Publications

BACKGROUND

Respiratory tract-related occupational disability is common among adults of working age. We examined occupational vapors, gas, dust, or fume (VGDF) exposure as a predictor of disability, based on respiratory sickness absence among the actively employed, at an early point at which prevention may be most relevant.

METHODS

Currently employed European Community Respiratory Health Survey II participants (n = 6,988) were classified into three mutually exclusive, condition/symptom-based categories: physician-diagnosed asthma, self-reported rhinitis, and wheeze/breathlessness (n = 4,772). Logistic regression analysis estimated the odds of respiratory sickness absence (past 12 months) by VGDF exposure.

RESULTS

In the condition/symptom groups, 327 (6.9%) reported respiratory sickness absence. Exposure to VGDF was associated with increased odds of respiratory sickness absence: asthma odds ratio [OR] 2.0 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1-3.6), wheeze/breathlessness OR 2.2 (95% CI 1.01-4.8); rhinitis OR 1.9 (95% CI 1.02-3.4).

CONCLUSION

One in 15 currently employed with asthma, breathlessness, or rhinitis reported respiratory sickness absence. VGDF exposure doubled the odds of respiratory sickness absence, suggesting a focus for disability prevention.

OBJECTIVE

To determine trends in the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and 100% fruit juice by California children ages 2 to 11 years from 2003 to 2009.

METHODS

This analysis used serial cross-sectional data from the California Health Interview Survey, a telephone survey of households in California. Parents were asked how many servings of SSBs and 100% fruit juice the child consumed the day before. A test of trend was used to evaluate changes in consumption over time. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the independent effects of race/ethnicity, parental education, and household income on beverage consumption.

RESULTS

The percentage of children consuming an SSB on the prior day declined from 40% in 2003 to 16% in 2009 (P < .001) among children ages 2 to 5 and from 54% in 2003 to 33% in 2009 (P < .001) among children ages 6 to 11. The percentage of children consuming any SSB decreased for all racial/ethnic groups, although there were disparities with higher consumption among Latinos. Among children ages 2 to 5, consumption of 2 or more servings of 100% fruit juice per day decreased among white children and increased among Latinos. For children ages 6 to 11, consumption of 2 or more servings of 100% fruit juice per day remained stable for white children and increased among Latinos and African Americans.

CONCLUSIONS

The decrease in SSB consumption by California children from 2003 to 2009 is a promising trend. The increase in 100% fruit juice consumption among minority children during this period may be an unintended consequence of efforts to reduce SSB consumption.

BACKGROUND

Geriatric patients' (defined as those older than 65 years old) inherent comorbidities, functional limitations, and bone quality present obstacles to successful clinical outcomes for operatively treated supination external rotation (SER) ankle fractures. We retrospectively reviewed a prospectively collected series of SER injuries between 2004 and 2010. This is a comparison of the radiographic and clinical outcomes of our geriatric (27 patients) and nongeriatric (81 patients) populations. We hypothesized that geriatric patients would have worse outcomes when compared to nongeriatric patients.

METHODS

All SER ankle fractures (176) treated by a single surgeon were enrolled in a prospective database. All patients fulfilled inclusion criteria (108) consisting of 1 year of having clinical follow-up, postoperative radiographs, and Foot & Ankle Outcome Scores (FAOS). The primary outcome evaluated was functional outcome as exhibited by the FAOS. The secondary outcomes included adequacy of reduction, loss of reduction, postoperative complications (wound complications, infection, pain-driven hardware removal), and range of motion.

RESULTS

Despite significantly higher rates of diabetes (P < .001) and peripheral vascular disease (P < .001), there were statistically significantly better FAOS outcomes in the symptoms subcategory among the geriatric population. There was no significant difference in the articular reduction, syndesmotic reduction, wound complications, postoperative infections, or range of motion between these groups.

CONCLUSION

Geriatric patients exhibited equivalent complication rates, radiographic outcomes, and functional outcomes compared to nongeriatric patients in this series. Anatomic fixation and soft tissue management counter the inherent risks of operative intervention in geriatric populations that report higher rates of comorbidities. This study supports aggressive fracture- and ligament-specific operative intervention in geriatric patients presenting with unstable SER injuries.

Human and mouse marapsins (Prss27) are serine proteases preferentially expressed by stratified squamous epithelia. However, mouse marapsin contains a transmembrane anchor absent from the human enzyme. To gain insights into physical forms, activities, inhibition, and roles in epithelial differentiation, we traced tail loss in human marapsin to a nonsense mutation in an ancestral ape, compared substrate preferences of mouse and human marapsins with those of the epithelial peptidase prostasin, designed a selective substrate and inhibitor, and generated Prss27-null mice. Phylogenetic analysis predicts that most marapsins are transmembrane proteins. However, nonsense mutations caused membrane anchor loss in three clades: human/bonobo/chimpanzee, guinea pig/degu/tuco-tuco/mole rat, and cattle/yak. Most marapsin-related proteases, including prostasins, are type I transmembrane proteins, but the closest relatives (prosemins) are not. Soluble mouse and human marapsins are tryptic with subsite preferences distinct from those of prostasin, lack general proteinase activity, and unlike prostasins resist antiproteases, including leupeptin, aprotinin, serpins, and α2-macroglobulin, suggesting the presence of non-canonical active sites. Prss27-null mice develop normally in barrier conditions and are fertile without overt epithelial defects, indicating that marapsin does not play critical, non-redundant roles in development, reproduction, or epithelial differentiation. In conclusion, marapsins are conserved, inhibitor-resistant, tryptic peptidases. Although marapsins are type I transmembrane proteins in their typical form, they mutated independently into anchorless forms in several mammalian clades, including one involving humans. Similar pathways appear to have been traversed by prosemins and tryptases, suggesting that mutational tail loss is an important means of evolving new functions of tryptic serine proteases from transmembrane ancestors.