Perspectives on differing health outcomes by city: accounting for Glasgow's excess mortality

Several health outcomes (including mortality) and health-related behaviors are known to be worse in Scotland than in comparable areas of Europe and the United Kingdom. Within Scotland, Greater Glasgow (in West Central Scotland) experiences disproportionately poorer outcomes independent of measurable variation in socioeconomic status and other important determinants. Many reasons for this have been proposed, particularly related to deprivation, inequalities, and variation in health behaviors. The use of models (such as the application of Bradford Hill’s viewpoints on causality to the different hypotheses) has provided useful insights on potentially causal mechanisms, with health behaviors and inequalities likely to represent the strongest individual candidates. This review describes the evolution of our understanding of Glasgow’s excess mortality, summarizes some of the key work in this area, and provides some suggestions for future areas of exploration. In the context of demographic change, the experience in Glasgow is an important example of the complexity that frequently lies behind observed variations in health outcomes within and between populations. A comprehensive explanation of Glasgow’s excess mortality may continue to remain elusive, but is likely to lie in a complex and difficult-to-measure interplay of health determinants acting at different levels in society throughout the life course. Lessons learned from the detailed examination of different potentially causative determinants in Scotland may provide useful methodological insights that may be applied in other settings. Ongoing efforts to unravel the causal mechanisms are needed to inform public health efforts to reduce health inequalities and improve outcomes in Scotland

Neural Transplant Staining with DiI and Vital Imaging by 2-Photon Laser-Scanning Microscopy

We are developing a multielectrode silicon neuroprobe for maintaining a long-term, specific, two-way electrical interface with nervous tissue. Our approach involves trapping a neuron (from an embryonic rat hippocampus) in a small well with a stimulation/ recording electrode at its base. The well is covered with a grillwork through which the neuron\u27s processes are allowed to grow, making synaptic contact with the host tissue, in our case a cultured slice from a rat hippocampus. Each neuroprobe can accommodate 15 neurons, one per well. As a first step in studying neurite outgrowth from the neuroprobe, it was necessary to develop new staining techniques so that neurites from the probe neurons can be distinguished from those belonging to the host, without interference from non-specific background staining. We virtually eliminated background staining through a number of innovations involving dye solubility, cell washing, and debris removal. We also reduced photobleaching and phototoxicity, and enhanced imaging depth by using a 2-photon laser-scanning microscope. We focused on using the popular membrane dye, DiI, however a number of other membrane dyes were shown to provide clear images of neural processes using pulsed illumination at 900 nm. These techniques will be useful to others wishing to follow over time the growth of neurons in culture or after transplantation in vivo, in a non-destructive way

Effect of diet versus diet and exercise on weight loss and body composition in class II and III obesity: A systematic review

Class II and III obesity (BMI >35 kg·m2) have increased dramatically in recent years. Current clinical guidelines suggest diet and exercise as first line treatment for adults throughout the spectrum of overweight and obesity. However, to date there is no systematic review that examines the effects of diet and exercise on this high risk population. This systematic review will examine the combined effects of diet versus diet and exercise on body composition in severe obesity. Medline and Cinahl were searched for randomised controlled trials comparing diet and exercise to diet alone. Studies published until July 2013 were included if they used reliable methods for analysing body composition in adults with BMI ≥ 35 kg·m2. Five of 459 studies met the inclusion criteria. Two studies, both in older adults, reported that exercise reduced lean mass loss during weight loss. Two studies showed that exercise facilitated (greater) fat mass loss. The remaining study reported no differences in body composition when exercise is added to energy restriction. Exercise training during energy restriction for individuals with BMI ≥35 kg.m2 may influence body composition outcomes but the evidence is limited. Further studies should focus on the efficacy of different exercise protocols during energy restriction for this population in order to better inform decision making for the treatment of severe obesity in respect to favourable body composition outcomes

