In Vitro Interactions of Extracellular Histones with LDL Suggest a Potential Pro-Atherogenic Role

BACKGROUND: Nuclear histones have previously been shown to aggregate LDL in vitro, suggestive of a possible pro-atherogenic role. Recent studies indicate that histones are released during acute inflammation, and therefore might interact with circulating lipoproteins in vivo. In view of the associative link between inflammation and cardiovascular disease, the behaviour of histones was investigated using in vitro models of LDL retention and foam cell formation. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Heparin agarose beads were used as a model of a matrix rich in sulphated glycosaminoglycans, to which histones bind strongly. Histone-modified beads were observed to pull down more LDL from solution than untreated beads, indicating that histones can function as bridging molecules, enhancing LDL retention. Furthermore, addition of heparin inhibited histone-induced aggregation of LDL. To model foam cell formation, murine RAW 264.7 macrophages were incubated for 24 h in the presence of LDL, histones, LDL plus histones or vehicle control. Cells incubated with LDL in the presence of histones accumulated significantly more intracellular lipid than with LDL or histone alone. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These results are consistent with a potential pro-atherogenic role for extracellular histones, which should be investigated further

Life on a low income in austere times

Following the ‘credit crunch’ 2007-2008, the UK entered the deepest recessionary conditions in living memory. As the liquidity from the financial services sector came to an abrupt halt, the investment ‘life blood’ of the economy in short supply, numerous companies, including long established high street businesses, ceased trading and consequently, unemployment rates rose to the highest levels since the 1980s. After the initial ‘bailout’ of the banking sector, political attention turned to the growing public deficit and the spectre of public sector austerity came to dominate the policy agenda. This agenda swiftly moved from how best to regulate the financial services industry to the question of the ‘welfare bill’ and the growing problem of ‘worklessness’. From this point, particularly as the Universal Credit Scheme passed through parliament and came to be implemented in various phases, much was said in political and policy debates about the lives of the ‘poor’ and many ‘common sense’ assumptions informed these discussions. However as is often the case, omitted from these discussions were the voices of those people living of low income. To redress this imbalance, the report aims to document the reality of life on a low income during this period, by affording primacy to the ‘voices’ of those living in poverty

Amperometric Screen-Printed Galactose Biosensor for Cell Toxicity Applications

© 2016, Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. ABSTRACT: This paper reports the development and application of a biosensor for the amperometric determination of galactose in the presence of human hepatocellular carcinoma cells with and without a hepatotoxic agent. The biosensor was fabricated by drop-coating 1.5% cellulose acetate on a 3×3mm screen-printed carbon electrode followed by depositing 2 U of galactose oxidase. The electrodes dimensions were reduced to 3×0.5mm before measurements. Hepatocellular carcinoma cells were utilized for in vitro toxicity testing by evaluating the effect of paracetamol on galactose uptake. The amperometric responses to galactose indicated that the inhibition of uptake was directly proportional to the concentration of paracetamol following 24h of exposure to the hepatocellular carcinoma cells. These results demonstrate that the fabricated biosensor may be used for the real-time monitoring of cell metabolism and toxicity

Contemporary medical television and crisis in the NHS

This article maps the terrain of contemporary UK medical television, paying particular attention to Call the Midwife as its centrepiece, and situating it in contextual relation to the current crisis in the NHS. It provides a historical overview of UK and US medical television, illustrating how medical television today has been shaped by noteworthy antecedents. It argues that crisis rhetoric surrounding healthcare leading up to the passing of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 has been accompanied by a renaissance in medical television. And that issues, strands and clusters have emerged in forms, registers and modes with noticeable regularity, especially around the value of affective labour, the cultural politics of nostalgia and the neoliberalisation of healthcare

Rabies elimination research: juxtaposing optimism, pragmatism and realism

More than 100 years of research has now been conducted into the prevention, control and elimination of rabies with safe and highly efficacious vaccines developed for use in human and animal populations. Domestic dogs are a major reservoir for rabies, and although considerable advances have been made towards the elimination and control of canine rabies in many parts of the world, the disease continues to kill tens of thousands of people every year in Africa and Asia. Policy efforts are now being directed towards a global target of zero human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030 and the global elimination of canine rabies. Here we demonstrate how research provides a cause for optimism as to the feasibility of these goals through strategies based around mass dog vaccination. We summarize some of the pragmatic insights generated from rabies epidemiology and dog ecology research that can improve the design of dog vaccination strategies in low- and middle-income countries and which should encourage implementation without further delay. We also highlight the need for realism in reaching the feasible, although technically more difficult and longer-term goal of global elimination of canine rabies. Finally, we discuss how research on rabies has broader relevance to the control and elimination of a suite of diseases of current concern to human and animal health, providing an exemplar of the value of a ‘One Health’ approach

