Estudio comparado de la genitalia de dos poblaciones españolas de Cataglyphis (Hym., Formicidae), grupo albicans de color negro

El estudio de la genitalia masculina de dos poblaciones de Cataglyphis grupo albicans de color negro, de Tarifa (Cádiz) y Bellaterra (Barcelona), inicialmente consideradas por diferencias de coloración como C. albicans y C. ibericus, respectivamente, pone de manifiesto diferencias importantes entre ellas, coincidentes con el estudio enzimático (De Haro y otros, 1995). Este estudio enzimático motivó la consideración provisional de las poblaciones orientales ibéricas como pertenecientes a C. albicans, dados 10s problemas que planteaba su identidad con la población marroquí C . albicans ruber. La población de Tarifa se consideró un taxón nuevo, no quedando aclarada la situación taxómica de C. ibericus. Estudios geográficamente mis extensos aclararán si estas poblaciones ibéricas forman parte de una clina morfológica y qué taxón o taxones constituyen.The study of male genitalia of two populations of Cataglyphis group albicans, black colour, from Tarifa (Cádiz) and Bellaterra (Barcelona), previously considered by differences in colour as C. albicans and C . ibericus, respectively, show important differences, in coincidence with enzymatic study (De Haro et al., 1995). In these enzymatic studies, the eastern iberian populations were provisionally considered as C. albicans, due to the problems showed by their identity with the morocco population C . albicans ruber. The Tarifa population was considered a new taxon, with no explanation about the taxonomic situation of C . ibericus. Further studies with greater geographical extension will clear up the existence of a possible morphological cline in the iberian populations and which taxon or taxons they constitute

People with aphasia creating an aphasia friendly website: The DMU4 experience

People with aphasia creating an aphasia friendly website: The DMU4 experience Bixley,M., DMU4, Hall, R., Weale, R., Collingwood, J., Marshall, F. & Hamilton, C. Background Information The DMU4 Conversation group is part of Aphasia Leicester; a community based, voluntary sector, long term support organisation for People with Aphasia (PWA). Members of DMU4 have experienced being unable to access information about their condition because of the way in which the information is presented. These personal experiences are supported by research such as the Care Quality Commission’s (2011) report that suggested that only 40% of social services in Britain provided information in an accessible way for PWA post stroke. In 2011, DMU4 created a leaflet about aphasia that was designed to be used in acute hospitals to educate stroke survivors, relatives and hospital staff about aphasia (Bixley et al, 2011). This leaflet has been distributed to hospitals, surgeries and Speech and Language Therapy Departments in Leicestershire and Rutland. Last year DMU4 decided that they would like to embark on a new project; creating a website about aphasia that was also accessible to PWA. Method The group decided that there were three main factors that needed to guide the construction and structure of the website. Firstly, people with aphasia would appear on the website as aphasia experts. Secondly, navigation around the website should be aphasia friendly, based on visual images and accessible written language. Lastly, members of DMU4 would retain copyright over their own images. For this reason, the site was hosted on “Our DMU Commons” a self organising space that allows users to co construct their own website using open source software. The content of the website was agreed through group discussions. Following these discussions, nine DMU4 members attended a whole day filming session in which their perceptions of aphasia were recorded. Films were then transcribed and edited into eleven themes using a grounded approach. Skeat & Perry (2007) suggest this approach is useful when investigating information that is not available anywhere else, such as the information presented in this website. Informed consent was elicited through discussions, meetings, film and website screenings and signed agreement. Results and discussion The DMU4 website project has two tangible outcomes. The first is that the site will be available to people who want to learn about aphasia. The second is that the resource will be available for Speech and Language Therapy students. Learning activities will enable students to practise recognising and understand aphasia from the perspective of those who live with the loss of language post stroke. The practices of DMU4 are rooted firmly in the social approach to aphasia therapy (Pound, Parr, Lindsay and Woolf, 2000). It is hoped that the website’s third, less measurable, outcome will be a contribution to overcoming the attitudinal and informational barriers that are experienced by PWA post stoke. References BIXLEY, M., DMU4 & HAMILTON, C. (2011) Aphasia – an information leaflet designed by people with aphasia. British Aphasiology Society Biennial International Conference Book of Abstracts, 12. CARE QUALITY COMMISSION (2011) Supporting life after stroke: A review of services for people who have had a stroke and their carers. London: Care Quality Commission. SKEAT, J. & PERRY, A. (2008). Grounded theory as a method for research in speech and language therapy. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 43, 2, 95-109. POUND, C., PARR, S., LINDSAY, J. & WOOLF, C. (2000) Beyond Aphasia: Therapies for Living with Communication Disability. Bicester: Winslow

