Marcasite at Renison Bell

Despite a possible earlier abundance, marcasite at Renison Bell is today, an elusive, supergene mineral found only between undisturbed gossan and oxidising pyrrhotite. It is a transitional product in the formation of limonite boxwork

A case of triple pathology: seronegative anti-glomerular basement membrane antibody-mediated glomerulonephritis and membranous nephropathy in a patient with underlying diabetic kidney disease

In diabetic patients with acute kidney injury (AKI), kidney biopsy often reveals non-diabetic kidney pathology. This case describes a patient with known Type 1 diabetes who presented with AKI, nephrotic syndrome and haematuria. Combination pathology of seronegative anti-glomerular basement membrane antibody-mediated glomerulonephritis (anti-GBM GN), membranous nephropathy (MN) and diabetic nephropathy (DN) was demonstrated. Strong linear GBM IgG-staining on biopsy with crescentic GN and clinical AKI led to a diagnosis of anti-GBM GN, although serum antibodies were not detectable. Features of DN, Kimmelstiel–Wilson nodules and albumin staining were also present, along with features of MN, such as subepithelial deposits on electron microscopy. Despite treatment with immunosuppression and plasmapheresis, there was no recovery of kidney function. Coexisting anti-GBM GN and MN is well recognized, but the concurrent diagnosis with DN has not been described

Pregnancy is associated with elevation of liver enzymes in HIV-positive women on antiretroviral therapy.

The objective of this study is to assess whether pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of liver enzyme elevation (LEE) and severe LEE in HIV-positive women on antiretroviral therapy (ART)

Tidal dynamics and mangrove carbon sequestration during the Oligo–Miocene in the South China Sea

Modern mangroves are among the most carbon-rich biomes on Earth, but their long-term (≥106 yr) impact on the global carbon cycle is unknown. The extent, productivity and preservation of mangroves are controlled by the interplay of tectonics, global sea level and sedimentation, including tide, wave and fluvial processes. The impact of these processes on mangrove-bearing successions in the Oligo–Miocene of the South China Sea (SCS) is evaluated herein. Palaeogeographic reconstructions, palaeotidal modelling, and facies analysis suggest that elevated tidal range and bed shear stress optimised mangrove development along tide-influenced tropical coastlines. Preservation of mangrove organic carbon (OC) was promoted by high tectonic subsidence and fluvial sediment supply. Lithospheric storage of OC in peripheral SCS basins potentially exceeded 4000 Gt (equivalent to 2000 ppm of atmospheric CO2). These results highlight the crucial impact of tectonic and oceanographic processes on mangrove OC sequestration within the global carbon cycle on geological timescales

Exploring Entrepreneurial Skills and Competencies in Farm Tourism

Diversification to farm tourism is increasingly seen as a viable development strategy to promote a more diverse and sustainable rural economy and to counter declining farm incomes. However, our understanding of the dynamics of the modern farm tourism business and the entrepreneurial and competitive skills farmers require in making the transition from agriculture to a diversified - and service based - enterprise remains limited. Hence, the aim of this paper is to explore the range of skills and competencies that farmers in the North West of England identify as important when adopting a diversification strategy to farm tourism. With the findings indicating that that whilst a range of managerial skills are valued by farmers, they lack many of the additional business and entrepreneurial competencies required for success. Moreover, this paper acknowledges the need to generate consensus on the requisite skill-set that farm tourism operators require, along with a need for a currently fragmented rural tourism literature to acknowledge the significance of rural entrepreneurship and the characteristics of successful farmers and farm tourism ventures

Self-Assembling Proteins as High-Performance Substrates for Embryonic Stem Cell Self-Renewal

The development of extracellular matrix mimetics that imitate niche stem cell microenvironments and support cell growth for technological applications is intensely pursued. Specifically, mimetics are sought that can enact control over the self-renewal and directed differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) for clinical use. Despite considerable progress in the field, a major impediment to the clinical translation of hPSCs is the difficulty and high cost of large-scale cell production under xeno-free culture conditions using current matrices. Here, a bioactive, recombinant, protein-based polymer, termed ZT Fn , is presented that closely mimics human plasma fibronectin and serves as an economical, xeno-free, biodegradable, and functionally adaptable cell substrate. The ZT Fn substrate supports with high performance the propagation and long-term self-renewal of human embryonic stem cells while preserving their pluripotency. The ZT Fn polymer can, therefore, be proposed as an efficient and affordable replacement for fibronectin in clinical grade cell culturing. Further, it can be postulated that the ZT polymer has significant engineering potential for further orthogonal functionalization in complex cell applications

Foot pain and foot health in an educated population of adults: results from the Glasgow Caledonian University Alumni Foot Health Survey

