Formational history of the Wicklow Trough: a marine transgressed tunnel valley revealing ice flow velocity and retreat rates for the largest ice stream draining the late-Devensian British-Irish Ice Sheet.

The Wicklow Trough is one of several Irish Sea bathymetric deeps, yet unusually isolated from the main depression, the Western Trough. Its formation has been described as proglacial or subglacial, linked to the Irish Sea Ice Stream (ISIS) during the Last Glacial Maximum. The evolution of the Wicklow Trough and neighbouring deeps, therefore, help us to understand ISIS dynamics, when it was the main ice stream draining the former British–Irish Ice Sheet. The morphology and sub-seabed stratigraphy of the 18 km long and 2 km wide Wicklow Trough is described here from new multibeam echo sounder data, 60 km of sparker seismic profiles and five sediment cores. At a maximum water depth of 82 m, the deep consists of four over deepened sections. The heterogeneous glacial sediments in the Trough overlay bedrock, with indications of flank mass-wasting and subglacial bedforms on its floor. The evidence strongly suggests that the Wicklow Trough is a tunnel valley formed by time-transgressive erosional processes, with pressurised meltwater as the dominant agent during gradual or slow ice sheet retreat. Its location may be fault-controlled, and the northern end of the Wicklow Trough could mark a transition from rapid to slow grounded ice margin retreat, which could be tested with modelling

Computer-assisted mammographic imaging

Computer-assisted mammography imaging comprises computer-based analysis of digitized images resulting in prompts aiding mammographic interpretation and computerized stereotactic localization devices which improve location accuracy. The commercial prompting systems available are designed to draw attention to mammographic abnormalities detected by algorithms based on symptomatic practise in North America. High sensitivity rates are important commercially but result in increased false prompt rates, which are known to distract radiologists. A national shortage of breast radiologists in the UK necessitates evaluation of such systems in a population breast screening programme to determine effectiveness in increasing cancer detection and feasibility of implementation

Neonatal-onset multisystem inflammatory disease responsive to interleukin-1 beta inhibition

BACKGROUND:Neonatal-onset multisystem inflammatory disease is characterized by fever, urticarial rash, aseptic meningitis, deforming arthropathy, hearing loss, and mental retardation. Many patients have mutations in the cold-induced autoinflammatory syndrome 1 (CIAS1) gene, encoding cryopyrin, a protein that regulates inflammation.METHODS:We selected 18 patients with neonatal-onset multisystem inflammatory disease (12 with identifiable CIAS1 mutations) to receive anakinra, an interleukin-1-receptor antagonist (1 to 2 mg per kilogram of body weight per day subcutaneously). In 11 patients, anakinra was withdrawn at three months until a flare occurred. The primary end points included changes in scores in a daily diary of symptoms, serum levels of amyloid A and C-reactive protein, and the erythrocyte sedimentation rate from baseline to month 3 and from month 3 until a disease flare.RESULTS:All 18 patients had a rapid response to anakinra, with disappearance of rash. Diary scores improved (P<0.001) and serum amyloid A (from a median of 174 mg to 8 mg per liter), C-reactive protein (from a median of 5.29 mg to 0.34 mg per deciliter), and the erythrocyte sedimentation rate decreased at month 3 (all P<0.001), and remained low at month 6. Magnetic resonance imaging showed improvement in cochlear and leptomeningeal lesions as compared with baseline. Withdrawal of anakinra uniformly resulted in relapse within days; retreatment led to rapid improvement. There were no drug-related serious adverse events.CONCLUSIONS:Daily injections of anakinra markedly improved clinical and laboratory manifestations in patients with neonatal-onset multisystem inflammatory disease, with or without CIAS1 mutations

