Novel survey method finds dramatic decline of wild cotton-top tamarin population

For conservation purposes, accurate methods are required to track cotton-top tamarins in their natural habitat. As existing census methods are not appropriate for surveying these monkeys, a lure-transect method combined with playback vocalization was used here to allow accurate counting of the animals

Beyond the natural proteome:nondegenerate saturation mutagenesis - methodologies and advantages

Beyond the natural proteome, high-throughput mutagenesis offers the protein engineer an opportunity to “tweak” the wild-type activity of a protein to create a recombinant protein with required attributes. Of the various approaches available, saturation mutagenesis is one of the core techniques employed by protein engineers and in recent times, nondegenerate saturation mutagenesis is emerging as the approach of choice. This review compares the current methodologies available for conducting nondegenerate saturation mutagenesis with traditional, degenerate saturation and briefly outlines the options available for screening the resulting libraries, to discover a novel protein with the required activity and/or specificity

Learning to work together: designing a multi-user virtual reality game for social collaboration and perspective-taking for children with autism

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) find it difficult to engage in reciprocal, shared behaviours and technology could be particularly helpful in supporting children’s motivations and skills in this area. Designing educational technologies for children with ASD requires the integration of a complex range of factors including pedagogical and cognitive theories; the affordances of the technology; and the real-world contexts of use. This paper illustrates how these factors informed the design of a novel collaborative virtual reality environment (CVE) for supporting communicative perspective-taking skills for high-functioning children with ASD. Findings from a small-scale study involving eight typically developing (TD) children (aged 8 years) and six children with ASD (verbal mental age 9 years) are also reported. Children with ASD were supported to be reciprocal and collaborative in their responses, suggesting that this CVE could form the basis for a useful technology-based educational intervention

The Influence of Overweight/Obesity on Patient-Perceived Physical Functioning and Health-Related Quality of Life After Primary Total Hip Arthroplasty

# The Author(s) 2011. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Background Overweight/obesity in patients after total hip arthroplasty (THA) is a growing problem and is associated with postoperative complications and a negative effect on functional outcome. The objective of this study is to determine to what extent overweight/obesity is associated with physical functioning and health-related quality of life 1 year after primary THA

Body Mass Index and Employment-Based Health Insurance

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Obese workers incur greater health care costs than normal weight workers. Possibly viewed by employers as an increased financial risk, they may be at a disadvantage in procuring employment that provides health insurance. This study aims to evaluate the association between body mass index [BMI, weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters] of employees and their likelihood of holding jobs that include employment-based health insurance [EBHI].</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used the 2004 Household Components of the nationally representative Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. We utilized logistic regression models with provision of EBHI as the dependent variable in this descriptive analysis. The key independent variable was BMI, with adjustments for the domains of demographics, social-economic status, workplace/job characteristics, and health behavior/status. BMI was classified as normal weight (18.5–24.9), overweight (25.0–29.9), or obese (≥ 30.0). There were 11,833 eligible respondents in the analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among employed adults, obese workers [adjusted probability (AP) = 0.62, (0.60, 0.65)] (<it>P </it>= 0.005) were more likely to be employed in jobs with EBHI than their normal weight counterparts [AP = 0.57, (0.55, 0.60)]. Overweight workers were also more likely to hold jobs with EBHI than normal weight workers, but the difference did not reach statistical significance [AP = 0.61 (0.58, 0.63)] (<it>P </it>= 0.052). There were no interaction effects between BMI and gender or age.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In this nationally representative sample, we detected an association between workers' increasing BMI and their likelihood of being employed in positions that include EBHI. These findings suggest that obese workers are more likely to have EBHI than other workers.</p

Impacts of highway traffic exhaust in alpine valleys on the respiratory health in adults: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Most studies having shown respiratory health effects from traffic exhaust were conducted in urban areas with a complex mixture of air pollution sources. This study has investigated the potential impact of traffic exhaust on respiratory symptoms among adults living along a Swiss alpine highway corridor, where traffic exhaust from the respective trans-Alpine highway is the predominant source of air pollution. METHODS: In summer 2005, we recruited 1839 adults aged 15 to 70 from a random sample of 10 communities along the Swiss alpine highway corridors. Subjects answered a questionnaire on respiratory health (asthmatic and bronchitic symptoms), risk factors, and potential confounding variables. We used logistic regression models to assess associations between respiratory symptoms and traffic exposure being defined a) as living within 200 m of the highway, and b) as a bell-shaped function simulating the decrease of pollution levels with increasing distance to the highway. RESULTS: Positive associations were found between living close to a highway and wheezing without cold (OR = 3.10, 95%-CI: 1.27-7.55) and chronic cough (OR = 2.88, 95%-CI: 1.17-7.05). The models using a bell-shaped function suggested that symptoms reached background levels after 400-500 m from the highway. The association with chronic cough was driven by a subgroup reporting hay fever or allergic rhinitis. CONCLUSIONS: Highway traffic exhaust in alpine highway corridors, in the absence of other industrial sources, showed negative associations with the respiratory health of adults, higher than those previously found in urban areas