The Impact of Depression on Patient Outcomes in Hip Arthroscopic Surgery.

Background: Mental health impairments have been shown to negatively affect preoperative self-reported function in patients with various musculoskeletal disorders, including those with femoroacetabular impingement. Hypothesis: Those with symptoms of depression will have lower self-reported function, more pain, and less satisfaction on initial assessment and at 2-year follow-up than those without symptoms of depression. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Patients who were enrolled in a multicenter hip arthroscopic surgery registry and had 2-year outcome data available were included in the study. Patients completed the 12-item International Hip Outcome Tool (iHOT-12), visual analog scale (VAS) for pain, and 12-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12) when consenting for surgery. At 2-year follow-up, patients were emailed the iHOT, the VAS, and a rating scale of surgical satisfaction. Initial SF-12 mental component summary (MCS) scores Results: A total of 781 patients achieved the approximate 2-year milestone (mean follow-up, 735 ± 68 days), with 651 (83%) having 2-year outcome data available. There were 434 (67%) female and 217 (33%) male patients, with a mean age of 35.8 ± 13.0 years and a mean body mass index of 25.4 ± 8.8 kg/m Conclusion: A large number of patients who underwent hip arthroscopic surgery presented with symptoms of depression, which negatively affected self-reported function, pain levels, and satisfaction on initial assessment and at 2-year follow-up. Surgeons who perform hip arthroscopic surgery may need to identify the symptoms of depression and be aware of the impact that depression can have on surgical outcomes

T-LAK cell-originated protein kinase (TOPK): an emerging target for cancer-specific therapeutics

‘Targeted’ or ‘biological’ cancer treatments rely on differential gene expression between normal tissue and cancer, and genetic changes that render tumour cells especially sensitive to the agent being applied. Problems exist with the application of many agents as a result of damage to local tissues, tumour evolution and treatment resistance, or through systemic toxicity. Hence, there is a therapeutic need to uncover specific clinical targets which enhance the efficacy of cancer treatment whilst minimising the risk to healthy tissues. T-LAK cell-originated protein kinase (TOPK) is a MAPKK-like kinase which plays a role in cell cycle regulation and mitotic progression. As a consequence, TOPK expression is minimal in differentiated cells, although its overexpression is a pathophysiological feature of many tumours. Hence, TOPK has garnered interest as a cancer-specific biomarker and biochemical target with the potential to enhance cancer therapy whilst causing minimal harm to normal tissues. Small molecule inhibitors of TOPK have produced encouraging results as a stand-alone treatment in vitro and in vivo, and are expected to advance into clinical trials in the near future. In this review, we present the current literature pertaining to TOPK as a potential clinical target and describe the progress made in uncovering its role in tumour development. Firstly, we describe the functional role of TOPK as a pro-oncogenic kinase, followed by a discussion of its potential as a target for the treatment of cancers with high-TOPK expression. Next, we provide an overview of the current preclinical progress in TOPK inhibitor discovery and development, with respect to future adaptation for clinical use

Polar Bear Aerial Survey in the Eastern Chukchi Sea: A Pilot Study

Alaska has two polar bear populations: the Southern Beaufort Sea population, shared with Canada, and the Chukchi/Bering Seas population, shared with Russia. Currently a reliable population estimate for the Chukchi/Bering Seas population does not exist. Land-based aerial and mark-recapture population surveys may not be possible in the Chukchi Sea because variable ice conditions, the limited range of helicopters, extremely large polar bear home ranges, and severe weather conditions may limit access to remote areas. Thus line-transect aerial surveys from icebreakers may be the best available tool to monitor this polar bear stock. In August 2000, a line-transect survey was conducted in the eastern Chukchi Sea and western Beaufort Sea from helicopters based on a U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker under the "Ship of Opportunity" program. The objectives of this pilot study were to estimate polar bear density in the eastern Chukchi and western Beaufort Seas and to assess the logistical feasibility of using ship-based aerial surveys to develop polar bear population estimates. Twenty-nine polar bears in 25 groups were sighted on 94 transects (8257 km). The density of bears was estimated as 1 bear per 147 km² (CV = 38%). Additional aerial surveys in late fall, using dedicated icebreakers, would be required to achieve the number of sightings, survey effort, coverage, and precision needed for more effective monitoring of population trends in the Chukchi Sea.L'Alaska a deux populations d'ours polaires : celle du sud de la mer de Beaufort, commune avec le Canada, et celle de la mer des Tchouktches / mer de Béring, commune avec la Russie. À l'heure actuelle, on ne possède pas d'estimation fiable de la population de la mer des Tchouktches / mer de Béring. En raison des conditions variables de la glace, de la portée limitée des hélicoptères, de la très grande étendue du domaine vital de l'ours polaire et des conditions météorologiques particulièrement mauvaises - facteurs qui limitent l'accès aux régions éloignées -, il n'est peut-être pas possible d'effectuer des relevés aériens à base terrestre de la population ou des relevés par marquage-recapture. Le meilleur outil disponible pour une surveillance continue de cette population d'ours polaires semble donc être le relevé de transects effectué depuis les airs par un appareil embarqué sur un brise-glace. En août 2000, un relevé de transect a été effectué dans l'est de la mer des Tchouktches et dans l'ouest de la mer de Beaufort depuis des hélicoptères embarqués sur un brise-glace de la garde côtière américaine sous les auspices du programme des navires de passage. Les objectifs de cette étude pilote étaient d'estimer la densité de l'ours polaire dans l'est de la mer des Tchouktches et l'ouest de la mer de Beaufort, et d'évaluer la faisabilité logistique de l'utilisation d'hélicoptères embarqués pour établir des estimations de la population d'ours polaires. Vingt-neuf ours polaires répartis en 25 groupes ont été aperçus dans 94 transects (8257 km). La densité des ours était évaluée à 1 animal par 147 km² (CV = 38 %). Il faudrait réaliser d'autres relevés aériens à la fin de l'automne, en ayant recours à des brise-glace spécialisés, pour en arriver au nombre d'observations, aux activités de relevés, à la couverture et à la précision nécessaires à une surveillance plus efficace des tendances démographiques dans la mer des Tchouktches

