Differences in the factor structure of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire in Northern Irish children.

This study presents the psychometric properties of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in a sample of 386 Northern Irish adolescents. Structural validity was evaluated by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Agreement was found with 3 of the 5 original factor structures: Emotional Problems, Prosocial, and Hyperactivity. However, unlike in the original SDQ, there appeared to be 2 distinct and separate Conduct factors, an Aggressive Conduct and an Antisocial Conduct factor. Furthermore, there appeared to be a Good Behavior factor, which is not present in the original factor structure. The findings imply that when using the SDQ with children and adolescents exposed to community and political conflict, results should be interpreted with caution. Further research is warranted to explore the reliability of the original factor structure with these young people who experience unique developmental trajectories compared with their peers who do not grow up in such an environment

Activation of Akt at T308 and S473 in alcohol, tobacco and HPV-induced HNSCC:is there evidence to support a prognostic or diagnostic role?

BACKGROUND: Tobacco, alcohol and HPV infection are associated with increased risk of HNSCC. However, little is known about the underlying signaling events influencing risk. We aimed to investigate the relationship between these risk factors and Akt phosphorylation, to determine prognostic value. METHOD: VEGF-positive HNSCC biopsies, with known HPV status, were analyzed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) for Akt, phosphorylated at residues S473 and T308. Comparisons between the tissues were carried out using a Mann–Whitney U test. Associations between the variables and continuous immunohistochemical parameters were evaluated with general linear models. Patient characteristics and pAkt IHC score were analyzed for possible association with overall survival by Cox proportional hazard models. RESULTS: Immunohistochemistry revealed that cancer patients had significantly higher levels of pAkt T308 than S473 (P < 0.001). Smoking and alcohol were found to be independent risk factors for Akt phosphorylation at T308 (P = 0.022 and 0.027, respectively). Patients with tumors positive for HPV or pAkt S473 had a poorer prognosis (P = 0.005, and 0.004, respectively). Patients who were heavy drinkers were 49 times more likely to die than non-drinkers (P = 0.003). Patients with low pAkt T308 were more likely to be HPV positive (P = 0.028). Non-drinkers were also found to have lower levels of pAkt T308 and were more likely to have tumors positive for HPV than heavy drinkers (P = 0.044 and 0.007, respectively). CONCLUSION: This study suggests different mechanisms of carcinogenesis are initiated by smoking, alcohol and HPV. Our data propose higher phosphorylation of Akt at T308 as a reliable biomarker for smoking and alcohol induced HNSCC progression and higher phosphorylation of Akt at S473 as a prognostic factor for HNSCC

Sources and pathways for pharmaceuticals in the urban water environment

The progress of five pharmaceutical compounds (bezafibrate, carbamazepine, diclofenac, ibuprofen and sulfasalazine) and one antibacterial agent (triclosan) were monitored through the treatment stages of a large sewage treatment works (STW) using activated sludge as well as in the receiving water both upstream and downstream of the effluent discharge. All except sulfasalazine were detected in the influent at concentrations ranging from 1.44-3.75 µg/L. The analysis of prescription data has been used as a tool to predict the amount of pharmaceuticals potentially released into the catchment of the investigated sewage treatment works and the results compared with the measured influent concentrations. A reduction in concentration between influent and final effluent samples (51-97%) indicates the variable removal of these compounds and therefore their potential to be discharged into receiving surface waters. The analysis of primary and final effluents highlight the important processes involved in the removal of pharmaceuticals and indicate that sorption processes are important for bezafibrate, carbamazepine and diclofenac. These three PPCPs were observed at higher concentrations (0.07-0.35 µg/L) downstream of the discharged effluent compared to upstream (0.02-0.04 µg/L) although the risks that these compounds pose in the environment are not yet fully understood

Promoting the adoption of innovations through participatory approaches: example from northern Nigeria

Open Access JournalParticipatory research and development approaches involving all stakeholders along the value chain have recently been hypothesized to produce quicker outcomes than the linear technology transfer model. This paper analyzed the crop yield obtained by farmers and their uptake of improved technologies in a 2009 survey, one year after the completion of project field activities. It was a multi-stakeholder project involving research, extension, farmer groups, marketers and policymakers, that operated for 4 years (2005-2008) in Borno state of Nigeria. Survey results indicated that farmers who participated in project activities’ have been successful in increasing crop yields. Both yields and per capita production of major crops were statistically significantly higher (ρ≤ 0.05) in project communities compared to non-project ones. It is also estimated that there was a decline in percentage of households in food insecurity situation in project communities. Probit regression revealed that participation in project activities had a positive and significant effect on household food security (ρ≤ 0.05). It is then concluded that development interventions that involve multiple stakeholder partnership, use of participatory research and extension approach can help increase technology uptake among resourcepoor farmers as well as increase food production and food security in a region

