UK survey of occupational therapist’s and physiotherapist’s experiences and attitudes towards hip replacement precautions and equipment

Background: Total hip replacement (THR) is one of the most common orthopaedic procedures in the United Kingdom (UK). Historically, people following THR have been provided with hip precautions and equipment such as: raised toilet seats and furniture rises, in order to reduce the risks of dislocation post-operation. The purpose of this study was to determine current practices in the provision of these interventions in the UK for people following primary THR. Methods: A 27-question, self-administered online survey was developed and distributed to UK physiotherapists and occupational therapists involved in the management of people following primary THR (target respondents). The survey included questions regarding the current practices in the provision of equipment and hip precautions for THR patients, and physiotherapist’s and occupational therapist’s attitudes towards these practices. The survey was disseminated through print and web-based/social media channels. Results: 170 health professionals (87 physiotherapists and 83 occupational therapists), responded to the survey. Commonly prescribed equipment in respondent’s health trusts were raised toilet seats (95%), toilet frames and rails (88%), furniture raises (79%), helping hands/grabbers (77%), perching stools (75%) and long-handled shoe horns (75%). Hip precautions were routinely prescribed by 97% of respondents. Hip precautions were most frequently taught in a pre-operative group (52% of respondents). Similarly equipment was most frequently provided pre-operatively (61% respondents), and most commonly by occupational therapists (74% respondents). There was variability in the advice provided on the duration of hip precautions and equipment from up to six weeks post-operatively to life-time usage. Conclusions: Current practice on hip precautions and provision of equipment is not full representative of clinician’s perceptions of best care after THR. Future research is warranted to determine whether and to whom hip precautions and equipment should be prescribed post-THR as opposed to the current ‘blanket’ provision of equipment and movement restriction provided in UK practice

Implications for the future of obstetrics and gynaecology following the COVID-19 pandemic: a commentary.

In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. At the time of writing, more than 261,184 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the UK resulting in over 36,914 directly attributable deaths.1 The National Health Service (NHS) has been confronted with the unprecedented task of dealing with the enormity of the resultant morbidity and mortality. In addition, the workforce has been depleted as a direct consequence of the disease, in most cases temporarily, but in some tragic cases permanently

H-ATLAS/GAMA: Quantifying the Morphological Evolution of the Galaxy Population Using Cosmic Calorimetry

Using results from the Herschel Astrophysical Terrahertz Large-Area Survey and the Galaxy and Mass Assembly project, we show that, for galaxy masses above approximately 1.0e8 solar masses, 51% of the stellar mass-density in the local Universe is in early-type galaxies (ETGs: Sersic n > 2.5) while 89% of the rate of production of stellar mass-density is occurring in late-type galaxies (LTGs: Sersic n < 2.5). From this zero-redshift benchmark, we have used a calorimetric technique to quantify the importance of the morphological transformation of galaxies over the history of the Universe. The extragalactic background radiation contains all the energy generated by nuclear fusion in stars since the Big Bang. By resolving this background radiation into individual galaxies using the deepest far-infrared survey with the Herschel Space Observatory and a deep near-infrared/optical survey with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and using measurements of the Sersic index of these galaxies derived from the HST images, we estimate that approximately 83% of the stellar mass-density formed over the history of the Universe occurred in LTGs. The difference between this and the fraction of the stellar mass-density that is in LTGs today implies there must have been a major transformation of LTGs into ETGs after the formation of most of the stars

Transcriptional Activation of c3 and hsp70 as Part of the Immune Response of Acropora millepora to Bacterial Challenges

