Cryptosporidium hominis Infection of the Human Respiratory Tract

Cryptosporidium oocysts, observed in a natural sputum sample of a patient with HIV, were further studied by using DNA markers to determine the species of the parasite. C. hominis was identified as the species infecting the patient’s respiratory tract, a finding that strengthens evidence regarding this pathogen’s role in human disease

International Stem Cell Collaboration: How Disparate Policies between the United States and the United Kingdom Impact Research

As the scientific community globalizes, it is increasingly important to understand the effects of international collaboration on the quality and quantity of research produced. While it is generally assumed that international collaboration enhances the quality of research, this phenomenon is not well examined. Stem cell research is unique in that it is both politically charged and a research area that often generates international collaborations, making it an ideal case through which to examine international collaborations. Furthermore, with promising medical applications, the research area is dynamic and responsive to a globalizing science environment. Thus, studying international collaborations in stem cell research elucidates the role of existing international networks in promoting quality research, as well as the effects that disparate national policies might have on research. This study examined the impact of collaboration on publication significance in the United States and the United Kingdom, world leaders in stem cell research with disparate policies. We reviewed publications by US and UK authors from 2008, along with their citation rates and the political factors that may have contributed to the number of international collaborations. The data demonstrated that international collaborations significantly increased an article's impact for UK and US investigators. While this applied to UK authors whether they were corresponding or secondary, this effect was most significant for US authors who were corresponding authors. While the UK exhibited a higher proportion of international publications than the US, this difference was consistent with overall trends in international scientific collaboration. The findings suggested that national stem cell policy differences and regulatory mechanisms driving international stem cell research in the US and UK did not affect the frequency of international collaborations, or even the countries with which the US and UK most often collaborated. Geographical and traditional collaborative relationships were the predominate considerations in establishing international collaborations

TUIs vs. GUIs : comparing the learning potential with preschoolers

In an effort to better understand the learning potential of a tangible interface, we conducted a comparison study between a tangible and a traditional graphical user interface for teaching preschoolers (In Portugal, children enter preschool at the age of three and they attend it till entering school, normally at the age of six) about good oral hygiene. The study was carried with two groups of children aged 4 to 5 years. Questionnaires to parents, children’s drawings, and interviews were used for data collection and analysis and revealed important indicators about children’s change of attitude, involvement, and preferences for the interfaces. The questionnaires showed a remarkable change of attitude toward tooth brushing in the children that interacted with the tangible interface; particularly children’s motivation increased significantly. Children’s drawings were used to assess their degree of involvement with the interfaces. The drawings from the children that interacted with the tangible interface were very complete and detailed suggesting that the children felt actively involved with the experience. The results suggest that the tangible interface was capable of promoting a stronger and long-lasting involvement having a greater potential to engage children, therefore potentially promoting learning. Evaluation through drawing seems to be a promising method to work with preliterate children; however,it is advisable to use it together with other methods.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT

Quantifying the improvement of surrogate indices of hepatic insulin resistance using complex measurement techniques

We evaluated the ability of simple and complex surrogate-indices to identify individuals from an overweight/obese cohort with hepatic insulin-resistance (HEP-IR). Five indices, one previously defined and four newly generated through step-wise linear regression, were created against a single-cohort sample of 77 extensively characterised participants with the metabolic syndrome (age 55.6±1.0 years, BMI 31.5±0.4 kg/m2; 30 males). HEP-IR was defined by measuring endogenous-glucose-production (EGP) with [6–62H2] glucose during fasting and euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamps and expressed as EGP*fasting plasma insulin. Complex measures were incorporated into the model, including various non-standard biomarkers and the measurement of body-fat distribution and liver-fat, to further improve the predictive capability of the index. Validation was performed against a data set of the same subjects after an isoenergetic dietary intervention (4 arms, diets varying in protein and fiber content versus control). All five indices produced comparable prediction of HEP-IR, explaining 39–56% of the variance, depending on regression variable combination. The validation of the regression equations showed little variation between the different proposed indices (r2 = 27–32%) on a matched dataset. New complex indices encompassing advanced measurement techniques offered an improved correlation (r = 0.75, P<0.001). However, when validated against the alternative dataset all indices performed comparably with the standard homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (r = 0.54, P<0.001). Thus, simple estimates of HEP-IR performed comparable to more complex indices and could be an efficient and cost effective approach in large epidemiological investigations

Internal structure and significance of ice-marginal moraine in the Kebnekaise Mountains, northern Sweden

Despite a long history of glaciological research, the palaeo-environmental significance of moraine systems in the Kebnekaise Mountains, Sweden, has remained uncertain. These landforms offer the potential to elucidate glacier response prior to the period of direct monitoring and provide an insight into the ice-marginal processes operating at polythermal valley glaciers. This study set out to test existing interpretations of Scandinavian ice-marginal moraines, which invoke ice stagnation, pushing, stacking/dumping and push-deformation as important moraine forming processes. Moraines at Isfallsglaciären were investigated using ground-penetrating radar to document the internal structural characteristics of the landform assemblage. Radar surveys revealed a range of substrate composition and reflectors, indicating a debris- ice interface and bounding surfaces within the moraine. The moraine is demonstrated to contain both ice-rich and debris-rich zones, reflecting a complex depositional history and a polygenetic origin. As a consequence of glacier overriding, the morphology of these landforms provides a misleading indicator of glacial history. Traditional geochronological methods are unlikely to be effective on this type of land- form as the fresh surface may post-date the formation of the landform following reoccupation of the moraine rampart by the glacier. This research highlights that the interpretation of geochronological data sets from similar moraine systems should be undertaken with caution

