Examining modification of the associations between air pollution and birth outcomes by neighborhood deprivation in a North Carolina birth cohort, 2011-2015.

Background: Evidence from studies of air pollutants and birth outcomes suggests an association, but uncertainties around geographical variability and modifying factors still remain. As neighborhood-level social characteristics are associated with birth outcomes, we assess whether neighborhood deprivation level is an effect measure modifier on the association between air pollution and birth outcomes in a North Carolina birth cohort.

Methods: Using birth certificate data, all North Carolina residential singleton live births from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2015 with gestational ages of 20-44 weeks ( = 566,799) were examined for birth defect diagnoses and preterm birth.

Helicobacter pylori infection in infant rhesus macaque monkeys is associated with an altered lung and oral microbiome.

It is estimated that more than half of the world population has been infected with Helicobacter pylori. Most newly acquired H. pylori infections occur in children before 10 years of age.

Helicobacter pylori Infection in Infant Rhesus Macaque Monkeys is Associated with an Altered Lung and Oral Microbiome.

Background: It is estimated that more than half of the world population has been infected with . Most newly acquired infections occur in children before 10 years of age. We hypothesized that early life infection could influence the composition of the microbiome at mucosal sites distant to the stomach.

The enteric nervous system relays psychological stress to intestinal inflammation.

Mental health profoundly impacts inflammatory responses in the body. This is particularly apparent in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), in which psychological stress is associated with exacerbated disease flares. Here, we discover a critical role for the enteric nervous system (ENS) in mediating the aggravating effect of chronic stress on intestinal inflammation.

The miR-181 family regulates colonic inflammation through its activity in the intestinal epithelium.

The intestinal epithelium is a key physical interface that integrates dietary and microbial signals to regulate nutrient uptake and mucosal immune cell function. The transcriptional programs that regulate intestinal epithelial cell (IEC) quiescence, proliferation, and differentiation have been well characterized. However, how gene expression networks critical for IECs are posttranscriptionally regulated during homeostasis or inflammatory disease remains poorly understood.

Multiscale 3D genome organization underlies ILC2 ontogenesis and allergic airway inflammation.

Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are well-characterized immune cells that play key roles in host defense and tissue homeostasis. Yet, how the three-dimensional (3D) genome organization underlies the development and functions of ILCs is unknown. Herein, we carried out an integrative analysis of the 3D genome structure, chromatin accessibility and gene expression in mature ILCs.

A new perspective on mesenchymal-immune interactions in adipose tissue.

The mammalian immune system has crucial homeostatic functions in different adipose depots. However, white adipose tissue (WAT) inflammation is a hallmark of obesity and can contribute to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Recently, mesenchymal cells were identified as highly heterogenous populations displaying specialized immune functions in immune cell migration, activation, survival, and overall lymphoid tissue organization in several tissues.

Aggregated cumulative county arsenic in drinking water and associations with bladder, colorectal, and kidney cancers, accounting for population served.

Background: Many studies neglect to account for variation in population served by community water systems (CWSs) when aggregating CWS-level contaminant concentrations to county level.

Objective: In an ecological epidemiologic analysis, we explored two methods-unweighted and weighted (proportion of CWS population served by county population)-to account for population served by CWS in association between arsenic and three cancers to determine the impact of population served on aggregated measures of exposure.

Methods: CWS arsenic concentration data for 19 states were obtained from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network for 2000-10, aggregated to county level, and linked to county-level cancer data for 2011-5 from National Cancer Institute and CDC State Cancer Profiles.

Watershed integrity and associations with gastrointestinal illness in the United States.

Gastrointestinal (GI) illnesses are associated with various environmental factors, such as water quality, stormwater runoff, agricultural runoff, sewer overflows, and wastewater treatment plant effluents. However, rather than assessing an individual factor alone, two indices incorporating a combination of ecological and environmental stressors were created to represent (1) overall watershed integrity, Index of Watershed Integrity (IWI) and (2) catchment integrity, Index of Catchment Integrity (ICI). These indices could provide a more comprehensive understanding of how watershed/catchment integrity potentially impact the rates of GI illness, compared to assessing an individual stressor alone.

The gut microbiota regulates white adipose tissue inflammation and obesity via a family of microRNAs.

The gut microbiota is a key environmental determinant of mammalian metabolism. Regulation of white adipose tissue (WAT) by the gut microbiota is a process critical to maintaining metabolic fitness, and gut dysbiosis can contribute to the development of obesity and insulin resistance (IR). However, how the gut microbiota regulates WAT function remains largely unknown.

An intronic enhancer of Bmp6 underlies evolved tooth gain in sticklebacks.

Threespine stickleback fish offer a powerful system to dissect the genetic basis of morphological evolution in nature. Marine sticklebacks have repeatedly invaded and adapted to numerous freshwater environments throughout the Northern hemisphere. In response to new diets in freshwater habitats, changes in craniofacial morphology, including heritable increases in tooth number, have evolved in derived freshwater populations.

The Helicobacter pylori type IV secretion system promotes IL-8 synthesis in a model of pediatric airway epithelium via p38 MAP kinase.

