Aberrant B cell receptor signaling in naïve B cells from patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic and ultimately fatal disease in which an impaired healing response to recurrent micro-injuries is thought to lead to fibrosis. Recent findings hint at a role for B cells and autoimmunity in IPF pathogenesis. We previously reported that circulating B cells from a fraction of patients, compared with healthy controls, express increased levels of the signaling molecule Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK). However, it remains unclear whether B cell receptor (BCR) signaling is altered in IPF. Here, we show that the response to BCR stimulation is enhanced in peripheral blood B cells from treatment-naïve IPF patients. We observed increased anti-immunoglobulin-induced phosphorylation of BTK and its substrate phospholipase Cγ2 (PLCγ2) in naïve but not in memory B cells of patients with IPF. In naïve B cells of IPF patients enhanced BCR signaling correlated with surface expression of transmembrane activator and calcium-modulator and cyclophilin ligand interactor (TACI) but not B cell activating factor receptor (BAFFR), both of which provide pro-survival signals. Interestingly, treatment of IPF patients with nintedanib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor with anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory activity, induced substantial changes in BCR signaling. These findings support the involvement of B cells in IPF pathogenesis and suggest that targeting BCR signaling has potential value as a treatment option.</p

Ultrasound Doppler Flow in Patients With Chronic Midportion Achilles Tendinopathy

OBJECTIVES: Ultrasound assessments of patients with chronic midportion Achilles tendinopathy include determining the degree of neovascularization using Doppler flow. A frequently used measure to quantify neovascularization is the modified Öhberg score. It is unknown whether the semiquantitative modified Öhberg score (0-4+) has higher reliability than a quantified measure of Doppler flow (0-100%). The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the interobserver reliability of the modified Öhberg score and a surface area quantification (SAQ) method for Doppler flow in patients with chronic midportion Achilles tendinopathy. METHODS: Two observers examined the degree of Doppler flow independently using SAQ and the modified Öhberg score during a single consultation. The intraclass correlation coefficient, standard error of measurement, and minimal detectable difference were determined to evaluate the reliability and measurement properties of the SAQ method and the modified Öhberg score. RESULTS: In total, 28 consecutive patients with chronic midportion Achilles tendinopathy participated. The intraclass correlation coefficient for interobserver reliability of the SAQ method was 0.81 (95% confidence interval, 0.58-0.91), compared to 0.64 (95% confidence interval, 0.45-0.81) for the modified Öhberg score. The standard error of measurement and minimal detectable difference values for the SAQ method were 2.9% and 8.0%, respectively, and for the modified Öhberg score, they were 0.55 and 1.53 points. CONCLUSIONS: The SAQ method shows good reliability to evaluate the degree of Doppler flow in patients with chronic midportion Achilles tendinopathy, and it overcome

Has the reporting quality of published randomised controlled trial protocols improved since the SPIRIT statement? A methodological study

OBJECTIVES: To determine the reporting quality of published randomised controlled trial (RCT) protocols before and after the Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials (SPIRIT) statemen

MMN and Differential Waveform

A mismatch negativity response (MMN) and a new differential waveform were derived in an effort to evaluate a neural refractory or recovery effect in adult listeners. The MMN was elicited using oddball test runs in which the standard and deviant stimuli differed in frequency. To derive the differential waveform, the same standard and deviant stimuli were presented alone. MMN responses were obtained by subtracting the averaged responses to standards from the deviants. The differential waveforms were obtained by subtracting the averaged responses to standards presented alone from deviants presented alone. Scalp topography for the MMN and differential waveforms were similar. A significant (p < .05) positive and negative correlation was found between the earlier and later components of the bimodal MMN and the N1 and P2 component of the differential waveform, respectively. Further, N1 and P2 of the differential waveform were significant (p < .05) predictor variables of early and late peak amplitudes of the MMN. These results suggest that refractory effects may overlay/modify the morphology of the MMN waveform

