Using community health workers to refer pregnant women and young children to health care facilities in rural West Bengal, India: A prospective cohort study.

Background: Community health workers (CHWs) have been placed in many rural areas in India to increase villagers' connections to basic preventive health care. In this study, we describe how pregnant women and mothers of young children react when CHWs inform them that they, or their child, are at high risk of pregnancy-related complications or early childhood developmental delays, and further screening and health care from a physician is recommended.

Methods: In this longitudinal study in rural villages in West Bengal, India, pregnant mothers, as well as mothers of children aged 12-24 months, were screened for high risk complications.

Mini-review: Can non-human leucocyte antigen genes determine susceptibility to severe dengue syndromes?

Dengue viral infections are endemic or epidemic in virtually all tropical countries. Among individuals infected with the dengue virus, severe dengue syndromes (i.e.

Inflammation-Induced Oxidative Stress Mediates Gene Fusion Formation in Prostate Cancer.

Approximately 50% of prostate cancers are associated with gene fusions of the androgen-regulated gene TMPRSS2 to the oncogenic erythroblast transformation-specific (ETS) transcription factor ERG. The three-dimensional proximity of TMPRSS2 and ERG genes, in combination with DNA breaks, facilitates the formation of TMPRSS2-ERG gene fusions. However, the origins of DNA breaks that underlie gene fusion formation in prostate cancers are far from clear.

TMPRSS2-ERG-mediated feed-forward regulation of wild-type ERG in human prostate cancers.

Recurrent gene fusions involving ETS family genes are a distinguishing feature of human prostate cancers, with TMPRSS2-ERG fusions representing the most common subtype. The TMPRSS2-ERG fusion transcript and its splice variants are well characterized in prostate cancers; however, not much is known about the levels and regulation of wild-type ERG. By employing an integrative approach, we show that the TMPRSS2-ERG gene fusion product binds to the ERG locus and drives the overexpression of wild-type ERG in prostate cancers.

Induced chromosomal proximity and gene fusions in prostate cancer.

Gene fusions play a critical role in cancer progression. The mechanisms underlying their genesis and cell type specificity are not well understood. About 50% of human prostate cancers display a gene fusion involving the 5' untranslated region of TMPRSS2, an androgen-regulated gene, and the protein-coding sequences of ERG, which encodes an erythroblast transformation-specific (ETS) transcription factor.