Biosystematics and Life Histories of the PEROMYSCUS GUARDIA Group of Mice and PEROMYSCUS EREMICUS (Rodentia: Cricetidae)

The purpose of this project was to investigate the taxonomic relationship and the biology of Peromyscus eremicus, and the Peromyscus guardia group of mice from islands in the Gulf of California. Hybridization experiments were conducted between P. eremicus and P. interparietalis ryckmani. They were interfertile and produced fertile hybrids. Peromyscus guardia did not breed in the laboratory. Body and skull measurements for P. eremicus, P. interparietalis ryckmani, and their F1 hybrids were analyzed by computing the discriminant functions and plotting a canonical scattergram. Peromyscus interparietalis ryckmani is quite distinct from P. eremicus. The hybrids were larger than either parent and resembled their maternal progenitor more than their paternal progenitor. Blood proteins of P. eremicus, P. interparietalis, and P. guardia were compared by serum electrophoresis, and from the protein patterns the discriminant functions were computed and a canonical scattergram plotted. Peromyscus interparietalis is similar to P. eremicus, and P. guardia is quite different from both of them. Within a species, the subspecies showed similar patterns. Serum proteins appear to be a useful taxonomic character. The pattern of growth and development is similar in P. eremicus and P. interparietalis with a few consistent differences

Work Time and the 11-Year Progression of Carotid Atherosclerosis in Middle-Aged Finnish Men

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/62463/1/work time and 11-year progerssion of carotid atherosclerosis_2009.pd

Interrogating intervention delivery and participants' emotional states to improve engagement and implementation: A realist informed multiple case study evaluation of Engager.

BACKGROUND: 'Engager' is an innovative 'through-the-gate' complex care intervention for male prison-leavers with common mental health problems. In parallel to the randomised-controlled trial of Engager (Trial registration number: ISRCTN11707331), a set of process evaluation analyses were undertaken. This paper reports on the depth multiple case study analysis part of the process evaluation, exploring how a sub-sample of prison-leavers engaged and responded to the intervention offer of one-to-one support during their re-integration into the community. METHODS: To understand intervention delivery and what response it elicited in individuals, we used a realist-informed qualitative multiple 'case' studies approach. We scrutinised how intervention component delivery lead to outcomes by examining underlying causal pathways or 'mechanisms' that promoted or hindered progress towards personal outcomes. 'Cases' (n = 24) were prison-leavers from the intervention arm of the trial. We collected practitioner activity logs and conducted semi-structured interviews with prison-leavers and Engager/other service practitioners. We mapped data for each case against the intervention logic model and then used Bhaskar's (2016) 'DREIC' analytic process to categorise cases according to extent of intervention delivery, outcomes evidenced, and contributing factors behind engagement or disengagement and progress achieved. RESULTS: There were variations in the dose and session focus of the intervention delivery, and how different participants responded. Participants sustaining long-term engagement and sustained change reached a state of 'crises but coping'. We found evidence that several components of the intervention were key to achieving this: trusting relationships, therapeutic work delivered well and over time; and an in-depth shared understanding of needs, concerns, and goals between the practitioner and participants. Those who disengaged were in one of the following states: 'Crises and chaos', 'Resigned acceptance', 'Honeymoon' or 'Wilful withdrawal'. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate that the 'implementability' of an intervention can be explained by examining the delivery of core intervention components in relation to the responses elicited in the participants. Core delivery mechanisms often had to be 'triggered' numerous times to produce sustained change. The improvements achieved, sustained, and valued by participants were not always reflected in the quantitative measures recorded in the RCT. The compatibility between the practitioner, participant and setting were continually at risk of being undermined by implementation failure as well as changing external circumstances and participants' own weaknesses. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN11707331, Wales Research Ethics Committee, Registered 02-04-2016-Retrospectively registered https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN11707331

PYRUVATE DEHYDROGENASE KINASE (PDK)

Abstract: Several oximes of triterpenes with a 17-~ hydroxyl and abietane derivatives are inlfibitors of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK) activity. The oxime 12 and dehydroabietyl amine 2 exhibit a blood glucose lowering effect in the diabetic ob/ob mouse after a single oral dose of 100 ~tmol/kg. However, the mechanism of the blood glucose lowering effect is likely unrelated to PDK inhibition

Clarifying realist analytic and interdisciplinary consensus processes in a complex health intervention: A worked example of Judgemental Rationality in action

Judgemental rationality is infrequently referenced within discussions of Realist Evaluations. Judgemental rationality refers to researchers’ capacity to assess which, potential, meanings provide the most credible explanations. In evaluation work, rationale for analysis is provided, though rarely do we see how an evaluator made judgements between competing theories, and which theories were discarded and why. We provide a worked example of the application of judgemental rationality. The Engager intervention offered support to prison leavers with common mental health problems. The data for 24, purposively sampled, participants from the intervention arm of the trial were integrated. Bhaskar’s DREIC, a five-step analytical procedure, was used to transfactually theorise and interrogate the inferences made within, and across, cases. The findings demonstrated that the intervention was more effective when practitioners developed an in-depth understanding of the participant. We recommend that intervention developers look for ways to enhance therapeutic competencies and judgemental rationality in practitioner teams

A comparative analysis reveals weak relationships between ecological factors and beta diversity of stream insect metacommunities at two spatial levels.