Abstract Background Foot pain is common amongst the general population and impacts negatively on physical function and quality of life. Associations between personal health characteristics, lifestyle/behaviour factors and foot pain have been studied; however, the role of wider determinants of health on foot pain have received relatively little attention. Objectives of this study are i) to describe foot pain and foot health characteristics in an educated population of adults; ii) to explore associations between moderate-to-severe foot pain and a variety of factors including gender, age, medical conditions/co-morbidity/multi-morbidity, key indicators of general health, foot pathologies, and social determinants of health; and iii) to evaluate associations between moderate-to-severe foot pain and foot function, foot health and health-related quality-of-life. Methods Between February and March 2018, Glasgow Caledonian University Alumni with a working email address were invited to participate in the cross-sectional electronic survey (anonymously) by email via the Glasgow Caledonian University Alumni Office. The survey was constructed using the REDCap secure web online survey application and sought information on presence/absence of moderate-to-severe foot pain, patient characteristics (age, body mass index, socioeconomic status, occupation class, comorbidities, and foot pathologies). Prevalence data were expressed as absolute frequencies and percentages. Multivariate logistic and linear regressions were undertaken to identify associations 1) between independent variables and moderate-to-severe foot pain, and 2) between moderate-to-severe foot pain and foot function, foot health and health-related quality of life. Results Of 50,228 invitations distributed, there were 7707 unique views and 593 valid completions (median age [inter-quartile range] 42 [31–52], 67.3% female) of the survey (7.7% response rate). The sample was comprised predominantly of white Scottish/British (89.4%) working age adults (95%), the majority of whom were overweight or obese (57.9%), and in either full-time or part-time employment (82.5%) as professionals (72.5%). Over two-thirds (68.5%) of the sample were classified in the highest 6 deciles (most affluent) of social deprivation. Moderate-to-severe foot pain affected 236/593 respondents (39.8%). High body mass index, presence of bunions, back pain, rheumatoid arthritis, hip pain and lower occupation class were included in the final multivariate model and all were significantly and independently associated with moderate-to-severe foot pain (p < 0.05), except for rheumatoid arthritis (p = 0.057). Moderate-to-severe foot pain was significantly and independently associated lower foot function, foot health and health-related quality of life scores following adjustment for age, gender and body mass index (p < 0.05). Conclusions Moderate-to-severe foot pain was highly prevalent in a university-educated population and was independently associated with female gender, high body mass index, bunions, back pain, hip pain and lower occupational class. Presence of moderate-to-severe foot pain was associated with worse scores for foot function, foot health and health-related quality-of-life. Education attainment does not appear to be protective against moderate-to-severe foot pain

Quantifying landscape-level methane fluxes in subarctic Finland using a multiscale approach

Journal ArticleQuantifying landscape-scale methane (CH4) fluxes from boreal and arctic regions, and determining how they are controlled, is critical for predicting the magnitude of any CH4 emission feedback to climate change. Furthermore, there remains uncertainty regarding the relative importance of small areas of strong methanogenic activity, vs. larger areas with net CH4 uptake, in controlling landscape-level fluxes. We measured CH4 fluxes from multiple microtopographical subunits (sedge-dominated lawns, interhummocks and hummocks) within an aapa mire in subarctic Finland, as well as in drier ecosystems present in the wider landscape, lichen heath and mountain birch forest. An intercomparison was carried out between fluxes measured using static chambers, up-scaled using a high-resolution landcover map derived from aerial photography and eddy covariance. Strong agreement was observed between the two methodologies, with emission rates greatest in lawns. CH4 fluxes from lawns were strongly related to seasonal fluctuations in temperature, but their floating nature meant that water-table depth was not a key factor in controlling CH4 release. In contrast, chamber measurements identified net CH4 uptake in birch forest soils. An intercomparison between the aerial photography and satellite remote sensing demonstrated that quantifying the distribution of the key CH4 emitting and consuming plant communities was possible from satellite, allowing fluxes to be scaled up to a 100 km2 area. For the full growing season (May to October), ~ 1.1-1.4 g CH4 m-2 was released across the 100 km2 area. This was based on up-scaled lawn emissions of 1.2-1.5 g CH4 m-2, vs. an up-scaled uptake of 0.07-0.15 g CH4 m-2 by the wider landscape. Given the strong temperature sensitivity of the dominant lawn fluxes, and the fact that lawns are unlikely to dry out, climate warming may substantially increase CH4 emissions in northern Finland, and in aapa mire regions in general.This work was carried out within the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funded Arctic Biosphere Atmosphere Coupling at Multiple Scales (ABACUS) project (a contribution to International Polar Year 2007_2008) plus NERC small grant NE/F010222/1 awarded to RB and BH. We are grateful for the support of the staff at the Kevo Subarctic Research Institute, to David Sayer for operation and maintenance of the eddy covariance apparatus, and to Lorna English for helping with the analysis of the CH4 samples. We also thank the NERC Field Spectroscopy Facility for support in ground data collection for the remote sensing analysis. Finally, we wish to express our gratitude to two anonymous reviewers whose comments and suggestions substantially improved the manuscript

CR1 Knops blood group alleles are not associated with severe malaria in the Gambia

The Knops blood group antigen erythrocyte polymorphisms have been associated with reduced falciparum malaria-based in vitro rosette formation (putative malaria virulence factor). Having previously identified single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the human complement receptor 1 (CR1/CD35) gene underlying the Knops antithetical antigens Sl1/Sl2 and McC(a)/McC(b), we have now performed genotype comparisons to test associations between these two molecular variants and severe malaria in West African children living in the Gambia. While SNPs associated with Sl:2 and McC(b+) were equally distributed among malaria-infected children with severe malaria and control children not infected with malaria parasites, high allele frequencies for Sl 2 (0.800, 1,365/1,706) and McC(b) (0.385, 658/1706) were observed. Further, when compared to the Sl 1/McC(a) allele observed in all populations, the African Sl 2/McC(b) allele appears to have evolved as a result of positive selection (modified Nei-Gojobori test Ka-Ks/s.e.=1.77, P-value &lt;0.05). Given the role of CR1 in host defense, our findings suggest that Sl 2 and McC(b) have arisen to confer a selective advantage against infectious disease that, in view of these case-control study data, was not solely Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Factors underlying the lack of association between Sl 2 and McC(b) with severe malaria may involve variation in CR1 expression levels