Are diabetes self-management programmes for the general diabetes population effective for people with severe mental illness?: a systematic review.

Background: Diabetes self-management education programmes are effective in improving health outcomes in the general population with diabetes. However, it is not known if these programmes include people who also have a severe mental illness (SMI) and, if so, what their outcomes are. The aim of this review was to examine if evaluations of diabetes self-management education programmes included people with SMI, and if so, whether the interventions were beneficial for this population. Methods: The inclusion criteria for this systematic review, defined by PICOS criteria, were: Population - Adults with type 2 diabetes; Intervention - self-management education programme; Comparator – another active intervention or usual care; Outcomes of interest – inclusion of people with SMI and the clinical, behavioural and psychosocial outcomes in this population; Study design - randomised controlled trials. The following bibliographic databases were searched from January 2004 to April 2018: Cochrane Library, Medline, Embase, PsychINFO, Allied and Complimentary Medicine Database, Health Technology Assessment, NHS Economic Evaluations Database and CINAHL. Data were extracted on study characteristics, inclusion and exclusion criteria, participant and intervention characteristics, number of participants with SMI, and outcomes for people with SMI, if reported. Authors were contacted by email for missing data. Results: A total of 410 trials were included. At least 42% of trials did not recruit any participants with SMI. Only nine confirmed inclusion of participants with SMI, of which six provided data on the number recruited. These six trials recruited a total of 1009 participants, of whom 31 (3.1%) had SMI. It was not possible to assess intervention effectiveness for people with SMI as none of the trials reported outcomes for these participants. Conclusions: This systematic review confirms that people with SMI are often excluded from trials of diabetes self-management education, resulting in a lack of an evidence base on which to base treatment paths for this vulnerable population. It cannot be assumed that programmes developed for the general diabetes population meet the needs of people with SMI. Future research needs to examine if and how these programmes could be adapted for people with SMI or if new programmes are required

Temperature-Sensitive RB Mutations Linked to Incomplete Penetrance of Familial Retinoblastoma in 12 Families

SummaryThe tumor-suppressor activity of the retinoblastoma protein (RB) is encoded within a protein-binding (“pocket”) domain that is targeted for mutations in all cases of familial retinoblastoma and in many common adult cancers. Although familial retinoblastoma is a paradigm for a highly penetrant, recessive model of tumorigenesis, the molecular basis for the phenotype of incomplete penetrance of familial retinoblastoma is undefined. We studied the RB pocket-binding properties of three independent, mutant RB alleles that are present in the germline of 12 kindreds with the phenotype of incomplete penetrance of familial retinoblastoma. Each arises from alterations of single codons within the RB pocket domain (designated “Δ480,” “661W,” or “712R”). Under the same conditions, we studied the properties of wild-type (WT) RB, an RB point mutant isolated from a lung carcinoma sample (706F) and an adjacent, in vitro–generated point mutant (707W). The Δ480, 661W, and 712R mutants lack pocket protein-binding activity in vitro but retain the WT ability to undergo cyclin-mediated phosphorylation in vivo. Each of the low-penetrant RB mutants exhibits marked enhancement of pocket protein binding when the cells are grown at reduced temperature. In contrast, in this temperature range, no change in binding activity is seen with WT RB, the 706F mutant, or the 707W mutant. We have demonstrated that many families with incomplete penetrance of familial retinoblastoma carry unstable, mutant RB alleles with temperature-sensitive pocket protein-binding activity. The variable frequency for tumor development in these families may result from reversible fluctuations in a threshold level of RB pocket-binding activity

Impact damage resistance of composite fuselage structure, part 1

The impact damage resistance of laminated composite transport aircraft fuselage structures was studied experimentally. A statistically based designed experiment was used to examine numerous material, laminate, structural, and extrinsic (e.g., impactor type) variables. The relative importance and quantitative measure of the effect of each variable and variable interactions on responses including impactor dynamic response, visibility, and internal damage state were determined. The study utilized 32 three-stiffener panels, each with a unique combination of material type, material forms, and structural geometry. Two manufacturing techniques, tow placement and tape lamination, were used to build panels representative of potential fuselage crown, keel, and lower side-panel designs. Various combinations of impactor variables representing various foreign-object-impact threats to the aircraft were examined. Impacts performed at different structural locations within each panel (e.g., skin midbay, stiffener attaching flange, etc.) were considered separate parallel experiments. The relationship between input variables, measured damage states, and structural response to this damage are presented including recommendations for materials and impact test methods for fuselage structure

Identification of 2-Aminothiazole-4-Carboxylate Derivatives Active against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv and the β-Ketoacyl-ACP Synthase mtFabH

Background Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease which kills two million people every year and infects approximately over one-third of the world's population. The difficulty in managing tuberculosis is the prolonged treatment duration, the emergence of drug resistance and co-infection with HIV/AIDS. Tuberculosis control requires new drugs that act at novel drug targets to help combat resistant forms of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and reduce treatment duration. Methodology/Principal Findings Our approach was to modify the naturally occurring and synthetically challenging antibiotic thiolactomycin (TLM) to the more tractable 2-aminothiazole-4-carboxylate scaffold to generate compounds that mimic TLM's novel mode of action. We report here the identification of a series of compounds possessing excellent activity against M. tuberculosis H37Rv and, dissociatively, against the β-ketoacyl synthase enzyme mtFabH which is targeted by TLM. Specifically, methyl 2-amino-5-benzylthiazole-4-carboxylate was found to inhibit M. tuberculosis H37Rv with an MIC of 0.06 µg/ml (240 nM), but showed no activity against mtFabH, whereas methyl 2-(2-bromoacetamido)-5-(3-chlorophenyl)t​hiazole-4-carboxylateinhibited mtFabH with an IC50 of 0.95±0.05 µg/ml (2.43±0.13 µM) but was not active against the whole cell organism. Conclusions/Significance These findings clearly identify the 2-aminothiazole-4-carboxylate scaffold as a promising new template towards the discovery of a new class of anti-tubercular agents

