bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Multisite phosphorylation of Bcl‐2 via protein kinase Cδ facilitates apoptosis of hypertrophic cardiomyocytes
Authors: Sheng Juan‐Juan , Chen Yan , Chang Hui , Wang Yun‐Ying , Jiao Bo , Yu Zhi‐Bin
Published: August 2014

Activated protein kinase Cδ (PKCδ) associated with cardiac hypertrophy moves from the cytoplasm to the mitochondria and subsequently triggers the apoptotic signalling pathway. The underlying mechanisms remain unknown. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether mitochondrial translocation of PKCδ phosphorylates multiple sites of Bcl‐2, resulting in an imbalance between Bcl‐2 and Bak or Bax, thus enhancing the susceptibility of hypertrophic cardiomyocytes to angiotensin II (AngII)‐induced apoptosis. Chronic pressure overload was induced by transverse aortic constriction (TAC) in rats. The apoptotic rate increased in hypertrophied cardiomyocytes. In AngII‐treated hearts (10 nmol/L, 60 min), there was an increase in the number of TERMINAL deoxyribonucleotidyl transferase‐mediated dUTP–digoxigenin nick end‐labelling (TUNEL)‐positive cells; PKCδ inhibition with 500 nmol/L δV1‐1 for 60 min prevented the AngII‐induced increase in apoptosis. In the hypertrophied myocardium, PKCδ expression increased, whereas that of Bcl‐2 decreased compared with the synchronous control. Treatment of hearts with 10 nmol/L AngII for 60 min activated PKCδ and induced translocation of PKCδ to the mitochondria, where activated PKCδ facilitated the phosphorylation of Bcl‐2 at serine‐87 and serine‐70 sites. The multisite phosphorylated Bcl‐2 was released from the mitochondria, and exhibited reduced affinity for Bak and Bax. The imbalance between Bcl‐2 and Bak/Bax induced the release of mitochondrial cytochrome c and then activated the caspase 3 apoptotic pathway during AngII stimulation (10 nmol/L, 60 min) of hypertrophied cardiomyocytes. Inhibition of PKCδ reduced these effects of AngII. The results suggest that PKCδ can counteract the anti‐apoptotic effect of Bcl‐2 and may promote cardiomyocyte apoptosis through multisite phosphorylation of Bcl‐2 in hypertrophied cardiomyocytes.
“Under the Blood” at Azusa Street: Exodus Typology at the Heart of Pentecostal Origins
Authors: Pugh Ben
Published: August 2014

This article intends to analyse the spirituality of the Azusa Street Mission with a view to achieving two things. Firstly, I will draw attention to an emphasis that seems almost wholly ignored in studies of early Pentecostalism: the blood of Jesus. Secondly, while drawing attention to the considerable prominence of this Christological‐soteriological motif within the discourse of Azusa Street, I will seek to find a context for it that might help to explain it. This context will be explored in biblical, spiritual, and racial terms.
“sche hungryd ryth sor aftyr Goddys word”: Female Piety and the Legacy of the Pastoral Programme in the Late Medieval English Sermons of Bodleian Library MS Greaves 54
Authors: Barr Beth Allison
Published: August 2014

The pastoral programme guiding the content of most Middle English sermons had a gendered side effect: it encouraged treating female parishioners as individual souls rather than emphasising the subordinate status of women. A close study of Bodleian Library MS Greaves 54, a fifteenth‐century pastoral manual containing two sequences of Middle English sermons, shows how these sermons reached out to women through gender‐inclusive language, pastoral directives that regarded women as distinct from men, and didactic narratives that both encouraged female participation in devotional activities as well as highlighting women as exemplars for all Christians. Thus Greaves 54 models how Middle English sermons could have appealed to ordinary women and affected their piety, even to the extent of encouraging the extreme devotional behaviour of Margery Kempe.
Do Patient‐Centered Medical Homes Reduce Emergency Department Visits?
Authors: David Guy , Gunnarsson Candace , Saynisch Philip A. , Chawla Ravi , Nigam Somesh
Published: August 2014

Objective

To assess whether adoption of the patient‐centered medical home (PCMH) reduces emergency department (ED) utilization among patients with and without chronic illness.

Data Sources

Data from approximately 460,000 Independence Blue Cross patients enrolled in 280 primary care practices, all converting to PCMH status between 2008 and 2012.

Research Design

We estimate the effect of a practice becoming PCMH‐certified on ED visits and costs using a difference‐in‐differences approach which exploits variation in the timing of PCMH certification, employing either practice or patient fixed effects. We analyzed patients with and without chronic illness across six chronic illness categories.

Principal Findings

Among chronically ill patients, transition to PCMH status was associated with 5–8 percent reductions in ED utilization. This finding was robust to a number of specifications, including analyzing avoidable and weekend ED visits alone. The largest reductions in ED visits are concentrated among chronic patients with diabetes and hypertension.

