bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Episodic acidification affects the breakdown and invertebrate colonisation of oak litter
Authors: PYE MARIAN C. , VAUGHAN IAN P. , ORMEROD STEVE J.
Published: September 2012

1. Although European streams are now recovering chemically from acidification, biological recovery is limited. One hypothesis is that continuing acid episodes restrict acid‐sensitive species in recovering locations either through direct toxicity or by affecting ecological processes. Here, we test this hypothesis by assessing the effects of episodic acid exposure on the breakdown and macroinvertebrate colonisation of oak (Quercus robur) litter.

2. Over 83 days, acid episodes of 4 days’ duration were simulated by repeatedly transplanting litter bags of contrasting mesh size between replicate acidic and circumneutral streams around Llyn Brianne (Wales, U.K.). Results were compared against controls from circumneutral streams and circumneutral transplants, while invertebrates colonising litter were compared with adjacent assemblages.

3. Breakdown was retarded significantly by repeated acid exposure in comparison with circumneutral transplants, but only in litter to which invertebrates had access. Overall breakdown was also significantly slower in fine‐mesh than in coarse‐mesh bags.

4. Plecopteran shredders were the major invertebrate colonists of litter, along with smaller numbers of grazers and predators. However, acid exposure eliminated or suppressed acid‐sensitive families, resulting in an overall composition converging on that in acid streams.

5. The rapid loss of sensitive invertebrates from acid‐exposed litter supports the hypothesis that acid episodes suppress biological recovery from acidification through direct physiological effects. However, our litter breakdown data indicate that (i) some effects of acid episodes could be mediated through litter processing; and (ii) episodic acidification could disrupt litter breakdown through effects on invertebrate composition or activity. These data suggest that delayed biological recovery from acidification can reflect a combination of direct toxic and indirect ecological effects.
Epidemiology of parainfluenza virus types 1, 2 and 3 infections based on virus isolation between 2002 and 2011 in Yamagata, Japan
Authors: Mizuta Katsumi , Abiko Chieko , Aoki Yoko , Ikeda Tatsuya , Itagaki Tsutomu , Katsushima Fumio , Katsushima Yuriko , Matsuzaki Yoko , Noda Masahiro , Kimura Hirokazu , Ahiko Tadayuki
Published: September 2012

To clarify the epidemiology of viral acute respiratory infections (ARIs), 305 human parainfluenza virus types 1 (HPIV1), 154 HPIV2 and 574 HPIV3 strains were isolated from 16,962 nasopharyngeal swabs obtained between 2002 and 2011 at pediatric clinics in Yamagata, Japan. The total isolation frequency for HPIV1–3 was 6.1%. Unlike HPIV1 infections, HPIV3 showed clear seasonality with yearly outbreaks in the spring–summer season. HPIV2 tended to appear biannually in autumn–winter. Although no reliable techniques for the laboratory diagnosis of these infections have been established, the present results suggest that HPIV1–3 are an important causative agent of ARIs in children.
Genome‐wide identification of viral and host transcripts targeted by viral siRNAs in Vitis vinifera
Authors: Miozzi Laura , Gambino Giorgio , Burgyan Jozsef , Pantaleo Vitantonio
Published: September 2012

In plants, RNA silencing is a surveillance mechanism against invading viruses. It involves the production of virus‐derived small interfering RNAs (vsiRNAs), which guide the RNA‐induced silencing complex (RISC) to inactivate viruses. vsiRNAs may also promote the silencing of host mRNAs in a sequence‐specific manner. In this work, vsiRNAs derived from two grapevine‐infecting viruses (Grapevine fleck virus and Grapevine rupestris stem pitting‐associated virus) were selected from cDNA libraries of short RNAs and were cross‐referenced with the remnants of both cleaved host transcripts and viral RNAs from a degradome dataset. We identified dozens of host transcripts targeted by vsiRNAs. Among them, several encode putative proteins involved in ribosome biogenesis and in biotic and abiotic stresses. Moreover, we identified vsiRNAs which explain the cleavage sites in viral genomes. A consistent fraction of vsiRNAs did not apparently account for cleavage, suggesting that only a low percentage of vsiRNAs are involved in the antiviral response.
Catastrophic complication of an interscalene catheter for continuous peripheral nerve block analgesia
Authors: Yanovski B. , Gaitini L. , Volodarski D. , Ben‐David B.
Published: September 2012

We report a catastrophic postoperative complication of a prolonged interscalene block performed under general anaesthesia. The course of the anaesthetic was uneventful and the patient remained stable during his stay in the recovery area with the operative extremity paralysed and insensate. No further local anaesthetic was administered until later that day when the patient received 10 ml bupivacaine 0.25% through the catheter. Upon completion of the top‐up dose, no change in the patient’s status was noticed. The patient was next assessed 6.5 h later when he was found dead in his bed. A postmortem CT scan revealed the catheter to be sited intrathecally, presumably the result of dural sleeve penetration.
Better cancer biomarker discovery through better study design
Authors: Rundle Andrew , Ahsan Habibul , Vineis Paolo
Published: September 2012

Eur J Clin Invest 2012; 42 (12): 1350–1359

Background  High‐throughput laboratory technologies coupled with sophisticated bioinformatics algorithms have tremendous potential for discovering novel biomarkers, or profiles of biomarkers, that could serve as predictors of disease risk, response to treatment or prognosis. We discuss methodological issues in wedding high‐throughput approaches for biomarker discovery with the case–control study designs typically used in biomarker discovery studies, especially focusing on nested case–control designs.

