Stable isotope evidence for Amerindian subsistence in Newfoundland, 2800 B.C. to A.D. 1829

Archaeological research has informed on the lifeways of Newfoundland’s past Amerindian populations, but their subsistence practices are still poorly understood, particular with respect to the roles played by marine and terrestrial resources. To investigate Amerindian diet, isotope ratios (δ¹³Ccoll, δ¹⁵Ncoll) were measured in 86 skeletons from the Maritime Archaic site of Port au Choix-3 (4500 – 4000 cal B.P.), and in 29 skeletons from 12 Recent Indian/Beothuk sites (AD 1000 – 1800). Whole dietary carbon was estimated by measuring carbon isotopes in the enamel of 12 Beothuk skeletons. The Maritime Archaic sample was characterized by the presence of at least two subsistence patterns: one marine-based, and the other mixed marine-terrestrial. These patterns may relate to geographic origin, or to biosocial categories. Recent Indian/Beothuk diet was revealed to be predominantly mixed marine-terrestrial in origin, but characterized by increasing amounts of terrestrial foods in the late historic period

Molecular Tracers of the Central 12 pc of the Galactic Center

We have used the BIMA array to image the Galactic Center with a 19-pointing mosaic in HCN(1-0), HCO+(1-0), and H 42-alpha emission with 5 km/s velocity resolution and 13'' x 4'' angular resolution. The 5' field includes the circumnuclear ring (CND) and parts of the 20 and 50 km/s clouds. HCN(1-0) and HCO+ trace the CND and nearby giant molecular clouds while the H 42-alpha emission traces the ionized gas in Sgr A West. We find that the CND has a definite outer edge in HCN and HCO+ emission at ~45'' radius and appears to be composed of two or three distinct streams of molecular gas rotating around the nucleus. Outside the CND, HCN and HCO+ trace dense clumps of high-velocity gas in addition to optically thick emission from the 20 and 50 km/s clouds. A molecular ridge of compressed gas and dust, traced in NH3 emission and self-absorbed HCN and HCO+, wraps around the eastern edge of Sgr A East. Just inside this ridge are several arcs of gas which have been accelerated by the impact of Sgr A East with the 50 km/s cloud. HCN and HCO+ emission trace the extension of the northern arm of Sgr A West which appears to be an independent stream of neutral and ionized gas and dust originating outside the CND. Broad line widths and OH maser emission mark the intersection of the northern arm and the CND. Comparison to previous NH3 and 1.2mm dust observations shows that HCN and HCO+ preferentially trace the CND and are weaker tracers of the GMCs than NH3 and dust. We discuss possible scenarios for the emission mechanisms and environment at the Galactic center which could explain the differences in these images.Comment: 24 pages, including 17 figures; to appear in The Astrophysical Journa

Klotho, APOEε4, cognitive ability, brain size, atrophy and survival : A study in the Aberdeen Birth Cohort of 1936

We thank the cohort participants who contributed to these studies. The study was supported by the University of Aberdeen Development Trust; the UK’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC); the Wellcome Trust; the Chief Scientist Office (Scotland); and the Alzheimer’s Research Trust (now ARUK).Peer reviewedPostprin

Leadership in Improving Schools: A Qualitative Perspective

This article reports early case-study data gathered from 20 schools involved in the ‘Impact of School Leadership on Pupil Outcomes’ project. We present and discuss the perceptions of headteachers and other school leaders regarding leadership factors that directly and indirectly affect pupil outcomes in these improving schools. Included are issues relating to the pivotal role played by the headteacher in setting and communicating a strategic vision for the school; models of distributed leadership; and the building of leadership capacity so as to build a collective responsibility for the improvement of pupil outcomes

Which older people decline participation in a primary care trial of physical activity and why: insights from a mixed methods approach

