Subdivision surfaces with creases and truncated multiple knot lines

We deal with subdivision schemes based on arbitrary degree B-splines. We focus on extraordinary knots which exhibit various levels of complexity in terms of both valency and multiplicity of knot lines emanating from such knots. The purpose of truncated multiple knot lines is to model creases which fair out. Our construction supports any degree and any knot line multiplicity and provides a modelling framework familiar to users used to B-splines and NURBS systems

Poor bioavailability of vitamin D2 from ultraviolet-irradiated D2-rich yeast in rats

Ultraviolet-irradiated yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) can be used to biofortify bakery products with vitamin D, but in bread, it was not effective in increasing serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] in humans, possibly because of the low digestibility of the yeast matrix. We investigated the effects of vitamin D-2-rich intact yeast cells and their separated fraction, yeast cell walls, which we hypothesized to provide vitamin D-2 in a more bioavailable form, on serum 25(OH)D and its metabolites in growing female Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 54) compared to vitamin D-2 and D-3 supplements (8 treatment groups: 300 or 600 IU vitamin D/d, and a control group, 8-week intervention). The D-3 supplement groups had the highest 25(OH)D concentrations, and the vitamin D-2 supplement at the 600-IU dose increased 25(OH)D better than any yeast form (P .05). Serum 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (a vitamin D catabolite) concentrations and the trend in the differences between the groups were in line with 25 (OH)D (P .05). These findings do not support the hypothesis: the ability of the different ultraviolet-treated vitamin D-2-containing yeast forms to increase 25(OH)D did not differ, and the poor bioavailability of vitamin D-2 in the yeasts compared D-3 or D-2 supplements could not be explained by the increased vitamin D catabolism in the yeast-treated groups. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Cross sectional survey of human-bat interaction in Australia: public health implications

Background Flying foxes (megachiroptera) and insectivorous microbats (microchiroptera) are the known reservoirs for a range of recently emerged, highly pathogenic viruses. In Australia there is public health concern relating to bats\u27 role as reservoirs of Australian Bat Lyssavirus (ABLV), which has clinical features identical to classical rabies. Three deaths from ABLV have occurred in Australia. A survey was conducted to determine the frequency of bat exposures amongst adults in Australia\u27s most populous state, New South Wales; explore reasons for handling bats; examine reported practices upon encountering injured or trapped bats or experiencing bat bites or scratches; and investigate knowledge of bat handling warnings. Methods A representative sample of 821 New South Wales adults aged 16 years and older were interviewed during May and June 2011, using a computer assisted telephone interview (CATI) method. Frequencies, proportions and statistical differences in proportion were performed. Using an alpha-value of 0.05 and power of 80%, it was calculated that a sample size of 800 was required to provide statistical significance of +/- 5% for dichotomous variables. Results One-hundred-and-twenty-seven (15.5%) respondents indicated that they had previously handled a bat, being 22% (48/218) rural and 13% (78/597) urban respondents (chi2 = 9.8, p = 0.0018). Twenty one percent of males (63/304) had handled bats compared with 12% (64/517) of females (chi2 = 10.2, p = 0.0014). Overall, 42.0% (n = 345) of respondents reported having seen or heard a warning about handling bats. If faced with an injured or trapped bat, 25% (206/821) indicated that they would handle the bat, with 17% (36/206) saying that they would use their bare hands. For minor scratches, 14% (117/821) indicated that they would ignore the injury while four respondents would ignore major scratches or bites. Conclusions Previous human-bat interactions were relatively common. Bat exposures most frequently occurred with sick or injured bats, which have the highest risk of ABLV. On encountering an injured or sick bat, potentially high risk practices were commonly reported, particularly among rural males. It is important to understand why people still handle bats despite public health warnings to inform future communication strategies

Autoethnographic and qualitative research on popular music: Exploring the blues, jazz, grime, John Cage, live performance, SoundCloud and the masculinities of metal

