Review of research on migration influences and implications for population dynamics in the wider South East

The Wider South East (WSE) is a large, diverse, dynamic, well networked and polycentric region – although with over a third of its population in one central conurbation. The effect of this combination of characteristics is to give it a highly integrated migration system, with sub-regions occupying different roles and to varying degrees of dynamism, but interacting with the other sub-regions and responding to some shared external factors - in ways that need to be better understood

Translation and fates of the gag protein of 1731, a Drosophila melanogaster retrotransposon

AbstractAn entire copy of 1731, a Drosophila melanogaster retrotransposon, was tagged by fusing in frame its putative gag gene with the reporter LacZ sequence. The high transfection efficiency of Drosophila virilis cells added to the absence of 1731 in their genome allowed, by combining histochemical staining and immunological detections, the demonstration of the translation of the 1731 gag gene. The gag protein is gathered in virus-like particles. Its occurrence in nuclei is consistent with a nuclear localization signal. The expression of the sense construction was inhibited by cotransfections with its antisense homologue

Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation of Coffea arabica (L.) is greatly enhanced by using established embryogenic callus cultures

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Following genome sequencing of crop plants, one of the main challenges today is determining the function of all the predicted genes. When gene validation approaches are used for woody species, the main obstacle is the low recovery rate of transgenic plants from elite or commercial cultivars. Embryogenic calli have frequently been the target tissue for transformation, but the difficulty in producing or maintaining embryogenic tissues is one of the main problems encountered in genetic transformation of many woody plants, including <it>Coffea arabica</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We identified the conditions required for successful long-term proliferation of embryogenic cultures in <it>C. arabica </it>and designed a highly efficient and reliable <it>Agrobacterium tumefaciens</it>-mediated transformation method based on these conditions. The transformation protocol with LBA1119 harboring pBin 35S GFP was established by evaluating the effect of different parameters on transformation efficiency by GFP detection. Using embryogenic callus cultures, co-cultivation with LBA1119 OD₆₀₀= 0.6 for five days at 20 °C enabled reproducible transformation. The maintenance conditions for the embryogenic callus cultures, particularly a high auxin to cytokinin ratio, the age of the culture (optimum for 7-10 months of proliferation) and the use of a yellow callus phenotype, were the most important factors for achieving highly efficient transformation (> 90%). At the histological level, successful transformation was related to the number of proembryogenic masses present. All the selected plants were proved to be transformed by PCR and Southern blot hybridization.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Most progress in increasing transformation efficiency in coffee has been achieved by optimizing the production conditions of embryogenic cultures used as target tissues for transformation. This is the first time that a strong positive effect of the age of the culture on transformation efficiency was demonstrated. Our results make <it>Agrobacterium</it>-mediated transformation of embryogenic cultures a viable and useful tool both for coffee breeding and for the functional analysis of agronomically important genes.</p

Creative and Stylistic Devices Employed by Children During a Storybook Narrative Task: A Cross-Cultural Study

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of culture on the creative and stylistic features children employ when producing narratives based on wordless picture books. Method: Participants included 60 first- and second-grade African American, Latino American, and Caucasian children. A subset of narratives based on wordless picture books collected as part of a larger study was coded and analyzed for the following creative and stylistic conventions: organizational style (topic centered, linear, cyclical), dialogue (direct, indirect), reference to character relationships (nature, naming, conduct), embellishment (fantasy, suspense, conflict), and paralinguistic devices (expressive sounds, exclamatory utterances). Results: Many similarities and differences between ethnic groups were found. No significant differences were found between ethnic groups in organizational style or use of paralinguistic devices. African American children included more fantasy in their stories, Latino children named their characters more often, and Caucasian children made more references to the nature of character relationships. Conclusion: Even within the context of a highly structured narrative task based on wordless picture books, culture influences children’s production of narratives. Enhanced understanding of narrative structure, creativity, and style is necessary to provide ecologically valid narrative assessment and intervention for children from diverse cultural backgrounds

Phase 1 study of Intravenous administration of the chimeric adenovirus enadenotucirev in patients undergoing primary tumor resection

