What young people want from health-related online resources: a focus group study

The growth of the Internet as an information source about health, particularly amongst young people, is well established. The aim of this study was to explore young people's perceptions and experiences of engaging with health-related online content, particularly through social media websites. Between February and July 2011 nine focus groups were facilitated across Scotland with young people aged between 14 and 18 years. Health-related user-generated content seems to be appreciated by young people as a useful, if not always trustworthy, source of accounts of other people's experiences. The reliability and quality of both user-generated content and official factual content about health appear to be concerns for young people, and they employ specialised strategies for negotiating both areas of the online environment. Young people's engagement with health online is a dynamic area for research. Their perceptions and experiences of health-related content seem based on their wider familiarity with the online environment and, as the online environment develops, so too do young people's strategies and conventions for accessing it

The geobiological nitrogen cycle : from microbes to the mantle

Nitrogen forms an integral part of the main building blocks of life, including DNA, RNA, and proteins. N2 is the dominant gas in Earth’s atmosphere, and nitrogen is stored in all of Earth’s geological reservoirs, including the crust, the mantle, and the core. As such, nitrogen geochemistry is fundamental to the evolution of planet Earth and the life it supports. Despite the importance of nitrogen in the Earth system, large gaps remain in our knowledge of how the surface and deep nitrogen cycles have evolved over geologic time. Here we discuss the current understanding (or lack thereof) for how the unique interaction of biological innovation, geodynamics, and mantle petrology has acted to regulate Earth’s nitrogen cycle over geologic timescales. In particular, we explore how temporal variations in the external (biosphere and atmosphere) and internal (crust and mantle) nitrogen cycles could have regulated atmospheric pN2. We consider three potential scenarios for the evolution of the geobiological nitrogen cycle over Earth’s history: two in which atmospheric pN2 has changed unidirectionally (increased or decreased) over geologic time; and one in which pN2 could have taken a dramatic deflection following the Great Oxidation Event. It is impossible to discriminate between these scenarios with the currently available models and datasets. However, we are optimistic that this problem can be solved, following a sustained, open-minded, and multidisciplinary effort between surface and deep Earth communities.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The Paradox of Power in CSR: A Case Study on Implementation

Purpose Although current literature assumes positive outcomes for stakeholders resulting from an increase in power associated with CSR, this research suggests that this increase can lead to conflict within organizations, resulting in almost complete inactivity on CSR. Methods A single in-depth case study, focusing on power as an embedded concept. Results Empirical evidence is used to demonstrate how some actors use CSR to improve their own positions within an organization. Resource dependence theory is used to highlight why this may be a more significant concern for CSR. Conclusions Increasing power for CSR has the potential to offer actors associated with it increased personal power, and thus can attract opportunistic actors with little interest in realizing the benefits of CSR for the company and its stakeholders. Thus power can be an impediment to furthering CSR strategy and activities at the individual and organizational level

When “perverts” were religious: the Protestant sexualisation of asceticism in nineteenth-century Britain, India and Ireland

Anti-Catholic polemics from the mid-nineteenth century made frequent comparison between religious practices in Britain, Ireland and India. The supposed atrocities taking place at locations such as Lough Dearg in Country Donegal and at ‘Juggernaut’ (Jagganath) at Puri were denounced in terms which hinted strongly at a striking combination of extreme asceticism and perverse sexual enjoyment. In the same period the word ‘perversion’, which had hitherto referred to apostasy, started to develop connotations of sexual deviance. Protestant sexualised readings of Catholic and Hindu asceticism appear to have been an important site for the development of conceptions of deviant sexuality in general and masochism in particular

Detection of Prion Protein in Urine-Derived Injectable Fertility Products by a Targeted Proteomic Approach

