Preferences, power, and the determination of working hours

Preferences, power, and the determination of working hour

Good vibrations: Do electrical therapeutic massagers work?

Health, leisure and beauty activities are increasing in popularity, with a particular emphasis on self-help and alternative health practices. One product type that has increased sales with this expansion is the hand-held electric massager. These are products that use vibration as a means of alleviating muscular strains and pains, as well as promoting relaxation. Paradoxically, these products are extremely popular as gifts, but are soon discarded. A multi-disciplinary research team was commissioned by a British manufacturer of electrical consumer products to investigate user attitudes and perceptions of existing massagers, to identify areas of user dissatisfaction. The manufacturer was also concerned about a possible stigma attached to these products because of an association with sex aids. This paper provides an account of the perceptions of both consumers and therapists regarding the use of these products. Identifying the differences between the perceptions of consumers and therapists should help provide a basis for effective integration of user needs, manufacturer requirements, designers’ skills and sound therapeutic practice. The results provide insight to support the development of more effective hand-held massagers

Prolonged activation of S6K1 does not suppress IRS or PI-3 kinase signaling during muscle cell differentiation

Background: Myogenesis in C2C12 cells requires the activation of the PI3K/mTOR signaling pathways. Since mTOR signaling can feedback through S6K1 to inhibit the activation of PI3K, the aim of this work was to assess whether feedback from S6K1 played a role in myogenesis and determine whether siRNA mediated knockdown of S6K1 would lead to an increased rate of myotube formation. Results: S6K1 activity increased in a linear fashion following plating and was more than 3-fold higher after Day 3 of differentiation (subconfluent = 11.09 ± 3.05, Day 3 = 29.34 ± 3.58). IRS-1 levels tended to increase upon serum withdrawal but decreased approximately 2-fold (subconfluent = 0.88 ± 0.10, Day 3 = 0.42 ± 0.06) 3 days following differentiation whereas IRS-2 protein remained stable. IRS-1 associated p85 was significantly reduced upon serum withdrawal (subconfluent = 0.86 ± 0.07, Day 0 = 0.31 ± 0.05), remaining low through day 1. IRS-2 associated p85 decreased following serum withdrawal (subconfluent = 0.96 ± 0.05, Day 1 = 0.56 ± 0.08) and remained suppressed up to Day 3 following differentiation (0.56 ± 0.05). Phospho-tyrosine associated p85 increased significantly from subconfluent to Day 0 and remained elevated throughout differentiation. siRNA directed against S6K1 and S6K2 did not result in changes in IRS-1 levels after either 48 or 96 hrs. Furthermore, neither 48 nor 96 hrs of S6K1 knockdown caused a change in myotube formation. Conclusions: Even though S6K1 activity increases throughout muscle cell differentiation and IRS-1 levels decrease over this period, siRNA suggests that S6K1 is not mediating the decrease in IRS-1. The decrease in IRS-1/2 associated p85 together with the increase in phospho-tyrosine associated p85 suggests that PI3K associates primarily with scaffolds other than IRS-1/2 during muscle cell differentiation

New Labour and work-time regulation: a Marxian analysis of the UK economy

This paper examines the impact of work-time regulation, introduced by the UK's New Labour governments (1997 to 2010). In doing so, we return to Marx's hypotheses regarding the length of the working day. These include the arguments that class conflict over the length of the working day is inherently distributional in a surplus-value sense and that workers often display a preference for reduced hours even with a proportionate reduction in pay. Our quantitative Marxist methodology provides a way of assessing the pattern of surplus-value before and during the period of office of the New Labour governments and the distributional effects of regulation. The impact of such regulations on workers' preferences are examined through an investigation of British Household Panel Survey data. Although many have been sceptical concerning the record of the last Labour governments, policies such as the Working Time Regulations (1998) and the Work-Life Balance Campaign (2000) are found to have been noteworthy innovations in the labour market. This is all the more important given recent moves by the successor government to weaken work-time regulation. Our results suggest the impact of these policy initiatives was broadly favourable, though the effect on men and women was different

