New Bathonian (Middle Jurassic) sauropod remains from the Valtos Formation, Isle of Skye, Scotland

The discovery of a sauropod tooth and a single sauropod footprint from the Valtos Formation supplements our knowledge of these dinosaurs from the Middle Jurassic of the Isle of Skye. Although the family cannot be determined from this single tooth, it is thought that it represents a primitive eusauropod and may belong to a similar sauropod to that previously described from limited isolated osteological evidence (caudal vertebra, damaged humerus and a rib). The characteristics that suggest this affinity include evidence of denticles on one edge of the tooth, wrinkling and granulation of the enamel, wear suggesting crown-to-crown occlusion, and the spatulate tooth shape. The single sauropod footprint is the oldest record of a sauropod footprint from the Middle Jurassic of Skye

Corporate Social Responsibility at Gap: An Interview with Eva Sage-Gavin

Gap Inc. is one of the world\u27s largest specialty retailers, with more than 3,000 stores and fiscal 2005 revenues of $16 billion. They operate four of the most recognized apparel brands in the world — Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy and Forth & Towne. According to the company website “At Gap Inc., social responsibility isn\u27t just a catchphrase or a feel good initiative. It\u27s a reflection of who we are and how we operate as a company. To us, being socially responsible means striving to embed our values and ethics into everything we do — from how we run our business, to how we treat our employees, to how we impact the communities where we do business. In 2003 Gap Inc. was the first retailer to release a social responsibility report, offering a comprehensive overview of their approach to social responsibility. The report was broadly lauded for its willingness to be open and honest about both the successes and failures in this arena. In fact, this report won Business Ethics magazine\u27s Social Reporting Award for unprecedented honesty in reporting on factory conditions. Their 2004 Social Responsibility Report continued that discussion and provided new information on their progress, challenges, and new initiatives. Eva Sage-Gavin is Executive Vice President, Human Resources and Corporate Communications, of Gap Inc. In her role as Chief People Officer, she sets the strategy for the company\u27s communications and human resources operations worldwide, including staffing, diversity, rewards, recognition, employee benefits, learning and development, strategic change, and internal and external communications. She set aside time to provide more specifics to how and why Gap Inc. places so much emphasis on corporate social responsibility

Enabling self, intimacy and a sense of home in dementia

Design and digital technologies to support a sense of self and human relationships for people living with dementia are both urgently needed. We present an enquiry into design for dementia facilitated by a public art commission for an adult mental health unit in a hospital in the UK. The interactive art piece was informed by the notion of personhood in dementia that foregrounds the person's social being and interpersonal relationships as sites where self is maintained and constructed. How clients, clients' family members and staff used the piece is reported and insights related to the notions of home, intimacy, possessions and self are presented. The art piece served as window on both dementia and the institution leading to a number of insights and implications for design

AMPK regulates basal skeletal muscle capillarization and VEGF expression, but is not necessary for the angiogenic response to exercise

5 -AMP-activated protein kinase(AMPK)is a metabolic fuel sensor that monitors cellular energy charge, while the vasculature is important for maintaining cellular energy homeostasis. Mice with muscle-specific inactive AMPK (AMPK DN) were used to investigate if AMPK regulates skeletal muscle capillarization and the angiogenic responses to exercise. Two hours of the AMP analogueAICAR(1.0 g kg - 1)or systemichypoxia (6%O2) increased vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA in wild-type (WT), but not in AMPK DN mice. In contrast, the increase in VEGF mRNA with acute exercise (1 h at 20m min - 1, 10% gradient) was greater in AMPK DN compared to WT mice. Nuclear run-on assay demonstrated that exercise increased VEGF transcription, while hypoxia decreased VEGF transcription. There was no difference in VEGF transcription between WT and AMPK DN. There was a strong correlation between VEGF transcription and VEGF mRNA at rest and with exercise. Resting capillarization was lower in AMPK DN compared to WT. Wheel running (28 days) increased capillarization and this response was AMPK independent. Significant correlations between VEGF protein and muscle capillarization are consistent with VEGF being an important determinant of skeletal muscle capillarization. These data are to our knowledge the first to demonstrate in skeletal muscle in vivo that: (1) AMPK is necessary for hypoxia-induced VEGF mRNA stabilization, (2) acute exercise increases VEGF transcription, (3) inhibition of AMPK augments the VEGF mRNA response to acute exercise, and (4) AMPK regulates basal VEGF expression and capillarization, but is not necessary for exercise-induced angiogenesis. Originally published Journal of Physiology, Vol. 586, No. 24, Dec 200

Plasmodium vivax-like genome sequences shed new insights into Plasmodium vivax biology and evolution

