Please mind the gap: students’ perspectives of the transition in academic skills between A-level and degree level geography

This paper explores first-year undergraduates’ perceptions of the transition from studying geography at pre-university level to studying for a degree. This move is the largest step students make in their education, and the debate about it in the UK has been reignited due to the government’s planned changes to A-level geography. However, missing from most of this debate is an appreciation of the way in which geography students themselves perceive their transition to university. This paper begins to rectify this absence. Using student insights, we show that their main concern is acquiring the higher level skills required for university learning

Neutrophil-specific deletion of the CARD9 gene expression regulator suppresses autoantibody-induced inflammation in vivo

Neutrophils are terminally differentiated cells with limited transcriptional activity. The biological function of their gene expression changes is poorly understood. CARD9 regulates transcription during antifungal immunity but its role in sterile inflammation is unclear. Here we show that neutrophil CARD9 mediates pro-inflammatory chemokine/cytokine but not lipid mediator release during non-infectious inflammation. Genetic deficiency of CARD9 suppresses autoantibody-induced arthritis and dermatitis in mice. Neutrophil-specific deletion of CARD9 is sufficient to induce that phenotype. Card9(-/-) neutrophils show defective immune complex-induced gene expression changes and pro-inflammatory chemokine/cytokine release but normal LTB4 production and other short-term responses. In vivo deletion of CARD9 reduces tissue levels of pro-inflammatory chemokines and cytokines but not LTB4. The CARD9-mediated signalling pathway involves Src-family kinases, Syk, PLCγ2, Bcl10/Malt1 and NFκB. Collectively, CARD9-mediated gene expression changes within neutrophils play important roles during non-infectious inflammation in vivo and CARD9 acts as a divergence point between chemokine/cytokine and lipid mediator release

BHPR research: qualitative1. Complex reasoning determines patients' perception of outcome following foot surgery in rheumatoid arhtritis

Background: Foot surgery is common in patients with RA but research into surgical outcomes is limited and conceptually flawed as current outcome measures lack face validity: to date no one has asked patients what is important to them. This study aimed to determine which factors are important to patients when evaluating the success of foot surgery in RA Methods: Semi structured interviews of RA patients who had undergone foot surgery were conducted and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis of interviews was conducted to explore issues that were important to patients. Results: 11 RA patients (9 ♂, mean age 59, dis dur = 22yrs, mean of 3 yrs post op) with mixed experiences of foot surgery were interviewed. Patients interpreted outcome in respect to a multitude of factors, frequently positive change in one aspect contrasted with negative opinions about another. Overall, four major themes emerged. Function: Functional ability & participation in valued activities were very important to patients. Walking ability was a key concern but patients interpreted levels of activity in light of other aspects of their disease, reflecting on change in functional ability more than overall level. Positive feelings of improved mobility were often moderated by negative self perception ("I mean, I still walk like a waddling duck”). Appearance: Appearance was important to almost all patients but perhaps the most complex theme of all. Physical appearance, foot shape, and footwear were closely interlinked, yet patients saw these as distinct separate concepts. Patients need to legitimize these feelings was clear and they frequently entered into a defensive repertoire ("it's not cosmetic surgery; it's something that's more important than that, you know?”). Clinician opinion: Surgeons' post operative evaluation of the procedure was very influential. The impact of this appraisal continued to affect patients' lasting impression irrespective of how the outcome compared to their initial goals ("when he'd done it ... he said that hasn't worked as good as he'd wanted to ... but the pain has gone”). Pain: Whilst pain was important to almost all patients, it appeared to be less important than the other themes. Pain was predominately raised when it influenced other themes, such as function; many still felt the need to legitimize their foot pain in order for health professionals to take it seriously ("in the end I went to my GP because it had happened a few times and I went to an orthopaedic surgeon who was quite dismissive of it, it was like what are you complaining about”). Conclusions: Patients interpret the outcome of foot surgery using a multitude of interrelated factors, particularly functional ability, appearance and surgeons' appraisal of the procedure. While pain was often noted, this appeared less important than other factors in the overall outcome of the surgery. Future research into foot surgery should incorporate the complexity of how patients determine their outcome Disclosure statement: All authors have declared no conflicts of interes

