Off-Shore Helicopter Operations

This case study research project is based on a foreign oil company desiring to set up and provide helicopter transportation to and from oil rigs in the gulf. Theresearch resulted in three potential options: Purchase a carrier with a current operating certificate Start a new company Contract an existing operator to perform the operations

Chronic Pain Causal Attributions in an Interdisciplinary Primary Care Clinic: Patient-Provider and Provider-Provider Discrepancies

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influence of pain causal attributions on patient pain-related functioning, treatment engagement, and clinical outcomes. Additionally, the impact of discordant pain causal attributions between patients and their providers as well as between interdisciplinary providers was examined. Patients rated their pain functioning and causal pain attributions during a regular clinic visit. Following the patient’s visit both the behavioral medicine provider and internal medicine resident provided ratings of similar pain-related functioning domains and causal attributions. Follow-up data were collected from the electronic medical record three months following that clinic visit. Overall, results revealed that patients’ chronic pain attributions did influence pain-related functioning, however the impact was relatively small. There was insufficient evidence to conclude that chronic pain attributions influence a patient’s readiness to adopt self-management coping strategies and their subsequent treatment engagement. Additionally, results confirmed that different health care disciplines attribute the cause of patients’ chronic pain in distinct ways and these unique perspectives can lead to discrepant pain-related functioning assessments between providers. Discordant ratings between providers were shown to influence referring patterns for interdisciplinary services and the patient’s overall opioid dose. Similarly, discrepancies between patients and their providers influenced subsequent referral for behavioral health services, the patient’s attendance at those visits, and their overall morphine equivalent doses. Together the results indicate the important role pain attributions can play in chronic pain management and highlight the central role of the patient-provider and provider-provider relationship

Widespread variation in transcript abundance within and across developmental stages of Trypanosoma brucei

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Trypanosoma brucei</it>, the causative agent of African sleeping sickness, undergoes a complex developmental cycle that takes place in mammalian and insect hosts and is accompanied by changes in metabolism and cellular morphology. While differences in mRNA expression have been described for many genes, genome-wide expression analyses have been largely lacking. Trypanosomatids represent a unique case in eukaryotes in that they transcribe protein-coding genes as large polycistronic units, and rarely regulate gene expression at the level of transcription initiation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here we present a comprehensive analysis of mRNA expression in several stages of parasite development. Utilizing microarrays that have multiple copies of multiple probes for each gene, we were able to demonstrate with a high degree of statistical confidence that approximately one-fourth of genes show differences in mRNA expression levels in the stages examined. These include complex patterns of gene expression within gene families, including the large family of variant surface glycoproteins (VSGs) and their relatives, where we have identified a number of constitutively expressed family members. Furthermore, we were able to assess the relative abundance of all transcripts in each stage, identifying the genes that are either weakly or highly expressed. Very few genes show no evidence of expression.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Despite the lack of gene regulation at the level of transcription initiation, our results reveal extensive regulation of mRNA abundance associated with different life cycle and growth stages. In addition, analysis of variant surface glycoprotein gene expression reveals a more complex picture than previously thought. These data provide a valuable resource to the community of researchers studying this lethal agent.</p

NADH dehydrogenase of Trypanosoma brucei is important for efficient acetate production in bloodstream forms

This work was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (USA) [AI 5R01 AI069057] to MP and AS; a grant from the Medical Research Council (UK) [G0600129] to AS; grants from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS, France), The Université de Bordeaux, The Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) [ACETOTRYP of the ANR-BLANC-2010 call and GLYCONOV of the “Générique” call] and the Laboratoire d’Excellence (LabEx) ParaFrap [grant ANR-11-LABX-0024] to FB; and a grant from the Wellcome Trust [093228] to TKS.In the slender bloodstream form, Trypanosoma brucei mitochondria are repressed for many functions. Multiple components of mitochondrial complex I, NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase, are expressed in this stage, but electron transfer through complex I is not essential. Here we investigate the role of the parasite’s second NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase, NDH2, which is composed of a single subunit that also localizes to the mitochondrion. While inducible knockdown of NDH2 had a modest growth effect in bloodstream forms, NDH2 null mutants, as well as inducible knockdowns in a complex I deficient background, showed a greater reduction in growth. Altering the NAD+/NADH balance would affect numerous processes directly and indirectly, including acetate production. Indeed, loss of NDH2 led to reduced levels of acetate, which is required for several essential pathways in bloodstream form T. brucei and which may have contributed to the observed growth defect. In conclusion our study shows that NDH2 is important, but not essential, in proliferating bloodstream forms of T. brucei, arguing that the mitochondrial NAD+/NADH balance is important in this stage, even though the mitochondrion itself is not actively engaged in the generation of ATP.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Localization of epigenetic markers in Leishmania chromatin

Eukaryotes use histone variants and post-translation modifications (PTMs), as well as DNA base modifications, to regulate DNA replication/repair, chromosome condensation, and gene expression. Despite the unusual organization of their protein-coding genes into large polycistronic transcription units (PTUs), trypanosomatid parasites also employ a histone code to control these processes, but the details of this epigenetic code are poorly understood. Here, we present the results of experiments designed to elucidate the distribution of histone variants and PTMs over the chromatin landscape o

Responses in sediment phosphorus and lanthanum concentrations and composition across 10 lakes following applications of lanthanum modified bentonite

A combined field and laboratory scale study of 10 European lakes treated between 2006 and 2013 with a lanthanum (La) modified bentonite (LMB) to control sediment phosphorus (P) release was conducted. The study followed the responses in sediment characteristics including La and P fractions and binding forms, P adsorption capacity of discrete sediment layers, and pore water P concentrations. Lanthanum phosphate mineral phases were confirmed by solid state 31P MAS NMR and LIII EXAFS spectroscopy. Rhabdophane (LaPO4 · nH2O) was the major phase although indications of monazite (LaPO4) formation were also reported, in the earliest treated lake. Molar ratios between La and P in the sediments were generally above 1, demonstrating excess La relative to P. Lanthanum was vertically mixed in the sediment down to a depth of 10 cm for eight of the ten lakes, and recovery of La in excess of 100% of the theoretical aerial load indicated translocation of the LMB towards the deepest areas of the lakes. Lanthanum was generally recovered from bed sediment samples following sequential chemical extraction from the HCl fraction. Soluble reactive P (SRP) release experiments on intact sediment cores indicated conditions of P retention (with the exception of two lakes) by sediments, indicating effective control of sediment P release, i.e. between two and nine years after treatment