Conclusions

Adoption of the PCMH model was associated with lower ED utilization for chronically ill patients, but not for those without chronic illness. The effectiveness of the PCMH model varies by chronic condition. Analysis of weekend and avoidable ED visits suggests that reductions in ED utilization stem from better management of chronic illness rather than expanding access to primary care clinics.
Genomic Resources Notes accepted 1 June 2014 – 31 July 2014
Authors:   Genomic Resources Development Consortium, Havird Justin C. , Santos Scott R.
Published: August 2014

This article documents the public availability of transcriptome sequence data, assembled contigs and annotated contigs and ORFS for five anchialine shrimp species (Crustacea: Atyidae and Alpheidae).
A novel system for bi‐ocular eye‐tracking in vertebrates with laterally placed eyes
Authors: Tyrrell Luke P. , Butler Shannon R. , Yorzinski Jessica L. , Fernández‐Juricic Esteban
Published: August 2014

Animals use vision to gather information about their environment and then use that information to make behavioural decisions that affect fitness. They will often move their heads or eyes to inspect areas of interest with their centres of acute vision, such as foveae, to gather high resolution information about potential mates, predation risks, or other aspects of the environment. Few studies to date have been able to accurately determine where laterally eyed animals direct their visual attention and how they use their eyes to gather information.

We present a non‐invasive eye‐tracking system that can simultaneously track the gaze of two eyes. This is particularly useful for studying animals with laterally placed eyes (most vertebrates) where the two eyes are viewing different images. This system can also accommodate comparative studies using animals of varying size, including small animals that are not frequently used in eye‐tracking studies due to constraints of existing eye‐tracking systems. We conducted an eye‐tracking experiment with European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) to test the eye‐tracking system, calibration methods and highlight relevant aspects of experimental design.

We were able to accurately track the gaze of European starlings with <5 degrees of error. We also found that starlings are more likely to fixate on biologically relevant visual stimuli (e.g. predators and active prey) than simple stimuli (e.g. a dot) in video playbacks.

The method presented here can be used to address ecological and evolutionary questions about where animals direct their attention and how they visually inspect mates, food and predators, as well as address management questions about how animals inspect man‐made objects. This method can also be used to answer fundamental questions about vision, such as how laterally eyed vertebrates coordinate the use of their eyes laterally and binocularly.
Optimal Older Adult Emergency Care: Introducing Multidisciplinary Geriatric Emergency Department Guidelines From the American College of Emergency Physicians, American Geriatrics Society, Emergency Nurses Association, and Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
Authors: Carpenter Christopher R. , Bromley Marilyn , Caterino Jeffrey M. , Chun Audrey , Gerson Lowell W. , Greenspan Jason , Hwang Ula , John David P. , Lyons William L. , Platts‐Mills Timothy F. , Mortensen Betty , Ragsdale Luna , Rosenberg Mark , Wilber Scott
Published: August 2014

In the United States and around the world, effective, efficient, and reliable strategies to provide emergency care to aging adults is challenging crowded emergency departments (EDs) and a strained health care system. In response, geriatric emergency medicine (EM) clinicians, educators, and researchers collaborated with the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), American Geriatrics Society (AGS), Emergency Nurses Association (ENA), and the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) to develop guidelines intended to improve ED geriatric care by enhancing expertise, educational, and quality improvement expectations; equipment; policies; and protocols. These “Geriatric Emergency Department Guidelines” represent the first formal society‐led attempt to characterize the essential attribute of the geriatric ED and received formal approval from the boards of directors for each of the four societies in 2013 and 2014. This article is intended to introduce EM and geriatric health care providers to the guidelines, while providing proposals for educational dissemination, refinement via formal effectiveness evaluations and cost‐effectiveness studies, and institutional credentialing.
Spatial and temporal determinants of golden sun moth Synemon plana distribution
Authors: Kutt A. S. , McKenzie V. J. , Wills T. J. , Retallick R. W. R. , Dalton K. , Kay N. , Melero‐Blanca E.
Published: August 2014

In this study we examined the spatial and temporal variation in a population of the critically endangered golden sun moth Synemon plana over four years in a conservation reserve in south‐eastern Australia. We found golden sun moth spatial distribution and abundance dramatically declined from a peak in extent and abundance from 2008–2009 to 2011–2012 due to a shift from drought to above average rainfall. Autoregressive correlative models indicated that a northerly aspect and landscape position were key predictors of abundance over time, and golden sun moth distribution shifted from wet to dry locations in the landscape. We conclude that: our data provide a counterpoint to conclusions that golden sun moth has been known to persist in very small areas and suggest that distribution can change quite markedly (from large connected populations to small patches) at a local scale, and this will be due to dispersal and survivorship; the variability in the data may have implications for adequate detection of the species over time, especially when populations have contracted and species have a naturally restricted activity and breeding period; and long‐term weather patterns and landscape configuration (aspect, wet or dry position) interact to significantly affect local distribution and abundance over time. This has implications for the species under global change; increased variability in rainfall, temperature, productivity and exotic pasture growth may all alter and interact to either reduce or enhance persistence of golden sun moth populations over time.
Isotretinoin and night blindness
Authors: Teo Ken , Yazdabadi Anousha
Published: August 2014

Isotretinoin is an effective and increasingly popular treatment for acne vulgaris. There have been reports of night blindness as a side‐effect of treatment although the evidence does not demonstrate a clear causal relationship between isotretinoin therapy and the risk of night blindness. Nevertheless, considering the lack of evidence in this area, it is important to educate patients about this potential consequence, which may become longstanding and even irreversible, and encourage them to promptly report changes in their night vision.
Extramammary Paget's disease of the perianal region: a 20‐year experience
Authors: Rajendran Saissan , Koh Cherry E. , Solomon Michael J.
Published: August 2014

Background

To evaluate the results obtained from cases of perianal Paget's disease (PPD) and to provide a current perspective in the diagnostic evaluation and surgical management of this condition.

