Recurrent chest infections in two young non-smoker men

Pulmonary mucinous cystic carcinomas are rare salivary gland type carcinomas of the lung. They form part of a wide spectrum of mucin secreting glandular mixed type tumours. They comprise 0.1 – 0.2% of all lung tumours. They occur more frequently in young patients and present with cough or recurrent chest infections and therefore may be easily misdiagnosed. Since treatment depends fully on complete surgical resection early diagnosis is essential. Even with treatment the 10-year survival is quoted at 53%. We describe two cases of such rare tumours both of who underwent curative surgical resection. Both patients were younger than 35 years old and presented with recurrent chest infections. The patients were followed for up to eight years and the outcome recorded. A literature search confirms the occurrence in younger patients, who often present with pneumonias and that surgery is the only hope for cure.peer-reviewe

Intramolecular integration within Moloney murine leukemia virus DNA

By screening a library of unintegrated, circular Moloney murine leukemia virus (M-MuLV) DNA cloned in lambda phage, we found that approximately 20% of the M-MuLV DNA inserts contained internal sequence deletions or inversions. Restriction enzyme mapping demonstrated tht the deleted segments frequently abutted a long terminal repeat (LTR) sequence, whereas the inverted segments were usually flanked by LTR sequences, suggesting that many of the variants arose as a consequence of M-MuLV DNA molecules integrating within their own DNA. Nucleotide sequencing also suggested that most of the variant inserts were generated by autointegration. One of the recombinant M-MuLV DNA inserts contained a large inverted repeat of a unique M-MuLV sequence abutting an LTR. This molecule was shown by nucleotide sequencing to have arisen by an M-MuLV DNA Molecule integrating within a second M-MuLV DNA molecule before cloning. The autointegrated M-MuLV DNA had generally lost two base pairs from the LTR sequence at each junction with target site DNA, whereas a four-base-pair direct repeat of target site DNA flanked the integrated viral DNA. Nucleotide sequencing of preintegration target site DNA showed that this four-base-pair direct repeat was present only once before integration and was thus reiterated by the integration event. The results obtained from the autointegrated clones were supported by nucleotide sequencing of the host-virus junction of two cloned M-MuLV integrated proviruses obtained from infected rat cells. Detailed analysis of the different unique target site sequences revealed no obvious common features

A cross-sectional study to explore the mediating effect of intrinsic aspiration on the association between unconditional positive self-regard and posttraumatic growth

Person-centered psychotherapy is based on the growth paradigm of psychological distress. Person-centered therapy is, therefore, ideally placed to facilitate posttraumatic growth. There were two aims of this study. The first was to explore the association between unconditional positive self-regard and the construct of posttraumatic growth. The second was to explore the mediating effect of intrinsic aspirations on the association between unconditional positive self-regard and posttraumatic growth. A cross-sectional correlation design was used to ask a sample of Cypriot origin participants (N = 99) to complete the Unconditional Positive Self-Regard Scale (UPSR), Intrinsic Aspirations subscale of the Aspirations Index and Post Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI). Findings showed that unconditional positive self-regard was significantly positively correlated with posttraumatic growth and that the association between unconditional positive self-regard and posttraumatic growth was successfully partially mediated by intrinsic aspirations. This is the first study to test for the mechanisms by which unconditional positive self-regard predicts posttraumatic growth. The findings also support a link between the phenomenon of posttraumatic growth and person-centered theory at a construct level. Implications for person-centered therapy are discussed and suggestions for further research are proposed

The association between sense of humour and trauma-related mental health outcomes: two exploratory studies

Two studies (n = 73, n = 132) explored the association between sense of humour and trauma related well-being outcomes. It was found that sense of humour was not associated with reports of posttraumatic growth as measured by the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI). Self-enhancing humour was positively associated with positive changes as measured by the CiOQ-P. Benign humour styles were associated negatively with emotion regulation difficulties and negative changes (CiOQ-N). Self-defeating humour was associated positively with negative changes, avoidant states and emotion regulation difficulties. The results suggest that self-enhancing humour could be helpful in order to cope with trauma

Counselling training in higher education in the United Kingdom: challenges and opportunities for research

Many Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) in the United Kingdom (UK) now offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses in counselling. However, counselling is a relatively new and developing profession only beginning to nurture a future generation of research‐active scholars. As such, its development is vulnerable to pressures arising from HEIs preparations for the forthcoming UK Research Excellence Framework (REF). We discuss how counselling is best understood as representing two distinct traditions premised on either a pedagogical or a mental illness discourse. This has implications for how counselling research is situated within HEIs, an understanding of which may help counselling education survive the challenges ahead and find new opportunities to develop and grow. Within HEI's, there is a need to be aware of the different ways of conceptualising the activities of counselling. An opportunity exists to reimagine counselling both as a mental health and as a pedagogical profession

Dispositional Authenticity, Internalized Homonegativity, and Relationship Quality in Same-Gender Couples : An Actor-Partner Interdependence Moderation Model

Additional information Funding The authors received no funding for this study.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Dispositional Authenticity, Facilitativeness, Femininity Ideology, and Dyadic Relationship Functioning in Opposite-Gender Couples : Actor-Partner Interdependence Analysis

