Technical pre-analytical effects on the clinical biochemistry of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.)

Clinical biochemistry has long been utilized in human and veterinary medicine as a vital diagnostic tool, but despite occasional studies showing its usefulness in monitoring health status in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.), it has not yet been widely utilized within the aquaculture industry. This is due, in part, to a lack of an agreed protocol for collection and processing of blood prior to analysis. Moreover, while the analytical phase of clinical biochemistry is well controlled, there is a growing understanding that technical pre-analytical variables can influence analyte concentrations or activities. In addition, post-analytical interpretation of treatment effects is variable in the literature, thus making the true effect of sample treatment hard to evaluate. Therefore, a number of pre-analytical treatments have been investigated to examine their effect on analyte concentrations and activities. In addition, reference ranges for salmon plasma biochemical analytes have been established to inform veterinary practitioners and the aquaculture industry of the importance of clinical biochemistry in health and disease monitoring. Furthermore, a standardized protocol for blood collection has been proposed

A qualitative study to investigate why patients accept or decline a copy of their referral letter from their GP

Background: Our practice in Northumberland has offered patients copies of their clinical referral letters for almost 3 years. However, many patients declined this offer and this qualitative study was conducted to determine why almost 80% of patients offered a copy of their referral letter opted not to receive one. Aim: To discover why some patients accepted and others declined a copy of the letter written from GP to specialist. Design of study: A qualitative focus-group study. Setting: General practice in Northumberland. Method: Three focus groups of referred patients were created, and discussions were taped, transcribed and analysed for major themes. Results: The patients chose to accept or decline a copy of their referral letter for diverse reasons. However, most felt that the ability to choose for themselves whether to have a copy or not was essential. Conclusions: The concept of trust in their GP was a major theme that patients related was often behind their decision to decline a copy of their letter. These results, if transferable, may have implications for the application of this policy

Health providers' reasons for participating in abortion care: a scoping review

Background: There is a global shortage of health providers in abortion care. Public discourse presents abortion providers as dangerous and greedy and links ‘conscience’ with refusal to participate. This may discourage provision. A scoping review of empirical evidence is needed to inform public perceptions of the reasons that health providers participate in abortion. Objective: The study aimed to identify what is known about health providers’ reasons for participating in abortion provision. Eligibility criteria: Studies were eligible if they included health providers’ reasons for participating in legal abortion provision. Only empirical studies were eligible for inclusion. Sources of evidence: We searched the following databases from January 2000 until January 2022: Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, Excerpta Medica Database, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, ScienceDirect and Centre for Agricultural and Biosciences International Abstracts. Grey literature was also searched. Methods: Dual screening was conducted of both title/abstract and full-text articles. Health providers’ reasons for provision were extracted and grouped into preliminary categories based on the existing research. These categories were revised by all authors until they sufficiently reflected the extracted data. Results: From 3251 records retrieved, 68 studies were included. In descending order, reasons for participating in abortion were as follows: supporting women’s choices and advocating for women’s rights (76%); being professionally committed to participating in abortion (50%); aligning with personal, religious or moral values (39%); finding provision satisfying and important (33%); being influenced by workplace exposure or support (19%); responding to the community needs for abortion services (14%) and participating for practical and lifestyle reasons (8%). Conclusion: Abortion providers participated in abortion for a range of reasons. Reasons were mainly focused on supporting women’s choices and rights; providing professional health care; and providing services that aligned with the provider’s own personal, religious or moral values. The findings provided no evidence to support negative portrayals of abortion providers present in public discourse. Like conscientious objectors, abortion providers can also be motivated by conscience

Institutional objection to abortion: a mixed-methods narrative review

Institutional objection (IO) occurs when institutions providing health care claim objector status and refuse to provide legally permissible health services such as abortion. IO may be regulated by sources including law, ethical codes and policies (including State and local/institutional policies). We conducted a mixed-methods narrative review of the empirical evidence exploring IO to abortion provision globally, to inform areas for further research. MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), CINAHL (EBSCO), Global Health (CAB Abstracts), ScienceDirect and Scopus were searched in August 2021 using keywords including ‘conscientious objection’, ‘faith-based organizations’, ‘religious hospitals’ and ‘abortion’. Eligible research focused on clinicians’ attitudes and experiences of IO to abortion. The 28 studies included in the review were from nine countries: United States (19), Chile (2), Turkey (1), Argentina (1), Australia (1), Colombia (1), Ghana (1), Poland (1) and South Africa (1). The analysis demonstrated that IO was claimed in a range of countries, despite different legislative and policy frameworks. There was strong evidence from the United States that clinicians in religious healthcare institutions were less likely to provide abortions and abortion referrals, and that training of future abortion providers was negatively affected by IO. Qualitative evidence from other countries showed that IO was claimed by secular as well as religious institutions, and individual conscientious objection could be used as a mechanism for imposing IO. Further research is needed to explore whether IO is morally justified, how decisions are made to claim IO, and on what grounds. Finally, appropriate models for regulating IO are needed to ensure the protection of women’s access to abortion. Such models could be informed by those used to regulate IO in other contexts, such as voluntary assisted dying

Decay of high-energy electron bound states in crystals

High-energy electrons that are used as a probe of specimens in transmission electron microscopy exhibit a complex and rich behavior due to multiple scattering. Among other things, understanding the dynamical effects is needed for a quantitative analysis of atomic-resolution images and spectroscopic data. In this study, state-correlation functions are computed within the multislice approach that allow to elucidate behaviors of transversely bound states in crystals. These states play an important role as a large fraction of current density can be coupled into them via focused electron probes. We show that bound states are generically unstable and decay monoexponentially with crystal depth. Their attenuation is accompanied by a resonant intensity transfer to Bessel-like wavefunctions that appear as Laue rings in the far-field diffraction patterns. Behaviors of bound states are also quantified when thermal effects are included, as well as point defects. This approach helps to bridge the Bloch wave and multisliced electron propagation pictures of dynamical scattering providing new insights into fundamental solutions of the wave equation, and may assist in developing quantitative STEM/TEM imaging techniques

