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Is there an occupational status gradient in the development of periodontal disease in Japanese workers? A 5-year prospective cohort study
No full textAbstractBackgroundDevelopment of periodontal disease (PD) may be affected by socioeconomic status. This study examined the relationship between occupational status and PD in a 5-year prospective cohort of Japanese workers.MethodsIn total, 19,633 participants had initial examinations at the Aichi Health Promotion Foundation, of whom 8210 participants aged 20 years or older did not have PD. Follow-up examinations were conducted for 3757 participants, accounting for 45.8% of baseline participants. Ultimately, 3390 participants were analyzed according to the criterion of job classification at baseline, which was based on the International Standard Classification of Occupations, 1987. Oral examinations were performed using the Community Periodontal Index (CPI). The CPI scores were coded as follows: healthy (score of 0); bleeding after probing (1); dental calculus (2); shallow pockets (3); and deep pockets (4). Participants with one or more sextants with a score >2 were diagnosed with PD. Poisson regression analysis was performed to adjust for age and other potential confounders.ResultsOverall, 31.6% of men and 23.8% of women had developed PD (CPI scores of 3 or 4). The adjusted relative risk (RR) for PD (CPI scores of 3 or 4) in men was not significant. On the other hand, the adjusted RRs for PD (CPI score of 4) in men were 2.52-, 2.39-, and 2.74-fold higher for skilled workers, sales persons, and drivers, respectively, than for professionals. In contrast, we found no gradient in women.ConclusionsWe found a gradient related to the risk of developing PD according to occupational status among men in a Japanese worker population
Adsorption of Pb(II) on Mentha piperita carbon (MTC) in single and quaternary systems
No full textAbstractIn the present study mentha treated carbon (MTC) has been utilized as a novel adsorbent for the removal of Pb(II) in single and quaternary systems from aqueous solution. The effects of various parameters like pH, contact time and ionic strength have been studied. The adsorbent was characterized by FTIR in order to find the functional groups present on the adsorbent. The equilibrium was attained in 180min. The maximum adsorption of Pb(II) was observed at pH 6. The adsorption isotherm studies show that data are fitted well with Freundlich and Temkin isotherms model. The kinetics data show that boundary layer diffusion is the rate controlling step for the adsorption process and it is dominant when Pb(II) ion concentration is higher. The adsorption of Pb(II) increases with the increase in the ionic strength of the solution. The positive value of ΔH0 indicates the reaction to be endothermic in nature. The activation energy was found to be 20.60kJ/molK indicating physiosorption
HbA1c as a predictor of diabetes after gestational diabetes mellitus
No full textAbstractAimWe wanted to investigate third-trimester HbA1c as a predictor of diabetes after gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).MethodsWomen with GDM were followed up prospectively for five years from pregnancy to detect the development of diabetes. The ability of HbA1c to predict diabetes was evaluated with receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves and logistic regression analysis.ResultsBy five years, 73 of 196 women had been diagnosed with diabetes. An optimal cut-off point for HbA1c of 36mmol/mol (5.4%) could predict diabetes with 45% sensitivity and 92% specificity. For HbA1c ≥39mmol/mol (≥5.7%), sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value were 30%, 97%, and 91%, respectively. In logistic regression analysis, adjusting for the diagnostic glucose concentration during pregnancy, HbA1c levels in the upper quartile (≥36mmol/mol) were associated with a 5.5-fold increased risk of diabetes.ConclusionThird-trimester HbA1c levels in the pre-diabetes range revealed women with post-partum diabetes with high specificity and high positive predictive value. HbA1c testing could be used as a strategy to select high-risk women for lifestyle interventions aimed at prevention of diabetes starting during pregnancy. The results should encourage further validation in other populations using new diagnostic criteria for GDM
Stress, anxiety and depression in heart disease patients: A major challenge for cardiac rehabilitation
No full textAbstractCardiovascular events and emotional disorders share a common epidemiology, thus suggesting fundamental pathways linking these different diseases. Growing evidence in the literature highlights the influence of psychological determinants in somatic diseases. A patient's socio-economic aspects, personality traits, health behavior and even biological pathways may contribute to the course of cardiovascular disease. Cardiac events often occur suddenly and the episode can be traumatic for people not prepared for such an event. In this review of the literature, the authors tackle the question of psychobiological mechanisms of stress, in a pathophysiological approach to fundamental pathways linking the brain to the heart. Various psychological, biological and genetic arguments are presented in support of the hypothesis that various etiological mechanisms may be involved. The authors finally deal with biological and psychological strategies in a context of cardiovascular disease. Indeed, in this context, cardiac rehabilitation, with its global approach, seems to be a good time to diagnose emotional disorders like anxiety and depression, and to help people to cope with stressful events. In this field, cardiac rehabilitation seems to be a crucial step in order to improve patients’ outcomes, by helping them to understand the influence of psychobiological risk factors, and to build strategies in order to manage daily stress
Expression and purification of tau protein and its frontotemporal dementia variants using a cleavable histidine tag
No full textAbstractRecombinant tau protein is widely used to study the biochemical, cellular and pathological aspects of tauopathies, including Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia with Parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17 (FTPD-17). Pure tau in high yield is a requirement for in vitro evaluation of the protein's physiological and toxic functions. However, the preparation of recombinant tau is complicated by the protein's propensity to aggregate and form truncation products, necessitating the use of multiple, time-consuming purification methods. In this study, we investigated parameters that influence the expression of wild type and FTPD-17 pathogenic tau, in an attempt to identify ways to maximise expression yield. Here, we report on the influence of the choice of host strain, induction temperature, duration of induction, and media supplementation with glucose on tau expression in Escherichia coli. We also describe a straightforward process to purify the expressed tau proteins using immobilised metal affinity chromatography, with favourable yields over previous reports. An advantage of the described method is that it enables high yield production of functional oligomeric and monomeric tau, both of which can be used to study the biochemical, physiological and toxic properties of the protein
