Morphological Variability Within Dictyoneurum californicum and Dictyoneurum reticulatum Along a Wave Exposure Gradient on the Monterey Peninsula

The ability of kelps to change the physical characteristics of their thallus in response to their environment can be both functionally and ecologically important to the individual and their local surroundings, especially relative to variability in wave exposure. For decades, Dictyoneurum reticulatum and Dictyoneurum californicum have been studied independently along the Monterey Peninsula, where there is a well-studied wave exposure gradient. Recent genetic work has shown that these two species are genetically indistinct from one another. However, there is a deficit in the knowledge and understanding of the morphological variety within Dictyoneurum and role that wave exposure may play in determining characteristics used to distinguish species. This study tested for morphological variability within the Dictyoneurum genus to document the range of morphological traits and to determine whether or not the morphological traits were genetically fixed or plastic. Year-long observational surveys were conducted in tandem with common garden experiments along a well-established wave exposure gradient on the Monterey Peninsula. I found that depth and wave exposure determined the presence of the characteristic midrib trait, where individuals with midribs were significantly more likely to be found at sheltered sites or only at deeper depths at the exposed sites. Individuals that grew in clumps were also significantly more likely to lack a midrib and split completely through the lamina versus individuals that grew solitarily, that more likely had a midrib and did not split at all. The results based on midrib and splitting presence were most significant at the intermediate sites, whereas the two extreme sites did not show that much diversity in morphological traits. There was no significant difference in growth or morphological characteristics throughout the common garden experiment, suggesting that the morphological characteristics of the midrib and splitting were not genetically fixed. The results of my study suggest that the morphological characteristic of the midrib that is currently used to distinguish between D. californicum and D. reticulatum is plastic and therefore, should no longer be used for species identification for this genus

Microvascular function in normal and complicated pregnancy

Microvascular dysfunction has been proposed as a link between clinical risk factors and cardiovascular disease. Many of these risk factors have also been proposed to predispose to complications of pregnancy such as pre-eclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction. My aims therefore, were to consider cardiovascular risk factors in relation to microvascular function in normal and complicated pregnancy using the novel, non-invasive technique, laser Doppler perfusion imaging in an attempt to examine potential mechanisms of such complications. In chapter two I describe the development of our methodology for in-vivo examination of skin microvascular function, using iontophoresis of acetylcholine (ACh), an endothelium dependent vasodilator, and sodium nitroprusside (SNP), an endothelium independent vasodilator, in conjunction with a laser Doppler perfusion imager. In chapter three I examined the possible mechanisms of this effect in an attempt to reduce or eliminate this artefact. I noted voltage across chambers containing drug and salt solutions were significantly lower than the voltage profile of H2O alone and eliminated this artefact. Voltage time integral rather than charge was the prime determinant of electrically induced hyperaemic responses. Hyperaemic responses appeared to be prostaglandin dependent as they were ablated by cyclooxygenase inhibition. Therefore, use of a low resistance vehicle combined with larger chamber sizes and lower currents can prevent such artefacts, increasing the robust nature of this methodology for clinical assessment of endothelial function. In chapter four I considered the effects of the increasingly prevalent cardiovascular risk factor, obesity, on maternal metabolic and vascular function. In chapter five, I examined pregnant women with type 1 diabetes. Our aim was to compare vascular function, metabolic and inflammatory risk factors prospectively, in the antenatal and postpartum periods. In chapter six I examined cutaneous microvascular function in pre-eclamptic women. I also considered circulating markers of endothelial damage and simultaneously measured lipid and cytokine levels. In chapter seven I aimed to test the hypothesis that insulin resistance, inflammation, and hyperlipidaemia would persist in women with a history of pre-eclampsia and secondly that within this group there would exist demonstrable endothelial dysfunction. I demonstrated that women with a past history of pre-eclampsia have increased plasma concentrations of the inflammatory markers, VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 and impaired endothelial dependent vasodilatation, 15 years or more after the index pregnancy, hi conclusion therefore, these data may suggest that the phenotype associated with pre-eclampsia is linked to novel mechanisms underlying coronary heart disease. Therefore, I have developed a robust mechanism for the in-vivo assessment of cutaneous microvascular function. This has been used to demonstrate impaired microvascular responses in pregnant women with an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease in pregnancy and in later life. I have also demonstrated impaired microvascular function in women with a past history of pre-eclampsia. These observations have been closely related to both traditional (metabolic) and novel (inflammatory) cardiovascular risk factors. However, using this technique I have demonstrated that in-vivo endothelial dysfunction in women with preeclampsia may be secondary to differences in BMI. Also women with lUGR tend to be thinner and have less of an atherogenic metabolic disruption, perhaps suggesting a systemic cardio-protective role for "leanness" in this group. Leptin concentrations are elevated in pre-eclampsia, independent of BMI, and I propose roles for leptin both as a placental response to ischaeinia and in the pathophysiology of pre-eclampsia. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)

Six month durability of targeted cognitive training supplemented with social cognition exercises in schizophrenia.