Methods

A retrospective review of a single quaternary referral centre's experience with PPD from January 1994 to December 2013 was performed. Medical records were reviewed to collect data on demographics, preoperative investigations, complications, pathology and recurrence. A review of existing literature was also performed.

Results

Five patients (four females, one male) with histologically confirmed PPD were identified. The median age of presentation was 72 (range 61 to 78). Three patients were recurrences following previous excisions and first presentations in two patients. Only one patient had an underlying diagnosis of cancer. The median time to diagnosis was 24 months. Four patients underwent wide local excision with skin graft and/or local flap reconstruction and one patient required an abdominoperineal excision for recurrence. Four patients had involved lateral margins despite wide local excision but follow‐up to date has only revealed one local recurrence. A review of available literature suggests that synchronous cancers can occur in up to 33% of patients and that a further 10% may be associated with metachronous cancers. Surveillance recommendations seem anecdotal and do not appear to be supported by available literature.

Conclusion

PPD is a management challenge. Association with synchronous and metachronous carcinomas may not be as strong as initially thought. Surgery is the mainstay treatment with the need to balance between minimizing disease recurrence and functional sequelae from excessive tissue loss.
Randomised clinical trial: the long‐term safety and tolerability of naloxegol in patients with pain and opioid‐induced constipation
Authors: Webster L. , Chey W. D. , Tack J. , Lappalainen J. , Diva U. , Sostek M.
Published: August 2014

Background

Opioid‐induced constipation (OIC) is a common adverse effect of opioid therapy.

Aim

To evaluate the long‐term safety and tolerability of naloxegol, an oral, peripherally acting μ‐opioid receptor antagonist (PAMORA), in patients with noncancer pain and OIC.

Methods

A 52‐week, multicenter, open‐label, randomised, parallel‐group phase 3 study was conducted in out‐patients taking 30–1000 morphine‐equivalent units per day for ≥4 weeks. Patients were randomised 2:1 to receive naloxegol 25 mg/day or usual‐care (UC; investigator‐chosen laxative regimen) treatment for OIC.

Results

The safety set comprised 804 patients (naloxegol, n = 534; UC, n = 270). Mean exposure duration was 268 days with naloxegol and 297 days with UC. Frequency of adverse events (AEs) was 81.8% with naloxegol and 72.2% with UC. Treatment‐emergent AEs occurring more frequently for naloxegol vs. UC were abdominal pain (17.8% vs. 3.3%), diarrhoea (12.9% vs. 5.9%), nausea (9.4% vs. 4.1%), headache (9.0% vs. 4.8%), flatulence (6.9% vs. 1.1%) and upper abdominal pain (5.1% vs. 1.1%). Most naloxegol‐emergent gastrointestinal AEs occurred early, resolving during or after naloxegol discontinuation and were mild or moderate in severity; 11 patients discontinued due to diarrhoea and nine patients owing to abdominal pain. Pain scores and mean daily opioid doses remained stable throughout the study; no attributable opioid withdrawal AEs were observed. Two patients in each group had an adjudicated major adverse cardiovascular event unrelated to study drug; no AEs were reported nor adjudicated as bowel perforations.

Conclusion

In patients with noncancer pain and opioid‐induced constipation, naloxegol 25 mg/day up to 52 weeks was generally safe and well tolerated.
Proton pump inhibitor‐responsive oesophageal eosinophilia correlates with downregulation of eotaxin‐3 and Th2 cytokines overexpression
Authors: Molina‐Infante J. , Rivas M. D. , Hernandez‐Alonso M. , Vinagre‐Rodríguez G. , Mateos‐Rodríguez J. M. , Dueñas‐Sadornil C. , Perez‐Gallardo B. , Ferrando‐Lamana L. , Fernandez‐Gonzalez N. , Bañares R. , Zamorano J.
Published: August 2014

Background

The molecular basis and effects of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy on PPI‐responsive oesophageal eosinophilia (PPI‐REE) and eosinophilic oesophagitis (EoE) remain unknown.

Aim

To compare symptom‐histological and cytokine gene expression in PPI‐REE and EoE patients, at baseline and after specific treatment.

Methods

In consecutive adult patients with an EoE phenotype (dysphagia/food impaction, typical endoscopic findings and > 15 eos/HPF), gene expression of eotaxin‐3, IL‐13, and IL‐5 were determined in distal and proximal oesophagus, at baseline and after omeprazole 40 mg b.d. for 8 weeks. PPI‐REE was defined by clinicohistological response. PPI nonresponders (EoE) were offered treatment with topical steroids.

Results

Fifty three patients were re‐evaluated on PPI therapy. 23 patients (43%) had PPI‐REE and 30 patients (57%) had EoE. At baseline, eotaxin‐3/IL‐13/IL‐5 gene expression was indistinguishable between EoE and PPI‐REE, excepting increased IL‐5 expression in proximal oesophagus (12.54 vs. 57, P = 0.029). PPI therapy significantly decreased eotaxin‐3/IL‐13 in PPI‐REE, at both oesophageal sites (P ≤ 0.008), and IL‐5 in distal (P = 0.016), but not in proximal oesophagus. Patients with steroid‐responsive EoE also showed a significant decrease in eotaxin‐3/IL‐5 expression at both oesophageal sites. In EoE patients, initial PPI trial significantly decreased distal oesophageal eosinophilia (63.78 to 41.79 eos/HPF, P = 0.025) and led to symptom remission in 16%, but did not influence Th2 markers.

