APOE Genotypes, Lipid Profiles, and Associated Clinical Markers in a Finnish Population with Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors.

Introduction: The APOE ε4 allele predisposes to high cholesterol and increases the risk for lifestyle-related diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). The aim of this study was to analyse interrelationships of APOE genotypes with lipid metabolism and lifestyle factors in middle-aged Finns among whom the CVD risk factors are common.

Methods: Participants (n = 211) were analysed for APOE ε genotypes, physiological parameters, and health- and diet-related plasma markers.

Pesticide residues in honeybee-collected pollen: does the EU regulation protect honeybees from pesticides?

Researchers globally identify pesticides as one of the main reasons for pollinator decline. In the European Union (EU), extensive legislation is implemented to protect pollinators from harmful pesticide exposure. The aim of our study was to discover whether the pesticide residue levels in honeybee matrices, such as nectar and pollen, exceeded the chronic or acute toxicity levels when beehives were located next to fields treated with specific insecticides.

On-farm deaths of dairy cows are associated with features of freestall barns.

On-farm death (OFD) of a dairy cow is always a financial loss for a farmer, and potentially a welfare issue that has to be addressed within the dairy industry. The aim of this study was to explore the associations between OFD of dairy cows, housing, and herd management in freestall barns. To achieve the goal, we followed 10,837 cows calving in 2011 in 82 herds.

Predictors for occupational injuries and diseases among commercial fishers in Finland 1996-2015.

Fishing is a hazardous occupation worldwide. Commercial fishers in Finland are an aging and diminishing population with a high injury rate. Insurance claims data for self-employed Finnish commercial fishers during the years 1996 through 2015 (n = 1951) were analysed to assess predictors for occupational injuries and diseases.

Accuracy of ultrasonography in predicting vesicoureteral reflux in children: A meta-analysis.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the existing evidence on the accuracy of renal and bladder ultrasonography in predicting vesicoureteral reflux in children with first urinary tract infection.

Materials And Methods: The CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase and Web of Science data sources were searched. A random effects meta-analysis was conducted.

Factors Associated with Abnormal Imaging and Infection Recurrence after a First Febrile Urinary Tract Infection in Children.

 We determined factors associated with abnormal imaging and recurrent infections after a first febrile urinary tract infection (UTI) in children younger than 3 years.  We retrospectively reviewed the records of all patients treated at our institute during the years 2000-2009, for a first febrile UTI in children younger than 3 years, who underwent ultrasonography and voiding cystourethrography. We evaluated data regarding factors potentially associated with abnormal ultrasonography and voiding cystourethrography results and recurrence of infections, and formulated a risk score system to assess risk of reflux and high-grade reflux.

[Insidious duodenal injury in a child].

Duodenal injuries in children are rare. However, we should keep in mind the possibility of duodenal injury in blunt abdominal trauma. Findings on imaging can be normal in spite of duodenal perforation and symptoms may become manifest later after trauma.

[Children's limb fractures].

Children's limb fractures are commonly seen in general practice and emergency departments. Diagnostics relies on relevant clinical examination and good quality radiographs and will be supplemented with CT scanning, when necessary. The treatment of fracture must not interfere with the child's normal bone growth.

Dietary fish oil supplements depress milk fat yield and alter milk fatty acid composition in lactating cows fed grass silage-based diets.

The potential of dietary fish oil (FO) supplements to increase milk 20:5n-3 and 22:6n-3 concentrations and the associated effects on milk fatty acid (FA) composition, intake, and milk production were examined. Four multiparous lactating cows offered a grass silage-based diet (forage:concentrate ratio 58:42, on a dry matter basis) supplemented with 0, 75, 150, or 300g of FO/d (FO0, FO75, FO150, and FO300, respectively) were used in a 4×4 Latin square with 28-d experimental periods. Milk FA composition was analyzed by complementary silver-ion thin-layer chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and silver-ion HPLC.

Consequences of following the new American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines for imaging children with urinary tract infection.

Objective: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) and vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) are assumed to predispose children to renal damage. Awareness of the significance of VUR and the possibility of reducing UTI recurrence and renal damage has warranted guidelines on which patients should undergo imaging after UTI. An authoritative guideline has been issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

NICE Guidelines Cannot Be Recommended for Imaging Studies in Children Younger Than 3 Years with Urinary Tract Infection.

Introduction: We assessed the possible consequences of applying the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines for imaging studies of children younger than 3 years with urinary tract infection (UTI) to clinical practice, in terms of altered diagnoses and treatment.

Material And Methods: In a retrospective cohort of 672 patients with UTI, we evaluated indications for and results of renal and bladder ultrasonography, voiding cystourethrography (VCUG), dimercaptosuccinic acid scintigraphy, UTI recurrence, antimicrobial prophylaxis (AMP), antireflux procedures, and other urological procedures.

Results: There were a total 125 patients with vesicoureteral reflux (VUR), of whom 59 patients (47%) would have been missed, had the NICE guidelines being applied.

NICE guidelines for imaging studies in children with UTI adequate only in boys under the age of 6 months.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the applicability of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines for imaging studies in children under the age of three with first urinary tract infection (UTI).

Methods: In our cohort of 112 patients, we gathered data regarding the occurrence of indications for ultrasonography (US) and voiding cystourethrography (VCUG) according to the NICE guidelines, dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) scintigraphy examinations, UTI recurrence, antimicrobial prophylaxis (AMP), anti-reflux procedures, and other urological procedures.

