Hydroxyurea-induced synchronisation of bloodstream stage Trypanosoma brucei

Synchronisation of the <i>Trypanosoma brucei</i> cell cycle proved elusive for many years. A recent report demonstrated that synchronisation of procyclic form cells was possible following treatment with hydroxyurea. Here, that work is extended to the disease-relevant, mammalian-infective bloodstream stage trypanosome. Treatment of bloodstream stage Lister 427 <i>T. Brucei</i> cells growing <i>in vitro</i> with 10 μg ml<sup>−1</sup> hydroxyurea for 6 h led to an enrichment of cells in S phase. Following removal of the drug, cells proceeded uniformly through one round of the cell cycle, providing a much needed tool to enrich for specific cell cycle stages, in a manner similar to hydroxyurea treatment of procyclic form <i>T. brucei.</i&gt

Women's experiences of abortion in South Africa : an exploratory study

Bibliography: leaves 90-94.In South Africa the provision of legal abortion is currently restricted by law and many women procure illegal abortions. Abortion law is currently under appraisal, with a possible move towards liberalising abortion availability. Following a brief history of abortion legislation and a research review on abortion sequelae and the factors influencing risk for negative post-abortion sequelae, this study explores the wide range of variables which together form women's experiences of abortion in South Africa. These include both the social context of abortion and women's individual perspectives. Twelve women volunteers who had undergone abortion in South Africa were gathered through the University of Cape Town and interviewed on their experiences. A semi-structured interview schedule was used, and interviews were audio-taped and transcribed. Interview questions were based on past research into factors affecting abortion experiences and post-abortion adjustment. Responses were analysed thematically according to the circumstances of the / pregnancy, the decision-making around the abortion, access to abortion, post-abortion responses and ideas for pre- and post-abortion counselling. Findings suggest that abortion is followed by a range of responses, influenced by the meaningfulness of the pregnancy to the woman involved, her belief system, her personal circumstances, the extent to which she feels in control of her circumstances, her coping style, and the social climate surrounding the abortion experience. The participants acknowledged the benefits of abortion counselling, particularly for women who suffer post-abortion distress, who are ambivalent about their abortions, or who are forced by external circumstances to choose abortion. Suggestions on issues necessary to address in abortion counselling are made. Recommendations for future abortion research are included

Biorthonormal Matrix-Product-State Analysis for Non-Hermitian Transfer-Matrix Renormalization-Group in the Thermodynamic Limit

We give a thorough Biorthonormal Matrix-Product-State (BMPS) analysis of the Transfer-Matrix Renormalization-Group (TMRG) for non-Hermitian matrices in the thermodynamic limit. The BMPS is built on a dual series of reduced biorthonormal bases for the left and right Perron states of a non-Hermitian matrix. We propose two alternative infinite-size Biorthonormal TMRG (iBTMRG) algorithms and compare their numerical performance in both finite and infinite systems. We show that both iBTMRGs produce a dual infinite-BMPS (iBMPS) which are translationally invariant in the thermodynamic limit. We also develop an efficient wave function transformation of the iBTMRG, an analogy of McCulloch in the infinite-DMRG [arXiv:0804.2509 (2008)], to predict the wave function as the lattice size is increased. The resulting iBMPS allows for probing bulk properties of the system in the thermodynamic limit without boundary effects and allows for reducing the computational cost to be independent of the lattice size, which are illustrated by calculating the magnetization as a function of the temperature and the critical spin-spin correlation in the thermodynamic limit for a 2D classical Ising model.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure