Although there are some limitations to this study, our data suggest that alcohol consumption has an inverse and dose-related association with both risk and severity of RA.
Background: Dysregulated production of TNF has been implicated in the pathogenesis and severity of inflammatory rheumatic diseases, many of which show age-related increased incidence. Ageing is also associated with changes in the immune system including higher systemic levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines.Methylation of DNA is an important regulator of gene expression and changes with age.Objective: In this study we investigated whether the DNA methylation status of the TNF promoter changed with age in peripheral blood leukocytes and macrophages.
Methods and results:Using pyrosequencing assays we detected age-related demethylation of CpG motifs (-304, -245 and -239) Conclusions: These data suggest a potential role of accrued changes in DNA methylation in the development of age-related inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and polymyalgia rheumatica, in which TNF is a pivotal mediator.3
This article reports the development, application and results of a baseline investigation of contract research staff in 2007 in the Medical School at the University of Sheffield which was carried out in order to develop a specifically tailored training and career development programme and allow for future impact evaluation of the scheme. Postdoctoral researchers reported on their perceived skill levels, academic achievements, career motivations and the current research environment. Results indicated that transferable skills related to communication and awareness of the process of research (i.e. the process of acquisition of funding, commercialisation of research outputs) were lacking. Furthermore, these skills were associated with higher publication outputs, and improved with mobility between institutions at postdoctoral level. This paper also describes how the findings from the baseline evaluation were used to develop a programme to address the lower ranking skills and evaluate the impact of the programme.
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