This article is available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. Copyright 2014 Rogers et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.Background: Physical activity is of vital importance to older peoples’ health. Physical activity intervention studies with older people often have low recruitment, yet little is known about non-participants. Methods: Patients aged 60–74 years from three UK general practices were invited to participate in a nurse-supported pedometer-based walking intervention. Demographic characteristics of 298 participants and 690 non-participants were compared. Health status and physical activity of 298 participants and 183 non-participants who completed a survey were compared using age, sex adjusted odds ratios (OR) (95% confidence intervals). 15 non-participants were interviewed to explore perceived barriers to participation. Results: Recruitment was 30% (298/988). Participants were more likely than non-participants to be female (54% v 47%; p = 0.04) and to live in affluent postcodes (73% v 62% in top quintile; p < 0.001). Participants were more likely than non-participants who completed the survey to have an occupational pension OR 2.06 (1.35-3.13), a limiting longstanding illness OR 1.72 (1.05-2.79) and less likely to report being active OR 0.55 (0.33-0.93) or walking fast OR 0.56 (0.37-0.84). Interviewees supported general practice-based physical activity studies, particularly walking, but barriers to participation included: already sufficiently active, reluctance to walk alone or at night, physical symptoms, depression, time constraints, trial equipment and duration. Conclusion: Gender and deprivation differences suggest some selection bias. However, trial participants reported more health problems and lower activity than non-participants who completed the survey, suggesting appropriate trial selection in a general practice population. Non-participant interviewees indicated that shorter interventions, addressing physical symptoms and promoting confidence in pursuing physical activity, might increase trial recruitment and uptake of practice-based physical activity endeavours.The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under its Research for Patient Benefit Programme (Grant Reference Number PB-PG-0909-20055)

IL4Rα signaling abrogates hypoxic neutrophil survival and limits acute lung injury responses <i>in vivo</i>

Rationale: Acute respiratory distress syndrome is defined by the presence of systemic hypoxia and consequent on disordered neutrophilic inflammation. Local mechanisms limiting the duration and magnitude of this neutrophilic response remain poorly understood.  Objectives: To test the hypothesis that during acute lung inflammation tissue production of proresolution type 2 cytokines (IL-4 and IL-13) dampens the proinflammatory effects of hypoxia through suppression of HIF-1a (hypoxia-inducible factor-1a)mediated neutrophil adaptation, resulting in resolution of lung injury.  Methods: Neutrophil activation of IL4Ra (IL-4 receptor a) signaling pathways was explored ex vivo in human acute respiratory distress syndrome patient samples, in vitro after the culture of human peripheral blood neutrophils with recombinant IL-4 under conditions of hypoxia, and in vivo through the study of IL4Ra-deficient neutrophils in competitive chimera models and wild-type mice treated with IL-4.  Measurements and Main Results: IL-4 was elevated in human BAL from patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome, and its receptor was identified on patient blood neutrophils. Treatment of human neutrophils with IL-4 suppressed HIF-1a-dependent hypoxic survival and limited proinflammatory transcriptional responses. Increased neutrophil apoptosis in hypoxia, also observed with IL-13, required active STAT signaling, and was dependent on expression of the oxygen-sensing prolyl hydroxylase PHD2. In vivo, IL-4Ra-deficient neutrophils had a survival advantage within a hypoxic inflamed niche; in contrast, inflamed lung treatment with IL-4 accelerated resolution through increased neutrophil apoptosis.  Conclusions: We describe an important interaction whereby IL4Ra-dependent type 2 cytokine signaling can directly inhibit hypoxic neutrophil survival in tissues and promote resolution of neutrophil-mediated acute lung injury

Managing deliberate self-harm in young people: An evaluation of a training program developed for school welfare staff using a longitudinal research design

BACKGROUND: Although deliberate self-harm is prevalent among young people, many who engage in deliberate self-harm receive sub-optimal care. Although schools are a well placed setting to support young people who engage in self-harm there are no specific training packages designed to assist school welfare staff to support these young people.The current study aimed to design, deliver and evaluate a training course specifically for school staff. METHODS: The study employed a longitudinal design. Two hundred and thirteen people participated in the training and evaluation. A questionnaire was administered at baseline, immediately after the training and at 6-month follow-up in order to determine if the training led to improvements in confidence when working with young people who self-harm, perceived skill, knowledge of, and attitudes towards people who self harm. RESULTS: Prior to the course, the majority of participants demonstrated relatively high levels of confidence, perceived skill and knowledge of self-harm and endorsed relatively positive attitudes towards people who engage in self-harm. Despite this, significant improvements were observed in terms of increased confidence, increased perceptions of skill along with increased knowledge of deliberate self-harm. These improvements were sustained over the follow-up period. CONCLUSION: The results demonstrated that the provision of specifically designed training can help school welfare staff to feel better equipped to support young people who are engaging in deliberate self-harm

