South Asian individuals’ experiences on the NHS low-calorie diet programme: a qualitative study in community settings in England

Background: Existing literature examines barriers to the provision of ethnically diverse dietary advice, however, is not specific to total diet replacement (TDR). There is a lack of literature from the UK, limiting the potential applicability of existing findings and themes to the UK context. This study addresses this gap in research by interviewing participants of South Asian ethnicity who have undertaken the National Health Service (NHS) low-calorie diet programme (LCD) for people with type 2 diabetes living with overweight or obesity. This study explores factors that may affect the uptake and acceptability of its TDR, food reintroduction and weight maintenance stages. This aims to provide rich data that can inform effective tailoring of future programmes with South Asian participants. Objective: To explore the perspectives of individuals of South Asian ethnicity on an NHS programme using TDR approaches for the management of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Design: Qualitative study. Setting: Individuals in the community undertaking the NHS LCD programme. Participants: Twelve one-to-one interviews were conducted with individuals from a South Asian ethnicity participating in the NHS LCD. Main outcome measures: Qualitative semistructured interviews conducted through different stages of the programme. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse the transcripts. Results: Key themes highlighted positive and negative experiences of the programme: (1) more work is needed in the programme for person centeredness; (2) it is not the same taste; (3) needing motivation to make changes and feel better; (4) a mixed relationship with the coach; (5) social experiences; (6) culture-related experiences. Conclusion: This study provides important experience-based evidence of the need for culturally tailored T2D programmes. Action to address these findings and improve the tailoring of the NHS LCD may improve experience, retention and outcomes on the programme for people of South Asian ethnicity and thereby reduce inequalities

Chemical Reaction Dynamics at Surfaces

Contains reports on six research projects.Joint Services Electronics Program Contract DAAL03-89-C-0001MIT Energy Laboratory - Synthetic Fuels CenterNational Science Foundation Grant CHE 85-08734Petroleum Research Fund Contract 19014-AC

Chemical Reaction Dynamics at Surfaces

Contains reports on two research projects with publication lists in each section.Joint Services Electronics Program Contract DAAL03-89-C-0001MIT Energy Laboratory Synthetic Fuels CenterNational Science Foundation Grant CHE 85-08734Petroleum Research Fund Contract 19014-AC

Managing and monitoring equality and diversity in UK sport: An evaluation of the sporting equals Racial Equality Standard and its impact on organizational change

Despite greater attention to racial equality in sport in recent years, the progress of national sports organizations toward creating equality of outcomes has been limited in the United Kingdom. The collaboration of the national sports agencies, equity organizations and national sports organizations (including national governing bodies of sport) has focused on Equality Standards. The authors revisit an earlier impact study of the Racial Equality Standard in sport and supplement it with another round of interview material to assess changing strategies to manage diversity in British sport. In particular, it tracks the impact on organizational commitment to diversity through the period of the establishment of the Racial Equality Standard and its replacement by an Equality Standard that deals with other diversity issues alongside race and ethnicity. As a result, the authors question whether the new, generic Equality Standard is capable of addressing racial diversity and promoting equality of outcomes. © 2006 Sage Publications

Observation of the radiative decay mode of the free neutron

The theory of quantum electrodynamics (QED) predicts that beta decay of the neutron into a proton, electron and antineutrino should be accompanied by a continuous spectrum of soft photons. While this inner bremsstrahlung branch has been previously measured in nuclear beta and electron capture decay, it has never been observed in free neutron decay. Recently, the photon energy spectrum and branching ratio for neutron radiative decay have been calculated using two approaches: a standard QED framework(1-3) and heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory(4) (an effective theory of hadrons based on the symmetries of quantum chromodynamics). The QED calculation treats the nucleons as point-like, whereas the latter approach includes the effect of nucleon structure in a systematic way. Here we observe the radiative decay mode of free neutrons, measuring photons in coincidence with both the emitted electron and proton. We determined a branching ratio of (3.13 +/- 0.34) x 10(-3) (68 per cent level of confidence) in the energy region between 15 and 340 keV, where the uncertainty is dominated by systematic effects. The value is consistent with the predictions of both theoretical approaches; the characteristic energy spectrum of the radiated photons, which differs from the uncorrelated background spectrum, is also consistent with the calculated spectrum. This result may provide opportunities for more detailed investigations of the weak interaction processes involved in neutron beta decay.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/62639/1/nature05390.pd

