Successional changes of epibiont fouling communities of the cultivated kelp Alaria esculenta: predictability and influences

There has been an increase in commercial-scale kelp cultivation in Europe, with fouling of cultivated kelp fronds presenting a major challenge to the growth and development of the industry. The presence of epibionts decreases productivity and impacts the commercial value of the crop. Several abiotic and biotic factors may influence the occurrence and degree of fouling of wild and cultivated fronds. Using a commercial kelp farm on the SW coast of Ireland, we studied the development of fouling communities on cultivated Alaria esculenta fronds over 2 typical growing seasons. The predictability of community development was assessed by comparing mean occurrence-day. Hypotheses that depth, kelp biomass, position within the farm and the hydrodynamic environment affect the fouling communities were tested using species richness and community composition. Artificial kelp mimics were used to test whether local frond density could affect the fouling communities. Species richness increased over time during both years, and species composition was consistent over years with early successional communities converging into later communities (no significant differences between June 2014 and June 2015 communities, ANOSIM; R = -0.184, p > 0.05). The timing of species occurrences was predictable across years for all shared species. Variations in biomass, depth and position within the farm had no significant effect on species richness and composition. Results from artificial kelp mimics suggest possible hydrodynamic effects. The ability to understand succession and the timing of occurrences of fouling organisms and predict their arrival has significant benefits for the seaweed cultivation industry

The androgen receptor and signal-transduction pathways in hormone-refractory prostate cancer. Part 2: androgen-receptor cofactors and bypass pathways

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer related deaths in men from the western world. Treatment of prostate cancer has relied on androgen deprivation therapy for the past 50 years. Response rates are initially high (70-80%), however almost all patients develop androgen escape and subsequently die within 1-2 years. Unlike breast cancer, alternative approaches (chemotherapy and radiotherapy) do not increase survival time. The high rate of prostate cancer mortality is therefore strongly linked to both development of androgen escape and the lack of alternate therapies. AR mutations and amplifications can not explain all cases of androgen escape and post-translational modification of the AR has become an alternative theory. However recently it has been suggested that AR co-activators e.g. SRC-1 or pathways the bypass the AR (Ras/MAP kinase or PI3K/Akt) may stimulated prostate cancer progression independent of the AR. This review will focus on how AR coactivators may act to increase AR transactivation during sub-optimal DHT concentrations and also how signal transduction pathways may promote androgen escape via activation of transcription factors, e.g. AP-1, c-Myc and Myb, that induce cell proliferation or inhibit apoptosis

Ecological priming of artificial aquaculture structures: Kelp farms as an example

Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2018. The continued development of the aquaculture industry is contributing to the proliferation of artificial structures in the marine environment. Observations of seaweed farms (infrastructure and biomass) suggest they act as a habitat for associated species. Seaweed farms differ from other forms of artificial infrastructure as the material deployed already has marine organisms (i.e. culture species) growing on it. This 'priming' of ropes with juvenile sporophytes may affect future development of communities by facilitating colonizing species or suppressing competitors. We call this process 'ecological priming': the provision of a biological platform that influences the successional development of specific communities. The communities that developed on ropes primed with Alaria esculenta individuals were compared with unprimed ropes to assess the ecological priming effect, at a commercial kelp farm in south-west Ireland. Species richness increased over two cultivation seasons and species composition was consistent between years, with distinct communities developing on primed and unprimed treatments. Timing of species occurrence on primed ropes was predictable with no predictable pattern occurring on unprimed ropes. Multivariate tests indicated distinct communities between treatments, with suppression of other algal species and potential facilitation of some species that have a particular association with A. esculenta on primed ropes. Communities from primed holdfasts contained a lower diversity of algal species compared with unprimed communities. Cultivated kelp holdfasts represent a habitat for distinct assemblages that reflect ecological priming of the substratum

Advancing donor management research: design and implementation of a large, randomized, placebo-controlled trial