4mu spectra of AGB stars I: Observations

We present times series of high resolution spectra of AGB variables at 4mu. Line profiles from the major contributors to the spectra of oxygen rich stars at 4mu, OH, H$_2$O, HCl and SiO, are examined. The velocity as well as shape variations of these profiles with time are discussed. The line profiles investigated frequently have emission and multiple absorption components. The changes with time of the 4mu region lines do not always follow the cyclic variability seen in NIR spectra and in the photometric light curve. We interpret and discuss the results qualitatively considering comparing the spectral variability with that of the well behaved 1.6mu region and of dynamical model atmospheres. Miras and semiregular variables are compared. The origins of non-periodic behavior are discussed, including the role of spatial inhomogeneities in the stellar atmosphere.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Cold collisions of OH and Rb. I: the free collision

We have calculated elastic and state-resolved inelastic cross sections for cold and ultracold collisions in the Rb($^1 S$) + OH($^2 \Pi_{3/2}$) system, including fine-structure and hyperfine effects. We have developed a new set of five potential energy surfaces for Rb-OH($^2 \Pi$) from high-level {\em ab initio} electronic structure calculations, which exhibit conical intersections between covalent and ion-pair states. The surfaces are transformed to a quasidiabatic representation. The collision problem is expanded in a set of channels suitable for handling the system in the presence of electric and/or magnetic fields, although we consider the zero-field limit in this work. Because of the large number of scattering channels involved, we propose and make use of suitable approximations. To account for the hyperfine structure of both collision partners in the short-range region we develop a frame-transformation procedure which includes most of the hyperfine Hamiltonian. Scattering cross sections on the order of $10^{-13}$ cm$^2$ are predicted for temperatures typical of Stark decelerators. We also conclude that spin orientation of the partners is completely disrupted during the collision. Implications for both sympathetic cooling of OH molecules in an environment of ultracold Rb atoms and experimental observability of the collisions are discussed.Comment: 20 pages, 16 figure

Near-Infrared Classification Spectroscopy: H-band Spectra of Fundamental MK Standards

We present a catalogue of H-band spectra for 85 stars of approximately solar abundance observed at a resolving power of 3000 with the KPNO Mayall 4m FTS. The atlas covers spectral types O7-M5 and luminosity classes I-V as defined on the MK system. We identify both atomic and molecular indices and line-ratios which are temperature and luminosity sensitive allowing spectral classification to be carried out in the H-band. The line ratios permit spectral classification in the presence of continuum excess emission, which is commonly found in pre-main sequence and evolved stars. We demonstrate that with spectra of R = 1000 obtained at SNR > 50 it is possible to derive spectral types within +- 2 subclasses for late-type stars. These data are available electronically through the Astronomical Data Center in addition to being served on the World-Wide-Web.Comment: To appear in the November 20, 1998 issue of ApJ (Volume 508, #1

Keck-Nirspec Infrared OH Lines: Oxygen Abundances in Metal-Poor Stars Down to [Fe/H] = -2.9

Infrared OH lines at 1.5 - 1.7 um in the H band were obtained with the NIRSPEC high-resolution spectrograph at the 10m Keck Telescope for a sample of seven metal-poor stars. Detailed analyses have been carried out, based on optical high-resolution data obtained with the FEROS spectrograph at ESO. Stellar parameters were derived by adopting infrared flux method effective temperatures, trigonometric and/or evolutionary gravities and metallicities from FeII lines. We obtain that the sample stars with metallicities [Fe/H] < -2.2 show a mean oxygen abundance [O/Fe] ~ 0.54, for a solar oxygen abundance of epsilon(O) = 8.87, or [O/Fe] ~ 0.64 if epsilon(O) = 8.77 is assumed.Comment: To be published in ApJ 575 (August 10

National-scale detection of reservoir impacts through hydrological signatures

Reservoirs play a vital role in the supply and management of water resources and their operation can significantly alter downstream flow. Despite this, reservoirs are frequently excluded or poorly represented in large-scale hydrological models, which can be partly attributed to a lack of open-access data describing reservoir operations, inflow and storage. To help inform the development of reservoir operation schemes, we collate a suite of hydrological signatures designed to detect the impacts of reservoirs on the flow regime at large-scales from downstream flow records only. By removing the need for pre-and-post-reservoir flow timeseries (a requirement of many pre-existing techniques), these signatures facilitate the assessment of flow alteration across a much wider range of catchments. To demonstrate their application, we calculate the signatures across Great Britain in 111 benchmark (i.e., near-natural) catchments and 186 reservoir catchments (where at least one upstream reservoir is present). We find that abstractions from water resource reservoirs induce deficits in the water balance, and that pre-defined flow releases (e.g., the compensation flow) reduce variability in the downstream flow duration curve and in intra-annual low flows. By comparing signatures in benchmark and reservoir catchments, we define thresholds above which the influence of reservoirs can be distinguished from natural variability and identify 40 catchments significantly impacted by the presence of reservoirs. The signatures also provide insights into local reservoir operations, which can inform the development of tailored reservoir operation schemes, and identify locations where current modeling practices (which lack reservoir representation) will be insufficient