Inflammatory marker trajectories associated with frailty and ageing in a 20-year longitudinal study.

Objective: The aim of this exploratory study was to investigate the development of low-grade inflammation during ageing and its relationship with frailty.

Methods: The trajectories of 18 inflammatory markers measured in blood samples, collected at 5-year intervals over a period of 20 years from 144 individuals aged 65-75 years at the study endpoint, were related to the degree of frailty later in life.

Results: IFN-γ-related markers and platelet activation markers were found to change in synchrony.

A novel method to standardise serum IgA measurements shows an increased prevalence of IgA deficiency in young children with recurrent respiratory tract infections.

Objectives: While physicians are often confronted with immunoglobulin A (IgA) deficiency in children with recurrent infections, the clinical relevance of this finding is unclear. Large-scale studies examining the significance of IgA deficiency in children are hampered by differences in techniques for measuring IgA and the physiological increase of IgA with age. Both result in a variety of reference values used for diagnosing IgA deficiency.

Silver Nanoparticles, Ions, and Shape Governing Soil Microbial Functional Diversity: Nano Shapes Micro.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) affect microbial metabolic processes at single cell level or lab-culture strains. However, the impact of different AgNPs properties such as the particle, ion release, and shape on functional responses of natural soil microbial communities remain poorly understood. Therefore, we assessed the relative importance of particles and ions of AgNPs in bacterial toxicity and how the functional diversity of soil microbial communities were impacted by AgNPs shapes (i.

Rhinovirus wheezing illness in infancy is associated with medically attended third year wheezing in low risk infants: results of a healthy birth cohort study.

Rhinoviruses may be pathogens contributing to the development of childhood wheezing. However, their role in low risk infants without an asthmatic predisposition is unknown. Knowing which healthy, low risk children are at increased risk for childhood wheezing after rhinovirus wheezing illness (RV-WI) in infancy, might help in developing prevention and treatment strategies for childhood wheezing.

Current and future developments in managed care in the United States and implications for Europe.

The paper reviews and evaluates current and future approaches to cost containment in the United States. Managed care was once seen as an effective approach to supporting health care quality while containing costs in the USA. In recent years payors started to look in other directions, since prospects for limiting expenses faded.

Comparison of the internal transcribed spacer, ITS 1, from Toxoplasma gondii isolates and Neospora caninum.

The internal transcribed spacer (ITS1) region and the 5' part of the 5.8S ribosomal RNA gene of the ribosomal DNA repeat from 20 Toxoplasma gondil isolates was sequenced and found to be identical in all isolates, independent of host origin or virulence to mice. The ITS1 region from the closely related coccidian parasite Neospora caninum differed in 22% of its nucleotides.