Amino acid sequence of retinal transducin at the site ADP-ribosylated by cholera toxin

Transducin was [32P]ADP-ribosylated by cholera toxin in bovine retinal rod outer segments and then partially purified on ω-amino octyl agarose to remove other ADP-ribosylated proteins. Trypsin digestion of the ADP-ribosylated transducin and further purification using boronate-polyacrylamide beads and high performance liquid chromatography yielded a single radiolabeled tetrapeptide, Ser-Arg-Val-Lys. The ADP-ribose is linked to the guanidinium group of arginine

Detection of child abuse in emergency departments: a multi-centre study

Objective: This study examines the detection rates of suspected child abuse in the emergency departments of seven Dutch hospitals complying and not complying with screening guidelines for child abuse. Design: Data on demographics, diagnosis and suspected child abuse were collected for all children aged ≤18 years who visited the emergency departments over a 6-month period. The completion of a checklist of warning signs of child abuse in at least 10% of the emergency department visits was considered to be compliance with screening guidelines. Results: A total of 24 472 visits were analysed, 54% of which took place in an emergency department complying with screening guidelines. Child abuse was suspected in 52 children (0.2%). In 40 (77%) of these 52 cases, a checklist of warning signs had been completed compared with a completion rate of 19% in the total sample. In hospitals complying with screening guidelines for child abuse, the detection rate was higher (0.3%) than in those not complying (0.1%, p<0.001). Conclusion: During a 6-month period, emergency department staff suspected child abuse in 0.2% of all children visiting the emergency department of seven Dutch hospitals. The numbers of suspected abuse cases detected were low, but an increase is likely if uniform screening guidelines are widely implemented

Discourse or dialogue? Habermas, the Bakhtin Circle, and the question of concrete utterances

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final publication is available at Springer via the link below.This article argues that the Bakhtin Circle presents a more realistic theory of concrete dialogue than the theory of discourse elaborated by Habermas. The Bakhtin Circle places speech within the “concrete whole utterance” and by this phrase they mean that the study of everyday language should be analyzed through the mediations of historical social systems such as capitalism. These mediations are also characterized by a determinate set of contradictions—the capital-labor contradiction in capitalism, for example—that are reproduced in unique ways in more concrete forms of life (the state, education, religion, culture, and so on). Utterances always dialectically refract these processes and as such are internal concrete moments, or concrete social forms, of them. Moreover, new and unrepeatable dialogic events arise in these concrete social forms in order to overcome and understand the constant dialectical flux of social life. But this theory of dialogue is different from that expounded by Habermas, who tends to explore speech acts by reproducing a dualism between repeatable and universal “abstract” discursive processes (commonly known as the ideal speech situation) and empirical uses of discourse. These critical points against Habermas are developed by focusing on six main areas: sentences and utterances; the lifeworld and background language; active versus passive understandings of language; validity claims; obligation and relevance in language; and dialectical universalism

Comorbidity, not patient age, is associated with impaired safety outcomes in vedolizumab- and ustekinumab-treated patients with inflammatory bowel disease-a prospective multicentre cohort study

Background: Few data are available on the effects of age and comorbidity on treatment outcomes of vedolizumab and ustekinumab in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Aims: To evaluate the association between age and comorbidity with safety and effectiveness outcomes of vedolizumab and ustekinumab in IBD. Methods: IBD patients initiating vedolizumab or ustekinumab in regular care were enrolled prospectively. Comorbidity prevalence was assessed using the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI). Association between age and CCI, both continuously assessed, with safety outcomes (any infection, hospitalisation, adverse events) during treatment, and effectiveness outcomes (clinical response and remission, corticosteroid-free remission, clinical remission combined with biochemical remission) after 52 weeks of treatment were evaluated. Multivariable logistic regression was used to adjust for confounders. Results: We included 203 vedolizumab- and 207 ustekinumab-treated IBD patients, mean age 42.2 (SD 16.0) and 41.6 (SD 14.4). Median treatment duration 54.0 (IQR 19.9-104.0) and 48.4 (IQR 24.4-55.1) weeks, median follow-up time 104.0 (IQR 103.1-104.0) and 52.0 weeks (IQR 49.3-100.4). On vedolizumab, CCI associated independently with any infection (OR 1.387, 95% CI 1.022-1.883, P = 0.036) and hospitalisation (OR 1.586, 95% CI 1.127-2.231, P = 0.008). On ustekinumab, CCI associated independently with hospitalisation (OR 1.621, 95% CI 1.034-2.541, P = 0.035). CCI was not associated with effectiveness, and age was not associated with any outcomes. Conclusions: Comorbidity - but not age - is associated with an increased risk of hospitalisations on either treatment, and with any infection on vedolizumab. This underlines the importance of comorbidity assessment and safety monitoring of IBD patients

Airborne measurements of the vertical flux of ozone in the boundary layer

A fast-response chemiluminescent ozone sensor was mounted in an aircraft instrumented for air motion and temperature measurements. Measurements of the vertical flux of ozone by the eddy correlation technique were obtained after correcting for time delay and pressure sensitivity in the ozone sensor output. The observations were taken over eastern Colorado for two days in April, one a morning and the other an afternoon flight. Since the correlation coefficient of ozone and vertical velocity is small compared to, for example, temperature and vertical velocity in the lower part of the convective boundary layer, an averaging length of the order of 100 km was required to obtain a reasonably accurate estimate of the ozone flux. The measured variance of ozone appeared to be too large, probably mainly due to random noise in the sensor output, although the possibility of the production of ozone fluctuations by chemical reactions cannot be dismissed entirely. Terms in the budget equation for ozone were estimated from the aircraft measurements and the divergence of the ozone flux was found to be large compared to the flux at the surface divided by the boundary-layer height.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42507/1/10546_2004_Article_BF00117223.pd

Reduced Quantitative Ultrasound Bone Mineral Density in HIV-Infected Patients on Antiretroviral Therapy in Senegal

Background: Bone status in HIV-infected patients on antiretroviral treatment (ART) is poorly documented in resource-limited settings. We compared bone mineral density between HIV-infected patients and control subjects from Dakar, Senegal. Methods: A total of 207 (134 women and 73 men) HIV-infected patients from an observational cohort in Dakar (ANRS 1215) and 207 age-and sex-matched controls from the general population were enrolled. Bone mineral density was assessed by quantitative ultrasound (QUS) at the calcaneus, an alternative to the reference method (i.e. dual X-absorptiometry), often not available in resource-limited countries. Results: Mean age was 47.0 (+/- 8.5) years. Patients had received ART for a median duration of 8.8 years; 45% received a protease inhibitor and 27% tenofovir; 84% had undetectable viral load. Patients had lower body mass index (BMI) than controls (23 versus 26 kg/m(2), P<0.001). In unadjusted analysis, QUS bone mineral density was lower in HIV-infected patients than in controls (difference: -0.36 standard deviation, 95% confidence interval (CI): -0.59;-0.12, P = 0.003). Adjusting for BMI, physical activity, smoking and calcium intake attenuated the difference (-0.27, CI: -0.53; -0.002, P = 0.05). Differences in BMI between patients and controls explained a third of the difference in QUS bone mineral density. Among patients, BMI was independently associated with QUS bone mineral density (P<0.001). An association between undetectable viral load and QUS bone density was also suggested (beta = 0.48, CI: 0.02; 0.93; P = 0.04). No association between protease inhibitor or tenofovir use and QUS bone mineral density was found. Conclusion: Senegalese HIV-infected patients had reduced QUS bone mineral density in comparison with control subjects, in part related to their lower BMI. Further investigation is needed to clarify the clinical significance of these observations