Uropathogenic Escherichia coli virulence and innate immune responses during urinary tract infection

Urinary tract infections (UTI) are among the most common infectious diseases of humans and are the most common nosocomial infections in the developed world. It is estimated that 40-50% of women and 5% of men will develop a UTI in their lifetime, and UTI accounts for more than 1 million hospitalizations and $1.6 billion in medical expenses each year in the USA. Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is the primary cause of UTI. This review presents an overview of recent discoveries related to the primary virulence factors of UPEC and major innate immune responses to infection of the lower urinary tract. New and emerging themes in UPEC research are discussed in the context of the interface between host and pathogen

Psychopathology in Children: the Transdiagnostic Contribution of Affiliative Capacity and Inhibitory Control

Recent initiatives have focused on integrating transdiagnostic biobehavioral models of clinically-relevant processes with quantitatively-derived dimensional structural models of psychopathology. Toward this effort, affiliative capacity (AFF) and inhibitory control (IC) processes hold particular promise as they demonstrate transdiagnostic utility and stability across developmental stages and multiple measurement modalities. The current study integrates across informants and modes of measurement in a sample of 1,671 5-to-10-year-olds to probe the unique and moderating effects of IC variation on low AFF in explanation of broad, empirically derived dimensions of psychopathology. Whereas no unique associations emerged for IC, low AFF was a significant predictor of distress- and externalizing-related problems. Distinct moderating effects emerged such that in combination with low AFF, high IC protected against distress symptoms specifically, whereas low IC predicted distress and externalizing problems. Results are discussed in the context of the interface of general trait transdiagnostic risk factors with quantitatively-derived dimensional models of psychopatholog

Persistence of Manifolds in Nonequilibrium Critical Dynamics

We study the persistence P(t) of the magnetization of a d' dimensional manifold (i.e., the probability that the manifold magnetization does not flip up to time t, starting from a random initial condition) in a d-dimensional spin system at its critical point. We show analytically that there are three distinct late time decay forms for P(t) : exponential, stretched exponential and power law, depending on a single parameter \zeta=(D-2+\eta)/z where D=d-d' and \eta, z are standard critical exponents. In particular, our theory predicts that the persistence of a line magnetization decays as a power law in the d=2 Ising model at its critical point. For the d=3 critical Ising model, the persistence of the plane magnetization decays as a power law, while that of a line magnetization decays as a stretched exponential. Numerical results are consistent with these analytical predictions.Comment: 4 pages revtex, 1 eps figure include

Challenges of evaluating the information visualization experience

Information Visualisation (InfoVis) is defined as an interactive visual representation of abstract data. We view the user’s interaction with InfoVis tools as an experience which is made up of a set of highly demanding cognitive activities. These activities assist users in making sense and gaining knowledge of the represented domain. Usability studies that involve a task-based analysis and usability questionnaires are not enough to capture such an experience. This paper discusses the challenges involved when it comes to evaluating InfoVis tools by giving an overview of the activities involved in an InfoVis experience and demonstrating how they affect the visualisation process. The argument in this paper is based on our experiences in designing, building and evaluating an academic literature visualisation tool

The relationship between GPs and hospital consultants and the implications for patient care : a qualitative study

Acknowledgements Clinicians assisting development of topic guide, all based in NHS Highland; Mr Angus Cain (Consultant Ear, Nose & Throat), Professor Steve Leslie (Consultant Cardiologist), Professor Ronald Macvicar (Postgraduate Dean, North of Scotland Region of NHS Education for Scotland (NES)), Dr Jerry O’Rourke (General Practice Principal), Professor Ken Walker (Consultant Colorectal surgeon). Clinicians involved in pilot of the semi-structured questionnaire; Dr Beth Macfarlane (General Practice Principal), and Dr Russell Drummond (Consultant Endocrinologist). Gillian Heron, Cairn Medical Practice who transcribed interview recordings. Funding The research was funded by both the local NHS Highland Research & Development Committee, and the “RCGP Allen & Margaret Wilson Memorial Fund.” The Chief Investigator (Dr Rod Sampson) received no personal payment for the study. No drug company is involved in this research.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Health Literacy and Some Socio-Demographic Aspects under One Health Approach in Eastern Tanzania: Connections and Realities

Health Literacy significantly contributes towards attaining good health particularly when taken into the context of the interface of humans, animals and the environment. This cross-sectional study assessed health literacy and its connections to other socio-demographic aspects under One Health Approach in Morogoro municipality and Mvomero districts in Tanzania. A structured questionnaire administered through a Computer Aided Personal Interviewing (CAPI) electronic platform was used to collect data from 240 respondents obtained through a multistage sampling procedure. Health Literacy was assessed using context specific assessment tool. IBM-SPSS v20 and Gretl software were used to analyze data. The results revealed Inadequate Health Literacy at 36.3%, Moderate Health Literacy at 30.8% and Adequate Health Literacy standing at 32.9%. There was no association between educational attainment and the level of Health Literacy revealed. Health Literacy was lower among older individuals, with 40.2% of those who had Inadequate Health Literacy were from the elderly age category, more females (56.3%) had Inadequate Health Literacy than males (43.7%), Adequate Health Literacy was observed among married respondents at 65.8% in the category. Health literacy varies across some socio-demographic aspects. It therefore remains imperative that interventions in scale up health literacy by various stakeholders to consider these socio-demographic aspects

A nonlinear theory of non-stationary low Mach number channel flows of freely cooling nearly elastic granular gases

We use hydrodynamics to investigate non-stationary channel flows of freely cooling dilute granular gases. We focus on the regime where the sound travel time through the channel is much shorter than the characteristic cooling time of the gas. As a result, the gas pressure rapidly becomes almost homogeneous, while the typical Mach number of the flow drops well below unity. Eliminating the acoustic modes, we reduce the hydrodynamic equations to a single nonlinear and nonlocal equation of a reaction-diffusion type in Lagrangian coordinates. This equation describes a broad class of channel flows and, in particular, can follow the development of the clustering instability from a weakly perturbed homogeneous cooling state to strongly nonlinear states. If the heat diffusion is neglected, the reduced equation is exactly soluble, and the solution develops a finite-time density blowup. The heat diffusion, however, becomes important near the attempted singularity. It arrests the density blowup and brings about novel inhomogeneous cooling states (ICSs) of the gas, where the pressure continues to decay with time, while the density profile becomes time-independent. Both the density profile of an ICS, and the characteristic relaxation time towards it are determined by a single dimensionless parameter that describes the relative role of the inelastic energy loss and heat diffusion. At large values of this parameter, the intermediate cooling dynamics proceeds as a competition between low-density regions of the gas. This competition resembles Ostwald ripening: only one hole survives at the end.Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures, final versio