Although Plasmodium vivax is responsible for the majority of malaria infections outside Africa, little is known about its evolution and pathway to humans. Its closest genetic relative, P. vivax-like, was discovered in African great apes and is hypothesized to have given rise to P. vivax in humans. To unravel the evolutionary history and adaptation of P. vivax to different host environments, we generated using long- and short-read sequence technologies 2 new P. vivax-like reference genomes and 9 additional P. vivax-like genotypes. Analyses show that the genomes of P. vivax and P. vivax-like are highly similar and colinear within the core regions. Phylogenetic analyses clearly show that P. vivax-like parasites form a genetically distinct clade from P. vivax. Concerning the relative divergence dating, we show that the evolution of P. vivax in humans did not occur at the same time as the other agents of human malaria, thus suggesting that the transfer of Plasmodium parasites to humans happened several times independently over the history of the Homo genus. We further identify several key genes that exhibit signatures of positive selection exclusively in the human P. vivax parasites. Two of these genes have been identified to also be under positive selection in the other main human malaria agent, P. falciparum, thus suggesting their key role in the evolution of the ability of these parasites to infect humans or their anthropophilic vectors. Finally, we demonstrate that some gene families important for red blood cell (RBC) invasion (a key step of the life cycle of these parasites) have undergone lineage-specific evolution in the human parasite (e.g., reticulocyte-binding proteins [RBPs])

Monuments at Risk in England's Wetlands

Copyright © Robert Van de Noort. This is the third and final draft of the Monuments at Risk in England’s Wetlands project. Monuments at Risk in England’s Wetlands is a research project into the changing nature of the archaeological resource in England’s wetlands 1950-2000. The project is commissioned by English Heritage, and undertaken by the Centre for Wetland Research, University of Exeter.English Heritag

Rheumatoid arthritis is associated with reduced adiposity but not with unfavorable major cardiovascular risk factor profiles and enhanced carotid atherosclerosis in black Africans from a developing population: a cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by inflamed joint-derived cytokine-mediated high-grade systemic inflammation that enhances cardiovascular metabolic risk and disease in developed populations. We investigated the potential impact of RA on cardiovascular risk factors including systemic inflammation and atherosclerosis, and their relationships in black Africans from a developing population. METHODS: We evaluated demographic features, adiposity indices, major traditional cardiovascular risk factors, circulating C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 concentrations and ultrasound determined carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in 274 black Africans; 115 had established RA. Data were analyzed in confounder-adjusted mixed regression models. RESULTS: The body mass index and waist-height ratio were lower in RA compared to non-RA subjects (29.2 (6.6) versus 33.7 (8.0), P < 0.0001 and 0.58 (0.09) versus 0.62 (0.1), P = 0.0003, respectively). Dyslipidemia was less prevalent in patients with RA (odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.54 (0.30 to1.00)); this disparity was no longer significant after further adjustment for reduced adiposity and chloroquine use. RA was also not associated with hypertension, current smoking and diabetes. The number of major traditional risk factors did not differ by RA status (1.1 (0.8) versus 1.2 (0.9), P = 0.7). Circulating C-reactive protein concentrations were similar and serum interleukin-6 concentrations reduced in RA (7.2 (3.1) versus 6.7 (3.1) mg/l, P = 0.7 and 3.9 (1.9) versus 6.3 (1.9) pg/ml, P < 0.0001, respectively). The cIMT was 0.700 (0.085) and 0.701 (0.111) mm in RA and non-RA subjects, respectively (P = 0.7). RA disease activity and severity parameters were consistently unrelated to systemic inflammation, despite the presence of clinically active disease in 82.6% of patients. In all participants, adiposity indices, smoking and converting angiotensin inhibitor non-use were associated with increased systemic inflammation, which related to more atherogenic lipid profiles, and circulating low density lipoprotein concentrations were associated with cIMT (partial R = 0.153, P = 0.032); RA did not impact on these relationships (interaction P ≥0.1). CONCLUSIONS: Among black Africans, patients with established RA experience reduced overall and abdominal adiposity but no enhanced major traditional risk factor and atherosclerosis burden. This study further suggests that an absent interleukin-6 release by inflamed RA joints into the circulation may account for this unaltered cardiovascular disease risk

Laser writing of individual atomic defects in a crystal with near-unity yield

Atomic defects in wide band gap materials show great promise for development of a new generation of quantum information technologies, but have been hampered by the inability to produce and engineer the defects in a controlled way. The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color center in diamond is one of the foremost candidates, with single defects allowing optical addressing of electron spin and nuclear spin degrees of freedom with potential for applications in advanced sensing and computing. Here we demonstrate a method for the deterministic writing of individual NV centers at selected locations with high positioning accuracy using laser processing with online fluorescence feedback. This method provides a new tool for the fabrication of engineered materials and devices for quantum technologies and offers insight into the diffusion dynamics of point defects in solids.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure