Professional interactions with Professor Erskine Crossley

© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. The authors describe several ways in which Professor Crossley's contributions have influenced their own professional lives and research. These range from Professor Crossley's work on constraint analysis, through his contributions as journal editor, and as a founder and officer of IFToMM, to his work in collaboration with Hunt on mechanical impacts. The latter body of work, in particular, has been important to our own work on modeling robotic foot-ground impacts

Psychological factors associated with response to treatment in rheumatoid arthritis

This paper presents a comprehensive review of research relating psychological domains with response to therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. A holistic approach to the disease was adopted by incorporating not only disease activity but also dimensions of the impact of disease on patients' lives. Psychological distress, including depression and anxiety, is common among patients with rheumatoid arthritis and has a significant negative impact on response to therapy and on patients' abilities to cope with chronic illness. Evidence regarding the influence of positive psychological dimensions such as acceptance, optimism, and adaptive coping strategies is scarce. The mechanisms involved in these interactions are incompletely understood, although changes in neuro-endocrine-immune pathways, which are common to depression and rheumatoid arthritis, seem to play a central role. Indirect psychological influences on therapeutic efficacy and long-term effectiveness include a myriad of factors such as adherence, placebo effects, cognition, coping strategies, and family and social support. Data suggest that recognition and appropriate management of psychological distress may improve response to treatment and significantly reduce disease burden

Fluctuations of Quantum Radiation Pressure in Dissipative Fluid

Using the generalized Langevin equations involving the stress tensor approach, we study the dynamics of a perfectly reflecting mirror which is exposed to the electromagnetic radiation pressure by a laser beam in a fluid at finite temperature. Based on the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, the minimum uncertainty of the mirror's position measurement from both quantum and thermal noises effects including the photon counting error in the laser interferometer is obtained in the small time limit as compared with the "standard quantum limit". The result of the large time behavior of fluctuations of the mirror's velocity in a dissipative environment can be applied to the laser interferometer of the ground-based gravitational wave detector.Comment: 8 pages. Version published in Physics Letters

Cluster J Mycobacteriophages: Intron Splicing in Capsid and Tail Genes

Bacteriophages isolated on Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2155 represent many distinct genomes sharing little or no DNA sequence similarity. The genomes are architecturally mosaic and are replete with genes of unknown function. A new group of genomes sharing substantial nucleotide sequences constitute Cluster J. The six mycobacteriophages forming Cluster J are morphologically members of the Siphoviridae, but have unusually long genomes ranging from 106.3 to 117 kbp. Reconstruction of the capsid by cryo-electron microscopy of mycobacteriophage BAKA reveals an icosahedral structure with a triangulation number of 13. All six phages are temperate and homoimmune, and prophage establishment involves integration into a tRNA-Leu gene not previously identified as a mycobacterial attB site for phage integration. The Cluster J genomes provide two examples of intron splicing within the virion structural genes, one in a major capsid subunit gene, and one in a tail gene. These genomes also contain numerous free-standing HNH homing endonuclease, and comparative analysis reveals how these could contribute to genome mosaicism. The unusual Cluster J genomes provide new insights into phage genome architecture, gene function, capsid structure, gene mobility, intron splicing, and evolution. © 2013 Pope et al

Safety of low dose glucocorticoid treatment in rheumatoid arthritis: published evidence and prospective trial data

Adverse effects of glucocorticoids have been abundantly reported. Published reports on low dose glucocorticoid treatment show that few of the commonly held beliefs about their incidence, prevalence, and impact are supported by clear scientific evidence. Safety data from recent randomised controlled clinical trials of low dose glucocorticoid treatment in RA suggest that adverse effects associated with this drug are modest, and often not statistically different from those of placebo

Accurate interaction energies by spin component scaled Möller-Plesset second order perturbation theory calculations with optimized basis sets (SCS-MP2mod): Development and application to aromatic heterocycles

