MyMedR

Will flight shaming influence the future of air travel?

Flaherty GT, Holmes A

J Travel Med, 2020 03 13;27(2).

Detection of Candida albicans ADH1 and ADH2 mRNAs in human archival oral biopsy samples

Bakri MM, Cannon RD, Holmes AR, Rich AM

J Oral Pathol Med, 2014 Oct;43(9):704-10.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between expression of Candida albicans alcohol dehydrogenases (ADH) genes in archival formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples from biopsies of leukoplakia.

In vitro expression of Candida albicans alcohol dehydrogenase genes involved in acetaldehyde metabolism

Bakri MM, Rich AM, Cannon RD, Holmes AR

Mol Oral Microbiol, 2015 Feb;30(1):27-38.

PMID: 24975985 DOI: 10.1111/omi.12064

Alcohol consumption is a risk factor for oral cancer, possibly via its conversion to acetaldehyde, a known carcinogen. The oral commensal yeast Candida albicans may be one of the agents responsible for this conversion intra-orally. The alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh) family of enzymes are involved in acetaldehyde metabolism in yeast but, for C. albicans it is not known which family member is responsible for the conversion of ethanol to acetaldehyde. In this study we determined the expression of mRNAs from three C. albicans Adh genes (CaADH1, CaADH2 and CaCDH3) for cells grown in different culture media at different growth phases by Northern blot analysis and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. CaADH1 was constitutively expressed under all growth conditions but there was differential expression of CaADH2. CaADH3 expression was not detected. To investigate whether CaAdh1p or CaAdh2p can contribute to alcohol catabolism in C. albicans, each gene from the reference strain C. albicans SC5314 was expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Cell extracts from an CaAdh1p-expressing S. cerevisiae recombinant, but not an CaAdh2p-expressing recombinant, or an empty vector control strain, possessed ethanol-utilizing Adh activity above endogenous S. cerevisiae activity. Furthermore, expression of C. albicans Adh1p in a recombinant S. cerevisiae strain in which the endogenous ScADH2 gene (known to convert ethanol to acetaldehyde in this yeast) had been deleted, conferred an NAD-dependent ethanol-utilizing, and so acetaldehyde-producing, Adh activity. We conclude that CaAdh1p is the enzyme responsible for ethanol use under in vitro growth conditions, and may contribute to the intra-oral production of acetaldehyde.

Fulltext Sun, sea and sex: a review of the sex tourism literature

Lu TS, Holmes A, Noone C, Flaherty GT

Trop Dis Travel Med Vaccines, 2020 Nov 27;6(1):24.

PMID: 33292661 DOI: 10.1186/s40794-020-00124-0

BACKGROUND: Sex tourism is defined as travel planned specifically for the purpose of sex, generally to a country where prostitution is legal. While much of the literature on sex tourism relates to the commercial sex worker industry, sex tourism also finds expression in non-transactional sexual encounters. This narrative review explores current concepts related to travel and sex, with a focus on trans-national sex tourism.

METHODS: The PubMed database was accessed to source relevant literature, using combinations of pertinent search terms. Only articles published in the English language were selected. Reference lists of published articles were also examined for relevant articles.

RESULTS: With regard to preferred destinations, South/Central America and the Caribbean were more likely to receive tourists looking for casual sex. Longer duration of travel, travelling alone or with friends, alcohol or drug use, being younger and being single were factors associated with higher levels of casual sex overseas. The majority of literature retrieved on sex workers focused on risk behaviours, sexually transmitted infections (STI), mobility of sex workers and how these factors affected their lives. Sex tourists require better access to effective methods of preventing HIV, such as pre-exposure prophylaxis, and better education on HIV prevention. Drugs and alcohol play a major role as risk factors for and cofactors in casual sexual behaviour while abroad.

CONCLUSIONS: Travellers need to be informed of the increased risks of STI before travel. They should be aware of the local prevalence of STIs and the risks associated with their sexual practices when they travel, including engaging with commercial sex workers, having unprotected sexual intercourse and becoming victims of sexual violence.

Sexual violence associated with international travel

Flaherty GT, Khairy WMZBM, Holmes A

J Travel Med, 2023 Jun 23;30(4).

PMID: 36322169 DOI: 10.1093/jtm/taac131

Fulltext Revisiting the association between candidal infection and carcinoma, particularly oral squamous cell carcinoma

Mohd Bakri M, Mohd Hussaini H, Rachel Holmes A, David Cannon R, Mary Rich A

J Oral Microbiol, 2010 Dec 21;2.

PMID: 21523221 DOI: 10.3402/jom.v2i0.5780

BACKGROUND: Tobacco and alcohol are risk factors associated with cancer of the upper aerodigestive tract, but increasingly the role of infection and chronic inflammation is recognized as being significant in cancer development. Bacteria, particularly Helicobacter pylori, and viruses such as members of the human papilloma virus family and hepatitis B and C are strongly implicated as etiological factors in certain cancers. There is less evidence for an association between fungi and cancer, although it has been recognized for many years that white patches on the oral mucosa, which are infected with Candida, have a greater likelihood of undergoing malignant transformation than those that are not infected.

OBJECTIVE: This article reviews the association between the development of oral squamous cell carcinoma in potentially malignant oral lesions with chronic candidal infection and describes mechanisms that may be involved in Candida-associated malignant transformation.

Guidelines for Transparency on Gut Microbiome Studies in Essential and Experimental Hypertension

Marques FZ, Jama HA, Tsyganov K, Gill PA, Rhys-Jones D, Muralitharan RR, et al.

Hypertension, 2019 12;74(6):1279-1293.

PMID: 31679421 DOI: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.119.13079

Hypertension is a complex and modifiable condition in which environmental factors contribute to both onset and progression. Recent evidence has accumulated for roles of diet and the gut microbiome as environmental factors in blood pressure regulation. However, this is complex because gut microbiomes are a unique feature of each individual reflecting that individual's developmental and environmental history creating caveats for both experimental models and human studies. Here, we describe guidelines for conducting gut microbiome studies in experimental and clinical hypertension. We provide a complete guide for authors on proper design, analyses, and reporting of gut microbiota/microbiome and metabolite studies and checklists that can be used by reviewers and editors to support robust reporting and interpretation. We discuss factors that modulate the gut microbiota in animal (eg, cohort, controls, diet, developmental age, housing, sex, and models used) and human studies (eg, blood pressure measurement and medication, body mass index, demographic characteristics including age, cultural identification, living structure, sex and socioeconomic environment, and exclusion criteria). We also provide best practice advice on sampling, storage of fecal/cecal samples, DNA extraction, sequencing methods (including metagenomics and 16S rRNA), and computational analyses. Finally, we discuss the measurement of short-chain fatty acids, metabolites produced by the gut microbiota, and interpretation of data. These guidelines should support better transparency, reproducibility, and translation of findings in the field of gut microbiota/microbiome in hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

Erratum to: Methods for evaluating medical tests and biomarkers

Gopalakrishna G, Langendam M, Scholten R, Bossuyt P, Leeflang M, Noel-Storr A, et al.

Diagn Progn Res, 2017;1:11.

PMID: 31095132 DOI: 10.1186/s41512-017-0011-4

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s41512-016-0001-y.].

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