Two years follow-up study of the pain-relieving effect of gold bead implantation in dogs with hip-joint arthritis

Seventy-eight dogs with pain from hip dysplasia participated in a six-month placebo-controlled, double-blinded clinical trial of gold bead implantation. In the present, non-blinded study, 73 of these dogs were followed for an additional 18 months to evaluate the long-term pain-relieving effect of gold bead implantation. The recently-published results of the six month period revealed that 30 of the 36 dogs (83%) in the gold implantation group showed significant improvement (p = 0.02), included improved mobility and reduction in the signs of pain, compared to the placebo group (60% improvement). In the long-term two-year follow-up study, 66 of the 73 dogs had gold implantation and seven dogs continued as a control group. The 32 dogs in the original placebo group had gold beads implanted and were followed for a further 18 months. A certified veterinary acupuncturist used the same procedure to insert the gold beads as in the blinded study, and the owners completed the same type of detailed questionnaires. As in the blinded study, one investigator was responsible for all the assessments of each dog. The present study revealed that the pain-relieving effect of gold bead implantation observed in the blinded study continued throughout the two-year follow-up period

Exploring the density-dependent structure of blowfly populations by nonparametric additive modeling

Abundances of 12 laboratory populations of the greenbottle blowfly (Lucilia sericata) were recorded every two days for 776 d, with separate counts for larvae, pupae, and adults. Half of the populations were exposed to sublethal dosages of the toxic compound cadmium acetate; the remaining populations were considered controls. Initial density was low for half of the populations in each group, and high for the other half. In all populations, the adult abundance underwent sustained fluctuations. However, cadmium-exposed populations had smaller mean larval and adult densities, and fluctuations in adult abundance were less regular than for controls. Data from the first and the second half of the experimental period were analyzed separately in order to assess the effects of possible long-term changes in the dynamics on the estimates. Nonparametric (generalized) additive modeling (GAM) was used to investigate time series dynamics and, in particular, to explore the density-independent components and the structure of the density-dependent components of the system. Overall, cadmium populations had larger larva-to-adult survival rate and smaller adult survival rate than control populations, and for the second half of the experimental period the reproductive rate was smaller for cadmium populations than for control populations. Estimation of the density-dependent components suggested that survival from larva to adult depended nonlinearly on larval density and that increased larval density had a positive effect on larval survival at low densities. Furthermore, cadmium generally decreased vital rates. However, the analysis suggested that most of the observed differences in dynamical behavior between control and cadmium populations are related to differences in the density-independent components of the demographic rates, rather than differences in the density-dependent structure

Supplement 1. S-Plus code used to generate Figs. 2-8 and Table 2.

<h2>File List</h2><blockquote> <p>S-Plus code:</p> <p> <a href="estimation.txt">estimation.q</a><br> <a href="testing.txt">testing.q</a><br> <a href="plotting.txt">plotting.q</a><br> </p> <p>Download all files at once: <a href="blowfly-code.zip">blowfly-code.zip</a></p> <p>All individual files are in ASCII text. The .zip file requires WinZip to extract. </p> </blockquote><h2>Description</h2>Following are the S-Plus files (in ascii format) that were used in conjunction with the time series described in the paper to generate Figs. 2-8 and Table 2. The file estimation.q contains the code to estimate all functions and parameters in the model in Eqs. 5-10. After execution the list fit.all contains estimates found on the basis of individual populations, whereas the list fit.cmb contains estimates found on the basis of combining the replicates. Note that the S-Plus code in estimation.q has to be executed before executing the other S-Plus files described below. <p> The file testing.q contains the code to generate the entries of Table 2, i.e., code for applying the Mann-Whitney <i>U</i> test and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to estimated parameters as described in the paper. </p><p> The file plotting.q contains the code to generate Figs. 2-8 based on the estimates found using estimation.q. </p

Exploring software development at the very large-scale: a revelatory case study and research agenda for agile method adaptation

Agile development methods were believed to best suit small, co-located teams, but the success in small teams has inspired use in large and very large-scale software development. However, fundamental assumptions of agile development are challenged when applying the methods at a very large scale. An interpretative revela- tory case study on one of the largest software development programmes in Norway shows how agile methods were adapted and complemented with practices from tradi- tional methods to handle the scale. The programme ran over four years with 12 co- located development teams and a total of 175 people involved. The case study was conducted retrospectively using group interviews with 24 participants and documents. Findings on key challenging areas are reported: customer involvement, software archi- tecture, and inter-team coordination. The revelatory study also suggests refinements of a research agenda for very large-scale agile development.acceptedVersio

Structural basis for enzymatic excision of N(1)-methyladenine and N(3)-methylcytosine from DNA

N(1)-methyladenine (m(1)A) and N(3)-methylcytosine (m(3)C) are major toxic and mutagenic lesions induced by alkylation in single-stranded DNA. In bacteria and mammals, m(1)A and m(3)C were recently shown to be repaired by AlkB-mediated oxidative demethylation, a direct DNA damage reversal mechanism. No AlkB gene homologues have been identified in Archaea. We report that m(1)A and m(3)C are repaired by the AfAlkA base excision repair glycosylase of Archaeoglobus fulgidus, suggesting a different repair mechanism for these lesions in the third domain of life. In addition, AfAlkA was found to effect a robust excision of 1,N(6)-ethenoadenine. We present a high-resolution crystal structure of AfAlkA, which, together with the characterization of several site-directed mutants, forms a molecular rationalization for the newly discovered base excision activity