This special edition of Riffs focuses on autoethnography and qualitative research in relation to popular music. The journal publication is twinned with a forthcoming book entitled: Popular Music Ethnographies: practice, place, identity. The intention of these studies is to uphold the principle that ‘music is good to think with’ (Chambers 1981: 38). Riffs was founded in 2015 to promote experimental writing on popular music, with a strong DiY ethos and space to offer flexibility and diversity of outputs through challenging interdisciplinary boundaries. At the same time there is a degree of similarity with specialist popular music magazines including Mojo, fRoots (1979-2019), Rolling Stone, Record Collector, Prog, Mixmag, and Uncut, through a focus on visuals and creative images. This suggests that there has been an increased growth at the ‘popular’ end of biographical and autoethnography within popular music. Critically, popular music autoethnographies work across and within disciplinary boundaries of anthropology, social anthropology, cultural studies, sociology, and popular music studies

Analytical bias in the measurement of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations impairs assessment of vitamin D status in clinical and research settings

Measured serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations vary depending on the type of assay used and the specific laboratory undertaking the analysis, impairing the accurate assessment of vitamin D status. We investigated differences in serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations measured at three laboratories (laboratories A and B using an assay based on liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and laboratory C using a DiaSorin Liaison assay), against a laboratory using an assay based on liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry that is certified to the standard reference method developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Ghent University (referred to as the ‘ certified laboratory ’ ). Separate aliquots from the same original serum sample for a subset of 50 participants from the Ausimmune Study were analysed at the four laboratories. Bland-Altman plots were used to visually check agreement between each laboratory against the certified laboratory. Compared with the certified laboratory, serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations were on average 12.4 nmol/L higher at laboratory A (95% limits of agreement: -17 .8,42.6); 12.8 nmol/L higher at laboratory B (95% limits of agreement: 0.8,24.8); and 10.6 nmol/L lower at laboratory C (95% limits of agreement: -48.4,27.1). The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (defined here as 25-hydroxyvitamin D < 50 nmol/L) was 24%, 16%, 12% and 41% at the certified laboratory, and laboratories A, B, and C, respectively. Our results demonstrate considerable differences in the measurement of 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations compared with a certified laboratory, even between laboratories using assays based on liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, which is often considered the gold-standard assay. To ensure accurate and reliable measurement of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations, all laboratories should use an accuracy-based quality assurance system and, ideally, comply with international standardisation effort

Proceedings of the Rank Forum on Vitamin D

The Rank Forum on Vitamin D was held on 2nd and 3rd July 2009 at the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK. The workshop consisted of a series of scene-setting presentations to address the current issues and challenges concerning vitamin D and health, and included an open discussion focusing on the identification of the concentrations of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) (a marker of vitamin D status) that may be regarded as optimal, and the implications this process may have in the setting of future dietary reference values for vitamin D in the UK. The Forum was in agreement with the fact that it is desirable for all of the population to have a serum 25(OH)D concentration above 25 nmol/l, but it discussed some uncertainty about the strength of evidence for the need to aim for substantially higher concentrations (25(OH)D concentrations . 75 nmol/l). Any discussion of ‘optimal’ concentration of serum 25(OH)D needs to define ‘optimal’ with care since it is important to consider the normal distribution of requirements and the vitamin D needs for a wide range of outcomes. Current UK reference values concentrate on the requirements of particular subgroups of the population; this differs from the approaches used in other European countries where a wider range of age groups tend to be covered. With the re-emergence of rickets and the public health burden of low vitamin D status being already apparent, there is a need for urgent action from policy makers and risk managers. The Forum highlighted concerns regarding the failure of implementation of existing strategies in the UK for achieving current vitamin D recommendations

Independent Recruitment of a Flavin-Dependent Monooxygenase for Safe Accumulation of Sequestered Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids in Grasshoppers and Moths

