title: A Multiagent-Based Model for Epidemic Disease Monitoring in DR Congo

text: Any infectious diseases have been reported in sub-Saharan countries over the past decade due to the inefficiency of health structures to anticipate outbreaks. In a poorly-infrastructure country such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with inadequate health staff and laboratories, it is difficult to respond rapidly to an epidemic, especially in rural areas. As the DRC’s health system has three levels (peripheral, regional and national), from the production of health data at the peripheral level to the national level that makes the decision, meantime the disease can spread to many people. Lack of communication between health centres of the same health zone and Health zones of the same Health Provincial Division does not contribute to the regional response. This article, an extended version of [1], proposes a well elaborated solution track to deal with this problem by using an agent-centric approach to study by simulation how to improve the process. A new experiment is described by arranging twenty-eight health zones of Kinshasa to show how their collaboration can provide unique health data source for all stakeholders and help reducing disease propagation. It concerns also 47 health centres, 1 medical laboratory, 1 Provincial Health Division and 4 Rapid Riposte Teams. The simulation data, provided by Provincial Health Division of Kinshasa, concerned cholera outbreak from January to December 2017. The interaction between these agents demonstrated that Health Zone Agent can automatically alert his neighbours whenever he encountered a confirmed case of an outbreak. This action can reduce disease propagation as population will be provided with prevention measures. These interactions between agents have provided models to propose to the current system in order to find out the best that can help reducing decision time.


title: Antiviral and Antimicrobial Evaluation of Some Heterocyclic Compounds from Turkish Plants

text: Antibiotic resistance has become a problem since the discovery of antibiotics. Not long after the introduction of penicillin, Staphylococcus aureus, which can be also transmitted to humans via milk and milk products, began developing penicillin-resistant strains. Therefore, one approach that has been used for the discovery of new antimicrobial agents from natural sources is based on the evaluation of traditional plant extracts. Natural products have played a pivotal role in antibiotic drug innovation and include aminoglycosides, cephalosporins, macrolides, cycloserine, novobiocin, and lipoproteins. However, only a few antiviral agents are available on the market. To this purpose, we have screened a great number of herbal extracts along with some pure natural substances and obtained interesting findings. This chapter covers the results of our rigorous search for new antiviral and antimicrobial alternative compounds from a number of Turkish plants.


title: Pulmonary Interstitium

text: The first step in the radiographic evaluation of interstitial lung disease begins with a fundamental knowledge of the anatomy of the pulmonary interstitium and the different patterns of disruption. The anatomy of the pulmonary interstitium as demonstrated on CT of the chest with high resolution cuts is largely essential to establish the various radiological patterns that define interstitial lung disease such as the tree-in-bud, ground-glass opacity, crazy -paving, etc.


title: The Domestic Cat, Felis catus, as a Model of Hereditary and Infectious Disease

text: The domestic cat, currently the most frequent of companion animals, has enjoyed a medical surveillance, as a nonprimate species, second only to the dog. With over 200 hereditary disease pathologies reported in the cat, the clinical and physiological study of these feline hereditary diseases provides a strong comparative medicine opportunity for prevention, diagnostics, and treatment studies in a laboratory setting. Causal mutations have been characterized in 19 felid genes, with the largest representation from lysosomal storage enzyme disorders. Corrective therapeutic strategies for several disorders have been proposed and examined in the cat, including enzyme replacement, heterologous bone marrow transplantation, and substrate reduction therapy. Genomics tools developed in the cat, including the recent completion of the 2-fold whole genome sequence of the cat and genome browser, radiation hybrid map of 1793 integrated coding and microsatellite loci, a 5-cM genetic linkage map, arrayed BAC libraries, and flow sorted chromosomes, are providing resources that are being utilized in mapping and characterization of genes of interest. A recent report of the mapping and characterization of a novel causative gene for feline spinal muscular atrophy marked the first identification of a disease gene purely from positional reasoning. With the development of genomic resources in the cat and the application of complementary comparative tools developed in other species, the domestic cat is emerging as a promising resource of phenotypically defined genetic variation of biomedical significance. Additionally, the cat has provided several useful models for infectious disease. These include feline leukemia and feline sarcoma virus, feline coronavirus, and Type C retroviruses that interact with cellular oncogenes to induce leukemia, lymphoma, and sarcoma.


Tracing the Diffusion of Infectious Diseases in the Transport Sector


title: Microbiology of Acute, Subacute, and Chronic Rhinosinusitis in Children

text: Acute, subacute, and chronic rhinosinusitis may involve an infectious etiology. Knowledge of the microbiology of sinusitis is necessary because it impacts the choice of antibiotic therapy. The sinus aspirate is the most reliable source of microbiological data in sinusitis in children. However, sinus aspirates are rarely done in cases of patients with rhinosinusitis; the last time one was done in a child was in 1984. When they are done, sinus aspirate studies of children showed the presence of Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae), Haemophilus influenzae, and Moraxella catarrhalis (M. catarrhalis). Unlike sinus aspirates, nasopharyngeal and middle meatal cultures are not reliable in determining the bacteriology of children with acute sinusitis. The observation of an increase in the proportion of cases of acute otitis media caused by H. influenzae may reflect that in acute sinusitis as well. Staphylococcus aureus does not play a significant role in uncomplicated acute bacterial sinusitis. The microbiology of acute otitis media can be used as a surrogate for that of acute bacterial sinusitis in children. In contrast to bacteria, the contribution of viruses to the pathogenesis of acute bacterial sinusitis has not been studied systematically. The pathogenesis of chronic sinusitis may be related to bacterial biofilms as a stimulant of chronic inflammation.


title: Airborne/Droplet Infection Isolation

text: Airborne/droplet infection is caused by infected agents in the air around a person. Microbial pathogenic agents that are mainly transmitted airborne are aerosols, re-aerosols, microbe-carrying particles, huge amounts of bacteria-carrying airborne skin cells, dust, droplets and droplet nuclei. At the same time, there is always a contact transmission from contaminated environment, equipment, textiles and waste. Droplet nuclei are small evaporated droplet residues (<5 μm) produced by coughing, sneezing, shouting, singing and speaking very distinct—especially the consonants. Droplet nuclei remain for many hours in the air and may be carried by normal air currents in long distances outside the room. Therefore, “droplet isolation and droplet precaution” is included in the airborne isolation regime. The source of infection is usually a patient but may also be a healthy carrier. The patient should be placed in isolate dedicated for airborne infections.


Part II Acronyms and Abbreviations


title: Human Infected H5N1 Avian Influenza

text: Avian influenza is an infectious disease caused by avian influenza virus, which is also known as avian plague or European avian plague.


title: Human Pathogenic Viruses in the Marine Environment

text: Indigenous marine virus strains outnumber any form of life in the sea, usually occurring in billion amounts per liter (Danovaro et al., 2001; Fuhrman, 1999). However, although transspecific propagation of viruses may take place, the virus—host relationship tends to be quite constrained, and consequently human viruses are the only viral agents of public health concern in the marine environment.


title: Vaccines

text: Vaccines continue to offer the key line of protection against a range of infectious diseases; however, the range of vaccines currently available is limited. One key consideration in the development of a vaccine is risk-versus-benefit, and in an environment of perceived low risk, the benefit of vaccination may not be recognised. To address this, there has been a move towards the use of subunit-based vaccines, which offer low side-effect profiles but are generally weakly immunogenic. This can be compensated for by the development of effective adjuvants. Nanotechnology offers key attributes in this field through the ability of nanoparticulates to incorporate and protect antigens from rapid degradation, combined with their potential to effectively deliver the antigens to appropriate cells within the immune system. These characteristics can be exploited in the development of new adjuvants. This chapter will outline the applications of nanosystems in vaccine formulations and consider the mechanisms of action behind a range of formulations.


title: Postoperative Care of the Cardiac Surgical Patient

text: The subspecialty of interventional cardiology began in 1977. Since then, the discipline of interventional cardiology has matured rapidly, particularly with regards to ischemic heart disease. As a result, more patients are undergoing percutaneous catheter interventional therapy for ischemic heart disease and fewer patients are undergoing surgical myocardial revascularization. Those patients referred for surgical revascularization are generally older and have more complex problems. Furthermore, as the population ages more patients are referred to surgery for valvular heart disease. The result of these changes is a population of surgical patients older and sicker than previously treated.


Housing And Welfare


title: Human Infected H7N9 Avian Influenza

text: Human infected H7N9 avian influenza is an acute respiratory infectious disease caused by subtype H7N9 of avian influenza virus. Since the first case was reported in Yangzi River Delta of China in Feb. 2013, the total cases with definitive diagnosis had been up to 451 cases, including 176 cases of death, by Dec. 31, 2014, with a mortality rate of roughly 39 %.


title: Antimicrobial Use in Surgical Intensive Care

text: Intensive care has evolved over its 50-year history to yield previously unimaginable recovery from major trauma, multi-organ system failure, and extensive surgery, including organ transplantation. Antimicrobial therapy plays an essential role in combating invasive infections in the intensive care population that are often the ultimate causes of death. However, a parallel evolution of antimicrobial compensation has occurred, engendering resistance and virulence mechanisms to circumvent each new antimicrobial agent. The surgical intensive care unit provides the ultimate microcosm of antimicrobial resistance selection, combining complex and severe underlying illness with invasive devices, bypassed defenses, compromised tissues, and proximity to other high-risk patients, all in one intimate environment. New resistance mechanisms may be introduced from referring institutions or can emerge in response to treatments, and then may spread to others within or outside the ICU. Multidrug-resistant organisms have become a dominant issue in modern health care; a strategic response is essential to short- and long-term success.


title: Apoptosis in MHV-Induced Demyelination

text: Mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) induced encephalitis, hepatitis and chronic demyelinating disease involves inflammatory and parenchymal cell death. TUNEL assays and electron microscopy reveal that brain parenchymal cells such as neurons, astrocytes, microglia/macrophages and oligodendrocytes are undergoing apoptosis during acute and chronic infection with a neurotropic strain MHV-A59. Although apoptosis is a normal phenomenon in helping the turnover of inflammatory cells, apoptosis of brain parenchymal cells may have significant implications for the pathogenesis of viral-induced demyelination.