Methods  We review principles for nested case–control study design in relation to biomarker discovery studies and describe how the efficiency of biomarker discovery can be effected by study design choices. We develop a simulated prostate cancer cohort data set and a series of biomarker discovery case–control studies nested within the cohort to illustrate how study design choices can influence biomarker discovery process.

Result  Common elements of nested case–control design, incidence density sampling and matching of controls to cases are not typically factored correctly into biomarker discovery analyses, inducing bias in the discovery process. We illustrate how incidence density sampling and matching of controls to cases reduce the apparent specificity of truly valid biomarkers ‘discovered’ in a nested case–control study. We also propose and demonstrate a new case–control matching protocol, we call ‘antimatching’, that improves the efficiency of biomarker discovery studies.

Conclusions  For a valid, but as yet undiscovered, biomarker(s) disjunctions between correctly designed epidemiologic studies and the practice of biomarker discovery reduce the likelihood that true biomarker(s) will be discovered and increases the false‐positive discovery rate.
3D multiscale segmentation and morphological analysis of x‐ray microtomography from cold‐sprayed coatings
Authors: GILLIBERT L. , PEYREGA C. , JEULIN D. , GUIPONT V. , JEANDIN M.
Published: September 2012

X‐ray microtomography from cold‐sprayed coatings brings a new insight on this deposition process. A noise‐tolerant segmentation algorithm is introduced, based on the combination of two segmentations: a deterministic multiscale segmentation and a stochastic segmentation. The stochastic approach uses random Poisson lines as markers. Results on a X‐ray microtomographic image of aluminium particles are presented and validated.
Rise and fall of pandemic Vibrio parahaemolyticus serotype O3:K6 in southern Chile
Authors: García Katherine , Bastías Roberto , Higuera Gastón , Torres Rafael , Mellado Alex , Uribe Paulina , Espejo Romilio T.
Published: September 2012

Seafood consumption‐related diarrhoea increased drastically in Chile when the pandemic strain of Vibrio parahaemolyticus serotype O3:K6 reached Region de Los Lagos, where most of Chile's seafood is produced. Outbreaks peaked in 2005 with 3725 clinical cases in this region and gradually decreased to fewer than 10 cases in 2010 and 2011. We show here that the pandemic strain concurrently vanished from mussels; we also report further environmental data. Integration of the 2010/2011 data with those obtained since 2004 suggests that after its arrival in southern Chile, the pandemic strain grew in mussels, likely facilitated by a minor rise in surface seawater temperature and by warming of the mussels in the intertidal region due to frequent sunny days. However, since these environmental parameters probably equally affected the pandemic strain and more than 30 V. parahaemolyticus DNA restriction clusters that inhabit local shellfish, a selective effect of bacteriophages is proposed. Lytic bacteriophage VP93 may have favoured the growth of the pandemic strain versus similar phage‐sensitive strains, as shown here in a particular case. However, the pandemic strain's decline may have been promoted by temperate phage VP58.5, which kills the pandemic strain and increases the UV sensitivity of lysogenized phage‐resistant cells.
Oral insecticidal activity of plant‐associated pseudomonads
Authors: Ruffner Beat , Péchy‐Tarr Maria , Ryffel Florian , Hoegger Patrik , Obrist Christian , Rindlisbacher Alfred , Keel Christoph , Maurhofer Monika
Published: September 2012

Biocontrol pseudomonads are most known to protect plants from fungal diseases and to increase plant yield, while intriguing aspects on insecticidal activity have been discovered only recently. Here, we demonstrate that Fit toxin producing pseudomonads, in contrast to a naturally Fit‐deficient strain, exhibit potent oral activity against larvae of Spodoptera littoralis, Heliothis virescens and Plutella xylostella, all major insect pests of agricultural crops. Spraying plant leaves with suspensions containing only 1000 Pseudomonas cells per ml was sufficient to kill 70–80% of Spodoptera and Heliothis larvae. Monitoring survival kinetics and bacterial titres in parallel, we demonstrate that Pseudomonas fluorescens CHA0 and Pseudomonas chlororaphis PCL1391, two bacteria harbouring the Fit gene cluster colonize and kill insects via oral infection. Using Fit mutants of CHA0 and PCL1391, we show that production of the Fit toxin contributes substantially to oral insecticidal activity. Furthermore, the global regulator GacA is required for full insecticidal activity. Our findings demonstrate the lethal oral activity of two root‐colonizing pseudomonads so far known as potent antagonists of fungal plant pathogens. This adds insecticidal activity to the existing biocontrol repertoire of these bacteria and opens new perspectives for applications in crop pest control and in research on their ecological behaviour.
Only a whisper away. A philosophical view of the awake patient's situation during regional anaesthetics and surgery
Authors: Karlsson Ann‐Christin , Ekebergh Margaretha , Larsson Mauléon Annika , Almerud Österberg Sofia
Published: September 2012

