The impact of farming on over-wintering bird populations

Field boundaries and fields in stubble, set-aside, winter wheat and improved grassland in County Kildare were surveyed for birds on 15 occasions between October 2001 and February 2002. A total of 40 species was recorded on all sites during the period of the study. Arable farming that retains stubble throughout the winter supports the greatest species richness and diversity with the lowest being recorded on improved grassland. Individual species showed preference for certain sites. Seed-feeding species, yellowhammer and skylark, preferred stubble while invertebrate-feeding species, fieldfare and meadow pipit preferred grassland. The analysis demonstrated that certain components of habitat were responsible for differences in species present and density

Epidemiological findings and medical, legal, and public health challenges of an investigation of severe soft tissue infections and deaths among injecting drug users: Ireland, 2000.

In May 2000, public health authorities in Dublin, Ireland, identified a cluster of unexplained severe illness among injecting drug users (IDUs). Similar clusters were also reported in Scotland and England. Concurrent investigations were undertaken to identify the aetiology and source of the illnesses. In Dublin, 22 IDUs were identified with injection-site inflammation resulting in hospitalization or death; eight (36%) died. Common clinical findings among patients with severe systemic symptoms included leukaemoid reaction and cardiogenic shock. Seventeen (77%) patients reported injecting heroin intramuscularly in the 2 weeks before illness. Of 11 patients with adequate specimens available for testing, two (18%) were positive by 16S rDNA PCR for Clostridium novyi. Clinical and laboratory findings suggested that histotoxic Clostridia caused a subset of infections in these related clusters. Empiric treatment for infections among IDUs was optimized for anaerobic organisms, and outreach led to increased enrolment in methadone treatment in Dublin. Many unique legal, medical, and public health challenges were encountered during the investigation of this outbreak

Starting to Stop: Young Offenders' Desistance from Crime

This paper explores the complexities of the interplay between structural and agentic changes in 21 young offenders' lives as they start to stop offending. The young people's ability to desist from crime was dependent upon their engagement with a 'hook for change', their development of prosocial relationships and 'knifing off' of elements of their offending past, the extent of their identity change, and their confidence about desistance. Desistance was less likely in the absence of a 'hook' and where offenders were running a 'condemnation script'. The study challenges previous research that argues that desistance from crime in adolescence is unlikely

Emerging infectious disease implications of invasive mammalian species : the greater white-toothed shrew (Crocidura russula) is associated with a novel serovar of pathogenic Leptospira in Ireland

The greater white-toothed shrew (Crocidura russula) is an invasive mammalian species that was first recorded in Ireland in 2007. It currently occupies an area of approximately 7,600 km2 on the island. C. russula is normally distributed in Northern Africa and Western Europe, and was previously absent from the British Isles. Whilst invasive species can have dramatic and rapid impacts on faunal and floral communities, they may also be carriers of pathogens facilitating disease transmission in potentially naive populations. Pathogenic leptospires are endemic in Ireland and a significant cause of human and animal disease. From 18 trapped C. russula, 3 isolates of Leptospira were cultured. However, typing of these isolates by standard serological reference methods was negative, and suggested an, as yet, unidentified serovar. Sequence analysis of 16S ribosomal RNA and secY indicated that these novel isolates belong to Leptospira alstonii, a unique pathogenic species of which only 7 isolates have been described to date. Earlier isolations were limited geographically to China, Japan and Malaysia, and this leptospiral species had not previously been cultured from mammals. Restriction enzyme analysis (REA) further confirms the novelty of these strains since no similar patterns were observed with a reference database of leptospires. As with other pathogenic Leptospira species, these isolates contain lipL32 and do not grow in the presence of 8-azagunaine; however no evidence of disease was apparent after experimental infection of hamsters. These isolates are genetically related to L. alstonii but have a novel REA pattern; they represent a new serovar which we designate as serovar Room22. This study demonstrates that invasive mammalian species act as bridge vectors of novel zoonotic pathogens such as Leptospira

1028-66 Clinical and Demographic Findings in Patients with Ischemia and “Normal” Coronary Arteries: An ACIP Ancillary Study

Little information is available on patients (pts) with abnormal exercise tests (ETT) and ischemia on ambulatory ECG (AECG) monitoring who have normal coronary arteries or minimal coronary stenosis (<50% diameter). Accordingly, we characterized the clinical, demographic and angiographic features of 68 pts with asymptomatic cardiac ischemia (ACI) during AECG monitoring, an abnormal ETT but no significant coronary narrowing (Gpl) and compared them to 615 pts enrolled in the Asymptomatic Cardiac Ischemia Pilot (ACIP) study all of whom demonstrated ischemia and significant coronary narrowing (Gp II).GP IGp IIPAge, yrs. (mean±s.d.)58±1062±8<0.001Male(%)58.884.7<0.001History of MI (%)8.540.0<0.001Hypercholesterolemia (%)22.043.4<0.001Diabetes Mellitus (%)3.417.1<0.01Ever Smoked (%)37.265.5<0.001Angina (ETT, AECG, Hx)69.270.90.80AECG Ischemic Episodes/24 hrs (mean±s.d.)1.7±1.42.6±28<0.01LVH by EKG (%)8.26.30.62Any Coronary Narrowing (≥20% Stenosis) %52.9100-Maximum % Stenosis (mean±s.d.)l8.8±18789.1±14.0-Complex Plaque (%)4.450.2<0.001Ejection Fraction <55%1.518.655-70%37.967.6<0.001>70%60.613.8Pts without significant coronary narrowing were younger, had higher ejection fractions, were less often male. less likely to have risk factors, history of MI, complex plaque and had less AECG ischemia. These demographic and clinical differences may help identify pts with an alternative mechanism of ACI

