The omega-3 fatty acid, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), prevents the damaging effects of tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha during murine skeletal muscle cell differentiation

Background: Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) is a -3 polyunsaturated fatty acid with antiinflammatory and anti-cachetic properties that may have potential benefits with regards to skeletal muscle atrophy conditions where inflammation is present. It is also reported that pathologic levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α are associated with muscle wasting, exerted through inhibition of myogenic differentiation and enhanced apoptosis. These findings led us to hypothesize that EPA may have a protective effect against skeletal muscle damage induced by the actions of TNF-α. Results: The deleterious effects of TNF-α on C2C12 myogenesis were completely inhibited by co-treatment with EPA. Thus, EPA prevented the TNF-mediated loss of MyHC expression and significantly increased myogenic fusion (p < 0.05) and myotube diameter (p < 0.05) indices back to control levels. EPA protective activity was associated with blocking cell death pathways as EPA completely attenuated TNF-mediated increases in caspase-8 activity (p < 0.05) and cellular necrosis (p < 0.05) back to their respective control levels. EPA alone significantly reduced spontaneous apoptosis and necrosis of differentiating myotubes (p < 0.001 and p < 0.05, respectively). A 2 hour pre-treatment with EPA, prior to treatment with TNF alone, gave similar results. Conclusion: In conclusion, EPA has a protective action against the damaging effects of TNF-α on C2C12 myogenesis. These findings support further investigations of EPA as a potential therapeutic agent during skeletal muscle regeneration following injury

Deploying expert systems in Ada

As the Department of Defense Ada mandate begins to be enforced actively, interest in deploying expert systems in Ada has increased. A prototype Ada based expert system tool is introduced called ART/Ada. This prototype was built to support research into the language and operational issues of expert systems in Ada. ART/Ada allows applications of a conventional expert system tool called ART-IM (Automated Reasoning Tool for Information Management) to be deployed in various Ada environments with efficient use of time and space. ART-IM, a C-based expert system tool, is used to generate Ada source code which is compiled and linked with an Ada base inference engine to produce an Ada executable image. ART/Ada will be used to implement several prototype expert systems for the Space Station Freedom Program testbeds

ART-Ada: An Ada-based expert system tool

The Department of Defense mandate to standardize on Ada as the language for software systems development has resulted in increased interest in making expert systems technology readily available in Ada environments. NASA's Space Station Freedom is an example of the large Ada software development projects that will require expert systems in the 1990's. Another large scale application that can benefit from Ada based expert system tool technology is the Pilot's Associate (PA) expert system project for military combat aircraft. Automated Reasoning Tool (ART) Ada, an Ada Expert system tool is described. ART-Ada allow applications of a C-based expert system tool called ART-IM to be deployed in various Ada environments. ART-Ada is being used to implement several prototype expert systems for NASA's Space Station Freedom Program and the U.S. Air Force

ART-Ada design project, phase 2

Interest in deploying expert systems in Ada has increased. An Ada based expert system tool is described called ART-Ada, which was built to support research into the language and methodological issues of expert systems in Ada. ART-Ada allows applications of an existing expert system tool called ART-IM (Automated Reasoning Tool for Information Management) to be deployed in various Ada environments. ART-IM, a C-based expert system tool, is used to generate Ada source code which is compiled and linked with an Ada based inference engine to produce an Ada executable image. ART-Ada is being used to implement several expert systems for NASA's Space Station Freedom Program and the U.S. Air Force

New South Wales Vegetation classification and Assessment: Part 3, plant communities of the NSW Brigalow Belt South, Nandewar and west New England Bioregions and update of NSW Western Plains and South-western Slopes plant communities, Version 3 of the NSWVCA database