Conclusions

Baseline cytokine gene expression in PPI‐REE was nearly indistinguishable from EoE. PPI therapy significantly downregulated oesophageal eotaxin‐3/Th2‐cytokine gene expression in PPI‐REE, similarly to that seen in steroid‐responsive EoE. A subset of EoE patients showed clinicohistological improvement on PPI therapy.
Intranasally administered serelaxin abrogates airway remodelling and attenuates airway hyperresponsiveness in allergic airways disease
Authors: Royce S. G. , Lim C. X. F. , Patel K. P. , Wang B. , Samuel C. S. , Tang M. L. K.
Published: August 2014

Background

The peptide hormone relaxin plays a key role in the systemic hemodynamic and renovascular adaptive changes that occur during pregnancy, which is linked to its antiremodelling effects. Serelaxin (a recombinant form of human gene‐2 relaxin) has been shown to inhibit lung fibrosis in various disease models and reverse airway remodelling and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) in allergic airways disease (AAD).

Objective

Although continuous systemic delivery of exogenous serelaxin alleviates allergic fibrosis and AHR, more direct routes for administration into the lung have not been investigated. Thus, intranasal administration of serelaxin was evaluated for its ability to reverse airway remodelling and AHR associated with AAD.

Methods

Female Balb/c mice were subjected to a 9‐week model of chronic AAD. Subgroups of animals (n = 12/group) were then treated intranasally with serelaxin (0.8 mg/mL) or vehicle once daily for 14 days (from weeks 9–11). Saline‐sensitized/challenged mice treated with intranasal saline served as additional controls. Differential bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cell counts, ovalbumin (OVA)‐specific IgE levels, tissue inflammation, parameters of airway remodelling and AHR were then assessed.

Results

Chronic AAD was associated with significant increases in differential BAL cell counts, OVA‐specific IgE levels, inflammation, epithelial thickening, goblet cell metaplasia, TGF‐β1 expression, epithelial Smad2 phosphorylation (pSmad2), subepithelial collagen thickness, total lung collagen concentration and AHR (all P < 0.05 vs. respective measurements from saline‐treated mice). Daily intranasal delivery of serelaxin significantly diminished AAD‐induced epithelial thickening, epithelial pSmad2, subepithelial and total lung collagen content (fibrosis) and AHR (all P < 0.05 vs. vehicle‐treated AAD mice).

Conclusions and Clinical Relevance

Intranasal delivery of serelaxin can effectively reduce airway remodelling and AHR, when administered once daily. Respirable preparations of serelaxin may have therapeutic potential for the prevention and/or reversal of established airway remodelling and AHR in asthma.
Relationship of CD146 expression to secretion of interleukin (IL)-17, IL-22 and interferon-γ by CD4+ T cells in patients with inflammatory arthritis
Authors: Wu C , Goodall J C , Busch R , Gaston J S H
Published: August 2014

Expression of the adhesion molecule, CD146/MCAM/MelCAM, on T cells has been associated with recent activation, memory subsets and T helper type 17 (Th17) effector function, and is elevated in inflammatory arthritis. Th17 cells have been implicated in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondyloarthritides (SpA). Here, we compared the expression of CD146 on CD4+ T cells between healthy donors (HD) and patients with RA and SpA [ankylosing spondylitis (AS) or psoriatic arthritis (PsA)] and examined correlations with surface markers and cytokine secretion. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were obtained from patients and controls, and synovial fluid mononuclear cells (SFMC) from patients. Cytokine production [elicited by phorbol myristate acetate (PMA)/ionomycin] and surface phenotypes were evaluated by flow cytometry. CD146+ CD4+ and interleukin (IL)-17+ CD4+ T cell frequencies were increased in PBMC of PsA patients, compared with HD, and in SFMC compared with PBMC. CD146+ CD4+ T cells were enriched for secretion of IL-17 [alone or with IL-22 or interferon (IFN)-γ] and for some putative Th17-associated surface markers (CD161 and CCR6), but not others (CD26 and IL-23 receptor). CD4+ T cells producing IL-22 or IFN-γ without IL-17 were also present in the CD146+ subset, although their enrichment was less marked. Moreover, a majority of cells secreting these cytokines lacked CD146. Thus, CD146 is not a sensitive or specific marker of Th17 cells, but rather correlates with heterogeneous cytokine secretion by subsets of CD4+ helper T cells.
Prolonged ingestion of ovalbumin diet by sensitized mice improves the metabolic consequences induced by experimental food allergy
Authors: Batista N V , Pereira R V S , Noviello M L M , Dourado L P A , Perez D A , Foureaux G , Ferreira A J , Ferreira A V M , Cara D C
Published: August 2014

