Single shot, temporally and spatially resolved measurements of fast electron dynamics using a chirped optical probe

A new approach to rear surface optical probing is presented that permits multiple, time-resolved 2D measurements to be made during a single, ultra-intense ( > 1018 W cm−2) laser-plasma interaction. The diagnostic is capable of resolving rapid changes in target reflectivity which can be used to infer valuable information on fast electron transport and plasma formation at the target rear surface. Initial results from the Astra-Gemini laser are presented, with rapid radial sheath expansion together with detailed filamentary features being observed to evolve during single shots

Throwing more light on the dark side of psychopathy: An extension of previous findings for the revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory

Despite previous studies of psychopathy and the motivational systems of the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) of personality, few have examined psychopathy in light of the revised RST model. In a large sample (N= 779) of young adults, we expand on Hughes, Moore, Morris, and Corr's (2012) preliminary findings relating primary/secondary psychopathy to revised RST's three systems: Flight-Flight-Freeze System (FFFS), Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS), and Behavioral Approach System (BAS). Converging results between Hughes et al. and the current study emphasize three major findings: (1) primary psychopathy is negatively related to the BIS as well as the FFFS; (2) primary psychopathy is positively related to goal-driven behavior of the BAS; and, (3) secondary psychopathy is positively related to impulsivity reflected in the BAS. The FFFS was incrementally predictive of primary but not secondary psychopathy. No evidence for a BAS × BIS interaction in psychopathy was found. Results are discussed in terms of future research directions

Diagnosis and management of schistosomiasis

The authors’ studies on schistosomiasis have received financial support from various sources including: the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases; the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia; the Wellcome Trust (UK); the Sandler Foundation (USA); the Dana Foundation (USA); and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Evaluating the use of enterprise to create synergies between graduate skills development, career management and successful induction

We planned an evaluative study into the use of the entrepreneurial visual planning tool ‘XING’ in the ‘FLUX’ competition format (Working Knowledge, 2011) during induction week at a University of Plymouth Colleges (UPC) Partner. This college is one of 18 working in partnership with the University to provide Higher Education (HE), primarily in the form of Foundation Degrees (FDs), in a Further Education (FE) environment. Foundations degrees were designed to bring together academic and vocational experiences by building on the principles of employer engagement and work-based learning. Entry to HE has been acknowledged as a stressful time for undergraduates as they adjust to a new educational environment, social groupings and academic expectations (Edward, 2003). For HE in FE students this transition has to consider the scope of the foundation degree, preparing them for the academic as well as the professional education they will undergo. With these issues in mind, the project itself aimed to:Explore the potential of employing XING to ease students’ transition into HE; Raise students’ awareness of the synergies between academic study, graduate skills and the workplace; Raise awareness amongst staff involved in the delivery of UPC programmes of the potential for using activities such as XING during induction to build peer networks and introduce graduate skills. Background to / Context of Project:A positive experience during the induction period is perceived as influencing undergraduates’ retention and academic achievement during their period of study (Hargreaves, 1998). Induction needs to prepare students for the transitions they will ( Hussey and Smith’s (2010). FDs, provided in primarily-FE environments, provide HE to a diverse student body (HEFCE 2006) with the need to fulfil the task of “… develop[ing] key skills and employability, and offer[ing] clear routes into the labour market …” whilst including academic-study to ensure the effectiveness of routes into “… further learning” (Blunkett, 2000). The highly conceptual nature of all of this poses risks for students’ perceptions of the value of their HE, which was born out in recent research where many UPC FD students did not appreciate the value of their course in relation to career development (Dismore et al, 2010). As recognised in the literature, there is therefore need to enhance support for students to make the link between academic study and employment (Hicks et al, 2009), as well as pedagogic research focus on these ‘non traditional’ student experiences (Leese, 2010). Two sources within the literature, Anderson and Krathwohl’s (2001) revised approach to cognitive taxonomy and Harvey et al’s (1997) report on graduate employability, have proved useful for identifying synergies between employability and academic study. Harvey et al’s (1997) three levels of employee contribution (‘adaptive’, ‘adaptable’ and ‘transformative’) align progressively with Anderson and Krathwohl’s (2001) cognitive processes, which in turn can be applied to two types of knowledge and skills: 1. subject specific, and 2. transformative, generic or abstract. The former is generally the purpose of assignments, the ‘task’, and the latter is generally incidental to that purpose (Cherney, 2008) and driven by the ‘prescribed approach’. One such approach, or particular interest is group work, which not only develops specific abstract attributes that align with social transitions but can also aid in academic and personal transitions, as described by “social-cultural theories” (Martin, 2005); a collective title for a breadth of theories supported in a wealth of literature as a factor in successful transition both into and through HE (Lave and Wenger, 1991; Tinto, 1993; Surowiecki, 2004; Edward, 2001; Mackie, 2001; Lund and Smørdal, 2006; Wheeler et al 2008; Leese 2010). Although it is not possible for cross-course induction activities to focus closely on subject specific knowledge and skills, due to obvious cognate differences and variations in requisite knowledge prior to any specific HE teaching, it is possible to focus on abstract, generic and transferable skills, their place in HE and the synergies with employability. XING is a visual planning tool that leads students through the key decisions in business planning, and a competition format which employs group work, idea generation, time constraints, communication with experts, and presentations through a focus on the commercialisation of ideas. Undertaken in an HE environment the objective is to align academic study with commercial awareness and the importance of developing abstract skills and attributes, which was the basis for this induction activity

