A meta-investigation of the use of the labels ‘longitudinal’ and ‘long-term’ in studies of feedback on writing

A number of studies have called for more ‘longitudinal’ research of feedback on writing. However, few offer concrete definitions of the term and in practice it seems to be used inconsistently. The purpose of this meta-investigation was to explore how the terms ‘longitudinal’ and ‘long-term’ are used within the literature on feedback on writing in order to determine what the terms mean in this context. Understanding the ways in which the terms are used will increase clarity in terms of the extent of longitudinal research in the area of feedback on writing and the extent to which further longitudinal research is still needed. Having a clearer understanding of the ways in which the terms are used will help researchers to design research to fill the reported gap. Analysis illustrated discrepancies in the use of the words: a wide range in the length of time, vast difference in the amount of feedback and the number of times feedback was given. It may be prudent for researchers to not only describe their research design using labels, but to also justify the basis on which each label applies to the research

Epigallocatechin-3-gallate: a useful, effective and safe clinical approach for targeted prevention and individualised treatment of neurological diseases

Neurodegenerative disorders show an increasing prevalence in a number of highly developed countries. Often, these diseases require life-long treatment mostly with drugs which are costly and mostly accompanied by more or less serious side-effects. Their heterogeneous manifestation, severity and outcome pose the need for individualised treatment options. There is an intensive search for new strategies not only for treating but also for preventing these diseases. Green tea and green tea extracts seem to be such a promising and safe alternative. However, data regarding the beneficial effects and possible underlying mechanism, specifically in clinical trials, are rare and rather controversial or non-conclusive. This review outlines the existing evidence from preclinical studies (cell and tissue cultures and animal models) and clinical trials regarding preventive and therapeutic effects of epigallcatechin-3-gallate in neurodegenerative diseases and considers antioxidative vs. pro-oxidative properties of the tea catechin important for dosage recommendations

Repro Money: An Extension Program to Improve Dairy Farm Reproductive Performance

A farmer-directed, team-based Extension program (Repro Money) was developed and executed by the University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Dairy Science in collaboration with University of Wisconsin–Extension. The goal of the Repro Money program was to help Wisconsin dairy farmers increase reproductive performance and profitability through identification of areas for improvement and implementation of action plans. For the 40 Wisconsin dairy farms that completed the Repro Money program, mean 21-day pregnancy rate increased by 2 percentage points, which was estimated to result in an economic net gain of $31 per cow per year. Extension professionals can apply similar team-based programs to tackle multifaceted, interrelated problems that may be only partially addressed by other, more traditional programming

Evolutionary-thinking in agricultural weed management

Agricultural weeds evolve in response to crop cultivation. Nevertheless, the central importance of evolutionary ecology for understanding weed invasion, persistence and management in agroecosystems is not widely acknowledged. This paper calls for more evolutionarily-enlightened weed management, in which management principles are informed by evolutionary biology to prevent or minimize weed adaptation and spread. As a first step, a greater knowledge of the extent, structure and significance of genetic variation within and between weed populations is required to fully assess the potential for weed adaptation. The evolution of resistance to herbicides is a classic example of weed adaptation. Even here, most research focuses on describing the physiological and molecular basis of resistance, rather than conducting studies to better understand the evolutionary dynamics of selection for resistance. We suggest approaches to increase the application of evolutionary-thinking to herbicide resistance research. Weed population dynamics models are increasingly important tools in weed management, yet these models often ignore intrapopulation and interpopulation variability, neglecting the potential for weed adaptation in response to management. Future agricultural weed management can benefit from greater integration of ecological and evolutionary principles to predict the long-term responses of weed populations to changing weed management, agricultural environments and global climate

Spin half fermions with mass dimension one: theory, phenomenology, and dark matter

We provide the first details on the unexpected theoretical discovery of a spin-one-half matter field with mass dimension one. It is based upon a complete set of dual-helicity eigenspinors of the charge conjugation operator. Due to its unusual properties with respect to charge conjugation and parity, it belongs to a non-standard Wigner class. Consequently, the theory exhibits non-locality with (CPT)^2 = - I. We briefly discuss its relevance to the cosmological `horizon problem'. Because the introduced fermionic field is endowed with mass dimension one, it can carry a quartic self-interaction. Its dominant interaction with known forms of matter is via Higgs, and with gravity. This aspect leads us to contemplate the new fermion as a prime dark matter candidate. Taking this suggestion seriously we study a supernova-like explosion of a galactic-mass dark matter cloud to set limits on the mass of the new particle and present a calculation on relic abundance to constrain the relevant cross-section. The analysis favours light mass (roughly 20 MeV) and relevant cross-section of about 2 pb. Similarities and differences with the WIMP and mirror matter proposals for dark matter are enumerated. In a critique of the theory we bare a hint on non-commutative aspects of spacetime, and energy-momentum space.Comment: 78 pages [Changes: referee-suggested improvements, additional important references, and better readability

Modified Gravity and Cosmology

In this review we present a thoroughly comprehensive survey of recent work on modified theories of gravity and their cosmological consequences. Amongst other things, we cover General Relativity, Scalar-Tensor, Einstein-Aether, and Bimetric theories, as well as TeVeS, f(R), general higher-order theories, Horava-Lifschitz gravity, Galileons, Ghost Condensates, and models of extra dimensions including Kaluza-Klein, Randall-Sundrum, DGP, and higher co-dimension braneworlds. We also review attempts to construct a Parameterised Post-Friedmannian formalism, that can be used to constrain deviations from General Relativity in cosmology, and that is suitable for comparison with data on the largest scales. These subjects have been intensively studied over the past decade, largely motivated by rapid progress in the field of observational cosmology that now allows, for the first time, precision tests of fundamental physics on the scale of the observable Universe. The purpose of this review is to provide a reference tool for researchers and students in cosmology and gravitational physics, as well as a self-contained, comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the subject as a whole.Comment: 312 pages, 15 figure

