Association between exposure to combustion-related air pollution and multiple sclerosis risk

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader Association between exposure to combustion-related air pollution and multiple sclerosis risk via International Journal of Epidemiology - Advance Access Abstract Background Smoking and occupational pulmonary irritants contribute to multiple sclerosis (MS) development. We aimed to study the association between ambient air pollution and MS risk and potential interaction with the human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DRB1*15:01 allele. Methods Exposure to combustion-related air pollution was estimated as outdoor levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx) at the participants' residence locations, by spatially resolved dispersion modelling for the years 1990–18. Using two population-based case-control studies (6635 cases, 8880 controls), NOx levels were associated with MS risk by calculating odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) using logistic regression models. Interaction between high NOx levels and the HLA-DRB1*15:01 allele regarding MS risk was calculated by the attributable proportion due to interaction (AP). In addition, a register study was performed comprising al l MS cases in Sweden who had received their diagnosis between 1993 and 2018 (n = 22 173), with 10 controls per case randomly selected from the National Population register. Results Residential air pollution was associated with MS risk. NOx levels (3-year average) exceeding the 90th percentile (24.6 µg/m3) were associated with an OR of 1.37 (95% CI 1.10–1.76) compared with levels below the 25th percentile (5.9 µg/m3), with a trend of increasing risk of MS with increasing levels of NOx (P <0.0001). A synergistic effect was observed between high NOx levels (exceeding the lower quartile among controls) and the HLA-DRB1*15:01 allele regarding MS risk (AP 0.26, 95% CI 0.13–0.29). Conclusions Our findings indicate that moderate levels of combustion-related ambient air pollution may play a role in MS development. View on Web

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Overall and abdominal obesity and risks of all-cause and cause-specific mortality

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader Overall and abdominal obesity and risks of all-cause and cause-specific mortality in Korean adults: a pooled analysis of three population-based prospective cohorts via International Journal of Epidemiology - Advance Access Abstract Background Studies found a J-shaped association between body mass index (BMI) and mortality. However, it is unclear whether the association is driven by biases, particularly confounding by fat-free mass. Methods We conducted an individual-level pooled analysis of three cohorts of Korean adults (aged ≥ 40 years; n = 153 248). Mortality was followed up through December 2019. Anthropometric data were directly measured at baseline. Fat and fat-free mass were predicted using validated prediction models. Using Cox proportional hazards models, we estimated the associations of BMI and waist circumference (WC) with all-cause and cause-specific mortality. To account for biases, we excluded participants aged ≥ 70 years, deaths that occurred within 5 years of follow-up and ever smokers, and adjusted for fat-free mass index (FFMI). Results During the follow-up of up to 18 years, 6061 deaths were identified. We observed J-shaped association of BMI (nadir at 22–26) and monotonically positive association of WC with all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality among Korean adults without a history of cancer or cardiovascular disease. In the BMI analysis, excluding ever smokers and adjusting for FFMI attenuated the excess mortality in underweight participants and transformed the J-shaped association into a monotonically positive shape, suggesting an increased mortality at BMI > 22.0. Excluding participants aged ≥ 70 years and deaths that occurred within 5 years of follow-up did not change the results. In the WC analysis, the monotonic positive associations did not change after the control. Similar results were observed among participants with a history of cancer or cardiovascular disease. Conclusions Our data suggest that both overall and abdominal body fat are associated with increased mortality in Korean adults. View on Web

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Effect of sintering on the translucency of CAD‐CAM lithium disilicate restorations: a comparative in vitro study

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader Effect of sintering on the translucency of CAD‐CAM lithium disilicate restorations: a comparative in vitro study via Journal of Prosthodontics Abstract Purpose The available independent data on the translucency of novel pre and fully sintered chair-side computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD-CAM) lithium disilicate are limited. This comparative in vitro study evaluated the translucency degree of pre and fully sintered chairside CAD-CAM lithium disilicate crowns after optional, required, and additional firing processes. Materials and Methods One hundred and five maxillary left central incisor crowns manufactured by three different CAD-CAM lithium disilicate brands shade A1 were assigned into 7 groups as follows (n = 15): (1) n!ce Straumann without sintering; (2) n!ce Straumann with one additional sintering process; (3) n!ce Straumann with two additional sintering processes; (4) Amber Mill with one sintering process; (5) Amber Mill with two sintering processes; (6) IPS e.max CAD with one sintering process; (7) IPS e.max CAD with two sintering processes. The translucency of all crowns was evaluated with a color imaging spectrophotometer. All statistical analyses were performed using statistical software. A standard level of significance was set at α < 0.05. Results All the milled crowns presented different degrees of translucency, and additional sintering processes altered it. IPS E.max CAD with two (4.33 ± 0.26) and one (4.01 ± 0.15) sintering processes displayed the highest translucency, whereas n!ce Straumann with no sintering process provided the lowest value (2.82 ± 0.16). Conclusions The translucency of chairside lithium disilicate single-unit full-coverage restorations manufactured with subtractive technology was significantly influenced by the brand and the number of sintering processes. The traditional presintered IPS e.max CAD and the fully crystallized glass-ceramic n!ce Straumann considerably increased the translucency after one additional firing process, whereas Amber Mill decreased its translucency. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved View on Web

