Chromosomal location of a gene that controls sterol esterification in Triticum aestivum L.

A previously described D genome locus (Pln) that controls sterol esterification in the wheat kernel has been assigned to the short arm of chromosome 7 D by comparison of the steryl ester phenotype of euploid kernels of Triticum aestivum variety Chinese Spring with those of the compensated nulli-tetrasomic lines and the 7 D S ditelosomic. Palmitate is the predominant ester in all but the 7 D nullisomic combinations, which have linoleate as the main ester. These lines also show a marked decrease in sterol esterification and a two-fold increase in free sterol, indicating that chromosomes 7 A and 7 B do not compensate for the loss of esterification capacity associated with 7 D

Sarcopenia during neoadjuvant therapy for oesophageal cancer: characterising the impact on muscle strength and physical performance

Purpose Preoperative chemo(radio)therapy for oesophageal cancer (OC) may have an attritional impact on body composition and functional status, impacting postoperative outcome. Physical decline with skeletal muscle loss has not been previously characterised in OC and may be amenable to physical rehabilitation. This study characterises skeletal muscle mass and physical performance from diagnosis to post-neoadjuvant therapy in patients undergoing preoperative chemo(radio)therapy for OC. Methods Measures of body composition (axial computerised tomography), muscle strength (handgrip), functional capacity (walking distance), anthropometry (weight, height and waist circumference), physical activity, quality-of-life and nutritional status were captured prospectively. Sarcopenia status was defined as pre-sarcopenic (low muscle mass only), sarcopenic (low muscle mass and low muscle strength or function) or severely sarcopenic (low muscle mass and low muscle strength and low muscle function). Results Twenty-eight participants were studied at both time points (mean age 62.86 ± 8.18 years, n = 23 male). Lean body mass reduced by 4.9 (95% confidence interval 3.2 to 6.7) kg and mean grip strength reduced by 4.3 (2.5 to 6.1) kg from pre- to postneoadjuvant therapy. Quality-of-life scores capturing gastrointestinal symptoms improved. Measures of anthropometry, walking distance, physical activity and nutritional status did not change. There was an increase in sarcopenic status from diagnosis (presarcopenic n=2) to post-treatment (pre-sarcopenic n = 5, severely sarcopenic n = 1). Conclusions Despite maintenance of body weight, functional capacity and activity habits, participants experience declines in muscle mass and strength. Interventions involving exercise and/or nutritional support to build muscle mass and strength during preoperative therapy, even in patients who are functioning normally, are warranted

Measuring the Impact of Oesophagectomy on Physical Functioning and Physical Activity Participation: a Prospective Study

Background: Oesophagectomy remains the only curative intervention for oesophageal cancer, with defined nutritional and health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) consequences. It follows therefore that there is a significant risk of decline in physical wellbeing with oesophagectomy however this has been inadequately quantified. This study prospectively examines change in physical functioning and habitual physical activity participation, from presurgery through 6-months post-oesophagectomy. Methods: Patients scheduled for oesophagectomy with curative intent were recruited. Key domains of physical functioning including exercise tolerance (six-minute walk test (6MWT)) and muscle strength (hand-grip strength), and habitual physical activity participation, including sedentary behaviour (accelerometry) were measured presurgery (T0) and repeated at 1-month (T1) and 6-months (T2) post-surgery. HR-QOL was measured using the EORTC-QOL C30. Results: Thirty-six participants were studied (mean age 62.4 (8.8) years, n = 26 male, n = 26 transthoracic oesophagectomy). Mean 6MWT distance decreased significantly from T0 to T1 (p = 0.006) and returned to T0 levels between T1 and T2 (p \u3c 0.001). Percentage time spent sedentary increased throughout recovery (p \u3c 0.001) and remained significantly higher at T2 in comparison to T0 (p = 0.003). In contrast, percentage time spent engaged in either light or moderate-to-vigorous intensity activity, all reduced significantly (p \u3c 0.001 for both) and remained significantly lower at T2 in comparison to T0 (p = 0.009 and p = 0.01 respectively). Patients reported deficits in multiple domains of HR-QOL during recovery including global health status (p = 0.04), physical functioning (p \u3c 0.001) and role functioning (p \u3c 0.001). Role functioning remained a clinically important 33-points lower than preoperative values at T2. Conclusion: Habitual physical activity participation remains significantly impaired at 6-months postoesophagectomy. Physical activity is a measurable and modifiable target for physical rehabilitation, which is closely aligned with patient-reported deficits in role functioning. Rehabilitation aimed at optimising physical health in oesophageal cancer survivorship is warranted