title: Polmoniti

text: Non è semplice ordinare una materia così articolata come la patologia infettiva respiratoria. La gestione delle polmoniti si presenta complessa per le problematiche ad esse connesse (aspetti epidemiologici, microbiologici, farmacoeconomici, ecc.) per cui è necessario confrontare costantemente le conoscenze di quanti hanno dimestichezza in questo settore per proporre e condividere linee strategiche che tengano in considerazione da un lato i suggerimenti contenuti nelle linee guida più accreditate e dall’altro le esperienze prodotte dalla pratica quotidiana al fine di migliorare potenzialità e metodi di cura e razionalizzare i percorsi diagnostico-terapeutici più idonei a fronteggiarle. L’incremento costante delle infezioni respiratorie sostenute dai patogeni emergenti e interessate dal fenomeno delle resistenze batteriche è oggi un elemento preoccupante che rischia, tra l’altro, di vanificare, in carenza di un adeguamento costante, tutti gli schemi, le linee guida e i protocolli diagnostico-terapeutici elaborati in questi ultimi anni per un razionale trattamento delle patologie pneumoinfettivologiche. Il trattamento delle polmoniti acquisite in comunità (CAP) rappresenta uno degli argomenti più dibattuti in pneumologia negli ultimi anni, sottoposto a continue revisioni, aggiornamenti, precisazioni dottrinarie.


title: News Timeline Generation: Accounting for Structural Aspects and Temporal Nature of News Stream

text: The number of news articles that are published daily is larger than any person can afford to study. Correct summarization of the information allows for an easy search for the event of interest. This research was designed to address the issue of constructing annotations of news story. Standard multi-document summarization approaches are not able to extract all information relevant to the event. This is due to the fact that such approaches do not take into account the variability of the event context in time. We have implemented a system that automatically builds timeline summary. We investigated impact of three factors: query extension, accounting for temporal nature and structure of news article in form of inverted pyramid. The annotations that we generate are composed of sentences sorted in chronological order, which together contain the main details of the news story. The paper shows that taking into account the described factors positively affects the quality of the annotations created.


title: Plant,Animal, and Microbe Invasive Species in the United States and World

text: Approximately 50,000 plant, animal, and microbe invasive species are present in the United States, and an estimated 500,000 plant, animal, and microbe invasive species have invaded other nations of the world. Immediately, it should be pointed out that the US and world agriculture depend on introduced food crops and livestock.Approximately 99 % of all crops and livestock in all nations are intentionally introduced plants, animals, and microbes (Pimentel 2002). Worldwide, the value of agriculture (including beneficial non-indigenous species) is estimated to total $ 30 trillion per year. Other exotic species have been introduced for landscape restoration, biological pest control, sport, and food processing, also contributing significant benefits. Calculating the negative economic impacts associated with the invasion of exotic species is difficult.For a few species, there are sufficient data to estimate some impacts on agriculture, forestry, fisheries, public health, and the natural ecosystem in the US and worldwide. In this article, we estimate the magnitude of the economic benefits, and environmental and economic costs associated with a variety of invasive species that exist in the United States and elsewhere in the world.


title: Learning the Lessons of the BSE Crisis

text: By any standard, the BSE crisis was a most difficult period in the public health of the UK. This period saw a previously unknown TSE emerge in cattle and then transmit to humans, a scenario which by August 2009 had cost 164 people their lives in the UK and which has resulted in an unknown number of other people incubating variant CJD (vCJD). The economic damage caused by this disease has been considerable. In April 2000, the government estimated that by the end of the 2001/2002 financial year, the total net cost of the BSE crisis to the Exchequer would be £3.7 billion (BSE Inquiry Report, Volume 10: 1). Less quantifiable consequences have also stemmed from this crisis. Chief amongst them has been significant damage to the public’s ability to trust the pronouncements of government on matters of food safety and risk. The scientific community has suffered inestimable damage to its expertise and to its capacity to provide objective, consistent scientific advice to the public. With such serious consequences emanating from the BSE affair, it is incumbent on all those who were involved in this tragic episode to reflect on the events that took place and to consider how things could have been done better. Such a reflective exercise has, of course, been conducted by Lord Phillips and his inquiry team who examined all the events that took place during the BSE epidemic and drew a wide-ranging set of lessons from these events. A reflective purpose is also a central motivation of the current chapter. However, the focus of this reflection – scientific reasoning in contexts of uncertainty – is altogether narrower than that undertaken during the public inquiry into BSE. Moreover, the question of reasoning in contexts of uncertainty was omitted from Lord Phillips’ inquiry into BSE and has also been overlooked within the vast literature that has been written on the topic of BSE both before and after this inquiry was conducted.


title: Acronimi ed abbreviazioni

text: “The patient went from the ER to the OR and then to the ICU”. Indubbiamente il lessico dei medici è ricco di abbreviazioni, tanto che gli operatori della sanità in generale ed i radiologi in particolare adoperano perlomeno dieci abbreviazioni per minuto (questa è una statistica fatta in casa, per favore non citatela).


title: Environmental Pathology

text: Humans are constantly exposed to hazardous pollutants in the environment—for example, in the air, water, soil, rocks, diet, or workplace. Trace metals are important in environmental pathology because of the wide range of toxic reactions and their potential adverse effects on the physiological function of organ systems. Exposures to toxic trace metals have been the subject of numerous environmental and geochemical investigations, and many studies have been published on the acute and/or chronic effects of high-level exposures to these types of agents; however, much fewer data are available concerning the health effects of low-dose chronic exposure to many trace metals. Chronic low-dose exposures to toxic elements such as cadmium and arsenic have been shown to cause these metals to accumulate in tissues over time, leading to multiple adverse effects in exposed individuals.


title: Dynamic Chromatin Loops and the Regulation of Gene Expression

text: Although we have a draft sequence of the human genome, little is known about how the chromatin fiber is packed in three-dimensional (3D) space, or how packing affects function (Jackson 2003). We know packing plays a major role; the rate of transcription of a typical gene can vary over eight orders of magnitude (Ivarie et al. 1983), but deleting local elements like promoters and enhancers reduces expression by less than 5000-fold in transient transfection assays where the 3D “context” is missing. Common sense suggests the fiber cannot be packed randomly, but elucidating what any underlying order might be has proved difficult. First, the foldings of the chromatin fiber have dimensions below the resolution (≈200 nm) of the light microscope (LM) and so can only be seen by electron microscopy (EM), but then the fixation required can distort structure. Second, DNA is so long and packed so tightly it breaks and/or aggregates easily on isolation. Third, chromatin is poised in a metastable state so small charge alterations trigger changes in structure and function, and replacing the natural environment with our buffers often promotes aggregation.


title: Specific Serum Markers of IPF: What Is the Significance of KL-6, SP-A, and SP-D?

text: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is defined as a specific form of chronic, progressive, fibrosing interstitial pneumonia of unknown cause. It is characterized by the progressive worsening of lung function and has a poor prognosis (median survival is approximately 3 years). However, the clinical course of disease shows considerable individual variability. Therefore, it is important to monitor the clinical course and to predict prognosis for optimal therapy. Serum biomarkers are both less invasive and reproducible diagnostic tools. Useful biomarkers for patients with IPF are strongly coveted; however, to date, there are no biomarkers that are globally known. In Japan, surfactant protein (SP)-A, SP-D, and KL-6 are commonly used as serum markers of interstitial pneumonia, including IPF, in the clinical setting, and empirical data has been accumulated over 10 years. SP-A and SP-D are hydrophilic proteins and members of the collectin family. These collectins have been shown to function as host defense lectins in the lung. KL-6 is a high molecular weight glycoprotein and now classified as a human MUC1 mucin protein. These three proteins are mainly synthesized by alveolar type II cells. The mechanisms of increase for these protein levels in sera of patients with IPF are probably a combination of a loss of epithelial integrity due to injury and an increased mass of type II cells due to hyperplasia. It has been revealed that those proteins are useful for monitoring the clinical course and predicting prognosis as well as for the diagnosis of IPF. In this review article, the molecular structures and biological functions of these biomarkers are outlined, and we discuss the clinical application of these biomarkers for patients with IPF.


title: Issue Framing: Making Your Concerns a Global Priority

text: One of the challenges stakeholders in global public health negotiations face is how to focus media, public and policy-maker attention on a specific public health concern in a way that motivates action. Whether the issue is the threat posed by a new virus (e.g., HIV/AIDS, SARS, H5N1/avian flu, H1N1/swine flu), the impact of the WTO’s TRIPS agreement on the access to essential medicines, or the marketing of unhealthy foods to children, defining the issue in a compelling manner is a key first step in any negotiating process.


title: Economic Assessment of the Damages Caused by Global Warming

text: Damages avoided – the principal benefit of mitigating climate change – are investigated in this chapter, particularly the potential adverse impacts on the primary sectors, biodiversity and human health. A review of studies indicates that climate change is unlikely to have much impact on agriculture and forestry; projected climate change will increase productivity in some regions while reducing it in others, leading to a redistribution of land rents with little impact on overall output. When CO(2) fertilization is taken into account, there might even be an overall increase in primary sector productivity that results in more undisturbed land, thus protecting biodiversity. Other findings in this chapter also run counter to current shibboleths: The biggest threat to polar bears is hunting, not climate change; current trends in Arctic ice extent are not without historical precedent; sea level rise is not an imminent threat; extreme weather events are not increasing; malaria is not only a tropical disease; and human health is a function of income, not climate, with bottom-up models using UN data predicting that death rates from almost all causes will be lower with projected global warming than without it. Meanwhile, integrated assessment models (IAMs) simply assume damages are an arbitrary function of temperature; upon balancing discounted costs and benefits, IAMs can be used to find an optimal path (usually of a carbon tax or emissions cap) for mitigating climate change. It is shown that different assumptions regarding damages, the discount rate, and/or the probability of catastrophic damage can be used to justify completely different policies for addressing global warming. Therefore, a carbon tax that is contingent on the temperature in the troposphere above the tropics – where the earliest indication of global warming is predicted to occur – is considered to be the preferred policy strategy as it should appeal to global warming proponents and skeptics alike. Finally, the Kaya identity is used to demonstrate the policy dilemma that decision makers face in reducing CO(2) emissions.


title: A Brief History of Advances Toward Health

text: Three major discoveries determined the health and history of the human species. The first occurred almost a million years ago, when our hominid precursors discovered how to use fire to cook the meat they had hunted. They found that cooked meat tasted better, it didn’t go bad so quickly, and eating it was less likely to make them ill. Our understanding of nutrition, a basic tenet of public health science, and the art of cooking have been improving ever since.


