Collusion and collision in ordinary life

Luke 16:1-1

Kidney Disease and Youth Onset Type 2 Diabetes: Considerations for the General Practitioner

Youth onset type 2 diabetes (T2DM) continues to increase worldwide, concomitant with the rising obesity epidemic. There is evidence to suggest that youth with T2DM are affected by the same comorbidities and complications as adults diagnosed with T2DM. This review highlights specifically the kidney disease associated with youth onset T2DM, which is highly prevalent and associated with a high risk of end-stage kidney disease in early adulthood. A general understanding of this complex disease by primary care providers is critical, so that at-risk individuals are identified and managed early in the course of their disease, such that progression can be modified in this high-risk group of children and adolescents. A review of the pediatric literature will include a focus on the epidemiology, risk factors, pathology, screening, and treatment of kidney disease in youth onset T2DM

Probiotic Bacillus amyloliquefaciens Strain H57 Improves the Performance of Pregnant and Lactating Ewes Fed a Diet Based on Palm Kernel Meal

Probiotic supplements are single or mixed strain cultures of live microorganisms that benefit the host by improving the properties of the indigenous microflora (Seo et al 2010). In a pilot study at the University of Queensland, Norton et al (2008) found that Bacillus amyloliquefaciens Strain H57 (H57), primarily investigated as an inoculum to make high-quality hay, improved feed intake and nitrogen utilisation over several weeks in pregnant ewes. The purpose of the following study was to further challenge the potential of H57 -to show it survives the steam-pelleting process, and that it improves the performance of ewes fed pellets based on an agro-industrial by-product with a reputation for poor palatability, palm kernel meal (PKM), (McNeill 2013). Thirty-two first-parity White Dorper ewes (day 37 of pregnancy, mean liveweight = 47.3 kg, mean age = 15 months) were inducted into individual pens in the animal house at the University of Queensland, Gatton. They were adjusted onto PKM-based pellets (g/kg drymatter (DM): PKM, 408; sorghum, 430; chick pea hulls, 103; minerals and vitamins; Crude protein, 128; ME: 11.1MJ/kg DM) until day 89 of pregnancy and thereafter fed a predominately pelleted diet incorporating with or without H57 spores (10 9 colony forming units (cfu)/kg pellet, as fed), plus 100g/ewe/day oaten chaff, until day 7 of lactation. From day 7 to 20 of lactation the pelleted component of the diet was steadily reduced to be replaced by a 50:50 mix of lucerne: oaten chaff, fed ad libitum, plus 100g/ewe/day of ground sorghum grain with or without H57 (10 9 cfu/ewe/day). The period of adjustment in pregnancy (day 37-89) extended beyond expectations due to some evidence of mild ruminal acidosis after some initially high intakes that were followed by low intakes. During that time the diet was modified, in an attempt to improve palatability, by the addition of oaten chaff and the removal of an acidifying agent (NH4Cl) that was added initially to reduce the risk of urinary calculi. Eight ewes were removed due to inappetence, leaving 24 ewes to start the trial at day 90 of pregnancy. From day 90 of pregnancy until day 63 of lactation, liveweights of the ewes and their lambs were determined weekly and at parturition. Feed intakes of the ewes were determined weekly. Once lambing began, 1 ewe was removed as it gave birth to twin lambs (whereas the rest gave birth to a single lamb), 4 due to the loss of their lambs (2 to dystocia), and 1 due to copper toxicity. The PKM pellets were suspected to be the cause of the copper toxicity and so were removed in early lactation. Hence, the final statistical analysis using STATISTICA 8 (Repeated measures ANOVA for feed intake, One-way ANOVA for liveweight change and birth weight) was completed on 23 ewes for the pregnancy period (n = 11 fed H57; n = 12 control), and 18 ewes or lambs for the lactation period (n = 8 fed H57; n = 10 control). From day 90 of pregnancy until parturition the H57 supplemented ewes ate 17 more DM (g/day: 1041 vs 889, sed = 42.4, P = 0.04) and gained more liveweight (g/day: 193 vs 24.0, sed = 25.4, P = 0.0002), but produced lambs with a similar birthweight (kg: 4.18 vs 3.99, sed = 0.19, P = 0.54). Over the 63 days of lactation the H57 ewes ate similar amounts of DM but grew slower than the control ewes (g/day: 1.5 vs 97.0, sed = 21.7, P = 0.012). The lambs of the H57 ewes grew faster than those of the control ewes for the first 21 days of lactation (g/day: 356 vs 265, sed = 16.5, P = 0.006). These data support the findings of Norton et al (2008) and Kritas et al (2006) that certain Bacillus spp. supplements can improve the performance of pregnant and lactating ewes. In the current study we particularly highlighted the capacity of H57 to stimulate immature ewes to continue to grow maternal tissue through pregnancy, possibly through an enhanced appetite, which appeared then to stimulate a greater capacity to partition nutrients to their lambs through milk, at least for the first few weeks of lactation, a critical time for optimising lamb survival. To conclude, H57 can survive the steam pelleting process to improve feed intake and maternal liveweight gain in late pregnancy, and performance in early lactation, of first-parity ewes fed a diet based on PKM