Managing lupin Anthracnose

Anthracnose in lupins was first reported in commercial crops in Western Australia in September 1996. By October 1996, several thousand lupin breeding lines and wild types of 11 lupin species were sown in New Zealand for resistance screening. In 1997, resistance to anthracnose was confirmed in several breeding fines and commercial cultivars of narrow-leafed lupins (I. angustifolius), landraces of albus lupins (I. albus) and wild types of several other lupin species. Important information on critical seed infection levels and fungicide seed treatment has also been determined

Zero Threshold for Water Adsorption on MAPbBr3

Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites (HOIPs) have shown great promise in a wide range of optoelectronic applications. However, this performance is inhibited by the sensitivity of HOIPs to various environmental factors, particularly high levels of relative humidity. This study uses X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to determine that there is essentially no threshold to water adsorption on the in situ cleaved MAPbBr3 (001) single crystal surface. Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), it shows that the initial surface restructuring upon exposure to water vapor occurs in isolated regions, which grow in area with increasing exposure, providing insight into the initial degradation mechanism of HOIPs. The electronic structure evolution of the surface was also monitored via ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS), evidencing an increased bandgap state density following water vapor exposure, which is attributed to surface defect formation due to lattice swelling. This study will help to inform the surface engineering and designs of future perovskite-based optoelectronic devices

Low dose influenza virus challenge in the ferret leads to increased virus shedding and greater sensitivity to oseltamivir

Ferrets are widely used to study human influenza virus infection. Their airway physiology and cell receptor distribution makes them ideal for the analysis of pathogenesis and virus transmission, and for testing the efficacy of anti-influenza interventions and vaccines. The 2009 pandemic influenza virus (H1N1pdm09) induces mild to moderate respiratory disease in infected ferrets, following inoculation with 106 plaque-forming units (pfu) of virus. We have demonstrated that reducing the challenge dose to 102 pfu delays the onset of clinical signs by 1 day, and results in a modest reduction in clinical signs, and a less rapid nasal cavity innate immune response. There was also a delay in virus production in the upper respiratory tract, this was up to 9-fold greater and virus shedding was prolonged. Progression of infection to the lower respiratory tract was not noticeably delayed by the reduction in virus challenge. A dose of 104 pfu gave an infection that was intermediate between those of the 106 pfu and 102 pfu doses. To address the hypothesis that using a more authentic low challenge dose would facilitate a more sensitive model for antiviral efficacy, we used the well-known neuraminidase inhibitor, oseltamivir. Oseltamivir-treated and untreated ferrets were challenged with high (106 pfu) and low (102 pfu) doses of influenza H1N1pdm09 virus. The low dose treated ferrets showed significant delays in innate immune response and virus shedding, delayed onset of pathological changes in the nasal cavity, and reduced pathological changes and viral RNA load in the lung, relative to untreated ferrets. Importantly, these observations were not seen in treated animals when the high dose challenge was used. In summary, low dose challenge gives a disease that more closely parallels the disease parameters of human influenza infection, and provides an improved pre-clinical model for the assessment of influenza therapeutics, and potentially, influenza vaccines

