Chemical contaminants in swimming pools: Occurrence, implications and control.

A range of trace chemical contaminants have been reported to occur in swimming pools. Current disinfection practices and monitoring of swimming pool water quality are aimed at preventing the spread of microbial infections and diseases. However, disinfection by-products (DBPs) are formed when the disinfectants used react with organic and inorganic matter in the pool.

A rare case of ameloblastic carcinoma.

Ameloblastic carcinoma is a rare type of ameloblastoma that has received little mention in the literature. While a number of cases have been published over many years, no institution has been able to produce a substantial case series. Ameloblastic carcinoma originates in the embryonic tooth components.

A clinico-pathologic review of 56 cases of ossifying fibroma of the jaws with emphasis on the histomorphologic variations.

Objective: This study aims at contributing to the definitive diagnosis of ossifying fibroma (OF) based on histomorphological features. The study also aims to determine some demographic features of OF, common sites of occurrence and to determine whether behavior correlates well with the histomorphological variations seen in the lesion.

Materials And Methods: A total of 80 patients who were diagnosed either as cementifying fibroma CF, OF and cemento-ossifying fibroma (COF) of the jaws from the files of the Oral Pathology Department of the University of the Witwatersrand Dental School were retrieved and the histology slides of each case were reviewed with the most recent diagnostic criteria for OF and the authors additional criteria.

An assessment of endocrine activity in Australian rivers using chemical and in vitro analyses.

Studies on endocrine disruption in Australia have mainly focused on wastewater effluents. Limited knowledge exists regarding the relative contribution of different potential sources of endocrine active compounds (EACs) to the aquatic environment (e.g.

Diminished hERG K+ channel activity facilitates strong human labour contractions but is dysregulated in obese women.

Human ether-a-go-go-related gene (hERG) potassium channels determine cardiac action potential and contraction duration. Human uterine contractions are underpinned by an action potential that also possesses an initial spike followed by prolonged depolarization. Here we show that hERG channel proteins (α-conducting and β-inhibitory subunits) and hERG currents exist in isolated patch-clamped human myometrial cells.

Oral presentation of histoplasmosis in an immunocompetent patient: a diagnostic challenge.

Histoplasmosis is a rare systemic fungal infection, primarily affecting the pulmonary system. Oral lesions are usually a manifestation of the disseminated form of the disease and most frequently observed in severely immunocompromised patients, such as those with advanced human immunodeficiency virus infection and/or frank acquired immune deficiency syndrome. The clinical presentation of the oral lesions may be difficult to distinguish from oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Beta-blocker usage and prostate cancer survival: a nested case-control study in the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink cohort.

Background: Recent laboratory and epidemiological evidence suggests that beta-blockers could inhibit prostate cancer progression.

Methods: We investigated the effect of beta-blockers on prostate cancer-specific mortality in a cohort of prostate cancer patients. Prostate cancer patients diagnosed between 1998 and 2006 were identified from the UK Clinical Practice Research Database and confirmed by cancer registries.

Maternal alcohol consumption in pregnancy enhances arterial stiffness and alters vasodilator function that varies between vascular beds in fetal sheep.

While the impact of alcohol consumption by pregnant women on fetal neurodevelopment has received much attention, the effects on the cardiovascular system are not well understood. We hypothesised that repeated exposure to alcohol (ethanol) in utero would alter fetal arterial reactivity and wall stiffness, key mechanisms leading to cardiovascular disease in adulthood. Ethanol (0.

Publicized sobriety checkpoint programs: a community guide systematic review.

Context: Publicized sobriety checkpoint programs deter alcohol-impaired driving by stopping drivers systematically to assess their alcohol impairment. Sobriety checkpoints were recommended in 2001 by the Community Preventive Services Task Force for reducing alcohol-impaired driving, based on strong evidence of effectiveness. Since the 2001 review, attention to alcohol-impaired driving as a U.

Evidence that diet-induced hyperleptinemia, but not hypothalamic gliosis, causes ghrelin resistance in NPY/AgRP neurons of male mice.

High-fat diet (HFD) feeding causes ghrelin resistance in arcuate neuropeptide Y (NPY)/Agouti-related peptide neurons. In the current study, we investigated the time course over which this occurs and the mechanisms responsible for ghrelin resistance. After 3 weeks of HFD feeding, neither peripheral nor central ghrelin increased food intake and or activated NPY neurons as demonstrated by a lack of Fos immunoreactivity or whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiology.

Maternal melatonin administration mitigates coronary stiffness and endothelial dysfunction, and improves heart resilience to insult in growth restricted lambs.

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is associated with impaired cardiac function in childhood and is linked to short- and long-term morbidities. Placental dysfunction underlies most IUGR, and causes fetal oxidative stress which may impact on cardiac development. Accordingly, we investigated whether antenatal melatonin treatment, which possesses antioxidant properties, may afford cardiovascular protection in these vulnerable fetuses.

Oesophageal adenocarcinoma and prior diagnosis of Barrett's oesophagus: a population-based study.

Objective: Endoscopic surveillance of Barrett's oesophagus (BO) provides an opportunity to detect early stage oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC). We sought to determine the proportion of OAC patients with a prior diagnosis of BO on a population basis and to evaluate the influence of a prior diagnosis of BO on survival, taking into account lead and length time biases.