Several insect lineages have developed diverse strategies to sequester toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids from food-plants for their own defense. Here, we show that in two highly divergent insect taxa, the hemimetabolous grasshoppers and the holometabolous butterflies, an almost identical strategy evolved independently for safe accumulation of pyrrolizidine alkaloids. This strategy involves a pyrrolizidine alkaloid N-oxygenase that transfers the pyrrolizidine alkaloids to their respective N-oxide, enabling the insects to avoid high concentrations of toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids in the hemolymph. We have identified a pyrrolizidine alkaloid N-oxygenase, which is a flavin-dependent monooxygenase, of the grasshopper Zonocerus variegatus. After heterologous expression in E. coli, this enzyme shows high specificity for pyrrolizidine alkaloids of various structural types and for the tropane alkaloid atropine as substrates, a property that has been described previously for a pyrrolizidine alkaloid N-oxygenase of the arctiid moth Grammia geneura. Phylogenetic analyses of insect flavin-dependent monooxygenase sequences suggest that independent gene duplication events preceded the establishment of this specific enzyme in the lineages of the grasshoppers and of arctiid moths. Two further flavin-dependent monooxygenase sequences have been identified from Z. variegatus sharing amino acid identities of approximately 78% to the pyrrolizidine alkaloid N-oxygenase. After heterologous expression, both enzymes are also able to catalyze the N-oxygenation of pyrrolizidine alkaloids, albeit with a 400-fold lower specific activity. With respect to the high sequence identity between the three Z. variegatus sequences this ability to N-oxygenize pyrrolizidine alkaloids is interpreted as a relict of a former bifunctional ancestor gene of which one of the gene copies optimized this activity for the specific adaptation to pyrrolizidine alkaloid containing food plants

Eradication of chronic myeloid leukemia stem cells: a novel mathematical model predicts no therapeutic benefit of adding G-CSF to imatinib

Imatinib mesylate induces complete cytogenetic responses in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), yet many patients have detectable BCR-ABL transcripts in peripheral blood even after prolonged therapy. Bone marrow studies have shown that this residual disease resides within the stem cell compartment. Quiescence of leukemic stem cells has been suggested as a mechanism conferring insensitivity to imatinib, and exposure to the Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor (G-CSF), together with imatinib, has led to a significant reduction in leukemic stem cells in vitro. In this paper, we design a novel mathematical model of stem cell quiescence to investigate the treatment response to imatinib and G-CSF. We find that the addition of G-CSF to an imatinib treatment protocol leads to observable effects only if the majority of leukemic stem cells are quiescent; otherwise it does not modulate the leukemic cell burden. The latter scenario is in agreement with clinical findings in a pilot study administering imatinib continuously or intermittently, with or without G-CSF (GIMI trial). Furthermore, our model predicts that the addition of G-CSF leads to a higher risk of resistance since it increases the production of cycling leukemic stem cells. Although the pilot study did not include enough patients to draw any conclusion with statistical significance, there were more cases of progression in the experimental arms as compared to continuous imatinib. Our results suggest that the additional use of G-CSF may be detrimental to patients in the clinic

Unravelling legacy: a triadic actor-network theory approach to understanding the outcomes of mega events

Mega events have recently attracted the attention of social scientists due to their important role for festival capitalism, urban regeneration and political propaganda. Their planning stage often produces elaborate strategies for maximising the benefits before, during and after the actual event, which has given rise to interdisciplinary studies of event legacy and leveraging. This paper aims to advance ongoing debates on the outcomes of sports mega events by bringing together the literatures on mega event legacy, leveraging and actor-network theory. Drawing on a case study on the usage of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the main legacy of the London 2012 Olympic Games, the paper develops a novel conceptual framework for researching the multi-scalar outcomes of mega events and locating respective studies within the resulting wider research agenda. The proposed concept extends Preuss’ (2007) legacy cube in two ways by visualising its five research dimensions in the legacy rings and using three rather than two sub-dimensions per ring, thereby replacing the restrictive dyads of dualistic thinking through more comprehensive but still manageable triads of triadic thought (Jöns, 2006)