BACKGROUND: Iatrogenic transmission of human prion disease can occur through medical or surgical procedures, including injection of hormones such as gonadotropins extracted from cadaver pituitaries. Annually, more than 300,000 women in the United States and Canada are prescribed urine-derived gonadotropins for infertility. Although menopausal urine donors are screened for symptomatic neurological disease, incubation of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is impossible to exclude by non-invasive testing. Risk of carrier status of variant CJD (vCJD), a disease associated with decades-long peripheral incubation, is estimated to be on the order of 100 per million population in the United Kingdom. Studies showing infectious prions in the urine of experimental animals with and without renal disease suggest that prions could be present in asymptomatic urine donors. Several human fertility products are derived from donated urine; recently prion protein has been detected in preparations of human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using a classical proteomic approach, 33 and 34 non-gonadotropin proteins were identified in urinary human chorionic gonadotropin (u-hCG) and highly-purified urinary human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG-HP) products, respectively. Prion protein was identified as a major contaminant in u-hCG preparations for the first time. An advanced prion protein targeted proteomic approach was subsequently used to conduct a survey of gonadotropin products; this approach detected human prion protein peptides in urine-derived injectable fertility products containing hCG, hMG and hMG-HP, but not in recombinant products. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The presence of protease-sensitive prion protein in urinary-derived injectable fertility products containing hCG, hMG, and hMG-HP suggests that prions may co-purify in these products. Intramuscular injection is a relatively efficient route of transmission of human prion disease, and young women exposed to prions can be expected to survive an incubation period associated with a minimal inoculum. The risks of urine-derived fertility products could now outweigh their benefits, particularly considering the availability of recombinant products

Nitrogen geochemistry of subducting sediments: new results from the Izu-Bonin-Mariana margin and insights regarding global nitrogen subduction

[1] Toward understanding of the subduction mass balance in the Izu-Bonin-Mariana (IBM) convergent margin, we present an inventory of N and C concentrations and isotopic compositions in sediments obtained on Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Legs 129 and 185. Samples from Sites 1149, 800, 801, and 802 contain 5 to 661 ppm total N (organic, inorganic combined) with δ15NAir of −0.2 to +8.2‰ (all δ15N values <+2.5‰ from Site 800). At Site 1149, N content is higher in clay-rich layers and lower in chert and carbonate layers, and δ15N shows a distinct down-section decrease from 0 to 120 mbsf (near +8.0 at shallow levels to near +4.0‰). Reduced-C concentration ranges from 0.02 to 0.5 wt.%, with δ13CVPDB of −28.1 to −21.7‰. The down-section decreases in δ15N and N concentration (and variations in concentrations and δ13C of reduced C, and Creduced/N) at Site 1149 could help reconcile differences between δ15N values of modern deep-sea sediments from near the sediment-water interface and values for forearc metasedimentary rocks. At Site 1149, negative shifts in δ15N, from marine organic values (up to ∼+8‰) toward lower values approaching those for the metasedimentary rocks (+1 to +3‰), are most likely caused by complex diagenetic processes, conceivably with minor effects of changes in productivity and differing proportions of marine and terrestrial organic matter. However, the forearc metamorphic suites (e.g., Franciscan Complex) are known to have been deposited nearer continents, and their lower δ15N at least partly reflects larger proportions of lower-δ15N terrestrial organic matter. Subduction at the Izu-Bonin (IB) margin, of a sediment section like that at Site 1149, would deliver an approximate annual subduction flux of 2.5 × 106 g of N and 1.4 × 107 g of reduced C per linear kilometer of trench, with average δ15N of +5.0‰ and δ13C of −24‰. Incorporating the larger C flux of 9.2 × 108 g/yr/linear-km in carbonate-rich layers of 1149B (average δ13C = +2.3‰) provides a total C flux of 9.3 × 108 g/yr/linear-km (δ13C = +1.9‰). Once subducted, sediments are shifted to higher δ15N by N loss during devolatilization, with magnitudes of the shifts depending on the thermal evolution of the margin

Detection of Prion Protein in Urine-Derived Injectable Fertility Products by a Targeted Proteomic Approach