The prevalence of food allergy is rising in the western world. Allergen restriction is the chosen treatment in this condition, but continuous ingestion of the antigen has shown positive results in clinical trials. In a previous study, we have shown several allergic and metabolic alterations after 7 days of ovalbumin (OVA) ingestion by sensitized mice. The aim of this study was to investigate whether prolonged ingestion of antigen by sensitized mice would reverse the metabolic consequences caused by experimental food allergy. For this, allergic and metabolic parameters were analysed after prolonged ingestion of an OVA diet by OVA-sensitized mice. As shown previously, after 7 days of OVA consumption, sensitized mice showed increased serum levels of anti-OVA immunoglobulin (Ig)E and IgG1, aversion to the antigen ingestion, marked body and adipose tissue weight loss, followed by adipose tissue inflammation and decreased serum levels of adipokines, glucose and triglycerides. However, after 14 days of oral challenge, sensitized mice showed an anti-OVA IgE level similar to the mice that were only sensitized, but the specific IgG1 did not change. With this prolonged ingestion of OVA, sensitized mice were protected from OVA-induced anaphylaxis when the antigen was given systemically at a dose of 2 mg/animal. Moreover, various parameters analysed were significantly ameliorated, including adipose tissue inflammation, body and adipose tissue loss, as well as serum levels of adipokines and triglycerides. Therefore, our data suggest that prolonged ingestion of OVA by sensitized mice results in an improvement of the metabolic consequences caused by experimental food allergy.
History of corneal transplantation in Australia
Authors: Coster Douglas J
Published: August 2014

Corneal transplantation is a triumph of modern ophthalmology. The possibility of corneal transplantation was first raised in 1797 but a century passed before Zirm achieved the first successful penetrating graft in 1905. Gibson reported the first corneal graft in Australia from Brisbane in 1940 and English established the first eye bank there a few years later. Corneal transplantation evolved steadily over the twentieth century. In the second half of the century, developments in microsurgery, including surgical materials such as monofilament nylon and strong topical steroid drops, accounted for improvements in outcomes. In 2013, approximately 1500 corneal transplants were done in Australia. Eye banking has evolved to cope with the rising demands for donor corneas. Australian corneal surgeons collaborated to establish and support the Australian Corneal Graft Registry in 1985. It follows the outcomes of their surgery and has become an important international resource for surgeons seeking further improvement with the procedure.
Remapping the Edge: Informality and Legality in the Harrison Road Night Market, Baguio City, Philippines
Authors: MILGRAM B. LYNNE
Published: August 2014

Since the 1970s, in the Philippines, increasing rural to urban migration and a lack of income‐generating employment have led to new forms of livelihood characterized by complex intersections of formal/informal and legal/illegal work and public space use. This paper uses Baguio City's new Harrison Road Night Market to argue that both street vendors and city officials are complicit in reconfiguring informality and legality as urban organizing logics—unmapping and remapping urban public space and livelihoods to their mutual advantages—increased rental income for the city and viable jobs for vendors. To this end, street vendors use everyday and insurgent public space activism to secure their right to street‐based work. Simultaneously, the municipal government, variably tolerates, regularizes, or penalizes street trade as it gauges its potential to enrich city coffers. Such political‐economic manoeuvering by both parties, moreover, also reveals insights about the intersection of different forms of power—that between vendors and the city, between vendor associations, and among vendors themselves. By successfully securing government permission to establish a “legal” used clothing night street market on Harrison Road, a main city artery, Baguio City's previously marginalized street vendors visibly assert their legitimacy and rights to livelihood in arenas of power from which they have been largely excluded.
Making Contracts Public in Ngaoundéré, Cameroon
Authors: MUÑOZ JOSÉ‐MARÍA
Published: August 2014

International agendas around the promotion of good governance and the fight against corruption have translated into numerous reform processes across the world. As a result, public contracts have become objects of intense scrutiny. In spite of their role in shaping urban infrastructure and their salience in the experience of urban residents, public contracts have received scant ethnographic attention. Drawing on long‐term fieldwork in a context marked by evolving ideals of what is civic and what is civil, this article explores how public officials and contractors based in Ngaoundéré, a city in the north of Cameroon, have in the last decade engaged shifting bureaucratic procedures. Cameroon's public contracting system is the result of ongoing cycles of reform that have supplemented intense legislative production with campaigns, seminars, and workshops aimed at enlarging the publics of public contracts. The article reflects on the intersections of two processes: that of contracting works through a set of distinctive procedures that have been designed to safeguard public interest and that of creating a public for this type of contracts.
Potential Negative Ecological Effects of Corridors
Authors: HADDAD NICK M. , BRUDVIG LARS A. , DAMSCHEN ELLEN I. , EVANS DANIEL M. , JOHNSON BRENDA L. , LEVEY DOUGLAS J. , ORROCK JOHN L. , RESASCO JULIAN , SULLIVAN LAUREN L. , TEWKSBURY JOSH J. , WAGNER STEPHANIE A. , WELDON AIMEE J.
Published: August 2014

Despite many studies showing that landscape corridors increase dispersal and species richness for disparate taxa, concerns persist that corridors can have unintended negative effects. In particular, some of the same mechanisms that underlie positive effects of corridors on species of conservation interest may also increase the spread and impact of antagonistic species (e.g., predators and pathogens), foster negative effects of edges, increase invasion by exotic species, increase the spread of unwanted disturbances such as fire, or increase population synchrony and thus reduce persistence. We conducted a literature review and meta‐analysis to evaluate the prevalence of each of these negative effects. We found no evidence that corridors increase unwanted disturbance or non‐native species invasion; however, these have not been well‐studied concerns (1 and 6 studies, respectively). Other effects of corridors were more often studied and yielded inconsistent results; mean effect sizes were indistinguishable from zero. The effect of edges on abundances of target species was as likely to be positive as negative. Corridors were as likely to have no effect on antagonists or population synchrony as they were to increase those negative effects. We found 3 deficiencies in the literature. First, despite studies on how corridors affect predators, there are few studies of related consequences for prey population size and persistence. Second, properly designed studies of negative corridor effects are needed in natural corridors at scales larger than those achievable in experimental systems. Third, studies are needed to test more targeted hypotheses about when corridor‐mediated effects on invasive species or disturbance may be negative for species of management concern. Overall, we found no overarching support for concerns that construction and maintenance of habitat corridors may result in unintended negative consequences. Negative edge effects may be mitigated by widening corridors or softening edges between corridors and the matrix. Other negative effects are relatively small and manageable compared with the large positive effects of facilitating dispersal and increasing diversity of native species.