title: Diffuse Alveolar Hemorrhage

text: Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage[DAH] is a serious condition that can be life threatening. It can be caused by a constellation of disorders which presents with hemoptysis, anemia, and diffuse alveolar infiltrates. Respiratory failure from DAH can be so severe that it has been called an ARDS mimic/imitator. Early recognition is crucial because prompt diagnosis and treatment are required for survival. DAH should be distinguished from other causes of pulmonary hemorrhage caused by localized pulmonary abnormalities and the bronchial circulation. Early bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is generally required to confirm the diagnosis of DAH and rule out infection. Progressively bloody bronchoalveolar lavage samples can distinguish DAH. Systemic vasculitis is one of the most common causes of DAH and can be pathologically defined by the presence of cellular inflammation, vessel destruction, tissue necrosis, and eventually, organ dysfunction. Corticosteroids and immunosuppressive agents remain the gold standard for the treatment. The following case illustrates a patient who was dependent on dialysis, then presented with hemoptysis. Bronchoscopy demonstrated progressively bloody bronchoalveolar lavage samples consistent with diffuse alveolar hemorrhage. Serologic testing was consistent with microscopic polyangiitis. The patient experienced a clinical remission with cyclophosphamide and corticosteroids.


title: Prologue

text: All living things are associated with a boundary defined ecological niche. Steady state conditions are rarely constant but evolutionary adaptation is too slow to adapt to daily threats so a surrogate variation mechanism is necessary. The genome defines the most basic instructions for life so that a molecular biology perspective provides the foundation for understanding resilience. Variations in the expression of RNA offers rapid variation and this book proposes this is the basis of resilience. This book attempts to illuminate mechanisms of resilience beginning with elaborating threats leading to disruption in steady state conditions. Recognition of threats and defense systems are described followed by adaptive changes in gene expression that refine responses. Finally, environmental conditions are discussed that serve to dampen the adaptive response oscillator to disruptive threats at the level of RNA expression. This prologue is intended to acquaint the reader with my background and the genesis of optimism for an idea that the benefit of transcriptome plasticity is resilience. I grew up in several National Parks, remote regions of the United States that are set aside to preserve natural environments. I attended 12 schools by the time I graduated from high school, a fact that forced me to develop personal resilience. My career path as a scientist followed a path from ecologist to pharmacologist to molecular biologist. I was a professor that transitioned to biotechnology ensuring research subjects involving very diverse in subject matter so I appreciate the value of plasticity.


title: Viral Integration and Consequences on Host Gene Expression

text: Upon cell infection, some viruses integrate their genome into the host chromosome, either as part of their life cycle (such as retroviruses), or incidentally. While possibly promoting long-term persistence of the virus into the cell, viral genome integration may also lead to drastic consequences for the host cell, including gene disruption, insertional mutagenesis and cell death, as well as contributing to species evolution. This review summarizes the current knowledge on viruses integrating their genome into the host genome and the consequences for the host cell.


title: Emergency Logistics Distribution Optimization Model and Algorithm in Disaster Chain

text: Emergency logistics distribution of disasters and accidents is an effective means to reduce the loss of lives and property. On the condition of meeting the timeliness requirement of emergency logistics, the study of emergency logistics distribution can rationally schedule vehicle, substantially reduce the vehicle allocation time and the logistical cost. Through the analysis of the characteristics of rescue emergency logistics, the system structure of emergency logistics distribution is proposed. After the material distribution optimization model for emergency logistics is established, an improved genetic algorithm is designed to solve this problem. In improved genetic algorithm, the best individual reservations, roulette selection, blend crossover, and blend mutation have been adopted to avoid premature convergence and enhance the process efficiency. A numeric example is presented to validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the model and its algorithm.


title: Respiratory Syncytial Virus and Other Pediatric Respiratory Virus Infections

text: Infants and young children undergoing their primary infection with common human respiratory viruses are at risk of serious, even life-threatening, lower respiratory tract infection, A multiplicity of viruses infect the human respiratory tract but a relatively small number are responsible for the majority of significant illness. Of these the most commonly diagnosed in the pediatric population is respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which infects essentially all children in their first or second year of life, bringing approx 1% into the hospital with bronchiolitis or pneumonia (1). Children with underlying cardiac or pulmonary disease, or born prematurely are particularly at risk. The virus also causes problems in the immunosuppressed and mortality rates are alarmingly high for RSV pneumonia after bone marrow transplantation (2). The availability of therapy with ribavirin (3) or high titer anti-RSV γ-globulin (4), which may be of benefit in these at risk groups, places a premium on rapid and accurate, but cost effective, diagnosis.


title: Interleukin-35: A Novel Mediator of Peripheral Tolerance

text: Interleukin-35 is a potent suppressive cytokine of the IL-12 family. Although other members of the IL-12 family are produced mainly by antigen-presenting cells (APCs), IL-35 is produced by regulatory T (Treg) cells and suppresses cell proliferation. It has been shown to play an important role in many disease models and has been recently shown to have additional functions aside from inhibition of proliferation, including inducing its own expression in non-Treg cells. In this chapter, we discuss the history and current status of IL-35 biology, as well as suggest where the field might move in the future.


title: Edible Rabies Vaccines

text: Rabies has been one of the most feared diseases throughout history. Human rabies remains an important public health problem in many developing countries. The WHO reports that more than 55,000 people die of this disease every year. Most of these cases occur in developing countries. In most Latin American countries, the major reservoirs of rabies are the dog and the hematophagous bat (Desmodus rotundus), which is present in the tropical and subtropical areas from Northern Mexico to Northern Argentina and Chile and transmits the disease to cattle. One of the better options for controlling rabies is vaccination. The expression of rabies virus G protein in different plant systems for developing an oral rabies vaccine could reduce costs of production and distribution and would be convenient for developing countries where the disease is endemic.


title: Diagnosis and Assessment of Microbial Infections with Host and Microbial microRNA Profiles

text: Biomarkers are continuously being sought in the field of diagnostic microbiology for the laboratory diagnosis and assessment of microbial infections. A set of clinical and laboratory criteria necessary for an ideal diagnostic marker of infection have previously been proposed by Ng and his colleagues [1]. According these criteria, an ideal biomarker should possess at a minimum the following characteristics: (a) biochemically, a biomarker should be stable and remain significantly deregulated in the body fluid compartment for at least 12–24 h even after commencement of appropriate treatment that may allow an adequate time window for specimen collection or storage without significant decomposition of the active compound until laboratory processing; (b) its concentration should be determined quantitatively and the method of measurement should be automatic, rapid, easy, and inexpensive; (c) the collection of a specimen should be minimally invasive and require a small volume (e.g., <0.5 mL blood). Numerous biomarkers have been found and tested in clinical practice. Currently, microRNA (miRNA) molecules are without a doubt the biomarkers with the greatest potential capacities in the diagnostic microbiology field.


title: Probe Selection with Fault Tolerance

text: Microarray techniques play an important role for testing some reactions of diseases which are caused by viruses. Probes in microarray are one kind of the most important materials. Usually, scientists use a unique probe for marking a special target sequence. Thus, for identifying n different viruses, we need n different probes. Recently, some researchers study non-unique probes to identify viruses by using less number of probes. In this case, a virus can be identified by a combination of some probes. In this paper, we study the problem of finding a set of probes that can identify all the given targets. We consider the k-fault tolerance selection of probes. That is, if any k probes fail, then we still can identify each target. We propose a practical algorithm for this k-fault tolerance probe selection problem. Some experiments are studied on SARS, H5N1, and so on.


title: Gli antagonisti dei recettori AT1

text: Nella storia del SRA, la sintesi degli antagonisti dei recettori AT1 può essere considerata nello stesso tempo come un punto di arrivo ed un punto di partenza, perché essa ha sicuramente contribuito a rendere più efficace e razionale il trattamento di numerose patologie, ma - proprio per i risultati ottenuti, spesso inaspettati - ha dato anche il via a nuove ricerche, necessarie per chiarire il meccanismo con cui funzionano realmente questi antagonisti: essi infatti si sono dimostrati efficaci non solo nella IA e nello scompenso cardiaco (cioè in condizioni in cui è sicuramente coinvolto il SRA) (Pitt 2002; Ruddy e Kostis 2005), ma anche in altre patologie, che non appaiono legate in via primitiva ad un disordine di questo sistema, come lo stroke, l’aterosclerosi, la nefropatia diabetica, il decadimento delle funzioni cognitive e perfino di quelle sessuali (Koh e coll. 2003; Sierra e de la Sierra 2005).


title: A Model for Characterizing Annual Flu Cases

text: Influenza outbreaks occur seasonally and peak during winter season in temperate zones of the Northern and Southern hemisphere. The occurrence and recurrence of flu epidemics has been alluded to variability in mechanisms such temperature, climate, host contact and traveling patterns [4]. This work promotes a Gaussian–type regression model to study flu outbreak trends and predict new cases based on influenza–like–illness data for France (1985–2005). We show that the proposed models are appropriate descriptors of these outbreaks and can improve the surveillance of diseases such as flu. Our results show that limited data reduces our ability to predict unobserved cases. Based on laboratory surveillance data, we prototype each season according to the dominating virus (H3N2, H1N1, B) and show that high intensity outbreaks are correlated with early peak times. These findings are in accordance with the dynamics observed for influenza outbreaks in the US.


title: Accelerating Dock6’s Amber Scoring with Graphic Processing Unit

text: In the drug discovery field, solving the problem of virtual screening is a long term-goal. The scoring functionality which evaluates the fitness of the docking result is one of the major challenges in virtual screening. In general, scoring functionality in docking requires large amount of floating-point calculations and usually takes several weeks or even months to be finished. This time-consuming disadvantage is unacceptable especially when highly fatal and infectious virus arises such as SARS and H1N1. This paper presents how to leverage the computational power of GPU to accelerate Dock6 [1]’s Amber [2] scoring with NVIDIA CUDA [3] platform. We also discuss many factors that will greatly influence the performance after porting the Amber scoring to GPU, including thread management, data transfer and divergence hidden. Our GPU implementation shows a 6.5x speedup with respect to the original version running on AMD dual-core CPU for the same problem size.


