Public responses to precautionary information from the department of health (UK) about possible health risks from mobile phones

Understanding public perceptions of health information is of increasing importance in the light of the growing imperatives upon regulators to communicate information about risk and uncertainty. Communicating the possible health risks from mobile telecommunications is a domain that allows consideration of both public perceptions of uncertain public health information and public responses to precautionary advice. This research reports the results of a nationally representative survey in the UK (n = 1742) that explored public responses to a leaflet issued by the Department of Health (DoH) in 2000 providing information about the possible health risks of mobile phones. The aims of the study were twofold: a) to assess awareness of the leaflet and the extent to which participants could identify the precautionary advice that the leaflet contained as coming from the Government; and b) to examine publics’ responses to the current Government precautionary advice about mobile phone health risks; was this associated with increased concern or reassurance? The results indicate the importance of policy makers developing a clear understanding of the possible effects of communicating precautionary advice.Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programm

The UK Transport Carbon Model : An integrated life cycle approach to explore low carbon futures

Peer reviewedPostprin

Self DNA perpetuates IPF lung fibroblast senescence in a cGAS-dependent manner

Senescence and mitochondrial stress are mutually reinforcing age-related processes that contribute to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF); a lethal disease that manifests primarily in the elderly. Whilst evidence is accumulating that GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) is crucial in perpetuating senescence by binding damaged DNA released into the cytosol, its role in IPF is not known. The present study examines the contributions of cGAS and self DNA to the senescence of lung fibroblasts from IPF patients (IPF-LFs) and age-matched controls (Ctrl-LFs). cGAS immunoreactivity was observed in regions of fibrosis associated with fibroblasts in lung tissue of IPF patients. Pharmacological inhibition of cGAS or its knockdown by silencing RNA (siRNA) diminished the escalation of IPF-LF senescence in culture over 7 days as measured by decreased p21 and p16 expression, histone 2AX? phosphorylation and/or IL-6 production (P < 0.05, n = 5-8). The targeting of cGAS also attenuated etoposide-induced senescence in Ctrl-LFs (P < 0.05, n = 5-8). Levels of mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) detected by qPCR in the cytosol and medium of IPF-LFs or senescence-induced Ctrl-LFs were higher than Ctrl-LFs at baseline (P < 0.05, n = 5-7). The addition of DNAse I (100 U/ml) deaccelerated IPF-LF senescence (P < 0.05, n = 5), whereas ectopic mDNA or the induction of endogenous mDNA release augmented Ctrl-LF senescence in a cGAS-dependent manner (P < 0.05, n = 5). In conclusion, we provide evidence that cGAS reinforces lung fibroblast senescence involving damaged self DNA. The targeting of cGAS to supress senescent-like responses may have potential important therapeutic implications in the treatment of IPF

Industrial constructions of publics and public knowledge: a qualitative investigation of practice in the UK chemicals industry

This is a post print version of the article. The official published version can be obtained from the link below - © 2007 by SAGE PublicationsWhile the rhetoric of public engagement is increasingly commonplace within industry, there has been little research that examines how lay knowledge is conceptualized and whether it is really used within companies. Using the chemicals sector as an example, this paper explores how companies conceive of publics and "public knowledge," and how this relates to modes of engagement/communication with them. Drawing on qualitative empirical research in four companies, we demonstrate that the public for industry are primarily conceived as "consumers" and "neighbours," having concerns that should be allayed rather than as groups with knowledge meriting engagement. We conclude by highlighting the dissonance between current advocacy of engagement and the discourses and practices prevalent within industry, and highlight the need for more realistic strategies for industry/public engagement.Funding was received from the ESRC Science in Society Programme

Foliar water uptake: a common water acquisition strategy for plants of the redwood forest

Evaluations of plant water use in ecosystems around the world reveal a shared capacity by many different species to absorb rain, dew, or fog water directly into their leaves or plant crowns. This mode of water uptake provides an important water subsidy that relieves foliar water stress. Our study provides the first comparative evaluation of foliar uptake capacity among the dominant plant taxa from the coast redwood ecosystem of California where crown-wetting events by summertime fog frequently occur during an otherwise drought-prone season. Previous research demonstrated that the dominant overstory tree species, Sequoia sempervirens, takes up fog water by both its roots (via drip from the crown to the soil) and directly through its leaf surfaces. The present study adds to these early findings and shows that 80% of the dominant species from the redwood forest exhibit this foliar uptake water acquisition strategy. The plants studied include canopy trees, understory ferns, and shrubs. Our results also show that foliar uptake provides direct hydration to leaves, increasing leaf water content by 2–11%. In addition, 60% of redwood forest species investigated demonstrate nocturnal stomatal conductance to water vapor. Such findings indicate that even species unable to absorb water directly into their foliage may still receive indirect benefits from nocturnal leaf wetting through suppressed transpiration. For these species, leaf-wetting events enhance the efficacy of nighttime re-equilibration with available soil water and therefore also increase pre-dawn leaf water potentials