Efectos Negativos Potenciales de los Corredores
The role of the cytopathologist's interpretation in achieving diagnostic adequacy of head and neck fine needle aspirates
Authors: Chng C. L. , Beale T. , Adjei‐Gyamfi Y. , Gupta Y. , Kocjan G.
Published: August 2014

Objective

We aimed to assess the potential role of interpretation by cytopathologists on the level of diagnostic adequacy of head and neck fine needle aspirations (FNAs).

Methods

An audit (‘first audit’) was performed between 1 May 2007 and 30 April 2008 using data from three different hospitals (A, B and C). The specimens were interpreted by two cytopathologists with specific experience in head and neck pathology in hospitals A and B, and by any of the eight cytopathologists (only two of whom were experienced in head and neck cytopathology) in hospital C. Following the analysis of the initial findings, there was a change in practice in hospital C, after which specimens were also read only by two experienced cytopathologists. A new audit (‘second audit’) was then performed between 20 January 2011 and 20 December 2012 in the same three hospitals.

Results

During the first audit, the diagnostic adequacy of FNAs from hospital C was 84.2% compared with 96.6% in hospital A and 97.7% in hospital B (P = 0.000). No significant difference in the diagnostic adequacy rate of the FNAs performed in hospitals A and B was found when comparing the first and second audits. The FNA diagnostic adequacy for hospital C increased significantly in the second relative to the first audit (95.5% versus 84.2%, P = 0.000).

Conclusions

Our study confirms that expert cytology interpretation is important in achieving optimal diagnostic adequacy of head and neck FNAs.
Female fetus is associated with greater maternal insulin resistance in pregnancy
Authors: Xiao L. , Zhao J. P. , Nuyt A. M. , Fraser W. D. , Luo Z. C.
Published: August 2014

Aim

To explore the hypothesis that female fetus is associated with greater maternal insulin resistance during pregnancy.

Methods

In a singleton pregnancy cohort study (n = 299), we compared maternal insulin resistance according to fetal sex, based on plasma biomarkers from a 50‐g 1‐h oral glucose tolerance test at 24–28 weeks gestation. The primary outcome was plasma glucose‐to‐insulin ratio. Other outcomes included plasma proinsulin‐to‐insulin ratio, and insulin, proinsulin, leptin, adiponectin and insulin‐like growth factor I and II concentrations.

Results

After adjusting for maternal race, age, parity, education, pre‐pregnancy BMI, smoking and alcohol use, history of gestational diabetes, and gestational age at blood sampling, plasma insulin concentrations were significantly higher (mean ± sd: 66.4 ± 50.5 vs 51.0 ± 46.1 mU/l; adjusted P = 0.001), and glucose‐to‐insulin ratios significantly lower (2.60 ± 2.03 vs 3.77 ± 4.98 mg/dl/mU/l; adjusted P = 0.002) in women bearing a female vs those bearing a male fetus, despite similar glucose levels (116.4 ± 27.2 vs 117.0 ± 31.9 mg/dl; adjusted P = 0.92).There were no significant differences in proinsulin‐to‐insulin ratios, or leptin, adiponectin, insulin‐like growth factor I and insulin‐like growth factor II concentrations by fetal sex.

Conclusion

Female fetus may be associated with greater maternal insulin resistance during pregnancy.
Applicability of the Chinese version of the 16‐item Prodromal Questionnaire (CPQ‐16) for identifying attenuated psychosis syndrome in a college population
Authors: Chen Fazhan , Wang Lu , Wang Jikun , Heeramun‐Aubeeluck Anisha , Yuan Jiabei , Zhao Xudong
Published: August 2014

Aim

The aim of this study was to examine the reliability, validity, sensitivity and specificity of the Chinese version of the 16‐item Prodromal Questionnaire (CPQ‐16) for identifying attenuated psychosis syndrome (APS) in a college population.

Methods

The participants were recruited from a university. Five hundred seventy‐nine students completed the CPQ‐16 and the Symptom Checklist‐90. One class (n = 79) was randomly selected to be retested with the CPQ‐16 after 2 weeks. A randomly selected group of 49 individuals who tested positive and 50 individuals who tested negative were interviewed using the Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes (SIPS).

Results

The internal consistency reliability was good (Cronbach's α = 0.72). The test–retest reliability was 0.88. The total score on the CPQ‐16 was moderately to highly correlated with the total score on the Symptom Checklist‐90 and all of the subscales (r = 0.39–0.67, P < 0.001). A cut‐off CPQ‐16 score of 9 was used to differentiate between those with a APS diagnosis on the SIPS versus those with no SIPS diagnoses; this cut‐off value yielded 85% sensitivity, 87% specificity, a positive predictive value of 63% and a positive likelihood ratio of 6.69. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) was significant for the CPQ‐16 total score (AUC = 0.93, SE = 0.026, 95% CI = 0.87–0.98, P < 0.001). Based on the proposed cut‐off score, the CPQ‐16 yielded a positive rate of 5.0% (29/579).