The alternate GNB3 splice variant, Gβ3s, exhibits an altered signalling response to EGF stimulation, which leads to enhanced cell migration

It has recently been reported that the duplication of the GNB3 gene has been shown to be directly linked to an obesity phenotype, both in humans and also in a humanised mouse model. Moreover, the common human GNB3 c.825C&gt;T polymorphism (rs5443) causes this ubiquitously expressed gene to be aberrantly spliced approximately 50% of the time leading to the production of both a normal Gβ3 protein and a truncated, possibly less stable subunit, known as Gβ3s. The presence of the GNB3 825T allele has previously been shown to be associated with predisposition to hypertension, obesity, various cancers, Alzheimers, age related cognitive function, erectile dysfunction as well as a marker for pharmacogenetic drug action. Great controversy, however, currently exists as to whether these phenotypes associated with the 825T allele are a) mainly due to the presence of the smaller, possibly more active, Gβ3s subunit or b) merely down to the haploinsufficiency of the normal GNB3 transcript, due to its frequent aberrant splicing. In order to try and address these two conflicting hypothesis, we report on the identification and characterisation of signalling alterations unique to the presence of Gβ3s protein subunit. Moreover we also show the physiological consequences associated with altered signalling, directly induced by the Gβ3s subunit. For this, we used both an EBV transformed lymphoblast cell line homozygote for GNB3 825T/825T (TT) and a stable Gβ3s expressing recombinant COS-7 clone. In both of these cell lines that express the Gβ3s subunit, we found enhanced cytosolic calcium influx upon stimulation with EGF, TGFα and VEGF ligands, as compared to “normal” GNB3 controls with the 825C/825C (CC) genotype. This aberrant calcium influx also led to an increase in ERK, but not AKT1, phosphorylation. Despite the lack of AKT1 activation, we paradoxically observed a significant increase in phosphorylation of its downstream substrates, namely mTOR and p70S6k (KS6B2). Moreover we observed a decrease in phospho FoxO3a only in Gβ3s expressing cells, but not in the “normal” GNB3 (CC) control cell line. The presence of the Gβ3s subunit also appeared to alter the distinct localisation patterns of both Foxo3a and AKT1, while also increasing the colocalisation of mTOR and p70S6K. Subsequent growth factor stimulation studies revealed that EGF treatment, of Gβ3s expressing cells, appeared to cause a significant decrease in cAMP levels, which, in turn resulted in both enhanced caveolin-1a phosphorylation, and an increase in actin stress fibre formation. The identification of these distinct Gβ3s specific signalling alterations were indicative of a more aggressive migratory phenotype. This led us to further investigate and confirm that the presence of the Gβ3s subunit also appears to cause significantly enhanced migration and robust scratch wound healing kinetics, as compared to cells harbouring only the normal copy of the gene. These data therefore present convincing evidence that the Gβ3s subunit is stable, functional and its presence can significantly alter signalling pathways, in different cell types

Severe New Limits on the Host Galaxies of Gamma Ray Bursts

The nature of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) remains a complete mystery, despite the recent breakthrough discovery of low energy counterparts, although it is now generally believed that at least most GRBs are at cosmological distances. Virtually all proposed cosmological models require bursters to reside in ordinary galaxies. This can be tested by looking inside the smallest GRB error boxes to see if ordinary galaxies appear at the expected brightness levels. This letter reports on an analysis of the contents of 26 of the smallest regions, many from the brightest bursts. These events will have $z < 0.4$ and small uncertainties about luminosity functions, K corrections and galaxy evolutions; whereas the recent events with optical transients are much fainter and hence have high redshifts and grave difficulties in interpretation. This analysis strongly rejects the many models with peak luminosities of $10^{57} photons \cdot s^{-1}$ as deduced from the $LogN-LogP$ curve with no evolution. Indeed, the lower limit on acceptable luminosities is $6 \times 10^{58} photons \cdot s^{-1}$. The only possible solution is to either place GRBs at unexpectedly large distances (with $z > 5.9$ for the faint BATSE bursts) or to require bursters to be far outside any normal host galaxy.Comment: 17 pages, to be published by ApJ