Cultural and serological analysis of the salmonella status of Australian pig production

The microbiological quality of food of animal origin is receiving widespread scrutiny as outbreaks of food-borne disease are increasingly reported in developed countries. In Australia, the pig industry has embarked on a national program to define and enhance the quality, including microbiological quality, of pig meat. The National Pig Meat Hygiene Program (PMHP) is part of this initiative, and aims to develop baseline data for microorganisms on pig meat, including public health pathogens, and to develop and implement management strategies to enhance the microbial quality of Australia\u27s pig meat production. The study reported here measured salmonella contamination on pig meat and carcases sampled nationwide, and adapted and validated an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for evaluating the salmonella infection status of pig herds

Doxorubicin In Vivo Rapidly Alters Expression and Translation of Myocardial Electron Transport Chain Genes, Leads to ATP Loss and Caspase 3 Activation

BackgroundDoxorubicin is one of the most effective anti-cancer drugs but its use is limited by cumulative cardiotoxicity that restricts lifetime dose. Redox damage is one of the most accepted mechanisms of toxicity, but not fully substantiated. Moreover doxorubicin is not an efficient redox cycling compound due to its low redox potential. Here we used genomic and chemical systems approaches in vivo to investigate the mechanisms of doxorubicin cardiotoxicity, and specifically test the hypothesis of redox cycling mediated cardiotoxicity.Methodology/principal findingsMice were treated with an acute dose of either doxorubicin (DOX) (15 mg/kg) or 2,3-dimethoxy-1,4-naphthoquinone (DMNQ) (25 mg/kg). DMNQ is a more efficient redox cycling agent than DOX but unlike DOX has limited ability to inhibit gene transcription and DNA replication. This allowed specific testing of the redox hypothesis for cardiotoxicity. An acute dose was used to avoid pathophysiological effects in the genomic analysis. However similar data were obtained with a chronic model, but are not specifically presented. All data are deposited in the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Pathway and biochemical analysis of cardiac global gene transcription and mRNA translation data derived at time points from 5 min after an acute exposure in vivo showed a pronounced effect on electron transport chain activity. This led to loss of ATP, increased AMPK expression, mitochondrial genome amplification and activation of caspase 3. No data gathered with either compound indicated general redox damage, though site specific redox damage in mitochondria cannot be entirely discounted.Conclusions/significanceThese data indicate the major mechanism of doxorubicin cardiotoxicity is via damage or inhibition of the electron transport chain and not general redox stress. There is a rapid response at transcriptional and translational level of many of the genes coding for proteins of the electron transport chain complexes. Still though ATP loss occurs with activation caspase 3 and these events probably account for the heart damage

Decontamination of pork carcases with hot water or acidified sodium chlorite- a comparison in two Australian abattoirs

A decontamination trial on the effectiveness of hot water and acidified sodium chlorite (SANOVA™) treatment on TVC, E. coli and Salmonella spp. was undertaken on a total of 852 pork carcases prior to primary chilling in two pork abattoirs in Australia using belly-strip excision sampling. Test pigs were selected from herds with a known high level of on-fam1 Salmonella infection. For control carcases at Abattoirs A and B, mean log10 Total Viable Count was 4.06 and 3.00 cfu/gram compared with 1.81 and 2. 09 cfu/gram, for hot water and 2. 76 and 2.53 cfu/gram for SAN OVA ™ treated carcases, respectively

Biology of archaea from a novel family Cuniculiplasmataceae (Thermoplasmata) ubiquitous in hyperacidic environments

