Behavioural, developmental and psychological characteristics in children with germline PTEN mutations:a carer report study

Background: PTEN is primarily known as a tumour suppressor gene. However, research describes higher rates of difficulties including intellectual disability and difficulties relating to autism spectrum conditions (ASCs) in people with germline PTEN mutations. Other psychological characteristics/experiences are less often reported and are explored in this study. Methods: The parents of 20 children with PTEN mutations completed an online survey exploring adaptive behaviour, ASC‐associated behaviours, anxiety, mood, hypermobility, behaviours that challenge, sensory experiences, quality of life and parental wellbeing. Published normative data and data from groups of individuals with other genetic neurodevelopmental conditions were used to contextualise findings. Results: Overall levels of adaptive behaviour were below the ‘typical’ range, and no marked relative differences were noted between domains. Higher levels of ASC‐related difficulties, including sensory experiences, were found in comparison with ‘typically developing’ children, with a possible peak in restrictive/repetitive behaviour; ASC and sensory processing atypicality also strongly correlated with reported joint hypermobility. A relative preservation of social motivation was noted. Anxiety levels were found to be elevated overall (and to relate to sensory processing and joint hypermobility), with the exception of social anxiety, which was comparable with normative data. Self‐injurious behaviour was common. Conclusions: Results suggest a wide range of possible difficulties in children with PTEN mutations, including elevated anxiety. Despite elevated ASC phenomenology, social motivation may remain relatively strong. Firm conclusions are restricted by a small sample size and potential recruitment bias, and future research is required to further explore the relationships between such characteristics

The Saxon Glass Furnaces

This is a comprehensive study of the archaeological archives and artefact collections of Glastonbury Abbey, together with a new geophysical survey of the site. It analyses thirty-six seasons of archaeological excavation directed by such iconic figures as Sir William St John Hope, Sir Charles Peers, Sir Alfred Clapham and Dr Courtenay Arthur Ralegh Radford, and reveals new insights into the abbey’s origins and historical development. Previous interpretations are challenged and new evidence is presented for the Saxon and later medieval phases of the abbey, including an important complex of early glass-working furnaces, dated c 700. The study reveals, for the first time, archaeological evidence for the Norman and later medieval monastic ranges and the luxurious abbot’s hall and court

Pleistocene landscape evolution in the Avon valley, southern Britain: optical dating of terrace formation and Palaeolithic archaeology

This paper presents the first comprehensive Optically Stimulated Luminescence dating programme from a sequence of Pleistocene river terraces in the Avon valley (Wiltshire-Hampshire-Dorset), southern Britain. These results offer the most complete chronometric framework for Pleistocene landscape evolution and Palaeolithic occupation in the Avon valley, allowing for the first time: (1) an assessment of the timing of terrace formation and landscape evolution, (2) the dating of hominin presence in the area, and (3) an investigation of the relationship between terrace formation and Quaternary climatic change. Analysis of 25 samples collected from terraces 10 and 7 to 4 show that the middle Avon terraces formed in response to the main Pleistocene climatic oscillations (Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 10, 8, 6) and that fluvial mechanisms changed through time, resulting in three different types of terrace architecture. The highest and oldest deposits are compound terraces deposited during the Early Pleistocene before the Mid Pleistocene Transition. The middle reach of the valley is characterised by well-developed strath terraces overlain with thick fluvial deposits, reflecting the greater degree of incision in response to the increased amplitude of climate cycles in the Middle Pleistocene. The youngest deposits in the confined modern floodplain represent cut-and-fill terraces deposited after MIS5e. The results indicate that the two main Palaeolithic sites in the area, Milford Hill and Woodgreen, date to between at least MIS 10 and 8 with a pre-MIS 10 human occupation at a third main site at Bemerton. This is significant because the sites date to a period previously associated with a decline in hominin presence in Britain. The dating of the Avon valley terrace sequence highlights the complex nature of terrace formation during the Pleistocene and the need to critically reassess the chronological understanding of these fluvial archives in southern Britain. This research demonstrates that with a detailed and multidisciplinary approach shifts in hominin landscape use can be discovered, providing new information on hominin behavioural change during the Pleistocene

Effects of environmental factors on development of Pyrenopeziza brassicae (light leaf spot) apothecia on oilseed rape debris

Publication no. P-2001-0221-01R. This article is in the public domain and not copyrightable. It may be freely reprinted with customary crediting of the source. The American Phytopathological Society, 2001The development of Pyrenopeziza brassicae (light leaf spot) apothecia was studied on petiole debris from artificially infected oilseed rape leaves incubated at temperatures from 6 to 22 degreesC under different wetness regimes and in 16 h light/8 h dark or continuous darkness. There was no significant difference between light treatments in numbers of apothecia that developed. Mature apothecia developed at temperatures from 5 to 18 degreesC but not at 22 degreesC. The rate of apothecial development decreased as temperature decreased from 18 to 5 degreesC; mature apothecia were first observed after 5 days at 18 degreesC and after 15 days at 6 degreesC. Models were fitted to estimates of the time (days) for 50% of the maximum number of apothecia to develop (t(1); model 1, t(1) = 7.6 + 55.8(0.839)(T)) and the time for 50% of the maximum number of apothecia to decay (t(2); model 2, t(2) = 24.2 + 387(0.730)(T)) at temperatures (T) from 6 to 18 degreesC. An interruption in wetness of the petiole debris for 4 days after 4, 7, or 10 days of wetness delayed the time to observation of the first mature apothecia for approximate to4 days and decreased the number of apothecia produced (by comparison with continuous wetness). A relationship was found between water content of pod debris and electrical resistance measured by a debris-wetness sensor. The differences between values of tl predicted by model 1 and observed values of t(1) were 1 to 9 days. Model 2 did not predict t(2); apothecia decayed more quickly under natural conditions than predicted by model 2.Peer reviewe