Creating the cultures of the future: cultural strategy, policy and institutions in Gramsci. Part one: Gramsci and cultural policy studies: some methodological reflections

Gramsci’s writings have rarely been discussed and used systematically by scholars in cultural policy studies, despite the fact that in cultural studies, from which the field emerged, Gramsci has been a major source of theoretical concepts. Cultural policy studies were, in fact, theorised as an anti-Gramscian project between the late 1980s and the early 1990s, when a group of scholars based in Australia advocated a major political and theoretical reorientation of cultural studies away from hegemony theory and radical politicisation, and towards reformist-technocratic engagement with the policy concerns of contemporary government and business. Their criticism of the ‘Gramscian tradition’ as inadequate for the study of cultural policy and institutions has remained largely unexamined in any detail for almost twenty years and seems to have had a significant role in the subsequent neglect of Gramsci’s contribution in this area of study. This essay, consisting of three parts, is an attempt to challenge such criticism and to provide an analysis of Gramsci’s writings, with the aim of proposing a more systematic contribution of his work to the theoretical development of cultural policy studies. In Part One, I question the use of the notion of ‘Gramscian tradition’ made by its critics and challenge the claim that it was inadequate for the study of cultural policy and institutions. In parts Two and Three, I consider Gramsci’s specific writings on questions of cultural strategy, policy and institutions, which have so far been overlooked by scholars, arguing that they provide further analytical insights to those offered by his more general concepts. More specifically, in Part Two, I consider Gramsci’s pre-prison writings and political practice in relation to questions of cultural strategy and institutions. I argue that the analysis of these early texts, which were written in the years in which Gramsci was active in party organisation and leadership, is fundamental not only for understanding the nature of Gramsci’s early and continued involvement with questions of cultural strategy and institutions, but also as a key for deciphering and interpreting cultural policy themes that he later developed in the prison notebooks, and which originated in earlier debates. Finally, in Part Three, I carry out a detailed analysis of Gramsci’s prison notes on questions of cultural strategy, policy and institutions, which enrich the theoretical underpinnings for critical frameworks of analysis as well as for radical practices of cultural strategy, cultural policy-making and cultural organisation. I then answer the question of whether Gramsci’s insights amount to a theory of cultural policy

The effect of twisted magnetic field on the resonant absorption of MHD waves in coronal loops

The standing quasi modes in a cylindrical incompressible flux tube with magnetic twist that undergoes a radial density structuring is considered in ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). The radial structuring is assumed to be a linearly varying density profile. Using the relevant connection formulae, the dispersion relation for the MHD waves is derived and solved numerically to obtain both the frequencies and damping rates of the fundamental and first-overtone modes of both the kink (m=1) and fluting (m=2,3) waves. It was found that a magnetic twist will increase the frequencies, damping rates and the ratio of the oscillation frequency to the damping rate of these modes. The period ratio P_1/P_2 of the fundamental and its first-overtone surface waves for kink (m=1) and fluting (m=2,3) modes is lower than 2 (the value for an untwisted loop) in the presence of twisted magnetic field. For the kink modes, particularly, the magnetic twists B_{\phi}/B_z=0.0065 and 0.0255 can achieve deviations from 2 of the same order of magnitude as in the observations. Furthermore, for the fundamental kink body waves, the frequency bandwidth increases with increasing the magnetic twist.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figure

Mass coupling and Q−1ofimpurity−limitednormalQ^{-1} of impurity-limited normal ^3$He in a torsion pendulum

We present results of the $Q^{-1}$ and period shift, $\Delta P$, for $^3$He confined in a 98% nominal open aerogel on a torsion pendulum. The aerogel is compressed uniaxially by 10% along a direction aligned to the torsion pendulum axis and was grown within a 400 $\mu$m tall pancake (after compression) similar to an Andronikashvili geometry. The result is a high $Q$ pendulum able to resolve $Q^{-1}$ and mass coupling of the impurity-limited $^3$He over the whole temperature range. After measuring the empty cell background, we filled the cell above the critical point and observe a temperature dependent period shift, $\Delta P$, between 100 mK and 3 mK that is 2.9$$ of the period shift (after filling) at 100 mK. The $Q^{-1}$ due to the $^3$He decreases by an order of magnitude between 100 mK and 3 mK at a pressure of $0.14\pm0.03$ bar. We compare the observable quantities to the corresponding calculated $Q^{-1}$ and period shift for bulk $^3$He.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Long-distant contribution and χc1\chi_{c1} radiative decays to light vector meson

