Eucharistic Sacrifice: An Expression of Good for Others

We would hope to demonstrate that the entire topic of Eucharistic sacrifice might be placed upon a much broader base than has been the case prior to this. It is hoped that this study will reveal the possibility of doing this with7some profit as well as increase our present understanding of the historic background of eucharistic sacrifice

Hospital fall prevention: a systematic review of implementation, components, adherence, and effectiveness.

ObjectivesTo systematically document the implementation, components, comparators, adherence, and effectiveness of published fall prevention approaches in U.S. acute care hospitals.DesignSystematic review. Studies were identified through existing reviews, searching five electronic databases, screening reference lists, and contacting topic experts for studies published through August 2011.SettingU.S. acute care hospitals.ParticipantsStudies reporting in-hospital falls for intervention groups and concurrent (e.g., controlled trials) or historic comparators (e.g., before-after studies).InterventionFall prevention interventions.MeasurementsIncidence rate ratios (IRR, ratio of fall rate postintervention or treatment group to the fall rate preintervention or control group) and ratings of study details.ResultsFifty-nine studies met inclusion criteria. Implementation strategies were sparsely documented (17% not at all) and included staff education, establishing committees, seeking leadership support, and occasionally continuous quality improvement techniques. Most interventions (81%) included multiple components (e.g., risk assessments (often not validated), visual risk alerts, patient education, care rounds, bed-exit alarms, and postfall evaluations). Fifty-four percent did not report on fall prevention measures applied in the comparison group, and 39% neither reported fidelity data nor described adherence strategies such as regular audits and feedback to ensure completion of care processes. Only 45% of concurrent and 15% of historic control studies reported sufficient data to compare fall rates. The pooled postintervention incidence rate ratio (IRR) was 0.77 (95% confidence interval = 0.52-1.12, P = .17; eight studies; I(2) : 94%). Meta-regressions showed no systematic association between implementation intensity, intervention complexity, comparator information, or adherence levels and IRR.ConclusionPromising approaches exist, but better reporting of outcomes, implementation, adherence, intervention components, and comparison group information is necessary to establish evidence on how hospitals can successfully prevent falls

Binding of Plasmodium falciparum to CD36 can be shielded by the glycocalyx

Abstract Background Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes sequester in the microcirculation due to interaction between surface-expressed parasite proteins and endothelial receptors. Endothelial cells are covered in a carbohydrate-rich glycocalyx that shields against undesired leukocyte adhesion. It was investigated if the cellular glycocalyx affects the binding of P. falciparum-infected erythrocytes to CD36 in vitro. Methods Glycocalyx growth was followed in vitro by using azido sugars and cationized ferritin detecting O-glycoproteins and negatively charged proteoglycans, respectively. P. falciparum (clone FCR3/IT) was selected on Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells transfected with human CD36. Cytoadhesion to CHO CD36 at 1–4 days after seeding was quantified by using a static binding assay. Results The glycocalyx thickness of CHO cells increased during 4 days in culture as assessed by metabolic labelling of glycans with azido sugars and with electron microscopy studying the binding of cationized ferritin to cell surfaces. The functional importance of this process was addressed in binding assays by using CHO cells transfected with CD36. In parallel with the maturation of the glycocalyx, antibody-binding to CD36 was inhibited, despite stable expression of CD36. P. falciparum selected for CD36-binding recognized CD36 on CHO cells on the first day in culture, but the binding was lost after 2–4 days. Conclusion The endothelial glycocalyx affects parasite cytoadhesion in vitro, an effect that has previously been ignored. The previously reported loss of glycocalyx during experimental malaria may play an important role in the pathogenesis of malaria complications by allowing the close interaction between infected erythrocytes and endothelial receptors

ERAD Components in Organisms with Complex Red Plastids Suggest Recruitment of a Preexisting Protein Transport Pathway for the Periplastid Membrane

The plastids of cryptophytes, haptophytes, and heterokontophytes (stramenopiles) (together once known as chromists) are surrounded by four membranes, reflecting the origin of these plastids through secondary endosymbiosis. They share this trait with apicomplexans, which are alveolates, the plastids of which have been suggested to stem from the same secondary symbiotic event and therefore form a phylogenetic clade, the chromalveolates. The chromists are quantitatively the most important eukaryotic contributors to primary production in marine ecosystems. The mechanisms of protein import across their four plastid membranes are still poorly understood. Components of an endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation (ERAD) machinery in cryptophytes, partially encoded by the reduced genome of the secondary symbiont (the nucleomorph), are implicated in protein transport across the second outermost plastid membrane. Here, we show that the haptophyte Emiliania huxleyi, like cryptophytes, stramenopiles, and apicomplexans, possesses a nuclear-encoded symbiont-specific ERAD machinery (SELMA, symbiont-specific ERAD-like machinery) in addition to the host ERAD system, with targeting signals that are able to direct green fluorescent protein or yellow fluorescent protein to the predicted cellular localization in transformed cells of the stramenopile Phaeodactylum tricornutum. Phylogenies of the duplicated ERAD factors reveal that all SELMA components trace back to a red algal origin. In contrast, the host copies of cryptophytes and haptophytes associate with the green lineage to the exclusion of stramenopiles and alveolates. Although all chromalveolates with four membrane-bound plastids possess the SELMA system, this has apparently not arisen in a single endosymbiotic event. Thus, our data do not support the chromalveolate hypothesis