Results: If the NICE guidelines had been applied, 13 of the 25 patients (52 %) with vesicoureteral reflux (VUR), including 6 of the 12 patients (50 %) with dilating VUR and 3 of the 4 patients who underwent endoscopic anti-reflux treatment, would have been missed, and a negative VCUG would have been avoided in 25 of the 42 patients (60 %) with no VUR.

Impact of in vitro fertilization of bovine oocytes with sex-sorted frozen-thawed spermatozoa on developmental kinetics, quality and sex ratio of developing embryos.

We studied whether bovine embryos developing after in vitro fertilization (IVF) with sex-sorted spermatozoa differed in developmental kinetics, quality and sex ratio from embryos produced with unsorted spermatozoa. Abattoir-derived oocytes were fertilized with X-sorted, Y-sorted or unsorted spermatozoa from a single bull. To evaluate economical use of the sex-sorted spermatozoa, washed spermatozoa from a single straw (2 million spermatozoa) were used to fertilize each batch of collected oocytes without any further isolation steps.

Risk factors for physical child abuse in infants and toddlers.

Background: We examined the risk factors and injuries in physical child abuse between November 2003 and February 2007.

Patients And Methods: The uptake area of the University Hospital of Turku, Finland, consists of about 700 000 inhabitants. Forty-eight cases of physical child abuse were examined.

Clinical findings in prepubertal girls with inguinal hernia with special reference to the diagnosis of androgen insensitivity syndrome.

Objective: Complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS) is a rare disease. However, there is a higher rate of CAIS in girls with inguinal hernia. The aim of this study was to estimate the incidence of CAIS in girls with inguinal hernia and to find a proper screening test for CAIS in these girls.

Minimally invasive repair for treating pectus excavatum--early results.

Unlabelled: Minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum (MIRPE) is the preferred technique for repair of funnel chest deformity. The aim of this study is to evaluate our initial postoperative results, to identify factors related to postoperative complications and to examine the acceptability of MIRPE by the patients.

Patients, Materials And Methods: 25 MIRPE patients (20 male and 5 female) were operated on between November 2002 and February 2007 at the Department of Pediatric Surgery, Turku University Central Hospital.

Embryo production from superovulated Holstein-Friesian dairy heifers and cows after insemination with frozen-thawed sex-sorted X spermatozoa or unsorted semen.

The aim of this study was to evaluate embryo production in superovulated Holstein-Friesian dairy heifers and cows inseminated with either X-sorted spermatozoa (2 million/dose) or unsorted semen (15 million/dose). Experiment 1 at the research farm involved eight heifers, six cows and semen of one Holstein bull. All transferable embryos were diagnosed for sex.

Diversity and infectivity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in agricultural soils of the Sichuan Province of mainland China.

Knowledge about the presence and diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in a specific area is an essential first step for utilizing these fungi in any application. The community composition of AMF in intensively managed agricultural soil in the Sichuan Province of southwest China currently is unknown. In one set of samples, AMF were trapped in pot cultures from 40 fields growing legumes in the Panxi region, southeast Sichuan.

How the harm reduction movement contrasts itself against punitive prohibition.

On the basis of the harm reduction movement's founding texts from the beginning of the 1990s, this paper reflects the movement's self-understanding in contrasting itself with the system of punitive prohibition. Following this is a discussion of the implications for drug users of harm reduction claims-making. The paper concludes that the principles of the harm reduction movement resonate extremely well with the moral sensibilities of our contemporary societies, and but that the movement's claims for an amoral, rational, just, and emancipating approach to drug use are to be seen rather as a powerful rhetorical intervention in the highly moralised landscape of drug debate than something that would be achieved in practice.

Magnetic resonance imaging in pediatric elbow fractures.

Purpose: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluation of pediatric elbow trauma with or without a visible fracture on radiography.

Material And Methods: MRI was performed in the acute phase in 25 children with an elbow injury. Nine patients with an elbow effusion only on radiographs and 16 with a fracture or luxation seen on radiographs underwent subsequent MRI.

Natural history of transglutaminase autoantibodies and mucosal changes in children carrying HLA-conferred celiac disease susceptibility.

Objective: The natural history of the appearance and fate of transglutaminase autoantibodies (TGAs) and mucosal changes in children carrying HLA-conferred celiac disease (CD) risk remains obscure. The aim of this study was to investigate the sequence of events leading to overt CD by retrospective analysis of TGA values in serum samples collected frequently from genetically susceptible children since birth or early childhood.

Material And Methods: A total of 1101 at-risk children were recruited in the study.

Mycotrophy of crops in rotation and soil amendment with peat influence the abundance and effectiveness of indigenous arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in field soil.

Mycotrophy of previous crops has been shown to have an impact on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and the growth and productivity of succeeding crops. We studied the impact of 3 years of cultivation of eight crops with different degrees of mycotrophy, including mycorrhizal (strawberry, rye, timothy, onion, caraway) and non-mycorrhizal (turnip rape, buckwheat, fiddleneck) hosts, as well as the impact of peat amendment, on the effectiveness, amount and diversity of indigenous AMF. A field experiment having a split-plot design with peat amendment as the main plot, crop cultivation as a sub-plot and three replications, was carried out on silt clay mineral soil in 1999-2001.