Basic and applied renal and gastrointestinal physiology and pathophysiology

In my statement below, the number and scope of the publications chosen are intended to represent the different elements of my research work and studies over the years; they are highlighted in yellow by Curriculum Vitae (CV) order number in the following text that outlines the main topics of investigation and tries to summarise my published work and place it in a wider context. To lend further support to my scientific contributions and publication record, I have also referred, to and referenced, other relevant publications as additional examples, and as they are listed by order number in my accompanying CV (as CV# in parentheses) for crossreference. The papers cited and included in the listed (at the end and included in my submission in pdf format) and representative 27 publications are all conjoint work to which I have made a significant contribution in deciding the topic for study, in the experimental planning and execution, in writing up the findings for publication, and in providing financial support. I have never insisted on any specific author order for myself, considering it a team effort, and I have always given due recognition to the lead author, a research student, postdoctoral fellow or senior collaborator, without whom the work could not have been completed

The effect of organic farming systems on aspects of the environment - desk study OF0123

Key Conclusions 1. The crop rotations of organic systems maintain landscape diversity and biodiversity whilst the maintenance of field boundaries on organic units produces benefits to a wide range of organisms. 2. Inorganic nitrogen fertilisation and herbicide treatments of conventionally managed grassland has reduced the floral diversity of permanent pastures and maintained the low diversity of re-seeded pastures, greatly reducing their value as wildlife habitats. 3. Pesticide use is responsible for the removal of food sourcesfor birds and mammals in the form of weeds and invertebrates, as well as removing whole populations of potentially beneficial insects. 4. The majority of water pollution incidents from farms are caused during storage and spreading of cattle and pig slurries. A higher proportion of organic cattle and virtually all organic pigs are kept on solid manure systems and therefore are les of a risk. 5. The nitrogen balance of individual 'conventional' and 'organic' systems will depend greatly on the circumstances and management practices of the individual farms. Consequently it is not possible to generalise that one system is always better than the other in terms of nitrate leaching risk. With this qualification the literature does indicate that generally, organic systems offer less risk of nitrate leaching. 6. Organic systems are less likely to cause loss of phosphate into surface and ground waters. Both leaching and loss in eroded soil are likely to be reduced. 7. Organic management practicess such as rotations, the regular use of manures and non-use of pesticides usually increase soil organic matter contents. 8. Organic practices are likely to increase earthworm numbers compared to conventional systems. The increased numbers are universally acknowledged to benefit soil fertility although such effects are difficult to quantify. 9. Soil erosion is less of a problem on organic units. 10. Accumulations of copper and zinc in soils are much reduced in organic systems because organic pig and poultry producers do not supplement feeds with these metals as growth promoters. Copper fungicides are more widely used on organic farms and their use should be carefully monitored to prevent harmful effects. 11. The practices adopted by organic farmers can reduce emissions of nitrous oxide and methane. Ammonia emissions will not necessarily be less in organic than in conventional farming. 12. Organic farmers adopt practices which benefit the landscape. They maintain and introduce features largely because they are required by the Organic Standards to do so. They introduce such management practices because they are technically necessary for successful organic production

A study of the E.P.R. spectrum of potassium sulfate : copper(2+).

Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 40-07, page: . Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1982

A Mossbauer study of gamma-irradiated organotin-stabilised poly(vinylchloride).

Sn Mossbauer spectroscopy has been used to study the nuclear environment of three organotin stabilisers present in PVC, after exposure of the polymer to gamma-irradiation up to a maximum dose of 200 kGy, in order to identify the tin-containing degradation products which could migrate into foodstuffs in contact with the polymer. Chapter One of this thesis covers the aspects of the degradation and stabilisation of organotin-stabilised PVC which may influence the chemical nature of the tin-containing degradation products resulting from gamma-irradiation of the polymer. Chapter Two contains a description of the theory of the Mossbauer effect and the instrumentation and computational methods for recording and processing Mossbauer data. Chapter Three is concerned with the effect of gamma-irradiation, at doses in excess of food irradiation applications, in order to identify the terminal tin-containing degradation products of the stabilisers. In Chapter Four, evidence for the progressive degradation of organotin stabilisers upon increasing irradiation exposure is presented and intermediate degradation products are proposed. A mechanism for the degradation of stabilisers is suggested. In Chapter Five, evidence for dealkylated tin-containing degradation products in irradiated organotin-stabilised PVC is presented. Chapter Six involves the application of the Debye model of solids to variable temperature Mossbauer data for two organotin stabiliser degradation products, dibutyltin dichloride and stannic chloride, in PVC. A significant change in recoilless fraction is shown to occur when these compounds are dispersed in PVC compared with those of the pure compounds. This is attributed to changes in coordination number of the tin atom upon dispersion in PVC, and has a significant effect upon the relative sensitivity of the technique to the degradation products. Chapter Seven contains a comparison of the degradation processes occurring in thermal and gamma-irradiation degradation of organotin-stabilised PVC.It is shown that degradation.of the stabiliser during gamma-irradation is much more severe. In Chapter Eight, an appraisal of the key experimental results and their implications for the gamma-irradiation sterilisation of polymer-packaged foodstuffs is presented

The complex role of social care services in supporting the development of sustainable identities:insights from the experiences of British South Asian women with intellectual disabilities

