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University of Warwick: HRT Prescriptions Lower in the Most Deprived Areas of England - New Study

COVENTRY, England, Sept. 30 (TNSJou) -- The University of Warwick issued the following news release on Sept. 29:

Prescription rates for hormone replacement therapy (HRT) are lower in more deprived areas of England compared to affluent areas, a new study from the University of Warwick has found.

Researchers at Warwick Medical School found that the overall prescribing rate of HRT was 29% lower in GP practices from the most socioeconomically deprived fifth compared to least deprived fifth.

They have published the results of an analysis of prescription rates for HRT and socioeconomic status in England ... Show Full Article COVENTRY, England, Sept. 30 (TNSJou) -- The University of Warwick issued the following news release on Sept. 29: Prescription rates for hormone replacement therapy (HRT) are lower in more deprived areas of England compared to affluent areas, a new study from the University of Warwick has found. Researchers at Warwick Medical School found that the overall prescribing rate of HRT was 29% lower in GP practices from the most socioeconomically deprived fifth compared to least deprived fifth. They have published the results of an analysis of prescription rates for HRT and socioeconomic status in Englandin the British Journal of General Practice today (29 September), which highlights inequalities associated with HRT prescriptions and suggests there is a large unmet need in terms of menopause care in areas of greater deprivation.

HRT is prescribed for the treatment of menopausal or perimenopausal symptoms, and according to NHS.uk can relieve many of the symptoms of menopause, such as hot flushes, night sweats, mood swings, vaginal dryness and reduced sex drive. Many women find that their work and home life are negatively affected when experiencing the menopause and consult their GP during this time.

Past research has raised concerns that women from deprived backgrounds are less likely to be receiving HRT treatment and its benefits, although recent evidence in support of this is lacking.

To investigate this, the researchers used prescribing data from GP practices in England from NHS Digital for the year 2018 and compared this with practice-level Index of Multiple Deprivation scores. The Index of Multiple Deprivation score is an overall measure of deprivation experienced by people living in a certain area, and considers seven dimensions: income deprivation; employment deprivation; health deprivation and disability; education; skills and training deprivation; barriers to housing and services; and living environment deprivation and crime.

The overall rate of HRT prescriptions per 1000 women, aged 40 years or over, was 29% lower in practices from the most deprived quintile compared with the least deprived. After adjusting for all cardiovascular disease outcomes and risk factors, the prescribing rate in the most deprived quintile was still 18% lower than in the least deprived quintile. In addition, they found that there was a significantly higher tendency to prescribe oral HRT (administered by mouth) than transdermal preparations (administered through the skin) in more deprived practices.

Lead author Dr Sarah Hillman from Warwick Medical School said: "Our research showed that women in deprived areas are less likely to be prescribed HRT and are prescribed relatively more oral and less transdermal HRT, even though transdermal has less risks of side effects.

"The data couldn't tell us why that is the case, only that there was a difference. That will be investigated in the next stage of the research. However, there is likely to be both clinician and patient factors involved.

"Access to menopause care is incredibly important. HRT is a medication that can significantly improve symptoms of the menopause. If women want to consider HRT they should approach their GP."

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JOURNAL: British Journal of General Practice - https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp20X713045

University of Nevada: Cleaning for COVID-19 - Are Household Disinfectants and Sanitizers Harmful to Our Health?

RENO, Nevada, Sept. 30 -- The University of Nevada issued the following news:

We get used to the new normal - sanitization - in the COVID-19 world. Every day, we apply various chemical disinfectants in our homes, offices and classrooms, aiming to kill the novel coronavirus on high-touch surfaces. The novel coronavirus has been found to remain viable on hard, non-porous surfaces for hours to even days. To date, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and regulatory agencies in other countries have published lists of recommended cleaning products for use against the virus. The virucidal ingredients ... Show Full Article RENO, Nevada, Sept. 30 -- The University of Nevada issued the following news: We get used to the new normal - sanitization - in the COVID-19 world. Every day, we apply various chemical disinfectants in our homes, offices and classrooms, aiming to kill the novel coronavirus on high-touch surfaces. The novel coronavirus has been found to remain viable on hard, non-porous surfaces for hours to even days. To date, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and regulatory agencies in other countries have published lists of recommended cleaning products for use against the virus. The virucidal ingredientsin these products include alcohols, phenols, quaternary ammonium compounds ("quats"), and many others. You may be unfamiliar with the name "quats," but if checking the labels of disinfecting sprays, hand sanitizers and sanitizing wipes in your homes, you would easily find the members of the quats family: benzalkonium chlorides, benzethonium chloride, alkyldimethylbenzyl ammonium chlorides, dodecyl dimethyl ammonium chlorides and so on.

