Cell viability within oral biofilms

Bacteria are not distributed homogenously throughout an oral biofilm. This is primarily due to regions of differing environmental conditions, themselves a manifestation of nutrient, gaseous and ionic concentration gradients within the biofilm. Confocal laser scanning microscopy in conjunction with fluorescent staining techniques and image analysis can both visualise and quantify the distribution of viable and nonviable bacteria within the three-dimensional volume of the biofilm

A Physics-Inspired Mechanistic Model of Migratory Movement Patterns in Birds

In this paper, we introduce a mechanistic model of migratory movement patterns in birds, inspired by ideas and methods from physics. Previous studies have shed light on the factors influencing bird migration but have mainly relied on statistical correlative analysis of tracking data. Our novel method offers a bottom up explanation of population-level migratory movement patterns. It differs from previous mechanistic models of animal migration and enables predictions of pathways and destinations from a given starting location. We define an environmental potential landscape from environmental data and simulate bird movement within this landscape based on simple decision rules drawn from statistical mechanics. We explore the capacity of the model by qualitatively comparing simulation results to the non-breeding migration patterns of a seabird species, the Black-browed Albatross ($\textit{Thalassarche melanophris}$). This minimal, two-parameter model was able to capture remarkably well the previously documented migration patterns of the Black-browed Albatross, with the best combination of parameter values conserved across multiple geographically separate populations. Our physics-inspired mechanistic model could be applied to other bird and highly-mobile species, improving our understanding of the relative importance of various factors driving migration and making predictions that could be useful for conservation.This work was performed using the Darwin Supercomputer of the University of Cambridge High Performance Computing Service (http://www.hpc.cam.ac.uk/), provided by Dell Inc. using Strategic Research Infrastructure Funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England and funding from the Science and Technology Facilities Council

Comparative Perspectives on the Role of National Pride, Identity and Belonging in the Curriculum

In this Special Issue, Comparative Perspectives on the Role of National Pride, Identity and Belonging in the Curriculum, Pedagogy and Experience of Higher Education, papers explore how contemporary issues in democratic education play out in higher education curriculum policy, pedagogy, and the student experience within and across different national contexts [...

Strangulated Inguinal Hernia in Adult Males in Kumasi

Background: The complications of untreated inguinal hernias are common surgical emergencies in adult Ghanaian men.Objective: To describe the epidemiology of strangulated inguinal hernia in adult males in Kumasi.Method: From the hospital records the age and sex of all male adult patients treated for strangulated inguinal hernia were recorded at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital(KATH), the University Hospital (UH), the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital (SDAH) and the Kumasi South Hospital (KSH) for the period January 2007 to December 2011  inclusive. The total number of inguinal hernia repairs from all four facilities was also recorded. The annual incidence of strangulated inguinal hernia and the hernia repair rates were estimated using the 2010 population data.Results: Five-hundred and ninety-two cases of strangulated inguinal hernia were treated over the five years. The incidence of strangulated inguinal hernia was 0.26%. A total of 2243 inguinal hernia repairs were performed and 26.4 % of these repairs were for strangulation. The total number of inguinal hernia repairs averaged 77.3 repairs per 100 000 adult males per year and the elective repair rate was low at 0.9%.Conclusion: There is the need to increase the levels of elective repair of inguinal hernia in Kumasi.Keywords: Strangulated inguinal hernia: incidence: inguinal hernia repair rates: adults: Kumasi

Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic data for the augmenter of liver regeneration

A new cellular growth factor termed augmenter of liver regeneration (ALR) has been crystallized. ALR has been shown to have a proliferative effect on liver cells while at the same time producing an immunosuppressive effect on liver-resident natural killer cells and liver-resident mononuclear leukocytes. In addition, ALR appears to play an important role in the synthesis and stabilization of mitochondrial gene transcripts inactively regenerating cells. ALR crystals diffract to beyond 2 Å resolution and belong to space group P21212, with a = 125.1, b = 108.1 and c = 38.5 Å. Based on four molecules per asymmetric unit, the Matthews coefficient is calculated to be 2.16 Å3 Da-1 which corresponds to a solvent content of 43%

Hypoglycaemic Activity of Centella Asiatica (L) Urb

The water extract of whole plant of Centella asiatica is used by traditional healers in the Haya tribe in Bukoba Region in Tanzania, in the management of both insulin and non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Centella asiatica administered orally at a dose of 2 g/kg and 4 g/kg body weight produced a significant hypoglycaemic activity (