Human tuberculosis - an ancient disease, as elucidated by ancient microbial biomolecules

Tuberculosis is a major cause of death but infected people with effective immunity may remain healthy for years, suggesting long-term coexistence of host and pathogen. Direct detection and characterisation of ancient microbial DNA and lipid biomarkers confirms palaeopathological diagnoses. Archaeological Mycobacterium tuberculosis resembles extant lineages indicating the timescale for evolutionary changes is considerably longer than originally believed. (C) 2009 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved

Pathogenic microbial ancient DNA: a problem or an opportunity?

Copyright © Royal Society 2006Eske Willerslev, Alan Coope

ROC analysis of the verbal overshadowing effect: testing the effect of verbalisation on memory sensitivity

This study investigated the role of memory sensitivity versus recognition criterion in the verbal overshadowing effect (VOE). Lineup recognition data was analysed using ROC analysis to separate the effects of verbalisation on memory sensitivity from criterion placement. Participants watched a short crime video, described the perpetrator's facial features then attempted a lineup identification. Description instructions were varied between participants. There was a standard (free report), forced (report everything), and warning (report accurate information) condition. Control participants did not describe the perpetrator. Memory sensitivity was greater in the control compared to the standard condition. Memory sensitivity was also greater in the warning compared to forced and standard conditions. Memory sensitivity did not differ across the forced and standard description conditions, although a more conservative lineup decision standard was employed in the forced condition. These results, along with qualitative analyses of descriptions, support both retrieval-based and criterion-based explanations of the VOE

Intestinal tuberculosis

Purpose of reviewIntestinal tuberculosis (TB) is increasing due partly to the HIV pandemic. Its clinical presentation mimics inflammatory conditions such as Crohn's disease and malignancies, which are becoming more prevalent, so the diagnosis is problematic.Recent findingsGreater awareness of intestinal TB is needed, both in countries where TB is endemic and developed countries with immigrant populations. Some strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis are associated with more extrapulmonary disease and greater dissemination, thereby exacerbating the rise in HIV-associated extrathoracic TB. Recent retrospective and prospective studies are leading to the development of diagnostic algorithms. A wide range of imaging techniques is available for sampling and diagnosis. New biochemical, immunological and molecular diagnostic methods are being developed but must be standardized and validated. Developments in drug delivery will facilitate oral therapy even in patients suffering from malabsorption.SummaryThere is an increasing consensus on the risk factors and clinical presentations of intestinal TB. Imaging techniques, coupled with fine needle biopsies, are useful aids to diagnosis, but most important is a greater awareness of the condition by clinicians

Imperialism and accountability in corporate law: the limitations of incorporation law as a regulatory mechanism

This article discusses the limitations of the law incorporating a corporation (‘incorporation law’) as a control or governance mechanism in a world where it is increasingly difficult to prevent corporations choosing the incorporation law which suits them best. It uses as an example of the globalising pressures in this field three important cases on the right of establishment in the European Union

High-sensitivity detection of narrowband light in a more intense broadband background using coherence interferogram phase

This paper describes an optical interferometric detection technique,. known as the interferogram phase step shift, which detects narrowband, coherent, and partially coherent light in more intense broadband incoherent background light using changes in the phase gradient with the optical path difference of the coherence interferograin to distinguish the bandwidth or coherence of the signal from that of the background. The detection sensitivity is assessed experimentally by measuring the smallest signal-to-background ratio or signal-to-clutter ratio (SCR), which causes a detectable change in the self-coherence interferograin phase. This minimum detectable SCR (MDSCR) is measured for the multimode He-Ne laser, resonant-cavity light-emitting diode (LED), narrowband-filtered white light, and LED signal sources in a more intense tungsten-halogen-lamp white-light background. The highest MDSCRs to date, to the authors' knowledge, are -46.42 dB for coherent light and -31.96 dB for partially coherent light, which exceed those of existing automatic single-domain techniques by 18.97 and 4.51 dB with system input dynamic ranges of 19.24 and 11.39 dB, respectively. The sensitivity dependence on the signal-to-system bandwidth ratio and on the relative offset of their central wavelengths is also assessed, and optimum values are identified