Mapping epilepsy-specific patient-reported outcome measures for children to a proposed core outcome set for childhood epilepsy

This is the final version. Available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordObjective: The objectives of the study were to (1) map questions in epilepsy-specific patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) of children's health-related quality of life (HRQoL) to a proposed core outcome set (COS) for childhood epilepsy research and (2) gain insight into the acceptability of two leading candidate PROMs. Method: We identified 11 epilepsy-specific PROMs of children's HRQoL (17 questionnaire versions) in a previous systematic review. Each item from the PROMs was mapped to 38 discrete outcomes across 10 domains of the COS: seizures, sleep, social functioning, mental health, cognition, physical functioning, behavior, adverse events, family life, and global quality of life. We consulted with three children with epilepsy and six parents of children with epilepsy in Patient Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) work to gain an understanding of the acceptability of the two leading PROMs from our review of measurement properties: Quality of Life in Childhood Epilepsy (QOLCE-55) and Health-Related Quality of Life Measure for Children with Epilepsy (CHEQOL). Results: Social Functioning is covered by all PROMs except DISABKIDS and G-QOLCE and Mental Health is covered by all PROMs except G-QOLCE and Hague Restrictions in Childhood Epilepsy Scale (HARCES). Only two PROMs (Epilepsy and Learning Disability Quality of Life (ELDQOL) and Glasgow Epilepsy Outcome Scale (GEOS-YP)) have items that cover the Seizure domain. The QOLCE-55 includes items that cover the domains of Physical Functioning, Social Functioning, Behavior, Mental Health, and Cognition. The CHEQOL parent and child versions cover the same domains as QOLCE-55 except for Physical Functioning and Behavior, and the child version has one item that covers the discrete outcome of Overall Quality of Life and one item that covers the discrete outcome of Relationship with parents and siblings. The QOLCE-55 parent version was acceptable to the parents we consulted with, and CHEQOL parent and child versions were described as acceptable to our child and parent advisory panel members. Significance: Mapping items from existing epilepsy-specific PROMs for children is an important step in operationalizing our COS for childhood epilepsy research, alongside evaluation of their measurement properties. Two leading PROMS, QOLCE-55 and CHEQOL, cover a wide range of domains from our COS and would likely be used in conjunction with assessment tools selected for specific study objectives. The PPIE work provided practical insights into the administration and acceptability of candidate PROMs in appropriate context. We promote our COS as a framework for selecting outcomes and PROMs for future childhood epilepsy evaluative research.National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)Canadian Institutes of Health ResearchWaterloo FoundationCharles Sykes Epilepsy Research Trus

Resolution of null fiber and conormal bundles on the Lagrangian Grassmannian

We study the null fiber of a moment map related to dual pairs. We construct an equivariant resolution of singularities of the null fiber, and get conormal bundles of closed $K_C$-orbits in the Lagrangian Grassmannian as the categorical quotient. The conormal bundles thus obtained turn out to be a resolution of singularities of the closure of nilpotent $K_C$-orbits, which is a "quotient" of the resolution of the null fiber.Comment: 17 pages; completely revised and add reference

