A model for assessing the efficacy of colour vision aids

Optical filter aids are marketed which claim to improve colour discrimination in red-green colour vision defectives. An earlier model has been revised and used to assess 9 currently available aids. Spectral reflectances (400-700 nm) for 80 colours equally spaced in hue angle at four equally spaced saturations were synthesised from chromatically adjacent Munsell colours. Aid induced chromaticity changes for Protanomals and Deuteranomals were calculated. Five aids enhanced red-green discrimination significantly for Protanomals and six for Deuteranomals and one aid reduced it significantly for both defectives. Five aids enhanced blue-yellow discrimination in Protanomals and Deuteranomals for whom it is not needed

Comparison of embedded and added motor imagery training in patients after stroke: Study protocol of a randomised controlled pilot trial using a mixed methods approach

Copyright @ 2009 Schuster et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background: Two different approaches have been adopted when applying motor imagery (MI) to stroke patients. MI can be conducted either added to conventional physiotherapy or integrated within therapy sessions. The proposed study aims to compare the efficacy of embedded MI to an added MI intervention. Evidence from pilot studies reported in the literature suggests that both approaches can improve performance of a complex motor skill involving whole body movements, however, it remains to be demonstrated, which is the more effective one.Methods/Design: A single blinded, randomised controlled trial (RCT) with a pre-post intervention design will be carried out. The study design includes two experimental groups and a control group (CG). Both experimental groups (EG1, EG2) will receive physical practice of a clinical relevant motor task ('Going down, laying on the floor, and getting up again') over a two week intervention period: EG1 with embedded MI training, EG2 with MI training added after physiotherapy. The CG will receive standard physiotherapy intervention and an additional control intervention not related to MI.The primary study outcome is the time difference to perform the task from pre to post-intervention. Secondary outcomes include level of help needed, stages of motor task completion, degree of motor impairment, balance ability, fear of falling measure, motivation score, and motor imagery ability score. Four data collection points are proposed: twice during baseline phase, once following the intervention period, and once after a two week follow up. A nested qualitative part should add an important insight into patients' experience and attitudes towards MI. Semi-structured interviews of six to ten patients, who participate in the RCT, will be conducted to investigate patients' previous experience with MI and their expectations towards the MI intervention in the study. Patients will be interviewed prior and after the intervention period.Discussion: Results will determine whether embedded MI is superior to added MI. Findings of the semi-structured interviews will help to integrate patient's expectations of MI interventions in the design of research studies to improve practical applicability using MI as an adjunct therapy technique

Three Distinct Domains Contribute to Nuclear Transport of Murine Foxp3

Foxp3, a 47-kDa transcription factor, is necessary for the function of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (Tregs), with an essential role in the control of self-reactive T cells and in preventing autoimmunity. Activation of Tregs by TCR engagement results in upregulation of Foxp3 expression, followed by its rapid nuclear transport and binding to chromatin. Here, we identify three distinct Foxp3 domains that contribute to nuclear transport. The first domain (Domain 1) comprises the C-terminal 12 amino acids. The second domain (Domain 2) is located immediately N-terminal to the forkhead domain (FHD), recently reported to be a binding site for the runt-related transcription factor 1/acute myeloid leukemia 1 (Runx1/AML1). The third domain (Domain 3) is located within the N-terminal first 51 amino acids. Unlike the known nuclear localization signals (NLSs), none of these three regions are rich in basic residues and do not bear any similarity to known monopartite or bipartite NLSs that have one or more clusters of basic amino acids. The basic arginine-lysine-lysine-arginine (RKKR) sequence, located 12-aa from the C-terminal end of Foxp3 was previously reported to be a nuclear localization signal (NLS) for several proteins, including for a GFP-Foxp3 hybrid. Evidence is provided here that in the full-length native Foxp3 RKKR does not function as an NLS. The data reported in this study indicates that Foxp3 achieves nuclear transport by binding to other nuclear factors and co-transporting with them to the nucleus

Risk factors for incident falls in older men and women:The English longitudinal study of ageing