Conclusions

The CPQ‐16, administered in a face‐to‐face interview, demonstrated high reliability and the ability to identify college students at risk for psychosis.
The detection of neural autoantibodies in patients with antiepileptic‐drug‐resistant epilepsy predicts response to immunotherapy
Authors: Iorio R. , Assenza G. , Tombini M. , Colicchio G. , Della Marca G. , Benvenga A. , Damato V. , Rossini P. M. , Vollono C. , Plantone D. , Marti A. , Batocchi A. P. , Evoli A.
Published: August 2014

Background and purpose

The detection of antibodies binding neural antigens in patients with epilepsy has led to the definition of ‘autoimmune epilepsy’. Patients with neural antibodies not responding to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) may benefit from immunotherapy. Aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of autoantibodies specific to neural antigens in patients with epilepsy and their response to immunotherapy.

Methods

Eighty‐one patients and 75 age‐ and sex‐matched healthy subjects (HS) were enrolled in the study. Two groups of patients were included: 39 patients with epilepsy and other neurological symptoms and/or autoimmune diseases responsive to AEDs (group 1) and 42 patients with AED‐resistant epilepsy (group 2). Patients' serum and cerebrospinal fluid were evaluated for the presence of autoantibodies directed to neural antigens by indirect immunofluorescence on frozen sections of mouse brain, cell‐based assays and a radioimmunoassay. Patients with AED‐resistant epilepsy and neural autoantibodies were treated with immunotherapy and the main outcome measure was the reduction in seizure frequency.

Results

Neural autoantibodies were detected in 22% of patients (18/81), mostly from the AED‐resistant epilepsy group (P = 0.003), but not in HS. Indirect immunofluorescence on mouse brain revealed antibodies binding to unclassified antigens in 10 patients. Twelve patients received immunotherapy and nine (75%) achieved >50% reduction in seizure frequency.

Conclusions

A significant proportion of patients with AED‐resistant epilepsy harbor neural‐specific autoantibodies. The detection of these antibodies, especially of those binding to synaptic antigens, may predict a favorable response to immunotherapy, thus overcoming AED resistance.
Current or voltage? Another Shakespearean dilemma
Authors: Beaulieu‐Boire I. , Fasano A.
Published: August 2014

Click here to view the accompanying paper in this issue.
The true incidence of traumatic spinal cord injuries
Authors: Hagen E. M.
Published: August 2014

Click here to view the accompanying paper in this issue.
Serum‐induced neurite retraction in CAD cells – involvement of an ATP‐actin retractile system and the lack of microtubule‐associated proteins
Authors: Chesta María E. , Carbajal Agustín , Arce Carlos A. , Bisig Carlos G.
Published: August 2014

Cultured catecholamine‐differentiated cells [which lack the microtubule‐associated proteins (MAPs): MAP1B, MAP2, Tau, STOP, and Doublecortin] proliferate in the presence of fetal bovine serum, and, in its absence, cease dividing and generate processes similar to the neurites of normal neurons. The reintroduction of serum induces neurite retraction, and proliferation resumes. The neurite retraction process in catecholamine‐differentiated cells was partially characterized in this study. Microtubules in the cells were found to be in a highly dynamic state, and tubulin in the microtubules consisted primarily of the tyrosinated and deacetylated isotypes. Increased levels of acetylated or Δ2‐tubulin (which are normally absent) did not prevent serum‐induced neurite retraction. Treatment of differentiated cells with lysophosphatidic acid or adenosine deaminase induced neurite retraction. Inhibition of Rho‐associated protein kinase, ATP depletion and microfilament disruption each (individually) blocked serum‐induced neurite retraction, suggesting that an ATP‐dependent actomyosin system underlies the mechanism of neurite retraction. Nocodazole treatment induced neurite retraction, but this effect was blocked by pretreatment with the microtubule‐stabilizing drug paclitaxel (Taxol). Paclitaxel did not prevent serum‐induced or lysophosphatidic acid‐induced retraction, suggesting that integrity of microtubules (despite their dynamic state) is necessary to maintain neurite elongation, and that paclitaxel‐induced stabilization alone is not sufficient to resist the retraction force induced by serum. Transfection with green fluorescent protein–Tau conferred resistance to retraction caused by serum. We hypothesize that, in normal neurons (cultured or in vivo), MAPs are necessary not only to stabilize microtubules, but also to establish interactions with other cytoskeletal or membrane components to form a stable structure capable of resisting the retraction force.
Edge effects on moisture reduce wood decomposition rate in a temperate forest
Authors: Crockatt Martha E. , Bebber Daniel P.
Published: August 2014

