The potential therapeutic effects of creatine supplementation on body composition and muscle function in cancer

Low muscle mass in individuals with cancer has a profound impact on quality of life and independence and is associated with greater treatment toxicity and poorer prognosis. Exercise interventions are regularly being investigated as a means to ameliorate treatment-related adverse effects, and nutritional/supplementation strategies to augment adaptations to exercise are highly valuable. Creatine (Cr) is a naturally-occurring substance in the human body that plays a critical role in energy provision during muscle contraction. Given the beneficial effects of Cr supplementation on lean body mass, strength, and physical function in a variety of clinical populations, there is therapeutic potential in individuals with cancer at heightened risk for muscle loss. Here, we provide an overview of Cr physiology, summarize the evidence on the use of Cr supplementation in various aging/clinical populations, explore mechanisms of action, and provide perspectives on the potential therapeutic role of Cr in the exercise oncology setting

LEC GaAs for integrated circuit applications

Recent developments in liquid encapsulated Czochralski techniques for the growth of semiinsulating GaAs for integrated circuit applications have resulted in significant improvements in the quality and quantity of GaAs material suitable for device processing. The emergence of high performance GaAs integrated circuit technologies has accelerated the demand for high quality, large diameter semiinsulating GaAs substrates. The new device technologies, including digital integrated circuits, monolithic microwave integrated circuits and charge coupled devices have largely adopted direct ion implantation for the formation of doped layers. Ion implantation lends itself to good uniformity and reproducibility, high yield and low cost; however, this technique also places stringent demands on the quality of the semiinsulating GaAs substrates. Although significant progress was made in developing a viable planar ion implantation technology, the variability and poor quality of GaAs substrates have hindered progress in process development

Exceptional 20th Century Shifts in Deep-Sea Ecosystems Are Spatially Heterogeneous and Associated With Local Surface Ocean Variability

Traditionally, deep-sea ecosystems have been considered to be insulated from the effects of modern climate change, but with the recognition of the importance of food supply from the surface ocean and deep-sea currents to sustaining these systems, the potential for rapid response of benthic systems to climate change is gaining increasing attention. However, very few ecological time-series exist for the deep ocean covering the twentieth century. Benthic responses to past climate change have been well-documented using marine sediment cores on glacial-interglacial timescales, and ocean sediments have also begun to reveal that planktic species assemblages are already being influenced by global warming. Here, we use benthic foraminifera found in mid-latitude and subpolar North Atlantic sediment cores to show that, in locations beneath areas of major surface water change, benthic ecosystems have also changed significantly over the last ∼150 years. The maximum benthic response occurs in areas which have seen large changes in surface circulation, temperature, and/or productivity. We infer that the observed surface-deep ocean coupling is due to changes in the supply of organic matter exported from the surface ocean and delivered to the seafloor. The local-to-regional scale nature of these changes highlights that accurate projections of changes in deep-sea ecosystems will require (1) increased spatial coverage of deep-sea proxy records, and (2) models capable of adequately resolving these relatively small-scale oceanographic features

Production of simian virus 40 large tumor antigen in bacteria: altered DNA-binding specificity and dna-replication activity of underphosphorylated large tumor antigen

A bacterial expression system was used to produce simian virus 40 large tumor antigen (T antigen) in the absence of the extensive posttranslational modifications that occur in mammalian cells. Wild-type T antigen produced in bacteria retained a specific subset of the biochemical activities displayed by its mammalian counterpart. Escherichia coli T antigen functioned as a helicase and bound to DNA fragments containing either site I or the wild-type origin of replication in a manner identical to mammalian T antigen. However, T antigen purified from E. coli did not efficiently bind to site II, an essential cis element within the simian virus 40 origin of replication. It therefore could not unwind origin-containing plasmids or efficiently replicate simian virus 40 DNA in vitro. The ability of protein phosphorylation to modulate the intrinsic preference of full-length T antigen for either site I or site II is discussed

Impact of Covid-19 on Health and Safety in the Construction Sector

Construction has been significantly affected by COVID-19 yet is critical to the post-COVID economic recovery. Specifically, construction needs to be constantly aware of safety and risk balanced with timely project delivery. Guidance for COVID–19 must therefore be implemented in a way that reflects working practice and pressures. There is, however, a potential knowledge gap regarding the practical feasibility and impact of applying COVID-19 measures within construction, made more difficult by factors such as the temporary nature of projects and complex working arrangements. This paper presents a commentary on safe construction during, and beyond, COVID-19, covering the human factors challenges and practicalities of implementing COVID-19 measures. We observe that while guidance is strong on risk management, understanding of how best to implement this guidance is not yet stable. Also, care must be taken that implementing guidance does not detract from general safety, which is also challenged by increased pressures on delivery arising from COVID-19. There may, however, be opportunities for safer working practice arising from new awareness of health, hygiene and safety risk. The role of safety leadership is overlooked in guidance yet is vital to ensure safe application of COVID-19 working practices. The key message is that COVID-19 needs to be integrated and promoted within a general risk management approach, in part because this takes account of differing priorities regarding safety risks, rather than overly focussing on COVID-19, and also because the effectiveness of COVID-19 mitigations can be amplified by integration with pre-existing safety processes

The conserved C-terminus of the PcrA/UvrD helicase interacts directly with RNA polymerase

Copyright: © 2013 Gwynn et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This work was supported by a Wellcome Trust project grant to MD (Reference: 077368), an ERC starting grant to MD (Acronym: SM-DNA-REPAIR) and a BBSRC project grant to PM, NS and MD (Reference: BB/I003142/1). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Pharmacists in advanced clinical practice roles in emergency departments (PARED)

Background Following evidence published in the Pharmacists in Emergency Departments (PIED 2016) study Health Education England funded novel advanced clinical practitioner training for pharmacists (ACP-p), to support service delivery. Objective To explore experiences and clinical activity of trainee ACP-p, and opinions and recommendations of both trainees and clinical supervisors. Setting Five Urgent/Emergency Care Departments in London UK. Method Longitudinal mixed-methods study in three phases of registered UK pharmacists appointed as trainee ACP-p. Phase 1 (May-July 2019) – early semi-structured interviews and focus group using an experiences, opinions and recommendations (EOR) framework, Phase 2 (January-December 2019) – prospective recording of trainee clinical activity, standardised using bespoke spreadsheet, Phase 3 (November-December 2019) – as Phase 1 but at conclusion of training. Main outcome measure Experiences, clinical activity, opinions and recommendations of study participants. Results Twelve (92 %) eligible trainee ACP-p and five supervisors were recruited. Identified themes were: trainee personality, educational components, length of programme, support/supervision, career transition, university and placement training alignment, recommendations. Success was dependent on effective support and supervision. Clinical supervisors should be allocated adequate supervision time. Trainees, their supervisors and emergency department staff should be given a clear brief. Study participants agreed that the programme could be successful. Trainee ACP-p reported that they could manage 82 % of 713 pre-selected clinical presentations. Additional training needs include: ECGs, X-rays and CT scans. Conclusions Pharmacists can successfully train as ACP-p in this setting over a two-year period. This career transition needs careful management and clear structures. Training ACP-p is a useful way of enhancing skills and supporting clinical services to large numbers of patients