Post-Devonian movement on the Fredericton Fault and tectonic activity in the New Brunswick Platform, central New Brunswick, Canada

The Norumbega Fault system is traced from southern New England to Prince Edward Island, and its major strike-slip history is pre-Carboniferous. Carboniferous and later movements are less well constrained. Along the Fredericton Fault in western New Brunswick, offsets affect outcrops of Carboniferous strata in several ways. Revision of Carboniferous stratigraphy in this area using new miospore data and mapping of new exposures augmented by LiDAR imagery permits refinement of some of the post-Devonian movement history. The oldest post-Silurian unit recognized, the Longs Creek Formation, is fault-dissected and tightly folded, with faults and folds overlapped by the unconformity at the base of the upper Visean Shin Formation. The age of the Longs Creek Formation is uncertain and may be late Devonian to early Visean. Faults affecting the Shin Formation and Royal Road basalts are truncated by the unconformity at the base of the Bolsovian Minto Formation. Beneath this unconformity the presence of fault-bounded panels of vertical Langsettian strata (Boss Point and Deerwood formations) along the Fredericton Fault demonstrate late Visean to Serpukhovian, and post-Langsettian, pre-Bolsovian (Duckmantian) movements. At least three phases of movement can be seen affecting the Minto Formation. All the movement phases along the Fredericton Fault appear to be right-lateral strike-slip, except for one phase of post-Bolsovian left-lateral displacement

Lactobacillus plantarum MB452 enhances the function of the intestinal barrier by increasing the expression levels of genes involved in tight junction formation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Intestinal barrier function is important for preserving health, as a compromised barrier allows antigen entry and can induce inflammatory diseases. Probiotic bacteria can play a role in enhancing intestinal barrier function; however, the mechanisms are not fully understood. Existing studies have focused on the ability of probiotics to prevent alterations to tight junctions in disease models, and have been restricted to a few tight junction bridging proteins. No studies have previously investigated the effect of probiotic bacteria on healthy intestinal epithelial cell genes involved in the whole tight junction signalling pathway, including those encoding for bridging, plaque and dual location tight junction proteins. Alteration of tight junction signalling in healthy humans is a potential mechanism that could lead to the strengthening of the intestinal barrier, resulting in limiting the ability of antigens to enter the body and potentially triggering undesirable immune responses.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The effect of <it>Lactobacillus plantarum </it>MB452 on tight junction integrity was determined by measuring trans-epithelial electrical resistance (TEER) across Caco-2 cell layers. <it>L. plantarum </it>MB452 caused a dose-dependent TEER increase across Caco-2 cell monolayers compared to control medium. Gene expression was compared in Caco-2 cells untreated or treated with <it>L. plantarum </it>MB452 for 10 hours. Caco-2 cell RNA was hybridised to human oligonucleotide arrays. Data was analysed using linear models and differently expressed genes were examined using pathway analysis tools. Nineteen tight junction-related genes had altered expression levels in response to <it>L. plantarum </it>MB452 (modified-P < 0.05, fold-change > 1.2), including those encoding occludin and its associated plaque proteins that anchor it to the cytoskeleton. <it>L. plantarum </it>MB452 also caused changes in tubulin and proteasome gene expression levels which may be linked to intestinal barrier function. Caco-2 tight junctions were visualised by fluorescent microscopy of immuno-stained occludin, zona occludens (ZO)-1, ZO-2 and cingulin. Caco-2 cells treated with <it>L. plantarum </it>MB452 had higher intensity fluorescence of each of the four tight junction proteins compared to untreated controls.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This research indicates that enhancing the expression of genes involved in tight junction signalling is a possible mechanism by which <it>L. plantarum </it>MB452 improves intestinal barrier function.</p

Do shorter lengths of stay increase readmissions after total joint replacements?

BackgroundEnhanced recovery after surgery protocols for total joint replacements (TJRs) emphasize early discharge, yet the impact on readmissions is not well documented. We evaluate the impact of a one-day length of stay (LOS) discharge protocol on readmissions.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective review of all primary TJRs (hip and knee) from April 2014 to March 2015. Patients who had adequate support to be discharged home were categorized into 2 groups, 1-day (n = 174) vs 2-day (n = 285) LOS groups. Patients discharged to rehabilitation were excluded (n = 196).ResultsPatients in the 1 day group were more likely to be younger (61.7 vs 64.8 years, P < .001), be male (56.3% vs 40.4%, P = .001), and have a lower body mass index (30.0 vs 31.4 kg/m2, P = .012). One-day LOS patients had shorter surgical times (79.7 vs 85.6 minutes, P = .001) and more likely had spinal anesthesia (46.0% vs 31.2%, P = .001). The overall 30-day all-cause (2.3% vs 2.5%, P = .591) and 90-day wound-related (1.1% vs 1.1%, P = .617) readmission rates were equivalent between groups.ConclusionsEarly discharge does not increase readmissions and may help attenuate costs associated with TJRs. Further refinement of protocols may allow for more patients to be safely discharged on postoperative day 1

