Fall prevention in the community: what older people say they need

Original article can be found at: http://www.bjcn.co.uk/ Copyright MA HealthcareUptake of and adherence to fall prevention interventions is often poor and we know little about how older people’s perceptions of and beliefs about fall prevention interventions affect uptake. This study aimed to explore older people’s perceptions of the facilitators and barriers to participation in fall prevention interventions. We undertook a qualitative study with older people who had taken part in, declined to participate or adhere to fall prevention interventions using semi-structured interviews (n=65), and 17 focus groups (n=122) with older people (including 32 South Asian and 30 Chinese older people) in primary and community care settings in the South of England. A number of factors acted as either barriers or facilitators to uptake of interventions. Older people also made recommendations for improving access to interventions. Community nurses are ideally placed to screen older people, identify those at risk of falling and refer them to appropriate interventions as well as providing health promotion and education.Peer reviewe

Tumour markers in breast cancer.

The clinical usefulness of 8 potential tumour markers has been evaluated in 69 patients with Stage I and II breast cancer and 57 patients with Stage III and IV. Serum CEA concentrations were raised in 13% of patients with local and 65% of those with advanced breast cancer. In patients with clinical evidence of progression or regression of tumour, serum CEA levels changed appropriately in 83% of cases. Taking 4 of the markers (carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), lactalbumin, alpha subunit and haptoglobin) serum concentrations of one or more were raised in 33% of patients with local disease and 81% of those with advanced breast cancer. However, marker concentrations were often only marginally raised, and are unlikely to provide sensitive guide to tumour burden. CEA, lactalbumin and alpha subunit were detectable in 68%, 43% and 40% respectively of extracts of primary breast cancers

Proteome Profiling of Breast Tumors by Gel Electrophoresis and Nanoscale Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry

We have conducted proteome-wide analysis of fresh surgery specimens derived from breast cancer patients, using an approach that integrates size-based intact protein fractionation, nanoscale liquid separation of peptides, electrospray ion trap mass spectrometry, and bioinformatics. Through this approach, we have acquired a large amount of peptide fragmentation spectra from size-resolved fractions of the proteomes of several breast tumors, tissue peripheral to the tumor, and samples from patients undergoing noncancer surgery. Label-free quantitation was used to generate protein abundance maps for each proteome and perform comparative analyses. The mass spectrometry data revealed distinct qualitative and quantitative patterns distinguishing the tumors from healthy tissue as well as differences between metastatic and non-metastatic human breast cancers including many established and potential novel candidate protein biomarkers. Selected proteins were evaluated by Western blotting using tumors grouped according to histological grade, size, and receptor expression but differing in nodal status. Immunohistochemical analysis of a wide panel of breast tumors was conducted to assess expression in different types of breast cancers and the cellular distribution of the candidate proteins. These experiments provided further insights and an independent validation of the data obtained by mass spectrometry and revealed the potential of this approach for establishing multimodal markers for early metastasis, therapy outcomes, prognosis, and diagnosis in the future. © 2008 American Chemical Society

The politics of the teaching of reading

Historically, political debates have broken out over how to teach reading in primary schools and infant classrooms. These debates and “reading wars” have often resulted from public concerns and media reportage of a fall in reading standards. They also reflect the importance placed on learning to read by parents, teachers, employers, and politicians. Public and media-driven controversies over the teaching of reading have resulted in intense public and professional debates over which specific methods and materials to use with beginning readers and with children who have reading difficulties. Recently, such debates have led to a renewed emphasis on reading proficiency and “standardized” approaches to teaching reading and engaging with literacy. The universal acceptance of the importance of learning to read has also led to vested interests in specific methods, reading programmes, and early literacy assessments amongst professional, business, commercial, and parental lobbying groups. This article traces these debates and the resulting growing support for a quantitative reductionist approach to early-reading programmes

Density-dependence and environmental variability have stage-specific influences on European grayling growth.

