Structural features of human immunoglobulin G that determine isotype-specific differences in complement activation.

Although very similar in sequence, the four subclasses of human immunoglobulin G (IgG) differ markedly in their ability to activate complement. Glu318-Lys320-Lys322 has been identified as a key binding motif for the first component of complement, C1q, and is present in all isotypes of Ig capable of activating complement. This motif, however, is present in all subclasses of human IgG, including those that show little (IgG2) or even no (IgG4) complement activity. Using point mutants of chimeric antibodies, we have identified specific residues responsible for the differing ability of the IgG subclasses to fix complement. In particular, we show that Ser at position 331 in gamma 4 is critical for determining the inability of that isotype to bind C1q and activate complement. Additionally, we provide further evidence that levels of C1q binding do not necessarily correlate with levels of complement activity, and that C1q binding alone is not sufficient for complement activation

Consultation with children and young people with experience of domestic abuse on Scottish Government National Domestic Abuse Delivery Group draft proposals : main report

Findings and Conclusions: Major Themes • There was support in principle from young people for all of the proposals • Young people gave careful consideration to the proposals and to how they might operate in practice; they expressed some caution about supporting them unreservedly until it was demonstrated they would work in practice • In relation to all of the proposals young people had concerns about confidentiality and privacy, about to the ability to control the flow of personal information, and there were concerns about trust • Participants expressed the importance of the proposals contributing to young people being and feeling safe

Using audio cues to support motion gesture interaction on mobile devices

2015 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.Motion gestures are an underutilized input modality for mobile interaction despite numerous potential advantages. Negulescu et al. found that the lack of feedback on attempted motion gestures made it difficult for participants to diagnose and correct errors, resulting in poor recognition performance and user frustration. In this paper, we describe and evaluate a training and feedback technique, Glissando, which uses audio characteristics to provide feedback on the systems interpretation of user input. This technique enables feedback by verbally confirming correct gestures and notifying users of errors in addition to providing continuous feedback by mapping distinct musical notes to each of three axes and manipulating pitch to specify both spatial and temporal information

Asthma in School Children

1. A prevalence study carried out in children attending Birmingham Schools revealed that between the ages of 5 and 15 years the overall prevalence of asthma was 1.76%. The prevalence in boys fell from 2.58% at 5-6 years, 1.96% between 13 and 15 years, while in girls, the prevalence was 1.02% at 5 - 6 years, and 1. 21% at 13 to 15 years. 2. Experience in a special clinic within the School Health Service in Birmingham, for the treatment of asthma and related disorders over a period of six years and more than 500 patients is reported. 3. Family size and circumstances were not found to have a marked influence on the occurrence of asthma, but a strong hereditary tendency was evident. 4. The most important associated disorders were found to be infantile eczema, which often preceded asthma, and hay fever, which often developed at a later age. 5. Investigation of individual cases had to be very thorough and include careful enquiry into personal and environmental history, together with physical, radiological and other special methods of investigation. 6. Of the special methods of investigation the skin tests were found to be the most generally applicable, simple, safe and reliable but then to apply the results to clinical assessment and treatment required understanding and experience. In the absence of such experience and understanding, the results would undoubtedly be misleading. 7. Asthma in children was found to have a predominantly allergic background, but many other factors also played a part. The most important allergic factors were house dust in perennial cases, and grass pollen in seasonal cases. The most important non-allergic factors were infection, emotion and non-specific irritation of the respiratory tract from air pollution. A self-perpetuating trend such as is evident in infantile eczema may also be present. 8. Palliative treatment in children requires special consideration and experience with Prednisolone given by mouth in minimal amount over prolonged periods to the most severely affected cases, has proved of great benefit without resulting in side effects. Clinical trials of hydrocortisone given by inhalation and of the active isomers of Glycyrrhetenic acid given by mouth failed to demonstrate any useful effect from either. 9. Non-specific treatment was found to be of great importance owing to uncertain results of specific treatment. Antibiotic therapy of infections of the respiratory tract, breathing exercises and open-air schools proved to be of great value in many cases. Hypnotic suggestion and tonsillectomy failed to result in significant benefit. 10. Specific treatment by removal of an offending allergen is often difficult or only partly applicable. Hypo-sensitisation to inhalant allergens proved most successful in seasonal cases with pollen allergy where 55% could be rendered symptom-free, and a further 30% improved. Hypo-sensitisation with house dust solution in perennial cases was less successful, but 49% were much improved after at least six months treatment, and a further 19% slightly improved. 11. Both experience and great care are necessary in administering hypo-sensitisation treatment to children, but given these no serious accident has occurred