Crop Updates 2007 - Lupins, Pulses and Oilseeds

This session covers forty eight papers from different authors: 2006 REGIONAL ROUNDUP 1. South east agricultural region, Mark Seymour1 and Jacinta Falconer2, 1Department of Agriculture and Food, 2Cooperative Bulk Handling Group 2. Central agricultural region, Ian Pritchard, Department of Agriculture and Food 3. Great Southern and Lakes region, Rodger Beermier, Department of Agriculture and Food 4. Northern agricultural region, Wayne Parker and Martin Harries, Department of Agriculture and Food LUPINS 5. Development of anthracnose resistant and early flowering albus lupins (Lupinus albus L) in Western Australia, Kedar Adhikari and Geoff Thomas, Department of Agriculture and Food 6. New lupins adapted to the south coast, Peter White, Bevan Buirchell and Mike Baker, Department of Agriculture and Food 7. Lupin species and row spacing interactions by environment, Martin Harries, Peter White, Bob French, Jo Walker, Mike Baker and Laurie Maiolo, Department of Agriculture and Food 8. The interaction of lupin species row spacing and soil type, Martin Harries, Bob French, Laurie Maiolo and Jo Walker, Department of Agriculture and Food 9. The effects of row spacing and crop density on competitiveness of lupins with wild radish, Bob French and Laurie Maiolo, Department of Agriculture and Food 10. The effect of time of sowing and radish weed density on lupin yield, Martin Harries and Jo Walker, Department of Agriculture and Food 11. Interaction of time of sowing and weed management in lupins, Martin Harries and Jo Walker, Department of Agriculture and Food 12. Delayed sowing as a strategy to manage annual ryegrass, Bob French and Laurie Maiolo, Department of Agriculture and Food 13. Is delayed sowing a good strategy for weed management in lupins? Bob French, Department of Agriculture and Food 14. Lupins aren’t lupins when it comes to simazine, Peter White and Leigh Smith, Department of Agriculture and Food 15. Seed yield and anthracnose resistance of Tanjil mutants tolerant to metribuzin, Ping Si1, Bevan Buirchell1,2 and Mark Sweetingham1,2, 1Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture, Australia; 2Department of Agriculture and Food 16. The effect of herbicides on nodulation in lupins, Lorne Mills1, Harmohinder Dhammu2 and Beng Tan1, 1Curtin University of Technology and 2Department of Agriculture and Food 17. Effect of fertiliser placements and watering regimes on lupin growth and seed yield in the central grain belt of Western Australia, Qifu Ma1, Zed Rengel1, Bill Bowden2, Ross Brennan2, Reg Lunt2 and Tim Hilder2, 1Soil Science & Plant Nutrition UWA, 2Department of Agriculture and Food 18. Development of a forecasting model for Bean Yellow Mosaic Virus in lupins, T. Maling1,2, A. Diggle1, D. Thackray1,2, R.A.C. Jones2, and K.H.M. Siddique1, 1Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture, The University of Western Australia; 2Department of Agriculture and Food 19. Manufacturing of lupin tempe,Vijay Jayasena1,4, Leonardus Kardono2,4, Ken Quail3,4 and Ranil Coorey1,4, 1Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia, 2Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Indonesia, 3BRI Australia Ltd, Sydney, Australia, 4Grain Foods CRC, Sydney, Australia 20. The impact of lupin based ingredients in ice-cream, Hannah Williams, Lee Sheer Yap and Vijay Jayasena, Curtin University of Technology, Perth WA 21. The acceptability of muffins substituted with varying concentrations of lupin flour, Anthony James, Don Elani Jayawardena and Vijay Jayasena, Curtin University of Technology, PerthWA PULSES 22. Chickpea variety evaluation, Kerry Regan1, Rod Hunter1, Tanveer Khan1,2and Jenny Garlinge1, 1Department of Agriculture and Food, 2CLIMA, The University of Western Australia 23. Advanced breeding trials of desi chickpea, Khan, T.N.1, Siddique, K.H.M.3, Clarke, H.2, Turner, N.C.2, MacLeod, W.1, Morgan, S.1, and Harris, A.1, 1Department of Agriculture and Food, 2Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture, 3TheUniversity of Western Australia 24. Ascochyta resistance in chickpea lines in Crop Variety Testing (CVT) of 2006, Tanveer Khan1 2, Bill MacLeod1, Alan Harris1, Stuart Morgan1and Kerry Regan1, 1Department of Agriculture and Food, 2CLIMA, The University of Western Australia 25. Yield