The Aerobiology Pathway


Population Mobility and the Geography of Microbial Threats


title: TCR Analyses: T-cell receptor CDR3 analysis: Molecular fingerprinting of the T-cell receptor repertoire

text: T-cells play a crucial role in immune surveillance against transformed cells and intracellular infections; they are involved in auto-immune reactions. They recognize their targets, i.e. MHC / peptide complexes, trough the T-cell receptor. TCR usage determines the molecular interaction of the immune system with biologically relevant MHC/peptide molecules. The TCR coding genes (variable, diversity and junctional) determine the molecular composition of the TCR alpha and beta heterodimer. The random association of the VDJ genes constitutes the complementarity determining region 3 (CDR3) responsible for antigen recognition and TCR specificity. The molecular composition of a T-cell population can be objectively defined by measuring the CDR3 region. Qualitative and quantitative comparisons of the TCR composition in different anatomic compartments, or longitudinally over time, allow to asses the entire TCR repertoire. This methodology can be supplemented with functional T-cell based assays and aids to objectively describe any alteration in the T-cell pool. TCR CDR3 analysis is useful in immunomonitoring, e.g. examining patients after BMT or solid organ transplantation, patients with HAART therapy, or patients receiving molecularly defined vaccines.


title: Implications of Human Microbiome Research for the Developing World

text: The human microbiome refers to all of the species that inhabit the human body, residing both on and in it. Over the past several years, there has been a significantly increased interest directed to the understanding of the microorganisms that reside on and in the human body. These studies of the human microbiome promise to reveal all these species and increase our understanding of the normal inhabitants, those that trigger disease and those that vary in response to disease conditions. It is anticipated that these directed research efforts, coupled with new technological advances, will ultimately allow one to gain a greater understanding of the relationships of these species with their human hosts. The various chapters in this book present a range of aspects of human microbiome research, explain the scientific and technological rationale, and highlight the significant potential that the results from these studies hold. In this chapter, we begin to address the potential and long-term implications of the knowledge gained from human microbiome research (which currently is centered in the developed world) for the developing world, which has often lagged behind in the benefits of these new technologies and their implications to new research areas.


title: Early Outbreak Detection Using an Automated Data Feed of Test Orders from a Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory

text: Disease surveillance in animals remains inadequate to detect outbreaks resulting from novel pathogens and potential bioweapons. Mostly relying on confirmed diagnoses, another shortcoming of these systems is their ability to detect outbreaks in a timely manner. We investigated the feasibility of using veterinary laboratory test orders in a prospective system to detect outbreaks of disease earlier compared to traditional reporting methods. IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. automatically transferred daily records of laboratory test orders submitted from veterinary providers in Ohio via a secure file transfer protocol. Test products were classified to appropriate syndromic category using their unique identifying number. Counts of each category by county were analyzed to identify unexpected increases using a cumulative sums method. The results indicated that disease events can be detected through the prospective analysis of laboratory test orders and may provide indications of similar disease events in humans before traditional disease reporting.


title: Impact of Disasters and Disaster Risk Management in Singapore: A Case Study of Singapore’s Experience in Fighting the SARS Epidemic

text: Singapore is vulnerable to both natural and man-made disasters alongside its remarkable economic growth. One of the most significant disasters in recent history was the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2003. The SARS outbreak was eventually contained through a series of risk mitigating measures introduced by the Singapore government. This would not be possible without the engagement and responsiveness of the general public. This chapter begins with a description of Singapore’s historical disaster profiles, the policy and legal framework in the all-hazard management approach. We use a case study to highlight the disaster impacts and insights drawn from Singapore’s risk management experience with specific references to the SARS epidemic. The implications from the SARS focus on four areas: staying vigilant at the community level, remaining flexible in a national command structure, the demand for surge capacity, and collaborative governance at regional level. This chapter concludes with a presence of the flexible command structure on both the way and the extent it was utilized.


title: The 2003 SARS Outbreaks in Taiwan

text: Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is caused by SARS-associated coronaviruses (SARS-CoVs) (Drosten et al., 2003; Fouchier et al., 2003; Peiris et al., 2003b; Ksiazek et al., 2003). The first known outbreak of SARS occurred in China’s Guangdong province in November, 2002 (Chinese SARS Molecular Epidemiology Consortium, 2004). By August 7 of the following year, SARS had spread to more than 30 countries, affecting 8,096 people and resulting in 774 deaths worldwide (World Health Organization, 2004). In 2003, Taiwan experienced a series of SARS outbreaks and the Municipal Hoping Hospital (referred to hereafter as HP) in Taipei City suffered the first and the most serious outbreak of SARS-CoV nosocomial infections: 137 probable cases and 26 deaths (Division of Surveillance and Investigation, Center for Disease Control, Taiwan, 2003; Lan et al., 2005b). According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Taiwan, 364 of the 664 probable Taiwanese SARS cases reported to the World Health Organization were confirmed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and/or neutralizing antibody tests (Center for Disease Control, 2003a). In this chapter, we will discuss the molecular and clinical epidemiology of SARS infection in Taiwan during 2003.


title: Animals and Mechanisms of Disease Transmission

text: More than 60% of human infectious diseases are shared with domestic or wild animals, with over a billion illnesses in the global population and millions of deaths each year. It is estimated that 75% of emerging infectious diseases are zoonoses. There is a great diversity of animals, terrestrial and marine vertebrates, which can directly or indirectly transmit a wide variety of microbial pathogens to humans. This chapter reviews the means of transmission by different groups of animals [pets, farm animals, and wildlife] that can result in zoonoses. The diverse range of infectious agents encompasses the gamut of microbes that can affect humans: bacteria [including rickettsiae and mycobacteria], viruses, fungi, parasites [protozoa, metazoan, and helminths], and prions. Infectious agents can be transmitted by animals by several different mechanisms: fecal-oral route with foodborne zoonoses or accidentally through contamination of drinking water or the unwashed hands, direct contact with or without bites or scratches, indirectly through various vectors [mosquitos, sandflies, fleas, and ticks], and incidentally by environmental contamination with animal pathogens, including aerosol of dried infected animal excrements.


title: Community Acquired Pneumonia

text: Early identification of patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia (SCAP) who require ICU care is important as delayed transfer is associated with increased mortality. In such patients, aggressive diagnostic testing is warranted given the increased probability of detecting a pathogen resistant to usual empirical therapy. Despite aggressive culture and other routine diagnostic testing, the majority of cases of SCAP remain without a definitive etiology. Early coverage of S. pneumoniae, methicillin-susceptible S. aureus, and L. pneumophila is crucial and adequate in the absence of risk factors for drug-resistant pathogens. Combination antibiotics with a beta-lactam and either a macrolide or fluoroquinolone are strongly recommended. When methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is suspected, linezolid is superior to vancomycin. Several aspects of managing severe CAP remain without consensus, including risk factors for multidrug resistant pathogens, need for suppression of exotoxin production, the role of procalcitonin, and adjunctive treatment with corticosteroids and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.


title: Viral Genomics: Implications for the Understanding and Control of Emerging Viral Diseases

text: In recent decades, many infectious diseases have significantly increased in incidence and/or geographic range, in some cases impacting heavily on human, animal or plant populations. Some of these ‘emerging infectious diseases’ are associated with pathogens that have appeared in populations for the first time as a result of cross-species transmission (e.g. human immunodeficiency virus—acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV-AIDS), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)), while others were previously known but are rapidly increasing in incidence or geographic range as a result of underlying epidemiological changes (e.g. multi-drug resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection, dengue, West Nile encephalitis, foot and mouth disease, cassava mosaic disease). The latter include prominent diseases as tuberculosis, malaria and yellow fever that were once on the decline but are now ‘re-emerging diseases’.


Exposure


title: Risk Assessment for Airworthiness Security

text: The era of digital avionics is opening a fabulous opportunity to improve aircraft operational functions, airline dispatch and service continuity. But arising vulnerabilities could be an open door to malicious attacks. Necessity for security protection on airborne systems has been officially recognized and new standards are actually under construction. In order to provide development assurance and countermeasures effectiveness evidence to certification authorities, security objectives and specifications must be clearly identified thanks to a security risk assessment process. This paper gives main characteristics for a security risk assessment methodology to be integrated in the early design of airborne systems development and compliant with airworthiness security standards.


title: Multiorganinfektionen — komplexe klinisch infektiologische Krankheiten

text: Wir verfügen über ein hochwirksames Arsenal an Antibiotika, wir können auf der Suche nach einem Fokus mit bildgebenden, diagnostischen Verfahren jeden Bereich des menschlichen Körpers darstellen und ggf. punktieren, und doch sind unsere therapeutischen Erfolge bei der Sepsis nach wie vor enttäuschend. Die Letalität der schweren Sepsis und des septischen Schocks liegt unverändert hoch bei 40–70%.


title: Adult-Onset Still’s Disease

text: Adult-onset Still’s disease (AOSD) is a rare systemic, autoinflammatory disorder that often presents in adolescence and early adulthood with fever, rash, and polyarthritis. There are significant genetic and clinical similarities with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA) with a different chronological disease onset. The disease can have many protean characteristics leading to delays in diagnosis. Treatment includes corticosteroids; traditional immunomodulators, such as methotrexate; and targeted biologic treatments that include IL-1 and IL-6 inhibitors.


title: Infektionskrankheiten

text: Virale Infektionen zählen immer noch weltweit, besonders in den Entwicklungsländern, zu den häufigsten Todesursachen. Durch internationale systematische Impfkampagnen der WHO ist die Welt pockenfrei geworden. Die Inzidenz der Infektionen, die durch eine Immunprophylaxe verhindert werden können, wurde drastisch gesenkt (Poliomyelitis, Tollwut). In den 80er Jahren trat eine neue Tierseuche beim Rind auf, die bovine spongyforme Enzephalopathie (BSE), die mit der neuen Variante der Creutzfeldt-Jakob-Krankheit (vCJK) in Zusammenhang steht (Nahrungskette). Im selben Zeitraum begann die explosionsartige weltweite Verbreitung eines neuen Retrovirus, des HIV. Trotz intensiver Aufklärungskampagnen und neuen therapeutischen Möglichkeiten (hochaktive antiretrovirale Therapie, HAART) ist es nicht gelungen, die weitere Ausbreitung der HIV-Infektion zu verhindern.


title: Two Critical Issues in Quantitative Modeling of Communicable Diseases: Inference of Unobservables and Dependent Happening

text: In this chapter, we discuss two critical issues which must be remembered whenever we examine epidemiologic data of directly transmitted infectious diseases. Firstly, we would like the readers to recognize the difference between observable and unobservable events in infectious disease epidemiology. Since both infection event and acquisition of infectiousness are generally not directly observable, the total number of infected individuals could not be counted at a point of time, unless very rigorous contact tracing and microbiological examinations were performed. Directly observable intrinsic parameters, such as the incubation period and serial interval, play key roles in translating observable to unobservable information. Secondly, the concept of dependent happening must be remembered to identify a risk of an infectious disease or to assess vaccine efficacy. Observation of a single infected individual is not independent of observing other individuals. A simple solution for dependent happening is to employ the transmission probability which is conditioned on an exposure to infection.


title: Pathophysiology of Acute Respiratory Failure in Children with Bronchiolitis and Effect of CPAP

text: Acute bronchiolitis is the most common lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) during the first year of life. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection is the most prevalent virus found in these children, accounting for 60–80 % of cases. The rate of hospitalization is less than 2 %. Up to 8 % of those hospitalized require ventilatory support [1, 2].


title: Quantitative Real-Time PCR

text: Changes in mRNA expression levels occur during physiological and pathological processes in the cardiovascular system. An increase inDNAtranscription results in increasedmRNAlevels and will subsequently result in increased protein levels that regulate processes inside and outside the cell. To determine alterations in mRNA levels, traditional methods such as Northern blot and ribonuclease protection assay can be used; however, large amounts of RNA are necessary and the methods are very labor intensive. In this chapter, we focus on the newest advancements in reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr) technology, the real-time PCR or quantitative PCR, using small amounts of RNA to determine expression levels.We discuss the technique in general and describe two different approaches.


