Developing an Environmentally Responsible Irritant for the British Columbia Octopus Dive Fisheries

Bleach has been used for decades as an irritant in the British Columbia (BC) commercial octopus dive-fishery. Recently the FAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization) declared that using noxious substances in any fishery is considered unlawful, under international law. Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has asked BC octopus fishers to alter their fishing practises to bring them into accord with the FAO declaration and what will be Canadian Law. This paper considers the relative merits of prohibiting bleach in all fisheries and then discusses the current efforts in Northern BC to resolve this concern – including the results of informal dive tests that used a variety of alternative irritants in fall/99. The recommendations in this paper are based on a common sense trade-off between the cost-effectiveness, the safety-in-use, and the environmental friendliness of various irritant solutions. It is the considered opinion of the authors that, when political considerations are ignored, dry-bleach in solution is the best irritant for the BC octopus fishery at this time – suggestions were also made for further testing of other irritants.Keywords: Fishing irritant, octopus fishery, gear-use, environmental harm, externality, field-testing

PCB Drill Path Optimization by Combinatorial Cuckoo Search Algorithm

Optimization of drill path can lead to significant reduction in machining time which directly improves productivity of manufacturing systems. In a batch production of a large number of items to be drilled such as printed circuit boards (PCB), the travel time of the drilling device is a significant portion of the overall manufacturing process. To increase PCB manufacturing productivity and to reduce production costs, a good option is to minimize the drill path route using an optimization algorithm. This paper reports a combinatorial cuckoo search algorithm for solving drill path optimization problem. The performance of the proposed algorithm is tested and verified with three case studies from the literature. The computational experience conducted in this research indicates that the proposed algorithm is capable of efficiently finding the optimal path for PCB holes drilling process

Dura mater-associated Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease:experience from surveillance in the UK

Between 1970 and 2003, seven cases of human dura mater‐associated Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD) were identified in the UK. Furthermore, we identified a case of CJD in a porcine dura graft recipient. The mean incubation period of the human dura mater cases was 93 (range 45–177) months. The clinico‐pathological features of the cases are described and compared with cases previously reported in the world literature

The long-term safety and efficacy of bilateral transplantation of human fetal striatal tissue in patients with mild to moderate Huntington's disease.

Huntington's disease (HD) is a fatal autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease involving progressive motor, cognitive and behavioural decline, leading to death approximately 20 years after motor onset. The disease is characterised pathologically by an early and progressive striatal neuronal cell loss and atrophy, which has provided the rationale for first clinical trials of neural repair using fetal striatal cell transplantation. Between 2000 and 2003, the 'NEST-UK' consortium carried out bilateral striatal transplants of human fetal striatal tissue in five HD patients. This paper describes the long-term follow up over a 3-10-year postoperative period of the patients, grafted and non-grafted, recruited to this cohort using the 'Core assessment program for intracerebral transplantations-HD' assessment protocol. No significant differences were found over time between the patients, grafted and non-grafted, on any subscore of the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale, nor on the Mini Mental State Examination. There was a trend towards a slowing of progression on some timed motor tasks in four of the five patients with transplants, but overall, the trial showed no significant benefit of striatal allografts in comparison with a reference cohort of patients without grafts. Importantly, no significant adverse or placebo effects were seen. Notably, the raclopride positron emission tomography (PET) signal in individuals with transplants, indicated that there was no obvious surviving striatal graft tissue. This study concludes that fetal striatal allografting in HD is safe. While no sustained functional benefit was seen, we conclude that this may relate to the small amount of tissue that was grafted in this safety study compared with other reports of more successful transplants in patients with HD

Staff’s views on delivering patient-led therapy during inpatient stroke rehabilitation: a focus group study with lessons for trial fidelity

Background; Fidelity to the treatment protocol is key to successful trials but often problematic. This article reports the staff’s views on delivering a complex rehabilitation intervention: patient-led therapy during inpatient stroke care. Methods; An exploratory qualitative study using focus groups with staff involved in a multicenter (n = 12) feasibility trial of patient-led therapy (the MAESTRO trial) was undertaken as part of the evaluation process. Purposive sampling ensured that participants represented all recruiting sites, relevant professions and levels of seniority. Data analysis used a Framework Approach. Results; Five focus groups were held involving 30 participants. Five main themes emerged: the effect of the interventions, practical problems, patient-related factors, professional dilemmas, and skills. Staff felt the main effect of the therapies was on patients’ autonomy and occupation; the main practical problems were the patients’ difficulties in achieving the correct position and a lack of space. Staff clearly identified characteristics that made patient-led therapy unsuitable for some patients. Most staff experienced dilemmas over how to prioritize the trial interventions compared to their usual therapy and other clinical demands. Staff also lacked confidence about how to deliver the interventions, particularly when adapting the interventions to individual needs. For each barrier to implementation, possible solutions were identified. Of these, involving other people and establishing a routine were the most common. Conclusions; Delivering rehabilitation interventions within a trial is complex. Staff require time and support to develop the skills, strategies and confidence to identify suitable patients, deliver new treatments, adapt the new treatments to individuals’ needs and balance the demands of delivering the trial intervention according to the treatment protocol with other clinical and professional priorities