BACKGROUND: Iatrogenic transmission of human prion disease can occur through medical or surgical procedures, including injection of hormones such as gonadotropins extracted from cadaver pituitaries. Annually, more than 300,000 women in the United States and Canada are prescribed urine-derived gonadotropins for infertility. Although menopausal urine donors are screened for symptomatic neurological disease, incubation of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is impossible to exclude by non-invasive testing. Risk of carrier status of variant CJD (vCJD), a disease associated with decades-long peripheral incubation, is estimated to be on the order of 100 per million population in the United Kingdom. Studies showing infectious prions in the urine of experimental animals with and without renal disease suggest that prions could be present in asymptomatic urine donors. Several human fertility products are derived from donated urine; recently prion protein has been detected in preparations of human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using a classical proteomic approach, 33 and 34 non-gonadotropin proteins were identified in urinary human chorionic gonadotropin (u-hCG) and highly-purified urinary human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG-HP) products, respectively. Prion protein was identified as a major contaminant in u-hCG preparations for the first time. An advanced prion protein targeted proteomic approach was subsequently used to conduct a survey of gonadotropin products; this approach detected human prion protein peptides in urine-derived injectable fertility products containing hCG, hMG and hMG-HP, but not in recombinant products. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The presence of protease-sensitive prion protein in urinary-derived injectable fertility products containing hCG, hMG, and hMG-HP suggests that prions may co-purify in these products. Intramuscular injection is a relatively efficient route of transmission of human prion disease, and young women exposed to prions can be expected to survive an incubation period associated with a minimal inoculum. The risks of urine-derived fertility products could now outweigh their benefits, particularly considering the availability of recombinant products

The identification of QTL controlling ergot sclerotia size in hexaploid wheat implicates a role for the Rht dwarfing alleles

The fungal pathogen Claviceps purpurea infects ovaries of a broad range of temperate grasses and cereals, including hexaploid wheat, causing a disease commonly known as ergot. Sclerotia produced in place of seed carry a cocktail of harmful alkaloid compounds that result in a range of symptoms in humans and animals, causing ergotism. Following a field assessment of C. purpurea infection in winter wheat, two varieties ‘Robigus’ and ‘Solstice’ were selected which consistently produced the largest differential effect on ergot sclerotia weights. They were crossed to produce a doubled haploid mapping population, and a marker map, consisting of 714 genetic loci and a total length of 2895 cM was produced. Four ergot reducing QTL were identified using both sclerotia weight and size as phenotypic parameters; QCp.niab.2A and QCp.niab.4B being detected in the wheat variety ‘Robigus’, and QCp.niab.6A and QCp.niab.4D in the variety ‘Solstice’. The ergot resistance QTL QCp.niab.4B and QCp.niab.4D peaks mapped to the same markers as the known reduced height (Rht) loci on chromosomes 4B and 4D, Rht-B1 and Rht-D1, respectively. In both cases, the reduction in sclerotia weight and size was associated with the semi-dwarfing alleles, Rht-B1b from ‘Robigus’ and Rht-D1b from ‘Solstice’. Two-dimensional, two-QTL scans identified significant additive interactions between QTL QCp.niab.4B and QCp.niab.4D, and between QCp.niab.2A and QCp.niab.4B when looking at sclerotia size, but not between QCp.niab.2A and QCp.niab.4D. The two plant height QTL, QPh.niab.4B and QPh.niab.4D, which mapped to the same locations as QCp.niab.4B and QCp.niab.4D, also displayed significant genetic interactions

Sensorimotor Difficulties Are Associated with the Severity of Autism Spectrum Conditions

Present diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum conditions (ASC) include social communication and interaction difficulties, repetitive behaviour and movement, and atypical sensory responsivity. Few studies have explored the influence of motor coordination and sensory responsivity on severity of ASC symptoms. In the current study, we explore whether sensory responsivity and motor coordination differences can account for the severity of autistic behaviours in children with ASC. 36 children took part: 18 (13 male, 5 female) with ASC (ages 7-16: mean age 9.93 years) and 18 (7 male, 11 female) typically developing (TD) children (ages 6-12; mean age 9.16 years). Both groups completed a battery of assessments that included motor coordination, sensory responsivity, receptive language, non-verbal reasoning and social communication measures Children with ASC also completed the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule and Autism Diagnostic Interview – Revised.. Results showed that children with ASC scored significantly lower on receptive language, coordination and sensory responsivity and a sensorimotor subscale, Modulation of Activity (MoA) compared to the TD group. In the ASC group, MoA significantly predicted ASC severity across all ASC measures; receptive language and sensory responsivity significantly predicted parental reported autism measures; and coordination significantly predicted examiner observed reported scores. Additionally, specific associations were found between the somatosensory perceptive modalities and ASC severity. The results show that sensorimotor skills are associated with severity of ASC symptoms; furthering the need to research sensorimotor integration in ASC and also implying that diagnosis of ASC should also include the assessment of both coordination deficit and atypical sensory responsivity