A Universal Live Cell Barcoding-Platform for Multiplexed Human Single Cell Analysis.

Single-cell barcoding enables the combined processing and acquisition of multiple individual samples as one. This maximizes assay efficiency and eliminates technical variability in both sample preparation and analysis. Remaining challenges are the barcoding of live, unprocessed cells to increase downstream assay performance combined with the flexibility of the approach towards a broad range of cell types. To that end, we developed a novel antibody-based platform that allows the robust barcoding of live human cells for mass cytometry (CyTOF). By targeting both the MHC class I complex (beta-2-microglobulin) and a broadly expressed sodium-potassium ATPase-subunit (CD298) with platinum-conjugated antibodies, human immune cells, stem cells as well as tumor cells could be multiplexed in the same single-cell assay. In addition, we present a novel palladium-based covalent viability reagent compatible with this barcoding strategy. Altogether, this platform enables mass cytometry-based, live-cell barcoding across a multitude of human sample types and provides a scheme for multiplexed barcoding of human single-cell assays in general

The neural mechanisms able to predict future emotion regulation decisions

Emotion regulation is crucial in maintaining healthy psychological wellbeing, and its dysregulation is often linked to a range of neuropsychiatric disorders including depression. The neurobiological underpinnings of cognitive reappraisal, an emotion regulation strategy, have been shown to include the amygdala and regions of the prefrontal cortex. A novel study by Doré, Weber, and Ochsner (2017) has demonstrated that neural activity in these regions during uninstructed visualization of affective stimuli can successfully predict which individuals are more likely to subsequently employ emotion regulation, and under what circumstances

A 'Divorce Blueprint'? The Use of Heteronormative Strategies in Addressing Economic Inequalities on Civil Partnership Dissolution

This article will explore data obtained through interviews with UK family law practitioners and clients with experience of financial relief on formalised same-sex relationship breakdown. It will focus on questions around how solicitors have approached and argued their dissolution cases (and the extent to which they have drawn upon heteronormative arguments and case law), and whether both they and the clients believed that civil partnerships are, and should be, treated similarly to marriages. Th e discussion will examine the different understandings of ?equality? employed, and question the ways that the participants relied on ideas of sameness and difference. It will be argued that the solicitors placed particular stress on sameness, and that heteronormative constructs of gendered inequalities have been transplanted into same-sex cases, in a system where practitioners? submissions are based on ?what works.? Th is is despite the fact that lesbian and gay couples do not map onto the ?template? under which the parties have been subjected to different gendered expectations. Conversely, the clients were less willing to take on the full legal implications associated with (heterosexual) marital breakdown and less receptive of the solicitors ?translating? their matters to pigeonhole them into the existing framework

Carbon Monoxide Screening in Pregnancy: An Evaluation Study of a Plymouth Pilot Intervention

This report provides an analysis and evaluation of a National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommended pilot intervention which was designed to identify pregnant women exposed to carbon monoxide due to cigarette smoke and refers them to local stop smoking services (LSSS). The pilot intervention was carried out by community midwives working in two areas of Plymouth. The city has areas of social and health inequalities and the study drew on populations from a socially deprived neighbourhood and a socially affluent area. The pilot was instigated following new NICE guidance recommending that all women attending initial ante natal booking appointments with their community midwives be offered a Carbon Monoxide (CO) breath analyser screening to determine their smoking status and or exposure to other forms of CO. This evaluation study identifies the benefits and barriers associated with the implementation of the CO screening pilot. In particular, our aims were to explore any detrimental impact on the relationship between women and their community midwives, identify the impact on midwives in terms of time and resources, reveal the responses and acceptability or otherwise of the screening as perceived and experienced by the women being asked to participate during the booking appointment and finally to evaluate the success of the intervention overall in relation to the numbers of referrals made to Plymouth’s LSSS. A further aim was explore any differences in the two socio demographic areas. We adopted a mixed methods approach involving four focus group interviews with 23 midwives, a survey posted to the 258 women who attended initial antenatal booking appointments in the study areas, an online version of the survey to ascertain the views and experiences of pregnant women and new mothers nationally and an interrogation of an internet forum discussion board for mothers. A two page questionnaire consisting of 12 questions was designed and posted to women who attended the booking appointment with the midwife during the three month pilot period and the same survey was made available online. Questions were designed to elicit women’s views about the information given by the midwife in relation to the screening, whether they had agreed to participate in the CO screening process, their experiences and views about offering CO screening to pregnant women and their smoking status and those of other household members. Of the 258 questionnaires posted to women who had attended the clinic during the pilot intervention 40 completed responses were returned representing a 15.5% response rate. Only 4 responses were received from the online survey posting but an additional 484 comments posted on the Mumsnet website discussion board were analysed. Our findings show that in general there was a high degree of acceptability for the intervention. Midwives and their clients were generally in support of the screening being offered to all pregnant women. However, this support was dependent on a number of contextual factors. Women wanted to be properly informed about the screening and midwives wanted to be kept informed about the effects of the intervention on women’s smoking cessation. Initial and ongoing training of midwives in utilising the protocol and in instructing women to correct use the monitor was also very important. Trust was revealed to be a very important aspect of the relationship between women and their midwives. Some women felt that the CO screening was being used just to check whether or not they were smokers and some midwives also worried about the possible negative effects the CO screening may have on their relationships with women

Cost of piracy: A comparative voyage approach

The seizure by Somali pirates of the Saudi-owned VLCC, the Sirius Star, with its crew, in November 2008, captured international attention. Across the world, regular updates were given and the ransom demands discussed and debated in the press. Dramatic footage was shown on national television of the payment of the ransom by parachute and footage of the debacle which followed where some of the pirates were drowned. Until then, most of the non-shipping world thought of pirates as the romantic buccaneers aka Hollywood. However, the cost of piracy to industry and its impact on international trade cannot be ignored. There are potential geopolitical repercussions. Despite international efforts, piracy in this region threatens to put a chokehold on one of the world's busiest shipping arteries. Shipping lines are taking decisions to avoid the area, rerouting via the Cape of Good Hope. This article provides a methodology to measure the costs of piracy from the shipping company's perspective by taking a comparative voyage costing approach