Being, Thinking, Writing 'With'

Once upon a time there were three women: they were known as ‘the woman in black’, ‘the grey-haired woman with the well-developed sense of humor’ and ‘the rather quiet woman with the capacity to shock’. These women, who had known each other for quite some time, were all physicists. They were also friends. As physicists, the woman in black, the grey-haired woman with the well-developed sense of humour and the rather quiet woman with the capacity to shock had learned, and now shared, ‘a specific vocabulary, grammar and rhetoric’. They knew what could count as a scientific observation, ‘what standards of accuracy in determining observations [were] possible, how the words of common language [were] restricted and refined for use in [their particular] scientific discipline’. They knew how to tell the ‘truth’. Rational knowledge and empirical evidence were no strangers to these women who were well versed in what could count as an argument. Consequently, it was said by some that these women constituted a microcosmic rational community

Effects of repeated intermittent episodes of social stress on the acquisition and extinction of a reward-seeking task

Repeated exposure to stress is known to have a myriad of effects on the brain, contributing to the development of psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety, depression, and drug addiction. For example, rats undergoing repeated social stress develop increased cocaine self-administration. These effects of stress are not well-understood and are related to changes in the brain reward system. This study investigated the effects of repeated social stress on reward-seeking behavior via the acquisition and extinction of a discriminative stimulus (DS) task and on anxiety-like behavior in the elevated plus maze (EPM). Male rats underwent intermittent social defeat (4 sessions in 10 days) using the resident-intruder paradigm. Animals were tested in the DS task in between stress sessions for Experiment 1 and one month after the last session for Experiment 2. The EPM was conducted 3 days after the last stress session. In the DS task, stress did not change the acquisition of reward-seeking behavior in the days in between stress sessions, and Stress and Control groups responded similarly to reward-seeking cues. However, stress did affect reward-seeking behavior in the long term, as the Stress group averaged less responses during the first extinction trial one month after stress, indicating a faster extinction response. In addition, the Stress group spent more time in the open arms of the EPM than the Control group, exhibiting a higher tendency towards risk-taking behavior. These results suggest that social stress does not produce effects in the reward system in the short term, but does produce changes in the long term

Effects of repeated intermittent episodes of social stress on the acquisition and extinction of a reward-seeking task

Undergraduate students: Nikki Sullivan, Department of Biology, Neuroscience Minor; Hanna Shaffer, Department of BiologyMajor/Minor: Major: Biology, Neuroscience, ChemistryFaculty advisor: Alberto del Arco, Department of Health, Exercise Science, and Sports Recreation Management, School of Applied Scienceshttps://egrove.olemiss.edu/neuro_showcase/1009/thumbnail.jp

Genomic survey of candidate stress-response genes in the estuarine anemone Nematostella vectensis

Author Posting. © Marine Biological Laboratory, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of Marine Biological Laboratory for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Biological Bulletin 214 (2008): 233-254.Salt marshes are challenging habitats due to natural variability in key environmental parameters including temperature, salinity, ultraviolet light, oxygen, sulfides, and reactive oxygen species. Compounding this natural variation, salt marshes are often heavily impacted by anthropogenic insults including eutrophication, toxic contamination, and coastal development that alter tidal and freshwater inputs. Commensurate with this environmental variability, estuarine animals generally exhibit broader physiological tolerances than freshwater, marine, or terrestrial species. One factor that determines an organism's physiological tolerance is its ability to upregulate "stress-response genes" in reaction to particular stressors. Comparative studies on diverse organisms have identified a number of evolutionarily conserved genes involved in responding to abiotic and biotic stressors. We used homology-based scans to survey the sequenced genome of Nematostella vectensis, the starlet sea anemone, an estuarine specialist, to identify genes involved in the response to three kinds of insult—physiochemical insults, pathogens, and injury. Many components of the stress-response networks identified in triploblastic animals have clear orthologs in the sea anemone, meaning that they must predate the cnidarian-triploblast split (e.g., xenobiotic receptors, biotransformative genes, ATP-dependent transporters, and genes involved in responding to reactive oxygen species, toxic metals, osmotic shock, thermal stress, pathogen exposure, and wounding). However, in some instances, stress-response genes known from triploblasts appear to be absent from the Nematostella genome (e.g., many metal-complexing genes). This is the first comprehensive examination of the genomic stress-response repertoire of an estuarine animal and a member of the phylum Cnidaria. The molecular markers of stress response identified in Nematostella may prove useful in monitoring estuary health and evaluating coastal conservation efforts. These data may also inform conservation efforts on other cnidarians, such as the reef-building corals.AMR was supported by a Postdoctoral Scholar Program at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, with funding provided by The Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries, and the J. Seward Johnson Fund. NTK was supported by a graduate research training grant from the National Institutes of Health. This research was also supported by NSF grant FP-91656101-0 to JCS and JRF, EPA grant F5E11155 to AMR and JRF, and a grant from the Conservation International Marine Management Area Science Program to JRF

