Listeriosis: A cause of non-immune hydrops fetalis

A case of prenatally diagnosed non-immune hydrops fetalis, that was later shown to be caused by listeriosis, is presented, and the clinical course, as well as the appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic procedures are described. We conclude, that listeriosis should be excluded, whenever a non-immune hydrops fetalis is associated with septicemia, influenza-like illness and fever of unknown origin.     

Cardiac blood flow studies in fetuses with haemoglobin bart's disease

Blood flow across the atrioventricular valves and outflow tracts was measured in 55 normal fetuses and 32 fetuses with haemoglobin (Hb) Bart's disease between 18 and 26 weeks of gestation. The mean velocities remained unchanged in both normal and affected fetuses over the gestations studied. The volume flow across both atrioventricular valves and outflow tracts increased as the gestation advanced in both normal and affected fetuses, but was significantly higher in affected than in normal fetuses. The same magnitude of increased flow was found in both hydropic and non-hydropic fetuses with Hb Bart's disease. These findings suggest that fetuses with severe and long-standing anaemia have a remarkable cardiac compensatory mechanism for the maintenance of tissue oxygenation. In response to anaemia and circulatory loading, the cardiac chambers and outflow tracts enlarge proportionately up to twice the normal values. Because of this response and the operation of the Frank-Starling mechanism, the heart is able to maintain a normal mean velocity of propulsion and the net output is increased to two to three times that in normal fetuses. Hydropic changes in these anaemic fetuses appear unrelated to cardiac failure as cardiac failure is not observed at the time that hydropic changes develop.     

The prenatal determination of glucose-6-phosphatase activity by fetal liver biopsy

Two fetuses at risk for glucose-6-phosphatase deficiency had in utero liver biopsies. Analysis of each showed this enzyme activity to be in the normal range and the pregnancies continued. Neither child has any clinical or metabolic evidence of glucose-6-phosphatase deficiency.     

兰州市空气污染对儿童呼吸疾病的影响

探讨兰州市空气污染对不同性别和年龄的儿童呼吸疾病就诊人数的影响以及季节性变化.通过收集2013~2017年兰州市空气污染物PM_2.5、PM₁₀、SO₂、NO₂、CO和O₃8h浓度数据、气象数据及3家三甲医院儿童呼吸疾病门诊资料,采用广义相加模型（GAM）控制星期几效应、气象因素、假期效应等混杂因素,分析空气污染物浓度与儿童呼吸系统疾病日门诊量的关系及滞后效应.研究期间,兰州市3家三甲医院儿童呼吸系统疾病日门诊量平均为387人次,范围1~1413人次.单污染物模型结果显示,PM_2.5、NO₂、SO₂、CO均在累积滞后一天（lag01）时效应量达到最大值,其浓度每增加10μg/m³（CO单位为1mg/m³）,儿童呼吸系统疾病就诊人次的超额危险度（ER）及95%可信区间（95% CI）分别为0.245%（95% CI：0.127%~0.363%）,0.568%（95% CI：0.327%~0.808%）,1.661%（95% CI：1.022%~2.302%）,2.245%（95% CI：1.610%~2.883%）;PM₁₀和O₃8h在各滞后天数均无统计学意义.对不同性别、年龄、季节分析发现,性别分层中PM_2.5对女童的影响略高于男童,NO₂、SO₂和CO的影响男童略高于女童;年龄分层发现PM_2.5、NO₂和CO的影响6~14岁组大于0~5岁组,SO₂的影响0~5岁组大于6~14岁组;季节分层中PM_2.5、NO₂、SO₂和CO对门诊量的影响只在冬季有意义,PM₁₀和O₃8h在各个季节均无意义.双污染物模型结果显示,分别调整其他5种污染物后,PM₁₀和O₃8h对儿童呼吸系统疾病门诊量的增加均无统计学意义;调整PM₁₀和O₃8h后,其他污染物呼吸系统疾病门诊量的增加均有统计学意义.兰州空气污染物（PM_2.5、NO₂、SO₂、CO）与呼吸系统疾病门诊量密切相关,并且SO₂和CO浓度增加更易增加儿童呼吸系统疾病的发病风险.性别、年龄和季节对空气污染物和呼吸系统疾病门诊就诊人次的关系有影响.     