A Detailed Angiographic Analysis of Patients With Ambulatory Electrocardiographic Ischemia: Results From the Asymptomatic Cardiac Ischemia Pilot (ACIP) Study Angiographic Core Laboratory fn1fn1This study was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Cardiac Diseases Branch, Division of Heart and Vascular Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, by Research Contracts HV-90-07, HV-90-08, HV-91-05 to HV-91-14. Study medications and placebo were donated by Zeneca Pharmaceuticals Group, Wilmington, Delaware; Marion-Merrell Dow, Kansas City, Missouri; and Pfizer, New York, New York. Support for electrocardiographic data collection was provided in part by Applied Cardiac Systems, Laguna Hills, California; Marquette Electronics and Mortara Instrument, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Quinton Instruments, Seattle, Washington. Some centers had partial support from General Clinical Research Center grants.

AbstractObjectives. The purpose of this Asymptomatic Cardiac Ischemia Pilot (ACIP) data bank study was to characterize angiographic features of coronary pathology of patients enrolled in the ACIP study.Background. Ischemia during ambulatory electrocardiographic (AECG) monitoring is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Reports relating AECG ischemia to severity or complexity of coronary artery disease are few in number and small in size and have produced conflicting results.Methods. Coronary angiograms from patients with asymptomatic AECG ischemia enrolled in the ACIP study were reviewed at a central core laboratory. Quantitative measurement of percent stenosis and Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction flow grades were used to assess the severity of coronary artery disease. Lesions were also evaluated for the presence of intracoronary thrombus, ulceration and lumen contour as indicators of stenosis complexity. In addition, comparisons were made with 27 patients screened for the ACIP study, but who were found ineligible because they did not have AECG ischemia on 48-h Holter monitoring.Results. A total of 329 (75%) of 439 patients with AECG ischemia had multivessel coronary artery disease. Proximal stenoses ≥50% diameter reduction were common in patients with AECG ischemia (62.2%), as were proximal stenoses ≥70% (38.7%). Features suggesting complex plaque were found in 50.1% of patients with AECG ischemia.Conclusions. Multivessel coronary artery disease, severe proximal stenoses and features of complex plaque were observed frequently in patients who exhibited AECG ischemia. The presence of severe and complex coronary artery disease may explain, in part, the increased risk for adverse outcome associated with ischemia during activities of daily life.(J Am Coll Cardiol 1997;29:78–84)

Adult Spinal Cord Radial Glia Display a Unique Progenitor Phenotype

Radial glia (RG) are primarily embryonic neuroglial progenitors that express Brain Lipid Binding Protein (Blbp a.k.a. Fabp7) and Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (Gfap). We used these transcripts to demarcate the distribution of spinal cord radial glia (SCRG) and screen for SCRG gene expression in the Allen Spinal Cord Atlas (ASCA). We reveal that neonatal and adult SCRG are anchored in a non-ventricular niche at the spinal cord (SC) pial boundary, and express a “signature” subset of 122 genes, many of which are shared with “classic” neural stem cells (NSCs) of the subventricular zone (SVZ) and SC central canal (CC). A core expressed gene set shared between SCRG and progenitors of the SVZ and CC is particularly enriched in genes associated with human disease. Visualizing SCRG in a Fabp7-EGFP reporter mouse reveals an extensive population of SCRG that extend processes around the SC boundary and inwardly (through) the SC white matter (WM), whose abundance increases in a gradient from cervical to lumbar SC. Confocal analysis of multiple NSC-enriched proteins reveals that postnatal SCRG are a discrete and heterogeneous potential progenitor population that become activated by multiple SC lesions, and that CC progenitors are also more heterogeneous than previously appreciated. Gene ontology analysis highlights potentially unique regulatory pathways that may be further manipulated in SCRG to enhance repair in the context of injury and SC disease

Determining the Level and Location of Functional Groups on Few-Layer Graphene and Their Effect on the Mechanical Properties of Nanocomposites.

Graphene is a highly desirable material for a variety of applications; in the case of nanocomposites, it can be functionalized and added as a nanofiller to alter the ultimate product properties, such as tensile strength. However, often the material properties of the functionalized graphene and the location of any chemical species, attached via different functionalization processes, are not known. Thus, it is not necessarily understood why improvements in product performance are achieved, which hinders the rate of product development. Here, a commercially available powder containing few-layer graphene (FLG) flakes is characterized before and after plasma or chemical functionalization with either nitrogen or oxygen species. A range of measurement techniques, including tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), and NanoSIMS, were used to examine the physical and chemical changes in the FLG material at both the micro- and nanoscale. This is the first reported TERS imaging of commercially available FLG flakes of submicron lateral size, revealing the location of the defects (edge versus basal plane) and variations in the level of functionalization. Graphene-polymer composites were then produced, and the dispersion of the graphitic material in the matrix was visualized using ToF-SIMS. Finally, mechanical testing of the composites demonstrated that the final product performance could be enhanced but differed depending on the properties of the original graphitic material