In this study the awake patient's intraoperative situation and experiences during regional anaesthetics and surgery are reflected upon by using the work of the French philosopher Maurice Merleau‐Ponty. Merleau‐Ponty's phenomenological idea of the body as being at the centre of the world highlights the patient's embodied position and bestows significance onto the body as a whole, as a lived body. A case, based on the findings from a previous interview study, is presented as a contextual starting point where a patient goes from having a familiar body recognized as her own to having a partially anaesthetized body experienced as an unknown object. The intraoperative caring space is described in this context as the mutual ground where the awake patient and the nurse anaesthetist (NA) can interact to create meaning. The NA can act as the patient's bodily extension to bridge the gap between the patient's experiences and the situation. This calls for the NA's proximity and genuine presence in order to meet and understand the patient's awake experiences. Learning from the patient's situatedness gives information that is valuable for NAs to share with patients who are less experienced with this contextual situation. The challenge for the NA is not to perform routine‐based care, but to acknowledge every patient's lifeworld and uniqueness thus enabling the patient to move easily along the mind–body–world continuum. The core of intraoperative care is to provide support and promote well‐being of awake patients in the intraoperative environment. The use of a philosophical perspective is relevant for nurses who work in an intraoperative setting where patients undergo regional anaesthetics. This study shows how nursing research using phenomenological philosophy can help uncover new meanings known only to the patients living the experience.
A cyborg ontology in health care: traversing into the liminal space between technology and person‐centred practice
Authors: Lapum Jennifer , Fredericks Suzanne , Beanlands Heather , McCay Elizabeth , Schwind Jasna , Romaniuk Daria
Published: September 2012

Person‐centred practice indubitably seems to be the antithesis of technology. The ostensible polarity of technology and person‐centred practice is an easy road to travel down and in their various forms has been probably travelled for decades if not centuries. By forging ahead or enduring these dualisms, we continue to approach and recede, but never encounter the elusive and the liminal space between technology and person‐centred practice. Inspired by Haraway's work, we argue that healthcare practitioners who critically consider their cyborg ontology may begin the process to initiate and complicate the liminal and sought after space between technology and person‐centred practice. In this paper, we draw upon Haraway's idea that we are all materially and ontologically cyborgs. Cyborgs, the hybridity of machine and human, are part of our social reality and embedded in our everyday existence. By considering our cyborg ontology, we suggest that person‐centred practice can be actualized in the contextualized, embodied and relational spaces of technology. It is not a question of espousing technology or person‐centred practice. Such dualisms have been historically produced and reproduced over many decades and prevented us from recognizing our own cyborg ontology. Rather, it is salient that we take notice of our own cyborg ontology and how technological, habitual ways of being may prevent (and facilitate) us to recognize the embodied and contextualized experiences of patients. A disruption and engagement with the habitual can ensure we are not governed by technology in our logics and practices of care and can move us to a conscious and critical integration of person‐centred practice in the technologized care environments. By acknowledging ourselves as cyborgs, we can recapture and preserve our humanness as caregivers, as well as thrive as we proceed in our technological way of being.
Coping strategies of Ethiopian immigrants in Israel: Association with PTSD and dissociation
Authors: FINKLESTEIN MICHAL , LAUFER AVITAL , SOLOMON ZAHAVA
Published: September 2012

Finklestein, M., Laufer, A. & Solomon, Z. (2012). Coping strategies of Ethiopian immigrants in Israel: Association with PTSD and dissociation. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 53, 490–498.

The aim of this study was to examine the relations between coping strategies, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and dissociation among Jewish Ethiopian refugees in Israel (following exposure to pre‐, peri‐ and post‐migration stressful events). Method: A random sample (N = 478) of three waves of refugees took part in the research (N = 165; N = 169; N = 144). Religiosity, coping strategies, stressful and traumatic events, pre‐ and peri‐ migration, post‐migration difficulties, posttraumatic symptoms, and dissociation were assessed. Results: A significant relationship was found between PTSD symptoms and avoidance coping over and above immigration wave and traumatic events. Dissociation was positively associated with passivity and antisocial coping and negatively associated with social joining and level of religiosity, over and above immigration wave and traumatic events. The findings are discussed in the light of the coping strategies employed by Ethiopian refugees.
Augmented telomerase activity and reduced telomere length in parthenium‐induced contact dermatitis
Authors: Akhtar N. , Anand V. , Verma K.K. , Sharma A.
Published: September 2012

Background  Parthenium dermatitis is a common chronic inflammatory disease with activated T lymphocytes that recognize the antigens, which leads to proliferation and differentiation. Telomeres and telomerase play an important role in the regulation of life span of the cell. Telomere length maintained by telomerase, are specialized repeats present at the end of chromosomes which protect it from degradation, end‐to‐end fusion and are important for integrity of chromosomes.

Objectives  The aim of this study was to measure telomerase activity and telomere length in Peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC), CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes from parthenium dermatitis patients.

Methods  The study includes 50 patients of parthenium dermatitis confirmed by patch testing and 50 healthy controls. Telomerase activity was measured using the telomere repeat amplification protocol using PCR–ELISA kit. Telomere length was measured by using Telo TAGGG Telomere Length Assay Kit.