Fish somatic growth is indeterminate and can be influenced by a range of abiotic and biotic variables. With climate change forecast to increase the frequency of warming and unusual discharge events, it is thus important to understand how these variables currently influence somatic growth and how that might differ for specific age-classes and/ or life stages. Here, we used a 17-year dataset from a chalk stream in southern England to identify the abiotic and biotic influences on the growth of juvenile, sub-adult and adult life stages of European grayling (Thymallus thymallus), a cold-water riverine salmonid. The results revealed that interannual variations in grayling growth were well described by annual- and site-specific abiotic and biotic explanatory variables. We found divergent responses between life stages to increased temperature and unusual discharge during the main growth period with, for example, elevated temperatures related to increased juvenile growth but reduced sub-adult growth, and high discharge events related to increased sub-adult growth yet reduced juvenile growth. Conversely, stage-specific grayling abundance negatively influenced growth at each life stage, though only juvenile growth was impacted by the abundance of a competitor species, brown trout (Salmo trutta). These results emphasise the merits of testing a wide range of environmental and biological explanatory variables on fish growth, and across life stages. They also reveal the importance of maintaining high habitat heterogeneity in rivers to ensure all life stages can reduce their competitive interactions and have access to adequate flow and thermal refugia during periods of elevated environmental stress

In Silico and Biochemical Analysis of Physcomitrella patens Photosynthetic Antenna: Identification of Subunits which Evolved upon Land Adaptation

Background. In eukaryotes the photosynthetic antenna system is composed of subunits encoded by the light harvesting complex (Lhc) multigene family. These proteins play a key role in photosynthesis and are involved in both light harvesting and photoprotection. The moss Physcomitrella patens is a member of a lineage that diverged from seed plants early after land colonization and therefore by studying this organism, we may gain insight into adaptations to the aerial environment. Principal Findings. In this study, we characterized the antenna protein multigene family in Physcomitrella patens, by sequence analysis as well as biochemical and functional investigations. Sequence identification and analysis showed that some antenna polypeptides, such as Lhcb3 and Lhcb6, are present only in land organisms, suggesting they play a role in adaptation to the sub-aerial environment. Our functional analysis which showed that photo-protective mechanisms in Physcomitrella patens are very similar to those in seed plants fits with this hypothesis. In particular, Physcomitrella patens also activates Non Photochemical Quenching upon illumination, consistent with the detection of an ortholog of the PsbS protein. As a further adaptation to terrestrial conditions, the content of Photosystem I low energy absorbing chlorophylls also increased, as demonstrated by differences in Lhca3 and Lhca4 polypeptide sequences, in vitro reconstitution experiments and low temperature fluorescence spectra. Conclusions. This study highlights the role of Lhc family members in environmental adaptation and allowed proteins associated with mechanisms of stress resistance to be identified within this large family

SNAPSHOT USA 2020: A second coordinated national camera trap survey of the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic

Managing wildlife populations in the face of global change requires regular data on the abundance and distribution of wild animals, but acquiring these over appropriate spatial scales in a sustainable way has proven challenging. Here we present the data from Snapshot USA 2020, a second annual national mammal survey of the USA. This project involved 152 scientists setting camera traps in a standardized protocol at 1485 locations across 103 arrays in 43 states for a total of 52,710 trap-nights of survey effort. Most (58) of these arrays were also sampled during the same months (September and October) in 2019, providing a direct comparison of animal populations in 2 years that includes data from both during and before the COVID-19 pandemic. All data were managed by the eMammal system, with all species identifications checked by at least two reviewers. In total, we recorded 117,415 detections of 78 species of wild mammals, 9236 detections of at least 43 species of birds, 15,851 detections of six domestic animals and 23,825 detections of humans or their vehicles. Spatial differences across arrays explained more variation in the relative abundance than temporal variation across years for all 38 species modeled, although there are examples of significant site-level differences among years for many species. Temporal results show how species allocate their time and can be used to study species interactions, including between humans and wildlife. These data provide a snapshot of the mammal community of the USA for 2020 and will be useful for exploring the drivers of spatial and temporal changes in relative abundance and distribution, and the impacts of species interactions on daily activity patterns. There are no copyright restrictions, and please cite this paper when using these data, or a subset of these data, for publication