The order Thermoplasmatales (Euryarchaeota) is represented by the most acidophilic organisms known so far that are poorly amenable to cultivation. Earlier culture-independent studies in Iron Mountain (California) pointed at an abundant archaeal group, dubbed 'G-plasma'. We examined the genomes and physiology of two cultured representatives of a Family Cuniculiplasmataceae, recently isolated from acidic (pH 1-1.5) sites in Spain and UK that are 16S rRNA gene sequence-identical with 'G-plasma'. Organisms had largest genomes among Thermoplasmatales (1.87-1.94 Mbp), that shared 98.7-98.8% average nucleotide identities between themselves and 'G-plasma' and exhibited a high genome conservation even within their genomic islands, despite their remote geographical localisations. Facultatively anaerobic heterotrophs, they possess an ancestral form of A-type terminal oxygen reductase from a distinct parental clade. The lack of complete pathways for biosynthesis of histidine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, lysine and proline pre-determines the reliance on external sources of amino acids and hence the lifestyle of these organisms as scavengers of proteinaceous compounds from surrounding microbial community members. In contrast to earlier metagenomics-based assumptions, isolates were S-layer-deficient, non-motile, non-methylotrophic and devoid of iron-oxidation despite the abundance of methylotrophy substrates and ferrous iron in situ, which underlines the essentiality of experimental validation of bioinformatic predictions

Structure of the Full-Length Major Pilin from Streptococcus pneumoniae: Implications for Isopeptide Bond Formation in Gram-Positive Bacterial Pili

The surface of the pneumococcal cell is adorned with virulence factors including pili. The major pilin RrgB, which forms the pilus shaft on pathogenic Streptococcus pneumoniae, comprises four immunoglobulin (Ig)-like domains, each with a common CnaB topology. The three C-terminal domains are each stabilized by internal Lys-Asn isopeptide bonds, formed autocatalytically with the aid of an essential Glu residue. The structure and orientation of the crucial N-terminal domain, which provides the covalent linkage to the next pilin subunit in the shaft, however, remain incompletely characterised. We report the crystal structure of full length RrgB, solved by X-ray crystallography at 2.8 Å resolution. The N-terminal (D1) domain makes few contacts with the rest of the RrgB structure, and has higher B-factors. This may explain why D1 is readily lost by proteolysis, as are the N-terminal domains of many major pilins. D1 is also found to have a triad of Lys, Asn and Glu residues in the same topological positions as in the other domains, yet mass spectrometry and the crystal structure show that no internal isopeptide bond is formed. We show that this is because β-strand G of D1, which carries the Asn residue, diverges from β-strand A, carrying the Lys residue, such that these residues are too far apart for bond formation. Strand G also carries the YPKN motif that provides the essential Lys residue for the sortase-mediated intermolecular linkages along the pilus shaft. Interaction with the sortase and formation of the intermolecular linkage could result in a change in the orientation of this strand, explaining why isopeptide bond formation in the N-terminal domains of some major pilins appears to take place only upon assembly of the pili

Prevalence and Characterization of Motile Salmonella in Commercial Layer Poultry Farms in Bangladesh

Salmonella is a globally widespread food-borne pathogen having major impact on public health. All motile serovars of Salmonella enterica of poultry origin are zoonotic, and contaminated meat and raw eggs are an important source to human infections. Information on the prevalence of Salmonella at farm/holding level, and the zoonotic serovars circulating in layer poultry in the South and South-East Asian countries including Bangladesh, where small-scale commercial farms are predominant, is limited. To investigate the prevalence of Salmonella at layer farm level, and to identify the prevalent serovars we conducted a cross-sectional survey by randomly selecting 500 commercial layer poultry farms in Bangladesh. Faecal samples from the selected farms were collected following standard procedure, and examined for the presence of Salmonella using conventional bacteriological procedures. Thirty isolates were randomly selected, from the ninety obtained from the survey, for serotyping and characterized further by plasmid profiling and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Results of the survey showed that the prevalence of motile Salmonella at layer farm level was 18% (95% confidence interval 15–21%), and Salmonella Kentucky was identified to be the only serovar circulating in the study population. Plasmid analysis of the S. Kentucky and non-serotyped isolates revealed two distinct profiles with a variation of two different sizes (2.7 and 4.8 kb). PFGE of the 30 S. Kentucky and 30 non-serotyped isolates showed that all of them were clonally related because only one genotype and three subtypes were determined based on the variation in two or three bands. This is also the first report on the presence of any specific serovar of Salmonella enterica in poultry in Bangladesh