Sports review: A content analysis of the International Review for the Sociology of Sport, the Journal of Sport and Social Issues and the Sociology of Sport Journal across 25 years

The International Review for the Sociology of Sport, the Journal of Sport and Social Issues and Sociology of Sport Journal have individually and collectively been subject to a systematic content analysis. By focusing on substantive research papers published in these three journals over a 25-year time period it is possible to identify the topics that have featured within the sociology of sport. The purpose of the study was to identify the dominant themes, sports, countries, methodological frameworks and theoretical perspectives that have appeared in the research papers published in these three journals. Using the terms, identified by the author(s), that appear in the paper’s title, abstract and/or listed as a key word, subject term or geographical term, a baseline is established to reflect on the development of the sub-discipline as represented by the content of these three journals. It is suggested that the findings illustrate what many of the more experienced practitioners in the field may have felt subjectively. On the basis of this systematic, empirical study it is now possible to identify those areas have received extensive coverage and those which are under-researched within the sociology of sport. The findings are used to inform a discussion of the role of academic journals and the recent contributions made by Michael Silk, David Andrews, Michael Atkinson and Dominic Malcolm on the past, present and future of the ‘sociology of sport’

Implementing Groundness Analysis with Definite Boolean Functions

The domain of definite Boolean functions, Def, can be used to express the groundness of, and trace grounding dependencies between, program variables in (constraint) logic programs. In this paper, previously unexploited computational properties of Def are utilised to develop an efficient and succinct groundness analyser that can be coded in Prolog. In particular, entailment checking is used to prevent unnecessary least upper bound calculations. It is also demonstrated that join can be defined in terms of other operations, thereby eliminating code and removing the need for preprocessing formulae to a normal form. This saves space and time. Furthermore, the join can be adapted to straightforwardly implement the downward closure operator that arises in set sharing analyses. Experimental results indicate that the new Def implementation gives favourable results in comparison with BDD-based groundness analyses

Studies on Soil and Rhizosphere Populations of Rhizobium Sp. Nodulating Cicer Arietinum

Usin a plant Infection d l l u t l o n method developed at ICRISAT for count ? ng chickpea rhlzobia the population of chickpea Rhizobiun has been studied i n Alfisols, Vertisols and Entisols. Sane of the soil samples collected from traditional chickpea growing areas have been found to have low populations of this specific Rhi obium Rhlzobium numbers de8c e ased wi th depth i n a Vertisol from + ; s o i l at [T-IS an to 1 per g s o i l at 90-120 cm. A 100-fold decrease in populat Ion was recorded when wet- 1 and paddy f 01 1 wed chickpea. Of flve ICRISAT mandate crops (sorghum, millet, groundnut, chickpea and plgeonpea) i n pot culture, chickpea roots are most stitnulatory t o the ~~ultlplicatioonf chickpea rhlzobia

