Synthesis of pentacene nanotubes by melt-assisted template wetting

peer-reviewedno abstract availablePUBLISHEDpeer-reviewe

Gap junction proteins and their role in spinal cord injury

© 2015 Tonkin, Mao, O'Carroll, Nicholson, Green, Gorrie and Moalem-Taylor. Gap junctions are specialized intercellular communication channels that are formed by two hexameric connexin hemichannels, one provided by each of the two adjacent cells. Gap junctions and hemichannels play an important role in regulating cellular metabolism, signaling, and functions in both normal and pathological conditions. Following spinal cord injury (SCI), there is damage and disturbance to the neuronal elements of the spinal cord including severing of axon tracts and rapid cell death. The initial mechanical disruption is followed by multiple secondary cascades that cause further tissue loss and dysfunction. Recent studies have implicated connexin proteins as playing a critical role in the secondary phase of SCI by propagating death signals through extensive glial networks. In this review, we bring together past and current studies to outline the distribution, changes and roles of various connexins found in neurons and glial cells, before and in response to SCI. We discuss the contribution of pathologically activated connexin proteins, in particular connexin 43, to functional recovery and neuropathic pain, as well as providing an update on potential connexin specific pharmacological agents to treat SCI

Scottish adolescents' sun-related behaviours, tanning attitudes and associations with skin cancer awareness:a cross-sectional study

Objectives: To describe Scottish adolescents’ sun-related behaviours and tanning attitudes and assess associations with skin cancer awareness.Design: Cross-sectional study.Setting: 20 state secondary schools in one Scottish local authority (Glasgow City).Participants: 2173 adolescents (females: 50.7%,n=1102) with a mean age of 12.4 (SD=0.55).Outcome measures: Sun-related behaviour (suntan, sunbathing, sunburn, sunscreen use, sunbed use),tanning attitudes, skin cancer-related symptom and risk factor awareness.Results: Adolescents reported poor sun-related practice: 51% of adolescents reported sunburn the previous summer of whom 38% indicated sunburn on more than one occasion. Skin cancer awareness was low: 45% recognised ‘change in the appearance of amole’ as a cancer symptom, and 39% agreed that‘ getting sunburnt more than once as a child’ increased cancer risk. 42% and 26% of adolescents, respectively, reported that friends and family held protanning attitudes. Compared with males, females were statistically significantly more likely to: report sunbathing ( p<0.001), use of lotions or oil to aid tanning ( p=0.009) and sunburn ( p<0.001); know that changes in the appearance of a mole was a skin cancer symptom ( p=0.036) and sunburn more than once as a child was a skin cancer risk factor( p=0.005); perceive their friends to hold protanning attitudes ( p<0.001) and indicate that a tan made them feel better about themselves ( p<0.001), more attractive to others ( p=0.011) and healthier( p<0.001).Conclusions: Scottish adolescents had poor sun protection practice and low skin cancer awareness. Girls adopted riskier sun-related behaviour despite greater awareness of skin cancer-related risk. Urgent action is required to promote positive sun-related behaviour and increase skin cancer awareness among Scottish adolescents. However, further research is needed to inform the development of effective sun safe interventions

Adolescent Cancer Education (ACE) to increase adolescent and parent cancer awareness and communication:Study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial

Background: Raising cancer awareness among adolescents has potential to increase their knowledge and confidence in identifying cancer symptoms and seeking timely medical help in adolescence and adulthood. Detecting cancer at an early stage is important because it reduces the risk of dying of some cancers and thereby contributes to improved cancer survival. Adolescents may also play an important role in increasing cancer communication within families. However, there are no randomised controlled trials (RCT) of the effectiveness of school-based educational interventions to increase adolescents' cancer awareness, and little is known about the role of adolescents in the upward diffusion of cancer knowledge to parents/carers. The aim of this study is to determine the effectiveness of a school-based educational intervention to raise adolescent and parent cancer awareness and adolescent-parent cancer communication.Methods: The Adolescent Cancer Education (ACE) study is a school-based, cluster RCT. Twenty secondary schools in the area covered by Glasgow City Council will be recruited. Special schools for adolescents whose additional needs cannot be met in mainstream education are excluded. Schools are randomised to receive a presentation delivered by a Teenage Cancer Trust educator in Autumn 2013 (intervention group) or Spring 2014 following completion of six-month follow-up measures (control group). Participants will be students recruited at the end of their first year of secondary education (S1) (age 12 to 13 years) and one parent/carer for each student, of the student's choice. The primary outcome is recognition of cancer symptoms two weeks post-intervention. Secondary outcomes are parents' cancer awareness and adolescent-parent cancer communication. Outcomes will be assessed at baseline (when adolescents are in the final term of S1), two-week, and six-month follow-up (when adolescents are in S2, age 13 to 14 years). Differences in outcomes between trial arms will be tested using multiple regression methods, adjusted for clustering by school. An audit of cancer-related and health-promotion activity within the school curriculum and environment during the RCT will be conducted at six-month follow-up to contextualise the intervention effect.Discussion: Results from the ACE study will provide evidence about the public health effectiveness of a school-based intervention designed to increase adolescent and parent cancer awareness and adolescent-parent cancer communication

