433 research outputs found

    CpG binding protein (CFP1) occupies open chromatin regions of active genes, including enhancers and non-CpG islands.

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    Funding This work was supported by a University of Edinburgh Chancellor’s Fellowship to Douglas Vernimmen and by Institute Strategic Grant funding to the Roslin Institute from the BBSRC [BB/J004235/1] and [BB/P013732/1]. Louie N. van de Lagemaat was supported by Roslin Institute funding to Douglas Vernimmen. We are very grateful to Zhanyun Tang and Bob Roeder for the CFP1 antibody. We would like to thank our colleagues Alan Archibald, Philipp Voigt and Duncan Sproul for critically reading the manuscript. We also thank Jim Hughes for curating data sets obtained in Oxford. High-throughput sequencing was provided by the Oxford Genomics Centre (http://www.well.ox.ac.uk/ogc/ home/) and Edinburgh Genomics (http://genomics.ed.ac.uk).Peer reviewe

    Exploring common stressors in physical education

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    Daily stressors, or hassles, refer to the everyday environmental demands that constitute a threat or challenge, or exceed an individual’s biological or psychological capacities (Cohen et al., 1995). Increasing evidence suggests that daily stressors have a significant impact on adolescents’ educational outcomes, for example, performance, wellbeing and negative attitudes toward school, however there is limited research examining the concept of common stressors in PE lessons. As early-adolescence is a developmental period associated with decreased engagement in PE, it is important to identify the environmental stressors that may be associated with increased disengagement. The study comprised 54 secondary school students and six PE teachers from five schools in the English Midlands. Semi-structured focus groups were conducted and a thematic analysis was applied to interview transcripts. Three higher order themes were identified from the data: the social environment, the physical and organisational environment, and the performance environment. Common stressors within the social environment included, interpersonal transactions between peers, differences in effort levels during PE, and working outside one’s peer group. Stressors within the physical and organisational environment consisted of, environmental situations within the changing facilities and the availability of activities. Finally, performance environment stressors included, situations involving the difficult acquisition of physical skills, and situations where physical appearance and physical competencies were exposed. The study extends previous findings by identifying potentially threatening and frustrating, environmental demands that have not been identified in the previous literature. The current study is the first to explore the typical stressors that are experienced by students in PE

    Defining Medical Futility and Improving Medical Care

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    It probably should not be surprising, in this time of soaring medical costs and proliferating technology, that an intense debate has arisen over the concept of medical futility. Should doctors be doing all the things they are doing? In particular, should they be attempting treatments that have little likelihood of achieving the goals of medicine? What are the goals of medicine? Can we agree when medical treatment fails to achieve such goals? What should the physician do and not do under such circumstances? Exploring these issues has forced us to revisit the doctor-patient relationship and the relationship of the medical profession to society in a most fundamental way. Medical futility has both a quantitative and qualitative component. I maintain that medical futility is the unacceptable likelihood of achieving an effect that the patient has the capacity to appreciate as a benefit. Both emphasized terms are important. A patient is neither a collection of organs nor merely an individual with desires. Rather, a patient (from the word “to suffer”) is a person who seeks the healing (meaning “to make whole”) powers of the physician. The relationship between the two is central to the healing process and the goals of medicine. Medicine today has the capacity to achieve a multitude of effects, raising and lowering blood pressure, speeding, slowing, and even removing and replacing the heart, to name but a minuscule few. But none of these effects is a benefit unless the patient has at the very least the capacity to appreciate it. Sadly, in the futility debate wherein some critics have failed or refused to define medical futility an important area of medicine has in large part been neglected, not only in treatment decisions at the bedside, but in public discussions—comfort care—the physician’s obligation to alleviate suffering, enhance well being and support the dignity of the patient in the last few days of life

    Acute kidney disease and renal recovery : consensus report of the Acute Disease Quality Initiative (ADQI) 16 Workgroup

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    Consensus definitions have been reached for both acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) and these definitions are now routinely used in research and clinical practice. The KDIGO guideline defines AKI as an abrupt decrease in kidney function occurring over 7 days or less, whereas CKD is defined by the persistence of kidney disease for a period of > 90 days. AKI and CKD are increasingly recognized as related entities and in some instances probably represent a continuum of the disease process. For patients in whom pathophysiologic processes are ongoing, the term acute kidney disease (AKD) has been proposed to define the course of disease after AKI; however, definitions of AKD and strategies for the management of patients with AKD are not currently available. In this consensus statement, the Acute Disease Quality Initiative (ADQI) proposes definitions, staging criteria for AKD, and strategies for the management of affected patients. We also make recommendations for areas of future research, which aim to improve understanding of the underlying processes and improve outcomes for patients with AKD

    Smoke rings:towards a comprehensive tobacco free policy for the Olympic Games

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    Background The tobacco industry has long sought affiliation with major sporting events, including the Olympic Games, for marketing, advertising and promotion purposes. Since 1988, each Olympic Games has adopted a tobacco-free policy. Limited study of the effectiveness of the smoke-free policy has been undertaken to date, with none examining the tobacco industry's involvement with the Olympics or use of the Olympic brand. Methods and Findings A comparison of the contents of Olympic tobacco-free policies from 1988 to 2014 was carried out by searching the websites of the IOC and host NOCs. The specific tobacco control measures adopted for each Games were compiled and compared with measures recommended by the WHO Tobacco Free Sports Initiative and Article 13 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). This was supported by semi-structured interviews of key informants involved with the adoption of tobacco-free policies for selected games. To understand the industry's interests in the Olympics, the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library (http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu) was systematically searched between June 2013 and August 2014. Company websites, secondary sources and media reports were also searched to triangulate the above data sources. This paper finds that, while most direct associations between tobacco and the Olympics have been prohibited since 1988, a variety of indirect associations undermine the Olympic tobacco-free policy. This is due to variation in the scope of tobacco-free policies, limited jurisdiction and continued efforts by the industry to be associated with Olympic ideals. Conclusions The paper concludes that, compatible with the IOC's commitment to promoting healthy lifestyles, a comprehensive tobacco-free policy with standardized and binding measures should be adopted by the International Olympic Committee and all national Olympic committees

    Carbogen breathing increases prostate cancer oxygenation: a translational MRI study in murine xenografts and humans

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    Hypoxia has been associated with poor local tumour control and relapse in many cancer sites, including carcinoma of the prostate. This translational study tests whether breathing carbogen gas improves the oxygenation of human prostate carcinoma xenografts in mice and in human patients with prostate cancer. A total of 23 DU145 tumour-bearing mice, 17 PC3 tumour-bearing mice and 17 human patients with prostate cancer were investigated. Intrinsic susceptibility-weighted MRI was performed before and during a period of carbogen gas breathing. Quantitative R2* pixel maps were produced for each tumour and at each time point and changes in R2* induced by carbogen were determined. There was a mean reduction in R2* of 6.4% (P=0.003) for DU145 xenografts and 5.8% (P=0.007) for PC3 xenografts. In all, 14 human subjects were evaluable; 64% had reductions in tumour R2* during carbogen inhalation with a mean reduction of 21.6% (P=0.0005). Decreases in prostate tumour R2* in both animal models and human patients as a result of carbogen inhalation suggests the presence of significant hypoxia. The finding that carbogen gas breathing improves prostate tumour oxygenation provides a rationale for testing the radiosensitising effects of combining carbogen gas breathing with radiotherapy in prostate cancer patients
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