Background:Deficits in cognition, social cognition, and motivation are significant predictors of poor functional outcomes in schizophrenia. Evidence of durable benefit following social cognitive training is limited. We previously reported the effects of 70 h of targeted cognitive training supplemented with social cognitive exercises (TCT + SCT) verses targeted cognitive training alone (TCT). Here, we report the effects six months after training. Methods:111 participants with schizophrenia spectrum disorders were randomly assigned to TCT + SCT or TCT-only. Six months after training, thirty-four subjects (18 TCT + SCT, 16 TCT-only) were assessed on cognition, social cognition, reward processing, symptoms, and functioning. Intent to treat analyses was used to test the durability of gains, and the association of gains with improvements in functioning and reward processing were tested. Results:Both groups showed durable improvements in multiple cognitive domains, symptoms, and functional capacity. Gains in global cognition were significantly associated with gains in functional capacity. In the TCT + SCT group, participants showed durable improvements in prosody identification and reward processing, relative to the TCT-only group. Gains in reward processing in the TCT + SCT group were significantly associated with improvements in social functioning. Conclusions:Both TCT + SCT and TCT-only result in durable improvements in cognition, symptoms, and functional capacity six months post-intervention. Supplementing TCT with social cognitive training offers greater and enduring benefits in prosody identification and reward processing. These results suggest that novel cognitive training approaches that integrate social cognitive exercises may lead to greater improvements in reward processing and functioning in individuals with schizophrenia

Nurses\u27 Alumnae Association Bulletin, June 1969

Alumnae President\u27s Message Officers and Chairmen Financial Report Progressive Changes at Jefferson School of Nursing Report Student Activities School of Practical Nursing Report Jefferson Expansion Report Clerk-Typist Report Committee Reports Resume of Alumnae Meetings Class News 1969 CLINIC Correspondence Notice

Sustained Effectiveness of the Maternal Pertussis Immunization Program in England 3 Years Following Introduction.

The effectiveness of maternal immunization in preventing infant pertussis was first demonstrated in England, 1 year after the program using diphtheria-tetanus-5-component acellular pertussis-inactivated polio vaccine (dT5aP-IPV) was introduced in 2012. Vaccine effectiveness against laboratory-confirmed pertussis has been sustained >90% in the 3 years following its introduction, despite changing to another acellular vaccine with different antigen composition. Consistent with this, disease incidence in infants <3 months of age has remained low despite high activity persisting in those aged 1 year and older. Vaccine effectiveness against infant deaths was estimated at 95% (95% confidence interval, 79%-100%). Additional protection from maternal immunization is retained in infants who received their first dose of the primary series. There is no longer evidence of additional protection from maternal vaccination after the third infant dose. Although numbers are small and ongoing assessment is required, there is no evidence of increased risk of disease after primary immunization in infants whose mothers received maternal vaccination

Association between Ophthalmic Timolol and Hospitalisation for Bradycardia

Introduction. Ophthalmic timolol, a topical nonselective beta-blocker, has the potential to be absorbed systemically which may cause adverse cardiovascular effects. This study was conducted to determine whether initiation of ophthalmic timolol was associated with an increased risk of hospitalisation for bradycardia. Materials and Methods. A self-controlled case-series study was undertaken in patients who were hospitalised for bradycardia and were exposed to timolol. Person-time after timolol initiation was partitioned into risk periods: 1–30 days, 31–180 days, and >180 days. A 30-day risk period prior to initiating timolol was also included. All remaining time was considered unexposed. Results. There were 6,373 patients with at least one hospitalisation for bradycardia during the study period; 267 were exposed to timolol. Risk of bradycardia was significantly increased in the 31–180 days after timolol initiation (incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 1.93; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.00–1.87). No increased risk was observed in the first 30 days or beyond 180 days of continuous exposure (IRR = 1.40; 95% CI 0.87–2.26 and IRR = 1.21; 95% CI 0.64–2.31, resp.). Conclusion. Bradycardia is a potential adverse event following timolol initiation. Practitioners should consider patient history before choosing a glaucoma regime and closely monitor patients after treatment initiation with topical nonselective beta-blocker eye drops