evaluation of ascochyta blight resistant Kabuli chickpeas, Kerry Regan1and Kadambot Siddique2, 1Department of Agriculture and Food, 2Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia 26. Pulse WA Chickpea Industry Survey 2006, Mark Seymour1, Ian Pritchard1, Wayne Parker1and Alan Meldrum2, 1Department of Agriculture and Food, 2Pulse Australia 27. Genes from the wild as a valuable genetic resource for chickpea improvement, Heather Clarke1, Helen Bowers1and Kadambot Siddique2, 1Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture, 2Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia 28. International screening of chickpea for resistance to Botrytis grey mould, B. MacLeod1, Dr T. Khan1, Prof. K.H.M. Siddique2and Dr A. Bakr3, 1Department of Agriculture and Food, 2The University of Western Australia, 3Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute 29. Balance® in chickpea is safest applied post sowing to a level seed bed, Wayne Parker, Department of Agriculture and Food, 30. Demonstrations of Genesis 510 chickpea, Wayne Parker, Department of Agriculture and Food 31. Field pea 2006, Ian Pritchard, Department of Agriculture and Food 32. Field pea variety evaluation, Kerry Regan1, Rod Hunter1, Tanveer Khan1,2 and Jenny Garlinge1, 1Department of Agriculture and Food, 2CLIMA, The University of Western Australia 33. Breeding highlights of the Australian Field Pea Improvement Program (AFPIP),Kerry Regan1, Tanveer Khan1,2, Phillip Chambers1, Chris Veitch1, Stuart Morgan1 , Alan Harris1and Tony Leonforte3, 1Department of Agriculture and Food, 2CLIMA, The University of Western Australia, 3Department of Primary Industries, Victoria 34. Field pea germplasm enhancement for black spot resistance, Tanveer Khan, Kerry Regan, Stuart Morgan, Alan Harris and Phillip Chambers, Department of Agriculture and Food 35. Validation of Blackspot spore release model and testing moderately resistant field pea line, Mark Seymour, Ian Pritchard, Rodger Beermier, Pam Burgess and Leanne Young, Department of Agriculture and Food 36. Yield losses from sowing field pea seed infected with Pea Seed-borne Mosaic Virus, Brenda Coutts, Donna O’Keefe, Rhonda Pearce, Monica Kehoe and Roger Jones, Department of Agriculture and Food 37. Faba bean in 2006, Mark Seymour, Department of Agriculture and Food 38. Germplasm evaluation – faba bean, Mark Seymour1, Terri Jasper1, Ian Pritchard1, Mike Baker1 and Tim Pope1,2, 1Department of Agriculture and Food, , 2CLIMA, The University of Western Australia 39. Breeding highlights of the Coordinated Improvement Program for Australian Lentils (CIPAL), Kerry Regan1, Chris Veitch1, Phillip Chambers1 and Michael Materne2, 1Department of Agriculture and Food, 2Department of Primary Industries, Victoria 40. Screening pulse lentil germplasm for tolerance to alternate herbicides, Ping Si1, Mike Walsh2 and Mark Sweetingham1,3, 1Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture, 2West Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative, 3Department of Agriculture and Food 41. Genomic synteny in legumes: Application to crop breeding, Phan, H.T.T.1, Ellwood, S.R.1, Hane, J.1, Williams, A.1, Ford, R.2, Thomas, S.3 and Oliver R1, 1Australian Centre of Necrotrophic Plant Pathogens, Murdoch University, 2BioMarka, University of Melbourne, 3NSW Department of Primary Industries 42. Tolerance of lupins, chickpeas and canola to Balanceâ(Isoxaflutole) and Galleryâ (Isoxaben), Leigh Smith and Peter White, Department of Agriculture and Food CANOLA AND OILSEEDS 43. The performance of TT Canola varieties in the National Variety Test (NVT),WA,2006,Katie Robinson, Research Agronomist, Agritech Crop Research 44. Evaluation of Brassica crops for biodiesel in Western Australia, Mohammad Amjad, Graham Walton, Pat Fels and Andy Sutherland, Department of Agriculture and Food 45. Production risk of canola in different rainfall zones in Western Australia, Imma Farré1, Michael Robertson2 and Senthold Asseng3, 1Department of Agriculture and Food, 2CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, 3CSIRO Plant Industry 46. Future directions of blackleg management – dynamics of blackleg susceptibility in canola varieties, Ravjit Khangura, Moin Salam and Bill MacLeod, Department of Agriculture and Food 47. Appendix 1: Contributors 48. Appendix 2: List of common acronym