Results  Significantly elevated levels of telomerase activity was observed in PBMC, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells of parthenium dermatitis patients as compared with healthy controls. However, significantly reduced telomere length in PBMC, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells have been found in patients than healthy subjects, but there was no difference between CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in patients.

Conclusion  This study might have provided insight into the role of telomerase in parthenium dermatitis that is characterized by the recruitment of T lymphocytes, which play an important role in this inflammatory disease. The augmented telomerase activity and reduced terminal restriction fragment length might be explored as a potential diagnostic/prognostic marker for parthenium dermatitis in future.
Identities in the third space? Solidity, elasticity and resilience amongst young British Pakistani Muslims
Authors: Mythen Gabe
Published: September 2012

Over the last decade the issue of identity has been prevalent in discussions about British Muslims, with the events of 9/11 serving as a touchstone for media debates about religious, national and cultural affiliations. The 7/7 terrorist attacks in the UK led to young British Pakistanis being subjected to intense public and institutional scrutiny and wider political concerns being expressed about the failure of multiculturalism. Young British Pakistanis have thus had to negotiate and maintain their identities in an environment in which they have been defined as a threat to national security whilst simultaneously being pressurized to align with ‘core British values’. Within this context, we convey the findings of a qualitative study involving British Pakistanis living in the North‐west of England. In presenting the experiences and perspectives of participants, three interconnected processes salient to the maintenance of identity are delineated: solidity, elasticity and resilience. Having unpacked these processes, we draw upon Bhabha's third space thesis to explore the political potentiality of and the limits to hybridic identities.
On natural‐social commodities. The form and value of things
Authors: Halewood Michael
Published: September 2012

This article re‐reads Marx's account of the commodity as a socio–natural entity. In doing so, it re‐evaluates the status of the political (as opposed to questions of political economy) in Marx's analysis and also reads his argument in light of Actor‐Network‐Theory's call for the thingness of things to be taken seriously. The paper argues that there is a complex duality to the commodity as it is always comprised of both use‐value and exchange‐value and hence as both ‘natural’ and ‘social’. It is pointed out that the usual translation of words with the root ‘gesellschaft‐’ as ‘social’ is unhelpful and that a better term would be ‘societal’, as this enables Marx, and us, to re‐approach the very distinction between the natural, the societal and the social. Marx's notion of ‘value as equivalence’ is then outlined and it is argued that this crucial stage in his account is often passed over. Value as equivalence is not a mere social production but relies upon the expression of the use‐value of one thing in another. This leads to the third move which is an outline of the importance of value‐form and social form. It is argued that it is this formation of a commodity (comprising both the natural and the social) which is the key both to understanding it as a specific historical entity as well as offering a powerful, non‐reductive, account of the natural, social, material and historical character of things. Overall, the article attempts to develop a novel conception of natural‐social commodities which does not premise either side of this dyad and so might help social theorists to talk of real things whilst avoiding charges of essentialism and reductionism as well as possible Latourian critiques of over‐generalization.
Desperately seeking social approval: Adam Smith, Thorstein Veblen and the moral limits of capitalist culture
Authors: Watson Matthew
Published: September 2012

Adam Smith and Thorstein Veblen shared much in matters of economic ontology. Both dismissed the very notion of an autonomous economic self and instead investigated the processes through which self and other are mutually constituted under changing cultural traditions of individual aspiration. Their strikingly similar critiques of status‐oriented consumption and concern for the moral basis of the market economy are established in this manner. However, the political implications of their analyses point in different directions, with Veblen being the more radical. The Smithian individual can always use spectatorial insights to assert through genuinely praiseworthy behaviour personal moral distance from social norms of status‐oriented consumption. The Veblenian individual, by contrast, has no such capacity for elevating abstract moral principles above socially‐situated conduct, as mind and environment co‐evolve in line with changing material circumstances of life. For Veblen, the rise of status‐oriented consumption itself acted as a form of moral self‐education that more deeply entrenched the social norms of ownership out of which it arose, thus the impossibility of an autonomous economic self was matched by the impossibility of an autonomous moral self. To his way of thinking, moral degradation in conspicuous consumption was irredeemably inscribed into the whole cultural structure of capitalism.
Age‐dependence of power spectral density and fractal dimension of bone mineralized matrix in atomic force microscope topography images: potential correlates of bone tissue age and bone fragility in female femoral neck trabeculae
Authors: Milovanovic Petar , Djuric Marija , Rakocevic Zlatko
Published: September 2012