Informed Consent for Elective Abortion: A Policy Analysis for North Carolina

Abortion is a divisive issue. People on both the pro-life and pro-choice sides of the debate hold strong beliefs about the morality of abortion and how available it should be to women with unintended pregnancies. Its controversy not withstanding, it is an extremely common occurrence. More than a million women had an abortion in 2005, and estimates suggest that one in four women in America will have an abortion in her lifetime. Therefore, abortion services are a significant component of women's health care. The informed consent process for elective abortion is an important element in the quality of medical care women receive. The purpose of pre-procedural counseling is to help the woman make an informed decision and to provide her with emotional support if it is needed. This process should inform the woman of the risks, benefits and alternatives to the procedure, and the risks and benefits of the alternatives. Shared decision making requires that the consent procedure should also allow time for the woman to ask questions and provide a medium for the woman and her physician to discuss her values and beliefs in an effort to make the best decision for her. The prevalence of abortion, and the imperative to provide high quality care combine to make the informed consent process a matter of public health. The political and social tensions surrounding abortion have engendered numerous regulations on the provision of abortion services. This paper focuses on regulation of the informed consent process for elective abortion. Supporters of proposed regulations argue that the regulations help women by ensuring that they are given the information that they need to make informed decisions, and time to think over their decisions. Two bills currently before the NC legislature, the Woman's Right to Know Bill and the Ultrasound Before an Abortion Bill, would mandate additional requirements for the informed consent process for elective abortion. This paper is an analysis of the content of these bills, with evaluations of the risks of abortion stated in the materials, and of the implications of the regulations for women's health. The paper progresses through a history of abortion politics and social attitudes towards abortion; a discussion of the intention of informed consent and the ethical principles it was designed to uphold; a review of the evidence for the harms of abortion to women's health, focusing on the psychiatric health consequences of abortion; and a presentation and discussion of data from a series of elite interviews. The paper concludes with policy recommendations. The research and analysis indicate that the content and requirements of the two proposed bills violate the principles of the informed consent process, and could have a negative effect on women's health by causing unnecessary delays in obtaining an abortion. The informed consent process for elective abortion should help women, contributing to high quality of care and helping them make informed decisions. The two bills analyzed here are counterproductive to those two women's health goals. Countering these legislative attempts can be achieved through public education about the safety of abortion and the current practices of informed consent for elective abortion.Master of Public Healt

Multiple pathways mediate the effects of climate change on maternal reproductive traits in a red deer population

Temporal changes in phenological traits arising as a consequence of recent rapid environmental change have been widely demonstrated in animal populations. Increasingly, studies are seeking to understand the impact of changes in such traits on individual fitness and population dynamics, with the ultimate aim of predicting population persistence or extinction under different climate scenarios. Here, we examined the effects of environmental change on maternal reproductive traits in a wild population of red deer (Cervus elaphus) and sought to explain why, despite a rapid advance in offspring birth dates, we observed no apparent consequences for offspring fitness. By using path analysis, we identified both direct and indirect paths along which changes in environmental conditions affected birth date, birth mass, juvenile survival, and female fecundity. In general, warmer temperatures were associated with earlier birth dates and greater birth mass, and higher rainfall was associated with reduced juvenile survival and reduced female fecundity. We also examined concurrent effects of population density, maternal age, and reproductive history, and found that temporal stasis in average trait values, at least in part, could be explained by antagonistic roles of direct and indirect effects of changing climate and increasing population density. Identification of the many mechanisms that contribute to the dynamics of phenotypic traits is challenging; this study demonstrates the need to consider both climatic and demographic variation in order to understand the fitness consequences of changes in phenological traits. Read More: http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/13-0967.

Experimental study of digital image processing techniques for LANDSAT data

The author has identified the following significant results. Results are reported for: (1) subscene registration, (2) full scene rectification and registration, (3) resampling techniques, (4) and ground control point (GCP) extraction. Subscenes (354 pixels x 234 lines) were registered to approximately 1/4 pixel accuracy and evaluated by change detection imagery for three cases: (1) bulk data registration, (2) precision correction of a reference subscene using GCP data, and (3) independently precision processed subscenes. Full scene rectification and registration results were evaluated by using a correlation technique to measure registration errors of 0.3 pixel rms thoughout the full scene. Resampling evaluations of nearest neighbor and TRW cubic convolution processed data included change detection imagery and feature classification. Resampled data were also evaluated for an MSS scene containing specular solar reflections

The diet of the Tasmanian Devil, Sarcophilus harrisii, as determined from analysis of scat and stomach contents

Knowledge of the diets of carnivores is an essential precursor to understanding their role as predators in ecosystems. To date, understanding of the diet of Tasmanian Devils, Sarcophilus harrisii, is limited and based upon largely qualitative descriptions. We examined the diets of Tasmanian Devils at six sites by identifying undigested hair, bone and feathers found in their scats. These sites range across different habitat types in coastal and inland Tasmania, and encompass devil populations that are known as both free of the Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD) and populations that are infected by the disease. Tasmanian Devil scats at coastal sites (n=27) contained ten species of mammal, as well as birds, fish and insects. Scats collected from inland sites (n= 17) were comprised of six mammalian species, birds and invertebrates. The most common food items were birds, Common Brushtail and Ringtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula and Pseudocheirus peregrinus respectively), Tasmanian Pademelons (Thylogale billardierii) and Bennett's Wallabies (Macropus ruftgriseus). O fall the scats, 61% contained only one food group, 32% contained two groups, 4% contained three food items and only one scat (2%) contained four food groups. We supplement this information with stomach contents from road-killed devils, and compare our results with those of previous studies, with a view to furthering our understanding ofthe ecology ofthe threatened Tasmanian Devil. Such information will be important for the management of wild and captive devil populations, particularly in light of DFTD