Women’s beliefs about medicines and adherence to pharmacotherapy in pregnancy: Opportunities for community pharmacists?

Background During pregnancy women might weigh benefits of treatment against potential risks to the unborn child. However, non-adherence to necessary treatment can adversely affect both mother and child. To optimize pregnant women’s beliefs and medication adherence, community pharmacists are ideally positioned to play an important role in primary care. Objective This narrative review aimed to summarize the evidence on 1) pregnant women’s beliefs, 2) medication adherence in pregnancy, and 3) community pharmacists’ counselling during pregnancy. Method Three search strategies were used in Medline and Embase to find original studies evaluating women’s beliefs, medication adherence and community pharmacists’ counselling during pregnancy. All original descriptive and analytic epidemiological studies performed in Europe, North America and Australia, written in English and published from 2000 onwards were included. Results We included 14 studies reporting on women’s beliefs, 11 studies on medication adherence and 9 on community pharmacists’ counselling during pregnancy. Women are more reluctant to use medicines during pregnancy and tend to overestimate the teratogenic risk of medicines. Risk perception varies with type of medicine, level of health literacy, education level and occupation. Furthermore, low medication adherence during pregnancy is common. Finally, limited evidence showed current community pharmacists’ counselling is insufficient. Barriers hindering pharmacists are insufficient knowledge and limited access to reliable information. Conclusion Concerns about medication use and non-adherence are widespread among pregnant women. Community pharmacists’ counselling during pregnancy is insufficient. Further education, training and research are required to support community pharmacists in fulfilling all the opportunities they have when counselling pregnant women

Meta-analysis of Genome-Wide Association Studies for Extraversion: Findings from the Genetics of Personality Consortium

Extraversion is a relatively stable and heritable personality trait associated with numerous psychosocial, lifestyle and health outcomes. Despite its substantial heritability, no genetic variants have been detected in previous genome-wide association (GWA) studies, which may be due to relatively small sample sizes of those studies. Here, we report on a large meta-analysis of GWA studies for extraversion in 63,030 subjects in 29 cohorts. Extraversion item data from multiple personality inventories were harmonized across inventories and cohorts. No genome-wide significant associations were found at the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) level but there was one significant hit at the gene level for a long non-coding RNA site (LOC101928162). Genome-wide complex trait analysis in two large cohorts showed that the additive variance explained by common SNPs was not significantly different from zero, but polygenic risk scores, weighted using linkage information, significantly predicted extraversion scores in an independent cohort. These results show that extraversion is a highly polygenic personality trait, with an architecture possibly different from other complex human traits, including other personality traits. Future studies are required to further determine which genetic variants, by what modes of gene action, constitute the heritable nature of extraversion

From Interactions to Institutions: Microprocesses of Framing and Mechanisms for the Structuring of Institutional Fields

Despite the centrality of meaning to institutionalization, little attention has been paid to how meanings evolve and amplify to become institutionalized cultural conventions. We develop an interactional framing perspective to explain the microprocesses and mechanisms by which this occurs. We identify three amplification processes and three ways frames stack up or laminate that become the building blocks for diffusion and institutionalization of meanings within organizations and fields. Although we focus on “bottom-up” dynamics, we argue that framing occurs in a politicized social context and is inherently bidirectional, in line with structuration, because microlevel interactions instantiate macrostructures. We consider how our approach complements other theories of meaning making, its utility for informing related theoretical streams, and its implications for organizing at the meso and macro levels