Disturbance and diversity at two spatial scales

The spatial scale of disturbance is a factor potentially influencing the relationship between disturbance and diversity. There has been discussion on whether disturbances that affect local communities and create a mosaic of patches in different successional stages have the same effect on diversity as regional disturbances that affect the whole landscape. In a microcosm experiment with metacommunities of aquatic protists, we compared the effect of local and regional disturbances on the disturbance–diversity relationship. Local disturbances destroyed entire local communities of the metacommunity and required reimmigration from neighboring communities, while regional disturbances affected the whole metacommunity but left part of each local community intact. Both disturbance types led to a negative relationship between disturbance intensity and Shannon diversity. With strong local disturbance, this decrease in diversity was due to species loss, while strong regional disturbance had no effect on species richness but reduced the evenness of the community. Growth rate appeared to be the most important trait for survival after strong local disturbance and dominance after strong regional disturbance. The pattern of the disturbance–diversity relationship was similar for both local and regional diversity. Although local disturbances at least temporally increased beta diversity by creating a mosaic of differently disturbed patches, this high dissimilarity did not result in regional diversity being increased relative to local diversity. The disturbance–diversity relationship was negative for both scales of diversity. The flat competitive hierarchy and absence of a trade-off between competition and colonization ability are a likely explanation for this pattern

Medial patellofemoral ligament injury patterns and associated pathology in lateral patella dislocation: an MRI study

BACKGROUND: Lateral Patella dislocations are common injuries seen in the active and young adult populations. Our study focus was to evaluate medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) injury patterns and associated knee pathology using Magnetic Resonance Imaging studies. METHODS: MRI studies taken at one imaging site between January, 2007 to January, 2008 with the final diagnosis of patella dislocation were screened for this study. Of the 324 cases that were found, 195 patients with lateral patellar dislocation traumatic enough to cause bone bruises on the lateral femoral trochlea and the medial facet of the patella were selected for this study. The MRI images were reviewed by three independent observers for location and type of MPFL injury, osteochondral defects, loose bodies, MCL and meniscus tears. The data was analyzed as a single cohort and by gender. RESULTS: This study consisted of 127 males and 68 females; mean age of 23 yrs. Tear of the MPFL at the patellar attachment occurred in 93/195 knees (47%), at the femoral attachment in 50/195 knees (26%), and at both the femoral and patella attachment sites in 26/195 knees (13%). Attenuation of the MPFL without rupture occurred in 26/195 knees (13%). Associated findings included loose bodies in 23/195 (13%), meniscus tears 41/195 (21%), patella avulsion/fracture in 14/195 (7%), medial collateral ligament sprains/tears in 37/195 (19%) and osteochondral lesions in 96/195 knees (49%). Statistical analysis showed females had significantly more associated meniscus tears than the males (27% vs. 17%, p = 0.04). Although not statistically significant, osteochondral lesions were seen more in male patients with acute patella dislocation (52% vs. 42%, p = 0.08). CONCLUSION: Patients who present with lateral patella dislocation with the classic bone bruise pattern seen on MRI will likely rupture the MPFL at the patellar side. Females are more likely to have an associated meniscal tear than males; however, more males have underlying osteochondral lesions. Given the high percentage of associated pathology, we recommend a MRI of the knee in all patients who present with acute patella dislocation

C4B null alleles are not associated with genetic polymorphisms in the adjacent gene CYP21A2 in autism

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Research indicates that the etiology of autism has a strong genetic component, yet so far the search for genes that contribute to the disorder, including several whole genome scans, has led to few consistent findings. However, three studies indicate that the complement <it>C4B </it>gene null allele (i.e. the missing or nonfunctional <it>C4B </it>gene) is significantly more frequent in individuals with autism. Due to the close proximity of the <it>CYP21A2 </it>gene to the <it>C4B </it>locus (3 kb) it was decided to examine samples from autistic subjects, including many with known <it>C4B </it>null alleles for common <it>CYP21A2 </it>mutations.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Samples from subjects diagnosed with autism and non-autistic controls (controls) previously typed for <it>C4B </it>null alleles were studied. Allele specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods were used to determine 8 of the most common <it>CYP21A2 </it>genetic mutations, known to completely or partially inhibit 21-hydroxylase, the enzyme encoded by the <it>CYP21A2 </it>gene.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Although the combined autism and control study subjects had 50 <it>C4B </it>null alleles only 15 <it>CYP21A2 </it>mutations were detected in over 2250 genotypes. Eight mutations were detected in the autistic samples and 7 in the controls. The frequency of <it>CYP21A2 </it>mutations was similar between the autism and control samples. Only one individual (autistic) carried a chromosome containing both <it>C4B </it>null allele and <it>CYP21A2 </it>mutations.</p