Modelling human visual navigation using multi-view scene reconstruction

It is often assumed that humans generate a 3D reconstruction of the environment, either in egocentric or world-based coordinates, but the steps involved are unknown. Here, we propose two reconstruction-based models, evaluated using data from two tasks in immersive virtual reality. We model the observer’s prediction of landmark location based on standard photogrammetric methods and then combine location predictions to compute likelihood maps of navigation behaviour. In one model, each scene point is treated independently in the reconstruction; in the other, the pertinent variable is the spatial relationship between pairs of points. Participants viewed a simple environment from one location, were transported (virtually) to another part of the scene and were asked to navigate back. Error distributions varied substantially with changes in scene layout; we compared these directly with the likelihood maps to quantify the success of the models. We also measured error distributions when participants manipulated the location of a landmark to match the preceding interval, providing a direct test of the landmark-location stage of the navigation models. Models such as this, which start with scenes and end with a probabilistic prediction of behaviour, are likely to be increasingly useful for understanding 3D vision

Structural basis of nucleosome assembly by the Abo1 AAA+ ATPase histone chaperone

The fundamental unit of chromatin, the nucleosome, is an intricate structure that requires histone chaperones for assembly. ATAD2 AAA+???ATPases are a family of histone chaperones that regulate nucleosome density and chromatin dynamics. Here, we demonstrate that the fission yeast ATAD2 homolog, Abo1, deposits histone H3???H4 onto DNA in an ATP-hydrolysis-dependent manner by in vitro reconstitution and single-tethered DNA curtain assays. We present cryo-EM structures of an ATAD2 family ATPase to atomic resolution in three different nucleotide states, revealing unique structural features required for histone loading on DNA, and directly visualize the transitions of Abo1 from an asymmetric spiral (ATP-state) to a symmetric ring (ADP- and apo-states) using high-speed atomic force microscopy (HS-AFM). Furthermore, we find that the acidic pore of ATP-Abo1 binds a peptide substrate which is suggestive of a histone tail. Based on these results, we propose a model whereby Abo1 facilitates H3???H4 loading by utilizing ATP

Untargeted Metabolomics Reveals a Lack Of Synergy between Nifurtimox and Eflornithine against Trypanosoma brucei

A non-targeted metabolomics-based approach is presented that enables the study of pathways in response to drug action with the aim of defining the mode of action of trypanocides. Eflornithine, a polyamine pathway inhibitor, and nifurtimox, whose mode of action involves its metabolic activation, are currently used in combination as first line treatment against stage 2, CNS-involved, human African trypanosomiasis (HAT). Drug action was assessed using an LC-MS based non-targeted metabolomics approach. Eflornithine revealed the expected changes to the polyamine pathway as well as several unexpected changes that point to pathways and metabolites not previously described in bloodstream form trypanosomes, including a lack of arginase activity and N-acetylated ornithine and putrescine. Nifurtimox was shown to be converted to a trinitrile metabolite indicative of metabolic activation, as well as inducing changes in levels of metabolites involved in carbohydrate and nucleotide metabolism. However, eflornithine and nifurtimox failed to synergise anti-trypanosomal activity in vitro, and the metabolomic changes associated with the combination are the sum of those found in each monotherapy with no indication of additional effects. The study reveals how untargeted metabolomics can yield rapid information on drug targets that could be adapted to any pharmacological situation

An analysis of waves underlying grid cell firing in the medial enthorinal cortex

Layer II stellate cells in the medial enthorinal cortex (MEC) express hyperpolarisation-activated cyclic-nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels that allow for rebound spiking via an I_h current in response to hyperpolarising synaptic input. A computational modelling study by Hasselmo [2013 Neuronal rebound spiking, resonance frequency and theta cycle skipping may contribute to grid cell firing in medial entorhinal cortex. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 369: 20120523] showed that an inhibitory network of such cells can support periodic travelling waves with a period that is controlled by the dynamics of the I_h current. Hasselmo has suggested that these waves can underlie the generation of grid cells, and that the known difference in I_h resonance frequency along the dorsal to ventral axis can explain the observed size and spacing between grid cell firing fields. Here we develop a biophysical spiking model within a framework that allows for analytical tractability. We combine the simplicity of integrate-and-fire neurons with a piecewise linear caricature of the gating dynamics for HCN channels to develop a spiking neural field model of MEC. Using techniques primarily drawn from the field of nonsmooth dynamical systems we show how to construct periodic travelling waves, and in particular the dispersion curve that determines how wave speed varies as a function of period. This exhibits a wide range of long wavelength solutions, reinforcing the idea that rebound spiking is a candidate mechanism for generating grid cell firing patterns. Importantly we develop a wave stability analysis to show how the maximum allowed period is controlled by the dynamical properties of the I_h current. Our theoretical work is validated by numerical simulations of the spiking model in both one and two dimensions