Finite covers of random 3-manifolds

A 3-manifold is Haken if it contains a topologically essential surface. The Virtual Haken Conjecture posits that every irreducible 3-manifold with infinite fundamental group has a finite cover which is Haken. In this paper, we study random 3-manifolds and their finite covers in an attempt to shed light on this difficult question. In particular, we consider random Heegaard splittings by gluing two handlebodies by the result of a random walk in the mapping class group of a surface. For this model of random 3-manifold, we are able to compute the probabilities that the resulting manifolds have finite covers of particular kinds. Our results contrast with the analogous probabilities for groups coming from random balanced presentations, giving quantitative theorems to the effect that 3-manifold groups have many more finite quotients than random groups. The next natural question is whether these covers have positive betti number. For abelian covers of a fixed type over 3-manifolds of Heegaard genus 2, we show that the probability of positive betti number is 0. In fact, many of these questions boil down to questions about the mapping class group. We are lead to consider the action of mapping class group of a surface S on the set of quotients pi_1(S) -> Q. If Q is a simple group, we show that if the genus of S is large, then this action is very mixing. In particular, the action factors through the alternating group of each orbit. This is analogous to Goldman's theorem that the action of the mapping class group on the SU(2) character variety is ergodic.Comment: 60 pages; v2: minor changes. v3: minor changes; final versio

Detection and Automated Scoring of Dicentric Chromosomes in Nonstimulated Lymphocyte Prematurely Condensed Chromosomes After Telomere and Centromere Staining

PurposeTo combine telomere and centromere (TC) staining of premature chromosome condensation (PCC) fusions to identify dicentrics, centric rings, and acentric chromosomes, making possible the realization of a dose–response curve and automation of the process.Methods and MaterialsBlood samples from healthy donors were exposed to 60Co irradiation at varying doses up to 8 Gy, followed by a repair period of 8 hours. Premature chromosome condensation fusions were carried out, and TC staining using peptide nucleic acid probes was performed. Chromosomal aberration (CA) scoring was carried out manually and automatically using PCC-TCScore software, developed in our laboratory.ResultsWe successfully optimized the hybridization conditions and image capture parameters, to increase the sensitivity and effectiveness of CA scoring. Dicentrics, centric rings, and acentric chromosomes were rapidly and accurately detected, leading to a linear-quadratic dose–response curve by manual scoring at up to 8 Gy. Using PCC-TCScore software for automatic scoring, we were able to detect 95% of dicentrics and centric rings.ConclusionThe introduction of TC staining to the PCC fusion technique has made possible the rapid scoring of unstable CAs, including dicentrics, with a level of accuracy and ease not previously possible. This new approach can be used for biological dosimetry in radiation emergency medicine, where the rapid and accurate detection of dicentrics is a high priority using automated scoring. Because there is no culture time, this new approach can also be used for the follow-up of patients treated by genotoxic therapy, creating the possibility to perform the estimation of induced chromosomal aberrations immediately after the blood draw

Demasculinization of male guppies increases resistance to a common and harmful ectoparasite

Parasites are detrimental to host fitness and therefore should strongly select for host defence mechanisms. Yet, hosts vary considerably in their observed parasite loads. One notable source of inter-individual variation in parasitism is host sex. Such variation could be caused by the immunomodulatory effects of gonadal steroids. Here we assess the influence of gonadal steroids on the ability of guppies (Poecilia reticulata) to defend themselves against a common and deleterious parasite (Gyrodactylus turnbulli). Adult male guppies underwent 31 days of artificial demasculinization with the androgen receptor-antagonist flutamide, or feminization with a combination of flutamide and the synthetic oestrogen 17 β-estradiol, and their parasite loads were compared over time to untreated males and females. Both demasculinized and feminized male guppies had lower G. turnbulli loads than the untreated males and females, but this effect appeared to be mainly the result of demasculinization, with feminization having no additional measurable effect. Furthermore, demasculinized males, feminized males and untreated females all suffered lower Gyrodactylus-induced mortality than untreated males. Together, these results suggest that androgens reduce the ability of guppies to control parasite loads, and modulate resistance to and survival from infection. We discuss the relevance of these findings for understanding constraints on the evolution of resistance in guppies and other vertebrates

Symbiotic status alters fungal eco-evolutionary offspring trajectories

Despite host-fungal symbiotic interactions being ubiquitous in all ecosystems, understanding how symbiosis has shaped the ecology and evolution of fungal spores that are involved in dispersal and colonization of their hosts has been ignored in life-history studies. We assembled a spore morphology database covering over 26,000 species of free-living to symbiotic fungi of plants, insects and humans and found more than eight orders of variation in spore size. Evolutionary transitions in symbiotic status correlated with shifts in spore size, but the strength of this effect varied widely among phyla. Symbiotic status explained more variation than climatic variables in the current distribution of spore sizes of plant-associated fungi at a global scale while the dispersal potential of their spores is more restricted compared to free-living fungi. Our work advances life-history theory by highlighting how the interaction between symbiosis and offspring morphology shapes the reproductive and dispersal strategies among living forms