The reporting of theoretical health risks by the media: Canadian newspaper reporting of potential blood transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

BACKGROUND: The media play an important role at the interface of science and policy by communicating scientific information to the public and policy makers. In issues of theoretical risk, in which there is scientific uncertainty, the media's role as disseminators of information is particularly important due to the potential to influence public perception of the severity of the risk. In this article we describe how the Canadian print media reported the theoretical risk of blood transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). METHODS: We searched 3 newspaper databases for articles published by 6 major Canadian daily newspapers between January 1990 and December 1999. We identified all articles relating to blood transmission of CJD. In duplicate we extracted information from the articles and entered the information into a qualitative software program. We compared the observations obtained from this content analysis with information obtained from a previous policy analysis examining the Canadian blood system's decision-making concerning the potential transfusion transmission of CJD. RESULTS: Our search identified 245 relevant articles. We observed that newspapers in one instance accelerated a policy decision, which had important resource and health implication, by communicating information on risk to the public. We also observed that newspapers primarily relied upon expert opinion (47 articles) as opposed to published medical evidence (28 articles) when communicating risk information. Journalists we interviewed described the challenges of balancing their responsibility to raise awareness of potential health threats with not unnecessarily arousing fear amongst the public. CONCLUSIONS: Based on our findings we recommend that journalists report information from both expert opinion sources and from published studies when communicating information on risk. We also recommend researchers work more closely with journalists to assist them in identifying and appraising relevant scientific information on risk

Cinnamon extract induces tumor cell death through inhibition of NFκB and AP1

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Cinnamomum cassia </it>bark is the outer skin of an evergreen tall tree belonging to the family Lauraceae containing several active components such as essential oils (cinnamic aldehyde and cinnamyl aldehyde), tannin, mucus and carbohydrate. They have various biological functions including anti-oxidant, anti-microbial, anti-inflammation, anti-diabetic and anti-tumor activity. Previously, we have reported that anti-cancer effect of cinnamon extracts is associated with modulation of angiogenesis and effector function of CD8⁺T cells. In this study, we further identified that anti-tumor effect of cinnamon extracts is also link with enhanced pro-apoptotic activity by inhibiting the activities NFκB and AP1 in mouse melanoma model.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Water soluble cinnamon extract was obtained and quality of cinnamon extract was evaluated by HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) analysis. In this study, we tested anti-tumor activity and elucidated action mechanism of cinnamon extract using various types of tumor cell lines including lymphoma, melanoma, cervix cancer and colorectal cancer <it>in vitro </it>and <it>in vivo </it>mouse melanoma model.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Cinnamon extract strongly inhibited tumor cell proliferation <it>in vitro </it>and induced active cell death of tumor cells by up-regulating pro-apoptotic molecules while inhibiting NFκB and AP1 activity and their target genes such as <it>Bcl-2</it>, <it>BcL-xL </it>and <it>survivin</it>. Oral administration of cinnamon extract in melanoma transplantation model significantly inhibited tumor growth with the same mechanism of action observed <it>in vitro</it>.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our study suggests that anti-tumor effect of cinnamon extracts is directly linked with enhanced pro-apoptotic activity and inhibition of NFκB and AP1 activities and their target genes <it>in vitro </it>and <it>in vivo </it>mouse melanoma model. Hence, further elucidation of active components of cinnamon extract could lead to development of potent anti-tumor agent or complementary and alternative medicine for the treatment of diverse cancers.</p

Raman Spectroscopy and Regenerative Medicine: A Review

The field of regenerative medicine spans a wide area of the biomedical landscape—from single cell culture in laboratories to human whole-organ transplantation. To ensure that research is transferrable from bench to bedside, it is critical that we are able to assess regenerative processes in cells, tissues, organs and patients at a biochemical level. Regeneration relies on a large number of biological factors, which can be perturbed using conventional bioanalytical techniques. A versatile, non-invasive, non-destructive technique for biochemical analysis would be invaluable for the study of regeneration; and Raman spectroscopy is a potential solution. Raman spectroscopy is an analytical method by which chemical data are obtained through the inelastic scattering of light. Since its discovery in the 1920s, physicists and chemists have used Raman scattering to investigate the chemical composition of a vast range of both liquid and solid materials. However, only in the last two decades has this form of spectroscopy been employed in biomedical research. Particularly relevant to regenerative medicine are recent studies illustrating its ability to characterise and discriminate between healthy and disease states in cells, tissue biopsies and in patients. This review will briefly outline the principles behind Raman spectroscopy and its variants, describe key examples of its applications to biomedicine, and consider areas of regenerative medicine that would benefit from this non-invasive bioanalytical tool