Pediatric Casualties in Terrorist Attacks: A Semi-Quantitative Analysis of Global Events.

BACKGROUND: Terrorism remains a major threat and concern in many countries around the world. Pediatric populations represent approximately 30% of the world population, and in the event of a terrorist attack, can either be primary targets, to include the possibility of abduction, or unintended victims. They are unique in their vulnerabilities and, therefore, require special consideration. METHODS: This study is a semi-quantitative, epidemiological analysis of all terrorism-related pediatric fatalities and injuries sustained from 1970-2019. Data collection was performed using a retrospective database search through the Global Terrorism Database (GTD). Summaries of events including search terms associated with pediatric population were individually reviewed and those describing the deaths, injuries, or abductions were tallied. RESULTS: Of the over 200,000 terror events, 2,302 events met inclusion criteria. This represented 1.14% of total events which involved death, injury, or abduction. Of 2,032 events, a total of 2,275 pediatric fatal injuries (FI) were recorded, as well as 2,280 pediatric non-fatal injuries (NFI). The most common weapons used in all attacks involving the pediatric population were explosives (1,539 [66.8%]), firearms (543 [23.5%]), other (169 [7.3%]), and melee (83 [3.6%]). A total of 275 of the 2,032 events were related to abductions, with 71 cases involving the abduction of 10 individuals or more. CONCLUSION: Pediatric casualties in terrorist events represent a small proportion of overall victims. However, it should be understood that the pediatric population has unique vulnerabilities, and when directly impacted by terrorism, can have long-term physical and psychosocial sequelae, as well as a devastating emotional impact on the community.

Pulmonary amyloidosis as the presenting finding in a patient with multiple myeloma.

We present the case of a 58-year-old man who presented with dyspnea, cough, and weight loss and was ultimately diagnosed with pulmonary amyloidosis and multiple myeloma. Diagnosis was achieved with a lung biopsy which showed AL amyloid deposits involving the interstitium, vessels, and airway. He was treated with cyclophosphamide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone but died prior to completing treatment. His case is unique for the amyloid deposition found in all three lung compartments with clear pathophysiologic manifestations of each compartment, and the rapid disease progression that led to respiratory failure and death.

What is the availability of iodised salt in supermarkets on the Island of Ireland?

Iodine deficiency remains a global nutritional public health challenge, with evidence suggesting borderline adequate or even deficient status for UK and Irish subpopulations such as schoolgirls and pregnant women. The solution, according to the WHO, is salt iodisation, but it is not known how widely available iodised salt is in supermarkets. Iodised salt availability was determined by a shelf survey of 89 supermarket stores on the island of Ireland (n = 30 in Northern Ireland and n = 59 in the Republic of Ireland) from September 2018 to January 2019, to take into account factors such as store type, location, population density, socioeconomic status and ethnicity. Availability was calculated as the number of stores selling iodised salt as a percentage of the total. Iodised salt was only available in 11 stores (12%), of which 10 were ethnic stores. This indicates a lack of access for the majority of the Irish and Northern Irish populations.

Physical Therapy Management of Adults with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.

Rehabilitation for individuals after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) or concussion requires emphasis on both cognitive and physical rest, with a gradual return to activity including sports. As the client becomes more active, the rehabilitation professional should pay close attention to symptoms associated with mTBI, such as headache, dizziness, nausea, and difficulty concentrating. The systematic approach to return to play provided by the Berlin Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport can apply to adults with mTBI. This protocol calls for gradually increasing the intensity of physical activity while attending to postconcussion symptoms. During the incident that led to an mTBI, the injured individual may incur injuries to the vestibular and balance system that are best addressed by professionals with specific training in vestibular rehabilitation, most commonly physical therapists. Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo is a condition in which otoconia particles in the inner ear dislodge into the semicircular canals, resulting in severe vertigo and imbalance. This condition frequently resolves in a few sessions with a vestibular physical therapist. In conditions such as gaze instability, motion sensitivity, impaired postural control, and cervicogenic dizziness, improvement is more gradual and requires longer follow-up with a physical therapist and a home exercise program. In all of the above-stated conditions, it is essential to consider that a patient with protracted symptoms of mTBI or postconcussion syndrome will recover more slowly than others and should be monitored for symptoms throughout the intervention.

Complete Genome Sequence of Caulobacter crescentus Siphophage Sansa.

Caulobacter crescentus is a Gram-negative dimorphic model organism used to study cell differentiation. Siphophage Sansa is a newly isolated siphophage with an icosahedral capsid that infects C. crescentus. Sansa shares no sequence similarity to other phages deposited in GenBank. Here, we describe its genome sequence and general features.

The Caulobacter crescentus phage phiCbK: genomics of a canonical phage.

BACKGROUND: The bacterium Caulobacter crescentus is a popular model for the study of cell cycle regulation and senescence. The large prolate siphophage phiCbK has been an important tool in C. crescentus biology, and has been studied in its own right as a model for viral morphogenesis. Although a system of some interest, to date little genomic information is available on phiCbK or its relatives. RESULTS: Five novel phiCbK-like C. crescentus bacteriophages, CcrMagneto, CcrSwift, CcrKarma, CcrRogue and CcrColossus, were isolated from the environment. The genomes of phage phiCbK and these five environmental phage isolates were obtained by 454 pyrosequencing. The phiCbK-like phage genomes range in size from 205 kb encoding 318 proteins (phiCbK) to 280 kb encoding 448 proteins (CcrColossus), and were found to contain nonpermuted terminal redundancies of 10 to 17 kb. A novel method of terminal ligation was developed to map genomic termini, which confirmed termini predicted by coverage analysis. This suggests that sequence coverage discontinuities may be useable as predictors of genomic termini in phage genomes. Genomic modules encoding virion morphogenesis, lysis and DNA replication proteins were identified. The phiCbK-like phages were also found to encode a number of intriguing proteins; all contain a clearly T7-like DNA polymerase, and five of the six encode a possible homolog of the C. crescentus cell cycle regulator GcrA, which may allow the phage to alter the host cell's replicative state. The structural proteome of phage phiCbK was determined, identifying the portal, major and minor capsid proteins, the tail tape measure and possible tail fiber proteins. All six phage genomes are clearly related; phiCbK, CcrMagneto, CcrSwift, CcrKarma and CcrRogue form a group related at the DNA level, while CcrColossus is more diverged but retains significant similarity at the protein level. CONCLUSIONS: Due to their lack of any apparent relationship to other described phages, this group is proposed as the founding cohort of a new phage type, the phiCbK-like phages. This work will serve as a foundation for future studies on morphogenesis, infection and phage-host interactions in C. crescentus.