The impact of disease outbreaks on coral physiology represents an increasing concern for the fitness and resilience of reef ecosystems. Predicting the tolerance of corals to disease relies on an understanding of the coral immune response to pathogenic interactions. This study explored the transcriptional response of two putative immune genes (c3 and c-type lectin) and one stress response gene (hsp70) in the reef building coral, Acropora millepora challenged for 48 hours with bacterial strains, Vibrio coralliilyticus and Alteromonas sp. at concentrations of 106 cells ml-1. Coral fragments challenged with V. coralliilyticus appeared healthy while fragments challenged with Alteromonas sp. showed signs of tissue lesions after 48 hr. Coral-associated bacterial community profiles assessed using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis changed after challenge by both bacterial strains with the Alteromonas sp. treatment demonstrating the greatest community shift. Transcriptional profiles of c3 and hsp70 increased at 24 hours and correlated with disease signs in the Alteromonas sp. treatment. The expression of hsp70 also showed a significant increase in V. coralliilyticus inoculated corals at 24 h suggesting that even in the absence of disease signs, the microbial inoculum activated a stress response in the coral. C-type lectin did not show a response to any of the bacterial treatments. Increase in gene expression of c3 and hsp70 in corals showing signs of disease indicates their potential involvement in immune and stress response to microbial challenges

H-ATLAS/GAMA: Quantifying the Morphological Evolution of the Galaxy Population Using Cosmic Calorimetry

Using results from the Herschel Astrophysical Terrahertz Large-Area Survey and the Galaxy and Mass Assembly project, we show that, for galaxy masses above approximately 1.0e8 solar masses, 51% of the stellar mass-density in the local Universe is in early-type galaxies (ETGs: Sersic n > 2.5) while 89% of the rate of production of stellar mass-density is occurring in late-type galaxies (LTGs: Sersic n < 2.5). From this zero-redshift benchmark, we have used a calorimetric technique to quantify the importance of the morphological transformation of galaxies over the history of the Universe. The extragalactic background radiation contains all the energy generated by nuclear fusion in stars since the Big Bang. By resolving this background radiation into individual galaxies using the deepest far-infrared survey with the Herschel Space Observatory and a deep near-infrared/optical survey with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and using measurements of the Sersic index of these galaxies derived from the HST images, we estimate that approximately 83% of the stellar mass-density formed over the history of the Universe occurred in LTGs. The difference between this and the fraction of the stellar mass-density that is in LTGs today implies there must have been a major transformation of LTGs into ETGs after the formation of most of the stars

Galaxy and mass assembly: the G02 field, Herschel–ATLAS target selection and data release 3

We describe data release 3 (DR3) of the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. The GAMA survey is a spectroscopic redshift and multiwavelength photometric survey in three equatorial regions each of 60.0 deg2 (G09, G12, and G15), and two southern regions of 55.7 deg2 (G02) and 50.6 deg2 (G23). DR3 consists of: the first release of data covering the G02 region and of data on H-ATLAS (Herschel – Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey) sources in the equatorial regions; and updates to data on sources released in DR2. DR3 includes 154 809 sources with secure redshifts across four regions. A subset of the G02 region is 95.5 per cent redshift complete to r < 19.8 mag over an area of 19.5 deg2, with 20 086 galaxy redshifts, that overlaps substantially with the XXL survey (X-ray) and VIPERS (redshift survey). In the equatorial regions, the main survey has even higher completeness (98.5 per cent), and spectra for about 75 per cent of H-ATLAS filler targets were also obtained. This filler sample extends spectroscopic redshifts, for probable optical counterparts to HATLAS submillimetre sources, to 0.8 mag deeper (r < 20.6 mag) than the GAMA main survey. There are 25 814 galaxy redshifts for H-ATLAS sources from the GAMA main or filler surveys. GAMA DR3 is available at the survey website (www.gama-survey.org/dr3/)

Functional Characterization of EngAMS, a P-Loop GTPase of Mycobacterium smegmatis

