Underlying causes of underutilization of maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH) services in Africa: A survey from Lagos State, Nigeria.

Lagos State, Nigeria, Africa's largest city with an estimaed 21 million population, continues to face challenges in its attempts to reduce maternal mortality (555 deaths per 100,000 live births) and deaths of children under five (59 per 1,000 live births). These deaths are more common among women and children living in poverty, many of whom rarely utilize health services. This paper describes the trend in the use of maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH) services in the State in the past decade and shows barriers to the use of the services. Significant improvement in the coverage of the services were not observed. We identified the following five types of barriers to the use of MNCH services: i) financial barriers, ii) physical barriers, iii) cognitive barriers, iv) organizational barriers, and v) psychological and socio-cultural barriers. To address these interrelated barriers, the Lagos State Ministry of Health should prioritize regular outreach health services including health promotion, and realize the current initiative for massive recruitment of health personnel and appropriate deployment of them.

Cytological Analysis of Low-grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesion with a Histodiagnosis of Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia 3 (Severe Dysplasia) Prospectively.

OBJECTIVE: To reanalyze the cytological features of the first cytological specimens of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 3 (CIN3) (severe) cases that were initially cytodiagnosed as LSIL and followed up for up to 5 years. STUDY DESIGN: Among 14,556.patients in 2009, 236 (1.6%) were cytodiagnosed with low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL). Among those, 128 cases could be histologically diagnosed from 2009 to 2013. Among those 128 cases, 16 were diagnosed as CIN3 (severe). The first cytological specimens of those 16 cases were reanalyzed morphologically. RESULTS: The first cytological specimens of the 16 cases diagnosed as LSIL and histodiagnosed as CIN3 (severe) showed a few small atypical cells in 13 and a cluster of small atypical cells in 1 case. Atypical cells indicating CIN1 were predominant in 14 LSIL cases and there were a few small atypical cells in these cases (LSIL, cannot exclude high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion [LSIL-H]). CONCLUSION: We show the existence of LSIL-H (LSIL, cannot exclude HSIL) cases, for which biopsy with colposcopy should be applied actively.

O-linked-N-acetylglucosamine modification of mammalian Notch receptors by an atypical O-GlcNAc transferase Eogt1.

O-linked-ß-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) modification is a unique cytoplasmic and nuclear protein modification that is common in nearly all eukaryotes, including filamentous fungi, plants, and animals. We had recently reported that epidermal growth factor (EGF) repeats of Notch and Dumpy are O-GlcNAcylated by an atypical O-GlcNAc transferase, EOGT, in Drosophila. However, no study has yet shown whether O-GlcNAcylation of extracellular proteins is limited to insects such as Drosophila or whether it occurs in other organisms, including mammals. Here, we report the characterization of A130022J15Rik, a mouse gene homolog of Drosophila Eogt (Eogt 1). Enzymatic analysis revealed that Eogt1 has a substrate specificity similar to that of Drosophila EOGT, wherein the Thr residue located between the fifth and sixth conserved cysteines of the folded EGF-like domains is modified. This observation is supported by the fact that the expression of Eogt1 in Drosophila rescued the cell-adhesion defect caused by Eogt downregulation. In HEK293T cells, Eogt1 expression promoted modification of Notch1 EGF repeats by O-GlcNAc, which was further modified, at least in part, by galactose to generate a novel O-linked-N-acetyllactosamine structure. These results suggest that Eogt1 encodes EGF domain O-GlcNAc transferase and that O-GlcNAcylation reaction in the secretory pathway is a fundamental biochemical process conserved through evolution.

Rapid monomerization of poly(butylene succinate)-co-(butylene adipate) by Leptothrix sp.

For rapid monomerization of biodegradable plastics, various microorganisms were screened and TB-71 was selected as the best strain. TB-71 degraded solid poly(butylene succinate)-co-(butylene adipate) (PBSA), poly(ethylene succinate), and poly(epsilon-caprolactone) but not poly(butylene succinate), poly(2-hydroxybutylate-co-valerate) or poly(lactic acid). Esterase activity was observed in the culture broth during PBSA degradation, which was specifically induced by PBSA. Analysis of the degradation products revealed that PBSA was degraded to monomers.

EICO (Expression-based Imprint Candidate Organizer): finding disease-related imprinted genes.

We have developed an integrated database that is specialized for the study of imprinted disease genes. The database contains novel candidate imprinted genes identified by the RIKEN full-length mouse cDNA microarray study, information on validated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to confirm imprinting using reciprocal mouse crosses and the predicted physical position of imprinting-related disease loci in the mouse and human genomes. It has two user-friendly search interfaces: the SNP-central view (MuSCAT: MoUse SNP CATalog) and the candidate gene-central view (CITE: Candidate Imprinted Transcripts by Expression). The database, EICO (Expression-based Imprint Candidate Organizer), can be accessed via the World Wide Web (http://fantom2.gsc.riken.jp/EICODB/) and the DAS client software. These data and interfaces facilitate understanding of the mechanism of imprinting in mammalian inherited traits.

Discovery of imprinted transcripts in the mouse transcriptome using large-scale expression profiling.

Candidate imprinted transcriptional units in the mouse genome were identified systematically from 27,663 FANTOM2 full-length mouse cDNA clones by expression profiling. Large-scale cDNA microarrays were used to detect differential expression dependent upon chromosomal parent of origin by comparing the mRNA levels in the total tissue of 9.5 dpc parthenogenote and androgenote mouse embryos. Of the FANTOM2 transcripts, 2114 were identified as candidates on the basis of the array data. Of these, 39 mapped to known imprinted regions of the mouse genome, 56 were considered as nonprotein-coding RNAs, and 159 were natural antisense transcripts. The imprinted expression of two transcripts located in the mouse chromosomal region syntenic to the human Prader-Willi syndrome region was confirmed experimentally. We further mapped all candidate imprinted transcripts to the mouse and human genome and were shown in correlation with the imprinting disease loci. These data provide a major resource for understanding the role of imprinting in mammalian inherited traits.