The effect of Maillard reaction products on zinc metabolism in the rat

The effect of giving Maillard reaction products (MRP) on zinc metabolism was investigated in the rat. In Expt 1, MRP were prepared by incubating casein with either glucose or lactose under controlled reaction conditions, and were quantified as either ‘early' or ‘advanced' after estimation of lysine loss and lysine destruction respectively. In Expt 2, the effect of the purified early MRP fructose-lysine (FL) on Zn metabolism was studied. The experimental diets containing 20 mg Zn/kg were given to weanling rats for 21 d. Zn balance was assessed over 9-14 d (Expt 1), or 1-14 d (Expt 2). Femur, liver, kidney and serum Zn concentrations were determined at 21 d. The major effect of the MRP in the casein-sugar mixtures was on urinary Zn excretion. The casein-glucose MRP induced up to a 6-fold increase in the quantity of Zn excreted in the urine. The magnitude of the hyperzincuria increased with the extent of the Maillard reaction. Similar dietary levels of casein-lactose MRP increased urinary Zn loss 2-fold. Free FL had no effect on urinary Zn. Faecal Zn, Zn retention, liver, femur and serum Zn were generally not influenced by giving MRP from casein-sugar mixtures or by giving free FL, although kidney Zn was decreased in rats fed on FL. It was concluded that although urinary Zn excretion can be increased by the presence of MRP in the diet, this is only a minor excretory pathway and would have little influence on overall Zn nutrition in individuals fed on a diet adequate in Z

MCH Pheromone for Preventing Douglas-Fir Beetle Infestation in Windthrown Trees

A granular controlled-release formulation (98 percent inert, 2 percent 3-methyl-2-cyclohexen-1-one) was applied May 11-13, 1982, at 4.48 kg/ha to 76.9 ha of uninfested windthrown Douglas-fir by helicopter with a modified aerial spreader of 1.13 m³ capacity. Granules measured on treated plots averaged 2.04-2.69 kg/ha, sufficient to reduce Douglas-fir beetle (Dendroctonus pseudotsugae) infestation 96.4 percent by late June. The same MCH treatment reduced spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis) attacks by 55 percent in fewer, intermingled windthrown Engelmann spruce

Learning Contextual Inquiry and Distributed Cognition: a case study on technology use in anaesthesia

There have been few studies on how analysts learn or use frameworks to support gathering and analysis of field data. Distributed Cognition for Teamwork (DiCoT) is a framework that has been developed to facilitate the learning of Distributed Cognition (DCog), focusing on analysing small team interactions. DiCoT, in turn, exploits representations from Contextual Inquiry (CI). The present study is a reflective account of the experience of learning first CI and then DiCoT for studying the use of infusion devices in operating theatres. We report on how each framework supported a novice analyst (the first author) in structuring his data gathering and analysis, and the challenges that he faced. There are three contributions of this work: (1) an example of learning CI and DCog in a semi-structured way; (2) an account of the process and outcomes of learning and using CI and DiCoT in a complex setting; and (3) an outline account of information flow in anaesthesia. While CI was easier to learn and consequently gave better initial support to the novice analyst entering a complex work setting, DiCoT gave added value through its focus on information propagation and transformation as well as the roles of people and artefacts in supporting communication and situation awareness. This study makes visible many of the challenges of learning to apply a framework that are commonly encountered but rarely reported

Resilient Health Care as the basis for teaching patient safety - A Safety-II critique of the World Health Organisation patient safety curriculum

Resilient Health Care (RHC) is predicated on the idea that health care systems constantly adjust to changing circumstances. RHC has become increasingly popular as a new way to improve patient safety, but to date there is no agreed way of using RHC as the basis for teaching patient safety. A key resource for patient safety educators is the World Health Organisation (WHO) patient safety curriculum, released ten years ago. However, it is well established that patient safety thinking in healthcare has been driven largely by Safety-I principles, and this is reflected in the WHO curriculum. The aim of this paper is to review and to provide a critique of the WHO patient safety curriculum from a Safety-II perspective, in order to assess to what extent RHC principles are already incorporated, and to identify areas where RHC might make contributions to the WHO curriculum. Based on this analysis, we argue that RHC thinking could be added in modular fashion to the WHO curriculum, but that in the future a broader curriculum should be developed that integrates RHC thinking throughout

Thermal H₂O emission from the Herbig-Haro flow HH 54

The first detection of thermal water emission from a Herbig-Haro object is presented. The observations were performed with the LWS (Long Wavelength Spectrograph) aboard ISO (Infrared Space Observatory). Besides H2O, rotational lines of CO are present in the spectrum of HH 54. These high-J CO lines are used to derive the physical model parameters of the FIR (far-infrared) molecular line emitting regions. This model fits simultaneously the observed OH and H2O spectra for an OH abundance X(OH)=10-6 and a water vapour abundance X(H2O)=10-5. At a distance of 250pc, the total CO, OH and H2O rotational line cooling rate is estimated to be 1.3x10-2 L⊙, which is comparable to the mechanical luminosity generated by the 10km s-1 shocks, suggesting that practically all of the cooling of the weak-shock regions is done by these three molecular species alone