Composition of dissolved organic matter within a lacustrine environment

Freshwater dissolved organic matter (DOM) is a complex mixture of chemical components that are central to many environmental processes, including carbon and nitrogen cycling. However, questions remain as to its chemical characteristics, sources and transformation mechanisms. Here, we employ 1- and 2-D nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to investigate the structural components of lacustrine DOM from Ireland, and how it varies within a lake system, as well as to assess potential sources. Major components found, such as carboxyl-rich alicyclic molecules (CRAM) are consistent with those recently identified in marine and freshwater DOM. Lignin-type markers and protein/peptides were identified and vary spatially. Phenylalanine was detected in lake areas influenced by agriculture, whereas it is not detectable where zebra mussels are prominent. The presence of peptidoglycan, lipoproteins, large polymeric carbo- hydrates and proteinaceous material supports the substantial contribution of material derived from microorganisms. Evidence is provided that peptidoglycan and silicate species may in part originate from soil microbes

Haloe Antarctic observations in the spring of 1991

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95167/1/grl6630.pd

REFERQUAL: A pilot study of a new service quality assessment instrument in the GP Exercise Referral scheme setting

Background The development of an instrument accurately assessing service quality in the GP Exercise Referral Scheme (ERS) industry could potentially inform scheme organisers of the factors that affect adherence rates leading to the implementation of strategic interventions aimed at reducing client drop-out. Methods A modified version of the SERVQUAL instrument was designed for use in the ERS setting and subsequently piloted amongst 27 ERS clients. Results Test re-test correlations were calculated via Pearson's 'r' or Spearman's 'rho', depending on whether the variables were Normally Distributed, to show a significant (mean r = 0.957, SD = 0.02, p < 0.05; mean rho = 0.934, SD = 0.03, p < 0.05) relationship between all items within the questionnaire. In addition, satisfactory internal consistency was demonstrated via Cronbach's 'α'. Furthermore, clients responded favourably towards the usability, wording and applicability of the instrument's items. Conclusion REFERQUAL is considered to represent promise as a suitable tool for future evaluation of service quality within the ERS community. Future research should further assess the validity and reliability of this instrument through the use of a confirmatory factor analysis to scrutinise the proposed dimensional structure

Early stressful experiences are associated with reduced neural responses to naturalistic emotional and social content in children

How do children’s experiences relate to their naturalistic emotional and social processing? Because children can struggle with tasks in the scanner, we collected fMRI data while 4-to-11-year-olds watched a short film with positive and negative emotional events, and rich parent-child interactions (n = 70). We captured broad, normative stressful experiences by examining socioeconomic status (SES) and stressful life events, as well as children’s more proximal experiences with their parents. For a sub-sample (n = 30), parenting behaviors were measured during a parent-child interaction, consisting of a picture book, a challenging puzzle, and free play with novel toys. We characterized positive parenting behaviors (e.g., warmth, praise) and negative parenting behaviors (e.g., harsh tone, physical control). We found that higher SES was related to greater activity in medial orbitofrontal cortex during parent-child interaction movie events. Negative parenting behaviors were associated with less activation of the ventral tegmental area and cerebellum during positive emotional events. In a region-of-interest analysis, we found that stressful life events and negative parenting behaviors were associated with less activation of the amygdala during positive emotional events. These exploratory results demonstrate the promise of using movie fMRI to study how early experiences may shape emotional, social, and motivational processes

Menthol Cigarette Smoking and Obesity in Young Adult Daily Smokers in Hawaii

This study investigates 1) the relationship between menthol cigarette smoking and obesity and 2) the association of body mass index with the nicotine metabolite ratio among menthol and non-menthol daily smokers aged 18–35 (n = 175). A brief survey on smoking and measures of height and weight, carbon monoxide, and saliva samples were collected from participants from May to December 2013 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Multiple regression was used to estimate differences in body mass index among menthol and non-menthol smokers and the association of menthol smoking with obesity. We calculated the log of the nicotine metabolite ratio to examine differences in the nicotine metabolite ratio among normal, overweight, and obese smokers. Sixty-eight percent of smokers used menthol cigarettes. Results showed that 62% of normal, 54% of overweight, and 91% of obese smokers used menthol cigarettes (p = .000). The mean body mass index was significantly higher among menthol compared with non-menthol smokers (29.4 versus 24.5, p = .000). After controlling for gender, marital status, educational attainment, employment status, and race/ethnicity, menthol smokers were more than 3 times as likely as non-menthol smokers to be obese (p = .04). The nicotine metabolite ratio was significantly lower for overweight menthol smokers compared with non-menthol smokers (.16 versus .26, p = .02) in the unadjusted model, but was not significant after adjusting for the covariates. Consistent with prior studies, our data show that menthol smokers are more likely to be obese compared with non-menthol smokers. Future studies are needed to determine how flavored tobacco products influence obesity among smokers