Transfection of IL-10 expression vectors into endothelial cultures attenuates α4β7-dependent lymphocyte adhesion mediated by MAdCAM-1

BACKGROUND: Enhanced expression of MAdCAM-1 (mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1) is associated with the onset and progression of inflammatory bowel disease. The clinical significance of elevated MAdCAM-1 expression is supported by studies showing that immunoneutralization of MAdCAM-1, or its ligands reduce inflammation and mucosal damage in models of colitis. Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is an endogenous anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory cytokine that has been shown to prevent inflammation and injury in several animal studies, however clinical IL-10 treatment remains insufficient because of difficulties in the route of IL-10 administration and its biological half-life. Here, we examined the ability of introducing an IL-10 expression vector into endothelial cultures to reduce responses to a proinflammatory cytokine, TNF-α METHODS: A human IL-10 expression vector was transfected into high endothelial venular ('HEV') cells (SVEC4-10); we then examined TNF-α induced lymphocyte adhesion to lymphatic endothelial cells and TNF-α induced expression of MAdCAM-1 and compared these responses to control monolayers. RESULTS: Transfection of the IL-10 vector into endothelial cultures significantly reduced TNF-α induced, MAdCAM-1 dependent lymphocyte adhesion (compared to non-transfected cells). IL-10 transfected endothelial cells expressed less than half (46 ± 6.6%) of the MAdCAM-1 induced by TNF-α (set as 100%) in non-transfected (control) cells. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that gene therapy of the gut microvasculature with IL-10 vectors may be useful in the clinical treatment of IBD

Environmental variation predicts patterns of genomic variation in an African tropical forest frog

Central African rainforests are predicted to be disproportionately affected by future climate change. How species will cope with these changes is unclear, but rapid environmental changes will likely impose strong selection pressures. Here we examined environmental drivers of genomic variation in the central African puddle frog (Phrynobatrachus auritus) to identify areas of elevated environmentally-associated turnover. We also compared current and future climate models to pinpoint areas of high genomic vulnerability where allele frequencies will have to shift the most in order to keep pace with future climate change. Neither physical landscape barriers nor the effects of past Pleistocene refugia influenced genomic differentiation. Alternatively, geographic distance and seasonal aspects of precipitation are the most important drivers of SNP allele frequency variation. Patterns of genomic differentiation coincided with key ecological gradients across the forest-savanna ecotone, montane areas, and a coastal to interior rainfall gradient. Areas of greatest vulnerability were found in the lower Sanaga basin, the southeastern region of Cameroon, and southwest Gabon. In contrast with past conservation efforts that have focused on hotspots of species richness or endemism, our findings highlight the importance of maintaining environmentally heterogeneous landscapes to preserve genomic variation and ongoing evolutionary processes in the face of climate change

Consensus guidelines for the use and interpretation of angiogenesis assays

The formation of new blood vessels, or angiogenesis, is a complex process that plays important roles in growth and development, tissue and organ regeneration, as well as numerous pathological conditions. Angiogenesis undergoes multiple discrete steps that can be individually evaluated and quantified by a large number of bioassays. These independent assessments hold advantages but also have limitations. This article describes in vivo, ex vivo, and in vitro bioassays that are available for the evaluation of angiogenesis and highlights critical aspects that are relevant for their execution and proper interpretation. As such, this collaborative work is the first edition of consensus guidelines on angiogenesis bioassays to serve for current and future reference

Contemporary, Holocene, and Quaternary deformation of the Asal Rift, Djibouti: Implications for the mechanics of slow spreading ridges

International audienceBecause the frequency and character of rifting events along mid‐ocean ridges are largely unknown, how the repetition of such events gives rise to rift structures is unexplored. The Asal rift in the Afar depression of Djibouti, Africa, provides the world's best subaerial analogue for young slow spreading mid‐ocean ridges. Seismic, geodetic, and field observations of a seismovolcanic event in 1978 at Asal yield estimates of the fault and dike locations, geometry, displacement, and volume of basalt extruded in a rifting event. A 6–9 kyr‐old lake shore highstand at Asal has been warped downward by 70 m, providing a Holocene measure of the vertical deformation across the rift. The rift topography furnishes an older datum, which we infer to be 34±6 kyr old using the Holocene deformation rate. We find that faults throughout the rift valley are active; Holocene slip rates diminish beyond 4 km from the rift axis; late Quaternary rates decrease beyond 6–7 km. The Holocene slip rates are used to estimate repeat times by taking the displacement on the faults which slipped in 1978 as characteristic; we find tectonic events on individual faults recur every 200– 300 years. Half the rift faults slipped together in the 1978 event. If this is typical, then groups of faults are activated every 100–150 years. We suggest that half the events take place in the rift axis accompanied by volcanic extrusion; the remainder occur peripheral to the neovolcanic zone and involve fault slip only, both events having a repeat time of 200–300 years. Given the 10 km width of the rift and its 16 mm yr −1 spreading rate, the mean age of the material in the rift should be ∼350 kyr, an order of magnitude older than the inferred age of the formation of the rift topography. The subsidence rate of the rift axis during the past 35 kyr is 8–9 mm yr −1 , with the rate of infilling by volcanic extrusion <1 mm yr −1 . The resulting net subsidence rate, about equal to the half‐spreading rate of the rift, could not be sustained for 300 kyr without significant infilling by lavas. Thus both observations suggest that the long‐term vertical deformation in the rift has not been steady state. Instead, we suggest that there is a rifting/filling cycle at Asal, with the most recent filling episode ending ∼35 kyr