A contextual thematic analysis of the accessory nerve in Scottish historical medical collections of the Royal Colleges of Edinburgh and Glasgow

Funding: Authors acknowledge that this work was conducted as part of the University of St Andrews Laidlaw Undergraduate Research and Leadership Programme, which funded Henry Marles’ summer scholarship for 2017/18 and 2018/19.Introduction The classification of the accessory nerve (CN XI) remains a source of debate; its exact function has not been fully elucidated having also an atypical morphology for a cranial nerve. A better insight into its anatomical and physiological features is of clinical relevance. The aim was to conduct a review of 18th and 19th century books from the Royal Medical/Surgical Colleges in Scotland, UK. A contextual historical analysis of the depictions and descriptions of the accessory nerve could provide insight into the disparity in the current descriptions. Materials and Methods Online archive catalogues were systematically searched and, during site visits, resources were formally and contextually analyzed, with the information then thematically analyzed. The themes were discussed against a widely known reference textbook of the era. Results Based on the thematic analysis, the resources were categorized either as practical anatomy books or field‐specific anatomy books including neuroanatomy atlases. This intended use, along with the target audience, influenced the scope and detail of information, typically with general anatomy for students in the practical resources, and specialist information in the field‐specific resources. The authors’ professional background also influenced the way the accessory nerve was described and/or depicted, with surgeons/physicians placing emphasis on the clinical aspects. Content variations could also be attributed to communication restrictions of the era, and associated purchasing costs. Conclusions Although scientific advances are nowadays disseminated at a faster pace, actively bridging the gap between anatomical sciences and clinical research is still needed when considering the accessory nerve to further elucidate the mysteries of this structure.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

La imagen y la narrativa como herramientas para el abordaje psicosocial en escenarios de violencia. Departamento Tolima - Ciudad Ibagué.

La violencia genera múltiples efectos negativos, no solo sobre la vida de una persona, sino sobre las comunidades y la sociedad en su conjunto; ésta, busca el sometimiento no solo individual sino colectivo, de un lado deteriora de manera importante la calidad de vida y las oportunidades de desarrollo individual y del otro altera los proyectos globales, el funcionamiento social y la legitimidad del Estado. Diversas regiones del país han sido testigos de las luchas armadas por parte de los grupos al margen de la ley, en todos estos conflictos quien ha sido realmente afectada ha sido la sociedad civil, quien ha sufrido las consecuencias de la guerra. Los daños a los que han sido sometidas miles de personas, han generado un deterioro material e inmaterial que llegan a ser incalculables; en las víctimas de la violencia se producen perdidas que impiden mantener la identidad del individuo (territorio, familia, estatus, pertenencias, etc…), se pierde la perspectiva del futuro, se instaura el temor, y se genera una desestructuración de la vida cotidiana. En este trabajo pretende dibujarse el acompañamiento Psicosocial en escenarios de violencia, comprende un pequeño cumulo de ejercicios basados en historias reales que presentan esta problemática en Colombia. Se analizan y muestran variedad de vivencias en diferentes contextos y territorios afectados por los crueles actos ejercidos por los diferentes grupos armados al margen de la ley, tratando de proponer estrategias de solución desde la perspectiva psicológica y social. Desde este punto de vista se presenta la narrativa y la foto voz como herramientas de abordaje subjetivo a estas situaciones de violencia que afectan a las comunidades, unido a esto se plantean una serie de preguntas circulares, reflexivas y estratégicas, las cuales se aplican a un caso particular, analizando la problemática de violencia que genera el conflicto armado en nuestro país desde el rol del psicólogo hacia la víctima.Violence generates several negative effects, not only on the life of a person, but on communities and society as a whole; This seeks the subject not only individual but collective, on the one hand deteriorates the important way the quality of life and opportunities for individual development and the other alters global projects, social functioning and the legitimacy of the State. Different regions of the country have witnessed armed struggles by groups outside the law, in all these conflicts, who have been really affected by civil society, who have suffered the consequences of war. The damages that have been some miles of people, have generated a material and immaterial deterioration that become incalculable; in the victims of violence there are losses that impede the identity of the individual (territory, family, status, belongings, etc...), the perspective of the future is lost, fear is established, and a destructuring of life is generated everyday. In this work, the Psychosocial accompaniment is intended to be drawn in scenarios of violence, comprising a small number of exercises based on real stories that present this problem in Colombia. They analyze and show a variety of experiences in different contexts and territories affected by the cruel acts carried out by the different armed groups outside the law, trying to propose strategies of solution from the psychological and social perspective. From this point of view, the narrative and the photo voice are presented as tools of subjective approach to these situations of violence that affect the communities, together with this a series of circular, reflexive and strategic questions are posed, which are applied to a particular case, analyzing the problem of violence generated by the armed conflict in our country from the role of the psychologist towards the victim