There is an increasing interest in bone nano‐structure, the ultimate goal being to reveal the basis of age‐related bone fragility. In this study, power spectral density (PSD) data and fractal dimensions of the mineralized bone matrix were extracted from atomic force microscope topography images of the femoral neck trabeculae. The aim was to evaluate age‐dependent differences in the mineralized matrix of human bone and to consider whether these advanced nano‐descriptors might be linked to decreased bone remodeling observed by some authors and age‐related decline in bone mechanical competence. The investigated bone specimens belonged to a group of young adult women (n = 5, age: 20–40 years) and a group of elderly women (n = 5, age: 70–95 years) without bone diseases. PSD graphs showed the roughness density distribution in relation to spatial frequency. In all cases, there was a fairly linear decrease in magnitude of the power spectra with increasing spatial frequencies. The PSD slope was steeper in elderly individuals (−2.374 vs. −2.066), suggesting the dominance of larger surface morphological features. Fractal dimension of the mineralized bone matrix showed a significant negative trend with advanced age, declining from 2.467 in young individuals to 2.313 in the elderly (r = 0.65, P = 0.04). Higher fractal dimension in young women reflects domination of smaller mineral grains, which is compatible with the more freshly remodeled structure. In contrast, the surface patterns in elderly individuals were indicative of older tissue age. Lower roughness and reduced structural complexity (decreased fractal dimension) of the interfibrillar bone matrix in the elderly suggest a decline in bone toughness, which explains why aged bone is more brittle and prone to fractures.
Salivary gland botulinum toxin injections for drooling in children with cerebral palsy and neurodevelopmental disability: a systematic review
Authors: RODWELL KATE , EDWARDS PRIYA , WARE ROBERT S , BOYD ROSLYN
Published: September 2012

Aim  The aim of this paper was to systematically review the efficacy and safety of botulinum toxin (BoNT) injections to the salivary glands to treat drooling in children with cerebral palsy and neurodevelopmental disability.

Method  A systematic search of The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PubMed, CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), EMBASE, and the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) was conducted (up to 1 October 2011). Data sources included published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and prospective studies.

Results  Sixteen studies met inclusion criteria. Three outcome measures support the effectiveness of BoNT for drooling. One RCT found an almost 30% reduction in the impact of drooling on patients’ lives, as measured by the Drooling Impact Scale (mean difference −27.45; 95% confidence interval [CI] −35.28 to −19.62). There were sufficient data to pool results on one outcome measure, the Drooling Frequency and Severity Scale, which supports this result (mean difference −2.71; 95% CI −4.82 to −0.60; p<0.001). There was a significant reduction in the observed number of bibs required per day. The incidence of adverse events ranged from 2 to 41%, but was inconsistently reported. One trial was terminated early because of adverse events.

Interpretation  BoNT is an effective, temporary treatment for sialorrhoea in children with cerebral palsy. Benefits need to be weighed against the potential for serious adverse events. More studies are needed to address the safety of BoNT and to compare BoNT with other treatment options for drooling.
Communication between children and carers during mealtimes
Authors: Harding Celia , Wade Candace , Harrison Kirsty
Published: September 2012

Mealtimes are identified as an important learning environment where socialisation and language development takes place. Caregivers can facilitate the structure of a child's learning in the mealtime setting. The aim of this study was to gain an understanding about the nature of communication in a normal population during mealtimes. This is important to help understanding about the nature of communication and interaction in children with disabilities during mealtimes.

Participants were six typically developing preschool children aged from 8 months to 3;05 years. Caregivers of the children supported their child having a typical meal at home. Each mother–child dyad was video‐recorded by the researchers during a typical meal for up to 30 minutes. Each recording was transcribed by the researchers, and specific communicative features were counted and coded; caregiver comments about appropriate mealtime behaviour, child verbal and nonverbal initiation, caregiver questions and comments about meal enjoyment, caregiver praise of child, and caregiver repetition to coax feeding. A caregiver questionnaire was also completed to obtain information about the child's feeding, any early history of feeding difficulties and typical mealtime routine.

The results indicated that the most considerable difference were between the dyads who had reported early feeding difficulties and those who had not reported any. Carers who supported children who had a history of early feeding difficulties used more language to manage and guide the child's behaviour during the mealtime. Caregivers who reported early feeding difficulties appeared to be more concerned with how their child was presenting at the meal (i.e., appropriate behaviour and meal enjoyment). This information has important implications for supporting children with complex needs during mealtimes.
Potent vasorelaxant activity of the TMEM16A inhibitor T16Ainh‐A01
Authors: Davis Alison J , Shi Jian , Pritchard Harry AT , Chadha Preet S , Leblanc Normand , Vasilikostas Georgios , Yao Zhen , Verkman AS , Albert Anthony P , Greenwood Iain A
Published: September 2012

Background and Purpose

T16Ainh‐A01 is a recently identified inhibitor of the calcium‐activated chloride channel TMEM16A. The aim of this study was to test the efficacy of T16Ainh‐A01 for inhibition of calcium‐activated chloride channels in vascular smooth muscle and consequent effects on vascular tone.

Experimental Approach

Single channel and whole cell patch clamp was performed on single smooth muscle cells from rabbit pulmonary artery and mouse thoracic aorta. Isometric tension studies were performed on mouse thoracic aorta and mesenteric artery as well as human abdominal visceral adipose artery.