Bacterial P-loop GTPases belong to a family of proteins that selectively hydrolyze a small molecule guanosine tri-phosphate (GTP) to guanosine di-phosphate (GDP) and inorganic phosphate, and regulate several essential cellular activities such as cell division, chromosomal segregation and ribosomal assembly. A comparative genome sequence analysis of different mycobacterial species indicates the presence of multiple P-loop GTPases that exhibit highly conserved motifs. However, an exact function of most of these GTPases in mycobacteria remains elusive. In the present study we characterized the function of a P-loop GTPase in mycobacteria by employing an EngA homologue from Mycobacterium smegmatis, encoded by an open reading frame, designated as MSMEG_3738. Amino acid sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis suggest that MSMEG_3738 (termed as EngAMS) is highly conserved in mycobacteria. Homology modeling of EngAMS reveals a cloverleaf structure comprising of α/β fold typical to EngA family of GTPases. Recombinant EngAMS purified from E. coli exhibits a GTP hydrolysis activity which is inhibited by the presence of GDP. Interestingly, the EngAMS protein is co-eluted with 16S and 23S ribosomal RNA during purification and exhibits association with 30S, 50S and 70S ribosomal subunits. Further studies demonstrate that GTP is essential for interaction of EngAMS with 50S subunit of ribosome and specifically C-terminal domains of EngAMS are required to facilitate this interaction. Moreover, EngAMS devoid of N-terminal region interacts well with 50S even in the absence of GTP, indicating a regulatory role of the N-terminal domain in EngAMS-50S interaction

Thermorheological and textural behaviour of gluten-free gels obtained from chestnut and rice flours

Nowadays, as celiac disease is becoming more common the consumers’ demand for gluten-free products with high nutritional and taste quality is increasing. This work deals with the study of the impact of four novelty gluten-free sources: chestnut flour (Cf), whole rice flour (Rw), Carolino rice flour (Rc) and Agulha rice flour (Ra). Textural, thermorheological and stability performance of gluten-free gels using different experimental techniques were evaluated. Mixed gels were also produced for comparison. Texture parameters were determined from the texture profile analysis using a texturometer. Thermorheological oscillatory measurements were conducted in a stresscontrolled rheometer in order to clarify the kinetics of gel formation and to characterise the structure of the matured gels. The stability of the gels was evaluated using transmittance profiling of the gels under gravitational fields (LUMiSizer®). Texture studies suggested that gels from mixtures of chestnut flour at 30 % and rice flour at 20 % showed the right texture to develop gel-based new desserts. Rheological results showed that the thermal profiles on heating of Cf gels were similar to those obtained for Rw and Ra, whereas Rc gels exhibited a particular pattern. Once the final gelatinisation temperature was achieved, no significant differences on the viscoelastic properties were noticed for all the tested gels. Stability tests showed that gels with Rc should present an industrial advantage over the other assayed formulations, since the stability of these gels is of the order of four times larger

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the G02 field, Herschel-ATLAS target selection and Data Release 3

We describe data release 3 (DR3) of the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. The GAMA survey is a spectroscopic redshift and multi-wavelength photometric survey in three equatorial regions each of 60.0 deg^2 (G09, G12, G15), and two southern regions of 55.7 deg^2 (G02) and 50.6 deg^2 (G23). DR3 consists of: the first release of data covering the G02 region and of data on H-ATLAS sources in the equatorial regions; and updates to data on sources released in DR2. DR3 includes 154809 sources with secure redshifts across four regions. A subset of the G02 region is 95.5% redshift complete to r<19.8 over an area of 19.5 deg^2, with 20086 galaxy redshifts, that overlaps substantially with the XXL survey (X-ray) and VIPERS (redshift survey). In the equatorial regions, the main survey has even higher completeness (98.5%), and spectra for about 75% of H-ATLAS filler targets were also obtained. This filler sample extends spectroscopic redshifts, for probable optical counterparts to H-ATLAS sub-mm sources, to 0.8 mag deeper (r<20.6) than the GAMA main survey. There are 25814 galaxy redshifts for H-ATLAS sources from the GAMA main or filler surveys. GAMA DR3 is available at the survey website (www.gama-survey.org/dr3/)