Anopheles gambiae blood feeding Initiates an anticipatory defense response to plasmodium berghei

Mosquitoes have potent innate defense mechanisms that protect them from infection by diverse pathogens. Much remains unknown about how different pathogens are sensed and specific responses triggered. Leucine-Rich repeat IMmune proteins (LRIMs) are a mosquito-specific family of putative innate receptors. Although some LRIMs have been implicated in mosquito immune responses, the function of most family members is largely unknown. We screened &lt;i&gt;Anopheles gambiae &lt;/i&gt;LRIMs by RNAi for effects on mosquito infection by rodent malaria and found that LRIM9 is a &lt;i&gt;Plasmodium berghei &lt;/i&gt;antagonist with phenotypes distinct from family members LRIM1 and APL1C, which are key components of the mosquito complement-like pathway. LRIM9 transcript and protein levels are significantly increased after blood feeding but are unaffected by &lt;i&gt;Plasmodium &lt;/i&gt;or midgut microbiota. Interestingly, LRIM9 in the hemolymph is strongly upregulated by direct injection of the ecdysteroid, 20-hydroxyecdysone. Our data suggest that LRIM9 may define a novel anti-&lt;i&gt;Plasmodium &lt;/i&gt;immune defense mechanism triggered by blood feeding and that hormonal changes may alert the mosquito to bolster its defenses in anticipation of exposure to blood-borne pathogens.</jats:p

How accurately do adult sons and daughters report and perceive parental deaths from coronary disease?

&lt;b&gt;OBJECTIVES&lt;/b&gt;: To describe how adult sons and daughters report and perceive parental deaths from heart disease &lt;b&gt;DESIGN&lt;/b&gt;: Two generation family study. &lt;b&gt;SETTING&lt;/b&gt;: West of Scotland. &lt;b&gt;SUBJECTS&lt;/b&gt;: 1040 sons and 1298 daughters aged 30-59 from 1477 families, whose fathers and mothers were aged 45-64 in 1972-76 and have been followed up for mortality over 20 years. &lt;b&gt;OUTCOME&lt;/b&gt; : Perception of a "family weakness" attributable to heart disease. RESULTS : 26% of sons and daughters had a parent who had died of coronary heart disease (CHD). The proportion was higher in older offspring (+18% per 10 year age difference) and in manual compared with non-manual groups (+37%). Eighty nine per cent of parental deaths from CHD were correctly reported by offspring. Only 23% of sons and 34% of daughters with at least one parent who had died of CHD considered that they had a family weakness attributable to heart disease. Perceptions of a family weakness were higher when one or both parents had died of CHD, when parental deaths occurred at a younger age, in daughters compared with sons and in offspring in non-manual compared with manual occupations. &lt;b&gt;CONCLUSIONS&lt;/b&gt;: Only a minority of sons and daughters with experience of a parent having died from CHD perceive this in terms of a family weakness attributable to heart disease. Although men in manual occupations are most likely to develop CHD, they are least likely to interpret a parental death from CHD in terms of a family weakness. Health professionals giving advice to patients on their familial risks need to be aware of the difference between clinical definitions and lay perceptions of a family history of heart disease

EFFECT OF THE 1985 FARM BILL PROVISIONS ON FARMERS' SOIL CONSERVATION DECISIONS

Conservation initiatives in the 1985 Farm Bill affected farmers' decisions regarding soil conservation. A farmer survey was conducted and a multiperiod mixed-integer programming model was developed to determine an optimal farm plan with choice of crop-tillage combinations and land retirement. Results indicate that farmers' incentives to reduce soil loss in the Sand Mountain region in Alabama are not substantially affected by provisions of the 1985 Farm Bill. The bid price for the Conservation Reserve Program will have to be considerably higher than 1988 levels to provide an incentive to remove land from production.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Developing an On-Line Interactive Health Psychology Module.

On-line teaching material in health psychology was developed which ensured a range of students could access appropriate material for their course and level of study. This material has been developed around the concept of smaller 'content chunks' which can be combined into whole units of learning (topics), and ultimately, a module. On the basis of the underlying philosophy that the medium is part of the message, we considered interactivity to be a key element in engaging the student with the material. Consequently, the key aim of this development was to stimulate and engage students, promoting better involvement with the academic material, and hence better learning. It was hoped that this was achieved through the development of material including linked programmes and supporting material, small Java Scripts and basic email, forms and HTML additions. This material is outlined as are some of the interactive activities introduced, and the preliminary student and tutor experience described

Large emergency-response exercises: qualitative characteristics - a survey

Exercises, drills, or simulations are widely used, by governments, agencies and commercial organizations, to simulate serious incidents and train staff how to respond to them. International cooperation has led to increasingly large-scale exercises, often involving hundreds or even thousands of participants in many locations. The difference between ‘large’ and ‘small’ exercises is more than one of size: (a) Large exercises are more ‘experiential’ and more likely to undermine any model of reality that single organizations may create; (b) they create a ‘play space’ in which organizations and individuals act out their own needs and identifications, and a ritual with strong social implications; (c) group-analytic psychotherapy suggests that the emotions aroused in a large group may be stronger and more difficult to control. Feelings are an unacknowledged major factor in the success or failure of exercises; (d) successful large exercises help improve the nature of trust between individuals and the organizations they represent, changing it from a situational trust to a personal trust; (e) it is more difficult to learn from large exercises or to apply the lessons identified; (f) however, large exercises can help develop organizations and individuals. Exercises (and simulation in general) need to be approached from a broader multidisciplinary direction if their full potential is to be realized