Examining the link between press freedom and politics.

Freedom of the press is a hallmark of liberal democracy. Denying this civil liberty emboldens a government to exert an undue degree of influence over its citizens. By comparing the media discourse in a democratic country to the media discourse in an authoritarian country, one could reasonably expect to identify unique language markers, which shed light on their divergent political climates. This study specifically sourced articles from the Venezuelan publication El Universal and the Costa Rican publication The Tico Times. The author then analyzed every article related to politics published by both newspapers in March 2014 and in March 2017 using the software program NVivo. The author noted a distinct shift from overt anti-government discourse in some of El Universal’s 2014 articles to more uniformly measured, matter-of-fact reporting in its 2017 articles. The Tico Times maintained more consistency over time, but its political coverage decreased dramatically from 2014 to 2017

The changing shape of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from BMJ via the DOI in this record

Feasibility of cardiopulmonary exercise testing in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from BMJ Publishing Group via the DOI in this recordBritish Thoracic Society Winter Meeting 2018, London, UK, 5-7 December 2018Introduction Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic, progressive interstitial lung disease of irreversible declining lung function. Reductions in forced vital capacity (FVC) and diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO) are the common clinical endpoints for prognostic monitoring and assessing treatment outcomes. The use of cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) in IPF remains largely unexplored. Objectives To explore the feasibility of CPET as a clinical measure in IPF and identify associations with established clinical variables. Methods Seventeen patients with IPF were approached, and fifteen (88%) were recruited (13 male, 68.1±7.5 years). Incremental exercise testing to exhaustion was undertaken via electronically braked cycle ergometer. Variables included: peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak), peak work rate (WRpeak), nadir SpO2, ventilatory drive (VE/VCO2), alongside standard clinical pulmonary function tests of FVC and DLCO. Pearson’s correlation coefficients established relationships between variables. Results One participant was excluded (high baseline systolic blood pressure). Eight out of fourteen (57%) participants reached volitional exhaustion. Five CPETs were terminated early due to desaturation (SpO2 <88%) and one to an exercise-induced right bundle branch block (recovery within minutes of ceasing exercise). Mean (±SD) pulmonary and exercise results were: FVC, 84.9%±17.0%; DLCO, 56.5%±11.4%; VO2peak, 1.4±0.4 L.min-1, 16.5±5.5 mL.kg-1.min-1; WRpeak, 104±42 W; SpO2, 90±3%; VE/VCO2, 27.1±6.4. Significant correlations were identified between: FVC and SpO2 (r=0.58, p=0.032), DLCO and VE/VCO2 (r=0.81, p<0.001) and WRpeak (r=0.58, p=0.03). Body-mass relative VO2peak held moderate, but not significant relationships with FVC (r=0.44, p=0.11) and DLCO (r=0.53, p=0.51). Conclusions Initial findings from this study have found CPET to be acceptable to patients with IPF and potentially feasible as a testing measure. Preliminary results identified common exercise desaturation, suggesting less conservative SpO2 termination criteria (e.g. 80% cut-off) could be considered. Although exercise parameters held limited relationships with FVC and DLCO, results from VO2peak identifies potential additional and dynamic prognostic information and warrants further investigation.Royal Devon & Exeter Hospita

Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing as a Longitudinal Clinical Tool in Interstitial Lung Disease Management

This is an abstract from International Conference of the American-Thoracic-Society Location: Dallas, TX Date: MAY 17-22, 2019Royal Devon & Exeter Hospita

Diversity of vertebrate splicing factor U2AF35 : identification of alternatively spliced U2AF1 mRNAS