Patient and public involvement in patient safety research: a workshop to review patient information, minimise psychological risk and inform research

Background Patient safety has attracted increasing attention in recent years. This paper explores patients’ contributions to informing patient safety research at an early stage, within a project on intravenous infusion errors. Currently, there is little or no guidance on how best to involve patients and the wider public in shaping patient safety research, and indeed, whether such efforts are worthwhile. Method We ran a 3-hour workshop involving nine patients with experience of intravenous therapy in the hospital setting. The first part explored patients’ experiences of intravenous therapy. We derived research questions from the resulting discussion through qualitative analysis. In the second part, patients were asked for feedback on patient information sheets considering both content and clarity, and on two potential approaches to framing our patient information: one that focused on research on safety and error, the other on quality improvement. Results The workshop led to a thorough review of how we should engage with patients. Importantly, there was a clear steer away from terms such as ‘error’ and ‘safety’ that could worry patients. The experiences that patients revealed were also richer than we had anticipated, revealing different conceptions of how patients related to their treatment and care, their role in safety and use of medical devices, the different levels of information they preferred, and broader factors impacting perceptions of their care. Conclusion Involving patients at an early stage in patient safety research can be of great value. Our workshop highlighted sensitivities around potentially worrying patients about risks that they might not have considered previously, and how to address these. Patient representatives also emphasised a need to expand the focus of patient safety research beyond clinicians and error, to include factors affecting perceptions of quality and safety for patients more broadly

Detection of [O I] 63 <i>μ</i>m in absorption toward Sgr B2

A high signal-to-noise 52-90 μm spectrum is presented for the central part of the Sagittarius B2 complex. The data were obtained with the Long Wavelength Spectrometer on board the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO). The [O I] 63 μm line is detected in absorption even at the grating spectral resolution of 0.29 μm. A lower limit for the column density of atomic oxygen of the order of 1019 cm-2 is derived. This implies that more than 40% of the interstellar oxygen must be in atomic form along the line of sight toward the Sgr B2 molecular cloud

Breaking antimicrobial resistance by disrupting extracytoplasmic protein folding

Antimicrobial resistance in Gram-negative bacteria is one of the greatest threats to global health. New antibacterial strategies are urgently needed, and the development of antibiotic adjuvants that either neutralize resistance proteins or compromise the integrity of the cell envelope is of ever-growing interest. Most available adjuvants are only effective against specific resistance proteins. Here we demonstrate that disruption of cell envelope protein homeostasis simultaneously compromises several classes of resistance determinants. In particular, we find that impairing DsbA-mediated disulfide bond formation incapacitates diverse β-lactamases and destabilizes mobile colistin resistance enzymes. Furthermore, we show that chemical inhibition of DsbA sensitizes multidrug-resistant clinical isolates to existing antibiotics and that the absence of DsbA, in combination with antibiotic treatment, substantially increases the survival of Galleria mellonella larvae infected with multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This work lays the foundation for the development of novel antibiotic adjuvants that function as broad-acting resistance breakers.British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy BSAC-2018-0095NC3Rs NC/V001582/1Biological Sciences Research Council BB/V007823/1Academy of Medical Sciences SBF006\104

Fermi Large Area Telescope Observations of the Active Galaxy 4C +55.17: Steady, Hard Gamma-Ray Emission and its Implications

We report Fermi/LAT observations and broad-band spectral modeling of the radio-loud active galaxy 4C +55.17 (z=0.896), formally classified as a flat-spectrum radio quasar. Using 19 months of all-sky survey Fermi/LAT data, we detect a gamma-ray continuum extending up to an observed energy of 145 GeV, and furthermore we find no evidence of gamma-ray variability in the source over its observed history. We illustrate the implications of these results in two different domains. First, we investigate the origin of the steady gamma-ray emission, where we re-examine the common classification of 4C +55.17 as a quasar-hosted blazar and consider instead its possible nature as a young radio source. We analyze and compare constraints on the source physical parameters in both blazar and young radio source scenarios by means of a detailed multiwavelength analysis and theoretical modeling of its broad-band spectrum. Secondly, we show that the gamma-ray spectrum may be formally extrapolated into the very-high energy (VHE; >= 100 GeV) range at a flux level detectable by the current generation of ground-based Cherenkov telescopes. This enables us to place constraints on models of extragalactic background light (EBL) within LAT energies and features the source as a promising candidate for VHE studies of the Universe at an unprecedented redshift of z=0.896