Key Results

In rabbit pulmonary artery myocytes T16Ainh‐A01 (1–30 μM) inhibited single calcium (Ca2+)‐activated chloride (Cl−) channels and whole cell currents activated by 500 nM free Ca2+. Similar effects were observed for single Ca2+‐activated Cl− channels in mouse thoracic aorta, and in both cell types, channel activity was abolished by two antisera raised against TMEM16A but not by a bestrophin antibody. The TMEM16A potentiator, Fact (10 μM), increased single channel and whole cell Ca2+‐activated Cl− currents in rabbit pulmonary arteries. In isometric tension studies, T16Ainh‐A01 relaxed mouse thoracic aorta pre‐contracted with methoxamine with an IC50 of 1.6 μM and suppressed the methoxamine concentration–effect curve. T16Ainh‐A01 did not affect the maximal contraction produced by 60 mM KCl and the relaxant effect of 10 μM T16Ainh‐A01 was not altered by incubation of mouse thoracic aorta in a cocktail of potassium (K+) channel blockers. T16Ainh‐A01 (10 μM) also relaxed human visceral adipose arteries by 88 ± 3%.

Conclusions and Implications

T16Ainh‐A01 blocks calcium‐activated chloride channels in vascular smooth muscle cells and relaxes murine and human blood vessels.
Small molecular glucokinase activators: has another new anti‐diabetic therapeutic lost favour?
Authors: Rees Matthew G , Gloyn Anna L
Published: September 2012

Glucokinase activators (GKAs) represent one of the leading hopes for the next generation of type 2 diabetes (T2D) therapeutics, showing efficacy in reducing blood glucose and HbA1c levels in animal models of T2D and short‐term human trials. While the hypoglycaemic risks of GCK activation in pancreatic beta‐cells have long been appreciated, the hepatic effects of GKAs have generally been perceived to be without significant side effect. In this issue of the British Journal of Pharmacology, De Ceuninck et al. report that acute and chronic GKA treatment of normoglycaemic and hyperglycaemic rodent models results in significant accumulation of triglycerides in the liver. This suggests GKA‐mediated activation of hepatic glucose uptake and suppression of endogenous glucose production may come at a significant cost; namely, the development of hepatic steatosis. This raises important questions regarding the safety of GKAs and emphasizes that both plasma and hepatic lipid profiles should be carefully monitored in on‐going and future studies of these molecules.

Linked Article

This article is a commentary on De Ceuninck et al., pp. 339–353 of this issue. To view this paper visit http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1476‐5381.2012.02184.x
Long‐term reproductive outcome after hysteroscopic proximal tubal cannulation – an outcome analysis
Authors: Chung Jacqueline P.W. , Haines Christopher J. , Kong Grace W.S.
Published: September 2012

Background

The optimal therapeutic method for proximal tubal obstruction (PTO) has yet to be defined. In addition, the reported successful recanalisation rate and reproductive outcome from hysteroscopic proximal tubal cannulation have been inconsistent.

Aims

To examine the morbidity and efficacy of laparoscopic–hysteroscopic proximal tubal cannulation for treating PTO.

Material and Methods

This was a retrospective study evaluating 70 infertile women with PTO who underwent laparoscopic–hysteroscopic proximal tubal cannulation in The Prince of Wales Hospital, a university‐affiliated hospital, from January 2005 to December 2010. Demographical data and operative details were reviewed. Women were then contacted by phone and completed a structured questionnaire. Recanalisation rate, intra‐operative complication, pregnancy rates and pregnancy outcomes were examined.

Results

Fifty women had successful proximal cannulation on at least one side of the tube, providing an overall successful recanalisation rate of 71.4% per woman and 67.0% per tube. The overall pregnancy rate after successful hysteroscopic proximal cannulation of at least one tube is 55%. The overall mean time to become pregnant from natural conception or via clomiphene induction after successful unilateral or bilateral hysteroscopic cannulation was 10.5 ± 8.9 months. The procedure is associated with minimal morbidity. No prognostic factors were significantly associated with recanalisation and pregnancy rate.

Conclusion

Laparoscopic–hysteroscopic cannulation for proximal obstruction is a procedure with minimal morbidity and a reasonable successful recanalisation rate. It should be considered as an alternative to in vitro fertilisation.
Fixed cervical count and the origin of the mammalian diaphragm
Authors: Buchholtz Emily A. , Bailin H. Grady , Laves Susan A. , Yang Jennifer T. , Chan Mei‐Yee , Drozd Lucie E.
Published: September 2012

Why is mammalian cervical count fixed across the historically long and ecologically broad mammalian radiation? Multiple lines of evidence, considered together, suggest a link between fixed cervical count and the muscularization of the diaphragm, a key innovation in mammalian history. We test this hypothesis by documenting the anteroposterior (AP) movement of the diaphragm, a lateral plate derivative, relative to that of the somitic thoracolumbar transition in unusually patterned mammals, by comparing the temporal occurrence of an osteological proxy for the diaphragm and fixed cervical counts in the fossil record, and by quantifying morphological differentiation within the mammalian cervical series. We then integrate these anatomical observations with details of diaphragm function and development to propose a sequence of innovations in mammalian evolution that could have led to fixed cervical count. We argue that the novel commitment of migratory muscle precursor cells (MMPs) of mid‐cervical somites to a fate in the abaxial diaphragm defined these somites as a new and uniquely mammalian modular subunit. We further argue that the coordination of primaxial abaxial patterning constrained subsequent AP migration of the forelimb, thereby secondarily fixing cervical count.
Two Mechanisms Involved in Trigeminal CGRP Release: Implications for Migraine Treatment
Authors: Durham Paul L. , Masterson Caleb G.
Published: September 2012