A community pharmacy weight management programme: an evaluation of effectiveness

<p>Background: Community pharmacies may offer an accessible way of delivering weight-management programmes but there have been few trials that use clinically significant weight loss outcomes, objective measures of weight and follow-up to 12 months. We aimed to evaluate weight change among patients who used the Counterweight weight management programme delivered by community pharmacies.</p> <p>Methods: The Counterweight Programme was introduced into community pharmacies in Fife, Scotland in 2009 for patients with a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 or a BMI ≥ 28 kg/m2 with a co-morbidity in localities in which Counterweight was not available at GP practices. The aim was to achieve an energy deficit of 500-600 kcal per day. Counterweight specialist dietitians delivered training, support and patient information materials to community pharmacies. Patient weight was measured by pharmacy staff at each weight management session. Weight data recorded at each weight management session were used to estimate weight change and attendance at 3, 6 and 12 months.</p> <p>Results: Between March 2009 and July 2012, 458 patients were enrolled by the community pharmacies. Three-quarters of patients were women, mean age was 54 (SD 7.4) years and mean BMI 36.1 (SD 5.9) kg/m2. Of 314 patients enrolled for at least 12 months, 32 (10.2% on an intention to treat basis) had achieved the target weight loss of ≥5%; this was 41.6% of those who attended at 12 months representing a mean weight loss of 4.1 kg. Using Last Observation Carried Forward, 15.9% achieved the target weight loss within 12 months of enrolling. There was no significant effect of sex, baseline BMI or age on weight loss.</p> <p>Conclusions: The Counterweight pharmacy programme has a similar effectiveness to other primary care based weight management programmes and should be considered as part of a range of services available to a community to manage overweight and obesity.</p&gt

Survey and theological analysis of the spiritual and Pentecostal-evangelical churches in Freetown, Sierra Leone, with special emphasis on the influences of the indigenous religious pneumatology

Experiencing and obtaining Spiritual power is the primary goal of indigenous religious activity. The failure of evangelical missionaries to recognise and make use of this primal praeparatio evangelica, led to the development of an educated and elitist Church in Freetown from 1815 onwards. Krio Christianity failed to make accommodation for the African spiritual heritage and thus produced a very alien and exclusive form of African Christianity. The first form of Christianity to take root in Freetown was that carried across the Atlantic by the Nova Scotians in 1792. Their Christianity, born in the Great Evangelical Awakening of the seventeenth century, developed independent of White control. Enthusiasm, emotion and pneumatological manifestations were major features of their worship. Nova Scotian Christianity eventually lost its revivalistic fervour and was eventually taken over by Krio Christianity and British missionary control. Krio Christianity failed, however, to meet the Krios' own existential needs for spiritual power. Problem -solving power was sought along indigenous lines. This produced in Krio Christianity a religious dualism and an identity crises. in 1947, the Nigerian Church of the Lord (Aladura) arrived in Freetown. The "Adejobis" challenged the Krio Christian community, but by and large, having taken the evangelical Christianity of the Victorian era as their own traditional religion, they did not receive it. The Spiritual churches appealed more to the non -Krio residents of the city, and particularly to the illiterate. The style of Christianity introduced was highly indigenised. In many aspects it appeared as the indigenous pneumatology expressed in Christian forms and terms. Its main attractions lay in the areas of healing, problem- solving, and fortune -telling revelations. The Pentecostal- evangelical movement arrived in Freetown as early as 1905. The first Pentecostal church was planted among the Km in the early 1920s. After World War 2 Pentecostal- evangelical churches were begun by AOG missionaries among the Temne and Limba. However, it was not until Pentecostal -evangelicalism took root in Krio society in the late 60s and 70s with the formation of the "English- speaking Church ", Bethel Temple, that general growth on a large scale began to take place in Freetown. This Krio Pentecostal - evangelical church became the model church for other Freetown Pentecostal -evangelicals. In the present expansion of Pentecostal -evangelicalism in Freetown - now a non -Krio movement in which the Limba are front -runners - an increasingly indigenised form of pneumatic Christianity is developing. The interaction between the evangelical Gospel and the indigenous pneumatology is producing a dynamic church that appeals to the whole spectrum of Freetown society, rich and poor, literate and illiterate, Krio and Provincials. It is apparent that as the evangelical churches need the indigenous pneumatology to enliven, revive and make relevant their worship, the indigenous pneumatology itself needs Apostolic doctrine and evangelical teaching to transform its chaotic unruly elements into powerful forces for good and the Gospel. From a positive and balanced interaction, the light of Christ and His Cross shines into the shadowy, darker side of the indigenous spirituality's pneumatic nature and subjects its turbulent powers to the yoke of Christ and then redirects them to the benefit and blessing of society. It is at this point that Krio Christianity with its heritage of evangelical teaching on the nature and character of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, have a significant part to play in bringing its own deep insights of a theologia crucis to bear on the popular theologia pneumatica. Krio Christianity with its unique history, African roots and evangelical heritage is well placed for making a stabilising and salutary contribution towards the New Testament, Apostolic development of the present dynamic Sierra Leonean Church