Open Access via the Wiley AgreementPeer reviewe

Soft X-ray Excess in the Coma Cluster from a Cosmic Axion Background

We show that the soft X-ray excess in the Coma cluster can be explained by a cosmic background of relativistic axions converting into photons in the cluster magnetic field. We provide a detailed self-contained review of the cluster soft X-ray excess, the proposed astrophysical explanations and the problems they face, and explain how a 0.1-1 keV axion background naturally arises at reheating in many string theory models of the early universe. We study the morphology of the soft excess by numerically propagating axions through stochastic, multi-scale magnetic field models that are consistent with observations of Faraday rotation measures from Coma. By comparing to ROSAT observations of the 0.2-0.4 keV soft excess, we find that the overall excess luminosity is easily reproduced for $g_{a\gamma\gamma} \sim 2 \times 10^{-13}$ GeV$^{-1}$. The resulting morphology is highly sensitive to the magnetic field power spectrum. For Gaussian magnetic field models, the observed soft excess morphology prefers magnetic field spectra with most power in coherence lengths on ${\cal O}(3 {\rm ~kpc})$ scales over those with most power on ${\cal O}(12 {\rm ~kpc})$ scales. Within this scenario, we bound the mean energy of the axion background to $50\, {\rm eV}\lesssim \langle E_a \rangle \lesssim 250\, {\rm eV}$, the axion mass to $m_a \lesssim 10^{-12}\,\hbox{eV}$, and derive a lower bound on the axion-photon coupling $g_{a\gamma\gamma} \gtrsim \sqrt{0.5/\Delta N_{\rm eff}}\, 1.4 \times 10^{-13}$ GeV$^{-1}$.Comment: 43 pages, 11 figure

Plant tissue extraction method for complexed and free cyanide

A method for free cyanide and strongly-complexed cyanide measurement within plant tissue was developed to study uptake and movement of cyanide species separately from cyanide metabolism and metabolite movement by a willow plant (Salix eriocephala var. Michaux). Spike recoveries from solutions with and without plant tissue, using various solvent combinations, and background control tissue contributions were investigated to obtain an accurate and precise extraction method for measurement of complexed and free cyanide concentrations within plant tissue. The optimum extraction technique involved the freezing of plant tissue with liquid nitrogen to facilitate homogenization prior to extraction. Homogenized willow tissue samples, 1 to 1.5 g-fresh weight, were ground a second time under liquid nitrogen followed by grinding in slurry with 2.5 M NaOH. The slurry was brought to 100 mL volume, sonicated for 5 min, extracted in the dark for 16 h, and analyzed without filtration for total and free cyanide by acid distillation and microdiffusion respectively. Sample tissue extraction controls found recoveries of 89% and 100% for 100 µg L-1 CNT as KCN and K4Fe(CN)6 spiked in willow tissue slurries. Methanol, hexane, and 2-octanol inclusion in the solvent matrix with 2.5 M NaOH interfered with the cyanide analytical technique while chloroform reacted with NaOH and free cyanide in solution. Filtration was not included due to increased cyanide loss, and analysis of control tissue showed minimal release of cyanide or interference of plant tissue with the cyanide analytical method.Tissue cyanide concentrations from hydroponicallyexposed tissue using the optimal extraction method agreed with tissue cyanide stable isotope (15N) results

What do pink pigs and soybeans have in common? Selecting for mutants in the ureide pathway

Abstract only availablePink Pigmented Facultative Methylotrophic bacteria (PPFMs) have been found to be the most abundant microorganisms among phylloplane microflora, and have been recovered from all plants examined. PPFMs are seed-transmitted and have been shown to enhance germination. PPFMs may contribute nitrogen, which is an essential nutrient, to the plant. In an attempt to determine this and gain a better understanding of the genes involved in ureide (allantoin, allantoate, etc,) utilization in PPFMs, we tried to ellicit mutants along the pathway. We performed a bi-parental mating between the PPFM soybean isolate (wild-type) and an E. coli strain containing a plasmid for a kanamycin resistance. This antibiotic resistance plasmid was randomly inserted into the PPFM's genome. The goal is to select mutants that lose the ability to break down ureides. Selection on different media is used to isolate the different mutants along the pathway. Seed surface sterilization does not remove PPFMs since they are found below the seed coat. We have devised a method to eliminate the bacteria by heating the seeds at 50°C for 48 hours. This treatment does not damage the seed. Heat-treated and un-heated soybean seeds were inoculated with a kanamycin resistant soybean isolate strain of PPFM (B140). These plants were grown to maturity in the greenhouse and seeds were collected. We germinated this second generation of seed and are looking to recover kanamycin resistant PPFM bacteria both from the seed as well as the first unifoliate leaves of the soybean. We were able to isolate several putative PPFM ureide utilization mutants. This research will give insight into the interactions between PPFMs and soybean that may be applied to many other plants. Experiments to recover kanamycin resistant bacteria from the seed and from the first unifoliate leaves of the plants are in progress.MU Monsanto Undergraduate Research Fellowshi