Associations between inflammation, coagulation, cardiac strain and injury, and subclinical vascular disease with frailty in older men: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Inflammation, coagulation activation, endothelial dysfunction and subclinical vascular disease are cross-sectionally associated with frailty. Cardiac-specific biomarkers are less-well characterised. We assessed associations between these and frailty, in men with, and without, cardiovascular disease (CVD). METHODS: Cross-sectional analysis of 1096 men without, and 303 with, CVD, aged 71–92, from the British Regional Heart Study. Multinominal logistic regression was performed to examine the associations between frailty status (robust/pre-frail/frail) and, separately, C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), D-dimer, von Willebrand factor (vWF), high-sensitivity cardiac troponin-T (hs-cTnT), N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) (all natural log-transformed), and, in men without CVD, carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV), carotid distensibility coefficient (DC), and ankle-brachial pressure index (ABPI), adjusted for age, renal function, BMI, social class, smoking, polypharmacy, cognition, multimorbidity and systolic blood pressure. Explanatory variables with p < 0.05 were carried forward into mutually-adjusted analysis. RESULTS: In men without CVD, higher CRP, IL-6, vWF, tPA, hs-cTnT, NT-proBNP, cfPWV, and lower DC were significantly associated with frailty; mutually-adjusted, log IL-6 (OR for frailty = 2.02, 95%CI 1.38–2.95), log hs-cTnT (OR = 1.95, 95%CI 1.24–3.05) and DC (OR = 0.92, 95%CI 0.86–0.99) retained associations. In men with CVD, higher CRP, IL-6, and hs-cTnT, but not vWF, tPA, NT-proBNP or D-dimer, were significantly associated with frailty; mutually-adjusted, log hs-cTnT (OR 3.82, 95%CI 1.84–7.95) retained a significant association. CONCLUSIONS: In older men, biomarkers of myocardial injury are associated with frailty. Inflammation is associated with frailty in men without CVD. Carotid artery stiffness is associated with frailty in men without CVD, independently of these biomarkers

A Plasmid-Transposon Hybrid Mutagenesis System Effective in a Broad Range of Enterobacteria.

Random transposon mutagenesis is a powerful technique used to generate libraries of genetic insertions in many different bacterial strains. Here we develop a system facilitating random transposon mutagenesis in a range of different Gram-negative bacterial strains, including Pectobacterium atrosepticum, Citrobacter rodentium, Serratia sp. ATCC39006, Serratia plymuthica, Dickeya dadantii, and many more. Transposon mutagenesis was optimized in each of these strains and three studies are presented to show the efficacy of this system. Firstly, the important agricultural pathogen D. dadantii was mutagenized. Two mutants that showed reduced protease production and one mutant producing the previously cryptic pigment, indigoidine, were identified and characterized. Secondly, the enterobacterium, Serratia sp. ATCC39006 was mutagenized and mutants incapable of producing gas vesicles, proteinaceous intracellular organelles, were identified. One of these contained a β-galactosidase transcriptional fusion within the gene gvpA1, essential for gas vesicle production. Finally, the system was used to mutate the biosynthetic gene clusters of the antifungal, anti-oomycete and anticancer polyketide, oocydin A, in the plant-associated enterobacterium, Dickeya solani MK10. The mutagenesis system was developed to allow easy identification of transposon insertion sites by sequencing, after facile generation of a replicon encompassing the transposon and adjacent DNA, post-excision. Furthermore, the system can also create transcriptional fusions with either β-galactosidase or β-glucuronidase as reporters, and exploits a variety of drug resistance markers so that multiple selectable fusions can be generated in a single strain. This system of various transposons has wide utility and can be combined in many different ways.The authors would like to acknowledge several funding sources. D. Smith was supported by a PhD studentship from the BBSRC. Work in the MW lab is supported by the BBSRC (grants BB/G015171/1 and BB/M019411/1). K. Roberts was funded by an MRC studentship. R. Monson and the Salmond lab were supported by grants from the BBSRC (Grant No Provisional BB/K001833/1). M.A. Matilla was supported by the EU Marie-Curie Intra-European Fellowship for Career Development (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF), grant number 298003. B. Richardson was supported by a Harry Smith vacation studentship from the SGM, UK. The authors would also like to thank Ray Chai for careful reading and comments on this manuscript. Alison Drew provided technical support. Work with plant pathogens was carried out under DEFRA licence No. 50864/197900/1.This is the final version of the article. It was first available from Frontiers via http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.0144