Bundap Marram Durn Durn: Engagement with Aboriginal women experiencing comorbid chronic physical and mental health conditions

OBJECTIVE: To explore antecedents of health service engagement and experience among urban Aboriginal people with comorbid physical and mental health conditions. METHODS: Focus groups and interviews were conducted with Aboriginal people who had comorbid health conditions and were accessing Aboriginal and/or mainstream services. RESULTS: Nineteen participants, all women, were recruited. Participants' personal histories and prior experience of health services affected effective service utilisation. Participants' service experiences were characterised by long waiting times in the public health system and high healthcare staff turnover. Trusted professionals were able to act as brokers to other clinically and culturally competent practitioners. CONCLUSIONS: Many urban Aboriginal women attended health services with multiple comorbid conditions including chronic disease and mental health issues. Several barriers and enablers were identified concerning the capacity of services to engage and effectively manage Aboriginal patients' condition

A unique homologue of the eukaryotic protein-modifier ubiquitin present in the bacterium Bacteroides fragilis, a predominant resident of the human gastrointestinal tract

In the complete genome sequences of Bacteroides fragilis NCTC9343 and 638R, we have discovered a gene, ubb, the product of which has 63 % identity to human ubiquitin and cross-reacts with antibodies raised against bovine ubiquitin. The sequence of ubb is closest in identity (76 %) to the ubiquitin gene from a migratory grasshopper entomopoxvirus, suggesting acquisition by inter-kingdom horizontal gene transfer. We have screened clinical isolates of B. fragilis from diverse geographical regions and found that ubb is present in some, but not all, strains. The gene is transcribed and the mRNA is translated in B. fragilis, but deletion of ubb did not have a detrimental effect on growth. BfUbb has a predicted signal sequence; both full-length and processed forms were detected in whole-cell extracts, while the processed form was found in concentrated culture supernatants. Purified recombinant BfUbb inhibited in vitro ubiquitination and was able to covalently bind the human E1 activating enzyme, suggesting it could act as a suicide substrate in vivo. B. fragilis is one of the predominant members of the normal human gastrointestinal microbiota with estimates of up to >1011 cells per g faeces by culture. These data indicate that the gastro-intestinal tract of some individuals could contain a significant amount of aberrant ubiquitin with the potential to inappropriately activate the host immune system and/or interfere with eukaryotic ubiquitin activity. This discovery could have profound implications in relation to our understanding of human diseases such as inflammatory bowel and autoimmune diseases

Influence of operating parameters on the biodegradation of steroid estrogens and nonylphenolic compounds during biological wastewater treatment processes

This document is the unedited author's version of a Submitted Work that was subsequently accepted for publication in Environmental Science & Technology, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review. To access the final edited and published work see http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es901612v.This study investigated operational factors influencing the removal of steroid estrogens and nonylphenolic compounds in two sewage treatment works, one a nitrifying/denitrifying activated sludge plant and the other a nitrifying/denitrifying activated sludge plant with phosphorus removal. Removal efficiencies of >90% for steroid estrogens and for longer chain nonylphenol ethoxylates (NP4−12EO) were observed at both works, which had equal sludge ages of 13 days. However, the biological activity in terms of milligrams of estrogen removed per day per tonne of biomass was found to be 50−60% more efficient in the nitrifying/denitrifying activated sludge works compared to the works which additionally incorporated phosphorus removal. A temperature reduction of 6 °C had no impact on the removal of free estrogens, but removal of the conjugated estrone-3-sulfate was reduced by 20%. The apparent biomass sorption (LogKp) values were greater in the nitrifying/denitrifying works than those in the nitrifying/denitrifying works with phosphorus removal for both steroid estrogens and nonylphenolic compounds possibly indicating a different cell surface structure and therefore microbial population. The difference in biological activity (mg tonne−1 d−1) identified in this study, of up to seven times, suggests that there is the potential for enhancing the removal of estrogens and nonylphenols if more detailed knowledge of the factors responsible for these differences can be identified and maximized, thus potentially improving the quality of receiving waters.Public Utilities Board (Singapore), Anglian Water Ltd, Severn Trent Water Ltd, Thames Water Utilities Ltd, United Utilities 393 Plc and Yorkshire Water Services

'Sometimes, it’s not just about the food': the social identity dynamics of foodbank helping transactions

Food insecurity in developed countries has increased rapidly. Research has suggested that stigma may inhibit food-aid help-seeking, but has failed to determine how such barriers might be overcome. Adopting a social identity perspective, this study explored the processes involved in food-aid helping transactions and sought to identify conditions that facilitate positive helping outcomes. Interviews were conducted with 18 clients and 12 volunteers at two English foodbanks, and a theoretically-guided Thematic Analysis was conducted. Two primary themes were identified: ‘Here to Help’ and ‘The Legitimate Recipient’. This paper offers a distinct and novel contribution by applying a social identity perspective to foodbank helping transactions, thereby demonstrating how group dynamics and behaviours are integral to these interactions, and by moving beyond the typical ‘Social Curse’ focus on barriers to help-seeking to explore how such obstacles may be overcome. Suggestions for addressing stigma-laden helping transactions and promoting successful delivery of aid are provided

Variation of 52 new Y-STR loci in the Y Chromosome Consortium worldwide panel of 76 diverse individuals

We have established 16 small multiplex reactions of two–four loci to amplify 52 recently described single-copy simple Y-STRs and typed these loci in a worldwide panel of 74 diverse men and two women. Two Y-STRs were found to be commonly multicopy in this sample set and were excluded from the study. Of the remaining 50, four (DYS481, DYS570, DYS576 and DYS643) showed higher diversities than the commonly used loci and can potentially provide increased haplotype discrimination in both forensic and anthropological work. Ten loci showed occasional missing alleles, duplicated peaks or intermediate-sized alleles. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: Supplementary material is available for this article at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00414-006-0124-8 and is accessible for authorized users