Background: falls are a major cause of disability and death in older people, particularly women. Cross-sectional surveys suggest that some risk factors associated with a history of falls may be sex-specific, but whether risk factors for incident falls differ between the sexes is unclear. We investigated whether risk factors for incident falls differ between men and women.Methods: participants were 3298 people aged ≥60 who took part in the Waves 4-6 surveys of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. At Wave 4, they provided information about sociodemographic, lifestyle, behavioural and medical factors and had their physical and cognitive function assessed. Data on incident falls during the four-year follow-up period was collected from them at Waves 5 and 6. Poisson regression with robust variance estimation was used to derive relative risks (RR) for the association between baseline characteristics and incident falls.Results: in multivariable-adjusted models that also controlled for history of falls, older age was the only factor associated with increased risk of incident falls in both sexes. Some factors were only predictive of falls in one sex, namely more depressive symptoms (RR (95% CI) 1.03 (1.01,1.06)), incontinence (1.12 (1.00,1.24)) and never having married in women (1.26 (1.03,1.53)), and greater comorbidity (1.04 (1.00,1.08)), higher levels of pain (1.10 (1.04,1.17) and poorer balance, as indicated by inability to attempt a full-tandem stand, (1.23 (1.04,1.47)) in men. Of these, only the relationships between pain, balance and comorbidity and falls risk differed significantly by sex.Conclusions: there were some differences between the sexes in risk factors for incident falls. Our observation that associations between pain, balance and comorbidity and incident falls risk varied by sex needs further investigation in other cohorts. <br/

Unintended pregnancy: magnitude and correlates in six urban sites in Senegal

BACKGROUND: In Senegal, unintended pregnancy has become a growing concern in public health circles. It has often been described through the press as a sensational subject with emphasis on the multiple infanticide cases as a main consequence, especially among young unmarried girls. Less scientific evidence is known on this topic, as fertility issues are rarely discussed within couples. In a context where urbanization is strong, economic insecurity is persistent and the population is globalizing, it is important to assess the magnitude of unintended pregnancy among urban women and to identify its main determinants. METHODS: Data were collected in 2011 from a representative sample of 9614 women aged 15–49 years in six urban sites in Senegal. For this analysis, we include 5769 women who have ever been pregnant or were pregnant at the time of the survey. These women were asked if their last pregnancy in the last two years was ‘wanted ’then’, ‘wanted later’ or ‘not wanted’. Pregnancy was considered as unintended if the woman responded ‘wanted later’ or ‘not wanted’. Descriptive analyses were performed to measure the magnitude of unintended pregnancies, while multinomial logistic regression models were used to identify factors associated with the occurrence of unintended pregnancy. The analyses were performed using Stata version 12. All results were weighted. RESULTS: The results show that 14.3% of ever pregnant women reported having a recent unintended pregnancy. The study demonstrates important distinctions between women whose last pregnancy was intended and those whose last pregnancy was unintended. Indeed, this last group is more likely to be poor, from a young age (< 25 years) and multiparous. In addition, it appears that low participation of married women in decision-making within the couple (management of financial resources) and the lack of discussion on family planning issues are associated with greater experience of unintended pregnancy. CONCLUSION: This study suggests a need to implement more targeted programs that guarantee access to family planning for all women in need. In urban areas that are characterized by economic insecurity, as in Senegal, it is important to consider strategies for promoting communication within couples on fertility issues

Identification of elderly fallers by muscle strength measures

For efficient prevention of falls among older adults, individuals at a high risk of falling need to be identified. In this study, we searched for muscle strength measures that best identified those individuals who would fall after a gait perturbation and those who recovered their balance. Seventeen healthy older adults performed a range of muscle strength tests. We measured maximum and rate of development of ankle plantar flexion moment, knee extension moment and whole leg push-off force, as well as maximum jump height and hand grip strength. Subsequently, their capacity to regain balance after tripping over an obstacle was determined experimentally. Seven of the participants were classified as fallers based on the tripping outcome. Maximum isometric push-off force in a leg press apparatus was the best measure to identify the fallers, as cross-validation of a discriminant model with this variable resulted in the best classification (86% sensitivity and 90% specificity). Jump height and hand grip strength were strongly correlated to leg press force (r = 0.82 and 0.59, respectively) and can also be used to identify fallers, although with slightly lower specificity. These results indicate that whole leg extension strength is associated with the ability to prevent a fall after a gait perturbation and might be used to identify the elderly at risk of falling

