7,325 research outputs found
Imaging diagnosis - unilateral trigeminal neuritis mimicking peripheral nerve sheath tumor in a horse
Ultrasonographic and histopathological features in 8 cats with fibrotic small intestinal stricture
The Lore of Low Methane Livestock:Co-Producing Technology and Animals for Reduced Climate Change Impact
Methane emissions from sheep and cattle production have gained increasing profile in the context of climate change. Policy and scientific research communities have suggested a number of technological approaches to mitigate these emissions. This paper uses the concept of co-production as an analytical framework to understand farmers’ evaluation of a 'good animal’. It examines how technology and sheep and beef cattle are co-produced in the context of concerns about the climate change impact of methane. Drawing on 42 semi-structured interviews, this paper demonstrates that methane emissions are viewed as a natural and integral part of sheep and beef cattle by farmers, rather than as a pollutant. Sheep and beef cattle farmers in the UK are found to be an extremely heterogeneous group that need to be understood in their specific social, environmental and consumer contexts. Some are more amenable to appropriating methane reducing measures than others, but largely because animals are already co-constructed from the natural and the technical for reasons of increased production efficiency
Determinants of a transcriptionally competent environment at the GM-CSF promoter
Granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor
(GM-CSF) is produced by T cells, but not B cells,
in response to immune signals. GM-CSF gene
activation in response to T-cell stimulation requires
remodelling of chromatin associated with the
gene promoter, and these changes do not occur in
B cells. While the CpG methylation status of the
murine GM-CSF promoter shows no correlation with
the ability of the gene to respond to activation, we
find that the basal chromatin environment of the
gene promoter influences its ability to respond to
immune signals. In unstimulated T cells but not B
cells, the GM-CSF promoter is selectively marked
by enrichment of histone acetylation, and association
of the chromatin-remodelling protein BRG1.
BRG1 is removed from the promoter upon activation
concomitant with histone depletion and BRG1
is required for efficient chromatin remodelling and
transcription. Increasing histone acetylation at
the promoter in T cells is paralleled by increased
BRG1 recruitment, resulting in more rapid chromatin
remodelling, and an associated increase in GM-CSF
mRNA levels. Furthermore, increasing histone
acetylation in B cells removes the block in chromatin
remodelling and transcriptional activation
of the GM-CSF gene. These data are consistent
with a model in which histone hyperacetylation
and BRG1 enrichment at the GM-CSF promoter,
generate a chromatin environment competent
to respond to immune signals resulting in gene
activation
Using non-participant observation to uncover mechanisms: insights from a realist evaluation
This article outlines how a realist evaluation of dementia care in hospitals used non-participant observation to support the refinement and testing of mechanisms likely to lead to the use of person-centred care. We found that comments and explanations of their actions from hospital staff during observation periods provided insights into the reasoning that generated their actions for care in real time. This informed subsequent data collection and analysis. Two worked examples of mechanisms first identified during non-participant observation demonstrate (1) how they were uncovered, and (2) how this informed research activities for theory refinement. Early, iterative engagement with the analytic process, primarily involving reflection and debate with the research team, maximised the potential of observation data to support surfacing underlying mechanisms, linking them to specific contexts and outcomes.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio
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