“大数据”预测分析与三丁基锡暴露有关疾病

通过毒理学“大数据”,挖掘三丁基锡（TBT）潜在的生物影响信息,预测分析TBT暴露与人类相关疾病的关系.通过比较毒理组学数据库（CTD）搜集到488个和TBT具有相互作用的基因.基因相互作用网络图显示TP53拥有相关联基因最多,处于中心地位;其次是ESR1和FN1.CTD分析与TBT相关的疾病,发现前10类疾病分别是癌症、神经系统疾病、心血管疾病、泌尿生殖系统疾病（女）、消化系统疾病、代谢疾病、泌尿生殖系统疾病（男）、内分泌系统疾病、免疫系统疾病、呼吸道疾病.KEGG通路和DAVID基因功能注释分析,发现TBT不仅和代谢性疾病有较高的关联性,其相互作用基因在糖代谢途径上亦有较密集的基因功能注释.PASS的活性预测也发现TBT可能影响多种与糖代谢相关的酶生物活性.这提示TBT对糖代谢相关疾病的影响应引起人们的注意.     

Gender response and safe carrying load limit for sugar industry workers

This study investigates the safe carrying load limit in relation to gender of workers in the sugar industry. A total of 632 workers (male and female) were interviewed following a physiological and psycho-physiological methodology. All of these workers were in the age groups of 21–30, 31–40 and ≥41 years. In this study, for the physiological methodology, both field and laboratory data were collected, which included heart rate, heart rate variability, energy expenditure and maximum rate of oxygen consumption. Information regarding hemoglobin content, weight, age, lean body weight, etc., was recorded to know the physical health of the workers. In the psycho-physiological evaluation, load-carrying limits were determined by the psychophysical rating of the load by workers from the selected age groups. By considering the physiological stresses and psycho-physiological evaluation, the safe carrying load limit was determined in head and back mode for male and female workers as per their age groups.     

Assessment of energy balance against the nutritional status of women carriers in the brickfields of West Bengal

The Indian brick industry is an unorganized sector in which large numbers of migrant women workers are employed. A survey was conducted on 62 women workers working in different brickfields of West Bengal to assess their physiological workload, nutritional profile, total energy expenditure and energy balance. Energy intake was calculated using physiological fuel values of carbohydrate, fat and protein. From the results it is seen that 13% of the sample population falls under severe (grade III) chronic energy deficiency. The average daily consumption of the workers was comparatively lower than their daily energy expenditure, considering the nature of the job which falls under heavy to extremely heavy categories. This negative energy balance is effectively observed in the nutritional anthropometry data. Thus, an immediate ergonomics intervention with better nutrition should be implemented to improve the health status of the workers so they can safely continue to work for a longer period.     

Using Population Viability Criteria to Assess Strategies to Minimize Disease Threats for an Endangered Carnivore

Outbreaks of infectious disease represent serious threats to the viability of many vertebrate populations, but few studies have included quantitative evaluations of alternative approaches to the management of disease. The most prevalent management approach is monitoring for and rapid response to an epizootic. An alternative is vaccination of a subset of the free‐living population (i.e., a “vaccinated core”) such that some individuals are partially or fully immune in the event of an epizootic. We developed a simulation model describing epizootic dynamics, which we then embedded in a demographic simulation to assess these alternative approaches to managing rabies epizootics in the island fox (Urocyon littoralis), a species composed of only 6 small populations on the California Channel Islands. Although the monitor and respond approach was superior to the vaccinated‐core approach for some transmission models and parameter values, this type of reactive management did not protect the population from rabies under many disease‐transmission assumptions. In contrast, a logistically feasible program of prophylactic vaccination for part of the wild population yielded low extinction probabilities across all likely disease‐transmission scenarios, even with recurrent disease introductions. Our use of a single metric of successful management—probability of extreme endangerment (i.e., quasi extinction)—to compare very different management approaches allowed an objective assessment of alternative strategies for controlling the threats posed by infectious disease outbreaks. Utilización de Criterios de Viabilidad Poblacional para Evaluar Estrategias para Minimizar Amenazas de Enfermedades para un Carnívoro en Peligro     

Evidence of Large-Scale Chronic Eutrophication in the Great Barrier Reef: Quantification of Chlorophyll a Thresholds for Sustaining Coral Reef Communities

Long-term monitoring data show that hard coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) has reduced by >70 % over the past century. Although authorities and many marine scientists were in denial for many years, it is now widely accepted that this reduction is largely attributable to the chronic state of eutrophication that exists throughout most of the GBR. Some reefs in the far northern GBR where the annual mean chlorophyll a (Chl a) is in the lower range of the proposed Eutrophication Threshold Concentration for Chl a (~0.2–0.3 mg m⁻³) show little or no evidence of degradation over the past century. However, the available evidence suggests that coral diseases and the crown-of-thorns starfish will proliferate in such waters and hence the mandated eutrophication Trigger values for Chl a (~0.4–0.45 mg m⁻³) will need to be decreased to ~0.2 mg m⁻³ for sustaining coral reef communities.