Leaf diseases of wheat

Trial 90PE10 Strategic variety mixtures to reduce septoria diseases of wheat. Evaluation of wheat lines for suitability to mixing for septoria control. Location: Mt. Barker Research Station To determine components of partial resistance to both Septoria species to ensure that lines with components that are complimentary are chosen for evaluation as mixtures for Septoria control. Trial 90MT12 and 90ME10 Assessing effects of a paired variety mixture to reduce Septoria. Location: Borden and Mt Barker Research Station. To assess the effects of a variety mixture on Septoria diseases. Trial 90MT11 and 90JE9 Evaluating variety mixtures to reduce septoria, using a range of crossbreds. Location: Mt. Barker Research Station To identify varietal combinations from a range of genotypes for using in mixtures to reduce Septoria diseases. Trial 90BA50 and 90MT60 Mixing varieties with a range of maturities for possible disease and agronomic benefits. Location: Badgingarra Research Station and Mt Barker Research Station. To evaluate disease control and other agronomic effects from growing varieties with different maturities as mixtures. Glasshouse screening for resistance to S. nodorum in wheat (with R.E. Wilson) During the year 16 sets of material were screened. Material comprised stage 1.2 and stage 2 lines as well as experimental Triticum tauschii material. Tests were conducted on Triticum tauschii lines and synthetic hexaploid derivatives. Derivatives are called synthetic because their production imitates the natural cross of durum with the primitive grass species %. tauschii which in theory resulted in the first bread wheat. Trial 90MT15 and 90E12 Time of planting and variety effects on septoria diseases of wheat. (with W. Smith, Esperance) Location: Mt. Barker Research Station and Esperance Downs Research Station. To establish earliest practical planting times for differing varieties to minimize the impact of Septoria diseases and maximize yield. Trial 90BA15 (90ES20 was discontinued because of very severe Rhizoctonia and absence of leaf disease) Location: Badgingarra Research Station. To compare a range of new products for control of Septoria diseases with the current standard chemical - TILT. Trial 90A4 Is seed infection a significant source of early inoculum of septoria nodorum? Location: Avondale Research Station. To evaluate the effect of seed borne infection of S. nodorum as early season inoculum. Are ascospores a significant source of infection of septoria nodorum? Location: Badgingarra and Mt Barker Research Station. To determine the extent of ascospore dispersal of Leptosphaeria nodorwn from wheat stubble. Unusual disease occurrence. Leaf rust (Puccinia recondita) of wheat Location: Esperance and Mt. Barker, Jerramungup Leaf rust has occurred in Western Australia, perhaps for the first time in over 10 years. A late wheat leaf rust epidemic developed along the south coast between Esperance and Mt Barker. It was first apparent at trace levels on early-sown crops in September around Esperance. Because rainfall was below average in many areas until October, the rust did not increase until late in the season. It reached yield-damaging levels in some later sown crops with severe epidemics observed in the Esperance and Jerramungup districts. The rust strain is new to Western Australia. Its mode of entry is unknown but is likely to have been by wind from South Australia and its appearance relatively early in 1990 suggests it reached Western Australia in 1989. It apparently remained undetected, surviving through a summer with favourable rains

Kepler Observations of Transiting Hot Compact Objects

Kepler photometry has revealed two unusual transiting companions orbiting an early A-star and a late B-star. In both cases the occultation of the companion is deeper than the transit. The occultation and transit with follow-up optical spectroscopy reveal a 9400 K early A-star, KOI-74 (KIC 6889235), with a companion in a 5.2 day orbit with a radius of 0.08 Rsun and a 10000 K late B-star KOI-81 (KIC 8823868) that has a companion in a 24 day orbit with a radius of 0.2 Rsun. We infer a temperature of 12250 K for KOI-74b and 13500 K for KOI-81b. We present 43 days of high duty cycle, 30 minute cadence photometry, with models demonstrating the intriguing properties of these object, and speculate on their nature.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, submitted to ApJL (updated to correct KOI74 lightcurve

Techniques for monitoring and controlling yaw attitude of a GPS satellite

Techniques for monitoring and controlling yawing of a GPS satellite in an orbit that has an eclipsing portion out of the sunlight based on the orbital conditions of the GPS satellite. In one embodiment, a constant yaw bias is generated in the attitude control system of the GPS satellite to control the yawing of the GPS satellite when it is in the shadow of the earth

Women have greater (Metabolic) Stress Response than Men

Objective: Stress hyperglycaemia is frequent in intensive care unit (ICU) patients and associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Glycemic control (GC) has proven difficult due to high levels of inter- and intra- patient variability in response to insulin. However, despite anecdotes, no one has studied if males and females are easier/harder to control. This study examines differences in clinically validated insulin sensitivity (SI) and its variability between males and females as surrogates of control difficulty. Method: Data from N=145 SPRINT GC patients is analysed for the first 72hours of stay. Demographic characteristics of the male (N=91) and female (N=54) sub-cohorts are similar (age, mortality, injury severity, ICU length of stay, GC duration), as well as GC outcomes (median BG, %BG in/out target band, workload). SI is identified hourly and its hour-to-hour percentage variability is computed (%ΔSI). Due to large data samples, the 95%CI of difference in bootstrapped medians in SI and %ΔSI is used for hypothesis testing to a significance level of p<0.05. Equivalence testing is used to determine whether this difference is clinically significant. Results: Females are more insulin resistant (lower SI) than males (2.5e-4[1.5e-4 4.0e-4] vs. 3.1 e-4[1.7e-4 5.5e-4] L/mU/min). This difference is statistically different and clinically not equivalent. Conversely, %ΔSI is not significantly different (2[-17 22]% vs. 3[-14 25]%), and any difference can be considered clinically equivalent. These observations are also true when data is analysed over 6-h blocks. Conclusions: Females are more insulin resistant than males but have equivalent SI variability. The difference in SI levels suggests either higher endogenous glucose production and/or lower insulin secretion rates for females. Since severity of injury and glycemic outcomes are similar across both groups, the results suggest a stronger stress response to injury for female patients