3D-partner: a web server to infer interacting partners and binding models

The 3D-partner is a web tool to predict interacting partners and binding models of a query protein sequence through structure complexes and a new scoring function. 3D-partner first utilizes IMPALA to identify homologous structures (templates) of a query from a heterodimer profile library. The interacting-partner sequence profiles of these templates are then used to search interacting candidates of the query from protein sequence databases (e.g. SwissProt) by PSI-BLAST. We developed a new scoring function, which includes the contact-residue interacting score (e.g. the steric, hydrogen bonds, and electrostatic interactions) and the template consensus score (e.g. couple-conserved residue and the template similarity scores), to evaluate how well the interfaces between the query and interacting candidates. Based on this scoring function, 3D-partner provides the statistic significance, the binding models (e.g. hydrogen bonds and conserved amino acids) and functional annotations of interacting partners. The correlation between experimental energies and predicted binding affinities of our scoring function is 0.91 on 275 mutated residues from the ASEdb. The average precision of the server is 0.72 on 563 queries and the execution time of this server for a query is ∼15 s on average. These results suggest that the 3D-partner server can be useful in protein-protein interaction predictions and binding model visualizations. The server is available online at: http://3D-partner.life.nctu.edu.tw

From Geometry to Numerics: interdisciplinary aspects in mathematical and numerical relativity

This article reviews some aspects in the current relationship between mathematical and numerical General Relativity. Focus is placed on the description of isolated systems, with a particular emphasis on recent developments in the study of black holes. Ideas concerning asymptotic flatness, the initial value problem, the constraint equations, evolution formalisms, geometric inequalities and quasi-local black hole horizons are discussed on the light of the interaction between numerical and mathematical relativists.Comment: Topical review commissioned by Classical and Quantum Gravity. Discussion inspired by the workshop "From Geometry to Numerics" (Paris, 20-24 November, 2006), part of the "General Relativity Trimester" at the Institut Henri Poincare (Fall 2006). Comments and references added. Typos corrected. Submitted to Classical and Quantum Gravit

Social comparison, personal relative deprivation, and materialism.

Across five studies, we found consistent evidence for the idea that personal relative deprivation (PRD), which refers to resentment stemming from the belief that one is deprived of deserved outcomes compared to others, uniquely contributes to materialism. In Study 1, self-reports of PRD positively predicted materialistic values over and above socioeconomic status, personal power, self-esteem, and emotional uncertainty. The experience of PRD starts with social comparison, and Studies 2 and 3 found that PRD mediated the positive relation between a tendency to make social comparisons of abilities and materialism. In Study 4, participants who learned that they had less (vs. similar) discretionary income than people like them reported a stronger desire for more money relative to donating more to charity. In Study 5, during a windfall-spending task, participants higher in PRD spent more on things they wanted relative to other spending categories (e.g., paying off debts).This work was supported by grant RPG-2013-148 from the Leverhulme Trust and studentship ES/J500045/1 from the Economic and Social Research Council

Postmodern Literary Labyrinths: Spaces of Horror Reimagined

Cox examines horror in Angela Carter’s The Passion of New Eve (1977) and Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves (2000) as the confrontation with labyrinthine architecture that represents bodily and psychological reflections of self as monstrous, disorientating, and feminine. The reimagined space (re)absorbs and so threatens the protagonists with existential nothingness. Drawing on the abject body, there is an inevitable confrontation with an active maternal origin. Horror is elicited, not by the expected confrontation with the monster, but by encounter with the anthropomorphic labyrinth’s ability to entrap, nullify, and transform. Surprisingly, the experience of these labyrinths, as a reimagined space of horror, typically results in positive transformation. The labyrinth is both the locus of horror and a means to understand and move on from trauma

The impact of life course exposures to neighbourhood deprivation on health and well-being: a review of the long-term neighbourhood effects literature

BACKGROUND:In this review article, we detail a small but growing literature in the field of health geography that uses longitudinal data to determine a life course component to the neighbourhood effects thesis. For too long, there has been reliance on cross-sectional data to test the hypothesis that where you live has an effect on your health and well-being over and above your individual circumstances. METHODS:We identified 53 articles that demonstrate how neighbourhood deprivation measured at least 15 years prior affects health and well-being later in life using the databases Scopus and Web of Science. RESULTS:We find a bias towards US studies, the most common being the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Definition of neighbourhood and operationalization of neighbourhood deprivation across most of the included articles relied on data availability rather than a priori hypothesis. CONCLUSIONS:To further progress neighbourhood effects research, we suggest that more data linkage to longitudinal datasets is required beyond the narrow list identified in this review. The limited literature published to date suggests an accumulation of exposure to neighbourhood deprivation over the life course is damaging to later life health, which indicates improving neighbourhoods as early in life as possible would have the greatest public health improvement