Can these disinfecting chemicals be harmful to our health?

Probably. During the past decades, a growing number of scientists have linked some disinfecting chemicals with developmental and reproductive problems among animals in the laboratories. For instance, when intentionally feeding animals with high doses of quats, scientists observed increased rates of neural tube defects, infertility, and enzyme inhibition. While there has not been any evidence confirming a direct link between disinfectant use with toxicity in humans, toxicologists and health scientists call for more scrutiny of the safety of disinfectant chemicals.

Our homes are not labs, so we would be totally safe, right?

Before giving a definitive yes or no, let's recall how we use cleaning products on hard surfaces at home: after use, most of us let the disinfected surfaces or objects air dried without wiping up excess disinfectants. In this situation, disinfectants would remain on the surfaces or objects all day long. When our kids climb on the disinfected table surfaces or countertops as if they conquered Mount Everest, or touch the disinfected toys, doorknobs and electronics, disinfectants stealthily migrate to the skin of their palms or fingers. The kids may then take in disinfectants when licking or biting their hands. According to our recent research on 22 disinfecting ingredients, such an unintended mouthing-mediated intake is not trivial: when disinfectants are used at full strength without dilution, the unintended mouthing-mediated intake is prevalently more than 2,000 times higher than intake through deliberate contact with disinfectants, such as skin absorption during handwashing. The unintended mouthing-mediated intake is less relevant for alcohols and phenols, as they can easily turn into gases and are ventilated out from the room. However, quats cannot easily change into gases and would stay on the surfaces for a long time if not wiped off. The unintended mouthing-mediated intake is particularly notable for kids because they are more frequent in licking palms, wiping mouth and sucking thumb than adults are. For instance, our recent study also shows that the intake of a 3-year-old kid is typically 55 times higher than that of an adult for some quats.

Is the intake risky for our kids?

Unfortunately, we do not have a conclusive answer at this moment. In a risk assessment, scientists usually compare the level of chemical intake with the minimum level of a chemical leading to a certain health outcome. Yet, scientists have not yet to reach a consensus regarding which health outcome should be used as the criterion in a risk assessment. In our recent work, we attempted to characterize the risks using two approaches in parallel. On the one hand, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends the use of a concept called " reference dose" to describe the minimum amount of a chemical posing "systemic toxicity" to the human body (this reference dose is derived from animal, not human, studies at this moment). If this criterion is applied, our assessment shows that around 40% of the 22 disinfectants studied in our work can be somewhat risky at the intake level of kids. Other scientists propose the use of cell studies to assess how toxic a chemical is to certain biological activities or functions of a cell. If this criterion is applied, our assessment shows that there is little risk for most disinfecting chemicals. However, no matter which criterion is used, triclosan, triclocarban and benzethonium chloride (one of the quats) would to some extent pose health risks to kids. Triclosan and triclocarban have been removed from the list of ingredients "generally recognized as safe (GRAS)" by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but they are still allowed to be used in other countries.

Then what do we need to do to protect our kids?

Of course, it is by no means wise or prudent to stop disinfecting your homes because the pandemic is the primary risk at this moment. However, we can still do something to prevent our kids to be overexposed to disinfectants. For instance, we may use disinfectants that tends to go into the air, instead of quats, for indoor surfaces with which kids are in frequent contact. Alcohols, e.g., 70% ethyl or isopropyl alcohol, may be an ideal option. We may also wipe up excess disinfectants after disinfecting surfaces accessible to kids. But keep in mind that before wiping off, we need to keep the surface wet for an appropriate "contact time" based on the manufacturer guideline to ensures disinfectants inactivate the pathogens.

