Nucleotide supplementation: a randomised double-blind placebo controlled trial of IntestAidIB in people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome [ISRCTN67764449]

BACKGROUND: Dietary nucleotide supplementation has been shown to have important effects on the growth and development of cells which have a rapid turnover such as those in the immune system and the gastrointestinal tract. Work with infants has shown that the incidence and duration of diarrhoea is lower when nucleotide supplementation is given, and animal work shows that villi height and crypt depth in the intestine is increased as a result of dietary nucleotides. Dietary nucleotides may be semi-essential under conditions of ill-health, poor diet or stress. Since people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome tend to fulfil these conditions, we tested the hypothesis that symptoms would be improved with dietary nucleotide supplementation. METHODS: Thirty-seven people with a diagnosis of Irritable Bowel gave daily symptom severity ratings for abdominal pain, diarrhoea, urgency to have a bowel movement, incomplete feeling of evacuation after a bowel movement, bloating, flatulence and constipation for 28 days (baseline). They were then assigned to either placebo (56 days) followed by experimental (56 days) or the reverse. There was a four week washout period before crossover. During the placebo and experimental conditions participants took one 500 mg capsule three times a day; in the experimental condition the capsule contained the nutroceutical substances. Symptom severity ratings and psychological measures (anxiety, depression, illness intrusiveness and general health) were obtained and analysed by repeated measures ANOVAs. RESULTS: Symptom severity for all symptoms (except constipation) were in the expected direction of baseline>placebo>experimental condition. Symptom improvement was in the range 4 – 6%. A feeling of incomplete evacuation and abdominal pain showed the most improvement. The differences between conditions for diarrhoea, bloating and flatulence were not significant at the p < .05 level. There were no significant differences between the conditions for any of the psychological measures. CONCLUSION: Dietary nucleotide supplementation improves some of the symptoms of irritable bowel above baseline and placebo level. As expected, placebo effects were high. Apart from abdominal pain and urgency to have a bowel movement, the improvements, while consistent, are modest, and were not accompanied by improvements in any of the psychological measures. We suggest that the percentage improvement over and above the placebo effect is a physiological effect of the nucleotide supplement on the gut. The mechanisms by which these effects might improve symptoms are discussed

A screen to identify drug resistant variants to target-directed anti-cancer agents

The discovery of oncogenes and signal transduction pathways important for mitogenesis has triggered the development of target-specific small molecule anti-cancer compounds. As exemplified by imatinib (Gleevec), a specific inhibitor of the Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML)-associated Bcr-Abl kinase, these agents promise impressive activity in clinical trials, with low levels of clinical toxicity. However, such therapy is susceptible to the emergence of drug resistance due to amino acid substitutions in the target protein. Defining the spectrum of such mutations is important for patient monitoring and the design of next-generation inhibitors. Using imatinib and BCR/ABL as a paradigm for a drug-target pair, we recently reported a retroviral vector-based screening strategy to identify the spectrum of resistance-conferring mutations. Here we provide a detailed methodology for the screen, which can be generally applied to any drug-target pair

Genetic dissection of quantitative and qualitative traits using a minimum set of barley Recombinant Chromosome Substitution Lines

