Healthy Pacific Grandparents: A Participatory Action Research Project Exploring Ageing Well Amongst Pacific People in New Zealand

The New Zealand older adult population (aged 65+ years) is growing at a faster rate than the younger population, with many of those in the later years living much longer. The proportion of older Pacific people is forecast to reach 4.1% of the country’s total population within the next two decades, highlighting the importance of research focused on ageing Pacific populations. This article sets out the research protocol and methods for the Pacific Islands Families: Healthy Pacific Grandparents’ Study, which aims to investigate older Pacific people’s viewpoints on ageing to identify specific cultural values, perspectives and understandings as the Pacific population in New Zealand ages. The study will recruit and utilize participants from a grandparent cohort that is nested within the families of the longitudinal Pacific Islands Families Study. This study uses a Participatory Action Research approach to position the participants in a leadership role where they are co-researchers involved in both the research and the implementation of recommendations. Utilizing a transformative research process will bring older Pacific people together to define for themselves their needs and their experiences, identify any areas of shortcoming, and support the implementation of solutions through strategic and informed actions

Evaluation of Glutaminase Expression in Prostate Adenocarcinoma and Correlation with Clinicopathologic Parameters

High Glutaminase (GLS1) expression may have prognostic implications in colorectal and breast cancers; however, high quality data for expression in prostate cancer (PCa) are lacking. The purpose of this study is to investigate the status of GLS1 expression in PCa and correlated expression levels with clinicopathologic parameters. This study was conducted in two phases: an exploratory cohort analyzing RNA-Seq data for GLS1 from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data portal (246 PCa samples) and a GLS1 immunohistochemical protein expression cohort utilizing a tissue microarray (TMA) (154 PCa samples; 41 benign samples) for correlation with clinicopathologic parameters. In the TCGA cohort, GLS1 mRNA expression did not show a statistically significant difference in disease-free survival (DFS) but did show a small significant difference in overall survival (OS). In the TMA cohort, there was no correlation between GLS1 expression and stage, Gleason score, DFS and OS. GLS1 expression did not significantly correlate with the clinical outcomes measured; however, GLS1 expression was higher in PCa cells compared to benign epithelium. Future studies are warranted to evaluate expression levels in greater numbers of high-grade and advanced PCa samples to investigate whether there is a rational basis for GLS1 targeted therapy in a subset of patients with prostate cancer

Evidence of Resistance to Cry34/35Ab1 Corn by Western Corn Rootworm (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae): Root Injury in the Field and Larval Survival in Plant-Based Bioassays

Western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is a serious pest of corn in the United States, and recent management of western corn rootworm has included planting of Bt corn. Beginning in 2009, western corn rootworm populations with resistance to Cry3Bb1 corn and mCry3A corn were found in Iowa and elsewhere. To date, western corn rootworm populations have remained susceptible to corn producing Bt toxin Cry34/35Ab1. In this study, we used single-plant bioassays to test field populations of western corn rootworm for resistance to Cry34/35Ab1 corn, Cry3Bb1 corn, and mCry3A corn. Bioassays included nine rootworm populations collected from fields where severe injury to Bt corn had been observed and six control populations that had never been exposed to Bt corn. We found incomplete resistance to Cry34/35Ab1 corn among field populations collected from fields where severe injury to corn producing Cry34/35Ab1, either singly or as a pyramid, had been observed. Additionally, resistance to Cry3Bb1 corn and mCry3A corn was found among the majority of populations tested. These first cases of resistance to Cry34/35Ab1 corn, and the presence of resistance to multiple Bt toxins by western corn rootworm, highlight the potential vulnerability of Bt corn to the evolution of resistance by western corn rootworm. The use of more diversified management practices, in addition to insect resistance management, likely will be essential to sustain the viability of Bt corn for management of western corn rootworm

Succeeding against the odds: can schools ‘compensate for society’?

Education researchers, policy-makers and practitioners in the UK have debated the question of what, and how much, schools can do to mitigate the effects of parental background on educational outcomes over the last half a century. A range of programmes, strategies and interventions have been implemented, and continue to be implemented in an effort to ‘break the link’ between socio-economic disadvantage and low educational outcomes, but educational inequalities have persisted. This paper draws on theoretical and empirical research to offer a new analysis of compensatory education in England across three main phases since the 1960s

Airborne measurements of western U.S. wildfire emissions: Comparison with prescribed burning and air quality implications