Epidemiologic studies have reported an inverse relationship between childhood Helicobacter pylori infection and development of allergic asthma. Because lung epithelium plays an important role in allergic asthma pathogenesis, we hypothesized that H. pylori may directly influence airway epithelial cell innate immune function, particularly in early childhood.

Seroprevalence of dengue infection in the municipalities of Armenia, Calarcá, La Tebaida and Montenegro in Quindío, 2014.

Introduction: Dengue is a serious public health problem in Colombia; it is prevalent in 90% of the municipalities in Quindío. Studies on its seroprevalence are required to address public health interventions.

Objective: To establish the seroprevalence of dengue infection in neighborhoods with high incidence in the municipalities of Armenia, Calarcá, La Tebaida and Montenegro, Quindío, in 2014.

Evolved tooth gain in sticklebacks is associated with a cis-regulatory allele of Bmp6.

Developmental genetic studies of evolved differences in morphology have led to the hypothesis that cis-regulatory changes often underlie morphological evolution. However, because most of these studies focus on evolved loss of traits, the genetic architecture and possible association with cis-regulatory changes of gain traits are less understood. Here we show that a derived benthic freshwater stickleback population has evolved an approximate twofold gain in ventral pharyngeal tooth number compared with their ancestral marine counterparts.

Phase IV open-label study of the efficacy and safety of deferasirox after allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

This is the first prospective study of deferasirox in adult allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients with transfusional iron overload in hematologic malignancies. Patients at least six months post transplant were treated with deferasirox at a starting dose of 10 mg/kg/day for 52 weeks or until serum ferritin was less than 400 ng/mL on two consecutive occasions. Thirty patients were enrolled and 22 completed the study.

Implementation of malaria dynamic models in municipality level early warning systems in Colombia. Part I: description of study sites.

As part of the Integrated National Adaptation Pilot project and the Integrated Surveillance and Control System, the Colombian National Institute of Health is working on the design and implementation of a Malaria Early Warning System framework, supported by seasonal climate forecasting capabilities, weather and environmental monitoring, and malaria statistical and dynamic models. In this report, we provide an overview of the local ecoepidemiologic settings where four malaria process-based mathematical models are currently being implemented at a municipal level. The description includes general characteristics, malaria situation (predominant type of infection, malaria-positive cases data, malaria incidence, and seasonality), entomologic conditions (primary and secondary vectors, mosquito densities, and feeding frequencies), climatic conditions (climatology and long-term trends), key drivers of epidemic outbreaks, and non-climatic factors (populations at risk, control campaigns, and socioeconomic conditions).

Variables involved in the cue modulation of the startle reflex in alcohol-dependent patients.

Cue modulation of the startle reflex is a paradigm that has been used to understand the emotional mechanisms involved in alcohol dependence. Attenuation of the startle reflex has been demonstrated when alcohol-dependent subjects are exposed to alcohol-related stimuli. However, the role of clinical variables on the magnitude of this response is unknown.

Effectiveness of a psychoeducational treatment program implemented in general practice for fibromyalgia patients: a randomized controlled trial.

Objectives: A recent meta-analysis concluded that multicomponent treatments are effective for some fibromyalgia (FM) symptoms. The objective of this study was to examine whether a psychoeducational intervention implemented in primary care is more effective than usual care for improving the functional status of patients with FM.

Methods: This study was based on a randomized controlled trial.

The role of expectations in preferences of patients for a female or male general practitioner.

Objective: to determine, for five health problems, whether preference for a male or female general practitioner (GP) is related to patient gender, GP gender and/or patient expectations of GP behaviour.

Methods: cross-sectional study in 14 health centres in Spain, administering a questionnaire to 360 patients. Outcome variables were: preference for male GP, female GP or no preference in consultations for five hypothetical health problems.

Alcohol craving scale based on three factors.

Background: Alcohol craving is a central aspect of alcoholism about which various explanatory theories and assessment questionnaires, based on such craving, have been developed. However, there are no instruments for the assessment of craving in line with the integrative hypotheses recently formulated that propose three types of craving: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and loss of control.

Objectives: The construction and validation of a craving scale based on three factors.

The role of behavioral impulsivity in the development of alcohol dependence: a 4-year follow-up study.

Background: Although many studies have established a close relation between impulsivity and alcohol use disorders, little is known about the role of behavioral impulsivity in the development of these disorders.

Objectives: To determine the role of 2 laboratory paradigms of impulsivity in the development of alcohol use disorders.

Methods: Follow-up study carried out with 471 participants diagnosed as heavy drinkers (HD) and followed-up for 4 years.

Use of cocaine by heavy drinkers increases vulnerability to developing alcohol dependence: a 4-year follow-up study.

Objective: The development of alcohol dependence is associated with specific individual personality traits and previous consumption of other drugs of abuse. However, there is little information on these risk factors in heavy drinkers before and after they meet the criteria for alcohol dependence. This study examined the influence of cocaine use and the role of impulsivity in the development of DSM-IV alcohol dependence in nondependent drinkers in a 4-year follow-up study.