Localisation of GPR30, a novel G protein-coupled oestrogen receptor, suggests multiple functions in rodent brain and peripheral tissues

Recently, the G protein-coupled receptor GPR30 has been identified as a novel oestrogen receptor (ER). The distribution of the receptor has been thus far mapped only in the rat central nervous system. This study was undertaken to map the distribution of GPR30 in the mouse brain and rodent peripheral tissues. Immunohistochemistry using an antibody against GPR30 revealed high levels of GPR30 immunoreactivity (ir) in the forebrain (e.g. cortex, hypothalamus and hippocampus), specific nuclei of the midbrain (e.g. the pontine nuclei and locus coeruleus) and the trigeminal nuclei and cerebellum Purkinje layer of the hindbrain in the adult mouse brain. In the rat and mouse periphery, GPR30-ir was detected in the anterior, intermediate and neural lobe of the pituitary, adrenal medulla, renal pelvis and ovary. In situ hybridisation histochemistry using GPR30 riboprobes, revealed intense hybridisation signal for GPR30 in the paraventricular nucleus and supraoptic nucleus (SON) of the hypothalamus, anterior and intermediate lobe of the pituitary, adrenal medulla, renal pelvis and ovary of both rat and mouse. Double immunofluorescence revealed GPR30 was present in both oxytocin and vasopressin neurones of the paraventricular nucleus and SON of the rat and mouse brain. The distribution of GPR30 is distinct from the other traditional ERs and offers an additional way in which oestrogen may mediate its effects in numerous brain regions and endocrine systems in the rodent

Cancer symptom awareness and barriers to medical help seeking in Scottish adolescents:a cross-sectional study

Background: Initiatives to promote early diagnosis include raising public awareness of signs and symptoms ofcancer and addressing barriers to seeking medical help about cancer. Awareness of signs and symptoms of cancerand emotional barriers, such as, fear, worry, and embarrassment strongly influence help seeking behaviour. Whetheranxiety influences seeking medical help about cancer is not known. The purpose of this study about adolescentswas to examine: 1) the relationship between contextual factors and awareness of signs and symptoms of cancerand barriers (including emotional barriers) to seeking medical help, and 2) associations between anxiety andendorsed barriers to seeking medical help. Interpretation of data is informed by the common sense model of theself-regulation of health and illness.Methods: A cross-sectional study of 2,173 Scottish adolescents (age 12/13 years) using the Cancer AwarenessMeasure. Socio-demographic questions were also included. Descriptive statistics were calculated and two Poissonregression models were built to determine independent predictors of: 1) the number of cancer warning signsrecognized, and; 2) number of barriers to help seeking endorsed.Results: Analysis identified that knowing someone with cancer was a significant independent predictor ofrecognising more cancer warning signs whereas Black and Minority Ethnic status was a significant independentpredictor of recognising fewer cancer warning signs. Emotional barriers were the most commonly endorsed,followed by family, service and practical barriers. Over two thirds of adolescents were ‘worried about what thedoctor would find’ and over half were ‘scared’. Higher anxiety scores, knowing more cancer warning signs andfemale gender were significant independent predictors of barriers to help seeking.Conclusion: Improving cancer awareness and help seeking behaviour during adolescence may contribute to earlypresentation. Contextual factors (for example, ethnicity, gender, knowing someone with cancer), and emotionaldimensions (for example, anxiety, fear, worry) are critical components in help seeking behaviours. The role ofemotional factors indicates that public health campaigns focused on awareness and help seeking may benefit fromhaving a more emotional focus, for example, including references to feelings, such as, fears and worries

