41 research outputs found
Preventive evidence into practice (PEP) study: implementation of guidelines to prevent primary vascular disease in general practice protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial
There are significant gaps in the implementation and uptake of evidence-based guideline recommendations for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes in Australian general practice. This study protocol describes the methodology for a cluster randomised trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a model that aims to improve the implementation of these guidelines in Australian general practice developed by a collaboration between researchers, non-government organisations, and the profession.This study is funded by an Australian National Health and Medical Research
Council (NHMRC) Partnership grant (ID 568978) together with the Australian
National Heart Foundation, Royal Australian College of General Practitioners,
and the BUPA Foundation. MH is supported by a NHMRC Senior Principle
Research Fellowship
Conserved Genes Act as Modifiers of Invertebrate SMN Loss of Function Defects
Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is caused by diminished function of the Survival of Motor Neuron (SMN) protein, but the molecular pathways critical for SMA pathology remain elusive. We have used genetic approaches in invertebrate models to identify conserved SMN loss of function modifier genes. Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans each have a single gene encoding a protein orthologous to human SMN; diminished function of these invertebrate genes causes lethality and neuromuscular defects. To find genes that modulate SMN function defects across species, two approaches were used. First, a genome-wide RNAi screen for C. elegans SMN modifier genes was undertaken, yielding four genes. Second, we tested the conservation of modifier gene function across species; genes identified in one invertebrate model were tested for function in the other invertebrate model. Drosophila orthologs of two genes, which were identified originally in C. elegans, modified Drosophila SMN loss of function defects. C. elegans orthologs of twelve genes, which were originally identified in a previous Drosophila screen, modified C. elegans SMN loss of function defects. Bioinformatic analysis of the conserved, cross-species, modifier genes suggests that conserved cellular pathways, specifically endocytosis and mRNA regulation, act as critical genetic modifiers of SMN loss of function defects across species
Spectroscopic studies of the nature of ligand bonding in carbonmonoxyhemoglobins: evidence of a specific function for histidine-E7 from infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance intensities
Infrared spectra of carbon monoxide ligated hemoglobins
from human, horse, and rabbit donors have been
examined. A single vibrational frequency at 1951 cm^(-1) is
observed for CO bound to the heme in horse and human hemoglobins.
Studies of the isolated Ξ±-CO and Ξ² -CO subunits
of human hemoglobin reveal that the observation of a single
frequency in the intact tetramer is the result of a superposition
of the Ξ±-CO and Ξ²-CO vibrational frequencies. The apparent
integrated absorption intensities of these CO vibrations are
shown both to have values of 1.0 X 10^5 M^(-1) cm^(-2) within experimental
error. For rabbit CO-Hb two vibrational frequencies appear (Caughey, W. S., et al. (1973) Fed. Proc.,
Fed. Am. Soc. Exp. Biol. 32, 552) and are assigned to CO
bound to the Ξ² (1951 cm^(-1)) and a (1928 cm^(-1)) subunits within
the intact tetramer. The Ξ²-CO subunit exhibits both frequency
and intensity similarities with horse and human hemoglobins.
The rabbit Ξ±-CO subunit, however, exhibits a markedly lower
frequency and much smaller intensity compared with the other
CO-hemoglobins. These data are interpreted in terms of a
specific role for the distal histidine (E7) in rabbit a subunits,
in which this histidine functions as a nucleophilic donor to
coordinated CO
^(13)C nuclear magnetic resonance studies of the binding of isocyanides to various hemoglobins and myoglobins
Interactions between ethyl and isopropyl isocyanides
and various hemoglobins and myoglobins have been
studied by ^(13)C nuclear magnetic resonance. The results indicate
that the chemical shift of the bound isocyanide depends
on the structure of the hemoglobin subunit or myoglobin. The
resonances exhibited by isocyanides bound to myoglobin are
sensitive to pH in contrast to the situation with rabbit and
human hemoglobins. Ξ² subunits of opossum, rabbit, and human
hemoglobins show a significantly greater preferential affinity for CO relative to EIC than do Ξ± subunits which have allowed
the assignment of resonances. Rabbit, human, and opossum
hemoglobin subunits bind ethyl isocyanide without observable
preferences and an excess of DPG does not appear to affect this
random order of ligation. In contrast, an excess of IHP seems
to cause preferential ligation of the Ξ± subunits in these hemoglobins.
The results have been used to gain insights into the
differing characteristics of the ligand binding pockets of these
various hemoglobins
Folklore of the Menomini Indians. Anthropological papers of the AMNH ; v. 13, pt. 3.
1 p. l., p. 217-546. 25 cm.Bibliography: p. 544-546
Identification of Guanylyl Cyclases That Function in Thermosensory Neurons of Caenorhabditis elegans
The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans senses temperature primarily via the AFD thermosensory neurons in the head. The response to temperature can be observed as a behavior called thermotaxis on thermal gradients. It has been shown that a cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channel (CNG channel) plays a critical role in thermosensation in AFD. To further identify the thermosensory mechanisms in AFD, we attempted to identify components that function upstream of the CNG channel by a reverse genetic approach. Genetic and behavioral analyses showed that three members of a subfamily of gcy genes (gcy-8, gcy-18, and gcy-23) encoding guanylyl cyclases were essential for thermotaxis in C. elegans. Promoters of each gene drove reporter gene expression exclusively in the AFD neurons and, moreover, tagged proteins were localized to the sensory endings of AFD. Single mutants of each gcy gene showed almost normal thermotaxis. However, animals carrying double and triple mutations in these genes showed defective thermotaxis behavior. The abnormal phenotype of the gcy triple mutants was rescued by expression of any one of the three GCY proteins in the AFD neurons. These results suggest that three guanylyl cyclases function redundantly in the AFD neurons to mediate thermosensation by C. elegans
Wireless Mouth Motion Recognition System Based on EEG-EMG Sensors for Severe Speech Impairments
This study aims to demonstrate the feasibility of using a new wireless electroencephalography (EEG)βelectromyography (EMG) wearable approach to generate characteristic EEG-EMG mixed patterns with mouth movements in order to detect distinct movement patterns for severe speech impairments. This paper describes a method for detecting mouth movement based on a new signal processing technology suitable for sensor integration and machine learning applications. This paper examines the relationship between the mouth motion and the brainwave in an effort to develop nonverbal interfacing for people who have lost the ability to communicate, such as people with paralysis. A set of experiments were conducted to assess the efficacy of the proposed method for feature selection. It was determined that the classification of mouth movements was meaningful. EEG-EMG signals were also collected during silent mouthing of phonemes. A few-shot neural network was trained to classify the phonemes from the EEG-EMG signals, yielding classification accuracy of 95%. This technique in data collection and processing bioelectrical signals for phoneme recognition proves a promising avenue for future communication aids