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Frontiers in Microbiology 2018High mortality and hospitalization rates have seen as a foodborne pathogen of public health importance for many years and of particular concern for high-risk population... (Review)
Review
High mortality and hospitalization rates have seen as a foodborne pathogen of public health importance for many years and of particular concern for high-risk population groups. Food manufactures face an ongoing challenge in preventing the entry of into food production environments (FPEs) due to its ubiquitous nature. In addition to this, the capacity of strains to colonize FPEs can lead to repeated identification of in FPE surveillance. The contamination of food products requiring product recall presents large economic burden to industry and is further exacerbated by damage to the brand. Poor equipment design, facility layout, and worn or damaged equipment can result in hotspots and biofilms where traditional cleaning and disinfecting procedures may be inadequate. Novel biocontrol methods may offer FPEs effective means to help improve control of and decrease cross contamination of food. Bacteriophages have been used as a medical treatment for many years for their ability to infect and lyse specific bacteria. Endolysins, the hydrolytic enzymes of bacteriophages responsible for breaking the cell wall of Gram-positive bacteria, are being explored as a biocontrol method for food preservation and in nanotechnology and medical applications. Antibacterial proteins known as bacteriocins have been used as alternatives to antibiotics for biopreservation and food product shelf life extension. Essential oils are natural antimicrobials formed by plants and have been used as food additives and preservatives for many years and more recently as a method to prevent food spoilage by microorganisms. Competitive exclusion occurs naturally among bacteria in the environment. However, intentionally selecting and applying bacteria to effect competitive exclusion of food borne pathogens has potential as a biocontrol application. This review discusses these novel biocontrol methods and their use in food safety and prevention of spoilage, and examines their potential to control within biofilms in food production facilities.
PubMed: 29666613
DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.00605 -
Epidemiologia E Prevenzione 2015
Topics: Autism Spectrum Disorder; Causality; Conflict of Interest; Consumer Organizations; Dissent and Disputes; Drug Recalls; Humans; Influenza Vaccines; Informed Consent; Italy; Marketing of Health Services; Parents; Public Policy; Vaccination; Vaccines
PubMed: 25855539
DOI: No ID Found -
American Journal of Respiratory and... Oct 2021
Topics: Continuous Positive Airway Pressure; Humans; Informed Consent; Noninvasive Ventilation; Patient Participation; Patient-Centered Care; Practice Guidelines as Topic; Practice Patterns, Physicians'; Safety-Based Medical Device Withdrawals; Societies, Medical; United States; Ventilators, Mechanical
PubMed: 34461022
DOI: 10.1164/rccm.202107-1666ED -
Journal of Food Protection Sep 2022Although public health risk assessments for Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) have been published for various foods, firm-level decision making on interventions targeting Lm...
ABSTRACT
Although public health risk assessments for Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) have been published for various foods, firm-level decision making on interventions targeting Lm involves considerations of both public health and enterprise risks. Smoked seafood is a ready-to-eat product with a high incidence of Lm contamination and has been associated with several recalls. We used cold-smoked salmon as a model product to develop a decision support tool (the regulatory and recall risk [3R] model) to estimate (i) baseline regulatory and recall (RR) risks (i.e., overall risks of a lot sampled and found positive for Lm, e.g., by food regulatory agencies) due to Lm contamination and (ii) the RR risk reduction that can be achieved through interventions with underlying mechanisms such as reducing the prevalence and/or level of Lm and retarding or preventing Lm growth. Given that a set number of samples (e.g., 10) are tested for a given lot, the RR risk equals the likelihood of detecting Lm in at least one sample. Under the baseline scenario, which assumes a 4% Lm prevalence and no interventions, the median predicted RR risk for a given production lot was 0.333 (95% credible interval: 0.288, 0.384) when 10 25-g samples were tested. Nisin treatments, which reduce both the prevalence and initial level of Lm, reduced RR risks in a concentration-dependent manner to 0.109 (0.074, 0.146) with 5 ppm, 0.049 (0.024, 0.083) with 10 ppm, and 0.017 (0.007, 0.033) with 20 ppm. In general, more effective reduction in RR risks can be achieved by reducing Lm prevalence than by retarding Lm growth; the RR risk was reduced to 0.182 (0.153, 0.213) by a 50% prevalence reduction but to only 0.313 (0.268, 0.367) by bacteriostatic growth inhibitors. Sensitivity analysis indicated that prevalence and initial level of Lm and storage temperature have the greatest impact on predicting RR risks, suggesting that reliable data for these parameters will improve model performance.
