Why it takes an 'ontological shock' to prompt increases in small firm resilience : sensemaking, emotions and flood risk

This article uses a sensemaking approach to understand small firms’ responses to the threat of external shocks. By analysing semi-structured interviews with owners of flooded small firms, we investigate how owners process flood experiences and explore why such experiences do not consistently lead to the resilient adaptation of premises. We, conclude that some of the explanation for low levels of adaptation relates to a desire to defend existing sensemaking structures and associated identities. Sensemaking structures are only revised if these structures are not critical to business identity, or if a flood constitutes an ‘ontological shock’ and renders untenable existing assumptions regarding long-term business continuity. This article has implications for adaptation to the growing risk of flooding, climate change and external shocks. Future research analysing external shocks would benefit from using a sensemaking approach and survey studies should include measurements of ‘ontological’ impact as well as material and financial damage. In addition, those designing information campaigns should take account of small firms’ resistance to information that threatens their existing sensemaking structures and social identities

Retinopathy of prematurity and risk factors: a prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: Increased survival of extremely low birth infants due to advances in antenatal and neonatal care has resulted in a population of infants at high risk of developing retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). Therapeutic interventions include the use of antenatal and postnatal steroids however, their effects on the severity of ROP is in dispute. In addition, it has not been investigated whether severe ROP is due to therapeutic interventions or due to the severity of illness. The aim of the present study was to assess the association between the incidence of severe retinopathy of prematurity (greater than stage 2 – International classification of ROP) and mechanical ventilation, oxygen therapy, gestational age, antenatal and postnatal steroids in extremely low birth weight infants. METHODS: Neonates admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit in Lansing, Michigan, during 1993–2000 were followed to determine factors influencing the development of severe retinopathy of prematurity. Ophthalmologic examinations were started at 6 weeks and followed until resolution. We used logistic regression to estimate the relative risk (odds ratio) associated with risk factors of ROP. RESULTS: Of the neonates with ≤ 1500 g birth weight, admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit, 85% (616/725) survived. Severe retinopathy of prematurity was detected in 7.8% of 576 neonates who had eye examinations. Neonates of lower gestational age (≤ 25 weeks and 26–28 weeks) had an increased odds ratio of 8.49 and 3.19 for the development of severe retinopathy of prematurity, respectively, compared to those 29 weeks and older. Late postnatal steroid treatment starting after 3 weeks of life showed 2.9-fold increased odds ratio, in particular administration for two weeks and more (OR: 4.09, 95% CI: 1.52–11.03). With increasing antenatal steroids courses the risk of severe retinopathy of prematurity decreased, however, it was not significant. Lower gestational age, dependence on ventilation, and use of postnatal steroids were intertwined. Simultaneous presence of these factors seems to indicate severe disease status. CONCLUSION: Prolonged and late postnatal steroids treatment in very low birth weight infants may pose an increased risk for the development of severe retinopathy of prematurity; however, use of postnatal steroids may also be a marker for severity of illness. Further studies need to focus on biologic markers in the pathogenesis of retinopathy of prematurity and to better understand the influence of therapies

Postcopulatory sexual selection

The female reproductive tract is where competition between the sperm of different males takes place, aided and abetted by the female herself. Intense postcopulatory sexual selection fosters inter-sexual conflict and drives rapid evolutionary change to generate a startling diversity of morphological, behavioural and physiological adaptations. We identify three main issues that should be resolved to advance our understanding of postcopulatory sexual selection. We need to determine the genetic basis of different male fertility traits and female traits that mediate sperm selection; identify the genes or genomic regions that control these traits; and establish the coevolutionary trajectory of sexes

