A Case of Urogenital Human Schistosomiasis from a Non-endemic Area

© 2015 Calvo-Cano et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The attached file is the published version of the article

"It's making contacts" : notions of social capital and implications for widening access to medical education

Acknowledgements Our thanks to the Medical Schools Council (MSC) of the UK for funding Study A; REACH Scotland for funding Study B; and Queen Mary University of London, and to the medical school applicants and students who gave their time to be interviewed. Our thanks also to Dr Sean Zhou and Dr Sally Curtis, and Manjul Medhi, for their help with data collection for studies A and B respectively. Our thanks also to Dr Lara Varpio, Uniformed Services University of the USA, for her advice and guidance on collating data sets and her comments on the draft manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Epidemiological Interactions between Urogenital and Intestinal Human Schistosomiasis in the Context of Praziquantel Treatment across Three West African Countries

© 2015 Knowles et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The attached file is the published version of the article

Academic self-concept, gender and single-sex schooling

This paper assesses gender differences in academic self-concept for a cohort of children born in 1958 (the National Child Development Study). We address the question of whether attending single-sex or co-educational schools affected students’ perceptions of their own academic abilities (academic self-concept). Academic selfconcept was found to be highly gendered, even controlling for prior test scores. Boys had higher self-concepts in maths and science, and girls in English. Single-sex schooling reduced the gender gap in self-concept, while selective schooling was linked to lower academic self-concept overall

Identifying non-destructive growth and maturity indexes of Prickly pear (Opuntia albicarpa S. Var. Burrona) and evaluation of freeze-drying conditions

Around the world, prickly pear fruits are valued as a source of dietary functional compounds and ingredients for innovative foods. Growth and physicochemical changes of Opuntia albicarpa S. fruits were recorded from 0 to 132 days-after-flowering (DAF) to identify non-destructive maturity-indices. Optimum-ripened fruits were freeze-dried to study physicochemical and functional characteristics of dried and rehydrated pulp. Principal component analysis confirmed growth turned into fruit ripening in DAF 99, and it lasted until DAF 132. Changes in color parameters of the peel correlated with fruit texture and pulp sugar content and taste index (P < 0.01). During freeze-drying, plate temperature had more significant effects than the thickness (P < 0.05). At 30°C, color ΔE between dried and fresh slices augmented, but, texture Δ´s (medium force) between rehydrated and fresh pulp was lower. Color tests could be used to harvest commercially-ripened fruits. Freeze-drying at 30°C improves the rehydrated slices texture regarding thickness maintaining rehydration coefficients.Las tunas son apreciadas en todo el mundo como fuente de compuestos funcionales dietarios e ingredientes para alimentos innovadores. Para identificar índices de maduración no destructivos, se registraron cambios en el crecimiento y en los parámetros fisicoquímicos de frutos de Opuntia albicarpa S. entre los días después de la floración (DAF) 0 al 132. Frutos con maduración óptima fueron liofilizados para evaluar características fisicoquímicas y funcionales de pulpa seca y rehidratada. El análisis de componentes principales confirmo que el crecimiento dio lugar a la maduración en el DAF 99 y ésta prosiguió hasta el DAF 132. Los cambios en parámetros de color en cáscara correlacionaron con la textura del fruto, y en pulpa, con el contenido de azúcares y el índice de sabor (P< 0.01). Durante la liofilización, la temperatura de placa tiene más efectos significativos que el espesor (P≤ 0.05). A 30°C, el ΔE de color entre la pulpa seca y fresca aumentó, pero, el Δ de textura (fuerza media) fue menor entre la rehidratada y la fresca. Se pueden emplear evaluaciones de color para cosechar frutos en su madurez comercial, y liofilizar estos frutos a 30°C mejora la textura sin importar el espesor, manteniendo los coeficientes de rehidratación.This work was supported by the SIMORELOS program of CONACyT

A redox state-dictated signalling pathway deciphers the malignant cell specificity of CD40-mediated apoptosis