Objective/Background.— The goal of this study was to better understand the cellular mechanisms involved in proton stimulation of calcitonin gene‐related peptide (CGRP) secretion from cultured trigeminal neurons by investigating the effects of 2 antimigraine therapies, onabotulinumtoxinA and rizatriptan. Stimulated CGRP release from peripheral and central terminating processes of trigeminal ganglia neurons is implicated in migraine pathology by promoting inflammation and nociception. Based on models of migraine pathology, several inflammatory molecules including protons are thought to facilitate sensitization and activation of trigeminal nociceptive neurons and stimulate CGRP secretion. Despite the reported efficacy of triptans and onabotulinumtoxinA to treat acute and chronic migraine, respectively, a substantial number of migraineurs do not get adequate relief with these therapies. A possible explanation is that triptans and onabotulinumtoxinA are not able to block proton‐mediated CGRP secretion.

Methods.— CGRP secretion from cultured primary trigeminal ganglia neurons was quantitated by radioimmunoassay while intracellular calcium and sodium levels were measured in neurons via live cell imaging using Fura‐2 AM and SBFI AM, respectively. The expression of acid‐sensing ion channel 3 (ASIC3) was determined by immunocytochemistry and Western blot analysis. In addition, the involvement of ASICs in mediating proton stimulation of CGRP was investigated using the potent and selective ASIC3 inhibitor APETx2.

Results.— While KCl caused a significant increase in CGRP secretion that was significantly repressed by treatment with ethylene glycol tetraacetic acid (EGTA), onabotulinumtoxinA, and rizatriptan, the stimulatory effect of protons (pH 5.5) was not suppressed by EGTA, onabotulinumtoxinA, or rizatriptan. In addition, while KCl caused a transient increase in intracellular calcium levels that was blocked by EGTA, no appreciable change in calcium levels was observed with proton treatment. However, protons did significantly increase the intracellular level of sodium ions. Under our culture conditions, ASIC3 was shown to be expressed in most trigeminal ganglion neurons. Importantly, proton stimulation of CGRP secretion was repressed by pretreatment with the ASIC3 inhibitor APETx2, but not the transient receptor potential vanilloid‐1 antagonist capsazepine.

Conclusions.— Our findings provide evidence that proton regulated release of CGRP from trigeminal neurons utilizes a different mechanism than the calcium and synaptosomal‐associated protein 25‐dependent pathways that are inhibited by the antimigraine therapies, rizatriptan and onabotulinumtoxinA.
Racialization in Payday Mugging Narratives
Authors: Wortham Stanton , Allard Elaine , Lee Kathy , Mortimer Katherine
Published: September 2012

As Mexican immigrants move to areas of the United States that have not been home to Latinos, both longstanding residents and newcomers must make sense of their new neighbors. In one East Coast suburb relevant models of identity are sometimes communicated through “payday mugging” stories about African American criminals mugging undocumented Mexican victims. These narratives racialize African Americans and Mexicans in different ways. As payday mugging stories move across narrators from different communities, the racialized characterizations shift. [narrative; speech chains; racialization; Mexican migration]
Cuban Performances of Blackness as the Timeless Past Still Among Us
Authors: Wirtz Kristina
Published: September 2012

“Congo” spirits, “black witches,” African slaves, and maroons are ubiquitous historical figures in religious and folklore performances of eastern Cuba, where they are represented through collocations of Bozal speech register, stereotypical “African” vocal and bodily mannerisms and dance forms, and distinctive uses of deictics that present first‐person, historical‐present accounts of past events. I trace an interdiscursive web across which these racially marked semiotic forms constitute a Cuban racializing discourse that makes blackness highly salient and highly marked by emphasizing a chronotope of blackness as “a timeless past still among us.” This racial chronotope, re‐enacted through different performance genres with diverse purposes, contributes to multiple projects of historical subjectivity. [interdiscursivity, historical subjectivity, racialization, folklore, performance, Cuba]
Methodology on the My World Survey (MWS): a unique window into the world of adolescents in Ireland
Authors: Dooley Barbara , Fitzgerald Amanda
Published: September 2012

Background

Internationally, 75% of all mental health problems emerge before the age of 25 years, and adolescence represents a critical period that strongly influences the course of these problems. To date, there is limited research on the mental health of young people aged 12–25 years in Ireland. The My World Survey (MWS) national study provides data on risk and protective factors of mental health among 14 306 young people. The MWS was conducted in two phases: Phase 1 – MWS‐Second Level (MWS‐SL) with adolescents aged 12–19 years, and Phase 2 – MWS‐Post Second Level among young adults aged 17–25 years.

Aim

This article provides a comprehensive overview of the development of the MWS‐SL study. Another aim is to identify key learning points when conducting research in the second‐level school system.

Methods

The MWS‐SL study was conducted with 6085 adolescents aged 12–19 years in 72 second‐level schools. The MWS consists of standardized reliable and valid measures that have been used internationally to assess a range of risk and protective factors associated with adolescent mental health.

Results

Schools recruited for the MWS‐SL study represented quite well the national distribution of second‐level schools based on gender composition, disadvantaged/non‐disadvantaged status and geographic location.

