Monitoring and mass-trapping methodologies using pheromones: the lesser date moth Batrachedra amydraula

The lesser date moth (LDM) Batrachedra amydraula is a significant pest of date palm fruits. Previously, detection and monitoring of the pest was inaccurate due to high costs of sampling with lifting machines. We report a practical system for detection and monitoring of LDM based on pheromone traps and relevant models. Dose-response experiments with LDM pheromone traps indicated a 1 mg lure is optimal for monitoring. Delta traps with adhesive covering their entire inner surface gave the highest captures while trap colour was unimportant. Sampling pheromone traps throughout the night indicated male flight began at 1:00-2:00 and reached a peak 2 h before sunrise. Monitoring traps exposed all year long in Israel revealed three generations with different abundance. Trapping transects in a date plantation indicated interference from a monitoring trap became minimal at distances >27 m away. Inter-trap distances closer than this may lower efficiency of monitoring and mass trapping in control programs. Our estimate of the circular effective attraction radius (EARc) of a 1 mg delta trap for LDM (3.43 m) shows this bait is among the most attractive compared with baits for other insects. We developed encounter-rate equations with the pheromone trap EARc to model the interplay between population levels, trap density and captures that are useful for detection of invasive LDM and its control by mass trapping. The integrated methodologies are applicable to many pest species.

Homozygous mutation in ELMO2 may cause Ramon syndrome

We report on a girl, born to first cousin Lebanese parents, with intellectual disability, seizures, repeated gingivorrhagia, enlarged lower and upper jaws, overgrowth of the gums, high arched and narrow palate, crowded teeth, hirsutism of the back, large abdomen and a small umbilical hernia. Cysts of the mandible, fibrous dysplasia of bones, and enlarged adenoids causing around 60% narrowing of the nasopharyngeal airways were noted at radiographic examination. Her brother presented with the same features in addition to a short stature, an ostium secundum, and more pronounced intellectual disability. He died at the age of 8 years from a severe pulmonary infection and repeated bleeding episodes. A clinical diagnosis of Ramon syndrome was made. Whole exome sequencing studies performed on the family revealed the presence of a novel homozygous missense mutation in ELMO2 gene, p.I606S in the affected individuals. Loss of function mutations in ELMO2 have been recently described in another clinically distinct condition: primary intraosseous vascular malformation or intraosseous hemangioma, called VMOS. Review of the literature and differential diagnoses are discussed.

Invasive squamous cell carcinoma: comparison of differentiation grade and tumour depth by anatomical site in 1666 tumours

BACKGROUND

Invasive squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) presents with different grades of differentiation and depths of invasion.

AIM

To compare the grade of differentiation, tumour diameter and tumour depth by anatomical site in invasive SCC.

METHODS

Retrospective clinical and histopathological data on consecutive cases of SCC came from a clinic in Sydney, Australia were assessed. A multinomial logistic regression model was applied to compare grades of differentiation by age, sex, anatomical sites, and histological tumour maximum diameter and depth.

RESULTS

In total, 1666 SCCs were identified, including 82.1% (n = 1367) well-differentiated, 13.3% (n = 222), moderately differentiated and 4.6% (n = 77) poorly differentiated SCCs. Patients with poorly differentiated tumours were more likely to be older and male (both P < 0.001). The most common site for poor differentiation was the scalp in men (n = 12; 15.6%) and the cheek or chin in women (n = 7; 9.1%). In the multivariate model, compared with well-differentiated SCC, older age was significantly associated with poorly and moderately differentiated SCC (P < 0.01 and P = 0.02, respectively). Larger tumour diameters were related to poor differentiation (P = 0.03). Ear, forehead and chest sites had increased tumour depth and poor differentiation.

CONCLUSIONS

This study found increased rates of poorly differentiated SCC on the forehead and cheek for both sexes, while men displayed increased rates of poorly differentiated SCC on the bald scalp and the ears. Tumour diameter and depth increased as tumours varied from well-differentiated to moderately differentiated and from moderately differentiated to poorly differentiated. An increase in depth and increased prevalence of poorly differentiated tumours were found on the ears for men and on various facial sites for both sexes.

Health Service Utilisation, Detection Rates by Family Practitioners, and Management of Patients with Common Mental Disorders in French Family Practice

OBJECTIVE

Provide up-to-date detection rates for common mental disorders (CMD) and examine patient service-use since the Preferred Doctor scheme was introduced to France in 2005, with patients encouraged to register with and consult a family practitioner (FP) of their choice.

METHODS

Study of 1133 consecutive patients consulting 38 FPs in the Montpellier region, replicating a study performed before the scheme. Patients in the waiting room completed the self-report Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) and Client Service-Receipt Inventory with questions on registration with a Preferred Doctor and doctor-shopping. CMD was defined as reaching PHQ criteria for depression, somatoform, panic or anxiety disorder. For each patient, FPs completed a questionnaire capturing psychiatric caseness.

