Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709, USA.
Epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation, due to in utero exposures may play a critical role in early programming for childhood and adult illness. Maternal smoking is a major risk factor for multiple adverse health outcomes in children, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear.
We investigated epigenome-wide methylation in cord blood of newborns in relation to maternal smoking during pregnancy.
We examined maternal plasma cotinine (an objective biomarker of smoking) measured during pregnancy in relation to DNA methylation at 473,844 CpG sites (CpGs) in 1,062 newborn cord blood samples from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) using the Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip (450K).
We found differential DNA methylation at epigenome-wide statistical significance (p-value
Acute epiglottitis is a disease with significant mortality. The patient, usually an otherwise healthy pre-school child, develops a sore throat and muffled voice from swollen supraglottic structures, and may progress rapidly to respiratory arrest. Early diagnosis and airway maintenance can prevent these fatalities. Whether to secure an airway by tracheostomy or endotracheal intubation is the subject of much discussion. Nineteen series totalling 738 cases of epiglottitis plus 11 new cases are reviewed. These patients were treated as follows: Tracheostomy = 348 (3 deaths - 0.86%); Endotracheal intubation = 216 (2 deaths - 0.92%); medical management with no artificial airway = 214 (13 deaths - 6.1%). The difference in morbidity and mortality between tracheostomy or nasotracheal intubation is so slight that the choice should be determined by local factors. Medical management with no artificial airway should not be used in children.
The effects of age, sex, and possible prior exposure to serogroup C meningococci on group C-specific antibody levels (total and functional) were examined in 2- to 19-year-olds just before and 1 and 12 months after immunization with divalent (groups A + C) meningococcal capsular polysaccharide vaccine. Only age was found to have a significant effect on antibody levels. At 1 month, only 50% of 2- to 6-year-olds had detectable serum bactericidal antibody, in contrast to 84.1% and 96.3% of 9- to 12- and 13- to 19-year-olds respectively. By 12 months, only 20%, 40.9%, and 53.8% of subjects in these age groups had serum bactericidal antibody, suggesting that current meningococcal C polysaccharide vaccines provide only short-term protection. However, the drop in total specific antibody levels (by EIA) was less pronounced. Persistence of antibodies detectable by EIA (but not serum bactericidal antibodies) suggests that this vaccine may also give rise to antibodies of low affinity or directed to nonfunctional (nonprotective) epitopes (or both).
PURPOSE: Dietary factors play an important role in the occurrence of heart disease and cancer. While American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIANs) have unique heart disease and cancer mortality profiles, little is known about the effect of diet on heart disease and cancer risk in these populations. This paper reviews existing nutritional intake data from adult AIANs, and considers the potential impact of diet on heart disease and cancer in these communities. METHODS: A review of the literature was conducted using the Medline database system and other reference materials. Studies documenting nutrient intakes only were included in this review. Studies were limited to those among healthy, non-pregnant adults. RESULTS: A total of twelve reports from 1959 to 1996 were found. Sample sizes for the studies ranged from 20 to 575 subjects. Most studies were done among women, and a variety of nutritional assessment techniques (24 hour recall, food frequency questionnaire, multiple-day food record) were used. Most studies also had limited nutrient intake data, especially for dietary fiber and vitamin E. The majority of studies reported moderately high intakes of fat and saturated fat, and low intakes of polyunsaturated fat and fiber. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the limited data, diet may play an important role in the heterogeneity of heart disease and cancer mortality in AIAN communities. More research is needed to assess the impact of diet on heart disease and cancer risk, including more longitudinal data, and data to assess the validity and reliability of traditional methods of dietary assessment.
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Comment In: Ann Epidemiol. 1997 May;7(4):227-89177103
In early 1997 an unexpectedly high number of cases of mumps was reported in Vancouver, British Columbia.
A case control study was conducted to address four objectives: 1) Describe the outbreak and the population at risk, 2) examine the impact of mumps on this population, 3) identify personal risk factors for infection, and 4) test the hypothesis that social gatherings, 'rave' parties in particular, were a risk factor in this outbreak.
Mumps infection was associated with: attending a rave party [OR = 17; 95% CI: 2.7-710], residing in Vancouver [OR = 3.7; 95% CI: 1.4-10], and contact with a person with mumps [OR = 13; 95% CI: 2-552], during the 'exposure' period. Vaccine effectiveness, ascertained by self-reported immunization status, was 80% [95% CI: 29%-96%].
Attendance at rave parties was associated with mumps infection during this outbreak. Many persons aged 17-40 may remain susceptible to mumps; in BC these persons are eligible for one dose of MMR and should be encouraged to be vaccinated.
To assess a hepatitis B vaccination program offered to all grade 6 students in British Columbia in 1992.
Cohort study.
British Columbia, Canada.
All grade 6 students were offered vaccine. Subsets of 454 and 259 students participated in studies of minor adverse events and seroresponse, respectively.
The vaccine used was Engerix-B, 20 micrograms, given at intervals of 0, 1, and 6 months.
Province-wide acceptance and series completion rates and reports of severe adverse events. Minor adverse events and immunogenicity in subsamples.
A total of 127,922 vaccine doses were administered. Initial enrollment totaled 43,358 students or 95.4% of those eligible. The series was completed by 41,594 students (95.6%). Minor adverse events were infrequent in the cohort assessed: no absenteeism or physician visits resulted from vaccination. Sixty-nine reported severe adverse events met surveillance definitions, the major categories being injection site reactions (23% of reports), fainting (20%), and rashes (17%). There was one instance of anaphylaxis. Only 13 of these events resulted in recommendations to discontinue the series. Of students tested following the series, 98% had levels of antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen considered to be protective (> or = 10 IU/L), the geometric mean titer being 690 IU/L (95% confidence interval, 498 to 957 IU/L).
Our experience indicates that school-based programs for universal vaccination of preadolescents can be highly acceptable and efficient.
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Comment In: JAMA. 1995 Oct 18;274(15):1242-37563516
We used computer-generated dot maps to examine the spatial distribution of 94 Toxoplasma gondii infections associated with an outbreak in British Columbia, Canada. The incidence among patients served by one water distribution system was 3.52 times that of patients served by other sources. Acute T. gondii infection among 3, 812 pregnant women was associated with the incriminated distribution system.
Laboratory for the Analysis of Natural and Synthetic Environmental Toxicants, Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada. Electronic address: mbell145@uottawa.ca.
Sedimentomics is a new method used to investigate carbon cycling in sediment organic matter. This untargeted method, based on metabolomics workflows, was used to investigate the molecular composition of sediment organic matter across northern Canada (Nunavut and Northwest Territories). Unique "lake districts" were defined using unsupervised clustering based on changes in sediment organic carbon compositions across space. Supervised machine learning analyses were used to compare the "lake districts" to commonly used regional classification systems like the treeline, ecozones, and/or georegions. Treeline was the best model to explain the compositional variance of sediment organic carbon from lakes across Canada, closely followed by the georegions model. A novel sediment metaphenomics analysis was also applied to determine how well environmental constraints explain the variation of sediment organic matter composition across a continent. We determined that sedimentomics is more informative than traditional measurements (such as total organic carbon) and can be integrated with other "omics" techniques.
