Natural Killer cells in early pregnancy

Uterine NK cells (uNK) are the most numerous immune cells found in the uterine mucosa at the time of implantation, during mid-secretory phase of the menstrual cycle and in early pregnancy. They are thought to facilitate extravillous trophoblast (EVT) invasion and vascular remodelling during placentation. It has been recently discovered that uNK are comprised of three subsets in first trimester decidua which are postulated to have different roles in pregnancy. Here, I have used flow cytometry to interrogate the frequency, phenotype and function of uNK subsets through the human reproductive cycle. My findings showed that uNK1 and uNK2 peak in first trimester, but all three subsets upregulate KIR and LILRB1 receptors which interact with HLA-C and HLA-G on EVT cells respectively. Moreover, all three uNK subsets displayed highest ability to degranulate and produce IL-8, TNF-α and IFN-γ during the secretory phase. My systematic review on women with recurrent miscarriage (RM) and implantation failure (RIF) showed that total CD56+ cells in the uterus is significantly raised in the endometrium, but not in the decidua after miscarriage. I proceeded to assess uNK subsets in mid-luteal endometrium of women with unexplained infertility, RM and RIF. My findings suggest that reproductive failure is associated with global reduction of KIR and LILRB1 uNK receptors, reduced uNK activation and disrupted uNK cytokine production. In order to assess the efficacy of immunotherapy in RM and RIF patients with raised NK cells, I conducted another systematic review and concluded there is insufficient high-quality evidence to justify immunotherapy in RM and RIF patients with raised NK cells. Finally, I assessed circulating NK cells and NK progenitors to determine mechanism of recruitment for uNK. Although I was unable to make firm conclusion on which cell is being recruited, there are some suggestive trends on which chemokine receptors are involved. Taken together, my findings will inform greater focus on aspects of phenotype and function of uNK subsets in future research.Open Acces

An Evaluation of Blended Courses: Reflections from Undergraduates

Blended learning approaches are increasingly adopted in the higher education context, with various levels of success. This study explored students’ experiences and evaluations of a blended course in an undergraduate’s programme in information systems at a New Zealand university. This paper presents ten emerged themes, drawing on six in-depth focus groups’ interviews with undergraduates. The themes indicate that students are not only accepting of blended approaches but also perceived blended approaches useful for their learning and enjoyable to a certain extent. The emerged themes also uncover students’ reflections of their learning abilities and preferences in instances of the rising uptake of blended approaches across the higher education context. These study findings are potentially useful in providing practical contributions by informing learning institutions’ key considerations when implementing blended approaches to undergraduates who are relatively new to the method and learning environment

The status of fish in Malaysian diets and potential barriers to increasing consumption of farmed species

The thesis took an interdisciplinary, problem-oriented approach to address the research problem: ’Is farmed fish capable of replacing wild-caught fish in the Malaysian diet?’ The main objectives of the project were to assess current fish consumption habits, evaluate the impacts of these on sustainability of fish stocks and determine whether aquacultured products could be a suitable substitution. A combination of data collection methods was used, namely dietary assessments, systematic literature review, market research interviews and surveys and analysis of electronic and paper-based official records. The review of the Malaysian food balance sheets showed a significant transition in diet over the last three decades, specifically with respect to an increase in animal protein by approximately 60% over this time, with fish as the major source of protein. To further explore the contribution of fish to the diet of Malaysians, and any ethnic and geographical differences in consumption, a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was developed to assess habitual dietary intakes within selected coastal, rural and urban populations across different cultural groups in Klang Valley. The FFQ provided a clearer picture of the quantities of fish consumed by Malaysians and enabled the characterisation of Malaysian fish consumers based on the types of fish species consumed for sustainability assessment purpose. The nutritional contribution of wild versus farmed fish was compared and contrasted. Results from this study, combined with detailed studies of perception of wild versus farmed fish by consumers, aquaculturists and wholesalers, provided a greater understanding of the factors that influence consumers’ fish buying and consumption habits. The key findings are discussed with respect to the sustainability of the current situation, potential for expanding the aquaculture sector to replace wild fish in the Malaysian diet and recommendations for future research and issues for policy makers involved in the expansion of the industry

