The role of sexual orientation, age, living arrangements and self-rated health in planning for end-of-life care for lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) older people in the UK

© The Author(s) 2020. The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Sexualities by Sage Publications Ltd. All rights reserved. It is available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460720932381.This article reports on findings from the quantitative phase of a two-year research project designed to explore end-of-life care experiences and needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. We draw on a subset of the sample (N = 180/237) to analyse the relationship between advance care planning, sexual orientation, living arrangements and self-rated health. The results contribute to a growing body of evidence on how sexual minorities approach and make decisions on advance care planning. A greater understanding of such patterns could help inform the way healthcare professionals engage in conversations about end-of-life care planning with older LGB people.Peer reviewe

Dopaminergic Activation of Estrogen Receptors Induces Fos Expression within Restricted Regions of the Neonatal Female Rat Brain

Steroid receptor activation in the developing brain influences a variety of cellular processes that endure into adulthood, altering both behavior and physiology. Recent data suggests that dopamine can regulate expression of progestin receptors within restricted regions of the developing rat brain by activating estrogen receptors in a ligand-independent manner. It is unclear whether changes in neuronal activity induced by dopaminergic activation of estrogen receptors are also region specific. To investigate this question, we examined where the dopamine D1-like receptor agonist, SKF 38393, altered Fos expression via estrogen receptor activation. We report that dopamine D1-like receptor agonist treatment increased Fos protein expression within many regions of the developing female rat brain. More importantly, prior treatment with an estrogen receptor antagonist partially reduced D1-like receptor agonist-induced Fos expression only within the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and the central amygdala. These data suggest that dopaminergic activation of estrogen receptors alters neuronal activity within restricted regions of the developing rat brain. This implies that ligand-independent activation of estrogen receptors by dopamine might organize a unique set of behaviors during brain development in contrast to the more wide spread ligand activation of estrogen receptors by estrogen

Global parameter identification of stochastic reaction networks from single trajectories

We consider the problem of inferring the unknown parameters of a stochastic biochemical network model from a single measured time-course of the concentration of some of the involved species. Such measurements are available, e.g., from live-cell fluorescence microscopy in image-based systems biology. In addition, fluctuation time-courses from, e.g., fluorescence correlation spectroscopy provide additional information about the system dynamics that can be used to more robustly infer parameters than when considering only mean concentrations. Estimating model parameters from a single experimental trajectory enables single-cell measurements and quantification of cell--cell variability. We propose a novel combination of an adaptive Monte Carlo sampler, called Gaussian Adaptation, and efficient exact stochastic simulation algorithms that allows parameter identification from single stochastic trajectories. We benchmark the proposed method on a linear and a non-linear reaction network at steady state and during transient phases. In addition, we demonstrate that the present method also provides an ellipsoidal volume estimate of the viable part of parameter space and is able to estimate the physical volume of the compartment in which the observed reactions take place.Comment: Article in print as a book chapter in Springer's "Advances in Systems Biology

Design as a provocation to support discussion about euthanasia: The Plug

Design as a provocation to support discussion about euthanasia: The Plu

Parallel assessment of male reproductive function in workers and wild rats exposed to pesticides in banana plantations in Guadeloupe

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is increasing evidence that reproductive abnormalities are increasing in frequency in both human population and among wild fauna. This increase is probably related to exposure to toxic contaminants in the environment. The use of sentinel species to raise alarms relating to human reproductive health has been strongly recommended. However, no simultaneous studies at the same site have been carried out in recent decades to evaluate the utility of wild animals for monitoring human reproductive disorders. We carried out a joint study in Guadeloupe assessing the reproductive function of workers exposed to pesticides in banana plantations and of male wild rats living in these plantations.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional study was performed to assess semen quality and reproductive hormones in banana workers and in men working in non-agricultural sectors. These reproductive parameters were also assessed in wild rats captured in the plantations and were compared with those in rats from areas not directly polluted by humans.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>No significant difference in sperm characteristics and/or hormones was found between workers exposed and not exposed to pesticide. By contrast, rats captured in the banana plantations had lower testosterone levels and gonadosomatic indices than control rats.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Wild rats seem to be more sensitive than humans to the effects of pesticide exposure on reproductive health. We conclude that the concept of sentinel species must be carefully validated as the actual nature of exposure may varies between human and wild species as well as the vulnerable time period of exposure and various ecological factors.</p

The joint influence of area income, income inequality, and immigrant density on adverse birth outcomes: a population-based study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The association between area characteristics and birth outcomes is modified by race. Whether such associations vary according to social class indicators beyond race has not been assessed.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This study evaluated effect modification by maternal birthplace and education of the relationship between neighbourhood characteristics and birth outcomes of newborns from 1999–2003 in the province of Québec, Canada (N = 353,120 births). Areas (N = 143) were defined as administrative local health service delivery districts. Multi-level logistic regression was used to model the association between three area characteristics (median household income, immigrant density and income inequality) and the two outcomes preterm birth (PTB) and small-for-gestational age (SGA) birth. Effect modification by social class indicators was evaluated in analyses stratified according to maternal birthplace and education.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Relative to the lowest tertile, high median household income was associated with SGA birth among Canadian-born mothers (odds ratio (OR) 1.13, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06, 1.20) and mothers with high school education or less (OR 1.13, 95% CI 1.02, 1.24). Associations between median household income and PTB were weaker. Relative to the highest tertile, low immigrant density was associated with a lower odds of PTB among foreign-born mothers (OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.63, 1.00) but a higher odds of PTB among Canadian-born mothers (OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.07, 1.21). Associations with income inequality were weak or absent.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The association between area factors and birth outcomes is modified by maternal birthplace and education. Studies have found that race interacts in a similar manner. Public health policies focussed on perinatal health must consider the interaction between individual and area characteristics.</p