The hypotheses that beta diversity should increase with decreasing latitude and increase with spatial extent of a region have rarely been tested based on a comparative analysis of multiple datasets, and no such study has focused on stream insects. We first assessed how well variability in beta diversity of stream insect metacommunities is predicted by insect group, latitude, spatial extent, altitudinal range, and dataset properties across multiple drainage basins throughout the world. Second, we assessed the relative roles of environmental and spatial factors in driving variation in assemblage composition within each drainage basin. Our analyses were based on a dataset of 95 stream insect metacommunities from 31 drainage basins distributed around the world. We used dissimilarity-based indices to quantify beta diversity for each metacommunity and, subsequently, regressed beta diversity on insect group, latitude, spatial extent, altitudinal range, and dataset properties (e.g., number of sites and percentage of presences). Within each metacommunity, we used a combination of spatial eigenfunction analyses and partial redundancy analysis to partition variation in assemblage structure into environmental, shared, spatial, and unexplained fractions. We found that dataset properties were more important predictors of beta diversity than ecological and geographical factors across multiple drainage basins. In the within-basin analyses, environmental and spatial variables were generally poor predictors of variation in assemblage composition. Our results revealed deviation from general biodiversity patterns because beta diversity did not show the expected decreasing trend with latitude. Our results also call for reconsideration of just how predictable stream assemblages are along ecological gradients, with implications for environmental assessment and conservation decisions. Our findings may also be applicable to other dynamic systems where predictability is low

Diversity in CO2 concentrating mechanisms among chemolithoautotrophs from genera Hydrogenovibrio, Thiomicrorhabdus, and Thiomicrospira, ubiquitous in sulfidic habitats worldwide

Members of Hydrogenovibrio, Thiomicrospira and Thiomicrorhabdus fix carbon at hydrothermal vents, coastal sediments, hypersaline lakes, and other sulfidic habitats. The genome sequences of these ubiquitous and prolific chemolithoautotrophs suggest a surprising diversity of mechanisms for dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) uptake and fixation; these mechanisms are verified here. Carboxysomes are apparent in transmission electron micrographs of most of these organisms; lack of carboxysomes in Thiomicrorhabdus sp. Milos T2 and Tmr. arctica, and an inability to grow under low DIC conditions by Thiomicrorhabdus sp. Milos T2 are consistent with an absence of carboxysome loci in their genomes. For the remaining organisms, potential DIC transporters from four evolutionarily distinct families (Tcr0853/0854, Chr, SbtA, SulP) are located downstream of carboxysome loci. Transporter genes collocated with carboxysome loci, as well as some homologs located elsewhere on the chromosomes, had elevated transcript levels under low DIC conditions, as assayed by qRT-PCR. DIC uptake was measureable via silicone oil centrifugation when a representative of each of the four types of transporter was expressed in Escherichia coli. Expression of these genes in carbonic anhydrase-deficient E. coli EDCM636 enabled it to grow under low DIC conditions, consistent with DIC transport by these proteins. The results from this study expand the range of DIC transporters within the SbtA and SulP transporter families, verify DIC uptake by transporters encoded by Tcr_0853 and Tcr_0854 and their homologs, and introduce DIC as a potential substrate for transporters from the Chr family. IMPORTANCE Autotrophic organisms take up and fix DIC, introducing carbon into the biological component of the global carbon cycle. The mechanisms for DIC uptake and fixation by autotrophic Bacteria and Archaea are likely to be diverse, but have only been well-characterized among "Cyanobacteria". Based on genome sequences, members of Hydrogenovibrio, Thiomicrospira and Thiomicrorhabdus have a variety of mechanisms for DIC uptake and fixation. We verified that most of these organisms are capable of growing under low DIC conditions, when they upregulate carboxysome loci and transporter genes collocated with these loci on their chromosomes. When these genes, which fall into four evolutionarily independent families of transporters, are expressed in E. coli, DIC transport is detected. This expansion in known DIC transporters across four families, from organisms from a variety of environments, provides insight into the ecophysiology of autotrophs, as well as a toolkit for engineering microorganisms for carbon-neutral biochemistries of industrial importance