Wildfires emit significant amounts of pollutants that degrade air quality. Plumes from three wildfires in the western U.S. were measured from aircraft during the Studies of Emissions and Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS) and the Biomass Burning Observation Project (BBOP), both in summer 2013. This study reports an extensive set of emission factors (EFs) for over 80 gases and 5 components of submicron particulate matter (PM1) from these temperate wildfires. These include rarely, or never before, measured oxygenated volatile organic compounds and multifunctional organic nitrates. The observed EFs are compared with previous measurements of temperate wildfires, boreal forest fires, and temperate prescribed fires. The wildfires emitted high amounts of PM1 (with organic aerosol (OA) dominating the mass) with an average EF that is more than 2 times the EFs for prescribed fires. The measured EFs were used to estimate the annual wildfire emissions of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, total nonmethane organic compounds, and PM1 from 11 western U.S. states. The estimated gas emissions are generally comparable with the 2011 National Emissions Inventory (NEI). However, our PM1 emission estimate (1530 ± 570 Gg yr-1) is over 3 times that of the NEI PM2.5 estimate and is also higher thanthe PM2.5 emitted from all other sources in these states in the NEI. This study indicates that the source of OA from biomass burning in the western states is significantly underestimated. In addition, our results indicate that prescribed burning may be an effective method to reduce fine particle emissions

Fc receptor-like 5 and anti-CD20 treatment response in granulomatosis with polyangiitis and microscopic polyangiitis

BACKGROUND. Baseline expression of FCRL5, a marker of naive and memory B cells, was shown to predict response to rituximab (RTX) in rheumatoid arthritis. This study investigated baseline expression of FCRL5 as a potential biomarker of clinical response to RTX in granulomatosis with polyangiitis (CPA) and microscopic polyangiitis (MPA). METHODS. A previously validated quantitative PCR-based (qPCR-based) platform was used to assess FCRL5 expression in patients with GPA/MPA (RAVE trial, NCT00104299). RESULTS. Baseline FCRL5 expression was significantly higher in patients achieving complete remission (CR) at 6,12, and 18 months, independent of other clinical and serological variables, among those randomized to RTX but not cyclophosphamide-azathioprine (CYC/AZA). Patients with baseline FCRL5 expression >= 0.01 expression units (termed FCRL5(hi)) exhibited significantly higher CR rates at 6,12, and 18 months as compared with FCRL5(lo) subjects (84% versus 57% [P = 0.016], 68% versus 40% [P = 0.02], and 68% versus 29% [P = 0.0009], respectively). CONCLUSION. Our data taken together suggest that FCRL5 is a biomarker of B cell lineage associated with increased achievement and maintenance of complete remission among patients treated with RTX and warrant further investigation in a prospective manner

Physiological and Psychological Effects of Deception on Pacing Strategy and Performance: A Review

The aim of an optimal pacing strategy during exercise is to enhance performance whilst ensuring physiological limits are not surpassed, which has been shown to result in a metabolic reserve at the end of the exercise. There has been debate surrounding the theoretical models that have been proposed to explain how pace is regulated, with more recent research investigating a central control of exercise regulation. Deception has recently emerged as a common, practical approach to manipulate key variables during exercise. There are a number of ways in which deception interventions have been designed, each intending to gain particular insights into pacing behaviour and performance. Deception methodologies can be conceptualised according to a number of dimensions such as deception timing (prior to or during exercise), presentation frequency (blind, discontinuous or continuous) and type of deception (performance, biofeedback or environmental feedback). However, research evidence on the effects of deception has been perplexing and the use of complex designs and varied methodologies makes it difficult to draw any definitive conclusions about how pacing strategy and performance are affected by deception. This review examines existing research in the area of deception and pacing strategies, and provides a critical appraisal of the different methodological approaches used to date. It is hoped that this analysis will inform the direction and methodology of future investigations in this area by addressing the mechanisms through which deception impacts upon performance and by elucidating the potential application of deception techniques in training and competitive settings

On the temperature dependence of organic reactivity, nitrogen oxides, ozone production, and the impact of emission controls in San Joaquin Valley, California

The San Joaquin Valley (SJV) experiences some of the worst ozone air quality in the US, frequently exceeding the California 8 h standard of 70.4 ppb. To improve our understanding of trends in the number of ozone violations in the SJV, we analyze observed relationships between organic reactivity, nitrogen oxides (NO[subscript x]), and daily maximum temperature in the southern SJV using measurements made as part of California at the Nexus of Air Quality and Climate Change in 2010 (CalNex-SJV). We find the daytime speciated organic reactivity with respect to OH during CalNex-SJV has a temperature-independent portion with molecules typically associated with motor vehicles being the major component. At high temperatures, characteristic of days with high ozone, the largest portion of the total organic reactivity increases exponentially with temperature and is dominated by small, oxygenated organics and molecules that are unidentified. We use this simple temperature classification to consider changes in organic emissions over the last and next decade. With the CalNex-SJV observations as constraints, we examine the sensitivity of ozone production (PO[subscript 3]) to future NO[subscript x] and organic reactivity controls. We find that PO[subscript 3] is NO[subscript x]-limited at all temperatures on weekends and on weekdays when daily maximum temperatures are greater than 29 °C. As a consequence, NO[subscript x] reductions are the most effective control option for reducing the frequency of future ozone violations in the southern SJV.California Environmental Protection Agency. Air Resources Board (Contract CARB 08-316)United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NNX10AR36G