Avoiding Dangerous Missense: Thermophiles Display Especially Low Mutation Rates

Rates of spontaneous mutation have been estimated under optimal growth conditions for a variety of DNA-based microbes, including viruses, bacteria, and eukaryotes. When expressed as genomic mutation rates, most of the values were in the vicinity of 0.003–0.004 with a range of less than two-fold. Because the genome sizes varied by roughly 104-fold, the mutation rates per average base pair varied inversely by a similar factor. Even though the commonality of the observed genomic rates remains unexplained, it implies that mutation rates in unstressed microbes reach values that can be finely tuned by evolution. An insight originating in the 1920s and maturing in the 1960s proposed that the genomic mutation rate would reflect a balance between the deleterious effect of the average mutation and the cost of further reducing the mutation rate. If this view is correct, then increasing the deleterious impact of the average mutation should be countered by reducing the genomic mutation rate. It is a common observation that many neutral or nearly neutral mutations become strongly deleterious at higher temperatures, in which case they are called temperature-sensitive mutations. Recently, the kinds and rates of spontaneous mutations were described for two microbial thermophiles, a bacterium and an archaeon. Using an updated method to extrapolate from mutation-reporter genes to whole genomes reveals that the rate of base substitutions is substantially lower in these two thermophiles than in mesophiles. This result provides the first experimental support for the concept of an evolved balance between the total genomic impact of mutations and the cost of further reducing the basal mutation rate

Longitudinal evaluation of quality of life in 288 patients with Neurofibromatosis 2

Advances in molecular biology have resulted in novel therapy for neurofibromatosis 2-related (NF2) tumours, highlighting the need for robust outcome measures. The disease-focused NF2 impact on quality of life (NFTI-QOL) patient questionnaire was assessed as an outcome measure for treatment in a multi-centre study. NFTI-QOL was related to clinician-rated severity (ClinSev) and genetic severity (GenSev) over repeated visits. Data were evaluated for 288 NF2 patients (n = 464 visits) attending the English national NF2 clinics from 2010 to 2012. The male-to-female ratio was equal and the mean age was 42.2 (SD 17.8) years. The analysis included NFTI-QOL eight-item score, ClinSev graded as mild, moderate, or severe, and GenSev as a rank order of the number of NF2 mutations (graded as mild, moderate, severe). The mean (SD) 8.7 (5.4) score for NFTI-QOL for either a first visit or all visits 9.2 (5.4) was similar to the published norm of 9.4 (5.5), with no significant relationships with age or gender. NFTI-QOL internal reliability was good, with a Cronbach’s alpha score of 0.85 and test re-test reliability r = 0.84. NFTI related to ClinSev (r = 0.41, p < 0.001; r = 0.46 for all visits), but weakly to GenSev (r = 0.16, p < 0.05; r = 0.15 for all visits). ClinSev related to GenSev (r = 0.41, p < 0.001; r = 0.42 for all visits). NFTI-QOL showed a good reliability and ability to detect significant longitudinal changes in the QOL of individuals. The moderate relationships of NFTI-QOL with clinician- and genetic-rated severity suggest that NFTI-QOL taps into NF2 patient experiences that are not encompassed by ClinSev rating or genotype

Using sequence data to identify alternative routes and risk of infection: a case-study of campylobacter in Scotland

&lt;b&gt;Background:&lt;/b&gt; Genetic typing data are a potentially powerful resource for determining how infection is acquired. In this paper MLST typing was used to distinguish the routes and risks of infection of humans with Campylobacter jejuni from poultry and ruminant sources.&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;b&gt;Methods:&lt;/b&gt; C. jejuni samples from animal and environmental sources and from reported human cases confirmed between June 2005 and September 2006 were typed using MLST. The STRUCTURE software was used to assign the specific sequence types of the sporadic human cases to a particular source. We then used mixed case-case logistic regression analysis to compare the risk factors for being infected with C. jejuni from different sources.&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;b&gt;Results:&lt;/b&gt; A total of 1,599 (46.3%) cases were assigned to poultry, 1,070 (31.0%) to ruminant and 67 (1.9%) to wild bird sources; the remaining 715 (20.7%) did not have a source that could be assigned with a probability of greater than 0.95. Compared to ruminant sources, cases attributed to poultry sources were typically among adults (odds ratio (OR) = 1.497, 95% confidence intervals (CIs) = 1.211, 1.852), not among males (OR = 0.834, 95% CIs = 0.712, 0.977), in areas with population density of greater than 500 people/km(2) (OR = 1.213, 95% CIs = 1.030, 1.431), reported in the winter (OR = 1.272, 95% CIs = 1.067, 1.517) and had undertaken recent overseas travel (OR = 1.618, 95% CIs = 1.056, 2.481). The poultry assigned strains had a similar epidemiology to the unassigned strains, with the exception of a significantly higher likelihood of reporting overseas travel in unassigned strains.&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;b&gt;Conclusions:&lt;/b&gt; Rather than estimate relative risks for acquiring infection, our analyses show that individuals acquire C. jejuni infection from different sources have different associated risk factors. By enhancing our ability to identify at-risk groups and the times at which these groups are likely to be at risk, this work allows public health messages to be targeted more effectively. The rapidly increasing capacity to conduct genetic typing of pathogens makes such traced epidemiological analysis more accessible and has the potential to substantially enhance epidemiological risk factor studies

