A cost-effective method to quantify biological surface sediment reworking

We propose a simple and inexpensive method to determine the rate and pattern of surface sediment reworking by benthic organisms. Unlike many existing methods commonly used in bioturbation studies, which usually require sediment sampling, our approach is fully non-destructive and is well suited for investigating non-cohesive fine sediments in streams and rivers. Optical tracer (e.g., luminophores or coloured sand) disappearance or appearance is assessed through time based on optical quantification of surfaces occupied by tracers. Data are used to calculate surface sediment reworking (SSR) coefficients depicting bioturbation intensities. Using this method, we evaluated reworking activity of stream organisms (three benthic invertebrates and a fish) in laboratory microcosms mimicking pool habitats or directly in the field within arenas set in depositional zones. Our method was sensitive enough to measure SSR as low as 0.2 cm2.d-1, such as triggered by intermediate density (774 m-2) of Gammarus fossarum (Amphipoda) in microcosms. In contrast, complex invertebrate community in the field and a fish (Barbatula barabatula) in laboratory microcosms were found to yield to excessively high SSR (>60 cm2.d-1). Lastly, we suggest that images acquired during experiments can be used for qualitative evaluation of species-specific effects on sediment distribution

Diagnostic and cost utility of whole exome sequencing in peripheral neuropathy.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the diagnostic utility and cost effectiveness of whole exome sequencing (WES) in a cohort of individuals with peripheral neuropathy. METHODS: Singleton WES was performed in individuals recruited though one pediatric and one adult tertiary center between February 2014 and December 2015. Initial analysis was restricted to a virtual panel of 55 genes associated with peripheral neuropathies. Patients with uninformative results underwent expanded analysis of the WES data. Data on the cost of prior investigations and assessments performed for diagnostic purposes in each patient was collected. RESULTS: Fifty patients with a peripheral neuropathy were recruited (median age 18 years; range 2-68 years). The median time from initial presentation to study enrollment was 6 years 9 months (range 2 months-62 years), and the average cost of prior investigations and assessments for diagnostic purposes AU$4013 per patient. Eleven individuals received a diagnosis from the virtual panel. Eight individuals received a diagnosis following expanded analysis of the WES data, increasing the overall diagnostic yield to 38%. Two additional individuals were diagnosed with pathogenic copy number variants through SNP microarray. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence that WES has a high diagnostic utility and is cost effective in patients with a peripheral neuropathy. Expanded analysis of WES data significantly improves the diagnostic yield in patients in whom a diagnosis is not found on the initial targeted analysis. This is primarily due to diagnosis of conditions caused by newly discovered genes and the resolution of complex and atypical phenotypes

Golimumab induction and maintenance for moderate to severe ulcerative colitis: results from GO-COLITIS (Golimumab: a Phase 4, UK, open label, single arm study on its utilization and impact in ulcerative Colitis)

Objective GO-COLITIS aimed to measure the effectiveness of subcutaneous golimumab in tumour necrosis factor-α antagonist–naive patients with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis (UC) despite conventional treatment. Design GO-COLITIS was an open label, single arm, phase 4 study with a pragmatic design which reflected UK clinical practice. Adult patients were eligible if diagnosed with UC ≥3 months, partial Mayo score (PMS) 4–9. Patients received subcutaneous golimumab induction (200 mg initially and 100 mg at week 2) followed at week 6 by 50 mg or 100 mg (depending on weight) every 4 weeks until week 54 with a 12-week follow-up. Efficacy was measured by PMS at baseline, week 6, 30, 54 and 66. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL; Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ) and EuroQol Group 5 Dimensions Health Questionnaire (EQ-5D)) was assessed at baseline, week 6 and week 54. All safety adverse events (AEs) were recorded. Results 207 patients were enrolled and 205 received golimumab (full analysis set (FAS)205). At week 6, 68.8% (95% CI 62.0% to 75.1%) and 38.5% (95% CI 31.8% to 45.6%) of patients were in response and remission, respectively, using PMS. At the end of the induction phase, 140/141 patients in clinical response continued into the maintenance phase (Maintenance FAS). Sustained clinical response through week 54 was achieved in 51/205 (24.9%) of the FAS205 population and 51/140 (36.4%) of the Maintenance FAS population. Statistically significant improvements from baseline to week 6 were observed for the IBDQ total score and for each IBDQ domain score (bowel symptoms, emotional function, systemic symptoms and social function), as well as the EQ-5D index score and associated visual analogue scale score (p<0.0001). Improvement of HRQoL was sustained through week 54. Serious AEs leading to treatment discontinuation occurred in 8.8% of patients. Conclusion In this study measuring patient-reported outcomes in patients with moderate to severe UC, golimumab induced and maintained response as measured by PMS and significantly improved quality of life measures. Trial registration number NCT02092285; 2013-004583-56

The function of fear in institutional maintenance: Feeling frightened as an essential ingredient in haute cuisine

Fear is a common and powerful emotion that can regulate behaviour. Yet institutional scholars have paid limited attention to the function of fear in processes of institutional reproduction and stability. Drawing on an empirical study of elite chefs within the institution of haute cuisine, this article finds that the multifaceted emotion of fear characterised their experiences and served to sustain their institution. Chefs’ individual feelings of fear prompted conformity and a cognitive constriction, which narrowed their focus on to the precise reproduction of traditional practices whilst also limiting challenges to the norms underpinning the institution. Through fear work, chefs used threats and violence to connect individual experiences of fear to the violation of institutionalized rules, sustaining the conditions in which fear-driven maintenance work thrived. The study also suggests that fear is a normative element of haute cuisine in its own right, where the very experience and eliciting of fear preserved an essential institutional ingredient. In this way, emotions such as fear do not just accompany processes of institutionalization but can be intimately involved in the maintenance of institutions

