Wealth gradients in early childhood cognitive development in five Latin American countries.

Research from the United States shows that gaps in early cognitive and non-cognitive ability appear early in the life cycle. Little is known about this important question for developing countries. This paper provides new evidence of sharp differences in cognitive development by socioeconomic status in early childhood for five Latin American countries.

Identification of a gene cluster associated with triclosan catabolism.

Aerobic degradation of bis-aryl ethers like the antimicrobial triclosan typically proceeds through oxygenase-dependent catabolic pathways. Although several studies have reported on bacteria capable of degrading triclosan aerobically, there are no reports describing the genes responsible for this process. In this study, a gene encoding the large subunit of a putative triclosan oxygenase, designated tcsA was identified in a triclosan-degrading fosmid clone from a DNA library of Sphingomonas sp.

Nocturnal hypoxemia biomarker predicts sleepiness in patients with severe obstructive sleep apnea.

Purpose: This study aims to assess the association between excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and variables extracted from the pulse-oximetry signal obtained during overnight polysomnography.

Methods: A cross-sectional design was used to study the relation between four hypoxemia variables and EDS as determined by Epworth Sleepiness Scale scores (ESSS) in 200 consecutive patients, newly diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), as defined by an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI)≥ 15. Hypoxemia measurements were compared between sleepy (ESSS ≥ 10) and nonsleepy (ESSS<10) patients before and after dichotomizing the cohort for each hypoxemia variable (and for AHI) such that there were 35 (165) patients in each of the corresponding higher (lower) subcohorts.