Viral Genome Packaging Machines: An Overview


title: Production of Recombinant Pharmaceutical Proteins

text: The proteins produced in the body control and mediate the metabolic processes and help in its routine functioning. Any kind of impairment in protein production, such as production of mutated protein, or misfolded protein, leads to disruption of the pathway controlled by that protein. This may manifest in the form of the disease. However, these diseases can be treated, by supplying the protein from outside or exogenously. The supply of active exogenous protein requires its production on large scale to fulfill the growing demand. The process is complex, requiring higher protein expression, purification, and processing. Each product needs unique settings or standardizations for large-scale production and purification. As only large-scale production can fulfill the growing demand, thus it needs to be cost-effective. The tools of genetic engineering are utilized to produce the proteins of human origin in bacteria, fungi, insect, or mammalian host. Usage of recombinant DNA technology for large-scale production of proteins requires ample amount of time, labor, and resources, but it also offers many opportunities for economic growth. After reading this chapter, readers would be able to understand the basics about production of recombinant proteins in various hosts along with the advantages and limitations of each host system and properties and production of some of the important pharmaceutical compounds and growth factors.


title: Telencephalon: Neocortex

text: The neocortex is an ultracomplex, six-layered structure that develops from the dorsal palliai sector of the telencephalic hemispheres (Figs. 2.24, 2.25, 11.1). All mammals, including monotremes and marsupials, possess a neocortex, but in reptiles, i.e. the ancestors of mammals, only a three-layered neocortical primordium is present [509, 511]. The term neocortex refers to its late phylogenetic appearance, in comparison to the “palaeocortical” olfactory cortex and the “archicortical” hippocampal cortex, both of which are present in all amniotes [509].


title: Pathogen Detection in the Genomic Era

text: In the 21st century, one of the greatest challenges to public health and clinical microbiologists is the rapid detection and identification of emerging and reemerging pathogens. Complex factors such as genetic variation in the host and pathogen, environmental changes, population pressures, and global travel can all influence the emergence of infectious diseases. The SARS epidemic of 2003 highlighted the potential of an emerging pathogen to spread globally in a very short time frame (Peruski and Peruski, 2003). The diagnostics of such infectious diseases has been greatly affected in the past 20 years. No longer is cultivation and microscopy the only means of detecting infectious agents. With the introduction of molecular diagnostics, the ability to detect minute amounts of microbial nucleic acids in clinical specimens has revolutionized clinical microbiology. In particular, the utility of PCR allows the detection and quantitation of specific agents in a matter of hours. PCR sequencing of specific segments of nucleic acid allows for the determination of specific drug resistance that now aids in guiding viral therapies.


title: Ademhaling

text: Dyspneu is een subjectieve sensatie van inefficiënte ventilatie. Het betreft een van de meest voorkomende klachten waarmee patiënten zich op een SEH melden. De opname-indicaties zijn zeer divers. De behandeling is vooral gericht op onderliggende pathofysiologische mechanismen. Tracheobronchitis is een van de meest gestelde diagnoses; verder worden toegelicht: pneumonie, pneumothorax, longembolie, asthma bronchiale, ARDS, longoedeem, pleura-effusie en hemoptoë. Een patiënt met een acute bovensteluchtwegobstructie krijgt, zolang op gespecialiseerde hulp wordt gewacht, een zo hoog mogelijke concentratie zuurstof toegediend en er moet een noodtracheostomieset klaarstaan. Met niet-invasieve monitoring kan men de ingestelde behandeling evalueren; voor diagnosticering blijven de anamnese en het lichamelijk onderzoek van belang. Indien onverwacht een moeilijke intubatie vereist is, moeten alternatieve plannen beschikbaar zijn. Er kan een reanimatiesituatie ontstaan waarbij artsen én verpleegkundigen gerechtigd zijn alle benodigde maatregelen te nemen. Idealiter beschikt elke SEH over een algoritme/protocol dat men volgt bij patiënten met een ‘moeilijke luchtweg’.


title: Planning and Managing Mass Prophylaxis Clinic Operations

text: Along with their federal, tribal, and state counterparts, local health departments, as part of the public health system, are on the front lines to assist the community to prepare, respond, and recover from public health emergencies. Local health departments have many roles during a public health emergency; one important role is to create a successful mass prophylaxis operation for the public using points of dispensing (PODs). This chapter outlines the specific functions necessary for a successful and efficient POD operation. A step-by-step process is described and can be used both for emergency and everyday planning of POD operations. In addition, researchers continue to work to solve many of the complex challenges facing local health departments attempting to prevent morbidity and mortality during a biological disaster. A discussion of some of these challenges and opportunities for future research is outlined in this chapter.


Acute and chronic liver insufficiency


title: Novel Natural Products From Rainforest Endophytes

text: Endophytic microorganisms are found in virtually every higher plant on earth. These organisms reside in the living tissues of the host plant and do so in a variety of relationships, ranging from symbiotic to pathogenic. Endophytes may contribute to their host plant by producing a plethora of substances that provide protection and survival value to the plant. Ultimately, these compounds, once isolated and characterized, may also have potential for use in modern medicine. Novel antibiotics, antimycotics, immunosuppressants, and anticancer compounds are only a few examples of what has been found after the isolation and culturing of individual endophytes followed by purification and characterization of some of their natural products. The potential of finding new drugs that may be effective candidates for treating newly developing diseases in humans is great.


title: The Role of the Environment and Colonization in Healthcare-Associated Infections

text: Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) can be caused by endogenous host microbial flora or by exogenous microbes, including those found in the hospital environment. Efforts to decrease endogenous pathogens via decolonization and skin antisepsis may decrease the risk of infection in some settings. Controlling the spread of potential pathogens from the environment requires meticulous attention to cleaning and disinfection practices. In addition to selection of the appropriate cleaning agent, use of tools that assess the adequacy of cleaning and addition of no-touch cleaning technology may decrease environmental contamination. Hand hygiene is also a critical component of preventing transmission of pathogens from the environment to patients via healthcare worker hands.


title: Kryptosporidien

text: Cryptosporidium parvum, Cryptosporidium hominis


title: Pulmonary Vascular Disease

text: The pulmonary vasculature is an anatomic compartment that is frequently overlooked in the histologic review of lung biopsy samples, other than those obtained specifically to assess pulmonary vascular disease.1 Though often of a nonspecific nature, the histologic pattern of vascular remodeling may at times suggest its underlying pathogenesis and provide clues to the cause of pulmonary hypertension.2 Disproportionately severe vascular pathology may further indicate alternate disease processes, such as congestive heart failure or thromboemboli, contributing to the patient’s overall respiratory condition.


title: Primates, Pathogens, and Evolution: A Context for Understanding Emerging Disease

text: The world is rife with potential pathogens. Of those that infect humans, it is estimated that roughly 20 % are of nonhuman primate origin. The same ease characterizes pathogen transmission in the other direction, from humans to nonhuman primates. This latter problem has increasingly serious ramifications for conservation efforts, as growing numbers of ecotourists and researchers serve as potential vectors of disease. Here, we present an analysis of major cross-species transmission events between human and nonhuman primates. In particular, we consider HIV and malaria as case studies in which nonhuman primate pathogens emerged and became permanent fixtures in human populations. The human practices that facilitate such events are considered, as well as the evolutionary consequences of these events. In addition, we describe human-to-nonhuman primate transmission events and discuss the potential of human pathogens to adapt to nonhuman primate hosts. The topic of emerging infections is addressed, in both human and nonhuman species, in light of changing patterns of contact and novel adaptations on the part of pathogens and hosts.


title: Bengalisches Fieber

text: Ein 43-jähriger in Deutschland lebender Bengale wird am Wochenende im Februar 2004 mit dem Rettungstransportdienst in die Notaufnahme des Krankenhauses gebracht. Seit 3 Tagen leidet er unter zunehmendem Husten, Auswurf, Luftnot, Fieber und atemabhängigen Thoraxschmerzen. Der Hausarzt hatte bereits Roxithromycin verordnet, hierunter verschlechterte sich die Luftnot jedoch weiter. Nach Angaben der Ehefrau war der Patient 14 Tage zuvor von einem mehrwöchigen Aufenthalt in Dhaka/Bangladesh mit einem Zwischenstop in Dubai/Vereinigte Arabische Emirate zurückgekommen.


