In vivo quantification of peroxisome tethering to chloroplasts in tobacco epidermal cells using optical tweezers

Open access articlePeroxisomes are highly motile organelles that display a range of motions within a short time frame. In static snapshots they can be juxtaposed to chloroplasts which has led to the hypothesis that they are physically interacting. Here, using optical tweezers we have tested the dynamic physical interaction in vivo. Using near-infrared optical tweezers, combined with TIRF microscopy, we were able to trap peroxisomes and approximate the forces involved in chloroplast association in vivo, and observed weaker tethering to additional unknown structures within the cell. We show that chloroplasts and peroxisomes are physically tethered through peroxules, a poorly described structure in plant cells. We suggest peroxules have a novel role in maintaining peroxisome-organelle interactions in the dynamic environment. This could be important for fatty acid mobilisation and photorespiration through interaction with oil bodies and chloroplasts, highlighting a fundamentally important role for organelle interactions for essential biochemistry and physiological processes.Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)Wellcome Trust - Institutional Strategic Support AwardLeverhulme Trus

The relationship of gross upper and lower limb motor competence to measures of health and fitness in adolescents aged 13–14 years

Introduction: Motor competence (MC) is an important factor in the development of health and fitness in adolescence. Aims: This cross-sectional study aims to explore the distribution of MC across 13-14 year old school students and the extent of the relationship of MC to measures of health and fitness across genders. Methods: A total of 718 participants were tested from three different schools in the UK, 311 girls, and 407 boys (aged 13-14 years), pairwise deletion for correlation variables reduced this to 555 (245 girls, 310 boys). Assessments consisted of, body mass index, aerobic capacity, anaerobic power, upper limb and lower limb MC. The distribution of MC and the strength of the relationships between MC and health/fitness measures were explored. Results: Girls performed lower for MC and health/fitness measures compared to boys. Both measures of MC showed a normal distribution and a significant linear relationship of MC to all health and fitness measures for boys, girls, and combined genders. A stronger relationship was reported for upper limb MC and aerobic capacity when compared to lower limb MC and aerobic capacity in boys (t= -2.21, df= 307, p = 0.03, 95%CI -0.253 -0.011). Conclusion: Normally distributed measures of upper and lower limb MC are linearly related to health and fitness measures in adolescents in a UK sample. Trial Registration: NCT0251733

Using web 2.0 tools to create customized research portals

The Information Resources team within the School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) at the University of Sheffield has a long-standing interest in the application of new and emerging Web 2.0 technologies for research, learning, and teaching. In early 2008, members of the group began to discuss the development of customized web portals, also referred to as personal start pages, to aggregate various streams of specialist information relevant to researchers within the School and in the wider National Health Service (NHS) research community. This paper documents the background to the portals, their development, and reflects on the challenges and issues the team encountered. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Digital world meets urban planet – new prospects for evidence-based urban studies arising from joint exploitation of big earth data, information technology and shared knowledge

The digital transformation taking place in all areas of life has led to a massive increase in digital data – in particular, related to the places where and the ways how we live. To facilitate an exploration of the new opportunities arising from this development the Urban Thematic Exploitation Platform (U-TEP) has been set-up. This enabling instrument represents a virtual environment that combines open access to multi-source data repositories with dedicated data processing, analysis and visualisation functionalities. Moreover, it includes mechanisms for the development and sharing of technology and knowledge. After an introduction of the underlying methodical concept, this paper introduces four selected use cases that were carried out on the basis of U-TEP: two technology-driven applications implemented by users from the remote sensing and software engineering community (generation of cloud-free mosaics, processing of drone data) and two examples related to concrete use scenarios defined by planners and decision makers (data analytics related to global urbanization, monitoring of regional land-use dynamics). The experiences from U-TEP’s pre-operations phase show that the system can effectively support the derivation of new data, facts and empirical evidence that helps scientists and decision-makers to implement improved strategies for sustainable urban development

The relationship of gross upper and lower limb motor competence to measures of health and fitness in adolescents aged 13-14 years

Introduction: Motor competence (MC) is an important factor in the development of health and fitness in adolescence. Aims: This cross-sectional study aims to explore the distribution of MC across 13-14 year old school students and the extent of the relationship of MC to measures of health and fitness across genders. Methods: A total of 718 participants were tested from three different schools in the UK, 311 girls, and 407 boys (aged 13-14 years), pairwise deletion for correlation variables reduced this to 555 (245 girls, 310 boys). Assessments consisted of, body mass index, aerobic capacity, anaerobic power, upper limb and lower limb MC. The distribution of MC and the strength of the relationships between MC and health/fitness measures were explored. Results: Girls performed lower for MC and health/fitness measures compared to boys. Both measures of MC showed a normal distribution and a significant linear relationship of MC to all health and fitness measures for boys, girls, and combined genders. A stronger relationship was reported for upper limb MC and aerobic capacity when compared to lower limb MC and aerobic capacity in boys (t= -2.21, df= 307, p = 0.03, 95%CI -0.253 -0.011). Conclusion: Normally distributed measures of upper and lower limb MC are linearly related to health and fitness measures in adolescents in a UK sample. Trial Registration: NCT0251733

Tele-branding in TVIII: the network as brand and the programme as brand

In the era of TVIII, characterized by deregulation, multimedia conglomeration, expansion and increased competition, branding has emerged as a central industrial practice. Focusing on the case of HBO, a particularly successful brand in TVIII, this article argues that branding can be understood not simply as a feature of television networks, but also as a characteristic of television programmes. It begins by examining how the network as brand is constructed and conveyed to the consumer through the use of logos, slogans and programmes. The role of programmes in the construction of brand identity is then complicated by examining the sale of programmes abroad, where programmes can be seen to contribute to the brand identity of more than one network. The article then goes on to examine programme merchandising, an increasingly central strategy in TVIII. Through an analysis of different merchandising strategies the article argues that programmes have come to act as brands in their own right, and demonstrates that the academic study of branding not only reveals the development of new industrial practices, but also offers a way of understanding the television programme and its consumption by viewers in a period when the texts of television are increasingly extended across a range of media platforms

Forgotten Plotlanders: Learning from the survival of lost informal housing in the UK.

Colin Ward’s discourses on the arcadian landscape of ‘plotlander’ housing are unique documentations of the anarchistic birth, life, and death of the last informal housing communities in the UK. Today the forgotten history of ‘plotlander’ housing documented by Ward can be re-read in the context of both the apparently never-ending ‘housing crisis’ in the UK, and the increasing awareness of the potential value of learning from comparable informal housing from the Global South. This papers observations of a previously unknown and forgotten plotlander site offers a chance to begin a new conversation regarding the positive potential of informal and alternative housing models in the UK and wider Westernised world