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Drug‐induced radiation recall reactions and non‐anticancer drugs: A descriptive analysis from VigiBase®

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader Drug‐induced radiation recall reactions and non‐anticancer drugs: A descriptive analysis from VigiBase® via Fundamental & Clinical Pharmacology Abstract Background Radiation recall reactions are inflammatory reactions confined to previously irradiated tissues, often of drug-induced etiology, particularly with anticancer therapies. Other drugs, in particular COVID-19 vaccines, may also be involved. Objective To describe radiation recall reactions under non-anticancer drugs more precisely. Material and method We extracted the cases of radiation recall reactions associated with non-anticancer drugs from WHO pharmacovigilance database VigiBase®. We performed two analyses from this extraction: a global analysis and an analysis focusing on vaccination-related issues. Results We extracted 120 cases corresponding to 269 drugs, of which 130 were non-anticancer (22 vaccines). Among the non-anticancer drugs, tozinameran was the most reported treatment (4.46% of cases), followed by levofloxacin (2.97%) and folinic acid (2.60%), dexamethasone (2.23), ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine and prednisone (1.86% each). Among vaccines, tozinameran (54.55% of cases) was the most reported, followed by ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (22.73%), HPV & inactivated influenza vaccine (9.09% each), and elasomeran (4.55%). Conclusion Our study first describes the occurrence of radiation recall reactions during non-anticancer treatment. It also highlights a potential safety signal with COVID-19 vaccines. View on Web

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Rapid Detection of Monkeypox Virus by Multiple Cross Displacement Amplification Combined with Nanoparticle‐based Biosensor platform

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader Rapid Detection of Monkeypox Virus by Multiple Cross Displacement Amplification Combined with Nanoparticle‐based Biosensor platform via Journal of Medical Virology Abstract The current outbreak of monkeypox virus (MPXV) has become a public health emergency of international concern that highlights the need for rapid, sensitive MPXV diagnostic assays. Here, we combined isothermal multiple cross displacement amplification (MCDA) with nanoparticle-based lateral flow biosensor (LFB) to devise a diagnostic test for the diagnosis of MPXV infection (called MPXV-MCDA-LFB) and differentiation of West and Central African MPXV isolates. The MPXV-MCDA-LFB protocol conducts isothermal MCDA reaction for DNA templates followed by LFB detection of preamplification target sequences. Two MCDA primer sets were designed targeting the D41L and ATI genes of Central and West African MPXV isolates, respectively, and the optimal condition of two MCDA reactions was 64 ºC for 30 min. The two MCDA reactions were decoded by LFB, which was devised for detecting three targets, including two amplicons yielded from two MCDA reactions and a chromatography contr ol. Thus, the MPXV-MCDA-LFB assay could be completed within 50 min including rapid template preparation (15 min), MCDA reaction (30 min) and reporting of result (< 5 min). The MPXV-MCDA-LFB method is very sensitive and can detect the target genes (D14L and ATI) with as low as five copies of plasmid template per reaction and 12.5 copies of pseudovirus in human blood samples. MPXV-MCDA-LFB assay does not cross-react with non-MPXV templates, validating its specificity. Therefore, the MPXV-MCDA-LFB assay developed here is a useful tool for rapid and reliable diagnosis of MPXV infection. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. View on Web

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Integrative systems immunology uncovers molecular networks of the cell cycle that stratify COVID‐19 severity

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader Title: Integrative systems immunology uncovers molecular networks of the cell cycle that stratify COVID‐19 severity via Journal of Medical Virology Abstract Several perturbations in the number of peripheral blood leukocytes, such as neutrophilia and lymphopenia associated with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity, point to systemic molecular cell cycle alterations during severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. However, the landscape of cell cycle alterations in COVID-19 remains primarily unexplored. Here, we performed an integrative systems immunology analysis of publicly available proteome and transcriptome data to characterize global changes in the cell cycle signature of COVID-19 patients. We found significantly enriched cell cycle-associated gene co-expression modules and an interconnected network of cell cycle-associated differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) and genes (DEGs) by integrating the molecular data of 1,469 individuals (981 SARS-CoV-2 infected patients and 488 controls [either healthy controls or individuals with other respiratory illnesses]). Among these DEPs and DEGs are seve ral cyclins (CCNs), cell division cycles (CDCs), cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs), and mini-chromosome maintenance (MCMs) proteins. COVID-19 patients partially shared the expression pattern of some cell cycle-associated genes with other respiratory illnesses but exhibited some specific differential features. Notably, the cell cycle signature predominated in the patients' blood leukocytes (B, T, and NK cells) and was associated with COVID-19 severity and disease trajectories. These results provide a unique global understanding of distinct alterations in cell cycle-associated molecules in COVID-19 patients, suggesting new putative pathways for therapeutic intervention. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. View on Web

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Promising applications of human-derived saliva biomarker testing in clinical diagnostics

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader Promising applications of human-derived saliva biomarker testing in clinical diagnostics via International Journal of Oral Science - Issue International Journal of Oral Science, Published online: 04 January 2023; doi:10.1038/s41368-022-00209-w Promising applications of human-derived saliva biomarker testing in clinical diagnostics View on Web

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