A conserved U-rich RNA region implicated in regulation of translation in Plasmodium female gametocytes.

Translational repression (TR) plays an important role in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression and embryonic development in metazoans. TR also regulates the expression of a subset of the cytoplasmic mRNA population during development of fertilized female gametes of the unicellular malaria parasite, Plasmodium spp. which results in the formation of a polar and motile form, the ookinete. We report the conserved and sex-specific regulatory role of either the 3’- or 5’-UTR of a subset of translationally repressed mRNA species as shown by almost complete inhibition of expression of a GFP reporter protein in the female gametocyte. A U-rich, TR-associated element, identified previously in the 3’-UTR of TR-associated transcripts, played an essential role in mediating TR and a similar region could be found in the 5’-UTR shown in this study to be active in TR. The silencing effect of this 5’-UTR was shown to be independent of its position relative to its ORF, as transposition to a location 3’ of the ORF did not affect TR. These results demonstrate for the first time in a unicellular organism that the 5’ or the 3’-UTR of TR-associated transcripts play an important and conserved role in mediating TR in female gametocytes

Faddeev-chiral unitary approach to the K(-)d scattering length

Our earlier Faddeev three-body study in the K--deuteron scattering length, AK-d, is revisited here in light of the recent developments on two fronts: (i) the improved chiral unitary approach to the theoretical description of the coupled K̄N related channels at low energies, and (ii) the new and improved measurement from SIDDHARTA Collaboration of the strong interaction energy shift and width in the lowest K --hydrogen atomic level. Those two, in combination, have allowed us to produce a reliable two-body input to the three-body calculation. All available low-energy K-p observables are well reproduced and predictions for the K̄N scattering lengths and amplitudes, (πΣ)â̂̃ invariant-mass spectra, as well as for AK-d are put forward and compared with results from other sources. The findings of the present work are expected to be useful in interpreting the forthcoming data from CLAS, HADES, LEPS, and SIDDHARTA Collaborations. © 2013 American Physical Society.T. Mizutani, C. Fayard, B. Saghai, K. Tsushim

The Role of Gender and Emotions on Moral Hypocrisy

Recent studies have shown that the emotions of anger and guilt have interesting effects on an individual’s moral hypocrisy. Anger increasing the likelihood that one will be hypocritical and guilt effectively neutralizes any hypocritical tendencies. (Polman & Ruttan, 2012) We were keenly interested to see if we could duplicate these results at Ouachita and were also curious as to whether or not gender plays a role in how hypocritical a person will be. We wanted to know if emotion or gender could negatively impact logical reasoning because if they do, we could keep this in mind while making judgments in the future. We hypothesized that anger would show a significant effect for moral hypocrisy and that guilt would neutralize any tendencies towards moral hypocrisy. We also hypothesized that anger would affect men more than women

High lateral portal for sparing the infrapatellar fat-pad during ACL reconstruction

SummaryDuring arthroscopic ACL reconstruction, intra-articular visualization can be compromised by the interposition of the infrapatellar fat pad (IPFP) between the scope and the notch. In this technical note, we describe our technique of using lateral higher arthroscopic portal, starting arthroscopy with the resection of the ligamentum mucosum and performing the tibial tunnel in 40° of knee flexion to optimise the intra-articular view without IPFP debridement. This technique was performed in 112 consecutive arthroscopic ACL reconstructions and compared to that in the previous 112 cases in which a conventional method was used. The use of this technique was associated with a shorter operative time and no increase in the difficulty in performing associated meniscal procedures

A Novel ‘Gene Insertion/Marker Out’ (GIMO) Method for Transgene Expression and Gene Complementation in Rodent Malaria Parasites

Research on the biology of malaria parasites has greatly benefited from the application of reverse genetic technologies, in particular through the analysis of gene deletion mutants and studies on transgenic parasites that express heterologous or mutated proteins. However, transfection in Plasmodium is limited by the paucity of drug-selectable markers that hampers subsequent genetic modification of the same mutant. We report the development of a novel ‘gene insertion/marker out’ (GIMO) method for two rodent malaria parasites, which uses negative selection to rapidly generate transgenic mutants ready for subsequent modifications. We have created reference mother lines for both P. berghei ANKA and P. yoelii 17XNL that serve as recipient parasites for GIMO-transfection. Compared to existing protocols GIMO-transfection greatly simplifies and speeds up the generation of mutants expressing heterologous proteins, free of drug-resistance genes, and requires far fewer laboratory animals. In addition we demonstrate that GIMO-transfection is also a simple and fast method for genetic complementation of mutants with a gene deletion or mutation. The implementation of GIMO-transfection procedures should greatly enhance Plasmodium reverse-genetic research