This fourth paper in the NSW Vegetation Classification and Assessment series covers the Brigalow Belt South-/1(BBS) and Nandewar (NAN) Bioregions and the western half of the New England Bioregion (NET), an area of 9.3 million hectares being 11.6% of NSW. It completes the NSWVCA coverage for the Border Rivers-Gwydir and Namoi CMA areas and records plant communities in the Central West and Hunter–Central Rivers CMA areas. In total, 585 plant communities are now classified in the NSWVCA covering 11.5 of the 18 Bioregions in NSW (78% of the State). Of these 226 communities are in the NSW Western Plains and 416 are in the NSW Western Slopes. 315 plant communities are classified in the BBS, NAN and west-NET Bioregions including 267 new descriptions since Version 2 was published in 2008. Descriptions of the 315 communities are provided in a 919 page report on the DVD accompanying this paper along with updated reports on other inland NSW bioregions and nine Catchment Management Authority areas fully or partly classified in the NSWVCA to date. A read-only version of Version 3 of the NSWVCA database is on the DVD for use on personal computers. A feature of the BBS and NAN Bioregions is the array of ironbark and bloodwood Eucalyptusdominated shrubby woodlands on sandstone and acid volcanic substrates extending from Dubbo to Queensland. This includes iconic natural areas such as Warrumbungle and Mount Kaputar National Parks and the 500,000 ha Pilliga Scrub forests. Large expanses of basalt-derived soils support grassy box woodland and native grasslands including those on the Liverpool Plains; near Moree; and around Inverell, most of which are cleared and threatened. Wetlands occur on sodic soils near Yetman and in large clay gilgais in the Pilliga region. Sedgelands are rare but occupy impeded creeks. Aeolian lunettes occur at Narran Lake and near Gilgandra. Areas of deep sand contain Allocasuarina, eucalypt mallee and Melaleuca uncinata heath. Tall grassy or ferny open forests occur on mountain ranges above 1000m elevation in the New England Bioregion and on the Liverpool Range while grassy box woodlands occupy lower elevations with lower rainfall and higher temperatures. The vegetation classification and assessment is based on over 100 published and unpublished vegetation surveys and map unit descriptions, expert advice, extra plot sampling and data analysis and over 25 000 km of road traverse with field checking at 805 sites. Key sources of data included floristic analyses produced in western regional forest assessments in the BBS and NAN Bioregions, floristic analyses in over 60 surveys of conservation reserves and analysis of plot data in the western NET Bioregion and covering parts of the Namoi and Border Rivers- Gwydir CMA areas. Approximately 60% of the woody native vegetation in the study area has been cleared resulting in large areas of “derived” native grasslands. As of June 2010, 7% of the area was in 136 protected areas and 127 of the 315 plant communities were assessed to be adequately protected in reserves. Using the NSWVCA database threat criteria, 15 plant communities were assessed as being Critically Endangered, 59 Endangered, 60 Vulnerable, 99 Near Threatened and 82 Least Concern. 61 of these communities are assessed as part of NSW or Commonwealth-listed Threatened Ecological Communities. Current threats include expanding dryland and irrigated cropping on alluvial plains, floodplains and gently undulating topography at lower elevations; over-grazing of steep hills; altered water tables and flooding regimes; localized mining; and the spread of exotic species, notably Coolatai Grass (Hyparrhenia hirta)

Dynamics of uniaxial hard ellipsoids

We study the dynamics of monodisperse hard ellipsoids via a new event-driven molecular dynamics algorithm as a function of volume fraction $\phi$ and aspect ratio $X_0$. We evaluate the translational $D_{trans}$ and the rotational $D_{rot}$ diffusion coefficient and the associated isodiffusivity lines in the $\phi-X_0$ plane. We observe a decoupling of the translational and rotational dynamics which generates an almost perpendicular crossing of the $D_{trans}$ and $D_{rot}$ isodiffusivity lines. While the self intermediate scattering function exhibits stretched relaxation, i.e. glassy dynamics, only for large $\phi$ and $X_0 \approx 1$, the second order orientational correlator $C_2(t)$ shows stretching only for large and small $X_0$ values. We discuss these findings in the context of a possible pre-nematic order driven glass transition.Comment: accepted by Phys. Rev. Let

A brief history of the British Neuroscience Association

As the British Neuroscience Association commemorates 50 years of existence in 2018, this article recalls its founding as a discussion group, its establishment as the Brain Research Association, its transition to a professional society encompassing all aspects of neuroscience research, both clinical and non-clinical, and its re-branding as the British Neuroscience Association in the late 1990s. Neuroscience as a branch of life science has expanded hugely in the last 25 years and the British Neuroscience Association has adapted, frequently working with partner societies, to serve as an interdisciplinary hub for professionals working in this exciting and crucial field. The authors have attempted to highlight some key events in the Association’s history and acknowledge the contributions made by many people over half a century

Public contracts as accountability mechanisms: assuring quality in public healthcare in England and Wales

Contracting in the public sector is designed to enhance the accountability of service providers to their funders. The idea is that quality is improved by the use of service specifications, monitoring of performance and imposition of contractual sanctions. Socio-legal and economic theories of contract indicate that it will be difficult to make and enforce contracts to achieve this. The results of a study of National Health Services contracting in England and Wales are reported. We conclude that contracts alone are not sufficient to improve accountability – collibration of various regulatory measures (including more hierarchical mechanisms such as performance targets) is required