Reed Canarygrass in Alaska

North American strains of reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) frequently sustain severe winter injury or total winterkill in southcentral Alaska. Objectives of this study were to compare reed canarygrass strains adapted to extreme northern latitudes in Europe with North American cultivars for winter-hardiness and forage production in Alaska

Catholic and charismatic : a study in personality theory within Catholic congregations

This study set out to conceptualise and measure Charismatic orientation (openness to charismatic experience) and traditional Catholic orientation (Catholic identity) among a sample of 670 Catholic churchgoers in order to test whether attachment to Catholic Charismatic Renewal strengthened or weakened the sense of traditional Catholic identity among churchgoing Catholics. This research question was set within the broader consideration of the location of Charismatic orientation and Catholic orientation within Eysenck's three dimensional model of personality. The data revealed a strong positive association between Charismatic experience and Catholic identity. Higher scores on the index of Charismatic orientation were associated with higher extraversion scores, with higher neuroticism scores, and with higher levels of mass attendance and personal prayer. Higher scores on the index of Catholic orientation were associated with being female, being older, higher neuroticism scores, and higher levels of mass attendance and personal prayer

Retinal synaptic arrays: Continuing development in the adult goldfish

We report a light- and electron-microscopic examination of the inner plexiform layer of the central retina of young (c. 1 year) and old (3–4 year) goldfish. There were no new neurons added to this region during the growth period. Nonetheless, there were substantially more synapses (per cell, per mm 2 , or per degree 2 ) in the older retinas. This result is discussed in the contexts of retinal function and neural development.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/50006/1/901850210_ftp.pd

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy with severe bradyarrhythmia following epidural insertion

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Aspirin desensitization in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention: A survey of current practice

Background: Aspirin remains the mainstay of anti-platelet therapy in cardiac patients.However, if a patient is allergic to aspirin and dual anti-platelet therapy is indicated — suchas with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), then there is no clear guidance. Onepossibility is aspirin desensitization. A variety of protocols exist for the rapid desensitization ofpatients with aspirin allergy. The aim of this survey was to assess current knowledge andpractice regarding aspirin desensitization in the UK.Methods and results: We conducted a UK wide survey of all UK 116 PCI centers andobtained complete responses from 40 (35.4%) centers. Of these, just 7 (17.5%) centers hadpreviously desensitised patients; 29 (87.9%) centers suggested a lack of a local protocolprevented them from desensitizing, with 10 (30.3%) unsure of how to conduct desensitization.Only 5 (12.5%) centers had a local policy for aspirin desensitization although 25 (64.1%)units had a clinical strategy for dealing with aspirin allergy; the majority (72%) giving higherdoses of thienopyridine class drugs.Conclusions: In the UK, there appears to be no consistent approach to patients with aspirinallergy. Patients undergoing PCI benefit from dual anti-platelet therapy (including aspirin),and aspirin desensitization in those with known allergy may facilitate this. Sustained effortshould be placed on encouraging UK centers to use desensitization as a treatment modalityprior to PCI rather than avoiding aspirin altogether

A randomized library approach to identifying functional lox site domains for the Cre recombinase

The bacteriophage P1 Cre/loxP site-specific recombination system is a useful tool in a number of genetic engineering processes. The Cre recombinase has been shown to act on DNA sequences that vary considerably from that of its bacteriophage recognition sequence, loxP. However, little is known about the sequence requirements for functional lox-like sequences. In this study, we have implemented a randomized library approach to identify the sequence characteristics of functional lox site domains. We created a randomized spacer library and a randomized arm library, and then tested them for recombination in vivo and in vitro. Results from the spacer library show that, while there is great plasticity, identity between spacer pairs is the most important factor influencing function, especially in in vitro reactions. The presence of one completely randomized arm in a functional loxP recombination reaction revealed that only three wild-type loxP arms are necessary for successful recombination in Cre-expressing bacteria, and that there are nucleotide preferences at the first three and last three positions of the randomized arm for the most efficiently recombined sequences. Finally, we found that in vitro Cre recombination reactions are much more stringent for evaluating which sequences can support efficient recombination compared to the 294-CRE system