BACKGROUND:Exploring the natural occurring genetic variation of the wild barley genepool has become a major target of barley crop breeding programmes aiming to increase crop productivity and sustainability in global climate change scenarios. However this diversity remains unexploited and effective approaches are required to investigate the benefits that unadapted genomes could bring to crop improved resilience. In the present study, a set of Recombinant Chromosome Substitution Lines (RCSLs) derived from an elite barley cultivar 'Harrington' as the recurrent parent, and a wild barley accession from the Fertile Crescent 'Caesarea 26-24', as the donor parent (Matus et al. Genome 46:1010-23, 2003) have been utilised in field and controlled conditions to examine the contribution of wild barley genome as a source of novel allelic variation for the cultivated barley genepool. METHODS:Twenty-eight RCSLs which were selected to represent the entire genome of the wild barley accession, were genotyped using the 9 K iSelect SNP markers (Comadran et al. Nat Genet 44:1388-92, 2012) and phenotyped for a range of morphological, developmental and agronomic traits in 2 years using a rain-out shelter with four replicates and three water treatments. Data were analysed for marker traits associations using a mixed model approach. RESULTS:We identified lines that differ significantly from the elite parent for both qualitative and quantitative traits across growing seasons and water regimes. The detailed genotypic characterisation of the lines for over 1800 polymorphic SNP markers and the design of a mixed model analysis identified chromosomal regions associated with yield related traits where the wild barley allele had a positive response increasing grain weight and size. In addition, variation for qualitative characters, such as the presence of cuticle waxes on the developing spikes, was associated with the wild barley introgressions. Despite the coarse location of the QTLs, interesting candidate genes for the major marker-trait associations were identified using the recently released barley genome assembly. CONCLUSION:This study has highlighted the role of exotic germplasm to contribute novel allelic variation by using an optimised experimental approach focused on an exotic genetic library. The results obtained constitute a step forward to the development of more tolerant and resilient varieties.Carla De la Fuente Cantó, Joanne Russell, Christine A. Hackett, Allan Booth, Siobhan Dancey, Timothy S. George and Robbie Waug

Footprints- In the Footprints of Squier and Davis: Archeological Fieldwork in Ross County, Ohio

TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements....................................................................iList of Tables...................................................................vii List of Figures...................................................................ix Contributors .........................................................................xiii Chapter 1 In the Footprints of Squier and Davis : Archeological Fieldwork in Ross County, Ohio Mark J. Lynott................................................................................1 Previous Studies in Ohio ...................................................1 Hopewell Studies Today ................................................................4 Recent Field Research ..........................................................................6 Goal of this Volume ................................................................................12 Chapter 2 In Non-mound Space at the Hopewell Mound Group Jennifer Pederson Weinberger .........................................13 Geophysical Survey .......................................................15Western Village Area.....................................................................16 Near the East Village .....................................................................18 Central Area ............................................................................19 Discussion .......................................................................................19 Chapter 3 Field Studies of the Octagon and Great Circle, High Bank Earthworks Ross County, Ohio N’omi B. Greber and Orrin C. Shane III ..............................................23 Excavations at the Octagon ............................................................25 Geophysics at the Great Circle ............................................................30 Excavations at the Great Circle ..........................................................33 Radiocarbon Assays ...........................................................................41 Comments ....................................................................................44 Addendum ..........................................................................................46 Chapter 4 Spruce Hill Earthworks: The 1995-1996 National Park Service Investigations Bret J. Ruby .............................................................................................49 Background .......................................................................................49 The Spruce Hill Earthworks .......................................................................49 Spruce Hill Revisited ......................................................................53 The 1995-1996 National Park Service Investigations ............................53 Discussion and Conclusions ..............................................................61 Chapter 5 Falling Through a Crack in the Core: The Surprise and Demise of Anderson Earthwork William H. Pickard and Jeffrey W. Weinberger ........................................ 67 History and Setting ..................................................................................68 1993 Excavations ..................................................................................70 Discussion ..............................................................................................72 Conclusion ............................................................................................74 Chapter 6 Middle Woodland and Other Settlement Remains in the Overly Tract Near The Hopeton Earthwork, Ross County, Ohio William S. Dancey .....................................................................................................77 Research Design.............................................................................77 Artifact Categories and their Distributions..............................................80 Discussion............................................................................................92 Chapter 7 Hopewell Occupation at the Hopeton Earthworks: Large Scale Surface Survey Using GPS Technology Jarrod Burks and Dawn Walter Gagliano................................................97 The Survey Area ................................................................................98 Survey Methodology .............................................................................99 Survey Results ...................................................................................99 The Surface Data: A Siteless Approach .................................................103 Discussion and Conclusion .........................................................................106 Notes ...................................................................................................107 Chapter 8 Hopewellian Centers in Context: Investigations In and Around the Hopeton Earthworks Bret J. Ruby And Mark J. Lynott .................................................................109 Surface Survey ......................................................................................110 Redwing Site ...........................................................................................111 Comparisons .........................................................................................118 Conclusions ......................................................................................122 Chapter 9 Searching for Hopewell Settlements: The Triangle Site at the Hopeton Earthworks Mark Lynott ...................................................................................... 125 Field Investigations ............................................................................127 Geophysical Survey ............................................................................128 1998 Season ....................................................................................128 Features, Artifacts and Radiocarbon Dating ........................................130 Animal Remains ...............................................................................137 Plant Remains ................................................................................138 Interpretations ..............................................................................139 Chapter 10 Geophysical Investigations at the Hopeton Earthworks John Weymouth, Bruce Bevan, and Rinita Dalan ...............................145 The Cesium Gradiometer Survey ...........................................................146 Cesium Gradiometer Results ...................................................................146 Geoscan Instrument Surveys ..............................................................148 Comparison of Cesium Magnetic and Resistance Data ........................148 Small Circles...........................................................................................149 Trench Excavations ...................................................................................149 Discussion ................................................................................................152 Conclusions ......................................................................................157 Chapter 11 Archeological and Geoarcheological Study of the Rectangular Enclosure at the Hopeton Works Mark J. Lynott and Rolfe D. Mandel ......................................................159 The Study of the Rectangular Earthwork ................................................161 Geophysical Survey ..............................................................................163 Trench Excavations .............................................................................164 Chronology ........................................................................................170 Geoarcheological Analysis of Trench 1 .................................................172 Interpretations ................................................................................174 Chapter 12 Ohio Hopewell Ritual Craft Production Katherine A. Spielmann ............................................................ 179Raw Material Procurement ....................................................................180 Hopewell Crafting ................................................................................181 Deposition ...........................................................................................186 Conclusions ....................................................................................188 References Cited .....................................................................................................18