Neurogenic potential of dental pulp stem cells isolated from murine incisors

INTRODUCTION: Interest in the use of dental pulp stem cells (DPSC) to enhance neurological recovery following stroke and traumatic injury is increasing following successful pre-clinical studies. A murine model of autologous neural stem cell transplantation would be useful for further pre-clinical investigation of the underlying mechanisms. However, while human-derived DPSC have been well characterised, the neurogenic potential of murine DPSC (mDPSC) has been largely neglected. In this study we demonstrate neuronal differentiation of DPSC from murine incisors in vitro. METHODS: mDPSC were cultured under neuroinductive conditions and assessed for neuronal and glial markers and electrophysiological functional maturation. RESULTS: mDPSC developed a neuronal morphology and high expression of neural markers nestin, ßIII-tubulin and GFAP. Neurofilament M and S100 were found in lower abundance. Differentiated cells also expressed protein markers for cholinergic, GABAergic and glutaminergic neurons, indicating a mixture of central and peripheral nervous system cell types. Intracellular electrophysiological analysis revealed the presence of voltage-gated L-type Ca2+ channels in a majority of cells with neuronal morphology. No voltage-gated Na+ or K+ currents were found and the cultures did not support spontaneous action potentials. Neuronal-like networks expressed the gap junction protein, connexin 43 but this was not associated with dye coupling between adjacent cells after injection of the low-molecular weight tracers Lucifer yellow or Neurobiotin. This indicated that the connexin proteins were not forming traditional gap junction channels. CONCLUSIONS: The data presented support the differentiation of mDPSC into immature neuronal-like networks.Kylie M Ellis, David C O, Carroll, Martin D Lewis, Grigori Y Rychkov and Simon A Kobla

Do health behaviours change after colonoscopy?:A prospective cohort study on diet, alcohol, physical activity and smoking among patients and their partners

Objectives To describe diet, alcohol, physical activity and tobacco use prospectively, that is, before and 10 months after colonoscopy for patients and their partners.Design Prospective cohort study of health behaviour change in patients and partners. Comparison groups are patients receiving a normal result notification (NRN) versus patients receiving an abnormal result notification (ARN). Patients and partners (controls) are also compared.Setting 5 Scottish hospitals.Participants Of 5798 colonoscopy registrations, 2577 (44%) patients met the eligibility criteria of whom 565 (22%) were recruited; 460 partners were also recruited.Measures International Physical Activity Questionnaire, Scottish Collaborative Group Food Frequency Questionnaire (includes alcohol), smoking status, sociodemographic characteristics, body mass index, medical conditions, colonoscopy result, Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale, behaviour-specific self-efficacy scales.Results 57% of patients were men, with a mean age of 60.8 years (SE 0.5) and 43% were from more affluent areas. 72% (n=387) of patients received an ARN and 28% (n=149) received an NRN. Response rate of the second questionnaire was 68.9%. Overall, 27% of patients consumed <5 measures of fruit and vegetables/day, 20% exceeded alcohol limits, 50% had low levels of physical activity and 21% were obese. At 10-month follow-up, a 5% reduction in excessive alcohol consumption and an 8% increase in low levels of physical activity were observed among patients; no significant changes occurred in partners. Baseline high alcohol consumption and low physical activity were the strongest predictors of these behaviours at follow-up. Low alcohol self-efficacy and increasing age were associated with poorer health-related behaviours at follow-up for alcohol consumption and physical activity, respectively.Conclusions Colonoscopy is associated with marginal beneficial changes in some behaviours but not others. Further work is needed to explore how services can optimise increases in beneficial behaviours and mitigate increases in harmful ones

The Copernicus surface velocity platform drifter with barometer and reference sensor for temperature (SVP-BRST): genesis, design, and initial results

To support calibration and validation of satel- lite sea surface temperature (SST) retrievals, over 60 high- resolution SST (HRSST) drifting buoys were deployed at sea between 2012 and 2017. Their data record is reviewed here. It is confirmed that sea state and immersion depth play an important role in understanding the data collected by such buoys and that the SST sensors need adequate insu- lation. In addition, calibration verification of three recovered drifters suggests that the sensor drift is low, albeit negative at around −0.01 K year−1. However, the statistical significance of these results is limited, and the calibration procedure could not be exactly reproduced, introducing additional uncertain- ties into this drift assessment. Based on lessons learnt from these initial buoys, a new sensor package for the Surface Velocity Platform with Barometer (SVP-B) was designed to serve calibration of SST retrievals by European Union’s Copernicus satellites. The novel sensor package includes an HRSST sensor calibrated by a metrology laboratory. The sensor includes a pressure probe to monitor immersion depth in calm water and acquires SST data at 1 Hz over a 5 min in- terval every hour. This enables the derivation of mean SST as well as several percentiles of the SST distribution. The HRSST sensor is calibrated with an uncertainty better than 0.01 K. Analysis of the data collected by two prototypes de- ployed in the Mediterranean Sea shows that the buoys are able to capture small-scale SST variations. These variations are found to be smaller when the sea state is well mixed and when the buoys are located within eddy cores. This affects the drifter SST data representativeness, which is an aspect of importance for optimal use of these data