Human detrusor smooth muscle metabolism and the pathophysiology of detrusor instability in women

The pathophysiology of abnormal detrusor function and the development of unstable detrusor contractions is a significant clinical problem, particularly in women. The treatment available is often ineffective and is associated with many uncomfortable side effects. Often the unstable contractions occur together with damaged bladder neck support following pelvic floor damage sustained in childbirth. In women these unstable contractions are not usually associated with bladder outlet obstruction such as occurs in men with prostatic hypertrophy. Most of the human and animal research has concentrated on abnormal bladder function as a consequence of bladder outlet obstruction and this study sought to investigate possible mechanisms of the development of abnormal bladder function in the absence of such obstruction. Abnormal detrusor smooth muscle metabolism as a result of bladder ischaemia has been proposed as a pathophysiological process contributing to the development of abnormal bladder function and unstable bladder contractions. In this work the role of cellular hypoxia, specifically, in this pathophysiological process was studied in vitro using biopsies from human stable and unstable bladders, either as isolated multicellular preparations or isolated single myocytes. Cellular hypoxia was found to reduce the force of a carbachol induced contraction in isolated detrusor muscle strips, the biopsies from control bladders being more affected than those from unstable bladders. Isolated single cell experiments demonstrated that cellular hypoxia attenuated the intracellular Ca+2-transient released from the sarcoplasmic reticulum in response to muscarinic stimulation, however cellular hypoxia had no effect on the surface membrane electrophysiological properties

Assessing the needs of older people in urban settings : integration of emotive, physiological and built environment data

Design of the built environment for navigability and walkability is an increasingly important aspect of urban planning. This focus derives in part from increasing interest in lifestyles and behaviours including level of physical activity and health outcomes. Geographical Information Systems and virtual realities are playing a significant role in advancing this agenda: examples exist of integrating qualitative data (words about or visual images of places) and quantitative data (numerical descriptions of places). However there remain opportunities for exploring alternative ways of linking different types of data (physiological measurements, emotional response, street walkability and urban design quality) to address issues of urban planning and renewal. Using a case study approach this paper explores the application of geographic information science and systems to participatory approaches in built environment planning with the aim of exploring older people’s response to an unfamiliar urban environment. It examines different ways of combining temporally and spatial referenced qualitative and quantitative data. The participants in the study were a group of 44 older people (60+) from Swansea, Wales, who viewed a filmed walking route around Colchester, England. Whilst viewing the film they gave an oral commentary and physiological readings were made, which have been integrated with primary data collected on the built environment along the walking route. Proximity and inverse distance weighting approaches for combining these datasets produce complementary results in respect of older people’s physiological and emotive response to variation in the walkability and design quality of a walking route through an unfamiliar town centre. The results reveal participants experienced an elevated average heart close to Colchester Town railway station and expressed a comparatively negative emotional response to this location. Conversely participants experienced lower average heart rate, indicating reduced stress, in Brook Street where the overall Urban Design Quality score was relatively low

Temperatures in Excess of Critical Thresholds Threaten Nestling Growth and Survival in A Rapidly-Warming Arid Savanna: A Study of Common Fiscals

Frequency, duration, and intensity of hot-weather events are all predicted to increase with climate warming. Despite this, mechanisms by which temperature increases affect individual fitness and drive population-level changes are poorly understood. We investigated the link between daily maximum air temperature (t max ) and breeding success of Kalahari common fiscals ( Lanius collaris ) in terms of the daily effect on nestling body-mass gain, and the cumulative effect on size and age of fledglings. High t max reduced mass gain of younger, but not older nestlings and average nestling-period t max did not affect fledgling size. Instead, the frequency with which t max exceeded critical thresholds (t crit s) significantly reduced fledging body mass (t crit  = 33°C) and tarsus length (t crit  = 37°C), as well as delaying fledging (t crit  = 35°C). Nest failure risk was 4.2% per day therefore delays reduced fledging probability. Smaller size at fledging often correlates with reduced lifetime fitness and might also underlie documented adult body-size reductions in desert birds in relation to climate warming. Temperature thresholds above which organisms incur fitness costs are probably common, as physiological responses to temperature are non-linear. Understanding the shape of the relationship between temperature and fitness has implications for our ability to predict species’ responses to climate change

Identifying biologically meaningful hot-weather events using threshold temperatures that affect life-history

Increases in the frequency, duration and intensity of heat waves are frequently evoked in climate change predictions. However, there is no universal definition of a heat wave. Recent, intense hot weather events have caused mass mortalities of birds, bats and even humans, making the definition and prediction of heat wave events that have the potential to impact populations of different species an urgent priority. One possible technique for defining biologically meaningful heat waves is to use threshold temperatures (T thresh ) above which known fitness costs are incurred by species of interest. We set out to test the utility of this technique using T thresh values that, when exceeded, affect aspects of the fitness of two focal southern African bird species: the southern pied babbler Turdiodes bicolor (T thresh = 35.5°C) and the common fiscal Lanius collaris (T thresh = 33°C). We used these T thresh values to analyse trends in the frequency, duration and intensity of heat waves of magnitude relevant to the focal species, as well as the annual number of hot days (maximum air temperature > T thresh ), in north-western South Africa between 1961 and 2010. Using this technique, we were able to show that, while all heat wave indices increased during the study period, most rapid increases for both species were in the annual number of hot days and in the maximum intensity (and therefore intensity variance) of biologically meaningful heat waves. Importantly, we also showed that warming trends were not uniform across the study area and that geographical patterns in warming allowed both areas of high risk and potential climate refugia to be identified. We discuss the implications of the trends we found for our focal species, and the utility of the T thresh technique as a conservation tool

A Community Outbreak of Cryptosporidiosis in Sydney Associated with a Public Swimming Facility: A Case-Control Study

In February, 2008, the South Eastern Sydney Illawarra Public Health Unit investigated an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis within the south east region of Sydney, Australia. Thirty-one cases with laboratory-confirmed cryptosporidiosis and 97 age- and geographically matched controls selected by random digit dialling were recruited into a case-control study and interviewed for infection risk factors. Cryptosporidiosis was associated with swimming at Facility A (matched odds ratio = 19.4, 95% confidence interval: 3.7–100.8) and exposure to household contacts with diarrhoea (matched odds ratio = 7.7, 95% confidence interval: 1.9–31.4) in multivariable conditional logistic regression models. A protective effect for any animal contact was also found (matched odds ratio = 0.2, 95% confidence interval: 0.1–0.7). Cryptosporidium hominis subtype IbA10G2 was identified in 8 of 11 diagnostic stool samples available for cases. This investigation reaffirms the importance of public swimming pools as potential sources of Cryptosporidium infection and ensuring their compliance with water-quality guidelines. The protective effect of animal contact may be suggestive of past exposure leading to immunity

Electronic texts in the Humanities: A coming of age

Electronic texts have been used for research and teaching in the humanities ever since the end of the 1940s. This paper charts the development of various applications in literary computing including concordances, text retrieval, stylistic studies, scholarly editing, and metrical analyses. Many electronic texts now exist as a by-product of these activities. Efforts to use these texts for new applications led to the need for a common encoding scheme, which has now been developed in the form of the Text Encoding Initiative's implementation of the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), and to the need for commonly used procedures for documenting electronic texts, which are just beginning to emerge. The need to separate data from software is now better understood, and the variety of CD-ROM-based text and software packages currently available is posing significant problems of support for libraries as well as delivering only partial solutions to many scholarly requirements. Attention is now turning to research towards more advanced network-based delivery mechanisms.published or submitted for publicatio

Evaluating Electronic Texts in the Humanities

published or submitted for publicatio