Th1 cell development induced by cysteine proteinases A and B in localized cutaneous leishmaniasis due to Leishmania guyanensis

The cysteine proteinases CPA and CPB from Leishmania major induced Th1 responses in patients with leishmaniasis due to Leishmania guyanensis. Furthermore, cysteine proteinases induced neither interleukin 4 (IL-4) nor IL-13 and low levels of IL-10 in controls and patients. The results suggest that CPs would be quite good candidates for a vaccine against different Leishmania species.     

Immunohistochemical expression of p16(INK4a) is predictive of HR-HPV infection in cervical low-grade lesions.

The p16(INK4a) is a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor that decelerates the cell cycle by inactivating the cyclin-dependent kinases involved in the phosphorylation of the retinoblastoma protein (RB). Expression of E6 and E7 oncogenes of high-risk (HR) human papillomavirus (HPV), affecting the RB-p16 pathway, leads to p16 upregulation. Although it is widely reported that p16 is overexpressed in a high percentage of preneoplastic lesions and in almost all carcinomas of the uterine cervix, protein upregulation and its correlation with HPV infection in low-grade lesions is still being debated. In this study, we investigated in parallel, p16 expression and HPV infection in 100 cervical biopsies (17 normal tissues, 54 CIN1, 10 CIN2, 11 CIN3, eight invasive squamous cancers). Results obtained demonstrated that none of the 17 normal cervical tissues, evaluated by immunohistochemistry, presented p16 positivity whereas, starting from CIN1 (31%) to CIN2 (90%), CIN3 (100%) and carcinomas (100%), a constant and significant increase of protein overexpression (P<0.0001) was observed. In addition, p16 overexpression consistently showed elevated sensitivity (84%) and specificity (98%) in detecting HR-HPV infection with a high positive predictive value (97%) and negative predictive value (86%). Of interest, 93% of the p16-positive CIN1 were also HR-HPV infected. Our findings confirmed that p16 overexpression is associated to high-grade precancerous lesions and cervical carcinomas, and further demonstrated that immunohistochemical evaluation of p16 may be a useful biomarker in identifying HR-HPV-infected low-grade lesions.     

Ambient air pollution and emergency department visits among children and adults in Casablanca,Morocco

This study presents the relationships between ambient air pollutants and morbidity and emergency department visits among children and adults performed in Great Casablanca, the most populated and economic region in Morocco. This research was analyzed using conditional Poisson model for the period 2011–2013. In the period of study, the daily average concentrations of SO₂, NO₂, O₃ and PM₁₀ in Casablanca were 209.4 µg/m³, 61 µg/m³, 113.2 µg/m³ and 75.1 µg/m³, respectively. In children less than 5 years old, risk of asthma could be increased until 12% per 10 µg/m³ increase in NO₂, PM10, SO₂ and O₃. In children over 5 years and adults, an increase of 10 µg/m³ air pollutant can cause an increase until 3% and 4% in respiratory consultations and acute respiratory infection, respectively. Similarly, impact on emergency department visits due to respiratory and cardiac illness was established. Our results suggest a not negligible impact on morbidity of outdoor air pollution by NO₂, SO₂, O₃, and PM₁₀.     

Psychosocial Responses to Healthcare: A Study on Asylum-Seeking Families’ Experiences in Denmark

Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health - Much work has gone into unpacking the range of individual, interpersonal and structural barriers that prevent asylum-seekers from accessing healthcare. In...     

Online health communities,contributions to caregivers and resilience of older adults

The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, to investigate the potential benefits of online health communities (OHCs) for informal caregivers by conducting a systematic literature review. Secondly, to identify the relationship between the potential benefits of OHCs and resilience factors of older adults. Performing a thematic analysis, we identified the potential benefits of OHCs for informal caregivers of older adults, including two salient themes: (a) caregivers sharing and receiving social support and (b) self and moral empowerment of caregivers. Then, we uncovered how these potential benefits can support resilience of older adults. Our findings show that sharing and receiving of social support by informal caregivers, and self and moral empowerment of informal caregivers in OHCs, can support four resilience factors among older adults, including self-care, independence, altruism and external connections. This review enables a better understanding of OHCs and Gerontology, and our outcomes also challenge the way healthcare and aged-care service providers view caregivers and older adults. Furthermore, the identified gap and opportunities would provide avenues for further research in OHCs.     

Prevalent diabetes and risk of total,colorectal, prostate and breast cancers in an ageing population: meta-analysis of individual participant data from cohorts of the CHANCES consortium

Background We investigated whether associations between prevalent diabetes and cancer risk are pertinent to older adults and whether associations differ across subgroups of age, body weight status or levels of physical activity.Methods We harmonised data from seven prospective cohort studies of older individuals in Europe and the United States participating in the CHANCES consortium. Cox proportional hazard regression was used to estimate the associations of prevalent diabetes with cancer risk (all cancers combined, and for colorectum, prostate and breast). We calculated summary risk estimates across cohorts using pooled analysis and random-effects meta-analysis.Results A total of 667,916 individuals were included with an overall median (P25–P75) age at recruitment of 62.3 (57–67) years. During a median follow-up time of 10.5 years, 114,404 total cancer cases were ascertained. Diabetes was not associated with the risk of all cancers combined (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.94; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.86–1.04; I² = 63.3%). Diabetes was positively associated with colorectal cancer risk in men (HR = 1.17; 95% CI: 1.08–1.26; I² = 0%) and a similar HR in women (1.13; 95% CI: 0.82–1.56; I² = 46%), but with a confidence interval including the null. Diabetes was inversely associated with prostate cancer risk (HR = 0.81; 95% CI: 0.77–0.85; I² = 0%), but not with postmenopausal breast cancer (HR = 0.96; 95% CI: 0.89–1.03; I² = 0%). In exploratory subgroup analyses, diabetes was inversely associated with prostate cancer risk only in men with overweight or obesity.Conclusions Prevalent diabetes was positively associated with colorectal cancer risk and inversely associated with prostate cancer risk in older Europeans and Americans.Subject terms: Risk factors, Cancer epidemiology     

Ex vivo all-trans retinoic acid modulates NO production and regulates IL-6 effect during rheumatoid arthritis: a study in Algerian patients

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease. The pathophysiology of RA implicates several mediators such as nitric oxide (NO) and cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), which is deeply involved in the main characteristics of RA. Furthermore, all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) is an active vitamin A derivative well-known to have diverse immunomodulatory actions. In our study, we investigated first, the ex vivo immunomodulatory potential of ATRA on NO pathway by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from Algerian RA patients. Then, we assessed the possible regulatory effect of ATRA on NO production induced by IL-6. PBMCs isolated from active and inactive RA patients and healthy controls were cultured with different concentrations of IL-6 or/with ATRA. NO production was assessed using the Griess method. Inducible nitric oxide synthase expression and NF-κB activity were analyzed by immunofluorescence test. Our results revealed a high NO production during active RA. We noticed that while IL-6 induced a high NO production and iNOS expression, ATRA downregulated both. ATRA also inhibited nuclear NF-κB translocation. Interestingly, it seems that NO production mediated by IL-6 on PBMCs of RA patients is downregulated by ATRA. Taken together, our results highlight the immunomodulatory effect of ATRA on NO pathway in RA patients and its possible role in regulating IL-6-mediated NO production. All these findings suggest its potential therapeutic role during RA.