CD40, a member of the tumour necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) superfamily, has the capacity to cause extensive apoptosis in carcinoma cells, while sparing normal epithelial cells. Yet, apoptosis is only achieved by membrane-presented CD40 ligand (mCD40L), as soluble receptor agonists are but weakly pro-apoptotic. Here, for the first time we have identified the precise signalling cascade underpinning mCD40L-mediated death as involving sequential TRAF3 stabilisation, ASK1 phosphorylation, MKK4 (but not MKK7) activation and JNK/AP-1 induction, leading to a Bak- and Bax-dependent mitochondrial apoptosis pathway. TRAF3 is central in the activation of the NADPH oxidase (Nox)-2 component p40phox and the elevation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is essential in apoptosis. Strikingly, CD40 activation resulted in down-regulation of Thioredoxin (Trx)-1 to permit ASK1 activation and apoptosis. Although soluble receptor agonist alone could not induce death, combinatorial treatment incorporating soluble CD40 agonist and pharmacological inhibition of Trx-1 was functionally equivalent to the signal triggered by mCD40L. Finally, we demonstrate using normal, ‘para-malignant’ and tumour-derived cells that progression to malignant transformation is associated with increase in oxidative stress in epithelial cells, which coincides with increased susceptibility to CD40 killing, while in normal cells CD40 signalling is cytoprotective. Our studies have revealed the molecular nature of the tumour specificity of CD40 signalling and explained the differences in pro-apoptotic potential between soluble and membrane-bound CD40 agonists. Equally importantly, by exploiting a unique epithelial culture system that allowed us to monitor alterations in the redox-state of epithelial cells at different stages of malignant transformation, our study reveals how pro-apoptotic signals can elevate ROS past a previously hypothesised ‘lethal pro-apoptotic threshold’ to induce death; an observation that is both of fundamental importance and carries implications for cancer therap

Action anticipation based on an agent's epistemic state in toddlers and adults

Do toddlers and adults engage in spontaneous Theory of Mind (ToM)? Evidence from anticipatory looking (AL) studies suggests that they do. But a growing body of failed replication studies raised questions about the paradigm’s suitability. In this multi-lab collaboration, we test the robustness of spontaneous ToM measures. We examine whether 18- to 27-month-olds’ and adults’ anticipatory looks distinguish between two basic forms of an agent’s epistemic states: knowledge and ignorance. In toddlers [ANTICIPATED n = 520 50% FEMALE] and adults [ANTICIPATED n = 408, 50% FEMALE] from diverse ethnic backgrounds, we found [SUPPORT/NO SUPPORT] for epistemic state-based action anticipation. Future research can probe whether this conclusion extends to more complex kinds of epistemic states, such as true and false beliefs

A restricted spectrum of missense KMT2D variants cause a multiple malformations disorder distinct from Kabuki syndrome

Purpose: To investigate if specific exon 38 or 39 KMT2D missense variants (MVs) cause a condition distinct from Kabuki syndrome type 1 (KS1). Methods: Multiple individuals, with MVs in exons 38 or 39 of KMT2D that encode a highly conserved region of 54 amino acids flanked by Val3527 and Lys3583, were identified and phenotyped. Functional tests were performed to study their pathogenicity and understand the disease mechanism. Results: The consistent clinical features of the affected individuals, from seven unrelated families, included choanal atresia, athelia or hypoplastic nipples, branchial sinus abnormalities, neck pits, lacrimal duct anomalies, hearing loss, external ear malformations, and thyroid abnormalities. None of the individuals had intellectual disability. The frequency of clinical features, objective software-based facial analysis metrics, and genome-wide peripheral blood DNA methylation patterns in these patients were significantly different from that of KS1. Circular dichroism spectroscopy indicated that these MVs perturb KMT2D secondary structure through an increased disordered to ɑ-helical transition. Conclusion: KMT2D MVs located in a specific region spanning exons 38 and 39 and affecting highly conserved residues cause a novel multiple malformations syndrome distinct from KS1. Unlike KMT2D haploinsufficiency in KS1, these MVs likely result in disease through a dominant negative mechanism.This article is freely available via Open Access. Click on the Publisher URL to access it via the publisher's site.16-17/10/Newlife - The Charity for Disabled Children FS/13/32/30069/BHF_/British Heart Foundation/United Kingdom 72160007/Chile's National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research MR/K011154/1/MRC_/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom WT_/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdompre-prin

Early maternal mirroring predicts infant motor system activation during facial expression observation.

Processing facial expressions is an essential component of social interaction, especially for preverbal infants. In human adults and monkeys, this process involves the motor system, with a neural matching mechanism believed to couple self- and other-generated facial gestures. Here, we used electroencephalography to demonstrate recruitment of the human motor system during observation and execution of facial expressions in nine-month-old infants, implicating this system in facial expression processing from a very young age. Notably, examination of early video-recorded mother-infant interactions supported the common, but as yet untested, hypothesis that maternal mirroring of infant facial gestures is central to the development of a neural matching mechanism for these gestures. Specifically, the extent to which mothers mirrored infant facial expressions at two months postpartum predicted infant motor system activity during observation of the same expressions at nine months. This suggests that maternal mirroring strengthens mappings between visual and motor representations of facial gestures, which increases infant neural sensitivity to particularly relevant cues in the early social environment