Conclusions

Key learning points when collecting survey data in schools include pilot testing of survey instruments; building relationships with key stakeholders to ensure buy‐in for the study from schools; establishing rigorous data collection and processing protocols; and recognizing the value of online surveys.
Comparison of first‐episode and chronic patients diagnosed with schizophrenia: symptoms and childhood trauma
Authors: Wang Zheng , Xue Zhimin , Pu Weidan , Yang Bo , Li Li , Yi Wenyin , Wang Peng , Liu Chang , Wu Guowei , Liu Zhening , Rosenheck Robert A.
Published: September 2012

Aim

There has been considerable interest in identifying and addressing the specific needs of early‐episode patients diagnosed with schizophrenia in the hope that by addressing such needs early, chronic disabilities can be avoided.

Methods

One hundred twenty‐eight early‐episode and 571 chronic patients were compared on socio‐demographic characteristics, clinical symptoms and history of childhood trauma. Symptoms were measured with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), and trauma with the short version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire.

Results

First‐episode patients scored 9.3% higher than chronic patients on the PANSS positive symptom scale and 16.3% lower on the negative symptom scale. More first episode patients reported childhood sexual abuse (P = 0.033); however, fewer reported childhood emotional neglect (P = 0.01). Childhood trauma was associated with positive symptoms, specifically with hallucinations in first‐episode patients (r = 0.174; P = 0.049). Moreover, fewer parents of first episode patients were living alone (P = 0.008). On multiple logistic regression, the first‐episode patients were younger (odds ratio = 0.92), had higher PANSS positive symptom scores (odds ratio 1.04) and lower negative symptom scores (odds ratio 0.948 recalculate).

Conclusions

More positive symptoms, fewer negative symptoms, less isolated parents and greater risk of childhood sexual abuse might warrant attention in first episode schizophrenia and perhaps should be a focus for the development of targeted interventions.
Searching for links in the biotic characteristics and abiotic parameters of nine different biogas plants
Authors: Walter Andreas , Knapp Brigitte A. , Farbmacher Theresa , Ebner Christian , Insam Heribert , Franke‐Whittle Ingrid H.
Published: September 2012

To find links between the biotic characteristics and abiotic process parameters in anaerobic digestion systems, the microbial communities of nine full‐scale biogas plants in South Tyrol (Italy) and Vorarlberg (Austria) were investigated using molecular techniques and the physical and chemical properties were monitored. DNA from sludge samples was subjected to microarray hybridization with the ANAEROCHIP microarray and results indicated that sludge samples grouped into two main clusters, dominated either by Methanosarcina or by Methanosaeta, both aceticlastic methanogens. Hydrogenotrophic methanogens were hardly detected or if detected, gave low hybridization signals. Results obtained using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) supported the findings of microarray hybridization. Real‐time PCR targeting Methanosarcina and Methanosaeta was conducted to provide quantitative data on the dominating methanogens. Correlation analysis to determine any links between the microbial communities found by microarray analysis, and the physicochemical parameters investigated was conducted. It was shown that the sludge samples dominated by the genus Methanosarcina were positively correlated with higher concentrations of acetate, whereas sludge samples dominated by representatives of the genus Methanosaeta had lower acetate concentrations. No other correlations between biotic characteristics and abiotic parameters were found. Methanogenic communities in each reactor were highly stable and resilient over the whole year.
Categorizing segmentation quality using a quantitative quality assurance algorithm
Authors: Rodrigues George , Louie Alexander , Videtic Gregory , Best Lara , Patil Nikhilesh , Hallock Abhirami , Gaede Stewart , Kempe Jeff , Battista Jerry , de Haan Patricia , Bauman Glenn
Published: September 2012

Introduction

Obtaining high levels of contouring consistency is a major limiting step in optimizing the radiotherapeutic ratio. We describe a novel quantitative methodology for the quality assurance (QA) of contour compliance referenced against a community set of contouring experts.

Methods

Two clinical tumour site scenarios (10 lung cases and one prostate case) were used with QA algorithm. For each case, multiple physicians (lung: n = 6, prostate: n = 25) segmented various target/organ at risk (OAR) structures to define a set of community reference contours. For each set of community contours, a consensus contour (Simultaneous Truth and Performance Level Estimation (STAPLE)) was created. Differences between each individual community contour versus the group consensus contour were quantified by consensus‐based contouring penalty metric (PM) scores. New observers segmented these same cases to calculate individual PM scores (for each unique target/OAR) for each new observer–STAPLE pair for comparison against the community and consensus contours.

Results

Four physicians contoured the 10 lung cases for a total of 72 contours for quality assurance evaluation against the previously derived community consensus contours. A total of 16 outlier contours were identified by the QA system of which 11 outliers were due to over‐contouring discrepancies, three were due to over‐/under‐contouring discrepancies, and two were due to missing/incorrect nodal contours. In the prostate scenario involving six physicians, the QA system detected a missing penile bulb contour, systematic inner‐bladder contouring, and under‐contouring of the upper/anterior rectum.

Conclusion

A practical methodology for QA has been demonstrated with future clinical trial credentialing, medical education and auto‐contouring assessment applications.