High "Normal" blood glucose is associated with decreased brain volume and cognitive performance in the 60s: the PATH through Life Study

Context:Type 2 diabetes is associated with cerebral atrophy, cognitive impairment and dementia. We recently showed higher glucose levels in the normal range not to be free of adverse effects and to be associated with greater hippocampal and amygdalar atrophy in older community-dwelling individuals free of diabetes.Objective:This study aimed to determine whether blood glucose levels in the normal range

Enhanced catecholamine transporter binding in the locus coeruleus of patients with early Parkinson disease

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Studies in animals suggest that the noradrenergic system arising from the locus coeruleus (LC) and dopaminergic pathways mutually influence each other. Little is known however, about the functional state of the LC in patients with Parkinson disease (PD).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We retrospectively reviewed clinical and imaging data of 94 subjects with PD at an early clinical stage (Hoehn and Yahr stage 1-2) who underwent single photon computed tomography imaging with FP-CIT ([¹²³I] N-ω-fluoropropyl-2β-carbomethoxy-3β-(4-iodophenyl) tropane). FP-CIT binding values from the patients were compared with 15 healthy subjects: using both a voxel-based whole brain analysis and a volume of interest analysis of <it>a priori </it>defined brain regions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Average FP-CIT binding in the putamen and caudate nucleus was significantly reduced in PD subjects (43% and 57% on average, respectively; p < 0.001). In contrast, subjects with PD showed an increased binding in the LC (166% on average; p < 0.001) in both analyses. LC-binding correlated negatively with striatal FP-CIT binding values (caudate: contralateral, ρ = -0.28, p < 0.01 and ipsilateral ρ = -0.26, p < 0.01; putamen: contralateral, ρ = -0.29, p < 0.01 and ipsilateral ρ = -0.29, p < 0.01).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These findings are consistent with an up-regulation of noradrenaline reuptake in the LC area of patients with early stage PD, compatible with enhanced noradrenaline release, and a compensating activity for degeneration of dopaminergic nigrostriatal projections.</p

Targeting neuroinflammation for therapeutic intervention in neurodegenerative pathologies: A role for the peptide analogue of thymulin (PAT)

Introduction: Inflammation has a vital task in protecting the organism, but when deregulated, it can have serious pathological consequences. The central nervous system (CNS) is capable of mounting immune and inflammatory responses, albeit different from that observed in the periphery. Neuroinflammation, however, can be a major contributor to neurodegenerative diseases and constitute a major challenge for medicine and basic research. Areas covered: Both innate and adaptive immune responses normally play an important role in homeostasis within the CNS. Microglia, astrocytes and neuronal cells express a wide array of toll-like receptors (TLR) that can be upregulated by infection, trauma, injuries and various exogenic or endogenic factors. Chronic hyper activation of brain immune cells can result in neurotoxic actions due to excessive production of several pro-inflammatory mediators. Several studies have recently described an important role for targeting receptors such as nicotinic receptors located on cells in the CNS or in other tissues for the control of inflammation. Expert opinion: Thymulin and its synthetic peptide analogue (PAT) appear to exert potent anti-inflammatory effects at the level of peripheral tissues as well as at the level of the brain. This effect involves, at least partially, the activation of cholinergic mechanisms. © 2012 Informa UK, Ltd