Conservative interventions for urinary or faecal incontinence, or both, in adults with multiple sclerosis

© 2018 The Cochrane Collaboration. This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows: To assess the effects of conservative interventions for urinary or faecal incontinence (or both) in adults with multiple sclerosis, compared to no treatment, sham and usual care, any other active treatment, or another conservative treatment. To critically appraise and summarise the current evidence on resource use, costs and cost effectiveness of conservative interventions for adults with urinary or faecal incontinence (or both) and MS. We will make the following comparisons. Conservative treatment versus no treatment Conservative treatment versus sham treatment Conservative treatment versus usual care Conservative treatment versus pharmacological treatment Conservative treatment versus surgical treatment Conservative treatment versus any other conservative treatmen

The NAtional randomised controlled Trial of Tonsillectomy IN Adults (NATTINA) : a clinical and cost-effectiveness study: study protocol for a randomised control trial

This project is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme (project number 12/146/06).BACKGROUND: The role of tonsillectomy in the management of adult tonsillitis remains uncertain and UK regional variation in tonsillectomy rates persists. Patients, doctors and health policy makers wish to know the costs and benefits of tonsillectomy against conservative management and whether therapy can be better targeted to maximise benefits and minimise risks of surgery, hence maximising cost-effective use of resources. NATTINA incorporates the first attempt to map current NHS referral criteria against other metrics of tonsil disease severity. METHODS/DESIGN: A UK multi-centre, randomised, controlled trial for adults with recurrent tonsillitis to compare the clinical and cost-effectiveness of tonsillectomy versus conservative management. An initial feasibility study comprises qualitative interviews to investigate the practicality of the protocol, including willingness to randomise and be randomised. Approximately 20 otolaryngology staff, 10 GPs and 15 ENT patients will be recruited over 5 months in all 9 proposed main trial participating sites. A 6-month internal pilot will then recruit 72 patients across 6 of the 9 sites. Participants will be adults with recurrent acute tonsillitis referred by a GP to secondary care. Randomisation between tonsillectomy and conservative management will be according to a blocked allocation method in a 1:1 ratio stratified by centre and baseline disease severity. If the pilot is successful, the main trial will recruit a further 528 patients over 18 months in all 9 participating sites. All participants will be followed up for a total of 24 months, throughout which both primary and secondary outcome data will be collected. The primary outcome is the number of sore throat days experienced over the 24-month follow-up. The pilot and main trials include an embedded qualitative process evaluation. DISCUSSION: NATTINA is designed to evaluate the relative effectiveness and efficiency of tonsillectomy versus conservative management in patients with recurrent sore throat who are eligible for surgery. Most adult tonsil disease and surgery has an impact on economically active age groups, with individual and societal costs through loss of earnings and productivity. Avoidance of unnecessary operations and prioritisation of those individuals likely to gain most from tonsillectomy would reduce costs to the NHS and society. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN55284102, Date of Registration: 4 August 2014.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The NAtional randomised controlled Trial of Tonsillectomy IN Adults (NATTINA): a clinical and cost-effectiveness study: study protocol for a randomised control trial

