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- Long term trends in prevalence of neural tube defects in Europe: population based studyPublication . Khoshnood, Babak; Loane, Maria; Walle, Hermien de; Arriola, Larraitz; Addor, Marie-Claude; Barisic, Ingeborg; Beres, Judit; Bianchi, Fabrizio; Dias, Carlos Matias; Draper, Elizabeth; Garne, Ester; Gatt, Miriam; Haeusler, Martin; Klungsoyr, Kari; Latos-Bielenska, Anna; Lynch, Catherine; McDonnell, Bob; Nelen, Vera; Neville, Amanda J.; O’Mahony, Mary T.; Queisser-Luft, Annette; Rankin, Judith; Rissmann, Anke; Ritvanen, Annukka; Rounding, Catherine; Sipek, Antonin; Tucker, David; Verellen-Dumoulin, Christine; Wellesley, Diana; Dolk, HelenStudy question: What are the long term trends in the total (live births, fetal deaths, and terminations of pregnancy for fetal anomaly) and live birth prevalence of neural tube defects (NTD) in Europe, where many countries have issued recommendations for folic acid supplementation but a policy for mandatory folic acid fortification of food does not exist? Methods: This was a population based, observational study using data on 11 353 cases of NTD not associated with chromosomal anomalies, including 4162 cases of anencephaly and 5776 cases of spina bifida from 28 EUROCAT (European Surveillance of Congenital Anomalies) registries covering approximately 12.5 million births in 19 countries between 1991 and 2011. The main outcome measures were total and live birth prevalence of NTD, as well as anencephaly and spina bifida, with time trends analysed using random effects Poisson regression models to account for heterogeneities across registries and splines to model non-linear time trends. Summary answer and limitations: Overall, the pooled total prevalence of NTD during the study period was 9.1 per 10 000 births. Prevalence of NTD fluctuated slightly but without an obvious downward trend, with the final estimate of the pooled total prevalence of NTD in 2011 similar to that in 1991. Estimates from Poisson models that took registry heterogeneities into account showed an annual increase of 4% (prevalence ratio 1.04, 95% confidence interval 1.01 to 1.07) in 1995-99 and a decrease of 3% per year in 1999-2003 (0.97, 0.95 to 0.99), with stable rates thereafter. The trend patterns for anencephaly and spina bifida were similar, but neither anomaly decreased substantially over time. The live birth prevalence of NTD generally decreased, especially for anencephaly. Registration problems or other data artefacts cannot be excluded as a partial explanation of the observed trends (or lack thereof) in the prevalence of NTD. What this study adds: In the absence of mandatory fortification, the prevalence of NTD has not decreased in Europe despite longstanding recommendations aimed at promoting peri-conceptional folic acid supplementation and existence of voluntary folic acid fortification.
- “Alimentos PT.ON.DATA” - Information Management System for The Analytical Data of Food Chain Official ControlPublication . Mascarenhas, Fernanda; Inácio, Patrícia; Viegas, Silvia; Costa, José Manuel; Ravasco, Francisco; Tomé, Sidney; Parreira, Diana; Azevedo, Ana; Brazão, Roberto; Oliveira, LuísaBACKGROUND: According to Article 33 of the Regulation (EC) 178/2002, Member States shall take the necessary measures to enable the transmission to EFSA of the data they collect in the fields of (a) food consumption and the exposure of individuals to risks related to the consumption of food; (b) incidence and prevalence of biological risk; (c) contaminants in food and feed; (d) residues. In addition, specific EU legislation on data collection exists for specific data collection domains, namely, pesticides, contaminants and zoonoses and zoonotic agents, specifying that the data from official control should be reported to EFSA. According to EFSA mission under Article 36 of the above mentioned regulation, the development and implementation of joint projects for promoting European networking is foreseen. Within this task, Portugal has developed in 2011, a national information management system “alimentos PT.ON.DATA” for chemical contaminants and is currently upgrading the system for food additives, pesticide residues, zoonotic agents and residues of veterinary medicinal products.
- Cross sectorial collaboration to prevent foodborne outbreaksPublication . Viegas, Silvia; Fonseca, Rita; Brazão, Roberto; Oliveira, Luísa; Dias, Carlos Matias; Calhau, Maria AntóniaIntroduction: Foodborne outbreaks (FBO) caused by consumption of contaminated foods represent an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. FBO are associated with the degree of development of national regulations on food safety, food hygiene, food handlers health, health literacy and food handling practices across all of the society. Information from epidemiological surveillance, integrating human, veterinary and environmental areas are essential to identify risk factors to support risk management and burden minimization activities directed at these preventable diseases. Prevention of FBO can be optimized by teaching good food safety practices to different target populations, including consumers, food handlers and health educators.
- How mRNA translation is involved in modulating nonsense-mediated decay in transcripts with short open reading framesPublication . Onofre, Claudia; Menezes, Juliane; Peixeiro, Isabel; Costa, Nuno; Barbosa, Cristina; Romão, LuísaBeyond its well-known hematopoietic action, erythropoietin (EPO) has diverse cellular effects in non-hematopoietic tissues. For example, in cases of tissue injury, such as cardiac ischemia or acute myocardial infarct, EPO expression increases locally, providing a cardioprotective effect. Cellular stress activates an integrated stress response, which includes rapid changes in global and gene-specific translation. Translational regulation of specific transcripts mostly occurs at translation initiation and is mediated via different cis-acting elements, including upstream open reading frames (uORFs). The human EPO 5’ untranslated region (5’UTR) has one uORF with 14 codons that is conserved among different species, indicating its potential regulatory role. To test whether EPO expression is translationally regulated in response to ischemia in cardiac tissue, reporter constructs containing the normal or mutant EPO 5’UTR fused to the Firefly luciferase cistron were expressed in H9c2 (heart/myocardium myoblasts) and C2C12 (muscle myoblasts) cell lines. Luminometry assays revealed that the EPO uORF represses translation of the main ORF at about 60-70%, in both cell lines. Under chemical ischemia, EPO uORF-mediated translation repression is specifically released in muscle cells. In response to hypoxia, translational derepression occurs in both cell lines. Although the eIF2-alpha phosphorylation occurs in both conditions, thapsigargin treatment does not affect EPO translation. We are currently exploring additional mechanisms through which EPO cardioprotection effects are regulated at the translational level.