Factors affecting residency rank-listing: A Maxdiff survey of graduating Canadian medical students

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In Canada, graduating medical students consider many factors, including geographic, social, and academic, when ranking residency programs through the Canadian Residency Matching Service (CaRMS). The relative significance of these factors is poorly studied in Canada. It is also unknown how students differentiate between their top program choices. This survey study addresses the influence of various factors on applicant decision making.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Graduating medical students from all six Ontario medical schools were invited to participate in an online survey available for three weeks prior to the CaRMS match day in 2010. Max-Diff discrete choice scaling, multiple choice, and drop-list style questions were employed. The Max-Diff data was analyzed using a scaled simple count method. Data for how students distinguish between top programs was analyzed as percentages. Comparisons were made between male and female applicants as well as between family medicine and specialist applicants; statistical significance was determined by the Mann-Whitney test.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In total, 339 of 819 (41.4%) eligible students responded. The variety of clinical experiences and resident morale were weighed heavily in choosing a residency program; whereas financial incentives and parental leave attitudes had low influence. Major reasons that applicants selected their first choice program over their second choice included the distance to relatives and desirability of the city. Both genders had similar priorities when selecting programs. Family medicine applicants rated the variety of clinical experiences more importantly; whereas specialty applicants emphasized academic factors more.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Graduating medical students consider program characteristics such as the variety of clinical experiences and resident morale heavily in terms of overall priority. However, differentiation between their top two choice programs is often dependent on social/geographic factors. The results of this survey will contribute to a better understanding of the CaRMS decision making process for both junior medical students and residency program directors.</p

Precise detection of rearrangement breakpoints in mammalian chromosomes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Genomes undergo large structural changes that alter their organisation. The chromosomal regions affected by these rearrangements are called breakpoints, while those which have not been rearranged are called synteny blocks. We developed a method to precisely delimit rearrangement breakpoints on a genome by comparison with the genome of a related species. Contrary to current methods which search for synteny blocks and simply return what remains in the genome as breakpoints, we propose to go further and to investigate the breakpoints themselves in order to refine them.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Given some reliable and non overlapping synteny blocks, the core of the method consists in refining the regions that are not contained in them. By aligning each breakpoint sequence against its specific orthologous sequences in the other species, we can look for weak similarities inside the breakpoint, thus extending the synteny blocks and narrowing the breakpoints. The identification of the narrowed breakpoints relies on a segmentation algorithm and is statistically assessed. Since this method requires as input synteny blocks with some properties which, though they appear natural, are not verified by current methods for detecting such blocks, we further give a formal definition and provide an algorithm to compute them.</p> <p>The whole method is applied to delimit breakpoints on the human genome when compared to the mouse and dog genomes. Among the 355 human-mouse and 240 human-dog breakpoints, 168 and 146 respectively span less than 50 Kb. We compared the resulting breakpoints with some publicly available ones and show that we achieve a better resolution. Furthermore, we suggest that breakpoints are rarely reduced to a point, and instead consist in often large regions that can be distinguished from the sequences around in terms of segmental duplications, similarity with related species, and transposable elements.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our method leads to smaller breakpoints than already published ones and allows for a better description of their internal structure. In the majority of cases, our refined regions of breakpoint exhibit specific biological properties (no similarity, presence of segmental duplications and of transposable elements). We hope that this new result may provide some insight into the mechanism and evolutionary properties of chromosomal rearrangements.</p

A review of elliptical and disc galaxy structure, and modern scaling laws

A century ago, in 1911 and 1913, Plummer and then Reynolds introduced their models to describe the radial distribution of stars in `nebulae'. This article reviews the progress since then, providing both an historical perspective and a contemporary review of the stellar structure of bulges, discs and elliptical galaxies. The quantification of galaxy nuclei, such as central mass deficits and excess nuclear light, plus the structure of dark matter halos and cD galaxy envelopes, are discussed. Issues pertaining to spiral galaxies including dust, bulge-to-disc ratios, bulgeless galaxies, bars and the identification of pseudobulges are also reviewed. An array of modern scaling relations involving sizes, luminosities, surface brightnesses and stellar concentrations are presented, many of which are shown to be curved. These 'redshift zero' relations not only quantify the behavior and nature of galaxies in the Universe today, but are the modern benchmark for evolutionary studies of galaxies, whether based on observations, N-body-simulations or semi-analytical modelling. For example, it is shown that some of the recently discovered compact elliptical galaxies at 1.5 < z < 2.5 may be the bulges of modern disc galaxies.Comment: Condensed version (due to Contract) of an invited review article to appear in "Planets, Stars and Stellar Systems"(www.springer.com/astronomy/book/978-90-481-8818-5). 500+ references incl. many somewhat forgotten, pioneer papers. Original submission to Springer: 07-June-201