Using guided individualised feedback to review self-reported quality of life in health and its importance

© 2014 Taylor & Francis. This pilot study investigated the effects of providing guided, individualised feedback on subjective quality of life (QoL), using results from the multidimensional WHOQOL-BREF profile. Participants (n=129; 85 chronically ill) were recruited in the community, and primary care. They were randomised to receive written or verbal guidance on interpreting a new graphical summary profile, which simultaneously presented (a) their individual self-ratings of QoL and (b) the importance attributed to each QoL dimension. Before and after feedback, participants completed health status, subjective QoL, QoL Importance, goal-oriented QoL and mood measures. Receiving individualised feedback was associated with increased psychological QoL, with modest effect size. No effects were found for physical, social or environmental QoL or QoL importance, health status, mood or goal-oriented QoL. There were no differences between modes of delivering guidance, indicating equal effectiveness. Chronic illness participants reported poorer QoL, moved more slowly towards their QoL goals, and had larger differences between core QoL and QoL Importance than healthy participants. Guided individualised empirical feedback about QoL judgements could be used to promote psychological well-being. Although professional interpretation of feedback is unnecessary, if shared, patients’ profiled WHOQOL information could support self-monitoring, self-management and clinical decision-making

A systematic review on the relationship between self-esteem and interrogative suggestibility

Some factors, such as age, learning disability and mental health difficulties, have been identified as making police suspects more vulnerable to suggestibility and false confessions during interview. However, there has been no systematic review on the association between self-esteem and suggestibility. Seven electronic bibliographic databases and reference lists of previous literature reviews of suggestibility in children were searched. Selected studies were quality assessed using pre-defined criteria before data were extracted. Electronic searches yielded 1914 hits. Of these, 685 duplicates, 1181 irrelevant references and 39 references that did not meet the inclusion criteria were removed. Nine publications were included in the review. Significant correlations between self-esteem and suggestibility, most notably on the Yield 1 subscale of the GSS, were found but four of the nine studies found no significant correlation. The prevalent use of self-report measures and lack of clarity in defining self-esteem limit the validity of those studies