Fragment-based discovery of a regulatory site in thioredoxin glutathione reductase acting as "doorstop" for NADPH entry

Members of the FAD/NAD-linked reductase family are recognized as crucial targets in drug development for cancers, inflammatory disorders, and infectious diseases. However, individual FAD/NAD reductases are difficult to inhibit in a selective manner with off target inhibition reducing usefulness of identified compounds. Thioredoxin glutathione reductase (TGR), a high molecular weight thioredoxin reductase-like enzyme, has emerged as a promising drug target for the treatment of schistosomiasis, a parasitosis afflicting more than 200 million people. Taking advantage of small molecules selected from a high-throughput screen and using X-ray crystallography, functional assays, and docking studies, we identify a critical secondary site of the enzyme. Compounds binding at this site interfere with well-known and conserved conformational changes associated with NADPH reduction, acting as a doorstop for cofactor entry. They selectivity inhibit TGR from Schistosoma mansoni and are active against parasites in culture. Since many members of the FAD/NAD-linked reductase family have similar catalytic mechanisms the unique mechanism of inhibition identified in this study for TGR broadly opens new routes to selectively inhibit homologous enzymes of central importance in numerous diseases

Plk1- and β-TrCP–dependent degradation of Bora controls mitotic progression

Through a convergence of functional genomic and proteomic studies, we identify Bora as a previously unknown cell cycle protein that interacts with the Plk1 kinase and the SCF–β-TrCP ubiquitin ligase. We show that the Bora protein peaks in G2 and is degraded by proteasomes in mitosis. Proteolysis of Bora requires the Plk1 kinase activity and is mediated by SCF–β-TrCP. Plk1 phosphorylates a conserved DSGxxT degron in Bora and promotes its interaction with β-TrCP. Mutations in this degron stabilize Bora. Expression of a nondegradable Bora variant prolongs the metaphase and delays anaphase onset, indicating a physiological requirement of Bora degradation. Interestingly, the activity of Bora is also required for normal mitotic progression, as knockdown of Bora activates the spindle checkpoint and delays sister chromatid segregation. Mechanistically, Bora regulates spindle stability and microtubule polymerization and promotes tension across sister kinetochores during mitosis. We conclude that tight regulation of the Bora protein by its synthesis and degradation is critical for cell cycle progression

Challenging Methods and Results Obtained from User-Generated Content in Barcelona’s Public Open Spaces

User-generated content (UGC) provides useful resources for academics, technicians and policymakers to obtain and analyse results in order to improve lives of individuals in urban settings. User-generated content comes from people who voluntarily contribute data, information, or media that then appears in a way which can be viewed by others; usually on the Web. However, to date little is known about how complex methodologies for getting results are subject to methodology-formation errors, personal data protection, and reliability of outcomes. Different researches have been approaching to inquire big data methods for a better understanding of social groups for planners and economic needs. In this chapter, through UGC from Tweets of users located in Barcelona, we present different research experiments. Data collection is based on the use of REST API; while analysis and representation of UGC follow different ways of processing and providing a plurality of information. The first objective is to study the results at a different geographical scale, Barcelona’s Metropolitan Area and at two Public Open Spaces (POS) in Barcelona, Enric Granados Street and the area around the Fòrum de les Cultures; during similar days in two periods of time - in January of 2015 and 2017. The second objective is intended to better understand how different types of POS’ Twitter-users draw urban patterns. The Origin-Destination patterns generated illustrate new social behaviours, addressed to multifunctional uses. This chapter aims to be influential in the use of UGC analysis for planning purposes and to increase quality of life

Chronic Voluntary Alcohol Drinking Causes Anxiety-Like Behavior, Thiamine Deficiency, and Brain Damage of Female Crossed High Alcohol Preferring Mice

The central nervous system is vulnerable to chronic alcohol abuse, and alcohol dependence is a chronically relapsing disorder which causes a variety of physical and mental disorders. Appropriate animal models are important for investigating the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms. The crossed High Alcohol Preferring mice prefer alcohol to water when given free access. In the present study, we used female cHAP mice as a model of chronic voluntary drinking to evaluate the effects of alcohol on neurobehavioral and neuropathological changes. The female cHAP mice had free-choice access to 10% ethanol and water, while control mice had access to water alone at the age of 60-day-old. The mice were exposed to alcohol for 7 months then subjected to neurobehavioral tests including open field (OF), elevated plus maze (EPM), and Morris water maze (MWM). Results from OF and EPM tests suggested that chronic voluntary drinking caused anxiety-like behaviors. After behavior tests, mice were sacrificed, and brain tissues were processed for biochemical analyses. Alcohol altered the levels of several neurotransmitters and neurotrophic factors in the brain including gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA), corticotropin-releasing factor, cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Alcohol increased the expression of neuroinflammation markers including interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and C-C chemokine receptor 2 (CCR2). Alcohol also induced cleaved caspase-3 and glial fibrillary acidic protein, indicative of neurodegeneration and gliosis. In addition, alcohol inhibited the expression of thiamine transporters in the brain and reduced thiamine levels in the blood. Alcohol also caused oxidative stress and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, and stimulated neurogenesis

GIS and spatial data analysis: Converging perspectives

We take as our starting point the state of geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial data analysis 50 years ago when regional science emerged as a new field of enquiry. In the late 1950s and 1960s advances in computing technology were making possible forms of automated cartography that in due course would lead to th