Variable susceptibility of laboratory strains of Aspergillus nidulans to hygromycin B and other ribosomal antibiotics

Variable susceptibility of laboratory strains of Aspergillus nidulans to hygromycin and other ribosomal antibiotics

Health Literacy, Diabetes Prevention, and Self-Management

International audienceOBJECTIVE:To identify the factors that can predict physicians' use of electronic prescribing.DESIGN:All primary care physicians who practised in a single geographic region in Quebec were invited to use a free, advanced, research-based electronic prescribing and drug management system. This natural experiment was studied with an expansion of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), which was used to explain early adopters' use of this electronic prescribing technology.SETTING:Quebec city region.PARTICIPANTS:A total of 61 primary care physicians who practised in a single geographic region where there was no electronic prescribing.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:Actual use of electronic prescribing; physicians' perceptions of and intentions to use electronic prescribing; physician and practice characteristics.RESULTS:During the 9-month study period, 61 primary care physicians located in 26 practice sites used electronic prescribing to write 15 160 electronic prescriptions for 18 604 patients. Physician electronic prescribing rates varied considerably, from a low of 0 to a high of 75 per 100 patient visits, with a mean utilization rate of 30 per 100 patient visits. Overall, 34% of the variance in the use of electronic prescribing was explained by the expanded TAM. Computer experience (P=.001), physicians' information-acquisition style (P=.01), and mean medication use in the practice (P=.02) were significant predictors. Other TAM factors that generally predict new technology adoption (eg, intention to use, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness) were not predictive in this study.CONCLUSION:The adoption of electronic prescribing was a highly challenging task, even among early adopters. The insight that this pilot study provides into the determinants of the adoption of electronic prescribing suggests that novel physician-related factors (eg, information-acquisition style) and practice-related variables (eg, prevalence of medication use) influence the adoption of electronic prescribing

The ECM Moves during Primitive Streak Formation—Computation of ECM Versus Cellular Motion

Galileo described the concept of motion relativity—motion with respect to a reference frame—in 1632. He noted that a person below deck would be unable to discern whether the boat was moving. Embryologists, while recognizing that embryonic tissues undergo large-scale deformations, have failed to account for relative motion when analyzing cell motility data. A century of scientific articles has advanced the concept that embryonic cells move (“migrate”) in an autonomous fashion such that, as time progresses, the cells and their progeny assemble an embryo. In sharp contrast, the motion of the surrounding extracellular matrix scaffold has been largely ignored/overlooked. We developed computational/optical methods that measure the extent embryonic cells move relative to the extracellular matrix. Our time-lapse data show that epiblastic cells largely move in concert with a sub-epiblastic extracellular matrix during stages 2 and 3 in primitive streak quail embryos. In other words, there is little cellular motion relative to the extracellular matrix scaffold—both components move together as a tissue. The extracellular matrix displacements exhibit bilateral vortical motion, convergence to the midline, and extension along the presumptive vertebral axis—all patterns previously attributed solely to cellular “migration.” Our time-resolved data pose new challenges for understanding how extracellular chemical (morphogen) gradients, widely hypothesized to guide cellular trajectories at early gastrulation stages, are maintained in this dynamic extracellular environment. We conclude that models describing primitive streak cellular guidance mechanisms must be able to account for sub-epiblastic extracellular matrix displacements

Is gastro-oesophageal reflux a factor in exercise-induced asthma?

AbstractExercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) occurs in the majority of patients with asthma. The relationship between asthma and gastro-oesophageal reflux (GER) is well defined, and the reports of exertional gastro-oesophageal acid reflux in healthy subjects, prompted us to study the relationship between EIB and GER.Following an overnight fast and medication withholding, 15 asthmatics and 15 normal subjects were placed on continuous monitoring of oesophageal pH and ECG. After baseline monitoring of oesophageal pH, at rest, for 30 min, spirometry was performed. Thereafter, the subjects underwent rigorous treadmill exercise for 8 min followed by spirometry, 10 min after running.Twelve out of 15 asthmatics and none in the control group demonstrated significant fall in FEV1 in response to exercise. However, only six out of 15 normal subjects and three in the asthmatic group had evidence of GER during or following exercise.We concluded that there is no significant correlation between EIB and GER in patients with asthma

Do women with benign versus malignant ovarian masses demonstrate variable clinical presentation?