University of Lethbridge: Grant to Aid in Developing New Treatments for Alzheimer's Disease

LETHBRIDGE, Alberta, Sept. 30 (TNSRes) -- The University of Lethbridge issued the following news:

The University of Lethbridge's Dr. Majid Mohajerani and two partners from Laval University are creating new tools for neuroscience research that they'll use to test out a promising drug target for Alzheimer's disease. If successful, their research could lead to new treatments to prevent the onset of Alzheimer's disease symptoms, delay progression of the disease or even restore normal function after symptoms have appeared.

The research is made possible thanks to a grant of nearly $1 million over three ... Show Full Article LETHBRIDGE, Alberta, Sept. 30 (TNSRes) -- The University of Lethbridge issued the following news: The University of Lethbridge's Dr. Majid Mohajerani and two partners from Laval University are creating new tools for neuroscience research that they'll use to test out a promising drug target for Alzheimer's disease. If successful, their research could lead to new treatments to prevent the onset of Alzheimer's disease symptoms, delay progression of the disease or even restore normal function after symptoms have appeared. The research is made possible thanks to a grant of nearly $1 million over threeyears from the Weston Brain Institute, a non-profit institute of the W. Garfield Weston Foundation that supports world-class neuroscience research to accelerate discovery of treatments for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

"New treatments for these diseases are critically needed," says Mohajerani, a professor of neuroscience at the U of L's Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN). "Alzheimer's disease has an enormous impact on patients, the health-care system and society. This is only anticipated to get worse as the population ages. Current treatments for Alzheimer's disease only address some of the symptoms. They do not prevent or alter the course of the disease."

In the project, Mohajerani, along with Laval University's Drs. Benoit Gosselin and Yves De Koninck, will develop a device that allows for minimally invasive stimulation and recording of brain activity in mice in their home cages. The device includes a wireless transmitter, thus removing the need for the animal to be taken from its home cage and hooked up to wires in the lab. This implant will be combined with an automated monitoring system, currently under development at the CCBN, that records the animals' natural behaviour. Together, these devices will allow scientists to measure both the brain activity and behaviour of an animal in its home environment over days, weeks or even months.

The technology will enable them to address the idea that abnormal brain activity, characterized by an imbalance between excitatory and inhibitory connections in the brain, underlies the early progression of Alzheimer's disease. De Koninck is a world expert on a certain protein, found on the outer membranes of cells within the nervous system, called potassium chloride co-transporter 2 (KCC2). An increase or decrease in the production of KCC2 affects the balance of inhibitory and excitatory activity in the brain. Pharmaceutical tools that target KCC2 might thus be able to correct the imbalance observed in Alzheimer's disease, as well as other nervous system disorders such as chronic pain.

"We are using drugs that modulate the expression of KCC2," says Mohajerani. "We will increase and also decrease the production of KCC2 to study both effects. We will explore if activation of KCC2, by boosting neuronal inhibition, can reduce the progression of the disease and if inhibition of KCC2 will increase the progression of the disease."

Using genetically modified mice that model Alzheimer's disease pathology and symptoms, the project aims to accelerate the development of therapeutics for Alzheimer's disease by testing how altering KCC2 function affects brain activity and behaviour during disease progression in living animals. If successful, this research would implicate KCC2 as an entirely new drug target for mitigating Alzheimer's disease.

This grant is the first for the U of L from the Weston Brain Institute.

University of Illinois: Gene Expression Altered By Direction of Forces Acting on Cell

CHAMPAIGN, Illinois, Sept. 30 (TNSJou) -- The University of Illinois System Urbana-Champaign campus issued the following news release:

Tissues and cells in the human body are subjected to a constant push and pull - strained by other cells, blood pressure and fluid flow, to name a few. The type and direction of the force on a cell alters gene expression by stretching different regions of DNA, researchers at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and collaborators in China found in a new study.

