Conjunctions of social categories considered from different points of view

Conjunctions of divergent social categories may elicit emergent attributes to render the composite concept more coherent. Following Kunda, Miller & Clare, (1990) participants listed and rated attributes for people who belong to unexpected conjunctions of social categories. In order to explore the flexibility in such constructions, they were also asked to adopt the point of view of a person in one of the two categories. Experiment 1 found that when adopting the point of view of one constituent category, people tended to combine the concepts antagonistically, meaning that they attributed to members of the conjunction the more negative aspects of the opposing category. Experiment 2 showed that this polarizing effect was reduced when the point of view category was itself unusual. Strong gender stereotype differences were also found in the degree to which combinations were antagonistic. Female stereotypes as points of view generated a greater degree of integration in the conceptual combination

Biofilm and the role of the ica operon and aap in Staphylococcus epidermidis isolates causing neurosurgical meningitis.

Fifty-five Staphylococcus epidermidis isolates, classified as contaminants or causing device-related meningitis, from external ventricular drain (EVD) and non-EVD cerebrospinal fluid specimens were characterized. Thirty-three of 42 (78.6%) meningitis isolates were PCR-positive for ica and aap, known determinants of polysaccharide- and protein-mediated biofilm production, whereas five of 13 (38.5%) contaminants were ica- and aap-negative; 71.4% of meningitis isolates and 84.6% of contaminants produced biofilm. ica+aap+ meningitis isolates produced more biofilm than ica+aap- isolates (p 0.0020). ica+aap- isolates did not produce more biofilm than ica-aap+ isolates (p 0.4368). Apparently, ica and aap are associated with biofilm production in S. epidermidis device-related meningitis isolates

Low adenovirus vaccine doses administered to skin using microneedle patches induce better functional antibody immunogenicity as compared to systemic injection

Adenovirus-based vaccines are demonstrating promising clinical potential for multiple infectious diseases, including COVID-19. However, the immunogenicity of the vector itself decreases its effectiveness as a boosting vaccine due to the induction of strong anti-vector neutralizing immunity. Here we determined how dissolvable microneedle patches (DMN) for skin immunization can overcome this issue, using a clinically-relevant adenovirus-based Plasmodium falciparum malaria vaccine, AdHu5–PfRH5, in mice. Incorporation of vaccine into patches significantly enhanced its thermostability compared to the liquid form. Conventional high dose repeated immunization by the intramuscular (IM) route induced low antigen-specific IgG titres and high anti-vector immunity. A low priming dose of vaccine, by the IM route, but more so using DMN patches, induced the most efficacious immune responses, assessed by parasite growth inhibitory activity (GIA) assays. Administration of low dose AdHu5–PfRH5 using patches to the skin, boosted by high dose IM, induced the highest antigen-specific serum IgG response after boosting, the greatest skewing of the antibody response towards the antigen and away from the vector, and the highest efficacy. This study therefore demonstrates that repeated use of the same adenovirus vaccine can be highly immunogenic towards the transgene if a low dose is used to prime the response. It also provides a method of stabilizing adenovirus vaccine, in easy-to-administer dissolvable microneedle patches, permitting storage and distribution out of cold chain

Anthropocene environmental change in an internationally important oligotrophic catchment on the Atlantic seaboard of western Europe

Oligotrophic catchments with short spatey streams, upland lakes and peaty soils characterise northwest European Atlantic coastal regions. These catchments are important biodiversity refuges, particularly for sensitive diadromous fish populations but are subject to changes in land use and land management practices associated with afforestation, agriculture and rural development. Quantification of the degree of catchment degradation resulting from such anthropogenic impacts is often limited by a lack of long-term baseline data in what are generally relatively isolated, poorly studied catchments. This research uses a combination of palaeolimnological (radiometrically-dated variations in sedimentary geochemical elements, pollen, diatoms and remains of cladocera), census, and instrumental data, along with hindcast estimates to quantify environmental changes and their aquatic impacts since the late 19th century. The most likely drivers of any change are also identified. Results confirm an aquatic biotic response (phyto- and zooplankton) to soil erosion and nutrient enrichment associated with the onset of commercial conifer afforestation, effects that were subsequently enhanced as a result of increased overgrazing in the catchment and, possibly, climate warming. The implications for the health of aquatic resources in the catchment are discussedEnvironmental Protection Agency in Ireland (ILLUMINATE 2005-W-MS-40, P.McGinnity was supported by the Beaufort Marine Research Award in Fish Population Genetics funded by the Irish Government under the Sea Change Programme

