Studies on Moniezia benedeni (Moniez, 1879) and M. expansa (Rudolphi, 1810)

Imperial Users onl

Using Open Access Peer-Reviews and Pre-Printed Submissions to Improve Students’ Comprehension of Academic Writing

One of the most difficult challenges that novice learners face is to read and assess verbose, complex journal articles, filled with a mix of subject-specific jargon and intricate analyses, challenged with understanding the terminology as well as the general concepts of the work. A recent blog captures this frustration, stating, “Nothing makes you feel stupid quite like reading scientific journal article” (Ruben, 2016); whilst a follow on looks to alleviate this issue by offering insights from experienced professionals on how best to approach articles (Pain, 2016). Yet while numerous rubrics exist for improving general structuring and writing (Derntl, 2014; Hillier et al., 2016; Kording and Mensh, 2016), few if any exist on how to improve conceptual understanding; a key skill required for students to support their own academic writing with evidence-based literature. We looked to address this issue by creating a mock ‘peer-review’ assessment as part of a portfolio of skills in our Masters-level conversion course; a cohort faced with the stern challenge of having to rapidly, and independently, learn to read and comprehend academic writing from a novel discipline over a relatively short time-span. Our approach involved three stages. First a brief explanation of the peer-review process using freely available online materials from publishers (e.g. Wiley, PLOS). Next an analytical discussion of open access peer-reviews of published articles (via PeerJ, Royal Society Open Science); i.e. a learn-by-example approach. Finally, the student’s own mock peer-review of one of three open access pre-printed journal articles (via PeerJ, PsyArXiv, etc) with specific guidelines to focus on the key aspects of theory, methodology and readability. Here we present qualitative and quantitative feedback from the students as regards to how this task improved their ability to understand complex academic writing, and how it has altered their approach to reading such articles in future

Extracellular cracking and content removal of benthic diatoms by intertidal foraminifera

Abstrac

Could a Protist help us understand cancer?

Cancer is a deadly disease which affects millions of people globally. Cancer ultimately arises from dysregulation of growth pathways, leading to loss of cell cycle control and tumor formation. Cancer cells maintain constant cell division, evade immune detection, ignore signals for apoptosis, and may acquire the ability to degrade the extracellular matrix and metastasize. Tetrahymena thermophila are free-living (non-parasitic) ciliated unicellular eukaryotes belonging to Kingdom Protista. They are often used as a model system because they are relatively inexpensive and easy to culture and maintain. In addition, it is relatively simple to grow and harvest large numbers of cells for biochemical applications such as protein, DNA, or RNA purification. Because of their adaptability as a model system, we asked whether whether Tetrahymena possessed two common pathways often dysregulated in cancer; the Wnt signaling pathway and the Ras signaling pathway. In order to test our hypothesis, we used the Tetrahymena genome database to search for homologs of Wnt, Ras, and Raf. In addition, we used a Wnt agonist and an antagonist of Ras/Raf inhibition to determine whether the mitotic rate would be affected. While the Wnt agonist had no significant affect on mitosis, the Ras/Raf inhibitor significantly decreased mitotic rate in this organism. We also found homologs of Ras and Raf in the Tetrahymena genome database. Further studies are needed in order to obtain an accurate dose-response curve with the Ras/Raf inhibitor, BAY-293

Characterization of a Laminin-like Protein in the Kinetodesmal Fibers of Tetrahymena thermophila

Tetrahymena thermophila are free-living ciliated organisms belonging to Kingdom Protista. These organisms possess large numbers of cilia that are used for feeding as well as locomotion. The cilia are attached to microtubule organizing centers (MTOC) called basal bodies, which are rich in centrin, a calcium binding protein present in MTOCs. Because of the mechanical stress that ciliary beating puts on the plasma membrane, these cells have kinetodesmal fibers, composed of bundled coiled-coil proteins which grow from the proximal end of the basal bodies and stabilize the plasma membrane. Laminin is a cross-linking protein found in the extracellular matrix of animals. Using an antibody against laminin-b1, we found that the antibody localized to kinetodesmal fibers which overlapped the basal bodies stained by the anti-centrin antibody. To determine whether these proteins were in the same complex, we did co-immunoprecipitation using both our anti-centrin and anti-laminin antibodies. Both antibodies precipitated centrin (a doublet at 20 kD) as well as a number of presumed laminin-like proteins between 37 and 50 kD. We also found a number of laminin homologues in the Tetrahymena Genome Database. Further studies will be needed to determine which of these putative proteins is present in the kinetodesmal fiber

Efficacy of pre and rehabilitation in radical cystectomy on health related quality of life and physical function:A systematic review