Kretafieber


title: Imports, Exports and Foreign Businesses in Japan

text: This chapter discusses imports, exports, and foreign firms’ investments in Japan. Imports to Japan total to about US$ 812 billion and exports from Japan total to about US$ 697 billion in the year of 2013. Japan consists of two economically vivid areas, Kanto consisting of Tokyo, Saitama, Kawasaki and Yokohama; and the Kansai area consisting of Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe. Both areas are discussed separately. It will be shown that Chinese trade has a bigger impact on Kansai than on Kanto area. In the next part, information about foreign affiliated firms doing business in Japan will be demonstrated by expanding on Japanese External Trade Organization data. Kansai will also be discussed separately here. At the end of the chapter, some examples of success stories will be given of foreign affiliated firms located in the Kansai region.


title: Agent-Based Simulation Tools in Computational Epidemiology

text: An agent-based approach is evaluated for its applicability as a new modeling technology in the emerging area of Computational Epidemiology, a research domain that attempts to synergistically unite the fields of Computer Science and Epidemiology. A primary concern of epidemiologists is investigating the spread of infectious diseases. Computer Scientists can provide powerful tools for epidemiologists to study such diseases. The existing simulation approaches available to epidemiologists are fast becoming obsolete, with data being stored in newer formats like GIS formats. There is an urgent need for developing computationally powerful, user-friendly tools that can be used by epidemiologists to study the dynamics of disease spread. We present a survey of the state-of-the-art in agent-based modeling and discuss the unique features of our chosen technique. Our agent-based approach effectively models the dynamics of the spread of infectious diseases in spatially-delineated environments by using agents to model the interaction between people and pathogens. We present preliminary results of modeling an actual tuberculosis disease outbreak in a local shelter. This model is an important step in the development of user-friendly tools for epidemiologists.


title: Thorax

text: ■ The respiratory system (Fig. 16.1) arises as an out-pouching from the primitive lung bud at the 3rd week of embryonic life. Between the 6th and 16th weeks of gestation, rapid bronchial division beyond the subsegmental level occurs ■ Alveoli begin to develop at the 24th week of gestation by out-pouching, so that by 8 years of age the adult number of approximately 300 million alveoli is attained ■ Each lung is divided into 10 segments (Fig. 16.2). For certain localized lesions segmental and subsegmental resections rather than lobectomy should be performed ■ The pulmonary lymph nodes are located at points of division of segmental bronchi or at the bifurcations of the pulmonary artery. The hilar nodes are allocated along the main bronchi. The interlobar nodes are situated in the angles of the main bronchi into the lobar bronchi ■ The child’s thorax is more flexible than that of adults


title: A History of Zoonoses and Sapronoses and Research into Them

text: The history of these diseases and of their study is given in a brief chronological review of the most important events (important epidemics) and milestones of their study (relevant microbiological discoveries). In some historical data it is difficult to differentiate between the year of discovery and the year of its publication.


title: Introduction to Drugs and Drug Targets

text: This chapter lays out some formal definitions of a drug or medicine and introduces the concept of a drug target. It then describes the wide range of drug types that are being produced by the biopharmaceutical industry. These include orally available drugs, proteins, nucleic acids, vaccines and stem cells. Some background on all of these different types of molecule is provided to create a foundation for the remainder of the book.


title: Using Geographic Information for Disease Surveillance at Mass Gatherings

text: Mass gatherings present the medical community with an excellent window of opportunity to study infectious diseases that can be transmitted over long distances. This is because the venue of a mass gathering usually does not change year-to-year. As a result, special attention can be given to the public health risks that are introduced by travelers from around the world into these mass gatherings. Travelers can also be infected with diseases that are endemic in the host country and transport the locally acquired infectious diseases to their home environments. Therefore, mass gatherings can be thought of as global-to-local-to-global events because of the initial convergence of global populations and the subsequent divergence of populations throughout the world. This chapter discusses three active areas of geographic research that have emerged from our understanding of disease surveillance at mass gatherings: the role of transportation and population geographies in disease surveillance; the spatial and temporal dimensions of environmental geography in the spread of disease; and the advances in GIScience that provide real-world surveillance and monitoring of disease and injuries at mass gatherings.


title: Molecular Differential Diagnoses of Infectious Diseases: Is the Future Now?

text: The clinical presentations for most infectious agents are often not specific enough to allow for a definitive diagnosis. Coughing and fever, for example, are symptoms that may be caused by many different bacterial or viral infections. Thus, for better treatment and disease control, a molecular differential diagnostic (MDD) assay that can identify, differentiate, and pinpoint the offending pathogen associated with a clinical syndrome (Fig. 27.1) is needed. MDDs are essential tools for effective infectious disease surveillance, biodefense, and personalized medicine.


title: No Lasting Stability

text: In as much as the main reason for the establishment of the 1986 Public Health Enquiry was the identification of problems concerned with the control of communicable disease, it was important to ensure that its recommendations were being implemented. By a curious set of coincidences, I found myself almost immediately deeply involved in many of the activities flowing from the Government’s acceptance of the recommendations. Having indicated my intention to take premature retirement from Coventry Health Authority in 1990 in order to develop my teaching activities at Warwick University, where I had been a visiting senior lecturer in community medicine for 10 years, I found that the fact that I was immediately available for part-time work led to a number of interesting invitations from a variety of organisations all of which were focused on one or other aspect of implementing the Acheson recommendations.


title: An Evaluation of Gene Set Analysis for Biomarker Discovery with Applications to Myeloma Research

text: In this paper, we evaluate 15 methods for gene set analysis in microarray classification problems. We employ four datasets from myeloma research and three types of biological gene sets, encompassing a total of 12 scenarios. Taking a two-step approach, we first identify important genes within gene sets to create summary gene set scores, we then construct predictive models using the gene set scores as predictors. We propose two powerful linear methods in addition to the well-known SuperPC method for calculating scores. By comparing the 15 gene set methods with methods used in individual-gene analysis, we conclude that, overall, the gene set analysis approach provided more accurate predictions than the individual-gene analysis.


title: 15 Vlekjesziekten

text: Infecties die met exantheem gepaard gaan, behoren tot de meest voorkomende ziekten op de kinderleeftijd. Historisch gezien worden deze ziekten onderverdeeld in de eerste tot en met de zesde ziekte, in de volgorde waarin ze zijn ontdekt. Zo is mazelen (morbilli) de ‘eerste ziekte’, roodvonk de ‘tweede ziekte’ en rodehond (rubella) de ‘derde ziekte’.


Transition Feasibility and Implications for Stakeholders


title: Interesting case histories

text: No crisis is ever exactly the same as any other. There are always variations and different factors to be taken into consideration, even in incidents which appear to be identical. But much can be learned from case histories. The details of those which follow have been culled from published information or personal experience. Some have been selected as interesting examples of how a problem has been tackled or even exploited. Others have been chosen because, in the view of the author, they have been watersheds in establishing guiding principles in the way in which crises should be handled. Some of the content may even be hearsay, but this is felt to be important to convey the atmosphere at the time.


Radiofrequency Biology: In vivo


Viral Infections in ICU Patients


title: Nonneoplastic Pleural Disease

text: This chapter discusses the etiology, epidemiology, and laboratory features of pleural effusions, and the pathologic features of selected pleural diseases.


title: Nosokomiale Pneumonie – Antibiotikatherapie und hygienische Interventionsstrategien

text: Die Pneumonie ist auch in unserer Zeit eine schwere Infektionskrankheit. Sie ist eine der häufigsten infektiösen Todesursachen der westlichen Industrieländer und steht an 3. Stelle unter den Infektionskrankheiten. Jede 4. ärztlich diagnostizierte Pneumonie ist nosokomial erworben. Nosokomiale Pneumonien führen neben einer verlängerten Morbidität und erhöhten Letalität zu einer Verlängerung der Krankenhausverweildauer und zu erheblichen Kosten.


title: Protein-protein interactions: analysis and prediction

text: Proteins represent the tools and appliances of the cell — they assemble into larger structural elements, catalyze the biochemical reactions of metabolism, transmit signals, move cargo across membrane boundaries and carry out many other tasks. For most of these functions proteins cannot act in isolation but require close cooperation with other proteins to accomplish their task. Often, this collaborative action implies physical interaction of the proteins involved. Accordingly, experimental detection, in silico prediction and computational analysis of protein-protein interactions (PPI) have attracted great attention in the quest for discovering functional links among proteins and deciphering the complex networks of the cell.


title: Aandoeningen van ademhalingsstelsel, mediastinum en thoraxwand

text: Aet. Holtevorming in een ontstekingsproces dat met verettering gepaard gaat en dat o.a. ontstaat na bacteriële infecties (stafylokokken) eventueel in aansluiting op infecties met influenzavirus (grieppneumonie), bij patiënten met een geringe weerstand tegen infecties (klebsiellapneumonie), bij slechte mondhygiëne, na verslikken met aspiratie, bij verdrinking, verminderd bewustzijn, longinfarct en septische embolen, maar ook in een obstructiepneumonie achter een bronchusobstructie (bijv. bronchuscarcinoom of corpus alienum) of zonder bekende oorzaak. Geen voorkeurlokalisatie, behalve bij verslikken: dan in de dorsobasale segmenten, voornamelijk rechts.


title: Management of Severe Malaria

text: Imported malaria is the principal, preventable, life-threatening infection among US travelers. Using a case scenario, we discuss the most recent information on the management and treatment of Severe Malaria.


title: Influenza, Measles, SARS, MERS, and Smallpox

text: Influenza, measles, SARS, MERS, and smallpox illnesses are caused by highly infectious viral pathogens that induce critical illness. These biologically diverse viruses enter and replicate within host cells triggering viral- and host-mediated damage that results in pneumonia and multiorgan failure in severe cases. Early case identification and strict infection control limit healthcare transmission. Vaccination allowed smallpox eradication and limits global measles and seasonal influenza mortality. While SARS-coronavirus (CoV) is no longer circulating, MERS-CoV and zoonotic influenza viruses, with pandemic potential, remain persistent threats. Supportive critical care is the mainstay of treatment for severe disease due to these viral infections.


title: Gold salts, D-penicillamine and allopurinol

text: Gold salts have been used in the treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis since 1927 [1]. After a controlled study, the Empire Rheumatism Council [2], confirmed the effectiveness of gold salts for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Even today, chrysotherapy has remained one of the major therapeutic modalities in the second line treatment of progressive rheumatoid arthritis. Gold salts are also used in the treatment of pemphigus vulgaris [3] and bronchial asthma [4]. Before the introduction of an orally administered gold compound, auranofin (triethylphosphine gold tetra-acetyl glycopyranoside), to clinical use [5-7], parenterally administered gold salts, such as sodium aurothiomalate and gold thioglucose comprised chrysotherapy. The frequency and severity of the side effects for patients treated with parenteral gold versus those given oral gold preparations are significantly different [8-10]. With introduction of newer parental DMARDs, toxicity has been reduced using combination therapy [10a, 10b].


