Comparison of bacterioneuston and bacterioplankton dynamics during a phytoplankton bloom in a fjord mesocosm

The bacterioneuston is the community of Bacteria present in surface microlayers, the thin surface film that forms the interface between aquatic environments and the atmosphere. In this study we compared bacterial cell abundance and bacterial community structure of the bacterioneuston and the bacterioplankton (from the subsurface water column) during a phytoplankton bloom mesocosm experiment. Bacterial cell abundance, determined by flow cytometry, followed a typical bacterioplankton response to a phytoplankton bloom, with Synechococcus and high nucleic acid (HNA) bacterial cell numbers initially falling, probably due to selective protist grazing. Subsequently HNA and low nucleic acid (LNA) bacterial cells increased in abundance but Synechococcus did not. There was no significant difference between bacterioneuston and bacterioplankton cell abundances during the experiment. Conversely, distinct and consistent differences between the bacterioneuston and the bacterioplankton community structure were observed. This was monitored simultaneously by Bacteria 16S rRNA gene terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). The conserved patterns of community structure observed in all of the mesocosms indicate that the bacterioneuston is distinctive and non-random

A second independent audit of electroconvulsive therapy in England, 2019: Usage, demographics, consent, and adherence to guidelines and legislation

Objectives. To assess progress towards improving the administering of Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in England since an audit covering 2011, 2013 and 2015. The same information was gathered, for 2019, on usage, demographics, consent, and adherence to national guidelines and the Mental Health Act. Design and Methods. Freedom of Information Act requests were sent to 56 National Health Service Trusts. Results. Thirty-seven trusts (66%) provided data. The gradual decline in the use of ECT in England has levelled off at about 2,500 people per year. There was a 47-fold difference between the Trusts with the highest and lowest rates per capita. Most recipients are still women (67%), and over 60 (58%). Only one Trust could report how many people received psychological therapy prior to ECT, as required by government (N.I.C.E.) guidelines. More than a third of ECT (37%) is still given without consent, with 18% of Trusts non-compliant with legislation concerning second opinions. There were slight declines, compared to a previous audit, in the use of standardised depression scales, down to 30%, and standardised measures of cognitive dysfunction, down to 24%. Only six Trusts provided any data for positive outcomes; seven for adverse effects. None provided data on efficacy or adverse effects beyond end of treatment. Twelve used identical sentences to each other, verbatim, in response to one or more questions. Conclusions. Given the apparent failure of current monitoring and accrediting ECT clinics in England, by the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ ECT Accreditation Service (ECTAS), an independent government sponsored review is urgently needed

The epidemiology of diarrhoeal disease in children at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Blantyre, Malawi, 1994-1997

Diarrhoeal disease (DD) is a leading cause of childhood morbidity and mortality in developing countries throughout the world. To begin to understand the burden of DD at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH), its seasonality and age distribution, we reviewed inpatient and outpatient records for cases of gastroenteritis between 1994 and 1997. Annually, DO. accounted for an average of 7,300 attendances to the; Under 5's rehydration clinic, 1219 paediatric admissions (12% of all hospitalisations) and 183 deaths in hospitalised children (19% of total). A distinct seasonal pattern was identified with monthly peaks for DD occurring between October to January. Over 75% children (inpatients and outpatients) were below two years of age. During the study period, an increase in the number of outpatient attendances for DD was observed. In contrast, the number of children with a more severe outcome, hospitalisation or death, declined during the study period. This is likely to be explicable by the increasing and appropriate use of oral rehydration therapy. We conclude that DD is a substantial cause of morbidity and mortality in Malawian children. Further studies of the patterns of DD at QECH will be necessary to assess the impact ofDD control programmes

Global echoes : reflection on the use of interpretation in consultations in the UK

Working as a foundation doctor in psychiatry I quickly noted the value of two things: the development of a strong therapeutic relationship and the importance of a detailed history. These two things are made much harder when your patient does not speak English and you do not speak their language. I present a reflection on my experiences with two patients who did not speak English, the role of interpreters and some common pitfalls when working with them