Topics: Animals; Colony Count, Microbial; Food Contamination; Food Microbiology; Food Preservation; Listeria monocytogenes; Salmon; Seafood
PubMed: 35723598
DOI: 10.4315/JFP-22-025 -
International Journal of Environmental... May 2016In many low and middle income countries (LMIC), workers' and consumers' only access to risk and hazard information in relation to the chemicals they use or work with is... (Review)
Review
In many low and middle income countries (LMIC), workers' and consumers' only access to risk and hazard information in relation to the chemicals they use or work with is on the chemical label and safety data sheet. Recall of chemical hazard information is vital in order for label warnings and precautionary information to promote effective safety behaviors. A literature review, therefore, was conducted on determinants of chemical hazard information recall among workers and consumers globally. Since comprehension and recall are closely linked, the determinants of both were reviewed. Literature was reviewed from both online and print peer reviewed journals for all study designs and countries. This review indicated that the level of education, previous training and the inclusion of pictograms on the hazard communication material are all factors that contribute to the recall of hazard information. The influence of gender and age on recall is incongruent and remains to be explored. More research is required on the demographic predictors of the recall of hazard information, the effect of design and non-design factors on recall, the effect of training on the recall among low literate populations and the examining of different regions or contexts.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Comprehension; Female; Hazardous Substances; Humans; Male; Mental Recall; Middle Aged; Product Labeling; Publications; Research Design; Risk; Safety; Young Adult
PubMed: 27258291
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph13060546 -
Drug Safety Sep 2021Substandard medicines are medicines that fail to meet their quality standards and/or specifications. Substandard medicines can lead to serious safety issues affecting...
INTRODUCTION
Substandard medicines are medicines that fail to meet their quality standards and/or specifications. Substandard medicines can lead to serious safety issues affecting public health. With the increasing number of pharmaceuticals and the complexity of the pharmaceutical manufacturing supply chain, monitoring for substandard medicines via manual environmental scanning can be laborious and time consuming.
METHODS
A web crawler was developed to automatically detect and extract alerts on substandard medicines published on the Internet by regulatory agencies. The crawled data were labelled as related to substandard medicines or not. An expert-derived keyword-based classification algorithm was compared against machine learning algorithms to identify substandard medicine alerts on two validation datasets (n = 4920 and n = 2458) from a later time period than training data. Models were comparatively assessed for recall, precision and their F1 scores (harmonic mean of precision and recall).
RESULTS
The web crawler routinely extracted alerts from the 46 web pages belonging to nine regulatory agencies. From October 2019 to May 2020, 12,156 unique alerts were crawled of which 7378 (60.7%) alerts were set aside for validation and contained 1160 substandard medicine alerts (15.7%). An ensemble approach of combining machine learning and keywords achieved the best recall (94% and 97%), precision (85% and 80%) and F1 scores (89% and 88%) on temporal validation.
CONCLUSIONS
Combining robust web crawler programmes with rigorously tested filtering algorithms based on machine learning and keyword models can automate and expand horizon scanning capabilities for issues relating to substandard medicines.
Topics: Algorithms; Humans; Internet; Machine Learning; Singapore; Substandard Drugs
PubMed: 34148223
DOI: 10.1007/s40264-021-01084-w -
Blood Jul 2013Gene therapy products for the treatment of genetic diseases are currently in clinical trials, and one of these, an adeno-associated viral (AAV) product, has recently... (Review)
Review
Gene therapy products for the treatment of genetic diseases are currently in clinical trials, and one of these, an adeno-associated viral (AAV) product, has recently been licensed. AAV vectors have achieved positive results in a number of clinical and preclinical settings, including hematologic disorders such as the hemophilias, Gaucher disease, hemochromatosis, and the porphyrias. Because AAV vectors are administered directly to the patient, the likelihood of a host immune response is high, as shown by human studies. Preexisting and/or recall responses to the wild-type virus from which the vector is engineered, or to the transgene product itself, can interfere with therapeutic efficacy if not identified and managed optimally. Small-scale clinical studies have enabled investigators to dissect the immune responses to the AAV vector capsid and to the transgene product, and to develop strategies to manage these responses to achieve long-term expression of the therapeutic gene. However, a comprehensive understanding of the determinants of immunogenicity of AAV vectors, and of potential associated toxicities, is still lacking. Careful immunosurveillance conducted as part of ongoing clinical studies will provide the basis for understanding the intricacies of the immune response in AAV-mediated gene transfer, facilitating safe and effective therapies for genetic diseases.
Topics: Antibodies, Viral; Dependovirus; Genetic Diseases, Inborn; Genetic Therapy; Genetic Vectors; Humans
PubMed: 23596044
DOI: 10.1182/blood-2013-01-306647 -
Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences 2021Studies with a powered prosthetic ankle-foot (PwrAF) found a reduction in sound knee loading compared to passive feet. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to...
Free-Living User Perspectives on Musculoskeletal Pain and Patient-Reported Mobility With Passive and Powered Prosthetic Ankle-Foot Components: A Pragmatic, Exploratory Cross-Sectional Study.
INTRODUCTION
Studies with a powered prosthetic ankle-foot (PwrAF) found a reduction in sound knee loading compared to passive feet. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to determine whether anecdotal reports on reduced musculoskeletal pain and improved patient-reported mobility were isolated occurrences or reflect a common experience in PwrAF users.