BACKGROUND:Given the persistent shortage of organs for transplantation, new donor management strategies to improve both organ utilization and quality of procured organs are needed. Current management protocols for the care of the deceased donor before organ procurement are based on physiological rationale, experiential reasoning, and retrospective studies without rigorous testing. Although many factors contribute to the lack of controlled clinical trials in donor management, a major factor is the unique challenges posed by research in the brain-dead organ donor.METHODS AND RESULTS:This article describes the study design and the challenges faced during implementation of the Beta-agonists for Oxygenation in Lung Donors (BOLD) study, a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial of nebulized albuterol vs. placebo in 500 organ donors. The study design and implementation are described with emphasis on aspects of the study that are unique to research in brain-dead organ donors.CONCLUSIONS:Experience gained during the design and implementation of the BOLD study should be useful for investigators planning future clinical trials in the brain-dead donor population and for intensivists who are involved in the care of the brain-dead organ donor.This item is part of the UA Faculty Publications collection. For more information this item or other items in the UA Campus Repository, contact the University of Arizona Libraries at [email protected]

Investigating the 8.2 ka event in northwestern Madagascar: Insight from data–model comparisons

The 8.2 ka event is a well-known cooling event in the Northern Hemisphere, but is poorly understood in Madagascar. Here, we compare paleoclimate data and outputs from paleoclimate simulations to better understand it. Records from Madagascar suggest two distinct sub-events (8.3 ka and 8.2 ka), that seem to correlate with records from northern high latitude. This could indicate causal relationships via changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) with changes in moisture source's δ18O, and changes in the mean position of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), as climate modelling suggests. These two sub-events are also apparent in other terrestrial records, but the climatic signals are different. The prominent 8.2 ka sub-event records a clear antiphase relationship between the northern and southern hemisphere monsoons, whereas such relationship is less evident during the first 8.3 ka sub-event. Data–model comparison have also shown a mismatch between the paleoclimate data and the model outputs, the causes of which are more or less understood and may lie in the proxies, in the model, or in both data and model. Knowing that paleoclimate proxies and climate models produce different sets of variables, further research is needed to improve the data–model comparison approach, so that both paleoclimate data and paleoclimate models will better predict the likely climate status of a region during a specified time in the past with minimal uncertainties

Implementing nursing best practice guidelines: Impact on patient referrals

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although referring patients to community services is important for optimum continuity of care, referrals between hospital and community sectors are often problematic. Nurses are well positioned to inform patients about referral resources. The objective of this study is to describe the impact of implementing six nursing best practice guidelines (BPGs) on nurses' familiarity with patient referral resources and referral practices.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A prospective before and after design was used. For each BPG topic, referral resources were identified. Information about these resources was presented at education sessions for nurses. Pre- and post-questionnaires were completed by a random sample of 257 nurses at 7 hospitals, 2 home visiting nursing services and 1 public health unit. Average response rates for pre- and post-implementation questionnaires were 71% and 54.2%, respectively. Chart audits were completed for three BPGs (n = 421 pre- and 332 post-implementation). Post-hospital discharge patient interviews were conducted for four BPGs (n = 152 pre- and 124 post-implementation).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were statistically significant increases in nurses' familiarity with resources for all BPGs, and self-reported referrals to specific services for three guidelines. Higher rates of referrals were observed for services that were part of the organization where the nurses worked. There was almost a complete lack of referrals to Internet sources. No significant differences between pre- and post-implementation referrals rates were observed in the chart documentation or in patients' reports of referrals.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Implementing nursing BPGs, which included recommendations on patient referrals produced mixed results. Nurses' familiarity with referral resources does not necessarily change their referral practices. Nurses can play a vital role in initiating and supporting appropriate patient referrals. BPGs should include specific recommendations on effective referral processes and this information should be tailored to the community setting where implementation is taking place.</p

Implicit domain adaptation with conditional generative adversarial networks for depth prediction in endoscopy

