University of York

About: University of York is a education organization based out in York, York, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Health care. The organization has 22089 authors who have published 56925 publications receiving 2458285 citations. The organization is also known as: York University & Ebor..

Hygiene and health: systematic review of handwashing practices worldwide and update of health effects

Abstract: objective To estimate the global prevalence of handwashing with soap and derive a pooled estimate of the effect of hygiene on diarrhoeal diseases, based on a systematic search of the literature. methods Studies with data on observed rates of handwashing with soap published between 1990 and August 2013 were identified from a systematic search of PubMed, Embase and ISI Web of Knowledge. A separate search was conducted for studies on the effect of hygiene on diarrhoeal disease that included randomised controlled trials, quasi-randomised trials with control group, observational studies using matching techniques and observational studies with a control group where the intervention was well defined. The search used Cochrane Library, Global Health, BIOSIS, PubMed, and Embase databases supplemented with reference lists from previously published systematic reviews to identify studies published between 1970 and August 2013. Results were combined using multilevel modelling for handwashing prevalence and meta-regression for risk estimates. results From the 42 studies reporting handwashing prevalence we estimate that approximately 19% of the world population washes hands with soap after contact with excreta (i.e. use of a sanitation facility or contact with children’s excreta). Meta-regression of risk estimates suggests that handwashing reduces the risk of diarrhoeal disease by 40% (risk ratio 0.60, 95% CI 0.53–0.68); however, when we included an adjustment for unblinded studies, the effect estimate was reduced to 23% (risk ratio 0.77, 95% CI 0.32–1.86). conclusions Our results show that handwashing after contact with excreta is poorly practiced globally, despite the likely positive health benefits.

Meiotic arrest and aneuploidy in MLH3-deficient mice.

Abstract: MutL homolog 3 (Mlh3) is a member of a family of proteins conserved during evolution and having dual roles in DNA mismatch repair and meiosis. The pathway in eukaryotes consists of the DNA-binding components, which are the homologs of the bacterial MutS protein (MSH 2 6), and the MutL homologs, which bind to the MutS homologs and are essential for the repair process. Three of the six homologs of MutS that function in these processes, Msh2, Msh3 and Msh6, are involved in the mismatch repair of mutations, frameshifts and replication errors, and two others, Msh4 and Msh5, have specific roles in meiosis. Of the four MutL homologs, Mlh1, Mlh3, Pms1 and Pms2, three are involved in mismatch repair and at least two, Pms2 and Mlh1, are essential for meiotic progression in both yeast and mice. To assess the role of Mlh3 in mammalian meiosis, we have generated and characterized Mlh3(-/-) mice. Here we show that Mlh3(-/-) mice are viable but sterile. Mlh3 is required for Mlh1 binding to meiotic chromosomes and localizes to meiotic chromosomes from the mid pachynema stage of prophase I. Mlh3(-/-) spermatocytes reach metaphase before succumbing to apoptosis, but oocytes fail to complete meiosis I after fertilization. Our results show that Mlh3 has an essential and distinct role in mammalian meiosis.

Communities of practice in the distributed international environment

Abstract: Modern commercial organisations are facing pressures which have caused them to lose personnel. When they lose people, they also lose their knowledge. Organisations also have to cope with the internationalisation of business forcing collaboration and knowledge sharing across time and distance. Knowledge management (KM) claims to tackle these issues. This paper looks at an area where KM does not offer sufficient support, that is, the sharing of knowledge that is not easy to articulate. The focus in this paper is on communities of practice in commercial organisations. We do this by exploring knowledge sharing in Lave and Wenger’s (1991) theory of communities of practice and investigating how communities of practice may translate to a distributed international environment. The paper reports on two case studies that explore the functioning of communities of practice across international boundaries.

Water arsenic exposure and intellectual function in 6-year-old children in Araihazar, Bangladesh

Abstract: We recently reported an adverse association between drinking water arsenic and cognitive function in 10-year-old children living in Bangladesh (Wasserman et al. 2004), where approximately 30–40 million people (British Geological Survey and Bangladesh Department of Public Health Engineering 2001) are chronically exposed to naturally elevated levels of arsenic in groundwater pumped from approximately half the total of approximately 10 million tube wells in the country. That finding supplements reports of neurologic sequelae of acute and chronic exposure in adults (Bolla-Wilson and Bleecker 1987; Morton and Caron 2003; Morton and Dunnette 1994; Pershagen et al. 1981; Schoolmeester and White 1980). Two other studies have examined children’s intellectual function, in a small sample of children from a Mexican lead smelter area (Calderon et al. 2001) and from Taiwanese children in regions with and without elevated As in well water (Tsai et al. 2003). Both reported negative associations with As exposure, although the domains of vulnerable intellectual function differed across investigations. In a related investigation (Wasserman et al. 2006), we recently observed poorer intellectual functioning, primarily in visual motor skills, in 10-year-olds from a region in Bangladesh where household well water concentrations were variable in manganese but extremely low in As. These findings were consistent with other investigations of motor function in children exposed to high levels of Mn (e.g., Takser et al. 2003). We sought to expand these findings on children’s intellectual function to a younger age group, drawing once again on children of adults participating in our prospective study of the health effects of As in Araihazar, Bangladesh. Wells in the study site, a 25-km2 region located approximately 30 km east of Dhaka, are characterized by a wide range of As concentrations in drinking water, with 75% exceeding the World Health Organization (WHO) As standard of 10 μg/L, and 53% exceeding the Bangladesh standard of 50 μg/L (van Geen et al. 2003a). We report here the results of a cross-sectional investigation of intellectual function in 301 6-year-old children.