OBJECTIVE: The efficacy of prehabilitation or rehabilitation interventions on radical cystectomy (RC) patient reported outcomes (PROs), and patient centered outcome has not yet been thoroughly explored in prior reviews, therefore the aim of this review is to evaluate the efficacy of a single or multi-modal prehabilitation or/and postoperative rehabilitation interventions compared to standard treatment on postoperative complications after RC. METHODS: We performed a three-step search strategy in PubMed, Cinahl, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science. We used Covidence for the screening of articles, risk of bias assessment, and data-extraction. GRADE was used to assess the risk of bias in outcomes across studies. Where meta-analysis was possible, we used the random effect method due to substantial heterogeneity. The remaining outcomes were summarized narratively RESULTS: We identified fourteen studies addressing one of the outcomes. None of the studies provided evidence to support that prehabilitation and/or rehabilitation interventions can improve global health related quality of life (HRQoL) in RC surgery or can reduce postoperative complications significantly. However, preoperative and postoperative education in stoma care can significantly improve self-efficacy and we found significant added benefits of sexual counseling to intracavernous injections compared to injection therapy alone. Likewise, an intensive smoking and alcohol cessation intervention demonstrated a significant effect on quit rates. Physical exercise is feasible and improves physical functioning although it does not reduce the postoperative complications. CONCLUSIONS: Currently, no evidence of efficacy of prehabilitation and/or rehabilitation interventions to improve the overall HRQoL or postoperative complications after RC exists. We found evidence that education in stoma care improved self-efficacy significantly. Adequately powered randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are needed to generate high-quality evidence in this field

Juror Perceptions of Bystander and Victim Intoxication by Different Substances

This study examined the effects of bystander or victim intoxication during a crime on juror perceptions and decision-making. Mock jurors (N = 261) read testimony from a bystander or victim to an assault, who mentioned that they had consumed alcohol, cannabis, amphetamines, or no substances prior to the crime. Participants delivered a verdict, rated the defendant’s guilt, and rated the bystander/victim on their honesty, credibility, and cognitive competence. Witness intoxication and witness role did not influence defendant guilt. However, participants judged any witness intoxicated by amphetamines as less credible and cognitively competent than a sober witness. Furthermore, victims were judged to have lower credibility, cognitive competence, and honesty than bystanders. These findings suggest that jurors’ decision-making about defendant guilt might not be influenced by witness intoxication or witness type. A witness’ testimony, however, might be evaluated as less credible when delivered by a victim or an amphetamine-intoxicated witness

Juror Perceptions of Bystander and Victim Intoxication by Different Substances

This study examined the effects of bystander or victim intoxication during a crime on juror perceptions and decision-making. Mock jurors (N = 261) read testimony from a bystander or victim to an assault, who mentioned that they had consumed alcohol, cannabis, amphetamines, or no substances prior to the crime. Participants delivered a verdict, rated the defendant’s guilt, and rated the bystander/victim on their honesty, credibility, and cognitive competence. Witness intoxication and witness role did not influence defendant guilt. However, participants judged any witness intoxicated by amphetamines as less credible and cognitively competent than a sober witness. Furthermore, victims were judged to have lower credibility, cognitive competence, and honesty than bystanders. These findings suggest that jurors’ decision-making about defendant guilt might not be influenced by witness intoxication or witness type. A witness’ testimony, however, might be evaluated as less credible when delivered by a victim or an amphetamine-intoxicated witness

Frontolimbic neural circuitry at 6 months predicts individual differences in joint attention at 9 months

Elucidating the neural basis of joint attention in infancy promises to yield important insights into the development of language and social cognition, and directly informs developmental models of autism. We describe a new method for evaluating responding to joint attention performance in infancy that highlights the 9- to 10-month period as a time interval of maximal individual differences. We then demonstrate that fractional anisotropy in the right uncinate fasciculus, a white matter fiber bundle connecting the amygdala to the ventral-medial prefrontal cortex and anterior temporal pole, measured in 6-month-olds predicts individual differences in responding to joint attention at 9 months of age. The white matter microstructure of the right uncinate was not related to receptive language ability at 9 months. These findings suggest that the development of core nonverbal social communication skills in infancy is largely supported by preceding developments within right lateralized frontotemporal brain systems

Emerging executive functioning and motor development in infants at high and low risk for autism spectrum disorder

Existing evidence suggests executive functioning (EF) deficits may be present in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by 3 years of age. It is less clear when, prior to 3 years, EF deficits may emerge and how EF unfold over time. The contribution of motor skill difficulties to poorer EF in children with ASD has not been systematically studied. We investigated the developmental trajectory of EF in infants at high and low familial risk for ASD (HR and LR) and the potential associations between motor skills, diagnostic group, and EF performance. Participants included 186 HR and 76 LR infants. EF (A-not-B), motor skills (Fine and Gross Motor), and cognitive ability were directly assessed at 12 months and 24 months of age. Participants were directly evaluated for ASD at 24 months using DSM-IV-TR criteria and categorized as HR-ASD, HR-Negative, and LR-Negative. HR-ASD and HR-Negative siblings demonstrated less improvement in EF over time compared to the LR-Negative group. Motor skills were associated with group and EF performance at 12 months. No group differences were found at 12 months, but at 24 months, the HR-ASD and HR-Negative groups performed worse than the LR-Negative group overall after controlling for visual reception and maternal education. On reversal trials, the HR-ASD group performed worse than the LR-Negative group. Motor skills were associated with group and EF performance on reversal trials at 24 months. Findings suggest that HR siblings demonstrate altered EF development and that motor skills may play an important role in this process