The Spin Component Scaled (SCS) MP2 method using a reduced and optimized basis set (SCS-MP2mod) is employed to compute the interaction energies of nine homodimers, formed by aromatic heterocyclic molecules (pyrrole, furan, thiophene, oxazole, isoxazole, pyridine, pyridazine, pyrimidine, and pyrazine). The coefficients of the same-spin and opposite-spin correlation energies and the Gaussian type orbitals (GTO) polarization exponents of the 6-31G** basis set are simultaneously optimized in order to minimize the energy differences with respect to the coupled-cluster with single, double and perturbative triples excitations [CCSD(T)] reference interaction energies, extrapolated to a complete basis set. It is demonstrated that the optimization of the spin scale factors leads to a noticeable improvement of the accuracy with a root mean square deviation less than 0.1 kcal/mol and a largest unsigned deviation smaller than 0.25 kcal/mol. The pyrrole dimer provides an exception, with a slightly higher deviation from the reference data. Given the high benefit in terms of computational time with respect to the CCSD(T) technique and the small loss of accuracy, the SCS-MP2mod method appears to be particularly suitable for extensive sampling of intermolecular potential energy surfaces at a quantum mechanical level. Within this framework, a transferability test of the SCS-MP2mod parameters to a benchmark set of this class of molecules is very promising as the reference interaction energies of several heterocyclic aromatic heterodimers were reproduced with a standard deviation of 0.30 kcal/mol. The SCS-MP2mod remarkably outperforms the value of 1.95 kcal/mol obtained with standard MP2/6-31G**

Differences in the distribution of stroke subtypes in a UK black stroke population - final results from the South London Ethnicity and Stroke Study.

BACKGROUND: Stroke incidence is increased in Black individuals but the reasons for this are poorly understood. Exploring the differences in aetiological stroke subtypes, and the extent to which they are explained by conventional and novel risk factors, is an important step in elucidating the underlying mechanisms for this increased stroke risk. METHODS: Between 1999 and 2010, 1200 black and 1200 white stroke patients were prospectively recruited from a contiguous geographical area in South London in the UK. The Trial of Org 10172 (TOAST) classification was used to classify stroke subtype. Age- and sex-adjusted comparisons of socio-demographics, traditional vascular risk factors and stroke subtypes were performed between black and white stroke patients and between Black Caribbean and Black African stroke patients using age-, sex-, and social deprivation-adjusted univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: Black stroke patients were younger than white stroke patients (mean (SD) 65.1 (13.7) vs. 74.8 (13.7) years). There were significant differences in the distribution of stroke subtypes. Small vessel disease stroke was increased in black patients versus white patients (27 % vs. 12 %; OR, 2.74; 95 % CI, 2.19-3.44), whereas large vessel and cardioembolic stroke was less frequent in black patients (OR, 0.59; 95 % CI, 0.45-0.78 and OR, 0.61; 95 % CI, 0.50-0.74, respectively). These associations remained after controlling for traditional vascular risk factors and socio-demographics. Black Caribbean patients appeared to have an intermediate risk factor and stroke subtype profile between that found in Black African and white stroke patients. Cardioembolic stroke was more strongly associated with Black Caribbean ethnicity versus Black African ethnicity (OR, 1.48; 95 % CI, 1.04-2.10), whereas intracranial large vessel disease was less frequent in Black Caribbean patients versus Black African subjects (OR, 0.44; 95 % CI, 0.24-0.83). CONCLUSIONS: Clear differences exist in stroke subtype distribution between black and white stroke patients, with a marked increase in small vessel stroke. These could not be explained by differences in the assessed traditional risk factors. Possible explanations for these differences might include variations in genetic susceptibility, differing rates of control of vascular risk factors, or as yet undetermined environmental risk factors.This work was supported by a Stroke Association (UK) Programme Grant (PROG 3) (www.stroke.org.uk) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre based at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London (http://www.guysandstthomasbrc.nihr.ac.uk). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health. Loes Rutten-Jacobs was supported by a British Heart Foundation Immediate Research Fellowship (FS/15/61/31626) (www.bhf.org.uk). Hugh Markus is supported by an NIHR Senior Investigator award (www.nihr.ac.uk) and his work is supported by the NIHR Cambridge University Hospital Trusts Comprehensive BRC (www.cambridge-brc.org.uk)