The status of fish in Malaysian diets and potential barriers to increasing consumption of farmed species

The thesis took an interdisciplinary, problem-oriented approach to address the research problem: ’Is farmed fish capable of replacing wild-caught fish in the Malaysian diet?’ The main objectives of the project were to assess current fish consumption habits, evaluate the impacts of these on sustainability of fish stocks and determine whether aquacultured products could be a suitable substitution. A combination of data collection methods was used, namely dietary assessments, systematic literature review, market research interviews and surveys and analysis of electronic and paper-based official records. The review of the Malaysian food balance sheets showed a significant transition in diet over the last three decades, specifically with respect to an increase in animal protein by approximately 60% over this time, with fish as the major source of protein. To further explore the contribution of fish to the diet of Malaysians, and any ethnic and geographical differences in consumption, a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was developed to assess habitual dietary intakes within selected coastal, rural and urban populations across different cultural groups in Klang Valley. The FFQ provided a clearer picture of the quantities of fish consumed by Malaysians and enabled the characterisation of Malaysian fish consumers based on the types of fish species consumed for sustainability assessment purpose. The nutritional contribution of wild versus farmed fish was compared and contrasted. Results from this study, combined with detailed studies of perception of wild versus farmed fish by consumers, aquaculturists and wholesalers, provided a greater understanding of the factors that influence consumers’ fish buying and consumption habits. The key findings are discussed with respect to the sustainability of the current situation, potential for expanding the aquaculture sector to replace wild fish in the Malaysian diet and recommendations for future research and issues for policy makers involved in the expansion of the industry

Comprehensive study on the effect of Gd2O3 NPs on elastic properties of zinc borotellurite glass system using non-destructive ultrasonic technique

Quaternary Gd2O3 NPs doped zinc borotellurite (TeO2-B2O3-ZnO-Gd2O3 NPs) glass system were fabricated using conventional melt-quenching method with composition {[(TeO2)70(B2O3)30]70(ZnO)30}1-x(Gd2O3 NPs)x (x = 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 and 5.0 mol%). The physical, structural and elastic properties of the glass samples were investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to confirm the amorphousity of the samples. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy indicated the presence of TeO3, TeO4, BO3 and BO4 structural units within the glass matrix. The presence of Gd2O3 NPs was proven from Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The density and molar volume showed anomalous behavior. The elastic properties of the glass system were characterized by using pulse-echo technique. The longitudinal and shear ultrasonic velocities vary from 3883 to 4042 m/s and 2265 to 2282 m/s, respectively. The observed change in the ultrasonic velocities imply that there are substantial change in the structure of the vitreous network. The experimental elastic moduli (longitudinal modulus (L), shear modulus (G), bulk modulus (K) and Young's modulus (E)) increases from 68.77 to 79.45 GPa, 23.40 to 26.68 GPa, 37.56 to 48.25 GPa and 58.13 to 66.55 GPa, respectively. The increase in elastic moduli of the glass system indicates that the strength and rigidity of the glass increase. The experimental elastic moduli were correlated and compared with the theoretically calculated elastic moduli using Makishima-Mackenzie and Bond Compression model

The first anniversary of Phytotaxa in the International Year of Biodiversity.