Male Weaponry in a Fighting Cricket

Sexually selected male weaponry is widespread in nature. Despite being model systems for the study of male aggression in Western science and for cricket fights in Chinese culture, field crickets (Orthoptera, Gryllidae, Gryllinae) are not known to possess sexually dimorphic weaponry. In a wild population of the fall field cricket, Gryllus pennsylvanicus, we report sexual dimorphism in head size as well as the size of mouthparts, both of which are used when aggressive contests between males escalate to physical combat. Male G. pennsylvanicus have larger heads, maxillae and mandibles than females when controlling for pronotum length. We conducted two experiments to test the hypothesis that relatively larger weaponry conveys an advantage to males in aggressive contests. Pairs of males were selected for differences in head size and consequently were different in the size of maxillae and mandibles. In the first experiment, males were closely matched for body size (pronotum length), and in the second, they were matched for body mass. Males with proportionately larger weaponry won more fights and increasing differences in weaponry size between males increased the fighting success of the male with the larger weaponry. This was particularly true when contests escalated to grappling, the most intense level of aggression. However, neither contest duration nor intensity was related to weaponry size as predicted by models of contest settlement. These results are the first evidence that the size of the head capsule and mouthparts are under positive selection via male-male competition in field crickets, and validate 800-year-old Chinese traditional knowledge

The genomes of two key bumblebee species with primitive eusocial organization

Background: The shift from solitary to social behavior is one of the major evolutionary transitions. Primitively eusocial bumblebees are uniquely placed to illuminate the evolution of highly eusocial insect societies. Bumblebees are also invaluable natural and agricultural pollinators, and there is widespread concern over recent population declines in some species. High-quality genomic data will inform key aspects of bumblebee biology, including susceptibility to implicated population viability threats. Results: We report the high quality draft genome sequences of Bombus terrestris and Bombus impatiens, two ecologically dominant bumblebees and widely utilized study species. Comparing these new genomes to those of the highly eusocial honeybee Apis mellifera and other Hymenoptera, we identify deeply conserved similarities, as well as novelties key to the biology of these organisms. Some honeybee genome features thought to underpin advanced eusociality are also present in bumblebees, indicating an earlier evolution in the bee lineage. Xenobiotic detoxification and immune genes are similarly depauperate in bumblebees and honeybees, and multiple categories of genes linked to social organization, including development and behavior, show high conservation. Key differences identified include a bias in bumblebee chemoreception towards gustation from olfaction, and striking differences in microRNAs, potentially responsible for gene regulation underlying social and other traits. Conclusions: These two bumblebee genomes provide a foundation for post-genomic research on these key pollinators and insect societies. Overall, gene repertoires suggest that the route to advanced eusociality in bees was mediated by many small changes in many genes and processes, and not by notable expansion or depauperation

Effect of Antihypertensive Therapy with Alpha Methyldopa on Levels of Angiogenic Factors in Pregnancies with Hypertensive Disorders

Antihypertensive drugs are believed to lower blood pressure in pre-eclampsia by direct or central vasodilatory mechanisms. However, they could also act by decreasing production of anti-angiogenic proteins involved in the pathophysiology of hypertension and proteinuria in pre-eclampsia (PE). The aim of our study was to evaluate the impact of antihypertensive therapy with alpha methyldopa on maternal circulating levels and placental production of soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt-1), soluble endoglin (sEng), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and placental growth factor (PlGF) in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy

Copper binding to the Alzheimer’s disease amyloid precursor protein

Alzheimer’s disease is the fourth biggest killer in developed countries. Amyloid precursor protein (APP) plays a central role in the development of the disease, through the generation of a peptide called Aβ by proteolysis of the precursor protein. APP can function as a metalloprotein and modulate copper transport via its extracellular copper binding domain (CuBD). Copper binding to this domain has been shown to reduce Aβ levels and hence a molecular understanding of the interaction between metal and protein could lead to the development of novel therapeutics to treat the disease. We have recently determined the three-dimensional structures of apo and copper bound forms of CuBD. The structures provide a mechanism by which CuBD could readily transfer copper ions to other proteins. Importantly, the lack of significant conformational changes to CuBD on copper binding suggests a model in which copper binding affects the dimerisation state of APP leading to reduction in Aβ production. We thus predict that disruption of APP dimers may be a novel therapeutic approach to treat Alzheimer’s disease

Searching for time reversal invariance violation in polarized neutron decay

Time reversal invariance violation is tightly constrained in the Standard Model, and the existence of a T-violating effect above the predicted level would be an indication of new physics. A sensitive probe of this symmetry in the weak interaction is the measurement of the D-coefficient in neutron decay. This parameter characterizes the triple-correlation of neutron spin, electron momentum, and neutrino (or proton) momentum, which changes sign under time reversal. The emiT experiment, now on line, attempts to improve the measurement of D,D, whose current average is 0.3±1.5×10−3.0.3±1.5×10−3. © 1997 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87907/2/399_1.pd