Anterolateral ligament reconstruction protects the repaired medial meniscus: a comparative study of 383 anterior cruciate ligament reconstructions from the SANTI study group with a minimum follow-up of 2 years

Background: The prevalence of osteoarthritis after successful meniscal repair is significantly less than that after failed meniscal repair. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine whether the addition of anterolateral ligament reconstruction (ALLR) confers a protective effect on medial meniscal repair performed at the time of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). Methods: Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data was performed to include all patients who had undergone primary ACLR with concomitant posterior horn medial meniscal repair through a posteromedial portal between January 2013 and August 2015. ACLR autograft choice was bone–patellar tendon–bone, hamstring tendons (or quadrupled hamstring tendons), or quadrupled semitendinosus tendon graft with or without ALLR. At the end of the study period, all patients were contacted to determine if they had undergone reoperation. A Kaplan-Meier survival curve was plotted, and a Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to perform multivariate analysis. Results: 383 patients (mean ± SD age, 27.4 ± 9.2 years) were included with a mean follow-up of 37.4 months (range, 24-54.9 months): 194 patients underwent an isolated ACLR, and 189 underwent a combined ACLR + ALLR. At final follow-up, there was no significant difference between groups in postoperative side-to-side laxity (isolated ACLR group, 0.9 ± 0.9 mm [min to max, –1 to 3]; ACLR + ALLR group, 0.8 ± 1.0 mm [min to max, –2 to 3]; P = .2120) or Lysholm score (isolated ACLR group, 93.0 [95% CI, 91.3-94.7]; ACLR + ALLR group, 93.7 [95% CI, 92.3-95.1]; P = .556). Forty-three patients (11.2%) underwent reoperation for failure of the medial meniscal repair or a new tear. The survival rates of meniscal repair at 36 months were 91.2% (95% CI, 85.4%-94.8) in the ACLR + ALLR group and 83.8% (95% CI, 77.1%-88.7%; P = .033) in the ACLR group. The probability of failure of medial meniscal repair was >2 times lower in patients with ACLR + ALLR as compared with patients with isolated ACLR (hazard ratio, 0.443; 95% CI, 0.218-0.866). No other prognosticators of meniscal repair failure were identified. Conclusion: Combined ACLR and ALLR is associated with a significantly lower rate of failure of medial meniscal repairs when compared with those performed at the time of isolated ACLR

Three-Body approach to the K^- d Scattering Length in Particle Basis

We report on the first calculation of the scattering length A_{K^-d} based on a relativistic three-body approach where the two-body input amplitudes coupled to the Kbar N channels have been obtained with the chiral SU(3) constraint, but with isospin symmetry breaking effects taken into account. Results are compared with a recent calculation applying a similar set of two-body amplitudes,based on the fixed center approximation, considered as a good approximation for a loosely bound target, and for which we find significant deviations from the exact three-body results. Effects of the hyperon-nucleon interaction, and deuteron $D$-wave component are also evaluated.Comment: 5 pages, Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Is nasal carriage of the main acquisition pathway for surgical-site infection in orthopaedic surgery?

International audienceThe endogenous or exogenous origin of , responsible for orthopaedic surgical-site infections (SSI), remains debated. We conducted a multicentre prospective cohort study to analyse the respective part of exogenous contamination and endogenous self-inoculation by during elective orthopaedic surgery. The nose of each consecutive patient was sampled before surgery. Strains of isolated from the nose and the wound, in the case of SSI, were compared by antibiotypes or pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). A total of 3,908 consecutive patients undergoing orthopaedic surgery were included. Seventy-seven patients developed an SSI (2%), including 22 related to (0.6%). was isolated from the nose of 790 patients (20.2%) at the time of surgery. In the multivariate analysis, nasal carriage was found to be a risk factor for SSI in orthopaedic surgery. However, only nine subjects exhibiting SSI had been found to be carriers before surgery: when compared, three pairs of strains were considered to be different and six similar. In most cases of SSI, either an endogenous origin could not be demonstrated or pre-operative nasal colonisation retrieved a strain that was different from the one recovered from the surgical sit

Bodies, technologies and action possibilities: when is an affordance?

Borrowed from ecological psychology, the concept of affordances is often said to offer the social study of technology a means of re-framing the question of what is, and what is not, ‘social’ about technological artefacts. The concept, many argue, enables us to chart a safe course between the perils of technological determinism and social constructivism. This article questions the sociological adequacy of the concept as conventionally deployed. Drawing on ethnographic work on the ways technological artefacts engage, and are engaged by, disabled bodies, we propose that the ‘affordances’ of technological objects are not reducible to their material constitution but are inextricably bound up with specific, historically situated modes of engagement and ways of life