Design: A retrospective population-based study of all OAC patients in Northern Ireland between 2003 and 2008.

Beta-blocker usage after malignant melanoma diagnosis and survival: a population-based nested case-control study.

Background: Beta-blockers have potential antiangiogenic and antimigratory activity. Studies have demonstrated a survival benefit in patients with malignant melanoma treated with beta-blockers.

Objectives: To investigate the association between postdiagnostic beta-blocker usage and risk of melanoma-specific mortality in a population-based cohort of patients with malignant melanoma.

Symptoms and endoscopic features at barrett's esophagus diagnosis: implications for neoplastic progression risk.

Objectives: Risk stratification of Barrett's esophagus (BE) patients based on clinical and endoscopic features may help to optimize surveillance practice for esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) development. The aim of this study was to investigate patient symptoms and endoscopic features at index endoscopy and risk of neoplastic progression in a large population-based cohort of BE patients.

Methods: A retrospective review of hospital records relating to incident BE diagnosis was conducted in a subset of patients with specialized intestinal metaplasia from the Northern Ireland BE register.

Simultaneous adenomatoid odontogenic and keratocystic odontogenic tumours in a patient with Gorlin-Goltz syndrome.

Gorlin and Goltz described a syndrome in which multiple basal cell carcinomas, odontogenic keratocysts and bifid ribs occurred in combination. The jaw keratocysts are a consistent feature of 'Gorlin-Goltz' or naevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome. Central nervous system and ocular involvement occurred together with the fairly typical facial features of frontal bossing and hypertelorism.

Neuropeptidergic signaling partitions arousal behaviors in zebrafish.

Animals modulate their arousal state to ensure that their sensory responsiveness and locomotor activity match environmental demands. Neuropeptides can regulate arousal, but studies of their roles in vertebrates have been constrained by the vast array of neuropeptides and their pleiotropic effects. To overcome these limitations, we systematically dissected the neuropeptidergic modulation of arousal in larval zebrafish.

Beta-blocker usage and breast cancer survival: a nested case-control study within a UK clinical practice research datalink cohort.

Background: To investigate the association between post-diagnostic beta-blocker usage and risk of cancer-specific mortality in a large population-based cohort of female breast cancer patients.

Methods: A nested case-control study was conducted within a cohort of breast cancer patients identified from cancer registries in England(using the National Cancer Data repository) and diagnosed between 1998 and 2007. Patients who had a breast cancer-specific death(ascertained from Office of National Statistics death registration data) were each matched to four alive controls by year and age at diagnosis.

Validation of a full-scale membrane bioreactor and the impact of membrane cleaning on the removal of microbial indicators.

The removal of microbial indicators through a full-scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) was characterised. The overall log reduction of Escherichia coli and total coliforms were in the range of 5.0-5.

Pulmonary delivery of an ultra-fine oxytocin dry powder formulation: potential for treatment of postpartum haemorrhage in developing countries.

Oxytocin is recommended by the World Health Organisation as the most effective uterotonic for the prevention and treatment of postpartum haemorrhage. The requirement for parenteral administration by trained healthcare providers and the need for the drug solution to be maintained under cold-chain storage limit the use of oxytocin in the developing world. In this study, a spray-dried ultrafine formulation of oxytocin was developed with an optimal particle size diameter (1-5 µm) to facilitate aerosolised delivery via the lungs.

Low-dose aspirin and survival in men with prostate cancer: a study using the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink.

Purpose: Aspirin use is associated with reduced risk of, and death from, prostate cancer. Our aim was to determine whether low-dose aspirin use after a prostate cancer diagnosis was associated with reduced prostate cancer-specific mortality.

Methods: A cohort of newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients (1998-2006) was identified in the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink (confirmed by cancer registry linkage).

IL-12 secretion by Langerhans cells stimulated with Candida skin test reagent is mediated by dectin-1 in some healthy individuals.

Objective: Our group and others have shown that serial intra-lesional injections of common warts with skin testing reagents such as Candida, mumps and Trichophyton are effective in regressing injected and non-injected warts. Anti-HPV T-cell responses appear to be induced. The goal of this study was to understand the mechanisms of how Candida skin testing reagent enhances immune responses.

Assessment of wastewater and recycled water quality: a comparison of lines of evidence from in vitro, in vivo and chemical analyses.

We investigated water quality at an advanced water reclamation plant and three conventional wastewater treatment plants using an "ecotoxicity toolbox" consisting of three complementary analyses (chemical analysis, in vitro bioanalysis and in situ biological monitoring), with a focus on endocrine disruption. The in vitro bioassays were chosen to provide an appropriately wide coverage of biological effects relevant to managed aquifer recharge and environmental discharge of treated wastewater, and included bioassays for bacterial toxicity (Microtox), genotoxicity (umuC), photosynthesis inhibition (Max-I-PAM) and endocrine effects (E-SCREEN and AR-CALUX). Chemical analysis of hormones and pesticides using LCMSMS was performed in parallel to correlate standard analytical methods with the in vitro assessment.

Improved molecular tools for sugar cane biotechnology.

Sugar cane is a major source of food and fuel worldwide. Biotechnology has the potential to improve economically-important traits in sugar cane as well as diversify sugar cane beyond traditional applications such as sucrose production. High levels of transgene expression are key to the success of improving crops through biotechnology.