AMPK Causes Cell Cycle Arrest in LKB1-deficient Cells via Activation of CAMKK2

The AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is activated by phosphorylation at Thr172, either by the tumor suppressor kinase LKB1 or by an alternate pathway involving the Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent kinase, CAMKK2. Increases in AMP:ATP and ADP:ATP ratios, signifying energy deficit, promote allosteric activation and net Thr172 phosphorylation mediated by LKB1, so that the LKB1-AMPK pathway acts as an energy sensor. Many tumor cells carry loss-of-function mutations in the STK11 gene encoding LKB1, but LKB1 re-expression in these cells causes cell cycle arrest. Therefore, it was investigated as to whether arrest by LKB1 is caused by activation of AMPK or of one of the AMPK-related kinases, which are also dependent on LKB1 but are not activated by CAMKK2. In three LKB1-null tumor cell lines, treatment with the Ca(2+) ionophore A23187 caused a G1-arrest that correlated with AMPK activation and Thr172 phosphorylation. In G361 cells, expression of a truncated, CAMKK2 mutant also caused G1-arrest similar to that caused by expression of LKB1, while expression of a dominant negative AMPK mutant, or a double knockout of both AMPK-α subunits, also prevented the cell cycle arrest caused by A23187. These mechanistic findings confirm that AMPK activation triggers cell cycle arrest, and also suggest that the rapid proliferation of LKB1-null tumor cells is due to lack of the restraining influence of AMPK. However, cell cycle arrest can be restored by re-expressing LKB1 or a constitutively active CAMKK2, or by pharmacological agents that increase intracellular Ca(2+) and thus activate endogenous CAMKK2. IMPLICATIONS: Evidence here reveals that the rapid growth and proliferation of cancer cells lacking the tumor suppressor LKB1 is due to reduced activity of AMPK, and suggests a therapeutic approach by which this block might be circumvented

Movement of forest-dependent dung beetles through riparian buffers in Bornean oil palm plantations