Genetic stock identification of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) populations in the southern part of the European range

notes: PMCID: PMC2882343© 2010 Griffiths et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Anadromous migratory fish species such as Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) have significant economic, cultural and ecological importance, but present a complex case for management and conservation due to the range of their migration. Atlantic salmon exist in rivers across the North Atlantic, returning to their river of birth with a high degree of accuracy; however, despite continuing efforts and improvements in in-river conservation, they are in steep decline across their range. Salmon from rivers across Europe migrate along similar routes, where they have, historically, been subject to commercial netting. This mixed stock exploitation has the potential to devastate weak and declining populations where they are exploited indiscriminately. Despite various tagging and marking studies, the effect of marine exploitation and the marine element of the salmon lifecycle in general, remain the "black-box" of salmon management. In a number of Pacific salmonid species and in several regions within the range of the Atlantic salmon, genetic stock identification and mixed stock analysis have been used successfully to quantify exploitation rates and identify the natal origins of fish outside their home waters - to date this has not been attempted for Atlantic salmon in the south of their European range.European Union INTERREG IIIB programme (Atlantic Salmon Arc Project [ASAP], Project No. 040)

The response of North Atlantic diadromous fish to multiple stressors including land use change: a multidecadal study

This is a author-produced PDF of a 'Just in' article published in Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version 'The response of North Atlantic diadromous fish to multiple stressors including land use change: a multidecadal study Elvira de Eyto, Catherine Dalton, Mary M Dillane, Eleanor Jennings, Philip McGinnity, Barry O'Dwyer, Russell Poole, Ger G Rogan, David Taylor Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Published on the web 19 May 2016, 10.1139/cjfas-2015-0450' is available from DOI 10.1139/cjfas-2015-0450'Reduction of freshwater habitat quality due to land use change can have significant impacts on diadromous fish. Partitioning this impact from other potential drivers, such as changing marine conditions and climate, is hampered by a lack of long term datasets. Here, four decades of data were used to assess the impact of land use change on Salmo salar L. and anadromous Salmo trutta L. in the Burrishoole catchment, Ireland, one of the few index sites for diadromous fish in the North Atlantic. Land use change was found to have no significant impact on the freshwater survival of either salmon or trout. However, climate impacted significantly on the survival of salmon and trout in freshwater, with poor survival in years with wetter warmer winters, coinciding with positive North Atlantic Oscillation values. Additionally, cold springs were associated with higher survival in trout. The addition of hatchery salmon into the salmon spawning cohort coincided with low freshwater survival. Our results highlight the necessity for a broad ecosystem approach in any conservation effort of these species

Modelling and characterisation of a ultrasound-actuated needle for improved visibility in ultrasound-guided regional anaesthesia and tissue biopsy