Mutations in the Drosophila melanogaster gene three rows permit aspects of mitosis to continue in the absence of chromatid segregation

We have cloned the three rows (thr) gene, by a combination of chromosome microdissection and P element tagging. We describe phenotypes of embryos homozygous for mutations at the thr locus. Maternal mRNA and protein appear to be sufficient to allow 14 rounds of mitosis in embryos homozygous for thr mutations. However, a small percentage of cells in syncytial blastoderm stage thr embryos sink into the interior of the embryo as if they have failed to divide properly. Following cellularisation all cells complete mitosis 14 normally. All cells become delayed at mitosis 15 with their chromosomes remaining aligned on the spindle in a metaphase-like configuration, even though both cyclins A and B have both been degraded. As cyclin B degradation occurs at the metaphase-anaphase transition, subsequent to the microtubule integrity checkpoint, the delay induced by mutations at the thr locus defines a later point in mitotic progression. Chromosomes in the cells of thr embryos do not undertake anaphase separation, but remain at the metaphase plate. Subsequently they decondense. A subset of nuclei go on to replicate their DNA but there is no further mitotic division

Molecular brakes regulating mTORC1 activation in skeletal muscle following synergist ablation

The goal of the current work was to profile positive (mTORC1 activation, autocrine/paracrine growth factors) and negative [AMPK, unfolded protein response (UPR)] pathways that might regulate overload-induced mTORC1 (mTOR complex 1) activation with the hypothesis that a number of negative regulators of mTORC1 will be engaged during a supraphysiological model of hypertrophy. To achieve this, mTORC1- IRS-1/2 signaling, BiP/CHOP/IRE1, and AMPK activation were determined in rat plantaris muscle following synergist ablation (SA). SA resulted in significant increases in muscle mass of 4% per day throughout the 21 days of the experiment. The expression of the insulin-like growth factors (IGF) were high throughout the 21st day of overload. However, IGF signaling was limited, since IRS-1 and -2 were undetectable in the overloaded muscle from day 3 to day 9. The decreases in IRS-1/2 protein were paralleled by increases in GRB10 Ser501/503 and S6K1 Thr389 phosphorylation, two mTORC1 targets that can destabilize IRS proteins. PKB Ser473 phosphorylation was higher from 3– 6 days, and this was associated with increased TSC2 Thr939 phosphorylation. The phosphorylation of TSC2 Thr1345 (an AMPK site) was also elevated, whereas phosphorylation at the other PKB site, Thr1462, was unchanged at 6 days. In agreement with the phosphorylation of Thr1345, SA led to activation of AMPK1 during the initial growth phase, lasting the first 9 days before returning to baseline by day 12. The UPR markers CHOP and BiP were elevated over the first 12 days following ablation, whereas IRE1 levels decreased. These data suggest that during supraphysiological muscle loading at least three potential molecular brakes engage to downregulate mTORC1. m

Treating and Preventing Influenza in Aged Care Facilities: A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial

PMCID: PMC3474842This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

CENP-meta, an Essential Kinetochore Kinesin Required for the Maintenance of Metaphase Chromosome Alignment in Drosophila

CENP-meta has been identified as an essential, kinesin-like motor protein in Drosophila. The 257-kD CENP-meta protein is most similar to the vertebrate kinetochore-associated kinesin-like protein CENP-E, and like CENP-E, is shown to be a component of centromeric/kinetochore regions of Drosophila chromosomes. However, unlike CENP-E, which leaves the centromere/kinetochore region at the end of anaphase A, the CENP-meta protein remains associated with the centromeric/kinetochore region of the chromosome during all stages of the Drosophila cell cycle. P-element–mediated disruption of the CENP-meta gene leads to late larval/pupal stage lethality with incomplete chromosome alignment at metaphase. Complete removal of CENP-meta from the female germline leads to lethality in early embryos resulting from defects in metaphase chromosome alignment. Real-time imaging of these mutants with GFP-labeled chromosomes demonstrates that CENP-meta is required for the maintenance of chromosomes at the metaphase plate, demonstrating that the functions required to establish and maintain chromosome congression have distinguishable requirements

