Tissue-specific regulation of sirtuin and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide biosynthetic pathways identified in C57Bl/6 mice in response to high-fat feeding

Funding: The Scottish Government's Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division.Peer reviewedPostprin

Phonological and lexical influences on phonological awareness in children with specific language impairment and dyslexia

Children with dyslexia and/or specific language impairment have marked deficits in phonological processing, putting them at an increased risk for reading deficits. The current study sought to examine the influence of word-level phonological and lexical characteristics on phonological awareness. Children with dyslexia and/or specific language impairment were tested using a phoneme deletion task in which stimuli differed orthogonally by sound similarity and neighborhood density. Phonological and lexical factors influenced performance differently across groups. Children with dyslexia appeared to have a more immature and aberrant pattern of phonological and lexical influence (e.g., favoring sparse and similar features). Children with SLI performed less well than children who were typically developing, but followed a similar pattern of performance (e.g., favoring dense and dissimilar features). Collectively, our results point to both quantitative and qualitative differences in lexical organization and phonological representations in children with SLI and in children with dyslexia

Landsat-based lake distribution and changes in western Alaska permafrost regions between the 1970s and 2010s

Lakes are an important ecosystem component and geomorphological agent in northern high latitudes and it is important to understand how lake initiation, expansion and drainage may change as high latitudes continue to warm. In this study, we utilized Landsat Multispectral Scanner System (MSS) images from the 1970s (1972, 1974, and 1975) and Operational Land Imager (OLI) images from the 2010s (2013, 2014, and 2015) to assess broad-scale distribution and changes of lakes larger than 1 ha across the four permafrost zones (continuous, discontinuous, sporadic, and isolated extent) in western Alaska. Across our ca 70,000 km2study area, we saw a decline in overall lake coverage across all permafrost zones with the exception of the sporadic permafrost zone. In the continuous permafrost zone lake area declined by -6.7 % (-65.3 km2), in the discontinuous permafrost zone by -1.6 % (-55.0 km2), in the isolated permafrost zone by -6.9 % (-31.5 km2) while lake cover increased by 2.7 % (117.2 km2) in the sporadic permafrost zone. Overall, we observed a net drainage of lakes larger than 10 ha in the study region. Partial drainage of these medium to large lakes created an increase in the area covered by small water bodies <10 ha, in the form of remnant lakes and ponds by 7.1 % (12.6 km2) in continuous permafrost, 2.5 % (15.5 km2) in discontinuous permafrost, 14.4 % (74.6 km2) in sporadic permafrost, and 10.4 % (17.2 km2) in isolated permafrost. In general, our observations indicate that lake expansion and drainage in western Alaska are occurring in parallel. As the climate continues to warm and permafrost continues to thaw, we expect an increase in the number of drainage events in this region leading to the formation of higher numbers of small remnant lakes

Deficiency of the bone mineralization inhibitor NPP1 protects against obesity and diabetes

The emergence of bone as an endocrine regulator has prompted a re-evaluation of the role of bone mineralization factors in the development of metabolic disease. Ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase-1 (NPP1) controls bone mineralization through the generation of pyrophosphate, and levels of NPP1 are elevated both in dermal fibroblast cultures and muscle of individuals with insulin resistance. We investigated the metabolic phenotype associated with impaired bone metabolism in mice lacking the gene that encodes NPP1 (Enpp1−/− mice). Enpp1−/− mice exhibited mildly improved glucose homeostasis on a normal diet but showed a pronounced resistance to obesity and insulin resistance in response to chronic high-fat feeding. Enpp1−/− mice had increased levels of the insulin-sensitizing bone-derived hormone osteocalcin but unchanged insulin signalling within osteoblasts. A fuller understanding of the pathways of NPP1 could inform the development of novel therapeutic strategies for treating insulin resistance

Impact of co‐morbid personality disorder on quality of inpatient mental health services for people with anxiety and depression

Introduction Concerns have been raised about the quality of inpatient care received by patients with a diagnosis of personality disorder. Objectives The aim of this study was to examine the quality of care received by inpatients with an anxiety or depressive disorder, comparing subgroups with or without a co‐morbid personality disorder. Method We used a retrospective case‐note review of 3 795 patients admitted to inpatient psychiatric wards in England, utilizing data from the National Clinical Audit of Anxiety and Depression. Data were gathered on all acute admissions with an anxiety or depressive disorder over a 6‐month period, for a number of measures reflecting quality of care derived from national standards. Association of coexisting personality disorder with quality of care was investigated using multivariable regression analyses. Results Four hundred sixteen (11.0%) of the patients had a co‐co‐morbid diagnosis of personality disorder. Patients with personality disorder were less likely to have been asked about prior responses to treatment in their initial assessment (odds ratio (OR) = 0.67, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.50 to 0.89, p = 0.007). They were less likely to receive adequate notice in advance of their discharge (OR = 0.87, 95% CI 0.65 to 0.98, p = 0.046). They were more likely to be prescribed medication at the point of discharge (OR = 1.52, 95% CI 1.02 to 2.09, p = 0.012) and less likely to have been provided with information about the medicines they were taking (OR = 0.86, 95% CI 0.69 to 0.94, p = 0.048). In addition, the carers of patients with co‐morbid personality disorder were less likely to have been provided with information about available support services (OR = 0.73, 95% CI 0.51 to 0.93, p = 0.045). Conclusion We found evidence of poorer quality of care for patients with co‐morbid personality disorder who were admitted to psychiatric hospital for treatment of anxiety or depressive disorders, highlighting the need for improved clinical care in this patient group