Genetic variation associated with infection and the environment in the accidental pathogen Burkholderia pseudomallei

Funder: Thailand National Science and Technology Development Agency (FDA-CO-2562-8764-TH) and Thailand Science Research and Innovation fund (MRG6280226)Funder: Food Standards Agency Fellow and is supported by the BBSRC Institute Strategic Programme Microbes in the Food Chain BB/R012504/1 and its constituent projects BBS/E/F/000PR10348 (Theme 1, Epidemiology and Evolution of Pathogens in the Food Chain) and BBS/E/F/000PR10351 (Theme 3, Microbial Communities in the Food Chain)Abstract: The environmental bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei causes melioidosis, an important endemic human disease in tropical and sub-tropical countries. This bacterium occupies broad ecological niches including soil, contaminated water, single-cell microbes, plants and infection in a range of animal species. Here, we performed genome-wide association studies for genetic determinants of environmental and human adaptation using a combined dataset of 1,010 whole genome sequences of B. pseudomallei from Northeast Thailand and Australia, representing two major disease hotspots. With these data, we identified 47 genes from 26 distinct loci associated with clinical or environmental isolates from Thailand and replicated 12 genes in an independent Australian cohort. We next outlined the selective pressures on the genetic loci (dN/dS) and the frequency at which they had been gained or lost throughout their evolutionary history, reflecting the bacterial adaptability to a wide range of ecological niches. Finally, we highlighted loci likely implicated in human disease

Single hadron response measurement and calorimeter jet energy scale uncertainty with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

The uncertainty on the calorimeter energy response to jets of particles is derived for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). First, the calorimeter response to single isolated charged hadrons is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo simulation using proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of sqrt(s) = 900 GeV and 7 TeV collected during 2009 and 2010. Then, using the decay of K_s and Lambda particles, the calorimeter response to specific types of particles (positively and negatively charged pions, protons, and anti-protons) is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo predictions. Finally, the jet energy scale uncertainty is determined by propagating the response uncertainty for single charged and neutral particles to jets. The response uncertainty is 2-5% for central isolated hadrons and 1-3% for the final calorimeter jet energy scale.Comment: 24 pages plus author list (36 pages total), 23 figures, 1 table, submitted to European Physical Journal

Is group cognitive behaviour therapy for postnatal depression evidence-based practice? A systematic review

Background: There is evidence that psychological therapies including cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) may be effective in reducing postnatal depression (PND) when offered to individuals. In clinical practice, this is also implemented in a group therapy format, which, although not recommended in guidelines, is seen as a cost-effective alternative. To consider the extent to which group methods can be seen as evidence-based, we systematically review and synthesise the evidence for the efficacy of group CBT compared to currently used packages of care for women with PND, and we discuss further factors which may contribute to clinician confidence in implementing an intervention. Methods: Seventeen electronic databases were searched. All full papers were read by two reviewers and a third reviewer was consulted in the event of a disagreement on inclusion. Selected studies were quality assessed, using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool, were data extracted by two reviewers using a standardised data extraction form and statistically synthesised where appropriate using the fixed-effect inverse-variance method. Results: Seven studies met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analyses showed group CBT to be effective in reducing depression compared to routine primary care, usual care or waiting list groups. A pooled effect size of d = 0.57 (95% CI 0.34 to 0.80, p < 0.001) was observed at 10–13 weeks post-randomisation, reducing to d = 0.28 (95% CI 0.03 to 0.53, p = 0.025) at 6 months. The non-randomised comparisons against waiting list controls at 10–13 weeks was associated with a larger effect size of d = 0.94 (95% CI 0.42 to 1.47, p < 0.001). However due to the limitations of the available data, such as ill-specified definitions of the CBT component of the group programmes, these results should be interpreted with caution. Conclusions: Although the evidence available is limited, group CBT was shown to be effective. We argue, therefore, that there is sufficient evidence to implement group CBT, conditional upon routinely collected outcomes being benchmarked against those obtained in trials of individual CBT, and with other important factors such as patient preference, clinical experience, and information from the local context taken into account when making the treatment decision