A minimal descriptor of an ancestral recombinations graph

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ancestral Recombinations Graph (ARG) is a phylogenetic structure that encodes both duplication events, such as mutations, as well as genetic exchange events, such as recombinations: this captures the (genetic) dynamics of a population evolving over generations.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this paper, we identify structure-preserving and samples-preserving core of an ARG <it>G</it> and call it the minimal descriptor ARG of <it>G</it>. Its structure-preserving characteristic ensures that all the branch lengths of the marginal trees of the minimal descriptor ARG are identical to that of <it>G</it> and the samples-preserving property asserts that the patterns of genetic variation in the samples of the minimal descriptor ARG are exactly the same as that of <it>G</it>. We also prove that even an unbounded <it>G</it> has a finite minimal descriptor, that continues to preserve certain (graph-theoretic) properties of <it>G</it> and for an appropriate class of ARGs, our estimate (Eqn 8) as well as empirical observation is that the expected reduction in the number of vertices is exponential.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Based on the definition of this lossless and bounded structure, we derive local properties of the vertices of a minimal descriptor ARG, which lend itself very naturally to the design of efficient sampling algorithms. We further show that a class of minimal descriptors, that of binary ARGs, models the standard coalescent exactly (Thm 6).</p

Identification of host cell factors required for intoxication through use of modified cholera toxin

We describe a novel labeling strategy to site-specifically attach fluorophores, biotin, and proteins to the C terminus of the A1 subunit (CTA1) of cholera toxin (CTx) in an otherwise correctly assembled and active CTx complex. Using a biotinylated N-linked glycosylation reporter peptide attached to CTA1, we provide direct evidence that ∼12% of the internalized CTA1 pool reaches the ER. We also explored the sortase labeling method to attach the catalytic subunit of diphtheria toxin as a toxic warhead to CTA1, thus converting CTx into a cytolethal toxin. This new toxin conjugate enabled us to conduct a genetic screen in human cells, which identified ST3GAL5, SLC35A2, B3GALT4, UGCG, and ELF4 as genes essential for CTx intoxication. The first four encode proteins involved in the synthesis of gangliosides, which are known receptors for CTx. Identification and isolation of the ST3GAL5 and SLC35A2 mutant clonal cells uncover a previously unappreciated differential contribution of gangliosides to intoxication by CTx.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Fellowship

Minimizing recombinations in consensus networks for phylogeographic studies

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We address the problem of studying recombinational variations in (human) populations. In this paper, our focus is on one computational aspect of the general task: Given two networks <it>G</it>₁and <it>G</it>₂, with both mutation and recombination events, defined on overlapping sets of extant units the objective is to compute a consensus network <it>G</it>₃with minimum number of additional recombinations. We describe a polynomial time algorithm with a guarantee that the number of computed new recombination events is within <it>ϵ </it>= <it>sz</it>(<it>G</it>₁, <it>G</it>₂) (function <it>sz </it>is a well-behaved function of the sizes and topologies of <it>G</it>₁and <it>G</it>₂) of the optimal <it>number </it>of recombinations. To date, this is the best known result for a network consensus problem.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Although the network consensus problem can be applied to a variety of domains, here we focus on structure of human populations. With our preliminary analysis on a segment of the human Chromosome X data we are able to infer ancient recombinations, population-specific recombinations and more, which also support the widely accepted 'Out of Africa' model. These results have been verified independently using traditional manual procedures. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first recombinations-based characterization of human populations.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We show that our mathematical model identifies recombination spots in the individual haplotypes; the aggregate of these spots over a set of haplotypes defines a recombinational landscape that has enough signal to detect continental as well as population divide based on a short segment of Chromosome X. In particular, we are able to infer ancient recombinations, population-specific recombinations and more, which also support the widely accepted 'Out of Africa' model. The agreement with mutation-based analysis can be viewed as an indirect validation of our results and the model. Since the model in principle gives us more information embedded in the networks, in our future work, we plan to investigate more non-traditional questions via these structures computed by our methodology.</p

Geographical Affinities of the HapMap Samples

The HapMap samples were collected for medical-genetic studies, but are also widely used in population-genetic and evolutionary investigations. Yet the ascertainment of the samples differs from most population-genetic studies which collect individuals who live in the same local region as their ancestors. What effects could this non-standard ascertainment have on the interpretation of HapMap results?We compared the HapMap samples with more conventionally-ascertained samples used in population- and forensic-genetic studies, including the HGDP-CEPH panel, making use of published genome-wide autosomal SNP data and Y-STR haplotypes, as well as producing new Y-STR data. We found that the HapMap samples were representative of their broad geographical regions of ancestry according to all tests applied. The YRI and JPT were indistinguishable from independent samples of Yoruba and Japanese in all ways investigated. However, both the CHB and the CEU were distinguishable from all other HGDP-CEPH populations with autosomal markers, and both showed Y-STR similarities to unusually large numbers of populations, perhaps reflecting their admixed origins.The CHB and JPT are readily distinguished from one another with both autosomal and Y-chromosomal markers, and results obtained after combining them into a single sample should be interpreted with caution. The CEU are better described as being of Western European ancestry than of Northern European ancestry as often reported. Both the CHB and CEU show subtle but detectable signs of admixture. Thus the YRI and JPT samples are well-suited to standard population-genetic studies, but the CHB and CEU less so