Background and aims: Carers and service users with intellectual disabilities from minority ethnic groups have typically been reported to be dissatisfied with the social care services they receive. However, service users themselves have rarely been asked directly about their experiences of social care. This paper aims to understand the meaning of social care services in the lives of South Asian women with intellectual disabilities, in the United Kingdom. Method and procedure: 10 British South Asian women with mild-moderate intellectual disabilities were interviewed about their experiences of social care services. The transcripts were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results: The analysis produced three super-ordinate themes, which focus on how services facilitate the development of complex identities, how the participants explored their sense of being ‘stuck’ between cultures as they negotiated their journeys towards independence, and the triple disadvantage which they experienced as a consequence of the intersection between gender, ethnicity and disability. The participants were broadly satisfied with the role which services played in these domains, and appeared to find them valuable and helpful. Conclusions: The results suggest that the participants successfully managed complex identity issues, such as acculturation processes, with the support of services. It may be helpful to give more explicit consideration to the positive role which good services can play in supporting people with intellectual disabilities in the development of their identities and goals, alongside the more traditionally ‘concrete’ objectives of such social care. Engagement with families in ‘positive risk-taking’ is likely to be an important component of success

Masses of Neutron Stars in High-Mass X-ray Binaries with Optical Astrometry

Determining the type of matter that is inside a neutron star (NS) has been a long-standing goal of astrophysics. Despite this, most of the NS equations of state (EOS) that predict maximum masses in the range 1.4-2.8 solar masses are still viable. Most of the precise NS mass measurements that have been made to date show values close to 1.4 solar masses, but a reliable measurement of an over-massive NS would constrain the EOS possibilities. Here, we investigate how optical astrometry at the microarcsecond level can be used to map out the orbits of High-Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs), leading to tight constraints on NS masses. While previous studies by Unwin and co-workers and Tomsick and co-workers discuss the fact that the future Space Interferometry Mission should be capable of making such measurements, the current work describes detailed simulations for 6 HMXB systems, including predicted constraints on all orbital parameters. We find that the direct NS masses can be measured to an accuracy of 2.5% (1-sigma) in the best case (X Per), to 6.5% for Vela X-1, and to 10% for two other HMXBs.Comment: 8 pages, Accepted by Ap

The Application of a Hypothesis-driven Strategy to the Sensitive Detection and Location of Acetylated Lysine Residues

The application of a hypothesis-driven method for the sensitive determination of lysine acetylation sites on enzymatically digested proteins is described. Comparative sensitivity tests were carried out using serial dilution of an acetylated bovine serum albumin (AcBSA) digest to assess the performance of a multiple reaction monitoring (MRM)–based approach as compared to a more conventional precursor scanning (PS) method. Both methods were capable of selectively detecting an acetylated peptide at the low femtomole level when spiked into a background of 500 fmol six-protein tryptic digest. The MRM approach was roughly tenfold more sensitive than precursor scanning with one acetylated peptide detected and sequenced at the level of 2 fmol on-column. The technique was subsequently applied to a gel-derived sample of cytokeratin-8 (CK8) shown to contain acetylated lysine residues by Western blot analysis. The strategy applied herein, termed MRM-initiated detection and sequencing (MIDAS), resulted in the facile identification of novel sites of acetylation on this protein

Cultural affordance, social relationships, and narratives of independence:Understanding the meaning of social care for adults with intellectual disabilities from minority ethnic groups in the UK

Objectives: To explore the perspective of adults with intellectual disabilities from minority ethnic groups, on their relationship with social care services. Methods: Thirty-two adults took part in semi-structured interviews. Transcripts were analyzed within a Pluralist framework, adopting the structure of Template Analysis and then drawing on phenomenological, narrative, and discursive approaches. Results: Our participants were generally positive about the services which they received, which they evaluated primarily in terms of their continuing good relationship(s) with specific workers. Our respondents were sophisticated users of cultural resources and identities; the concept of ‘cultural affordance’ may be useful alternative to ‘cultural competence’. We discuss three distinctive narratives about independence (Stability; Progress; Resistance). Each highlights the importance of maintaining connectedness to others, and the crucial role played by ownership of decision-making. Conclusions: We have developed a set of resources which service providers (and researchers) can use with people with intellectual disabilities, in order to support mutual understanding, service planning and delivery

All-Sky Near Infrared Space Astrometry

Gaia is currently revolutionizing modern astronomy. However, much of the Galactic plane, center and the spiral arm regions are obscured by interstellar extinction, rendering them inaccessible because Gaia is an optical instrument. An all-sky near infrared (NIR) space observatory operating in the optical NIR, separated in time from the original Gaia would provide microarcsecond NIR astrometry and millimag photometry to penetrate obscured regions unraveling the internal dynamics of the Galaxy.Comment: 7 page

Is a gene-centric human proteome project the best way for proteomics to serve biology?

With the recent developments in proteomic technologies, a complete human proteome project (HPP) appears feasible for the first time. However, there is still debate as to how it should be designed and what it should encompass. In "proteomics speak", the debate revolves around the central question as to whether a gene-centric or a protein-centric proteomics approach is the most appropriate way forward. In this paper, we try to shed light on what these definitions mean, how large-scale proteomics such as a HPP can insert into the larger omics chorus, and what we can reasonably expect from a HPP in the way it has been proposed so far