Approximate solutions for solving the Klein–Gordon and sine-Gordon equations
No full textAbstractIn this paper, we practiced relatively new, analytical method known as the variational homotopy perturbation method for solving Klein–Gordon and sine-Gordon equations. To present the present method’s effectiveness many examples are given. In this study, we compare numerical results with the exact solutions, the Adomian decomposition method (ADM), the variational iteration method (VIM), homotopy perturbation method (HPM), modified Adomian decomposition method (MADM), and differential transform method (DTM). The results reveal that the VHPM is very effective
Evaluation of antibacterial efficacy of anise wastes against some multidrug resistant bacterial isolates
No full textAbstractAntibiotic resistance in bacteria is becoming a serious problem, especially after the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains. To overcome this problem, new and effective antibacterials or resistance modulators are highly needed and plant kingdom represents a valuable source of these compounds. In this study we investigated the antibacterial and resistance modulatory activity of Aniseeds waste Residue Extract (ASWRE) and Star Anise Waste Residue Extract (SAWRE) (post-distillation) against 100 isolates belonging to two Gram positive (Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus) and four Gram negative bacteria (Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Phenolic compounds of anise wastes were determined by HPLC. The antibacterial activity of anise waste extracts assays were performed by using inhibition zone diameters, MIC and MBC. Evaluation of synergy interaction between anise waste extracts and certain known antibacterial drugs like Cephradine, Chloramphenicol, Tetracycline and Amoxicillin was carried out using disc diffusion method, MIC and the fractional inhibitory concentrations (FIC). The results showed that HPLC method has been developed for the determination of 25 phenolic compounds from waste extracts. Both ASWRE and SAWRE have significant antibacterial activity against all of the test bacteria. SAWRE was found to have higher amounts of phenolic compounds contents that might be responsible for their comparatively higher antibacteria activity than ASWRE. Irradiation at 10 and 30 kGy did not significantly affect the antibacterial activity of both ASWRE and SAWRE. The combination of anise waste extracts and the tested antibiotics mostly showed synergistic effect. Synergistic interaction was most expressed against Streptococcus pneumoniae (Sp1) and Staphylococcus aureus (Sa1) by Tetracycline and chloramphenicol; Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P2), Klebsiella pneumoniae (K3), Acinetobacter baumannii (A2) and Escherichia coli (E3) by cephradine, amoxicillin and Tetracycline. The combination between anise waste extracts and the test antibiotics could be useful in fighting emerging drug-resistant bacteria. These results suggest that both aniseeds and star anise waste residue methanolic extract (post-distillation) could be good economic sources of multidrug resistance inhibitors, and indicate that indiscriminate co-administration of antibiotics with some aromatic and medicine wastes such as those from aniseeds and star anise wastes could be therapeutically wasteful. Their use in combination with conventional antibiotics should be further studied for in vivo activities. This may lead to the development of much needed drug enhancing preparations
Yield, size, nutritional value, and antioxidant activity of oyster mushrooms grown on perilla stalks
No full textAbstractPerilla is an edible medical plant with rapidly increasing acreage in China. In this study, we investigated the potential of perilla stalks (PSs) as an alternative substrate for the cultivation of oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus). P. ostreatus was cultivated on cottonseed hulls (CSH) alone or mixed with PSs in different ratios. The production parameters, physical characteristics, nutritional values, and antioxidant activity of mushrooms cultivated on different substrate mixtures were determined. The addition of PSs to CSH significantly improved the growth rate, yield, biological efficiency, and proximate composition and shortened the cultivation cycle. Cultivation on PSs alone increased the amino acid content in P. ostreatus fruiting bodies and the antioxidant activity of mushroom extracts. The PS75 (25% CSH+75% PS) substrate was deduced to be the most effective substrate on the basis of yield and biological efficiency obtained in a large area where perilla had been planted. The results demonstrate that mixtures of PS with CSHs could be used as novel, practical, and easily accessible alternative substrates for P. ostreatus cultivation
Manifesto functions: How party candidates view and use their party's central policy document
No full textAbstractElectoral manifestos play a crucial role in visions of party democracy and political science analyses of party competition. While research has focused on the contents of manifestos, we know much less about how parties produce manifestos and the roles they take in campaigns. This paper identifies three campaign-related functions of manifestos: they provide a compendium of valid party positions, streamline the campaign, and are used as campaign material. Based on the characteristics of the candidates, the parties and the campaign, the paper then derives expectations of how party candidates may differ in attributing importance to their party's manifesto. Based on a candidate survey after the 2013 Austrian general election, the paper shows that the key user-group of parliamentary candidates considers manifestos generally important and useful documents. Candidates' policy-centred campaigning and left–right distance from their own party are important in explaining individual differences. While the manifesto's service functions of providing a summary of valid party positions for the candidates and as a campaign means to be handed out to voters are widely appreciated, campaign streamlining is more divisive when it results in constraining candidates