EditorialPeer reviewe

The Role of Phosphatidic Acid and Cardiolipin in Stability of the Tetrameric Assembly of Potassium Channel KcsA

In this study, the roles of two anionic phospholipids—phosphatidic acid (PA), which is an important signaling molecule, and cardiolipin (CL), which plays a crucial role in the bioenergetics of the cell—in stabilizing the oligomeric structure of potassium channel KcsA were determined. The stability of KcsA was drastically increased as a function of PA or CL content (mol%) in phosphatidylcholine (PC) bilayers. Deletion of the membrane-associated N terminus significantly reduced channel stability at high levels of PA content; however, the intrinsic stability of this protein was marginally affected in the presence of CL. These studies indicate that the electrostatic-hydrogen bond switch between PA and N terminus, involving basic residues, is much stronger than the stabilizing effect of CL. Furthermore, the unique properties of the PA headgroup alter protein assembly and folding properties differently from the CL headgroup, and both lipids stabilize the tetrameric assembly via their specific interaction on the extra- or the intracellular side of KcsA

Universal contributions to scalar masses from five dimensional supergravity

We compute the effective Kahler potential for matter fields in warped compactifications, starting from five dimensional gauged supergravity, as a function of the matter fields localization. We show that truncation to zero modes is inconsistent and the tree-level exchange of the massive gravitational multiplet is needed for consistency of the four-dimensional theory. In addition to the standard Kahler coming from dimensional reduction, we find the quartic correction coming from integrating out the gravity multiplet. We apply our result to the computation of scalar masses, by assuming that the SUSY breaking field is a bulk hypermultiplet. In the limit of extreme opposite localization of the matter and the spurion fields, we find zero scalar masses, consistent with sequestering arguments. Surprisingly enough, for all the other cases the scalar masses are tachyonic. This suggests the holographic interpretation that a CFT sector always generates operators contributing in a tachyonic way to scalar masses. Viability of warped su- persymmetric compactifications necessarily asks then for additional contributions. We discuss the case of additional bulk vector multiplets with mixed boundary conditions, which is a partic- ularly simple and attractive way to generate large positive scalar masses. We show that in this case successful fermion mass matrices implies highly degenerate scalar masses for the first two generations of squarks and sleptons.Comment: 23 pages. v2: References added, new section on effect of additional bulk vector multiplets and phenomenolog

The association of health literacy with adherence in older 2 adults, and its role in interventions: a systematic meta-review

Background: Low health literacy is a common problem among older adults. It is often suggested to be associated with poor adherence. This suggested association implies a need for effective adherence interventions in low health literate people. However, previous reviews show mixed results on the association between low health literacy and poor adherence. A systematic meta-review of systematic reviews was conducted to study the association between health literacy and adherence in adults above the age of 50. Evidence for the effectiveness of adherence interventions among adults in this older age group with low health literacy was also explored. Methods: Eight electronic databases (MEDLINE, ERIC, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, DARE, the Cochrane Library, and Web of Knowledge) were searched using a variety of keywords regarding health literacy and adherence. Additionally, references of identified articles were checked. Systematic reviews were included if they assessed the association between health literacy and adherence or evaluated the effectiveness of interventions to improve adherence in adults with low health literacy. The AMSTAR tool was used to assess the quality of the included reviews. The selection procedure, data-extraction, and quality assessment were performed by two independent reviewers. Seventeen reviews were selected for inclusion. Results: Reviews varied widely in quality. Both reviews of high and low quality found only weak or mixed associations between health literacy and adherence among older adults. Reviews report on seven studies that assess the effectiveness of adherence interventions among low health literate older adults. The results suggest that some adherence interventions are effective for this group. The interventions described in the reviews focused mainly on education and on lowering the health literacy demands of adherence instructions. No conclusions could be drawn about which type of intervention could be most beneficial for this population. Conclusions: Evidence on the association between health literacy and adherence in older adults is relatively weak. Adherence interventions are potentially effective for the vulnerable population of older adults with low levels of health literacy, but the evidence on this topic is limited. Further research is needed on the association between health literacy and general health behavior, and on the effectiveness of interventions

Chiropractic and children: Is more research enough?

Many health science research and review articles end with the words: "More research is needed". However, when it comes to research, it is not as much a question of quantity as of quality. There are a number of important prerequisites before research should be initiated. The three pillars, relevance, quality and ethics should be respected but for a project to be meaningful, it must also be based on plausible rationale