Galaxy Luminosity Functions from Deep Spectroscopic Samples of Rich Clusters

Using a new spectroscopic sample and methods accounting for spectroscopic sampling fractions that vary in magnitude and surface brightness, we present R-band galaxy luminosity functions (GLFs) for six nearby galaxy clusters with redshifts 4000 < cz < 20000 km/s and velocity dispersions 700 < sigma < 1250 km/s. In the case of the nearest cluster, Abell 1060, our sample extends to M_R=-14 (7 magnitudes below M*), making this the deepest spectroscopic determination of the cluster GLF to date. Our methods also yield composite GLFs for cluster and field galaxies to M_R=-17 (M*+4), including the GLFs of subsamples of star forming and quiescent galaxies. The composite GLFs are consistent with Schechter functions (M*_R=-21.14^{+0.17}_{-0.17}, alpha=-1.21^{+0.08}_{-0.07} for the clusters, M*_R=-21.15^{+0.16}_{-0.16}, alpha=-1.28^{+0.12}_{-0.11} for the field). All six cluster samples are individually consistent with the composite GLF down to their respective absolute magnitude limits, but the GLF of the quiescent population in clusters is not universal. There are also significant variations in the GLF of quiescent galaxies between the field and clusters that can be described as a steepening of the faint end slope. The overall GLF in clusters is consistent with that of field galaxies, except for the most luminous tip, which is enhanced in clusters versus the field. The star formation properties of giant galaxies are more strongly correlated with the environment than those of fainter galaxies.Comment: 53 pages, 8 figures, 1 ASCII table; accepted for publication in Ap

Making postgraduate students and supervisors aware of the role of emotions in the PhD process

Emotions are an integral part of the PhD process. A range of emotions are common and to be expected. How do emotions affect the PhD process for both postgraduate students and their supervisors? How can we make our emotions work positively for us in the PhD process? To explore answers to these questions, three lecturers currently supervising postgraduates and three postgraduates at various stages in their doctoral studies collectively pooled their experiences. We developed an interactive workshop that was recently conducted for postgraduate students at Murdoch University and at the Australian Association for Social Research annual conference 2002. This presentation will explore the role that emotions play in the PhD process and how supervisors and postgraduates alike can benefit from reflecting on this issue. A number of practical (and humorous) tips will be provided as well as examples from others' PhD experiences. The role of emotions at the beginning, middle and end of a PhD program will be explored. The data collection and analysis phases are a time when emotions may run riot. Trepidation is especially common when fieldwork or data collection is involved, as is anger when postgraduate's views about how the world works are challenged and then sadness (and relief!) when the data collection phase is finished. We will discuss how supervisors can assist their postgraduates to make these feelings work for them. The presentation will also explore the emotions that arise from the supervisor-postgraduate partnership