Glycogen Content Regulates Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Receptor-∂ (PPAR-∂) Activity in Rat Skeletal Muscle

Performing exercise in a glycogen depleted state increases skeletal muscle lipid utilization and the transcription of genes regulating mitochondrial β-oxidation. Potential candidates for glycogen-mediated metabolic adaptation are the peroxisome proliferator activated receptor (PPAR) coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) and the transcription factor/nuclear receptor PPAR-∂. It was therefore the aim of the present study to examine whether acute exercise with or without glycogen manipulation affects PGC-1α and PPAR-∂ function in rodent skeletal muscle. Twenty female Wistar rats were randomly assigned to 5 experimental groups (n = 4): control [CON]; normal glycogen control [NG-C]; normal glycogen exercise [NG-E]; low glycogen control [LG-C]; and low glycogen exercise [LG-E]). Gastrocnemius (GTN) muscles were collected immediately following exercise and analyzed for glycogen content, PPAR-∂ activity via chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays, AMPK α1/α2 kinase activity, and the localization of AMPK and PGC-1α. Exercise reduced muscle glycogen by 47 and 75% relative to CON in the NG-E and LG-E groups, respectively. Exercise that started with low glycogen (LG-E) finished with higher AMPK-α2 activity (147%, p<0.05), nuclear AMPK-α2 and PGC-1α, but no difference in AMPK-α1 activity compared to CON. In addition, PPAR-∂ binding to the CPT1 promoter was significantly increased only in the LG-E group. Finally, cell reporter studies in contracting C2C12 myotubes indicated that PPAR-∂ activity following contraction is sensitive to glucose availability, providing mechanistic insight into the association between PPAR-∂ and glycogen content/substrate availability. The present study is the first to examine PPAR-∂ activity in skeletal muscle in response to an acute bout of endurance exercise. Our data would suggest that a factor associated with muscle contraction and/or glycogen depletion activates PPAR-∂ and initiates AMPK translocation in skeletal muscle in response to exercise

Reducing the risk of iatrogenic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease by improving the cleaning of neurosurgical instruments

Background: In all, there have been 178 variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD) patients diagnosed in the UK, with an estimated maximum 1:2000 carriage rate based on archived appendix and tonsil tissue, implying that infection may be rare but carriage relatively frequent. Previous workers have identified that maintenance of surgical instruments in a humid atmosphere after use and prior to cleaning assists cleaning efficacy. Recently the Department of Health/Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens UK have recommended a surgical instrument cleanliness threshold post cleaning of &lt;5 μg protein per instrument side. Aim: To quantify cleanliness of neurosurgical instruments and to investigate cost-effective measures for improved cleaning. Methods: Two instrument protein quantification methods were used: one based on the International Standard (15883 series) using sodium dodecyl sulphate elution and ortho-phthalaldehyde reaction, and a second in-situ protein fluorescence detection system (ProReveal) providing results per instrument side. In-vitro investigation of the efficacy of some commercial and in-house pre-clean wetting agents was undertaken using artificial test soil and stainless steel discs under standard conditions. In-vivo evaluation of best-performing in-vitro agents was undertaken on craniotomy sets. Findings: ProReveal technology demonstrated that 163 out of 187 (87%) neurosurgical instruments had &lt;5 μg residual protein per instrument side. The use of proprietary National Health Service plastic bags and sterile water-soaked wound pads were equivalent in efficacy to commercial pre-cleaning wetting products and significantly less expensive. Conclusion: Although we demonstrate low in-situ protein levels on neurosurgical instruments and the beneficial effects of keeping instruments moist, other cleaning critical-control points such as instrument loading patterns should also be monitored