Hedgehog signalling acts upstream of Laminin alpha1 transcription in the zebrafish paraxial mesoderm

Laminin-111 (α1β1γ1) is a member of the Laminin family of extra-cellular matrix proteins that comprises 16 members, components of basement membranes. Laminin-111, one of the first Laminin proteins synthesised during embryogenesis, is required for basement membrane deposition and has essential roles in tissue morphogenesis and patterning. Yet, the mechanisms controlling Laminin-111 expression are poorly understood. We generated a zebrafish transgenic reporter line that reproduces faithfully the expression pattern of lama1, the gene encoding Laminin α1, and we used this reporter line to investigate lama1 transcriptional regulation. Our findings established that lama1 expression is controlled by intronic enhancers, including an enhancer directing expression in the paraxial mesoderm, anterior spinal cord and hindbrain, located in intron 1. We show that Hedgehog signalling is necessary and sufficient for lama1 transcription in the paraxial mesoderm and identify putative Gli/Zic binding sites that may mediate this control. These findings uncover a conserved role for Hedgehog signalling in the control of basement membrane assembly via its transcriptional regulation of lama1, and provide a mechanism to coordinate muscle cell fate specification in the zebrafish embryo

Burden of disease and circulating serotypes of rotavirus infection in sub-Saharan Africa: systematic review and meta-analysis.

Two new rotavirus vaccines have recently been licensed in many countries. However, their efficacy has only been shown against certain serotypes commonly circulating in Europe, North America, and Latin America, but thought to be globally important. To assess the potential impact of these vaccines in sub-Saharan Africa, where rotavirus mortality is high, knowledge of prevalent types is essential because an effective rotavirus vaccine is needed to protect against prevailing serotypes in the community. We did two systematic reviews and two meta-analyses of the most recent published data on the burden of rotavirus disease in children aged under 5 years and rotavirus serotypes circulating in countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Eligible studies were selected from PubMed/Medline, Cochrane Library, EmBase, LILACS, Academic Search Premier, Biological Abstracts, ISI Web of Science, and the African Index Medicus. Depending on the heterogeneity, DerSimonian-Laird random-effects or fixed-effects models were used for meta-analyses. Geographical variability in rotavirus burden within countries in sub-Saharan Africa is substantial, and most countries lack information on rotavirus epidemiology. We estimated that annual mortality for this region was 243.3 (95% CI 187.6-301.7) deaths per 100,000 under 5 years (ie, a total of 300,000 children die of rotavirus infection in this region each year). The most common G type detected was G1 (34.9%), followed by G2 (9.1%), and G3 (8.6%). The most common P types detected were P[8] (35.5%) and P[6] (27.5%). Accurate information should be collected from surveillance based on standardised methods in these countries to obtain comparable data on the burden of disease and the circulating strains to assess the potential impact of vaccine introduction

Admissibility Compared: The Reception of Incriminating Expert Evidence (i.e., Forensic Science) in Four Adversarial Jurisdictions

