parental Feeding Practices (PFP) in relation to adherence to the Mediterranean Diet (MD) and children’s weight status. It’s a cross-sectional study of 402 parents (68.4% mothers), with children aged 2–12 years. Parents completed the Comprehensive Parental Feeding Questionnaire and the Mediterranean Diet Quality Index for children and adolescents (KIDMED), evaluating children’s adherence to the MD. Logistic regression showed that in children aged 2–<6 years, “emotion regulation/food as reward” and “pressure” decrease MD adherence (OR?=?0.186, p?<?0.0001 and OR?=?0.496, p?=?0.004), and “monitoring” decrease excess body weight (OR?=?0.284, p?=?0.009). In older children (6–12 years), “healthy eating guidance” and “monitoring” increase MD adherence (OR?=?3.262, p?=?0.001 and OR?=?3.147, p?<?0.0001), “child control” decreases MD adherence (OR?=?0.587, p?=?0.049), “pressure” decrease excess body weight (OR?=?0.495, p?<?0.0001) and “restriction” increase excess body weight (OR?=?1.784, p?=?0.015). “Healthy eating guidance” and “monitoring” seem to be the best PFP employed, in terms of children’s MD adherence and weight status.     

基层药品不良反应监测体系建设的实践和探讨

目的 探讨基层药品不良反应监测网络建设模式,为药品不良反应监测组织体系的完善提供参考.方法 通过建立山东省基层药品不良反应监测网络的实践,研究、分析基层药品不良反应监测网络的建设模式.结果 建立了高效、快捷的三级药品不良反应监测网络,促进了山东省药品不良反应监测工作的全面发展.结论 建立健全机构设施完备、职责明确、运作规范的基层监测网络,有利于完善我国药品不良反应监测组织体系,推动药品不良反应监测工作的深入开展.     

枕骨大孔区腹侧脑膜瘤的显微手术技术探讨

目的探讨远外侧入路在治疗枕骨大孔区腹侧脑膜瘤中的应用。方法对14例脑膜瘤患者采用远外侧入路显微手术治疗,其中枕髁后入路8例,经部分枕髁入路3例,经C1、2关节面侧方联合部分枕髁入路2例,经完整枕髁入路1例。结果肿瘤全切11例,次全切除3例;1例行枕颈融合,无手术死亡病例。所有患者术后均未出现寰枕关节不稳定的症状,手术并发症主要是后组颅神经损伤、椎动脉损伤、脑脊液漏以及脑干缺血。结论远外侧入路是手术治疗下斜坡区和上段颈髓腹侧、腹外侧病变的理想入路,可以理想显露肿瘤及其基底部并减少术中出血,但手术操作比较复杂且具有一定的风险。     

Activity of telithromycin and seven other agents against 1034 pediatric Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from ten central and eastern European centers

Objective  To test the activity of telithromycin against 1034 Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from pediatric patients in ten centers from ten central and eastern European countries during 2000–2001, and to compare it with the activities of erythromycin A, azithromycin, clarithromycin, clindamycin, and quinupristin–dalfopristin.
Methods  The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of telithromycin, erythromycin A, azithromycin, clarithromycin, clindamycin, levofloxacin, quinupristin–dalfopristin and penicillin G were tested by the agar dilution method with incubation in air, and mechanisms of resistance to macrolides and quinolones were investigated.
Results  Strains were isolated from sputum, tracheal aspirates, ear, eye, blood, and cerebrospinal fluid. Among S. pneumoniae strains tested, 36% had raised penicillin G MICs (≥ 0.12 mg/L). Susceptibilities were as follows: telithromycin, quinupristin–dalfopristin and levofloxacin, ≥ 99%; clindamycin, 83%; and erythromycin A, azithromycin and clarithromycin, 78%. Of 230 (22.3%) erythromycin A-resistant S. pneumoniae strains, 176 (79.6%) had erm(B) , 38 (16.1%) had mef(A) , and 10 (4.3%) had mutations in 23S ribosomal RNA or in ribosomal protein L4. The rates of drug-resistant S. pneumoniae are high in all centers except Kaunas, Riga, and Prague.
Conclusion  Telithromycin had low MICs against all strains, irrespective of macrolide, azalide or clindamycin resistance. Ribosomal methylation was the most prevalent resistance mechanism among all resistant strains, except in Sofia, where the prevalence of the efflux mechanism was higher.     

用东方光驱魔术师管理光盘数据

文章主要介绍了中小型图书馆在现有条件下，如何利用东方光驱魔术师软件科学管理光盘数据，节省经费，方便读者使用。     

Real-time automatic extraction of lumen region and boundary from endoscopic images

A new approach to the automatic extraction of the lumen region and its boundary for gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopic images is presented. First, a quasi region of interest, the darker regions of the image, is segmented using a region splitting scheme termed progressive thresholding. The centre of mass of this segmented region acts as a seed for further processing. Then the lumen region is obtained using a region growing technique called the integrated neighbourhood search (INS). A new quad structure based technique is introduced to enhance the INS speed significantly. A back projection algorithm is suggested to optimise the search for pixels belonging to the lumen region and boundary. A boundary-thinning algorithm is also proposed to remove the redundant pixels from the lumen boundary and to generate a connected single pixel width boundary. The proposed approach does not need a priori knowledge about the image characteristics. The experimental results indicate that the proposed technique enhances the speed of conventional INS by 45.5% to 28.6% based on the lumen size varying from 22,709 pixels to 4947 pixels. The main advantage of the proposed technique is its high-speed response that facilitates real-time analysis of endoscopic images.     

Associations of Dietary Patterns with Incident Depression: The Maastricht Study

Our aim was to assess the association between a priori defined dietary patterns and incident depressive symptoms. We used data from The Maastricht Study, a population-based cohort study (n = 2646, mean (SD) age 59.9 (8.0) years, 49.5% women; 15,188 person-years of follow-up). Level of adherence to the Dutch Healthy Diet (DHD), Mediterranean Diet, and Dietary Approaches To Stop Hypertension (DASH) were derived from a validated Food Frequency Questionnaire. Depressive symptoms were assessed at baseline and annually over seven-year-follow-up (using the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire). We used Cox proportional hazards regression analyses to assess the association between dietary patterns and depressive symptoms. One standard deviation (SD) higher adherence in the DHD and DASH was associated with a lower hazard ratio (HR) of depressive symptoms with HRs (95%CI) of 0.78 (0.69–0.89) and 0.87 (0.77–0.98), respectively, after adjustment for sociodemographic and cardiovascular risk factors. After further adjustment for lifestyle factors, the HR per one SD higher DHD was 0.83 (0.73–0.96), whereas adherence to Mediterranean and DASH diets was not associated with incident depressive symptoms. Higher adherence to the DHD lowered risk of incident depressive symptoms. Adherence to healthy diet could be an effective non-pharmacological preventive measure to reduce the incidence of depression.