Structure and Emergence of Specific Olfactory Glomeruli in the Mouse

Olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) expressing a given odorant receptor (OR) gene project their axons to a few specific glomeruli that reside at recognizable locations in the olfactory bulb. Connecting ∼1000 populations of OSNs to the ∼1800 glomeruli of the mouse bulb poses a formidable wiring problem. Additional progress in understanding the mechanisms of neuronal connectivity is dependent on knowing how these axonal pathways are organized and how they form during development. Here we have applied a genetic approach to this problem. We have constructed by gene targeting novel strains of mice in which either all OSNs or those that express a specific OR gene, M72 or M71, also produce green fluorescent protein (GFP) or a fusion of tau with GFP. We visualized OSNs and their axons in whole mounts with two-photon laser scanning microscopy. The main conclusion we draw from the three-dimensional reconstructions is the high degree of morphological variability of mature glomeruli receiving axonal input from OR-expressing OSNs and of the pathways taken by the axons to those glomeruli. We also observe that axons of OR-expressing OSNs do not innervate nearby glomeruli in mature mice. Postnatally, a tangle of axons from M72-expressing OSNs occupies a large surface area of the bulb and coalesces abruptly into a protoglomerulus at a reproducible stage of development. These results differ in several aspects from those reported for the development of glomeruli receiving input from OSNs expressing the P2 OR, suggesting the need for a more systematic examination of OR-specific glomeruli

Revision of Erpetosuchus (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia) and new erpetosuchid material from the Late Triassic ‘Elgin Reptile’ fauna based on µCT scanning techniques

The Late Triassic fauna of the Lossiemouth Sandstone Formation (LSF) from the Elgin area, Scotland, has been pivotal in expanding our understanding of Triassic terrestrial tetrapods. Frustratingly, due to their odd preservation, interpretations of the Elgin Triassic specimens have relied on destructive moulding techniques, which only provide incomplete, and potentially distorted, information. Here, we show that micro-computed tomography (μCT) could revitalise the study of this important assemblage. We describe a long-neglected specimen that was originally identified as a pseudosuchian archosaur, Ornithosuchus woodwardi. μCT scans revealed dozens of bones belonging to at least two taxa: a small-bodied pseudosuchian and a specimen of the procolophonid Leptopleuron lacertinum. The pseudosuchian skeleton possesses a combination of characters that are unique to the clade Erpetosuchidae. As a basis for investigating the phylogenetic relationships of this new specimen, we reviewed the anatomy, taxonomy and systematics of other erpetosuchid specimens from the LSF (all previously referred to Erpetosuchus). Unfortunately, due to the differing representation of the skeleton in the available Erpetosuchus specimens, we cannot determine whether the erpetosuchid specimen we describe here belongs to Erpetosuchus granti (to which we show it is closely related) or if it represents a distinct new taxon. Nevertheless, our results shed light on rarely preserved details of erpetosuchid anatomy. Finally, the unanticipated new information extracted from both previously studied and neglected specimens suggests that fossil remains may be much more widely distributed in the Elgin quarries than previously recognised, and that the richness of the LSF might have been underestimated

Three dimensional visualization of the World Wide Web

Although large-scale public hypermedia structures such as the World Wide Web are popularly referred to as "cyberspace", the extent to which they constitute a space in the everyday sense of the word is questionable. This paper reviews recent work in the area of three dimensional (3D) visualization of the Web that has attempted to depict it in the form of a recognizable space; in other words, as a navigable landscape that may be visibly populated by its users. Our review begins by introducing a range of visualizations that address different aspects of using the Web. These include visualizations of Web structure, especially of links, that act as 3D maps; browsing history; searches; evolution of the Web; and the presence and activities of multiple users. We then summarize the different techniques that are employed by these visualizations. We conclude with a discussion of key challenges for the future

TobEA: an atlas of tobacco gene expression from seed to senescence.

RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are.BACKGROUND: Transcriptomics has resulted in the development of large data sets and tools for the progression of functional genomics and systems biology in many model organisms. Currently there is no commercially available microarray to allow such expression studies in Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco). RESULTS: A custom designed Affymetrix tobacco expression microarray was generated from a set of over 40k unigenes and used to measure gene expression in 19 different tobacco samples to produce the Tobacco Expression Atlas (TobEA). TobEA provides a snap shot of the transcriptional activity for thousands of tobacco genes in different tissues throughout the lifecycle of the plant and enables the identification of the biological processes occurring in these different tissues. 772 of 2513 transcription factors previously identified in tobacco were mapped to the array, with 87% of them being expressed in at least one tissue in the atlas. Putative transcriptional networks were identified based on the co-expression of these transcription factors. Several interactions in a floral identity transcription factor network were consistent with previous results from other plant species. To broaden access and maximise the benefit of TobEA a set of tools were developed to provide researchers with expression information on their genes of interest via the Solanaceae Genomics Network (SGN) web site. The array has also been made available for public use via the Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Centre microarray service. CONCLUSIONS: The generation of a tobacco expression microarray is an important development for research in this model plant. The data provided by TobEA represents a valuable resource for plant functional genomics and systems biology research and can be used to identify gene targets for both fundamental and applied scientific applications in tobacco