The discrepancy between the PQCD calculation and the CLEO data for $\chi_{c1}\to \gamma V$ ($V=\rho^0,\,\omega,\,\phi$) stimulates our interest in exploring extra mechanism of $\chi_{c1}$ decay. In this work, we apply an important non-perturbative QCD effect, i.e., hadronic loop mechanism, to study $\chi_{c1}\to \gamma V$ radiative decay. Our numerical result shows that the theoretical results including the hadronic loop contribution and the PQCD calculation of $\chi_{c1}\to \gamma V$ are consistent with the corresponding CLEO data of $\chi_{c1}\to \gamma V$. We expect further experimental measurement of $\chi_{c1}\to \gamma V$ at BES-III, which will be helpful to test the hadronic loop effect on $\chi_{c1}$ decay.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in Eur. Phys. J.

Bianchi type II models in the presence of perfect fluid and anisotropic dark energy

Spatially homogeneous but totally anisotropic and non-flat Bianchi type II cosmological model has been studied in general relativity in the presence of two minimally interacting fluids; a perfect fluid as the matter fluid and a hypothetical anisotropic fluid as the dark energy fluid. The Einstein's field equations have been solved by applying two kinematical ans\"{a}tze: we have assumed the variation law for the mean Hubble parameter that yields a constant value of deceleration parameter, and one of the components of the shear tensor has been considered proportional to the mean Hubble parameter. We have particularly dwelled on the accelerating models with non-divergent expansion anisotropy as the Universe evolves. Yielding anisotropic pressure, the fluid we consider in the context of dark energy, can produce results that can be produced in the presence of isotropic fluid in accordance with the \Lambda CDM cosmology. However, the derived model gives additional opportunities by being able to allow kinematics that cannot be produced in the presence of fluids that yield only isotropic pressure. We have obtained well behaving cases where the anisotropy of the expansion and the anisotropy of the fluid converge to finite values (include zero) in the late Universe. We have also showed that although the metric we consider is totally anisotropic, the anisotropy of the dark energy is constrained to be axially symmetric, as long as the overall energy momentum tensor possesses zero shear stress.Comment: 15 pages; 5 figures; matches the version published in The European Physical Journal Plu

Pedagogy: the silent partner in early years learning

This paper sets out to look critically at the influences on pedagogy in early years education, at the ways in which it is enacted in practice and the pedagogical perspectives held by practitioners. The aim of the paper is to explore the current state of understanding and suggest areas to be included in an agenda for future research. The factors that influence practitioners’ actions are reviewed and the consensus around child-centredness and play is challenged. Findings from two studies of pedagogy in action in the early years are presented and examined in terms of socio-cultural theory and its implications for practice. The first of these studies draws attention to the varied nature of pedagogical interactions that support learning while the second looks at the experience of pedagogical innovation. The need for researchers and practitioners to find effective ways of communicating and working together is stressed throughout the paper

Transverse oscillations of coronal loops

On 14 July 1998 TRACE observed transverse oscillations of a coronal loop generated by an external disturbance most probably caused by a solar flare. These oscillations were interpreted as standing fast kink waves in a magnetic flux tube. Firstly, in this review we embark on the discussion of the theory of waves and oscillations in a homogeneous straight magnetic cylinder with the particular emphasis on fast kink waves. Next, we consider the effects of stratification, loop expansion, loop curvature, non-circular cross-section, loop shape and magnetic twist. An important property of observed transverse coronal loop oscillations is their fast damping. We briefly review the different mechanisms suggested for explaining the rapid damping phenomenon. After that we concentrate on damping due to resonant absorption. We describe the latest analytical results obtained with the use of thin transition layer approximation, and then compare these results with numerical findings obtained for arbitrary density variation inside the flux tube. Very often collective oscillations of an array of coronal magnetic loops are observed. It is natural to start studying this phenomenon from the system of two coronal loops. We describe very recent analytical and numerical results of studying collective oscillations of two parallel homogeneous coronal loops. The implication of the theoretical results for coronal seismology is briefly discussed. We describe the estimates of magnetic field magnitude obtained from the observed fundamental frequency of oscillations, and the estimates of the coronal scale height obtained using the simultaneous observations of the fundamental frequency and the frequency of the first overtone of kink oscillations. In the last part of the review we summarise the most outstanding and acute problems in the theory of the coronal loop transverse oscillations