Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists guidelines: How evidence-based are they?

Evidence-based medicine aims to translate scientific research into good medical practice. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists publishes recommendations and guidelines to guide clinicians in decision-making. In this study, the evidence base underlying the ‘Green-top Guidelines’ has been analysed in order to establish the quality of research underlying recommendations. During this descriptive study of 1,682 individual recommendations, the authors found that only 9–12% of the guidelines were based on the best quality (Grade A) evidence. The authors believe that this type of analysis serves to provide greater clarity for clinicians and patients using guidelines and recommendations in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology to make collaborative clinical decisions

A Mindfulness Program Manual for People With Dementia

This article describes a 10-session group-based Mindfulness Program for people with mild to moderate dementia. It aims to equip people with dementia with skills to manage psychological distress, with support from carers. The Mindfulness Program was developed through reviews of existing literature, consultation with experts, and a focus group with people with dementia. In a randomized controlled feasibility and pilot trial with people with mild to moderate dementia in care homes, it was found to significantly increase quality of life. The manual presented here is designed to be administered flexibly to promote participants' personhood. The protocol is designed for use by therapists with experience in practicing mindfulness meditation

Changes in the gene expression profiles of the brains of male European eels (Anguilla anguilla) during sexual maturation

Background: The vertebrate brain plays a critical role in the regulation of sexual maturation and reproduction by integrating environmental information with developmental and endocrine status. The European eel Anguilla anguilla is an important species in which to better understand the neuroendocrine factors that control reproduction because it is an endangered species, has a complex life cycle that includes two extreme long distance migrations with both freshwater and seawater stages and because it occupies a key position within the teleost phylogeny. At present, mature eels have never been caught in the wild and little is known about most aspects of reproduction in A. anguilla. The goal of this study was to identify genes that may be involved in sexual maturation in experimentally matured eels. For this, we used microarrays to compare the gene expression profiles of sexually mature to immature males. Results: Using a false discovery rate of 0.05, a total of 1,497 differentially expressed genes were identified. Of this set, 991 were expressed at higher levels in brains (forebrain and midbrain) of mature males while 506 were expressed at lower levels relative to brains of immature males. The set of up-regulated genes includes genes involved in neuroendocrine processes, cell-cell signaling, neurogenesis and development. Interestingly, while genes involved in immune system function were down-regulated in the brains of mature males, changes in the expression levels of several receptors and channels were observed suggesting that some rewiring is occurring in the brain at sexual maturity. Conclusions: This study shows that the brains of eels undergo major changes at the molecular level at sexual maturity that may include re-organization at the cellular level. Here, we have defined a set of genes that help to understand the molecular mechanisms controlling reproduction in eels. Some of these genes have previously described functions while many others have roles that have yet to be characterized in a reproductive context. Since most of the genes examined here have orthologs in other vertebrates, the results of this study will contribute to the body of knowledge concerning reproduction in vertebrates as well as to an improved understanding of eel biology.Peer Reviewe

Asymmetric Heating of the HR 4796A Dust Ring Due to Pericenter Glow

We have obtained new resolved images of the well-studied HR 4796A dust ring at 18 and 25 microns with the 8-meter Gemini telescopes. These images confirm the previously observed spatial extent seen in mid-IR, near-IR, and optical images of the source. We detect brightness and temperature asymmetries such that dust on the NE side is both brighter and warmer than dust in the SW. We show that models of so-called pericenter glow account for these asymmetries, thus both confirming and extending our previous analyses. In this scenario, the center of the dust ring is offset from the star due to gravitational perturbations of a body with an eccentric orbit that has induced a forced eccentricity on the dust particle orbits. Models with 2-micron silicate dust particles and a forced eccentricity of 0.06 simultaneously fit the observations at both wavelengths. We also show that parameters used to characterize the thermal-emission properties of the disk can also account for the disk asymmetry observed in shorter-wavelength scattered-light images.Comment: accepted for publication in A&A; 7 pages, 4 figure

Meningococcal genetic variation mechanisms viewed through comparative analysis of Serogroup C strain FAM18