Background The role of tonsillectomy in the management of adult tonsillitis remains uncertain and UK regional variation in tonsillectomy rates persists. Patients, doctors and health policy makers wish to know the costs and benefits of tonsillectomy against conservative management and whether therapy can be better targeted to maximise benefits and minimise risks of surgery, hence maximising cost-effective use of resources. NATTINA incorporates the first attempt to map current NHS referral criteria against other metrics of tonsil disease severity. Methods/design A UK multi-centre, randomised, controlled trial for adults with recurrent tonsillitis to compare the clinical and cost-effectiveness of tonsillectomy versus conservative management. An initial feasibility study comprises qualitative interviews to investigate the practicality of the protocol, including willingness to randomise and be randomised. Approximately 20 otolaryngology staff, 10 GPs and 15 ENT patients will be recruited over 5 months in all 9 proposed main trial participating sites. A 6-month internal pilot will then recruit 72 patients across 6 of the 9 sites. Participants will be adults with recurrent acute tonsillitis referred by a GP to secondary care. Randomisation between tonsillectomy and conservative management will be according to a blocked allocation method in a 1:1 ratio stratified by centre and baseline disease severity. If the pilot is successful, the main trial will recruit a further 528 patients over 18 months in all 9 participating sites. All participants will be followed up for a total of 24 months, throughout which both primary and secondary outcome data will be collected. The primary outcome is the number of sore throat days experienced over the 24-month follow-up. The pilot and main trials include an embedded qualitative process evaluation. Discussion NATTINA is designed to evaluate the relative effectiveness and efficiency of tonsillectomy versus conservative management in patients with recurrent sore throat who are eligible for surgery. Most adult tonsil disease and surgery has an impact on economically active age groups, with individual and societal costs through loss of earnings and productivity. Avoidance of unnecessary operations and prioritisation of those individuals likely to gain most from tonsillectomy would reduce costs to the NHS and society

Developing Poetry as a Research Methodology with Rarer Forms of Dementia: Four Research Protocols

People living with rarer forms of dementia tend to have progressive cognitive symptoms affecting skills other than memory and/or onset before the age of 65 years. They are often misdiagnosed and due to symptom profile or age of onset, do not usually fit well with care pathways designed for older people with typical Alzheimer’s disease or vascular dementia. Although the arts have been increasingly used as interventions to support people with dementia, there is very little attention given to rarer dementia forms in arts and health research or practice. The objective of the present international study seeks to systematically explore four diverse forms of poetry writing within this population through virtual and in-person small and large group formats. Our approach includes investigating poetic processes as methodology through the lens of an arts-based methodological approach in order to explore how poems construct knowledge and a felt experience. We will also use more traditional qualitative approaches to understand the experience of writing, reading and listening to poetry as an intervention that can be used with different rarer forms of dementia. To the best of our knowledge, this will be the first study to explore poetry using multiple research protocols. The results will have implications for methodology development, co-constructed poetic inquiry and multiple opportunities for involving poetry in supporting people with dementia and family members

Androgen receptor agonists increase lean mass, improve cardiopulmonary functions and extend survival in preclinical models of Duchenne muscular dystrophy

© The Author 2017. Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a neuromuscular disease that predominantly affects boys as a result of mutation(s) in the dystrophin gene. DMD is characterized by musculoskeletal and cardiopulmonary complications, resulting in shorter life-span. Boys afflicted by DMD typically exhibit symptoms within 3-5 years of age and declining physical functions before attaining puberty. We hypothesized that rapidly deteriorating health of pre-pubertal boys with DMD could be due to diminished anabolic actions of androgens in muscle, and that intervention with an androgen receptor (AR) agonist will reverse musculoskeletal complications and extend survival. While castration of dystrophin and utrophin double mutant (mdx-dm) mice to mimic pre-pubertal nadir androgen condition resulted in premature death, maintenance of androgen levels extended the survival. Non-steroidal selective-AR modulator, GTx-026, which selectively builds muscle and bone was tested in X-linked muscular dystrophy mice (mdx). GTx-026 significantly increased body weight, lean mass and grip strength by 60-80% over vehicle-treated mdx mice. While vehicle-treated castrated mdx mice exhibited cardiopulmonary impairment and fibrosis of heart and lungs, GTx-026 returned cardiopulmonary function and intensity of fibrosis to healthy control levels. GTx-026 elicits its musculoskeletal effects through pathways that are distinct from dystrophin-regulated pathways, making AR agonists ideal candidates for combination approaches. While castration of mdx-dm mice resulted in weaker muscle and shorter survival, GTx-026 treatment increased the muscle mass, function and survival, indicating that androgens are important for extended survival. These preclinical results support the importance of androgens and the need for intervention with AR agonists to treat DMD-affected boys