Quality of English inpatient mental health services for people with anxiety or depressive disorders: Findings and recommendations from the core audit of the National Clinical Audit of Anxiety and Depression

Background Clinical audit is a sustained cyclical quality improvement process seeking to improve patient care and outcomes by evaluating services against explicit standards and implementing necessary changes. National audits aim to improve population-level clinical care by identifying unwarranted variations and making recommendations for clinicians, managers and service commissioners. The National Clinical Audit of Anxiety and Depression aimed to improve clinical care for people admitted to English hospitals for treatment of anxiety and depression, to provide comparative data on quality of care, and to support local quality improvement initiatives by identifying and sharing examples of best practice. Procedures Thirteen standards were developed based on NICE guidelines, literature review and feedback from a steering committee and reference group of service users and carers. All providers of NHS inpatient mental health services in England submitted details of between 20 and 100 service users/patients admitted between April 2017 and September 2018. To ascertain data reliability, participating services re-audited 5 sets of case-notes with a second auditor, and the coordinating team checked 10 randomly-selected sets of case-notes from 3 services, also selected at random. The reference group and steering committee identified key findings and developed a series of recommendations, which were discussed in regional quality improvement workshops and on-line webinars. Findings Data from 3795 case notes were analysed. A sizeable proportion of records indicated that at least one important aspect of initial assessment was not documented. Many service users/patients who could have benefited from an intervention targeted at optimising physical health did not receive it. Only a minority (39%) were referred for psychological therapy. Use of outcome measures varied considerably but no single outcome measure was being used routinely. Most individuals had a care plan recorded in the notes, but a review date was documented in only two-thirds, and almost half of individuals had not received a copy. Conclusions There was considerable variation between English mental health services across many variables, and much scope for improvement. Clinicians should ensure that care plans are developed collaboratively with service users/patients and identified carers should be provided with information about support services. Health services should investigate the reasons for low referral rates for psychological therapies. Clinicians should ensure all service users have jointly developed crisis plans in place at discharge. Service managers should agree outcome measures to evaluate the treatment provided and clinicians should use these measures at initial assessment and review appointments. The implementation of such changes provides an opportunity for collaborative research into mental health service delivery and quality

Dietary fibers inhibit obesity in mice, but host responses in the cecum and liver appear unrelated to fiber-specific changes in cecal bacterial taxonomic composition

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Radiometric measurements of the microwave emissivity of foam

Includes bibliographical references.Radiometric measurements of the microwave emissivity of foam were conducted during May 2000 at the Naval Research Laboratory's Chesapeake Bay Detachment using radiometers operating at 10.8 and 36.5 GHz. Horizontal and vertical polarization measurements were performed at 36.5 GHz; horizontal, vertical, +45°, ­45°, left-circular, and right-circular polarization measurements were obtained at 10.8 GHz. These measurements were carried out over a range of incidence angles from 30° to 60°. Surface foam was generated by blowing compressed air through a matrix of gas-permeable tubing supported by an aluminum frame and floats. Video micrographs of the foam were used to measure bubble size distribution and foam layer thickness. A video camera was boresighted with the radiometers to determine the beam-fill fraction of the foam generator. Results show emissivities that were greater than 0.9 and approximately constant in value over the range of incidence angles for vertically polarized radiation at both 10.8 and 36.5 GHz, while emissivities of horizontally polarized radiation showed a gradual decrease in value as incidence angle increased. Emissivities at +45°, ­45°, left-circular, and right-circular polarizations were all very nearly equal to each other and were in turn approximately equal to the average values of the horizontal and vertical emissivities in each case.This work was sponsored by the Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research under Award N0014-00-1-280 to the University of Massachusetts, Award N00014-00-0152 to the University of Washington, and Award N0001400WX21032 to the Naval Research Laboratory

Statistical mechanics of voting

Decision procedures aggregating the preferences of multiple agents can produce cycles and hence outcomes which have been described heuristically as `chaotic'. We make this description precise by constructing an explicit dynamical system from the agents' preferences and a voting rule. The dynamics form a one dimensional statistical mechanics model; this suggests the use of the topological entropy to quantify the complexity of the system. We formulate natural political/social questions about the expected complexity of a voting rule and degree of cohesion/diversity among agents in terms of random matrix models---ensembles of statistical mechanics models---and compute quantitative answers in some representative cases.Comment: 9 pages, plain TeX, 2 PostScript figures included with epsf.tex (ignore the under/overfull \vbox error messages