METHODS
Two hundred and fifty individuals with transtibial amputation (TTA) who had been fitted a PwrAF in the past were invited to an online survey on average sound knee, amputated side knee, and low-back pain assessed with numerical pain rating scales (NPRS), the PROMIS Pain Interference scale, and the PLUS-M for patient-reported mobility in the free-living environment. Subjects rated their current foot and recalled the ratings for their previous foot. Recalled scores were adjusted for recall bias by clinically meaningful amounts following published recommendations. Statistical comparisons were performed using Wilcoxon's signed rank test.
RESULTS
Forty-six subjects, all male, with unilateral TTA provided data suitable for analysis. Eighteen individuals (39%) were current PwrAF users, whereas 28 subjects (61%) had reverted to a passive foot. After adjustment for recall bias, current PwrAF users reported significantly less sound knee pain than they recalled for use of a passive foot (-0.5 NPRS, = 0.036). Current PwrAF users who recalled sound knee pain ≥4 NPRS with a passive foot reported significant and clinically meaningful improvements in sound knee pain (-2.5 NPRS, = 0.038) and amputated side knee pain (-3 NPRS, = 0.042). Current PwrAF users also reported significant and clinically meaningful improvements in patient-reported mobility (+4.6 points PLUS-M, = 0.016). Individuals who had abandoned the PwrAF did not recall any differences between the feet.
DISCUSSION
Current PwrAF users reported significant and clinically meaningful improvements in patient-reported prosthetic mobility as well as sound knee and amputated side knee pain compared to recalled mobility and pain with passive feet used previously. However, a substantial proportion of individuals who had been fitted such a foot in the past did not recall improvements and had reverted to passive feet. The identification of individuals with unilateral TTA who are likely to benefit from a PwrAF remains a clinical challenge and requires further research.
PubMed: 36188863
DOI: 10.3389/fresc.2021.805151 -
Nutrients Apr 2022Background: The current literature reports inconsistent associations between dairy product intake and fracture. This study assessed the association between dairy product...
Background: The current literature reports inconsistent associations between dairy product intake and fracture. This study assessed the association between dairy product intake and the risk of fracture among Chinese adults and examined the mediation effects of height and body mass index (BMI) on the association. Methods: Data in 1997−2015 from the China Health and Nutrition Survey were used. Dietary data were collected by a 24-hour dietary recall, and occurrences of fracture were obtained by self-report of participants. Cumulative average intake of daily dairy products was calculated by the sum of the dairy product intake and divided by the total waves of participating in the surveys before fracture. Cox proportion hazard regressions were performed to explore the associations between dairy product intake and the risk of fracture. Mediation analysis models were established to examine the mediation effects of height and BMI on the associations. Results: A total of 14,711 participants were included. Dairy product intake of 0.1−100 g/day was associated with a decreased risk of fracture, while no association was observed among participants with dairy product intake of >100 g/day. The indirect effects of dairy product intake on the fracture mediated by height and BMI were much smaller than the direct effects. Conclusions: Dairy product intake with 0.1−100 g/day is associated with a lower risk of fracture, and the association is mainly a direct result of nutrients in dairy products and much less a result of the mediation effects of height or BMI. Dairy product intake of 0.1−100 g/day might be a cost-effective measure for Chinese adults to decrease fracture incidence.
Topics: Adult; China; Cohort Studies; Dairy Products; Diet; Fractures, Bone; Humans; Nutrition Surveys
PubMed: 35458193
DOI: 10.3390/nu14081632 -
Preventive Medicine Reports Dec 2021Young adults (YA) who report viewing pro-tobacco and cannabis marketing are at increased risk for using tobacco and cannabis. However, there is a growing diversity of...
Young adults (YA) who report viewing pro-tobacco and cannabis marketing are at increased risk for using tobacco and cannabis. However, there is a growing diversity of tobacco and cannabis products on the market, as well as methods for marketing them. Prevalence of, and sociodemographic differences in, YA's recall of various types of tobacco and cannabis marketing is not well-characterized. Data were from a cohort of YA (mean age: 19.8) from Southern California in 2019. Respondents were asked whether they recalled having seen two types of marketing (online advertisements and portrayals of product use in TV/movies) for 5 tobacco and 3 cannabis products among never-users of tobacco (N = 954) and cannabis (N = 1,046), respectively. Sociodemographic differences in marketing recall were subsequently assessed. Among tobacco-naïve respondents, 31.3% and 49.3% recalled seeing online advertisements and tobacco use in TV/movies, respectively. Among cannabis-naïve respondents, 18.7% and 31.0% recalled seeing online advertisements and cannabis use in TV/movies, respectively. Overall, respondents recalled seeing tobacco and cannabis products on TV/movies at higher rates than seeing online advertisements, with the exception of electronic cigarettes, for which online advertisements were seen at higher rates. Women (vs. men) had higher odds of seeing tobacco (aOR = 1.9) and cannabis use in TV/movies (aOR = 1.4) and cannabis marketing online (aOR = 1.4). LGB (vs. straight) respondents had higher odds of seeing cannabis marketing online (aOR = 1.7). Efforts to regulate exposure to tobacco and cannabis marketing among young women and LGB people merit further consideration.
PubMed: 34976651
DOI: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101592