Copyright @ 2007 Public Library of ScienceThe bacterium Neisseria meningitidis is commonly found harmlessly colonising the mucosal surfaces of the human nasopharynx. Occasionally strains can invade host tissues causing septicaemia and meningitis, making the bacterium a major cause of morbidity and mortality in both the developed and developing world. The species is known to be diverse in many ways, as a product of its natural transformability and of a range of recombination and mutation-based systems. Previous work on pathogenic Neisseria has identified several mechanisms for the generation of diversity of surface structures, including phase variation based on slippage-like mechanisms and sequence conversion of expressed genes using information from silent loci. Comparison of the genome sequences of two N. meningitidis strains, serogroup B MC58 and serogroup A Z2491, suggested further mechanisms of variation, including C-terminal exchange in specific genes and enhanced localised recombination and variation related to repeat arrays. We have sequenced the genome of N. meningitidis strain FAM18, a representative of the ST-11/ET-37 complex, providing the first genome sequence for the disease-causing serogroup C meningococci; it has 1,976 predicted genes, of which 60 do not have orthologues in the previously sequenced serogroup A or B strains. Through genome comparison with Z2491 and MC58 we have further characterised specific mechanisms of genetic variation in N. meningitidis, describing specialised loci for generation of cell surface protein variants and measuring the association between noncoding repeat arrays and sequence variation in flanking genes. Here we provide a detailed view of novel genetic diversification mechanisms in N. meningitidis. Our analysis provides evidence for the hypothesis that the noncoding repeat arrays in neisserial genomes (neisserial intergenic mosaic elements) provide a crucial mechanism for the generation of surface antigen variants. Such variation will have an impact on the interaction with the host tissues, and understanding these mechanisms is important to aid our understanding of the intimate and complex relationship between the human nasopharynx and the meningococcus.This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust through the Beowulf Genomics Initiative

An adapted mindfulness intervention for people with dementia in care homes: feasibility pilot study

OBJECTIVE: Depression and anxiety are common in dementia. There is a need to develop effective psychosocial interventions. This study sought to develop a group-based adapted mindfulness programme for people with mild to moderate dementia in care homes and to determine its feasibility and potential benefits. METHODS: A manual for a 10-session intervention was developed. Participants were randomly allocated to the intervention plus treatment as usual (n = 20) or treatment as usual (n = 11). Measures of mood, anxiety, quality of life, cognitive function, stress and mindfulness were administered at baseline and 1 week post-intervention. RESULTS: There was a significant improvement in quality of life in the intervention group compared to controls (p = 0.05). There were no significant changes in other outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The intervention was feasible in terms of recruitment, retention, attrition and acceptability and was associated with significant positive changes in quality of life. A fully powered randomised controlled trial is required. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Multi-Wavelength Modelling of the Beta Leo Debris Disc: 1, 2 or 3 planetesimal populations?

In this paper we present a model of the Beta Leo debris disc, with an emphasis on modelling the resolved PACS images obtained as part of the Herschel key programme DEBRIS. We also present new SPIRE images of the disc at 250 microns, as well as new constraints on the disc from SCUBA-2, mid-IR and scattered light imaging. Combining all available observational constraints, we find three possible models for the Beta Leo (HD102647) debris disc: (i) A 2 component model, comprised of a hot component at 2 AU and a cold component from 15-70 AU. (ii) A 3 component model with hot dust at 2 AU, warm dust at 9 AU, and a cold component from 30-70 AU, is equally valid since the cold emission is not resolved within 30 AU. (iii) A somewhat less likely possibility is that the system consists of a single very eccentric planetesimal population, with pericentres at 2 AU and apocentres at 65 AU. Thus, despite the wealth of observational constraints significant ambiguities remain; deep mid-IR and scattered light imaging of the dust distribution within 30 AU seems the most promising method to resolve the degeneracy. We discuss the implications for the possible planetary system architecture; e.g., the 2 component model suggests planets may exist at 2-15 AU, while the 3 component model suggests planets between 2-30 AU with a stable region containing the dust belt at 9 AU, and there should be no planets between 2-65 AU in the eccentric planetesimal model. We suggest that the hot dust may originate in the disintegration of comets scattered in from the cold disc, and examine all A stars known to harbour both hot and cold dust to consider the possibility that the ratio of hot and cold dust luminosities is indicative of the intervening planetary system architecture.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figures. Accepted to MNRA

Bayesian paternity analysis and mating patterns in a parasitic nematode, Trichostrongylus tenuis

Mating behaviour is a fundamental aspect of the evolutionary ecology of sexually reproducing species, but one that has been under-researched in parasitic nematodes. We analysed mating behaviour in the parasitic nematode Trichostrongylus tenuis by performing a paternity analysis in a population from a single red grouse host. Paternity of the 150 larval offspring of 25 mothers (sampled from one of the two host caeca) was assigned among 294 candidate fathers (sampled from both caeca). Each candidate father's probability of paternity of each offspring was estimated from 10-locus microsatellite genotypes. Seventy-six (51%) offspring were assigned a father with a probability of >0.8, and the estimated number of unsampled males was 136 (95% credible interval (CI) 77-219). The probability of a male from one caecum fathering an offspring in the other caecum was estimated as 0.024 (95% CI 0.003-0.077), indicating that the junction of the caeca is a strong barrier to dispersal. Levels of promiscuity (defined as the probability of two of an adult's offspring sharing only one parent) were high for both sexes. Variance in male reproductive success was moderately high, possibly because of a combination of random mating and high variance in post-copulatory reproductive success. These results provide the first data on individual mating behaviour among parasitic nematodes