Swimming in a Sea of Shame: Incorporating Emotions into Explanations of Institutional Reproduction and Change

We theorize the role in institutional processes of what we call the shame nexus, a set of shame-related constructs: felt shame, systemic shame, sense of shame, and episodic shaming. As a discrete emotion, felt shame signals to a person that a social bond is at risk and catalyzes a fundamental motivation to preserve valued bonds. We conceptualize systemic shame as a form of disciplinary power, animated by persons’ sense of shame, a mechanism of ongoing intersubjective surveillance and self-regulation. We theorize how the duo of the sense of shame and systemic shame drives the self-regulation that underpins persons’ conformity to institutional prescriptions and institutional reproduction. We conceptualize episodic shaming as a form of juridical power used by institutional guardians to elicit renewed conformity and reassert institutional prescriptions. We also explain how episodic shaming may have unintended effects, including institutional disruption and recreation, when it triggers sensemaking among targets and observers that can lead to the reassessment of the appropriateness of institutional prescriptions or the value of social bonds. We link the shame nexus to three broad categories of institutional work

A novel model for cyanobacteria bloom formation: the critical role of anoxia and ferrous iron

SUMMARY 1. A novel conceptual model linking anoxia, phosphorus (P), nitrogen (N), iron (Fe) and sulphate to the formation of noxious filamentous and colonial cyanobacteria blooms is presented that reconciles seemingly contradictory ideas about the roles of P, N and Fe in bloom formation. 2. The model has several critical concepts: (i) P regulates biomass and productivity in fresh waters until excessive loading renders a system N-limited or light-limited, but it is the availability of ferrous ions (Fe 2+ ) that regulates the ability of cyanobacteria to compete with its eukaryotic competitors; (ii) Fe 2+ diffusing from anoxic sediments is a major Fe source for cyanobacteria, which acquire it by migrating downwards into Fe 2+ -rich anoxic waters from oxygenated waters; and (iii) subsequent cyanobacterial siderophore production provides a supply of Fe 3+ for reduction at cyanobacteria cell membranes that leads to very low Fe 3+ concentrations in the mixing zone. 3. When light and temperature are physiologically suitable for cyanobacteria growth, bloom onset is regulated by the onset of internal Fe 2+ loading which in turn is controlled by anoxia, reducible Fe content of surface sediments and sulphate reduction rate. 4. This conceptual model provides the basis for improving the success of approaches to eutrophication management because of its far-reaching explanatory power over the wide range of conditions where noxious cyanobacteria blooms have been observed

Impact of clerkship in the attitudes toward psychiatry among Portuguese medical students

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Given the shortage of human resources and the launching of a new Mental Health Plan, recruitment of psychiatrists is currently a major concern in Portugal, as well as in several other countries. Medical students' attitude toward psychiatry has been pointed as a predictor of recruitment. This study aims to evaluate the medical students' perception of psychiatry before and after a clerkship, and the impact on their intention to pursue psychiatry as a future specialty option.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Two self-report questionnaires were administered to all 6^thyear students in a medical school in Lisbon, before and after a 4-weeks full-time psychiatric clerkship, in order to evaluate attitudes toward psychiatry and intention to follow psychiatry in the future. Statistical analysis included Wilcoxon and Chi-square tests.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>153 students (60.8% female) filled in both questionnaires (no dropouts). After the clerkship, there was a significant improvement regarding the overall merits of psychiatry, efficacy, role definition and functioning of psychiatrists, use of legal powers to hospitalize patients and specific medical school factors. There was also a significant increase of students decided or considering the possibility to take a residency in psychiatry.</p> <p>However, perceptions of low prestige and negative pressure from family and peers regarding a future choice of psychiatry remained unchanged in about one-third of the students.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results indicate clearly that the clerkship had a favorable overall impact on the student attitude towards psychiatry, as well as in the number of students considering a future career in psychiatry. Attitudes toward psychiatry seems a promising outcome indicator of the clerkship's quality, but further research is needed in order to assess its reliability as a sound predictor of recruitment.</p

EB Ford revisited: assessing the long-term stability of wing-spot patterns and population genetic structure of the meadow brown butterfly on the Isles of Scilly

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Data files of wing spot sizes and AFLP genotypes available from the Dryad Digital Repository: http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.j7v42.Understanding selection in the wild remains a major aim of evolutionary ecology and work by Ford and colleagues on the meadow brown butterfly Maniola jurtina did much to ignite this agenda. A great deal of their work was conducted during the 1950s on the Isles of Scilly. They documented island-specific wing-spot patterns that remained consistent over about a decade, but patterns on some islands changed after environmental perturbation. It was suggested that these wing-spot patterns reflected island-specific selection and that there was little migration between islands. However, genetic studies to test the underlying assumption of restricted migration are lacking and it is also unknown whether the originally described wing-spot patterns have persisted over time. We therefore collected female butterflies from five of Ford's original study locations, including three large islands (St Mary's, St Martin's and Tresco) and two small islands (Tean and St Helen's). Wing-spot patterns had not changed appreciably over time on three of the islands (two large and one small), but were significantly different on the other two. Furthermore, analysis of 176 amplified fragment length polymorphisms revealed significant genome-wide differentiation among the five islands. Our findings are consistent with Ford's conclusions that despite the close proximity of these islands, there is restricted gene flow among them.Heredity advance online publication, 2 November 2016; doi:10.1038/hdy.2016.94.We thank the Genetics Society for a fieldwork grant (to DJH) that funded the collection trip and DJH thanks Mike Johnson for sparking interest in this area. SWB is supported by the Australian Research Council and a Ramsay Fellowship, NW by a Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship and NERC and DJH by the Leverhulme Trust