PURPOSE: Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer worldwide, and early therapeutic treatment of precancerous tissue during colonoscopy is crucial for better prognosis and can be curative. Navigation within the colon and comprehensive inspection of the endoluminal tissue are key to successful colonoscopy but can vary with the skill and experience of the endoscopist. Computer-assisted interventions in colonoscopy can provide better support tools for mapping the colon to ensure complete examination and for automatically detecting abnormal tissue regions. METHODS: We train the conditional generative adversarial network pix2pix, to transform monocular endoscopic images to depth, which can be a building block in a navigational pipeline or be used to measure the size of polyps during colonoscopy. To overcome the lack of labelled training data in endoscopy, we propose to use simulation environments and to additionally train the generator and discriminator of the model on unlabelled real video frames in order to adapt to real colonoscopy environments. RESULTS: We report promising results on synthetic, phantom and real datasets and show that generative models outperform discriminative models when predicting depth from colonoscopy images, in terms of both accuracy and robustness towards changes in domains. CONCLUSIONS: Training the discriminator and generator of the model on real images, we show that our model performs implicit domain adaptation, which is a key step towards bridging the gap between synthetic and real data. Importantly, we demonstrate the feasibility of training a single model to predict depth from both synthetic and real images without the need for explicit, unsupervised transformer networks mapping between the domains of synthetic and real data

Upregulation of MAPK pathway is associated with survival in castrate-resistant prostate cancer

BACKGROUND: Recent evidence has implicated the MAP kinase (MAPK) pathway with the development of castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). We have previously reported gene amplification of critical members of this pathway with the development of castrate-resistant disease. In addition, we have shown that rising Raf-1 expression, with the development of CRPC, influences time to biochemical relapse. We therefore sought to further analyse the role of both Raf-1 and its downstream target MAPK in the molecular pathogenesis of CRPC. METHODS: Protein expression of Raf-1 and MAPK, including their activation status, was analysed using immunohistochemistry in a database of 65 paired tumour specimens obtained before and after the development of CRPC and correlated with other members of the pathway. RESULTS: Patients whose nuclear expression of MAPK rose with the development of CRPC had a significantly shorter median time to death following biochemical relapse (1.40 vs 3.00 years, P=0.0255) as well as reduced disease-specific survival when compared with those whose expression fell or remained unchanged (1.16 vs 2.62 years, P=0.0005). Significant correlations were observed between protein expression of Raf-1 and MAPK with the type 1 receptor tyrosine kinases, Her2 and epidermal growth factor receptor, as well as the transcription factor AP-1 in CRPC tumours. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the Her2/Raf-1/MAPK/AP-1 axis may promote the development of CRPC, leading to early relapse, and reduced disease-specific survival. In addition, members of the pathway may act as novel therapeutic and/or diagnostic targets for prostate cancer. British Journal of Cancer (2011) 104, 1920-1928. doi:10.1038/bjc.2011.163 www.bjcancer.com Published online 10 May 2011 (C) 2011 Cancer Research U

Inhaled tobramycin solution-associated recurrent eosinophilia and severe persistent bronchospasm in a patient with cystic fibrosis: a case report

BACKGROUND: Delivery of tobramycin by inhalation to the lungs of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) who are infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been proven to be effective and safe. The aerosol administration allows high concentrations of tobramycin to be delivered to the site of infection with limited systemic absorption. In rare patients, systemic absorption of inhaled tobramycin may be significant enough to produce toxic effects, such as renal and vestibular toxicities. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a patient with CF who developed recurrent eosinophilia and severe persistent bronchospasm following repeated administration of preservative-free tobramycin by inhalation, beginning at 16 months of age. Also, he developed similar signs and symptoms when he was administered tobramycin intravenously on one occasion at 5 1/2 years. The patient had a history of environmental allergies. Temporal sequence of his signs and symptoms after each administration of tobramycin (similar to re-challenge testing), and his improvement after discontinuation of the drug strongly suggest an adverse drug reaction. CONCLUSION: Hypersensitivity reaction should be considered in patients who develop recurrent eosinophilia and deterioration of pulmonary function following the use of tobramycin by inhalation or by intravenous administration