title: Afwijkingen van het respiratoire systeem

text: Respiratoire afwijkingen komen zeer frequent voor als primaire aandoening of secundair aan een maligniteit, infectie of systeemziekte. Zoals voor veel inwendige aandoeningen geldt, is een goede anamnese en lichamelijk onderzoek onontbeerlijk bij de analyse van pulmonale aandoeningen. De eerste paragrafen van dit hoofdstuk zullen hier dieper op ingaan. Helaas zijn de klachten vaak weinig specifiek en noodzaken dikwijls tot verder beeldvormend onderzoek. De X-thorax is vaak het beginpunt van een dergelijk diagnostisch traject. In de latere paragrafen zullen specifieke bevindingen op de X-thorax verder worden uitgediept. In veel gevallen is naast laboratoriumonderzoek ook functieonderzoek en computertomografie van de thorax noodzakelijk om de differentiële diagnose verder te versmallen. Het verkrijgen van weefsel is bij interstitiële longaandoeningen, tuberculose en maligniteit vaak het sluitstuk van de diagnostiek. Nieuwe endoscopische echogeleide technieken komen steeds meer in de plaats van invasief onderzoek zoals mediastinoscopie of thoracotomie. Ook kan met behulp van PCR-technieken sneller en meer specifiek een juiste diagnose worden verkregen.


title: Interview Marc Faber

text: Marc Faber ist meistens anderer Meinung als die Mehrheit der Börsenexperten. Da der Schweizer erst über Risiken spricht, bevor er die Chancen an der Börse würdigt, wird er auch “Dr. Doom” genannt. Sein Börsenbrief, mit dem er die Anleger immer wieder konfrontiert, heißt “Gloom, Boom & Doom Report”. Mit 24 Jahren promovierte Faber im Fach Wirtschaftswissenschaft. Früh zog es ihn nach Asien. Faber erläutert die Grenzen von Börsenprognosen und bezeichnet die wachsende Börsenspekulation als gefährlich. „Sie ist ein Indiz vergangener Prosperität.“


title: Hoofdstuk 3 Afwijkingen van het respiratoire systeem

text: Onder dyspnoe wordt gewoonlijk verstaan de subjectieve beleving van een bemoeilijkte ademhaling. Dit ontstaat als er sprake is van een excessieve stimulatie van de respiratoire motoneuronen, vooral als deze toegenomen activiteit niet leidt tot een adequate toename van de ventilatie. Men spreekt van orthopnoe indien de kortademigheid toeneemt in liggende houding en van platypnoe indien deze in staande houding toeneemt.


title: Avian Astroviruses

text: Avian astroviruses comprise a diverse group of viruses affecting many avian species and causing enteritis, hepatitis, and nephritis. To date, six different astroviruses have been identified in avian species based on the species of origin and viral genome characteristics: two turkey-origin astroviruses [Turkey Astrovirus type 1 (TAstV-1) and type 2 (TAstV-2)]; two chicken-origin astroviruses [Avian Nephritis Virus (ANV) and Chicken Astrovirus (CAstV)]; and two duck-origin astrovirus [Duck Astrovirus type 1 (DAstV-1) and type 2 (DAstV-2)]. ANV has also been detected in turkeys, ducklings, pigeons, and guinea fowl; and TAstrovirus-2-like viruses have also been found in guinea fowl. Astroviruses are commonly associated with enteric disease syndromes in poultry including runting-stunting syndrome of broilers (RSS), poult enteritis complex or syndrome (PEC or PES), poult enteritis mortality syndrome (PEMS), and enteritis in guinea fowl. The molecular characterization of the different avian astroviruses shows great genetic variability among each type, and this variability influences the ability to detect these viruses by molecular and serological techniques. In this chapter, we review the different aspects related to avian astroviruses, including molecular biology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and control.


title: A Young Lady with AVN after SARS

text: Section I consists of a total of 39 clinical cases ranging from the very common case scenarios orthopedic surgeons and generalists see literally every day in their clinics (like issues regarding glucosamine, knee osteo-arthritis, bone health, foot problems associated with the wearing of high heels) to the introduction of new emerging rehabilitation techniques and concepts. Examples include concepts of home-based rehabilitation, the use of smart materials now popular in the field of engineering applied to orthopedics, the response of our skeleton to hyper-gravity stimulation and to micro-gravity environments as in space travel. Orthopedic conditions in which rehabilitation can be very challenging like hamstring injuries will also be touched upon.


title: Acronimi e abbreviazioni

text: “The patient went from the ER to the OR and then to the ICU”. Indubbiamente il lessico dei medici è ricco di abbreviazioni, tanto che gli operatori della sanità in generale e i cardiologi in particolare adoperano perlomeno dieci abbreviazioni per minuto (questa è una statistica fatta in casa, non citatela).


Parsing NCBI XML in Perl


title: Colchicine

text: Colchicine is an alkaloid which was originally extracted from bulbs of a plant called Colchicum autumnale (meadow saffron). Its active pharmacological component was isolated in 1820 and in 1833 the active ingredient was purified and named colchicine. It consists of three hexameric rings termed A, B, and C. It was first recommended for the treatment of gout by Alexander of Tralles in the sixth century AD. Later it has been employed for suggested and approved indications including primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), alcohol induced hepatitis, psoriasis, Behçet disease, Sweet syndrome, scleroderma, sarcoidosis and amyloidosis. Perhaps the most effective results have been obtained in the prophylaxis of familial Mediterranean fever (FMF). Colchicine is absorbed in the jejunum and ileum and is trapped in the body tissues. It is metabolized in the liver and the intestine by cytochrome P (CYP) 450 3A4 and P-glycoprotein (PGY) 1. Colchicine is excreted mainly by the biliary system, intestines and the kidneys. It has a narrow therapeutic range, but with normal liver and kidney functions is relatively safe and can be used during pregnancy, nursing and in infants. The main mechanism of action of colchicine is probably through interaction with microtubules affecting leukocyte chemotaxis, thereby suppressing inflammation. The blood level of colchicine may be affected by concomitant drug administration and therefore, caution should be exercised when such medications are added.


title: Sinusitis in Multiple Sclerosis and Acinetobacter

text: Previous studies have shown that the onset of multiple sclerosis had been associated with the presence of upper respiratory tract infections involving both viral and bacterial agents. The relevance of these reports requires further consideration.