ABSTRACT Fragmentation of tropical forests is increasing globally, with negative impacts for biodiversity. In Southeast Asia, expansion of oil palm agriculture has caused widespread deforestation, forest degradation, and fragmentation. Persistence of forest-dependent species within these fragmented landscapes is likely to depend on the capacity of individuals to move between forest patches. In oil palm landscapes, riparian buffers along streams and rivers are potential movement corridors, but their use by moving animals is poorly studied. We examined how six dung beetle species traversed riparian buffers connected to a continuous forest reserve area within an oil palm plantation in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. We used a mark-release-recapture study and a new Bayesian Joint Species Movement Modelling (JSMM) approach, extended to a continuous capture process model. Dung beetle species were fairly generalist in their habitat use, but two species showed a statistically-supported preference for riparian buffer forest over oil palm, and one species showed a strong preference for forest reserve over riparian buffer, indicating the importance of forested areas within oil palm landscapes for some species. A land-use change simulation indicated that the loss of riparian buffers in oil palm will result in reduced movement by forest-dependent species. Synthesis and applications: Our results provide evidence for the use of riparian buffers in oil palm plantations for forest-dependent dung beetle species, strengthening the case for their retention, restoration, and re-establishment. Furthermore, our study demonstrates the wider applicability of the Joint Species Movement Modelling (JSMM) framework to assess movement behaviour of species in fragmented landscapes, a vital tool for future forest and landscape management and conservation prioritisation exercises.Peer reviewe

A novel procedure for precise quantification of Schistosoma japonicum eggs in bovine feces

Schistosomiasis japonica is a zoonosis with a number of mammalian species acting as reservoir hosts, including water buffaloes which can contribute up to 75% to human transmission in the People's Republic of China. Determining prevalence and intensity of Schistosoma japonicum in mammalian hosts is important for calculating transmission rates and determining environmental contamination. A new procedure, the formalin-ethyl acetate sedimentation-digestion (FEA-SD) technique, for increased visualization of S. japonicum eggs in bovine feces, is described that is an effective technique for identifying and quantifying S. japonicum eggs in fecal samples from naturally infected Chinese water buffaloes and from carabao (water buffalo) in the Philippines. The procedure involves filtration, sedimentation, potassium hydroxide digestion and centrifugation steps prior to microscopy. Bulk debris, including the dense cellulosic material present in bovine feces, often obscures schistosome eggs with the result that prevalence and infection intensity based on direct visualization cannot be made accurately. This technique removes nearly 70% of debris from the fecal samples and renders the remaining debris translucent. It allows improved microscopic visualization of S. japonicum eggs and provides an accurate quantitative method for the estimation of infection in bovines and other ruminant reservoir hosts. We show that the FEA-SD technique could be of considerable value if applied as a surveillance tool for animal reservoirs of S. japonicum, particularly in areas with low to high infection intensity, or where, following control efforts, there is suspected elimination of schistosomiasis japonica.This work was partially supported by the following grants: The National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (grant No. 2007AA02Z153), and National Science and Technology Major Program (grant Nos. 2009ZX10004-302, 2008ZX10004-011)

The effects of climatic fluctuations and extreme events on running water ecosystems

Most research on the effects of environmental change in freshwaters has focused on incremental changes in average conditions, rather than fluctuations or extreme events such as heatwaves, cold snaps, droughts, floods or wildfires, which may have even more profound consequences. Such events are commonly predicted to increase in frequency, intensity and duration with global climate change, with many systems being exposed to conditions with no recent historical precedent. We propose a mechanistic framework for predicting potential impacts of environmental fluctuations on running water ecosystems by scaling up effects of fluctuations from individuals to entire ecosystems. This framework requires integration of four key components: effects of the environment on individual metabolism, metabolic and biomechanical constraints on fluctuating species interactions, assembly dynamics of local food webs and mapping the dynamics of the meta-community onto ecosystem function. We illustrate the framework by developing a mathematical model of environmental fluctuations on dynamically assembling food webs. We highlight (currently limited) empirical evidence for emerging insights and theoretical predictions. For example, widely supported predictions about the effects of environmental fluctuations are: high vulnerability of species with high per capita metabolic demands such as large-bodied ones at the top of food webs; simplification of food web network structure and impaired energetic transfer efficiency; reduced resilience and top-down relative to bottom-up regulation of food web and ecosystem processes. We conclude by identifying key questions and challenges that need to be addressed to develop more accurate and predictive bio-assessments of the effects of fluctuations, and implications of fluctuations for management practices in an increasingly uncertain world