RESULTS

81.2% of patients were seeing their Preferred Doctor on the survey-day. Of those with a CMD, 52.6% were detected by the FP. This increased with CMD severity and comorbidity. Detected cases were more likely to be consulting their Preferred Doctor (84.7% versus 79.4% for non-detected cases, p = 0.05) rather than another FP. They declared more visits to psychiatrists (17.2% versus 6.7%, p = 0.002). There was no association with consultation frequency or doctor-shopping, which both declined between the two studies.

CONCLUSION

The CMD detection rate is relatively high, with no increase compared to our previous study, despite a decline in doctor-shopping. An explanation is the same high proportion of patients visiting their usual FP on the survey-day at both periods, suggesting a limited impact of the scheme on care continuity. FP action taken highlights the importance of improving detection for providing care to patients with CMDs.

MACVIA-LR (Fighting Chronic Diseases for Active and Healthy Ageing in Languedoc-Roussillon): A Success Story of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing

The Région Languedoc Roussillon is the umbrella organisation for an interconnected and integrated project on active and healthy ageing (AHA). It covers the 3 pillars of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA): (A) Prevention and health promotion, (B) Care and cure, (C) and (D) Active and independent living of elderly people. All sub-activities (poly-pharmacy, falls prevention initiative, prevention of frailty, chronic respiratory diseases, chronic diseases with multimorbidities, chronic infectious diseases, active and independent living and disability) have been included in MACVIA-LR which has a strong political commitment and involves all stakeholders (public, private, patients, policy makers) including CARSAT-LR and the Eurobiomed cluster. It is a Reference Site of the EIP on AHA. The framework of MACVIA-LR has the vision that the prevention and management of chronic diseases is essential for the promotion of AHA and for the reduction of handicap. The main objectives of MACVIA-LR are: (i) to develop innovative solutions for a network of Living labs in order to reduce avoidable hospitalisations and loss of autonomy while improving quality of life, (ii) to disseminate the innovation. The three years of MACVIA-LR activities are reported in this paper.

The DisVis and PowerFit Web Servers: Explorative and Integrative Modeling of Biomolecular Complexes

Structure determination of complex molecular machines requires a combination of an increasing number of experimental methods with highly specialized software geared toward each data source to properly handle the gathered data. Recently, we introduced the two software packages PowerFit and DisVis. These combine high-resolution structures of atomic subunits with density maps from cryo-electron microscopy or distance restraints, typically acquired by chemical cross-linking coupled with mass spectrometry, respectively. Here, we report on recent advances in both GPGPU-accelerated software packages: PowerFit is a tool for rigid body fitting of atomic structures in cryo-electron density maps and has been updated to also output reliability indicators for the success of fitting, through the use of the Fisher z-transformation and associated confidence intervals; DisVis aims at quantifying the information content of distance restraints and identifying false-positive restraints. We extended its analysis capabilities to include an analysis of putative interface residues and to output an average shape representing the putative location of the ligand. To facilitate their use by a broad community, they have been implemented as web portals harvesting both local CPU resources and GPGPU-accelerated EGI grid resources. They offer user-friendly interfaces, while minimizing computational requirements, and provide a first interactive view of the results. The portals can be accessed freely after registration via http://milou.science.uu.nl/services/DISVIS and http://milou.science.uu.nl/services/POWERFIT.

A Retrospective Perinatal Data Analysis of Immigrant and German Women from Representative Birth Cohorts at the Virchow Hospital, Berlin

Introduction: The aim of this study was to define and characterise differences in the level of obstetric care provided to immigrant and German women. Materials and Methods: An analysis of the Virchow Hospital's birth registers was conducted for the years 1974, 1984 and 1994. The study population of 5445 patients was grouped according to ancestry/family origin on the basis of a name analysis, and subsequently also according to parity (primiparous or multiparous). On name analysis 2741 women were defined as German, 1598 were grouped as women of Turkish origin and 810 as immigrants of other origin. χ² tests and Fisher's exact test were used for significance testing (significance level p < 0.05), and a logistic regression analysis was performed. Results: Rates of caesarean section, episiotomy, higher grade perineal tears and severe postpartum haemorrhage did not differ between the groups. There were however significant differences in the use of uterine stimulants, analgesics in labour and both local and regional anaesthesia, with women of Turkish origin and other immigrants receiving anaesthesia less, but oxytocin more often. Rooming-in was more common among German primipara and multipara from 1984 onwards. Discussion: This retrospective analysis of three historical birth cohorts showed significant differences in perinatal care between German and immigrant women, presumably reflecting deficits in care. It seems remarkable that this trend has not changed over a time span of three decades despite a continuous increase in immigration and acculturation. A "research paradox", however, remains: Despite these increasing rates, there are no current or older, prospective or systematic studies of obstetric care in immigrants.

