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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia: a survey of practice in Scandinavia.

There is no consensus on the treatment of congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), and practice seems to vary between centres. The main purpose of the present study was to survey current practice in Scandinavia. Thirteen paediatric surgical centres serving a population of about 22 million were invited, and all participated.

Mechanical loading regulates the expression of tenascin-C in the myotendinous junction and tendon but does not induce de novo synthesis in the skeletal muscle.

Tenascin-C is a hexabrachion-shaped matricellular protein with a very restricted expression in normal musculoskeletal tissues, but it is expressed abundantly during regenerative processes of these tissues and embryogenesis. To examine the importance of mechanical stress for the regulation of tenascin-C expression in the muscle-tendon unit, the effects of various states of mechanical loading (inactivity by cast-immobilization and three-varying intensities of subsequent re-activity by treadmill running) on the expression of tenascin-C were studied using immunohistochemistry and mRNA in situ hybridization at the different locations of the muscle-tendon unit of the rat gastrocnemius muscle, the Achilles tendon complex. This muscle-tendon unit was selected as the study site, because the contracting activity of the gastrocnemius-soleus muscle complex, and thus the mechanical loading-induced stimulation, is easy to block by cast immobilization.

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia in Scandinavia from 1995 to 1998: Predictors of mortality.

Background/purpose: There is a lack of large contemporary studies on the management of congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), and the prediction of mortality remains difficult. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of perinatal factors on mortality rate in a contemporary multicenter study.

Methods: The authors conducted a retrospective multicenter cohort study.

Transected myofibres may remain permanently divided in two parts.

During regeneration of transected myofibres a scar is formed between their stumps. Myofibres restore their tendon-muscle-tendon continuity and contractile function by attaching to the scar with new myotendinous junctions. The scar contracts with time, and thereby the stumps are pulled close to each other.