The Effect of Token Economies on Student Behavior in the Preschool Classroom: A Meta-Analysis

There has been a recent push in the literature to identify and use more evidence-based practices for positive behavioral supports for challenging student behaviors in the classroom environment. Further, interest in targeting early education environments such as preschool has been growing given the persistence of behavioral difficulties in the absence of early and effective intervention (Campbell & Ewing, 1990; Kazdin, 1987; Powell et al., 2006; Stormont, 2002). Two previous meta-analyses (Maggin et al., 2011; Soares et al., 2016) provided some initial support for effectiveness of token economies with challenging student behavior; however, the inclusion of the preschool setting was limited and both studies used older versions of design standards to evaluate the quality of studies in the literature. The present study served to extend those meta-analyses by targeting preschool classrooms. Further, the current study included the most recent What Works Clearinghouse Design Standards to evaluate whether token economies meet criteria as an evidence-based practice. Ten studies were included in the final analyses. Two sets of effect sizes were calculated: Baseline-Corrected Tau and Hedge’s g. An omnibus effect size showed an overall large effect; however, similar to previous meta-analyses, several methodological concerns were identified. Moderator analyses for several variables were conducted; however, no moderator analyses were significant. Limitations and future directions were discussed

Academic achievement : the role of praise in motivating students

The motivation of students is an important issue in higher education, particularly in the context of the increasing diversity of student populations. A social-cognitive perspective assumes motivation to be dynamic, context-sensitive and changeable, thereby rendering it to be a much more differentiated construct than previously understood. This complexity may be perplexing to tutors who are keen to develop applications to improve academic achievement. One application that is within the control of the tutor, at least to some extent, is the use of praise. Using psychological literature the article argues that in motivating students, the tutor is not well served by relying on simplistic and common sense understandings of the construct of praise and that effective applications of praise are mediated by students' goal orientations, which of themselves may be either additive or interactive composites of different objectives and different contexts

Steady-state modulation of voltage-gated K+ channels in rat arterial smooth muscle by cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase and protein phosphatase 2B

Voltage-gated potassium channels (Kv) are important regulators of membrane potential in vascular smooth muscle cells, which is integral to controlling intracellular Ca2+ concentration and regulating vascular tone. Previous work indicates that Kv channels can be modulated by receptor-driven alterations of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) activity. Here, we demonstrate that Kv channel activity is maintained by tonic activity of PKA. Whole-cell recording was used to assess the effect of manipulating PKA signalling on Kv and ATP-dependent K+ channels of rat mesenteric artery smooth muscle cells. Application of PKA inhibitors, KT5720 or H89, caused a significant inhibition of Kv currents. Tonic PKA-mediated activation of Kv appears maximal as application of isoprenaline (a β-adrenoceptor agonist) or dibutyryl-cAMP failed to enhance Kv currents. We also show that this modulation of Kv by PKA can be reversed by protein phosphatase 2B/calcineurin (PP2B). PKA-dependent inhibition of Kv by KT5720 can be abrogated by pre-treatment with the PP2B inhibitor cyclosporin A, or inclusion of a PP2B auto-inhibitory peptide in the pipette solution. Finally, we demonstrate that tonic PKA-mediated modulation of Kv requires intact caveolae. Pre-treatment of the cells with methyl-β-cyclodextrin to deplete cellular cholesterol, or adding caveolin-scaffolding domain peptide to the pipette solution to disrupt caveolae-dependent signalling each attenuated PKA-mediated modulation of the Kv current. These findings highlight a novel, caveolae-dependent, tonic modulatory role of PKA on Kv channels providing new insight into mechanisms and the potential for pharmacological manipulation of vascular tone