title: Gezondheid van de Nederlandse bevolking

text: Na 1970: hernieuwde sterftedaling in Europa en Noord-Amerika: vierde fase van de epidemiologische transitie. Het tijdperk van delayed degenerativediseases, d.w.z. geen uitschakeling ziekten maar uitstel naar hogere leeftijden (zie paragraaf 3.2.1). Daling sterfte hart- en vaatziekten door afname roken, daling serumcholesterol, betere opsporing hypertensie, betere medische zorg. Daling verkeersongevallen door verkeersveiligheid (zie paragraaf 3.2.1). Ischemische hartziekte werd van managersziekte een 'volksziekte' (zie paragraaf 3.2.1). Terugkeer infectieziekten na 1970 door resistentie micro-organismen tegen antibiotica en nieuwe infectieziekten zoals hiv/aids, SARS (zie paragraaf 3.2.1). Levensverwachting Nederlanders neemt toe, maar minder snel dan andere Europese landen (zie paragraaf 3.2.1). In de twintigste eeuw vijf tot acht jaar winst in levensverwachting door verbeteringen gezondheidszorg (o.a. antibiotica, vaccinaties, combinatiechemotherapie, verbeteringen chirurgie) (zie paragraaf 3.2.2). infecties bovenste luchtwegen; nek- en rugklachten; acute urineweginfecties; privéongevallen; contacteczeem. nek- en rugklachten; contacteczeem; artrose; diabetes mellitus; coronaire hartziekten. Kwaliteit van leven: 11% van Nederlanders van 12 jaar en ouder heeft een of meer ernstige functionele beperkingen (zie paragraaf 3.3.1). Top-5 aandoeningen met grootste verlies kwaliteit van leven is ander rijtje dan top-5 aandoeningen met hoogste prevalentie. Angststoornissen en depressie staan hoog in rangorde want beperkt sociaal functioneren (zie paragraaf 3.3.1). Sterfte belangrijkste indicator volksgezondheid. Sterftegegevens betrouwbaar en registratie over het algemeen volledig (zie paragraaf 3.3.1). Door toename levensverwachting is het relatieve belang van sterfte als indicator volksgezondheid verminderd (zie paragraaf 3.3.1). Belangrijkste doodsoorzaken Nederland. Mannen: kanker. Vrouwen: hart- en vaatziekten (zie paragraaf 3.3.1). Levensverwachting wordt berekend met behulp van overlevingstafel en geboortecohort (zie paragraaf 3.3.1). gezonde levensverwachting; health-adjusted life expectancy; disability-adjusted life years (DALY's). : Anticonceptie en vruchtbaarheidsproblemen. Geboorteregeling in Nederland nagenoeg perfect. Keerzijde: uitstellen zwangerschappen. Perinatale sterfte en zuigelingensterfte. Sinds jaren tachtig verloopt daling in Nederland minder snel dan bijvoorbeeld Zweden en Finland, door o.a. meerlingzwangerschappen (door ivf), roken, allochtone herkomst zwangeren, verschillen in zorg. Barkerhypothese: groeivertraging foetus heeft langetermijngevolgen voor gezondheid. Foetale programmering: aanpassingen van metabole en endocriene systeem van foetus onder invloed van tekort aan voedingsstoffen zijn schadelijk op latere leven. Ongevallen, suïcide(poging) en geweld: ongevallen in de privésfeer zorgen voor meeste aantal gewonden en overledenen. Moord en doodslag in Nederland vrij zeldzaam. Alcoholgebruik speelt bij verschillende categorieën een rol (zie paragraaf 3.3.3). : Depressie. Prevalentie 5%. Kwetsbaarheid en uitlokkende factoren spelen rol. Schizofrenie. Prevalentie 7 gevallen per 1.000 personen. Openbaart zich vaak op jonge leeftijd, tussen 16 en 24 jaar. Combinatie kwetsbaarheid en omgevingsfactoren. Komt meer voor bij Marokkanen en Surinamers, waarschijnlijk door migratie-ervaringen en/of discriminatie. . Thuisloosheid: vaak oorzaak ernstige psychische problemen. : Ischemische hartziekte. Hoge incidentie komt o.a. door toegenomen welvaart en roken, hoge bloeddruk en hoog serumcholesterol. Beroerte. Een derde toe te schrijven aan verhoogde bloeddruk. Ook verhoogd serumcholesterol, roken, overmatig alcoholgebruik en lichamelijke activiteit. Westerse ziekte en gevolg van modern voedingspatroon (met veel zout). Kanker. Strijd tegen kanker geen succesverhaal. Vroegere opsporing, dus overlevingsverbetering is deels artificieel. Longkanker heeft hoogste sterfte. Huidkanker komt het meest voor. Borstkanker komt na longkanker het meest voor bij vrouwen. Bevolkingsonderzoek leidt tot verbetering opsporing en daling sterfte. : Vergrijzing. Beperkingen: chronische ziekten, mobiliteit, slechthorendheid, dementie. Ontwikkelingen van (gezonde) levensverwachtingen: meningen zijn verdeeld. Evolutiebiologen denken dat bovengrens misschien bereikt is. Euthanasie: vormt uiterste puntje op heel scala aan medische beslissingen rond levenseinde, zoals intensivering pijnbestrijding en palliatieve sedatie. Relatief risico (RR): de verhouding van de incidentie van een ziekte bij personen met en zonder blootstelling aan een bepaalde determinant (zie paragraaf 3.4.1). Populatieattributieve fractie (PAF): de proportie van de totale incidentie van een ziekte binnen de bevolking die toe te schrijven is aan de blootstelling aan een bepaalde determinant (zie paragraaf 3.4.1). Voor de berekening van PAF hoeft de incidentie van de ziekte niet bekend te zijn. Kan met behulp van RR. Voor formules voor berekening RR en PAF, zie paragraaf 3.4.1. : Infectieziekten. Omgekeerde samenhang tussen ernst infectie en besmettelijkheid. Verspreidingswegen. Meldingsplicht bij ziekten als bacillaire dysenterie, kinkhoest, legionellose, malaria en tuberculose. Maag-darminfecties. Voedselvergiftiging komt op grote schaal voor. Hepatitis. A: verspreiding langs fecaal-orale weg. B: via bloed en andere lichaamsvloeistoffen, C: via bloed en veel gezien onder hemofiliepatiënten. Vectorgebonden infectieziekten: Malaria (importziekte). Ziekte van Lyme (via tekenbeten, wel in Nederland). Klimaatverandering verhoogt risico's op vectorgebonden infectieziekten. Zoönosen: infectieziekten van dier op mens. Creutzfeldt-Jakob, hondsdolheid, ornithose/psittacose, Q-koorts, SARS, vogelgriep. Risico is vermoedelijk toegenomen door verstoring ecosystemen en klimaatverandering. Soa's: ook in Nederland neemt frequentie toe, vermoedelijk door toename onveilig vrijen. Komt ook door besef dat behandeling hiv/aids is verbeterd. : Omgevingstemperatuur: verhoging sterfte met hittegolven en koude wintermaanden. Vooral bij kwetsbare groepen. Lawaai. Op werk of thuis. Stress en slaapverstoring kan tot hoge bloeddruk leiden. Veel jongvolwassenen gehoorschade door popconcerten. Ultraviolette straling. Veroorzaakt huidkanker. Neemt erg toe laatste jaren door verandering gedrag bevolking en dunner worden ozonlaag. Chemische stoffen. Asbest, metalen, oplosmiddelen. Geen grote bron gezondheidsschade in Nederland. Luchtverontreiniging. 'Fijn stof' zorgt vermoedelijk voor flink aantal extra sterfgevallen, maar nog niet duidelijk waarop dat effect berust. EU-norm wordt in grote delen van Nederland overschreden. Klimaatverandering. Gevolgen grotendeels onbekend. . : Psychosociale stress. Life events en arbeidssituatie kan invloed hebben. Sociale steun heeft gunstig effect op psychosociale stress. Roken. Verhoogd risico hart- en vaatziekten, kanker en COPD. Tabakswet van 2002 is mijlpaal in antirookbeleid. Rokers in Nederland onder 30%. Middenmoter in Europa. Alcohol en drugs. Veel lichamelijke en psychische problemen en oorzaak huiselijk geweld en zinloos geweld. Comazuipen onder jongeren in Nederland probleem. Ecstasygebruik ook hoog. Voeding. Nederlanders eten te vet en te weinig fruit en groenten, wat risico hart- en vaatziekten vergroot. Lichaamsbeweging. Helpt beschermen tegen hart- en vaatziekten, diabetes, depressie, borst- en dikkedarmkanker. Helft van de Nederlanders beweegt te weinig. . Energiebalans en overgewicht. Obesitas in Nederland 11% onder volwassenen en neemt toe. : Genen versus omgeving en gedrag. Genen belangrijk bij gezondheid individuen, niet zozeer bij volksgezondheid. Genen en ziekte. Rol genetische factoren bij ontstaan ziekte varieert sterk. . Belang van preventie. Belangrijk om meer inzicht te krijgen in genetische determinanten van multifactoriële aandoeningen. Gezondheidsverschillen naar geslacht (zie paragraaf 3.5.1): vrouwen worden ouder maar groter aantal jaren met minder goede gezondheid. Gezondheidsverschillen naar burgerlijke staat (zie paragraaf 3.5.1): gehuwden leven langer. : Arbeidsmarktpositie. Werkenden gezonder dan werklozen en arbeidsongeschikten. Sociaaleconomisch. Mensen met een lagere sociaaleconomische positie zijn vaker ziek. : Regionale verschillen. Verstedelijkte gebieden en aantal regio's in noordoosten hogere sterfte- en ziektecijfers. Brabant en Limburg hebben achterstand. Urbanisatiegraad. In grote steden sterfte hoger. Komt door veranderde bevolkingssamenstelling (gezonde bewoners vertrekken naar elders), niet door slechte levensomstandigheden.


title: Introduction to Efficiency and Competitiveness of International Airlines

text: This chapter provides the background on the significance of an efficiency analysis of airline industry in terms of its performance, motivation, and main objectives. This introductory chapter reviews the market size and economic contributions of the aviation industry to the global economy and briefly discusses the key issues in the industry in recent decades. It also provides an outline of the research questions, methodologies used, and the structure of the chapters in this volume.


title: Health Inequalities, General Trends in Mortality and Morbidity, and Associated Factors

text: All measures of health status are ultimately derived from observations of individuals. At the field level we have such measures as self-assessed health status, report of a specific disease, record of a particular death, or an individual’s test on a biomarker, such as blood pressure or serum cholesterol. The observations for individuals are combined and summarized to represent subnational geographic areas, demographic or socioeconomic groups within countries, or national populations. The summary measures, whether they are percentages, averages, or rates, apply to groups. A problem arises when the measures that are based on groups are assumed to represent individuals. The analysis becomes especially problematic when the units analyzed are geographic areas and inferences are being made about individuals from the analysis for these geographic areas.


title: Webgestützter Organisationsaufbau

text: Junge Firmen oder neue Unternehmensbereiche müssen von Beginn an kosteneffizient arbeiten und problemlos wachsen können. Dies kann durch neue Internet-Tools maß geblich unterstützt werden, wenn sie beherrschbar und wirklich effizienzstiftend sind. Junge Teams haben dabei die Chance, die neuen Internet-Tools und die damit einhergehende, offene Kommunikation und Projektarbeit auch gleich in ihrer Arbeitskultur zu verankern.


title: Cysteine/Glutathione Deficiency: A Significant and Treatable Corollary of Disease

text: Glutathione (GSH) deficiency may play a pivotal role in a variety of apparently unrelated clinical conditions and diseases. Orally administered N-acetylcysteine (NAC), which replenishes the cysteine required for GSH synthesis, has been tested in a large number of randomized placebo-controlled trials involving these diseases and conditions. This chapter focused on developing a base of evidence suggesting that NAC administration improves disease by increasing cysteine and/or GSH in a variety of diseases, thereby implying a significant role for GSH deficiency in the clinical basis of many diseases. To develop this base of evidence, we systematically selected studies which considered the hypothesis that the therapeutic efficacy for NAC is an indication that cysteine and/or GSH deficiency is a pathophysiological part of the diseases studied. In this manner we focus this chapter on explaining the biological mechanisms of NAC therapy in a wide variety of disorders and demonstrate its ubiquitous role in improving disease that involves disrupted GSH and/or cysteine metabolism. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/978-981-10-5311-5_20) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.


Mapping and Modeling Disease Risk Among Mobile Populations


title: Die Gesellschaft Deutscher Neurologen und Psychiater im Zweiten Weltkrieg

text: Mit Beginn des Zweiten Weltkriegs kam es – als Folge der Einberufung wichtiger Protagonisten – zu einer deutlichen Beeinträchtigung der Organisationsstrukturen der Gesellschaft Deutscher Neurologen und Psychiater. Im Verlauf des Krieges lösten sich die formalen Strukturen weiter auf, während das informelle Netzwerk, das die Fachgesellschaft zusammenhielt, weitgehend intakt blieb und es an der Schnittstelle von Wissenschaft und Politik zu neuen Konstellationen und Kooperationen kam.


title: Bronchiolitis

text: Bronchiolitis produces significant morbidity and mortality worldwide every year. Approximately 3–10 % of all infants hospitalized with bronchiolitis develop acute respiratory failure and require admission to a pediatric intensive care unit. The vast majority of cases are caused by Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), though other viruses (human metapneumovirus, parainfluenza, influenza, adenovirus, rhinovirus, coronavirus and bocavirus) may also cause bronchiolitis. Bronchiolitis is not merely a single organ disease (i.e. lung), but impacts on extrapulmonary organ systems. Basic supportive management remains the cornerstone. There is a paucity of established therapeutic options, with supplementary oxygen, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), humidified high-flow nasal oxygen, mechanical ventilation being the mainstay of respiratory support.


title: RNA Pseudoknot Folding through Inference and Identification Using TAG(RNA)

text: Studying the structure of RNA sequences is an important problem that helps in understanding the functional properties of RNA. After being ignored for a long time due to the high computational complexity it requires, pseudoknot is one type of RNA structures that has been given a lot of attention lately. Pseudoknot structures have functional importance since they appear, for example, in viral genome RNAs and ribozyme active sites. In this paper, we present a folding framework, TAG(RNA)Inf, for RNA structures that support pseudoknots. Our approach is based on learning TAG(RNA) grammars from training data with structural information. The inferred grammars are used to indentify sequences with structures analogous to those in the training set and generate a folding for these sequences. We present experimental results and comparisons with other known pseudoknot folding approaches.


title: Taxonomy, Physiology, and Ecology of Aquatic Microorganisms

text: The principles behind the taxonomy of the microorganisms, especially the molecular approach (using the sequence of the 16S RNA in the small subunit of the ribosome) in the identification of bacteria, are discussed. The detailed taxonomy of bacteria, fungi, algae, protozoa, and viruses (including bacteriophages) is discussed, and emphasis is laid on those microorganisms which are aquatic. The chapter includes information on some of the smaller macroorganisms found in water such as nematodes and rotifers. The activities of aquatic microorganisms in photosynthesis, and the global cycling of nitrogen and sulfur is discussed.