Cognitive and psychological science insights to improve climate change data visualization

Visualization of climate data plays an integral role in the communication of climate change findings to both expert and non-expert audiences. The cognitive and psychological sciences can provide valuable insights into how to improve visualization of climate data based on knowledge of how the human brain processes visual and linguistic information. We review four key research areas to demonstrate their potential to make data more accessible to diverse audiences: directing visual attention, visual complexity, making inferences from visuals, and the mapping between visuals and language. We present evidence-informed guidelines to help climate scientists increase the accessibility of graphics to non-experts, and illustrate how the guidelines can work in practice in the context of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change graphics

Characterization of killer immunoglobulin-like receptor genetics and comprehensive genotyping by pyrosequencing in rhesus macaques

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Human killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) play a critical role in governing the immune response to neoplastic and infectious disease. Rhesus macaques serve as important animal models for many human diseases in which KIRs are implicated; however, the study of KIR activity in this model is hindered by incomplete characterization of <it>KIR </it>genetics.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here we present a characterization of <it>KIR </it>genetics in rhesus macaques (<it>Macaca mulatta)</it>. We conducted a survey of <it>KIRs </it>in this species, identifying 47 novel full-length <it>KIR </it>sequences. Using this expanded sequence library to build upon previous work, we present evidence supporting the existence of 22 <it>Mamu-KIR </it>genes, providing a framework within which to describe macaque <it>KIRs</it>. We also developed a novel pyrosequencing-based technique for <it>KIR </it>genotyping. This method provides both comprehensive <it>KIR </it>genotype and frequency estimates of transcript level, with implications for the study of <it>KIRs </it>in all species.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results of this study significantly improve our understanding of macaque <it>KIR </it>genetic organization and diversity, with implications for the study of many human diseases that use macaques as a model. The ability to obtain comprehensive KIR genotypes is of basic importance for the study of KIRs, and can easily be adapted to other species. Together these findings both advance the field of macaque KIRs and facilitate future research into the role of KIRs in human disease.</p

Individual nutrition therapy and exercise regime: A controlled trial of injured, vulnerable elderly (INTERACTIVE trial)

© 2008 Thomas et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background Proximal femoral fractures are amongst the most devastating consequences of osteoporosis and injurious accidental falls with 25–35% of patients dying in the first year post-fracture. Effective rehabilitation strategies are evolving however, despite established associations between nutrition, mobility, strength and strength-related functional outcomes; there has been only one small study with older adults immediately following fragility fracture where a combination of both exercise and nutrition have been provided. The aim of the INTERACTIVE trial is to establish whether a six month, individualised exercise and nutrition program commencing within fourteen days of surgery for proximal femur fracture, results in clinically and statistically significant improvements in physical function, body composition and quality of life at an acceptable level of cost and resource use and without increasing the burden of caregivers. Methods and Design This randomised controlled trial will be performed across two sites, a 500 bed acute hospital in Adelaide, South Australia and a 250 bed acute hospital in Sydney, New South Wales. Four hundred and sixty community-dwelling older adults aged > 70 will be recruited after suffering a proximal femoral fracture and followed into the community over a 12-month period. Participants allocated to the intervention group will receive a six month individualised care plan combining resistance training and nutrition therapy commencing within 14 days post-surgery. Outcomes will be assessed by an individual masked to treatment allocation at six and 12 months. To determine differences between the groups at the primary end-point (six months), ANCOVA or logistic regression will be used with models adjusted according to potential confounders. Discussion The INTERACTIVE trial is among the first to combine nutrition and exercise therapy as an early intervention to address the serious consequence of rapid deconditioning and weight loss and subsequent ability to regain pre-morbid function in older patients post proximal femoral fracture. The results of this trial will guide the development of more effective rehabilitation programs, which may ultimately lead to reduced health care costs, and improvements in mobility, independence and quality of life for proximal femoral fracture sufferers. Trial registration Australian Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12607000017426