Forests around the world are increasingly fragmented, and edge effects on forest microclimates have the potential to affect ecosystem functions such as carbon and nutrient cycling. Edges tend to be drier and warmer due to the effects of insolation, wind, and evapotranspiration and these gradients can penetrate hundreds of metres into the forest. Litter decomposition is a key component of the carbon cycle, which is largely controlled by saprotrophic fungi that respond to variation in temperature and moisture. However, the impact of forest fragmentation on litter decay is poorly understood. Here, we investigate edge effects on the decay of wood in a temperate forest using an experimental approach, whereby mass loss in wood blocks placed along 100 m transects from the forest edge to core was monitored over 2 years. Decomposition rate increased with distance from the edge, and was correlated with increasing humidity and moisture content of the decaying wood, such that the decay constant at 100 m was nearly twice that at the edge. Mean air temperature decreased slightly with distance from the edge. The variation in decay constant due to edge effects was larger than that expected from any reasonable estimates of climatic variation, based on a published regional model. We modelled the influence of edge effects on the decay constant at the landscape scale using functions for forest area within different distances from edge across the UK. We found that taking edge effects into account would decrease the decay rate by nearly one quarter, compared with estimates that assumed no edge effect.
Working together to address global problems: Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Medals and Awards ceremony 2014
Authors: Rees Judith , Boulton Geoffrey , Rosling Hans , Smith Susan J , Kothari Uma , Dearing John
Published: August 2014

The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)'s annual Medals and Awards recognise achievements in researching, communicating and teaching a wide range of geographical knowledge. The speeches and citations are a record of the ceremony of 2014 with comments by Hans Rosling and Professors Geoffrey Boulton, Susan J Smith, Uma Kothari and John Dearing. The speeches encompass communicating geographical data, glaciology, environmental change, human geography and global development.
The water challenge: Presidential Address and record of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) AGM 2014
Authors: Rees Judith
Published: August 2014

In her second address as President of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), Judith Rees identifies water security as one of the greatest contemporary policy challenges. Her comments are followed by a summary of the proceedings of the Society's 2014 Annual General Meeting, including reflections on 2013 activities.
Effect of education intervention on the quality and long‐term outcomes of root canal treatment in general practice
Authors: Koch M. , Wolf E. , Tegelberg Å. , Petersson K.
Published: August 2014

Aim

To compare the technical quality and long‐term outcomes of root canal treatment by general practitioners of a Swedish Public Dental Service, before and after an endodontic education including Ni–Ti rotary technique (NiTiR).

Methodology

A random sample was compiled, comprising one root filled tooth from each of 830 patients, treated by 69 general practitioners participating in the education: 414 teeth root filled in 2002, pre‐education, using primarily stainless steel instrumentation and filling by lateral compaction, and 416 teeth root filled post‐education (2005), using mainly NiTiR and single‐cone obturation. Follow‐up radiographs taken in 2009 were evaluated alongside immediate post‐filling radiographs from 2002 to 2005. The density and length of the root fillings were registered. Periapical status was assessed by the Periapical Index (PAI), using two definitions of disease: apical periodontitis (AP) (PAI 3 + 4 + 5) and definite AP (PAI 4 + 5). Tooth survival was registered. Root fillings pre‐ and post‐education were compared using chi‐square and Fisher's exact tests. Crude extraction rates per 100 years were calculated for comparison of tooth survival. Explanatory variables (type of tooth, root filling quality, periapical status, marginal bone loss, type and quality of coronal restoration) in relation to the dependent variable (AP at follow‐up) were analysed by multivariable logistic regression.

Results

Follow‐up data were available for 229 (55%) of teeth treated pre‐ and 288 (69%) treated post‐education: both tooth survival (P < 0.001) and root filling quality were significantly higher (P < 0.001) in the latter. However, there was no corresponding improvement in periapical status. Both pre‐ and post‐education, root fillings with definite AP on completion of treatment had significantly higher odds of AP or definite AP at follow‐up. For teeth treated post‐education, inadequate root filling quality was significantly associated with AP at follow‐up.

Conclusions

Despite a higher tooth survival rate and a significant improvement in technical quality of root fillings after the education, there was no corresponding improvement in periapical status.
A comparison of four gutta‐percha filling techniques in simulated C‐shaped canals
Authors: Soo W. K. M. , Thong Y. L. , Gutmann J. L.
Published: August 2014

Aim

To compare four gutta‐percha filling techniques in simulated C‐shaped canals based on filling quality at three cross‐sectional levels, filling time and the apical extrusion of gutta‐percha.

Methodology

Forty resin simulated C‐shaped canals were constructed and filled using one of four techniques: cold lateral compaction (LC), ultrasonic compaction (UC), single cone with injectable gutta‐percha (Obtura II™) (IT) and core‐carrier (Thermafil®) (CC). Cross sections were made at 1 (L1), 3 (L3) and 6 (L6) mm from the canal terminus. Areas of gutta‐percha, sealer and voids in each cross section were measured using an image analysis system. Data were analysed using a univariate general linear model and post hoc test (Dunnett's T3). Data on time taken to fill canals was evaluated using the Bonferroni post hoc test.

Results

CC had more gutta‐percha and less sealer compared with IT at L1 (P < 0.05). LC had marginally significantly less gutta‐percha than CC at this level (P = 0.049). At level 3 mm, significantly more gutta‐percha and less sealer were present in IT compared with LC (P < 0.05). The techniques showed no difference in quality at L6. The time for LC (20.72 min) was three times longer than for both IT (6.11 min) and CC (6.67 min), whereas for UC (26.92 min), it was four times longer (P < 0.001). Finally, the four techniques were not different in the occurrence of apical extrusion of gutta‐percha.

Conclusions

The core‐carrier technique was the most effective technique when assessed by gutta‐percha area in this simulated C‐shaped canal.