Tolerance of septoria leaf blotch in winter wheat

For individual varieties, tolerance of septoria leaf blotch was quantified by the slope of the relationship between disease and yield. Variation in disease severity and the associated yield responses were provided across two sites and three seasons of field experiments. Slopes were fitted by residual maximum likelihood for two contrasting models: (i) a fixed-effects model, where no prior assumptions were made about the form of the variety slopes; and (ii) a random-effects model, where deviations in individual variety slopes away from the mean variety slope formed a normal random population with unknown variance. The analyses gave broadly similar results, but with some significant differences. The random model was considered more reliable for predicting variety performance. The effects of disease were quantified as symptom area and green canopy duration. Models of the relationship between symptom area and yield were site-specific. When site effects were not taken into account, these models had poor predictive precision. Models based on the canopy green area gave robust predictions of yield and were not site-specific. Differences in disease tolerance were detected in a comparison of 25 commercial winter wheat varieties. Tolerance was not detected directly through symptom measurements, but instead through measurements of canopy green area, which provides a measurement of the effects of disease that accounts for differences in canopy size across sites and seasons. The varieties showing greatest tolerance tended to have lower attainable yield than the intolerant varieties. Presence of the 1BL/1RS chromosome translocation, which has been reported to increase radiation use efficiency, appeared to be associated with intolerance

Commentary - Better lung health for all: A British Thoracic Society and Pan African Thoracic Society initiative

No abstrac

Craig Rhos-y-felin: A Welsh bluestone megalith quarry for Stonehenge

The long-distance transport of the bluestones from south Wales to Stonehenge is one of the most remarkable achievements of Neolithic societies in north-west Europe. Where precisely these stones were quarried, when they were extracted and how they were transported has long been a subject of speculation, experiment and controversy. The discovery of a megalithic bluestone quarry at Craig Rhos-y-felin in 2011 marked a turning point in this research. Subsequent excavations have provided details of the quarrying process along with direct dating evidence for the extraction of bluestone monoliths at this location, demonstrating both Neolithic and Early Bronze Age activity

Transcriptome analysis of grain development in hexaploid wheat

Background: Hexaploid wheat is one of the most important cereal crops for human nutrition. Molecular understanding of the biology of the developing grain will assist the improvement of yield and quality traits for different environments. High quality transcriptomics is a powerful method to increase this understanding. Results: The transcriptome of developing caryopses from hexaploid wheat ( Triticum aestivum, cv. Hereward) was determined using Affymetrix wheat GeneChip (R) oligonucleotide arrays which have probes for 55,052 transcripts. Of these, 14,550 showed significant differential regulation in the period between 6 and 42 days after anthesis ( daa). Large changes in transcript abundance were observed which were categorised into distinct phases of differentiation ( 6 - 10 daa), grain fill ( 12 - 21 daa) and desiccation/maturation ( 28 - 42 daa) and were associated with specific tissues and processes. A similar experiment on developing caryopses grown with dry and/or hot environmental treatments was also analysed, using the profiles established in the first experiment to show that most environmental treatment effects on transcription were due to acceleration of development, but that a few transcripts were specifically affected. Transcript abundance profiles in both experiments for nine selected known and putative wheat transcription factors were independently confirmed by real time RT-PCR. These expression profiles confirm or extend our knowledge of the roles of the known transcription factors and suggest roles for the unknown ones. Conclusion: This transcriptome data will provide a valuable resource for molecular studies on wheat grain. It has been demonstrated how it can be used to distinguish general developmental shifts from specific effects of treatments on gene expression and to diagnose the probable tissue specificity and role of transcription factors

Care for the Future: Heritage Education in the Context of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and Other Small Island Communities.

Education is accepted to be the principal means by which archaeological heritage can be both enjoyed and preserved. Links between research and education through outreach are an important part of archaeological projects on Rapa Nui, for example providing new information for site interpretation. Knowledge exchange between researchers and heritage managers can be another important outcome, or impact, of research. The preliminary findings from doctoral interview-based research with residents pertaining to archaeology, heritage management and heritage education programs that have taken place on Rapa Nui the island will be discussed here. We examine the role archaeological heritage is playing in Rapa Nui in education contexts, and make some observations as to the impact and legacy of this important work. One aspect of the education program is in developing links between researchers, heritage managers, museums and school pupils between Rapa Nui, and the islands of Orkney, Scotland. The benefits and potential of links between small island communities in heritage education and management are considered in this paper