There is an epistemic crisis in many areas of forensic science. This crisis emerged largely in response both to the mobilization of a range of academic commentators and critics and the rise and influence of DNA typing. It gained popular and authoritative support through the influence of the National Academy of Science (NAS) and a surprisingly critical report produced under its auspices by a committee of the National Research Council (NRC). Interestingly, as this article endeavors to explain, the courts themselves seem to have played a rather indirect, inconsistent and ultimately ineffective role in the supervision and evaluation of forensic science evidence. Indeed, in the aftermath of recent criticism of the forensic sciences, this essay considers the effect of the dominant admissibility standards that operate in four common law jurisdictions. The revealing result seems to be that although admissibility standards vary across these jurisdictions, actual admissibility practices are remarkably consistent. In this article we will question the extent to which courts (and legal personnel) are able to meaningfully invigilate the use of forensic science evidence in criminal proceedings and consider some of the ideological commitments and institutional pressures that might lead judges in all jurisdictions to prefer inclusive approaches to incriminating expert opinions. In the first part of the article, we compare rules, jurisprudence and practices, across four jurisdictions: the United States, England and Wales, Canada, and Australia. All profoundly shaped by the English common law, these jurisdictions (and their sub- jurisdictions) tend to use a mixture of common law (e.g. England and Wales and Canada), judge-made rules (e.g. the U.S. Federal Rules of Evidence) and statutory schemes (e.g. the Australian Evidence Act 1995 Cth and many states in the United States) to regulate the admission of evidence, including expert opinion. These jurisdictions tend to maintain criminal trial processes that remain reasonably similar and facilitate broad brush comparisons. Our findings suggest that admissibility standards, including the first generation of reliability-based standards, seem to make little, if any, difference to (traditional) admissibility decision-making and practice. Allowing for some variation, the same sorts of forensic science evidence are admitted across all jurisdictions, even where the techniques are not demonstrably reliable and the jurisdiction in question has explicit reliability standards and other rules regulating the admission of expert opinion evidence. Moreover, it is our contention that the legal accommodation of the techniques considered in this article exemplifies a more general response to admissibility and the regulation of forensic science and medicine evidence. In the second part of the article we will consider possible explanations and some of the implications of our findings

Quantification of Cellular Proliferation in Acne Using the Monoclonal Antibody Ki-67

The mechanism by which ductal hypercornification occurs in acne is uncertain. We investigated proliferation in normal and acne follicles and in the interfollicular epidermis using the monoclonal antibody Ki-67, which reacts with a nuclear antigen expressed by cells in the G1, S, M, and G2 phases of the cell cycle. Cryostat sections of biopsies from the interscapular region from acne patients and from normal volunteers were stained with Ki-67 antibody and counterstained with 2% methyl green. The number of Ki-67-positive nuclei in the basal layer were counted and expressed as a percentage of the total number of basal nuclei in the ductal or interfollicular epithelia. The data was expressed as mean percent ± SD. In normal follicles from acne-affected sites 17.40% ± 1.86% (n = 8) of the nuclei were Ki-67 positive. This was significantly higher (p <0.01) than follicles from an area of skin unaffected by acne (11.01% ± 6.16%, n = 8). In the follicular epithelia of non-inflamed lesions, the percentage of Ki-67 positive nuclei was 23.44% ± 8.36% (n = 15). It was impossible to count the nuclei of follicular epithelium of inflamed lesions because little of this remained intact. In normal interfollicular epidermis, Ki-67-positive nuclei represented 5.33% ± 3.36% (n = 8) of the total. This value was not significantly different from the value obtained for interfollicular epidermis near non-inflamed lesions (10.46% ± 4.45%, n = 15). However, the number of Ki- 67-positive nuclei in the interfollicular epidermis near inflamed lesions was significantly higher than either of these two values: 25.26% ± 6.83%, n = 13, p < 0.05. Our results with Ki-67 confirm that ductal hyperproliferation occurs in acne and shows that normal follicles from acne skin may be “acne-prone.

Plasma-generated poly(allyl alcohol) antifouling coatings for cellular attachment

Conformal poly(allyl alcohol) (PAA) coatings were grown on a biomedical grade polyurethane scaffold using pulsed plasma polymerization of the allyl alcohol monomer. The creation of a continuous wave polymer primer layer increases the interfacial adhesion and stability of a subsequent pulsed plasma deposited PAA film. The resulting PAA coatings are strongly hydrophilic and stable following 7 days incubation in biological media. Films prepared through this energyefficient, two-step process promote human dermal fibroblast cell culture, while resisting E. coli biofilm formation

Molecular Characterization of Rotavirus Gastroenteritis Strains, Iraqi Kurdistan

Of 260 children with acute diarrhea in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, 96 (37%) were infected with rotavirus. Reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction identified G1, G4, G2, G9, P[8], P[6], and P[4] as the most common genotypes. Eight G/P combinations were found, but P[8]G1 and P[4]G2 accounted for >50% of the strains