Category: Environment

Environment, Infectivology

Environmental Factors and Host Microbiomes Shape Host–Pathogen Dynamics

In many cases, interactions among host, pathogen, and environment are insufficient to describe disease dynamics in the wild. The host microbiome plays an important role in host immunity, at the interface between the host and the pathogen, and affects disease outcome. The environment, as well as environmental microbiomes, influence the host microbiome, and also influence simultaneously the host and the pathogen. The three-edged disease triangle … Continue reading Environmental Factors and Host Microbiomes Shape Host–Pathogen Dynamics

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Environment

Sustained representation of perspectival shape

Our experience of the world goes beyond the light reaching our eyes: Even when a coin is tilted in depth, we infer the circular shape it truly has, rather than the ellipse it projects. But do we ever escape the perspective from which we view the world? A centuries-old philosophical debate asks whether objects of different distal shapes bear a representational similarity to one another … Continue reading Sustained representation of perspectival shape

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Environment

Association of Neighborhood #Disadvantage in Childhood With #DNA Methylation in Young Adulthood

DNA methylation has been proposed as an epigenetic mechanism by which the childhood neighborhood environment may have implications for the genome that compromise adult health.. ..A total of 1619 participants (806 female individuals [50%]) had complete neighborhood and DNA methylation data. Children raised in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods exhibited differential DNA methylation in genes involved in inflammation (β = 0.12; 95% CI, 0.06-0.19; P < .001) and smoking (β = 0.18; 95% … Continue reading Association of Neighborhood #Disadvantage in Childhood With #DNA Methylation in Young Adulthood

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Environment, Infectivology

Prevalence of Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread rapidly throughout the world since the first cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were observed in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. It has been suspected that infected persons who remain asymptomatic play a significant role in the ongoing pandemic, but their relative number and effect have been uncertain. The authors sought to review and synthesize the … Continue reading Prevalence of Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infection

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Environment, Neurology

Cigarette Smoking and Incident Stroke in Blacks of the Jackson Heart Study

Blacks are disproportionately affected by stroke compared with whites; however, less is known about the relationship between stroke and cigarette smoking in blacks. Therefore, we evaluated the relationship between cigarette smoking and all incident stroke in the JHS (Jackson Heart Study).. JHS participants without a history of stroke (n=4410) were classified by self‐reported baseline smoking status into current, past (smoked at least 400 cigarettes/life), or … Continue reading Cigarette Smoking and Incident Stroke in Blacks of the Jackson Heart Study

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Environment

The Impact of Optimized Daylight and Views on the Sleep Duration and Cognitive Performance of Office Workers

A growing awareness has recently emerged on the health benefits of exposure to daylight and views. Daylight exposure is linked to circadian rhythm regulation, which can have significant impacts on sleep quality and cognitive function. Views of nature have also been shown to impact emotional affect and performance. This study explores the impact of optimized daylight and views on the sleep and cognitive performance of … Continue reading The Impact of Optimized Daylight and Views on the Sleep Duration and Cognitive Performance of Office Workers

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Environment, Psychiatry

Loneliness around the world: Age, gender, and cultural differences in loneliness

Highlights •Younger people reported more loneliness than the middle-aged. •The middle-aged reported more loneliness than older people. •Men reported more loneliness than women. •People in individualistic (vs. collectivist) countries reported more loneliness. •Age, gender, and culture interacted to predict loneliness. https://bit.ly/3eYVzk2 Continue reading Loneliness around the world: Age, gender, and cultural differences in loneliness

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Environment

Hospital-level variation in the development of persistent critical illness

Patients with persistent critical illness may account for up to half of all intensive care unit (ICU) bed-days. It is unknown if there is hospital variation in the development of persistent critical illness and if hospital performance affects the incidence of persistent critical illness.. In the analysis of 100 hospitals which encompassed 153,512 hospitalizations, 4.9% (N = 7640/153,512) developed persistent critical illness. There was variation in the … Continue reading Hospital-level variation in the development of persistent critical illness

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Environment, Infectivology

Presymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infections and Transmission in a Skilled Nursing Facility

coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection can spread rapidly within skilled nursing facilities. After identification of a case of Covid-19 in a skilled nursing facility, we assessed transmission and evaluated the adequacy of symptom-based screening to identify infections in residents.. ..Twenty-three days after the first positive test result in a resident at this skilled nursing facility, 57 of 89 residents (64%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Among 76 … Continue reading Presymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infections and Transmission in a Skilled Nursing Facility

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Environment, Infectivology

Association of Stay-at-Home Orders With COVID-19 Hospitalizations in 4 States

In analyses of the effectiveness of response measures to the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), most studies have used the number of confirmed cases or deaths. However, case count is a conservative estimate of the actual number of infected individuals in the absence of community-wide serologic testing. Death count is a lagging metric and insufficient for proactive hospital capacity planning. A more valuable metric … Continue reading Association of Stay-at-Home Orders With COVID-19 Hospitalizations in 4 States

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Environment

Adverse effects of electronic #cigarettes on the disease-naive oral #microbiome

Six percent of Americans, including 3 million high schoolers, use e-cigarettes, which contain potentially toxic substances, volatile organic compounds, and metals. We present the first human study on the effects of e-cigarette exposure in the oral cavity. By interrogating both immunoinflammatory responses and microbial functional dynamics, we discovered pathogen overrepresentation, higher virulence signatures, and a brisk proinflammatory signal in clinically healthy e-cigarette users, equivalent to … Continue reading Adverse effects of electronic #cigarettes on the disease-naive oral #microbiome

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Environment, Infectivology

FDA Approves Only Drug in U.S. to Treat Severe #Malaria

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved artesunate for injection to treat severe malaria in adult and pediatric patients. Treatment of severe malaria with intravenous (IV) artesunate should always be followed by a complete treatment course of an appropriate oral antimalarial regimen. Prior to this approval, IV artesunate was only available to patients through the FDA’s Expanded Access program, which allowed the U.S. Centers … Continue reading FDA Approves Only Drug in U.S. to Treat Severe #Malaria

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