Plos One
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Much biodiversity lives on lands to which Indigenous people retain strong legal and management rights. However this is rarely quantified. Here we provide the first quantitative overview of the importance of Indigenous land for a critical and vulnerable part of biodiversity, threatened species, using the continent of Australia as a case study. ⋯ On average this overlap represents 45% of the range of each threatened species while Indigenous land is 52% of the country. Hotspots where multiple threatened species ranges overlap occur predominantly in coastal Northern Australia. Our analysis quantifies the vast potential of Indigenous land in Australia for contributing to national level conservation goals, and identifies the main land management arrangements available to Indigenous people which may enable them to deliver those goals should they choose to do so.
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Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is a heterogeneous disease which predominantly affects young females (90%). SLE is associated with a shorter life expectancy than in the general population. Standardized mortality ratios (SMR) of 2.4 have been reported, which is comparable to diabetes. In modern societies cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the major cause of premature mortality. Accelerated atherosclerosis is generally assumed to be the underlying cause for SLE related CVD. However, previous studies diverge regarding whether atherosclerosis is more common in SLE than in controls. With this in mind and based on own clinical experience we hypothesized that accelerated atherosclerosis is not a general feature of SLE, but prevails in SLE subgroups. ⋯ In SLE excess carotid plaques are essentially confined to the SLE subgroup with nephritis. This subgroup had plaques twice as often as age-matched non-nephritis SLE patients and population controls. Non-nephritis SLE patients, including the aPL positive subgroup, which has a high CVD risk, had similar prevalence of plaques as controls. To prevent later CVD events, this novel observation calls for risk factor screening and initiation of anti-atherosclerotic treatment selectively in SLE nephritis patients. Preferably at nephritis onset, which is often at a young age. In a general perspective this study demonstrates the importance to perform careful clinical subgroup analyses when investigating heterogeneous, hitherto not clearly defined, conditions like SLE.
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The purpose of this study was to describe the patients' reasons for encounter (RFE) and health problems managed by general practitioners (GPs) in the rural areas of Beijing to provide evidences for health services planning and GPs training. ⋯ These findings present a view of patients' demands and work contents of GPs in Beijing rural areas and can provide reference for health services planning and GPs training.
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Comparative Study
Volume versus surface-based cortical thickness measurements: A comparative study with healthy controls and multiple sclerosis patients.
The cerebral cortex is a highly folded outer layer of grey matter tissue that plays a key role in cognitive functions. In part, alterations of the cortex during development and disease can be captured by measuring the cortical thickness across the whole brain. Available software tools differ with regard to labor intensity and computational demands. ⋯ Comparison of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with age-matched healthy control subjects showed highly comparable clusters of MS-related thinning for both methods. Likewise, both methods yielded comparable clusters of age-related cortical thinning, although correlations between age and average cortical thickness were stronger for FreeSurfer. Our data suggest that, for the analysis of cortical thickness, the volume-based CAT tool can be regarded a considerable alternative to the well-established surface-based FreeSurfer tool.
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Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) accounting for about 90% of malignant oral lesions is the 6th most common malignancy worldwide. Diagnostic delay may contribute to dismal survival rate therefore, there is a need for developing specific and sensitive biomarkers to improve early detection. Hungarian population occupies the top places of statistics regarding OSCC incidence and mortality figures therefore, we aimed at finding potential salivary protein biomarkers suitable for the Hungarian population. ⋯ A noninvasive diagnostic method to detect biomarkers useful for the early diagnosis of OSCC was developed. This can be an attractive strategy in screening saliva samples collected in a nation-wide multi-centric study in order to decrease morbidity, mortality, to enhance survival rate and to improve quality of life. The heterogeneity of protein biomarkers found in different ethnic groups presented in the literature highlights the importance of identification of population-tailored protein biomarkers.