The findings could provide insights into physiology and diseases such as fibrosis, cardiovascular disease ... Show Full Article

Royal College of Nursing: Response to the NHS Confederation Report 'NHS Reset - A New Direction for Health and Care'

LONDON, England, Sept. 30 (TNSRes) -- The Royal College of Nursing issued the following statement on Sept. 29 by Dame Donna Kinnair, chief executive and general secretary:

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The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) today commented on the NHS Confederation's report, NHS Reset: A new direction for health and care.

Dame Donna Kinnair, RCN Chief Executive and General Secretary, said:

"This deeply concerning report shows the urgent need for investment in our health services, to make them sustainable and ensure patient safety.

"Nursing is an area of particular concern that we have repeatedly highlighted. ... Show Full Article

Purdue: International Programs Uses Virtual Model to Expand Access, Collaboration During Pandemic

WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana, Sept. 30 (TNSCon) -- Purdue University issued the following news release:

Purdue University students have the opportunity to work with students and faculty in Peru, Brazil and other parts of the world thanks to a new program offered through Purdue's International Programs.

With the global COVID-19 pandemic suspending study abroad programs, Michael Brzezinski, dean of International Programs, set out in May with his staff to find ways faculty and students could still have intercultural learning experiences.

Brzezinski, faculty and staff explored what could be done to take ... Show Full Article

Missouri University of Science and Technology: Researchers Use Amino Acids to Grow High-Performance Copper Thin Films

ROLLA, Missouri, Sept. 30 (TNSRes) -- Missouri University of Science and Technology issued the following news release:

For the first time, researchers from Missouri S&T have shown that highly ordered copper thin films can be crystallized directly on a one-molecule-thick layer of organic material rather than on the inorganic substrates that have been used for years.

The copper thin films they've produced are excellent candidates for use as underlying substances for solar cells, LEDs, and high-temperature superconductors, says Dr. Jay Switzer, Chancellor's Professor and Curators' Distinguished ... Show Full Article ROLLA, Missouri, Sept. 30 (TNSRes) -- Missouri University of Science and Technology issued the following news release: For the first time, researchers from Missouri S&T have shown that highly ordered copper thin films can be crystallized directly on a one-molecule-thick layer of organic material rather than on the inorganic substrates that have been used for years. The copper thin films they've produced are excellent candidates for use as underlying substances for solar cells, LEDs, and high-temperature superconductors, says Dr. Jay Switzer, Chancellor's Professor and Curators' DistinguishedProfessor emeritus of chemistry, who is principal investigator of the project. Switzer says that other researchers have previously electroplated thin films onto self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of organic molecules, but those films lacked the in-plane and out-of-plane order required for electronic applications.

"Like the way seashells, bones or teeth are formed, we've found a way to give the copper films the right level of crystalline order and durability for their applications," says Switzer. "With our process, which mimics biomineralization, we're creating inorganic thin films with superior qualities of single-crystal-like order, high conductivity and flexibility."

In their experiments, the researchers electrodeposited copper on a single layer of L-cysteine, a protein- building amino acid that was placed on ordered layers of gold on silicon. After the copper crystallized into an ordered film, they were able to lift off a single, crystal-like foil simply using adhesive tape. Their process provides an inexpensive route to free-standing metal foils with properties that mimic those of expensive single crystals, the researchers note.

Switzer says their method shows the importance of the cysteine molecule in directing the growth of ordered crystalline structures. As a contribution to science, he notes the method will enable future work on the deposition of ordered films of other important materials such as semiconductors and catalysts onto organic self-assembled monolayers. The method may also prove to minimize the effects of lattice mismatch that sometimes limit epitaxial, or crystalline, growth.

Other Missouri S&T scientists on the team include Dr. Avishek Banik, a post-doctoral researcher in chemistry; Dr. Eric Bohannan, a senior research specialist in S&T's Materials Research Center; and Bin Luo, a doctoral student in chemistry.

The team's findings will be published in the upcoming issue of the American Chemical Society's Journal of Physical Chemistry C and are available now online in the study, "Epitaxial Electrodeposition of Cu(111) onto an L-cysteine Self- assembled Monolayer on Au(111) and Epitaxial Lift-off of Single-crystal-like CuFoils for Flexible Electronics."

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