Background: Early diagnosis of ovarian tumors is a challenge due to variable presentation. Early diagnosis of ovarian cancers aids in timely management and better clinical outcomes. Aim of study was to determine the different clinical presentations of ovarian tumors and compare those in benign tumors versus malignancies.Methods: Clinical data of all women operated for ovarian masses was extracted from case files at a tertiary care centre and evaluated and clinical features compared in women with benign versus malignant tumors.  Results: We found 50 cases of ovarian tumors with 26% malignancies. The mean age was 38.48+14.9 years. Malignancies were significantly common in menopausal than menstruating (χ2=13.57, p=0.001, fishers exact). Pain was the commonest symptom and combined lumbar and iliac pain was reported in 67% cases. The location of pain was not significantly different in women with malignancy compared to those with benign tumors (likelihood ratio χ2=7.93, p=0.24). The odds of reporting a mass in abdomen were significantly greater in women with cancers than benign tumors (OR= 4.9, 95%CI 1.07-24.06, p=0.01). More women with cancer had history of distension of abdomen compared to women with benign tumors (χ2=9.43, p=0.002).Conclusions: Lumbar pain is most frequent complaint in women with ovarian pathology. Symptoms of distension in abdomen or presence of lump in abdomen are a significant guide to alert the physician regarding possibility of malignancy must be evaluated without delay

NMR STUDY OF THE ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE OF SOLID AND LIQUID METALS

ABSTRACT NMR was used to study the effect of melting on the electronic structure of copper and aluminium. The Knight shift and spin-lattice relaxation time were measured as a function of temperature in the solid and in the liquid state. From these measurements the temperature dependence of K(x). the reciprocal enhancement factor of the Korringa relation, is obtained. In the case of copper it is shown that the main temperature effect is indirectly through thermal expansion. It is shown that the conduction electrons density of states and spin density at the nucleus are strongly influenced by sd hybridization. Their temperature dependence is explained as due to the volume dependence of the hybridization. In aluminium, in contrast to copper, the results of K(oc) as a function of temperature cannot be explained as due to volume change, but rather a direct temperature effect. The explanation is based on the strong mixing of states near the Brillouin zone. This mechanism should prevail only in polyvalent metals such as aluminium, in contrast to monovalent metals such as copper, where this effect can be neglected. The behaviour of other metals upon melting is discussed. About twenty years ago, W. D. Knight discovered that the nmr line of a nucleus in a metal is shifted relative to its line in a nonmetal. This is the wellknown Knight shift. This discovery made the nmr technique an important research tool in the study of the electronic structure of metals. The study of nmr in metals has become a very broad and active field. We would like to discuss one problem in this field: the effect of melting on the electronic structure of metals. This is a problem to which nmr has made a significant contribution. When a metal is heated, two major processes occur. The first is an increase in the lattice volume, which is gradual in the solid state and changes abruptly on reaching the melting point. The second is an increase in the amplitude of atomic vibrations, which can be looked upon as a gradual deviation from the order typical of the crystalline state, till a completely disordered state is reached at the melting point. We will discuss the effect of each of these two processes. In fact, a good test for any theory of electronic structure is its ability to explain the effect of a change of atomic volume and of order on 33

Stability Assessment and Suggestion for Control Measures of a Potential Landslide Slope on NH 94, Uttarakhand Himalaya, India

An unstable slope having few houses which were under distress was studied to arrive at suitable control measures. The slope has undergone subsidence at the road level and there are few houses down the road level which have developed major cracks. The study was focused on identification of causes, assessment of slope stability and suggestions for control measures. The study involved geological and geotechnical investigations, slope stability analysis and monitoring of movements. The paper highlights the field observations and results of the study

Dynamic Analysis of Vascular Morphogenesis Using Transgenic Quail Embryos

Background: One of the least understood and most central questions confronting biologists is how initially simple clusters or sheet-like cell collectives can assemble into highly complex three-dimensional functional tissues and organs. Due to the limits of oxygen diffusion, blood vessels are an essential and ubiquitous presence in all amniote tissues and organs. Vasculogenesis, the de novo self-assembly of endothelial cell (EC) precursors into endothelial tubes, is the first step in blood vessel formation [1]. Static imaging and in vitro models are wholly inadequate to capture many aspects of vascular pattern formation in vivo, because vasculogenesis involves dynamic changes of the endothelial cells and of the forming blood vessels, in an embryo that is changing size and shape. Methodology/Principal Findings: We have generated Tie1 transgenic quail lines Tg(tie1:H2B-eYFP) that express H2B-eYFP in all of their endothelial cells which permit investigations into early embryonic vascular morphogenesis with unprecedented clarity and insight. By combining the power of molecular genetics with the elegance of dynamic imaging, we follow the precise patterning of endothelial cells in space and time. We show that during vasculogenesis within the vascular plexus, ECs move independently to form the rudiments of blood vessels, all while collectively moving with gastrulating tissues that flow toward the embryo midline. The aortae are a composite of somatic derived ECs forming its dorsal regions and the splanchnic derived ECs forming its ventral region. The ECs in the dorsal regions of the forming aortae exhibit variable mediolateral motions as they move rostrally; those in more ventral regions show significant lateral-to-medial movement as they course rostrally. Conclusions/Significance: The present results offer a powerful approach to the major challenge of studying the relative role(s) of the mechanical, molecular, and cellular mechanisms of vascular development. In past studies, the advantages of the molecular genetic tools available in mouse were counterbalanced by the limited experimental accessibility needed for imaging and perturbation studies. Avian embryos provide the needed accessibility, but few genetic resources. The creation of transgenic quail with labeled endothelia builds upon the important roles that avian embryos have played in previous studies of vascular development