A systematic review of associations between environmental exposures and development of asthma in children aged up to 9 years.

Objectives: Childhood asthma is a complex condition where many environmental factors are implicated in causation. The aim of this study was to complete a systematic review of the literature describing associations between environmental exposures and the development of asthma in young children.

Setting: A systematic review of the literature up to November 2013 was conducted using key words agreed by the research team.

Is pesticide exposure a cause of obstructive airways disease?

A systematic review was performed to identify any associations between pesticide exposure and the occurrence (both prevalence and incidence) of airways disease (asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and wheezing symptoms. PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, CINAHL, Google Scholar and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were searched between September 2010 and October 2010 for papers with the inclusion criteria of English language, published after 1990, peer-reviewed and nondietary exposure. From a total of 4390 papers identified, 42 were included after initial assessment of content.

Associations between environmental exposures and asthma control and exacerbations in young children: a systematic review.

Objective: To complete a systematic review of the literature describing associations between all environmental exposures and asthma symptoms and exacerbations in children up to mean age of 9 years.

Design: Systematic review.

Setting: Reference lists of identified studies and reviews were searched for all articles published until November 2013 in electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane Controls Trials Register).

Lung cancer mortality and exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in British coke oven workers.

Background: Workers on coke oven plants may be exposed to potentially carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), particularly during work on the ovens tops. Two cohorts, employees of National Smokeless Fuels (NSF) and the British Steel Corporation (BSC) totalling more than 6,600 British coke plant workers employed in 1967, had been followed up to mid-1987 for mortality. Previous analyses suggested an excess in lung cancer risk of around 25%, or less when compared with Social Class IV ('partly skilled').

Subfractionation of differentiating human embryonic stem cell populations allows the isolation of a mesodermal population enriched for intermediate mesoderm and putative renal progenitors.

Human embryonic stem (ES) cells are pluripotent and are believed to be able to generate all cell types in the body. As such, they have potential applications in regenerative therapy for kidney disease. However, before this can be achieved, a protocol to differentiate human ES cells to mesodermal renal progenitor lineages is required.

Intermittent Fugu parathyroid hormone 1 (1-34) is an anabolic bone agent in young male rats and osteopenic ovariectomized rats.

Human parathyroid hormone (hPTH) is currently the only treatment for osteoporosis that forms new bone. Previously we described a fish equivalent, Fugu parathyroid hormone 1 (fPth1) which has hPTH-like biological activity in vitro despite fPth1(1-34) sharing only 53% identity with hPTH(1-34). Here we demonstrate the in vivo actions of fPth1(1-34) on bone.