On all possible static spherically symmetric EYM solitons and black holes

We prove local existence and uniqueness of static spherically symmetric solutions of the Einstein-Yang-Mills equations for any action of the rotation group (or SU(2)) by automorphisms of a principal bundle over space-time whose structure group is a compact semisimple Lie group G. These actions are characterized by a vector in the Cartan subalgebra of g and are called regular if the vector lies in the interior of a Weyl chamber. In the irregular cases (the majority for larger gauge groups) the boundary value problem that results for possible asymptotically flat soliton or black hole solutions is more complicated than in the previously discussed regular cases. In particular, there is no longer a gauge choice possible in general so that the Yang-Mills potential can be given by just real-valued functions. We prove the local existence of regular solutions near the singularities of the system at the center, the black hole horizon, and at infinity, establish the parameters that characterize these local solutions, and discuss the set of possible actions and the numerical methods necessary to search for global solutions. That some special global solutions exist is easily derived from the fact that su(2) is a subalgebra of any compact semisimple Lie algebra. But the set of less trivial global solutions remains to be explored.Comment: 26 pages, 2 figures, LaTeX, misprints corrected, 1 reference adde

Feasibility and Informative Value of Environmental Sample Collection in the National Children\u27s Vanguard Study

Background: Birth cohort studies provide the opportunity to advance understanding of the impact of environmental factors on childhood health and development through prospective collection of environmental samples. Methods: We evaluated the feasibility and informative value of the environmental sample collection methodology in the initial pilot phase of the National Children\u27s Study, a planned U.S. environmental birth cohort study. Environmental samples were collected from January 2009–September 2010 at up to three home visits: pre-pregnancy (n¼306), pregnancy (n¼807), and 6-months postnatal (n¼117). Collections included air for particulate matter r2.5 mm (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide, ozone, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and carbonyls; vacuum dust for allergens/endotoxin; water for VOCs, trihalomethanes (THMs), and haloacetic acids (HAAs); and wipe samples for pesticides, semi-volatile organics, and metals. We characterized feasibility using sample collection rates and times and informative value using analyte detection frequencies (DF). Results: Among the 1230 home visits, environmental sample collection rates were high across all sample types (mean¼89%); all samples except the air PM2.5 samples had collection times o30 min. Informative value was low for water VOCs (median DF¼0%) and pesticide floor wipes (median DF¼5%). Informative value was moderate for air samples (median DF¼35%) and high for water THMs and HAAs (median DF¼91% and 75%, respectively). Conclusions: Though collection of environmental samples was feasible, some samples (e.g., wipe pesticides and water VOCs) yielded limited information. These results can be used in conjunction with other study design considerations, such as target population size and hypotheses of interest, to inform the method selection of future environmental health birth cohort studies

Solid-phase synthesis of duocarmycin analogues and the effect of C-terminal substitution on biological activity

YesThe duocarmycins are potent antitumour agents with potential in the development of antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) as well as being clinical candidates in their own right. In this paper, we describe the synthesis of a duocarmycin monomer (DSA) that is suitably protected for utilisation in solid phase synthesis. The synthesis was performed on a large scale and the resulting racemic protected Fmoc-DSA subunit was separated by supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) into the single enantiomers. Application to solid phase synthesis methodology gave a series of monomeric and extended duocarmycin analogues with amino acid substituents. The DNA sequence selectivity was similar to previous reports for both the monomeric and extended compounds. The substitution at the C-terminus of the duocarmycin caused a decrease in antiproliferative activity for all of the compounds studied. An extended compound containing an alanine at the C-terminus was converted to the primary amide or to an extended structure containing a terminal tertiary amine but this had no beneficial effects on biological activity.MJS was funded by Novartis and UEA. We thank the EPSRC Mass Spectrometry Service, Swansea. We thank Richard Robinson and Julia Hatto at Novartis for help in the large scale synthesis