Growth curves for congenital adrenal hyperplasia from a national retrospective cohort

BACKGROUND

In congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), adjusting hydrocortisone dose during childhood avoids reduced adult height. However, there are currently no CAH-specific charts to monitor growth during treatment. Our objective was to elaborate growth reference charts and bone maturation data for CAH patients.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective observational cohort study, in 34 French CAH centers. Patients were 496 children born 1970-1991 with genetically proven 21-hydroxylase deficiency. Their growth and bone maturation data were collected until age 18 together with adult height, puberty onset, parental height, and treatment. The mean (SD) heights were modeled from birth to adulthood. The median±1 SD and ±2 SDs model-generated curves were compared with the French references. A linear model for bone maturation and a logistic regression model for the probability of short adult height were built.

RESULTS

Growth charts were built by sex for salt wasting (SW) and simple virilizing (SV) children treated before 1 year of age. In girls and boys, growth was close to that of the general French population up to puberty onset. There was almost no pubertal spurt and the mean adult height was shorter than that of the general population in girls (-1.2 SD, 156.7 cm) and boys (-1.0 SD, 168.8 cm). Advanced bone age at 8 years had a strong impact on the risk of short adult height (OR: 4.5 per year advance).

CONCLUSIONS

The 8-year bone age is a strong predictor of adult height. It will help monitoring the growth of CAH-affected children.

Piezoelectric compared with conventional rotary osteotomy for the prevention of postoperative sequelae and complications after surgical extraction of mandibular third molars: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The purpose of this review was to determine if postoperative sequelae (facial swelling, trismus, pain) and neurological complications are reduced when mandibular third molars are surgically extracted using a piezoelectric device for osteotomy compared with conventional rotary burs, and to determine if there is a difference in operating time between the two techniques. Clinical trials were identified through a search (April 2015) on the PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) and Google Scholar databases. Studies were assessed by study type, characteristics of participants, sample size, surgical technique, cointerventions, outcomes, risk of bias, and findings. We calculated a Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) rating of confidence in the effect estimates. We identified 2515 citations and found 15 eligible clinical trials. Patients who had osteotomies with the piezoelectric device had less facial swelling (standard mean difference -1.15; 95% CI -2.02 to -0.27; p<0.0001), trismus (greater maximum mouth opening, standard mean difference 0.78; 95% CI 0.56 to 1.00; p=0.33) and pain (standard mean difference -0.84; 95% CI -1.55 to -0.13; p<0.0001) at day 1, less facial swelling at day 7 (standard mean difference -0.98; 95% CI -1.52 to -0.44; p=0.05), and a reduced risk of neurological complications (odds ratio (OR) 0.28; 95% CI 0.09 to 0.89; p=0.79). Trismus at day 7 and pain at day 5 did not differ significantly between the two methods. Operating time was longer with the piezoelectric device (standard mean difference 0.83; 95% CI 0.57 to 1.09; p=0.001). The confidence in the effect estimates was low or very low across all outcomes. The findings raise the possibility of an improved clinical healing response to osteotomy with the piezoelectric device compared with one done with conventional rotary burs for surgical extractions of mandibular third molars.

Clinical Presentation and Determinants of Mortality of Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis in Kidney Transplant Recipients: A Multinational Cohort Study

The prognostic factors and optimal therapy for invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) after kidney transplantation (KT) remain poorly studied. We included in this multinational retrospective study 112 recipients diagnosed with probable (75.0% of cases) or proven (25.0%) IPA between 2000 and 2013. The median interval from transplantation to diagnosis was 230 days. Cough, fever, and expectoration were the most common symptoms at presentation. Bilateral pulmonary involvement was observed in 63.6% of cases. Positivity rates for the galactomannan assay in serum and bronchoalveolar lavage samples were 61.3% and 57.1%, respectively. Aspergillus fumigatus was the most commonly identified species. Six- and 12-week survival rates were 68.8% and 60.7%, respectively, and 22.1% of survivors experienced graft loss. Occurrence of IPA within the first 6 months (hazard ratio [HR]: 2.29; p-value = 0.027) and bilateral involvement at diagnosis (HR: 3.00; p-value = 0.017) were independent predictors for 6-week all-cause mortality, whereas the initial use of a voriconazole-based regimen showed a protective effect (HR: 0.34; p-value = 0.007). The administration of antifungal combination therapy had no apparent impact on outcome. In conclusion, IPA entails a dismal prognosis among KT recipients. Maintaining a low clinical suspicion threshold is key to achieve a prompt diagnosis and to initiate voriconazole therapy.