AbstractClear needle visualisation is recognised as an unmet need for ultrasound guided percutaneous needle procedures including regional anaesthesia and tissue biopsy. With inadequate needle visibility, these procedures may result in serious complications or a failed operation. This paper reports analysis of the modal behaviour of a previously proposed ultrasound-actuated needle configuration, which may overcome this problem by improving needle visibility in colour Doppler imaging. It uses a piezoelectric transducer to actuate longitudinal resonant modes in needles (outer diameter 0.8–1.2mm, length>65mm). The factors that affect the needle’s vibration mode are identified, including the needle length, the transducer’s resonance frequency and the gripping position. Their effects are investigated using finite element modelling, with the conclusions validated experimentally. The actuated needle was inserted into porcine tissue up to 30mm depth and its visibility was observed under colour Doppler imaging. The piezoelectric transducer is able to generate longitudinal vibration with peak-to-peak amplitude up to 4μm at the needle tip with an actuating voltage of 20Vpp. Actuated in longitudinal vibration modes (distal mode at 27.6kHz and transducer mode at 42.2kHz) with a drive amplitude of 12–14Vpp, a 120mm needle is delineated as a coloured line in colour Doppler images, with both needle tip and shaft visualised. The improved needle visibility is maintained while the needle is advanced into the tissue, thus allowing tracking of the needle position in real time. Moreover, the needle tip is highlighted by strong coloured artefacts around the actuated needle generated by its flexural vibration. A limitation of the technique is that the transducer mode requires needles of specific lengths so that the needle’s resonance frequency matches the transducer. This may restrict the choice of needle lengths in clinical applications

Synchrony in catchment stream colour levels is driven by both local and regional climate

Streams draining upland catchments carry large quantities of carbon from terrestrial stocks to downstream freshwater and marine ecosystems. Here it either enters long-term storage in sediments or enters the atmosphere as gaseous carbon through a combination of biotic and abiotic processes. There are, however, increasing concerns over the long-term stability of terrestrial carbon stores in blanket peatland catchments as a result of anthropogenic pressures and climate change. We analysed sub-annual and inter-annual changes in river water colour (a reliable proxy measurement of dissolved organic carbon; DOC) using 6 years of weekly data, from 2011 to 2016. This time-series dataset was gathered from three contiguous river sub-catchments, the Black, the Glenamong and the Srahrevagh, in a blanket peatland catchment system in western Ireland, and it was used to identify the drivers that best explained observed temporal change in river colour. The data were also used to estimate annual DOC loads from each catchment. General additive mixed modelling was used to identify the principle environmental drivers of water colour in the rivers, while wavelet cross-correlation analysis was used to identify common frequencies in correlations. At 130&thinsp;mg&thinsp;Pt&thinsp;Co&thinsp;L−1, the mean colour levels in the Srahrevagh (the sub-catchment with lowest rainfall and higher forest cover) were almost 50&thinsp;% higher than those from the Black and Glenamong, at 95 and 84&thinsp;mg&thinsp;Pt&thinsp;Co&thinsp;L−1 respectively. The decomposition of the colour datasets revealed similar multi-annual, annual and event-based (random component) trends, illustrating that environmental drivers operated synchronously at each of these temporal scales. For both the Black and its nested Srahrevagh catchment, three variables (soil temperature, soil moisture deficit, SMD, and the weekly North Atlantic Oscillation, NAO) combined to explain 54&thinsp;% and 58&thinsp;% of the deviance in colour respectively. In the Glenamong, which had steeper topography and a higher percentage of peat intersected by streams, soil temperature, the log of stream discharge and the NAO explained 66&thinsp;% of the colour concentrations. Cross-wavelet time-series analysis between river colour and each environmental driver revealed a significant high common power relationship at an annual time step. Each relationship however, varied in phase, further highlighting the complexity of the mechanisms driving river colour in the sub-catchments. The estimated mean annual DOC loads for the Black and Glenamong rivers to Lough Feeagh were similar at 15.0 and 14.7&thinsp;t&thinsp;C&thinsp;km−2&thinsp;yr−1 respectively. The important role of past and current precipitation and, in particular, temperature emphasises the vulnerability of blanket peatland carbon stores to projected climate change and highlights the interaction of local and regional climate in controlling aquatic carbon export. Our results show that water colour (and hence DOC) concentrations can vary considerably between neighbouring catchments and also that regional-scale climatic drivers control the trends in intra- and inter-annual flux of DOC through the system. The combination of locally determined concentrations and regionally controlled fluxes produces aquatic DOC loads that vary over both the annual cycle and over multiple years.</p