Background: Enadenotucirev (formerly ColoAd1) is a tumor-selective chimeric adenovirus with demonstrated preclinical activity. This phase 1 Mechanism of Action study assessed intravenous (IV) delivery of enadenotucirev in patients with resectable colorectal cancer (CRC), non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), urothelial cell cancer (UCC), and renal cell cancer (RCC) with a comparator intratumoral (IT) dosed CRC patient cohort. Methods: seventeen patients scheduled for primary tumor resection were enrolled. IT injection of enadenotucirev (CRC only) was administered as a single dose (≤ 3 × 1011 viral particles [vp]) on day 1, followed by resection during days 8-15. IV infusion of enadenotucirev was administered by three separate doses (1 × 1012 vp) on days 1, 3, and 5, followed by resection during days 8-15 (CRC) or days 10-25 (NSCLC, UCC, and RCC). Enadenotucirev activity was measured using immunohistochemical staining of nuclear viral hexon and quantitative polymerase chain reaction for viral genomic DNA. Results: delivery of enadenotucirev was observed in most tumor samples following IV infusion, with little or no demonstrable activity in normal tissue. This virus delivery (by both IV and IT dosing) was accompanied by high local CD8+ cell infiltration in 80% of tested tumor samples, suggesting a potential enadenotucirev-driven immune response. Both methods of enadenotucirev delivery were well tolerated, with no treatment-associated serious adverse events. Conclusions: this study provides key delivery and feasibility data to support the use of IV infusion of enadenotucirev, or therapeutic transgene-bearing derivatives of it, in clinical trials across a range of epithelial tumors, including the ongoing combination study of enadenotucirev with the checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab. It also provides insights into the potential immune-stimulating properties of enadenotucirev. Trial registration: this MOA study was a phase 1, multicenter, non-randomized, open-label study to investigate the administration of enadenotucirev in a preoperative setting (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02053220)

Impact of Trauma System Structure on Injury Outcomes : A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The effectiveness of trauma systems in decreasing injury mortality and morbidity has been well demonstrated. However, little is known about which components contribute to their effectiveness. We aimed to systematically review the evidence of the impact of trauma system components on clinically important injury outcomes. We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane CENTRAL, and BIOSIS/Web of Knowledge, gray literature and trauma association Web sites to identify studies evaluating the association between at least one trauma system component and injury outcome. We calculated pooled effect estimates using inverse-variance random-effects models. We evaluated quality of evidence using GRADE criteria. We screened 15,974 records, retaining 41 studies for qualitative synthesis and 19 for meta-analysis. Two recommended trauma system components were associated with reduced odds of mortality: inclusive design (odds ratio [OR] = 0.72 [0.65-0.80]) and helicopter transport (OR = 0.70 [0.55-0.88]). Pre-Hospital Advanced Trauma Life Support was associated with a significant reduction in hospital days (mean difference [MD] = 5.7 [4.4-7.0]) but a nonsignificant reduction in mortality (OR = 0.78 [0.44-1.39]). Population density of surgeons was associated with a nonsignificant decrease in mortality (MD = 0.58 [-0.22 to 1.39]). Trauma system maturity was associated with a significant reduction in mortality (OR = 0.76 [0.68-0.85]). Quality of evidence was low or very low for mortality and healthcare utilization. This review offers low-quality evidence for the effectiveness of an inclusive design and trauma system maturity and very-low-quality evidence for helicopter transport in reducing injury mortality. Further research should evaluate other recommended components of trauma systems and non-fatal outcomes and explore the impact of system component interactions.Peer reviewe

Impact of Trauma System Structure on Injury Outcomes : A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The effectiveness of trauma systems in decreasing injury mortality and morbidity has been well demonstrated. However, little is known about which components contribute to their effectiveness. We aimed to systematically review the evidence of the impact of trauma system components on clinically important injury outcomes. We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane CENTRAL, and BIOSIS/Web of Knowledge, gray literature and trauma association Web sites to identify studies evaluating the association between at least one trauma system component and injury outcome. We calculated pooled effect estimates using inverse-variance random-effects models. We evaluated quality of evidence using GRADE criteria. We screened 15,974 records, retaining 41 studies for qualitative synthesis and 19 for meta-analysis. Two recommended trauma system components were associated with reduced odds of mortality: inclusive design (odds ratio [OR] = 0.72 [0.65-0.80]) and helicopter transport (OR = 0.70 [0.55-0.88]). Pre-Hospital Advanced Trauma Life Support was associated with a significant reduction in hospital days (mean difference [MD] = 5.7 [4.4-7.0]) but a nonsignificant reduction in mortality (OR = 0.78 [0.44-1.39]). Population density of surgeons was associated with a nonsignificant decrease in mortality (MD = 0.58 [-0.22 to 1.39]). Trauma system maturity was associated with a significant reduction in mortality (OR = 0.76 [0.68-0.85]). Quality of evidence was low or very low for mortality and healthcare utilization. This review offers low-quality evidence for the effectiveness of an inclusive design and trauma system maturity and very-low-quality evidence for helicopter transport in reducing injury mortality. Further research should evaluate other recommended components of trauma systems and non-fatal outcomes and explore the impact of system component interactions.Peer reviewe