Characterization of inositol lipid metabolism in gut-associated Bacteroidetes

Inositol lipids are ubiquitous in eukaryotes and have finely tuned roles in cellular signalling and membrane homoeostasis. In Bacteria, however, inositol lipid production is relatively rare. Recently, the prominent human gut bacterium Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron (BT) was reported to produce inositol lipids and sphingolipids, but the pathways remain ambiguous and their prevalence unclear. Here, using genomic and biochemical approaches, we investigated the gene cluster for inositol lipid synthesis in BT using a previously undescribed strain with inducible control of sphingolipid synthesis. We characterized the biosynthetic pathway from myo-inositol-phosphate (MIP) synthesis to phosphoinositol dihydroceramide, determined the crystal structure of the recombinant BT MIP synthase enzyme and identified the phosphatase responsible for the conversion of bacterially-derived phosphatidylinositol phosphate (PIP-DAG) to phosphatidylinositol (PI-DAG). In vitro, loss of inositol lipid production altered BT capsule expression and antimicrobial peptide resistance. In vivo, loss of inositol lipids decreased bacterial fitness in a gnotobiotic mouse model. We identified a second putative, previously undescribed pathway for bacterial PI-DAG synthesis without a PIP-DAG intermediate, common in Prevotella. Our results indicate that inositol sphingolipid production is widespread in host-associated Bacteroidetes and has implications for symbiosis

Study by MOA of extra-solar planets in gravitational microlensing events of high magnification

A search for extra-solar planets was carried out in three gravitational microlensing events of high magnification, MACHO 98-BLG-35, MACHO 99-LMC-2, and OGLE 00-BUL-12. Photometry was derived from observational images by the MOA and OGLE groups using an image subtraction technique. For MACHO 98-BLG-35, additional photometry derived from the MPS and PLANET groups was included. Planetary modeling of the three events was carried out in a super-cluster computing environment. The estimated probability for explaining the data on MACHO 98-BLG-35 without a planet is <1%. The best planetary model has a planet of mass ~(0.4-1.5) X 10^-5 M_Earth at a projected radius of either ~1.5 or ~2.3 AU. We show how multi-planet models can be applied to the data. We calculated exclusion regions for the three events and found that Jupiter-mass planets can be excluded with projected radii from as wide as about 30 AU to as close as around 0.5 AU for MACHO 98-BLG-35 and OGLE 00-BUL-12. For MACHO 99-LMC-2, the exclusion region extends out to around 10 AU and constitutes the first limit placed on a planetary companion to an extragalactic star. We derive a particularly high peak magnification of ~160 for OGLE 00-BUL-12. We discuss the detectability of planets with masses as low as Mercury in this and similar events.Comment: 14 pages, 16 embedded postscript figures, 3 PNG figures, revised version accepted by MNRA

Structural and biochemical characterisation of the N‐carbamoyl‐β‐alanine amidohydrolase from Rhizobium radiobacterMDC 8606

N-carbamoyl-β-alanine amidohydrolase (CβAA) constitutes one of the most important groups of industrially relevant enzymes used in the production of optically pure amino acids and derivatives. In this study, a CβAA-encoding gene from Rhizobium radiobacter strain MDC 8606 was cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli. The purified recombinant enzyme (RrCβAA) showed a specific activity of 14 U·mg−1 using N-carbamoyl-β-alanine as a substrate with an optimum activity at 55 °C and pH 8.0. In this work, we report also the first prokaryotic CβAA structure at a resolution of 2.0 Å. A discontinuous catalytic domain and a dimerisation domain attached through a flexible hinge region at the domain interface have been revealed. We identify key ligand binding residues, including a conserved glutamic acid (Glu131), histidine (H385) and arginine (Arg291). Our results allowed us to explain the preference of the enzyme for linear carbamoyl substrates, as large and branched carbamoyl substrates cannot fit in the active site of the enzyme. This work envisages the use of RrCβAA from R. radiobacter MDC 8606 for the industrial production of L-α-, L-β- and L-γ-amino acids. The structural analysis provides new insights on enzyme–substrate interaction, which shed light on engineering of CβAAs for high catalytic activity and broad substrate specificity

Activation of the General Stress Response of Bacillus subtilis

A key challenge for microbiology is to understand how evolution has shaped the wiring of regulatory networks. This is amplified by the paucity of information of power-spectra of physicochemical stimuli to which microorganisms are exposed. Future studies of genome evolution, driven by altered stimulus regimes, will therefore require a versatile signal transduction system that allows accurate signal dosing. Here, we review the general stress response of Bacillus subtilis, and its upstream signal transduction network, as a candidate system. It can be activated by red and blue light, and by many additional stimuli. Signal integration therefore is an intricate function of this system. The blue-light response is elicited via the photoreceptor YtvA, which forms an integral part of stressosomes, to activate expression of the stress regulon of B. subtilis. Signal transfer through this network can be assayed with reporter enzymes, while intermediate steps can be studied with live-cell imaging of fluorescently tagged proteins. Different parts of this system have been studied in vitro, such that its computational modeling has made significant progress. One can directly relate the microscopic characteristics of YtvA with activation of the general stress regulon, making this system a very well-suited system for network evolution studies