Preoperative Kidney Function linked to mortality and readmission outcomes at Day 90 and 30 in Older Emergency Surgical Patients

Grants were received from British Geriatric Society and The Renal Association to support Louis EvansPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Large Magellanic Cloud Planetary Nebula Morphology: Probing Stellar Populations and Evolution

Planetary Nebulae (PNe) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) offer the unique opportunity to study both the Population and evolution of low- and intermediate-mass stars, by means of the morphological type of the nebula. Using observations from our LMC PN morphological survey, and including images available in the HST Data Archive, and published chemical abundances, we find that asymmetry in PNe is strongly correlated with a younger stellar Population, as indicated by the abundance of elements that are unaltered by stellar evolution (Ne, Ar, S). While similar results have been obtained for Galactic PNe, this is the first demonstration of the relationship for extra-galactic PNe. We also examine the relation between morphology and abundance of the products of stellar evolution. We found that asymmetric PNe have higher nitrogen and lower carbon abundances than symmetric PNe. Our two main results are broadly consistent with the predictions of stellar evolution if the progenitors of asymmetric PNe have on average larger masses than the progenitors of symmetric PNe. The results bear on the question of formation mechanisms for asymmetric PNe, specifically, that the genesis of PNe structure should relate strongly to the Population type, and by inference the mass, of the progenitor star, and less strongly on whether the central star is a member of a close binary system.Comment: The Astrophysical Journal Letters, in press 4 figure

Generalisation and specialisation in hoverfly (Syrphidae) grassland pollen transport networks revealed by DNA metabarcoding

1. Pollination by insects is a key ecosystem service, and important to wider ecosystem function. Most species-level pollination networks studied have a generalised structure, with plants having several potential pollinators, and pollinators in turn visiting a number of different plant species. This is in apparent contrast to a plant?s need for efficient conspecific pollen transfer. 2. The aim of this study was to investigate the structure of pollen transport networks at three levels of biological hierarchy: community, species, and individual. We did this using hoverflies in the genus Eristalis, a key group of non-Hymenopteran pollinators. 3. We constructed pollen transport networks using DNA metabarcoding to identify pollen. We captured hoverflies in conservation grasslands in west Wales, UK, removed external pollen loads, sequenced the pollen DNA on the Illumina MiSeq platform using the standard plant barcode rbcL, and matched sequences using a pre-existing plant DNA barcode reference library. 4. We found that Eristalis hoverflies transport pollen from 65 plant taxa, more than previously appreciated. Networks were generalised at the site and species level, suggesting some degree of functional redundancy, and were more generalised in late summer compared to early summer. In contrast, pollen transport at the individual level showed some degree of specialisation. Hoverflies defined as ?single-plant visitors? varied from 40% of those captured in early summer to 24% in late summer. Individual hoverflies became more generalised in late summer, possibly in response to an increase in floral resources. Rubus fruticosus agg. and Succisa pratensis were key plant species for hoverflies at our sites 5. Our results contribute to resolving the apparent paradox of how generalised pollinator networks can provide efficient pollination to plant species. Generalised hoverfly pollen transport networks may result from a varied range of short-term specialised feeding bouts by individual insects. The generalisation and functional redundancy of Eristalis pollen transport networks may increase the stability of the pollination service they deliver.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Serum Concentrations of Myostatin and Myostatin-Interacting Proteins do not differ between young and Scarcopenic elderly men

Peer reviewedPostprin

Disruption of endoplasmic reticulum-mitochondria tethering proteins in post-mortem Alzheimer's disease brain

Signaling between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mitochondria regulates a number of key neuronal functions, many of which are perturbed in Alzheimer's disease. Moreover, damage to ER-mitochondria signaling is seen in cell and transgenic models of Alzheimer's disease. However, as yet there is little evidence that ER-mitochondria signaling is altered in human Alzheimer's disease brains. ER-mitochondria signaling is mediated by interactions between the integral ER protein VAPB and the outer mitochondrial membrane protein PTPIP51 which act to recruit and “tether” regions of ER to the mitochondrial surface. The VAPB-PTPIP51 tethers are now known to regulate a number of ER-mitochondria signaling functions including delivery of Ca2+from ER stores to mitochondria, mitochondrial ATP production, autophagy and synaptic activity. Here we investigate the VAPB-PTPIP51 tethers in post-mortem control and Alzheimer's disease brains. Quantification of ER-mitochondria signaling proteins by immunoblotting revealed loss of VAPB and PTPIP51 in cortex but not cerebellum at end-stage Alzheimer's disease. Proximity ligation assays were used to quantify the VAPB-PTPIP51 interaction in temporal cortex pyramidal neurons and cerebellar Purkinje cell neurons in control, Braak stage III-IV (early/mid-dementia) and Braak stage VI (severe dementia) cases. Pyramidal neurons degenerate in Alzheimer's disease whereas Purkinje cells are less affected. These studies revealed that the VAPB-PTPIP51 tethers are disrupted in Braak stage III-IV pyramidal but not Purkinje cell neurons. Thus, we identify a new pathogenic event in post-mortem Alzheimer's disease brains. The implications of our findings for Alzheimer's disease mechanisms are discussed

Pandemic H1N1 Influenza Isolated from Free-Ranging Northern Elephant Seals in 2010 off the Central California Coast

Interspecies transmission of influenza A is an important factor in the evolution and ecology of influenza viruses. Marine mammals are in contact with a number of influenza reservoirs, including aquatic birds and humans, and this may facilitate transmission among avian and mammalian hosts. Virus isolation, whole genome sequencing, and hemagluttination inhibition assay confirmed that exposure to pandemic H1N1 influenza virus occurred among free-ranging Northern Elephant Seals (Mirounga angustirostris) in 2010. Nasal swabs were collected from 42 adult female seals in April 2010, just after the animals had returned to the central California coast from their short post-breeding migration in the northeast Pacific. Swabs from two seals tested positive by RT-PCR for the matrix gene, and virus was isolated from each by inoculation into embryonic chicken eggs. Whole genome sequencing revealed greater than 99% homology with A/California/04/2009 (H1N1) that emerged in humans from swine in 2009. Analysis of more than 300 serum samples showed that samples collected early in 2010 (n = 100) were negative and by April animals began to test positive for antibodies against the pH1N1 virus (HI titer of ≥ 1∶40), supporting the molecular findings. In vitro characterizations studies revealed that viral replication was indistinguishable from that of reference strains of pH1N1 in canine kidney cells, but replication was inefficient in human epithelial respiratory cells, indicating these isolates may be elephant seal adapted viruses. Thus findings confirmed that exposure to pandemic H1N1 that was circulating in people in 2009 occurred among free-ranging Northern Elephant Seals in 2010 off the central California coast. This is the first report of pH1N1 (A/Elephant seal/California/1/2010) in any marine mammal and provides evidence for cross species transmission of influenza viruses in free-ranging wildlife and movement of influenza viruses between humans and wildlife

Regulating Clothing Outwork: A Sceptic's View

By applying the strategies of international anti-sweatshop campaigns to the Australian context, recent regulations governing home-based clothing production hold retailers responsible for policing the wages and employment conditions of clothing outworkers who manufacture clothing on their behalf. This paper argues that the new approach oversimplifies the regulatory challenge by assuming (1) that Australian clothing production is organised in a hierarchical ‘buyer-led’ linear structure in which core retail firms have the capacity to control their suppliers’ behaviour; (2) that firms act as unitary moral agents; and (3) that interventions imported from other times and places are applicable to the contemporary Australian context. After considering some alternative regulatory approaches, the paper concludes that the new regulatory strategy effectively privatises responsibility for labour market conditions – a development that cries out for further debate

The argument of the broken pane: Suffragette consumerism and newspapers

Within the cut-throat world of newspaper advertising the newspapers of Britain's Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) Votes for Women and the Suffragette managed to achieve a balance that has often proved to be an impossible challenge for social movement press—namely the maintenance of a highly political stance whilst simultaneously exploiting the market system with advertising and merchandising. When the militant papers advocated window smashing of West End stores in 1912–1913, the companies who were the target still took advertisements. Why? What was the relationship between news values, militant violence and advertising income? ‘Do-it-yourself’ journalism operated within a context of ethical consumerism and promotionally orientated militancy. This resulted in newspaper connections between politics, commerce and a distinct market profile, evident in the customisation of advertising, retailer dialogue with militants and longer-term loyalty—symptomatic of a wider trend towards newspaper commercialism during this period