Consistent phenological shifts in the making of a biodiversity hotspot: the Cape flora

Background The best documented survival responses of organisms to past climate change on short (glacial-interglacial) timescales are distributional shifts. Despite ample evidence on such timescales for local adaptations of populations at specific sites, the long-term impacts of such changes on evolutionary significant units in response to past climatic change have been little documented. Here we use phylogenies to reconstruct changes in distribution and flowering ecology of the Cape flora - South Africa's biodiversity hotspot - through a period of past (Neogene and Quaternary) changes in the seasonality of rainfall over a timescale of several million years. Results Forty-three distributional and phenological shifts consistent with past climatic change occur across the flora, and a comparable number of clades underwent adaptive changes in their flowering phenology (9 clades; half of the clades investigated) as underwent distributional shifts (12 clades; two thirds of the clades investigated). Of extant Cape angiosperm species, 14-41% have been contributed by lineages that show distributional shifts consistent with past climate change, yet a similar proportion (14-55%) arose from lineages that shifted flowering phenology. Conclusions Adaptive changes in ecology at the scale we uncover in the Cape and consistent with past climatic change have not been documented for other floras. Shifts in climate tolerance appear to have been more important in this flora than is currently appreciated, and lineages that underwent such shifts went on to contribute a high proportion of the flora's extant species diversity. That shifts in phenology, on an evolutionary timescale and on such a scale, have not yet been detected for other floras is likely a result of the method used; shifts in flowering phenology cannot be detected in the fossil record

Variability in chemotherapy delivery for elderly women with advanced stage ovarian cancer and its impact on survival

Given the survival benefits of adjuvant chemotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer (OC), we examined the associations of survival with the time interval from debulking surgery to initiation of chemotherapy and with the duration of chemotherapy. Among patients ⩾65 years with stages III/IV OC diagnosed between 1991 and 2002 in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare database, we developed regression models of predictors of the time interval from surgery to initiation of chemotherapy and of the total duration of chemotherapy. Survival was examined with Cox proportional hazards models. Among 2558 patients, 1712 (67%) initiated chemotherapy within 6 weeks of debulking surgery, while 846 (33%) began treatment >6 weeks. Older age, black race, being unmarried, and increased comorbidities were associated with delayed initiation of chemotherapy. Delay of chemotherapy was associated with an increase in mortality (hazard ratio (HR)=1.11; 95% CI, 1.0–1.2). Among 1932 patients in the duration of treatment analysis, the 1218 (63%) treated for 3–7 months had better survival than the 714 (37%) treated for ⩽3 months (HR=0.84; 95% CI, 0.75–0.94). This analysis represents one of the few studies describing treatment delivery and outcome in women with advanced OC. Delayed initiation and early discontinuation of chemotherapy were common and associated with increased mortality

Bioavailability in soils

The consumption of locally-produced vegetables by humans may be an important exposure pathway for soil contaminants in many urban settings and for agricultural land use. Hence, prediction of metal and metalloid uptake by vegetables from contaminated soils is an important part of the Human Health Risk Assessment procedure. The behaviour of metals (cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, lead and zinc) and metalloids (arsenic, boron and selenium) in contaminated soils depends to a large extent on the intrinsic charge, valence and speciation of the contaminant ion, and soil properties such as pH, redox status and contents of clay and/or organic matter. However, chemistry and behaviour of the contaminant in soil alone cannot predict soil-to-plant transfer. Root uptake, root selectivity, ion interactions, rhizosphere processes, leaf uptake from the atmosphere, and plant partitioning are important processes that ultimately govern the accumulation ofmetals and metalloids in edible vegetable tissues. Mechanistic models to accurately describe all these processes have not yet been developed, let alone validated under field conditions. Hence, to estimate risks by vegetable consumption, empirical models have been used to correlate concentrations of metals and metalloids in contaminated soils, soil physico-chemical characteristics, and concentrations of elements in vegetable tissues. These models should only be used within the bounds of their calibration, and often need to be re-calibrated or validated using local soil and environmental conditions on a regional or site-specific basis.Mike J. McLaughlin, Erik Smolders, Fien Degryse, and Rene Rietr

A simple dynamic model explains the diversity of island birds worldwide

International audienc