© 2004 ASBMB. Currently published by Elsevier Inc; originally published by American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY license.U2 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein auxiliary factor small subunit (U2AF(35)) is encoded by a conserved gene designated U2AF1. Here we provide evidence for the existence of alternative vertebrate transcripts encoding different U2AF(35) isoforms. Three mRNA isoforms (termed U2AF(35)a-c) were produced by alternative splicing of the human U2AF1 gene. U2AF(35)c contains a premature stop codon that targets the resulting mRNA to nonsense-mediated mRNA decay. U2AF(35)b differs from the previously described U2AF(35)a isoform in 7 amino acids located at the atypical RNA Recognition Motif involved in dimerization with U2AF(65). Biochemical experiments indicate that isoform U2AF(35)b, which has been highly conserved from fish to man, maintains the ability to interact with U2AF(65), stimulates U2AF(65) binding to a pre-mRNA, and promotes U2AF splicing activity in vitro. Real time, quantitative PCR analysis indicates that U2AF(35)a is the most abundant isoform expressed in murine tissues, although the ratio between U2AF(35)a and U2AF(35)b varies from 10-fold in the brain to 20-fold in skeletal muscle. We propose that post-transcriptional regulation of U2AF1 gene expression may provide a mechanism by which the relative cellular concentration and availability of U2AF(35) protein isoforms are modulated, thus contributing to the finely tuned control of splicing events in different tissues.This work was supported in part by Grant POCTI/MGI/36547/2000 from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal, and by Grant RG0300/2000-M from the Human Frontier Science Program Organization. Supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia Fellowship PRAXIS XXI/BD/18044/98. Supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia Fellowship POCTI SFRH/BPD/9388/2002. Supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia Fellowship PRAXIS XXI SFRH/BD/2914/2000.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A class of human exons with predicted distant branch points revealed by analysis of AG dinucleotide exclusion zones

Background: The three consensus elements at the 3' end of human introns-the branch point sequence, the polypyrimidine tract, and the 3' splice site AG dinucleotide-are usually closely spaced within the final 40 nucleotides of the intron. However, the branch point sequence and polypyrimidine tract of a few known alternatively spliced exons lie up to 400 nucleotides upstream of the 3' splice site. The extended regions between the distant branch points (dBPs) and their 3' splice site are marked by the absence of other AG dinucleotides. In many cases alternative splicing regulatory elements are located within this region.|Results: We have applied a simple algorithm, based on AG dinucleotide exclusion zones (AGEZ), to a large data set of verified human exons. We found a substantial number of exons with large AGEZs, which represent candidate dBP exons. We verified the importance of the predicted dBPs for splicing of some of these exons. This group of exons exhibits a higher than average prevalence of observed alternative splicing, and many of the exons are in genes with some human disease association.|Conclusion: The group of identified probable dBP exons are interesting first because they are likely to be alternatively spliced. Second, they are expected to be vulnerable to mutations within the entire extended AGEZ. Disruption of splicing of such exons, for example by mutations that lead to insertion of a new AG dinucleotide between the dBP and 3' splice site, could be readily understood even though the causative mutation might be remote from the conventional locations of splice site sequences.This work was funded by programme grant 059879 from the Wellcome Trust to C.W.J.S

Ventilatory dynamics and clinical status during cardiopulmonary exercise testing in patients with interstitial lung disease

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Building a circular supply chain. Achieving resilient operations with the circular economy via the DOI in this recordPoster P98 presented at the British Thoracic Society Winter Meeting 2023, London, UK, 22 - 24 November 202

I Know What You Did Last Summer: Your Smart Home Internet of Things and Your iPhone Forensically Ratting You Out

The adoption of smart home Internet of Things (IoT) devices continues to grow. What if your devices can snitch on you and let us know where you are at any given point in time? In this work we examined the forensic artifacts produced by Nest devices, and in specific, we examined the logical backup structure of an iPhone used to control a Nest thermostat, Nest Indoor Camera and a Nest Outdoor Camera. We also integrated the Google Home Mini as another method of controlling the studied Smart Home devices. Our work is the primary account for the examination of Nest artifacts produced by an iPhone, and is also the first open source research to produce a usable forensics tool we name the Forensic Evidence Acquisition and Analysis System (FEAAS). FEAAS consolidates evidentiary data into a readable report that can infer user events (like entering or leaving a home) and what triggered an event (whether it was the Google Assistant through a voice command, or the use of an iPhone application). Our results are important for the advancement of digital forensics, as there are cases starting to emerge in which smart home IoT devices have already been used as culpatory evidence

A multicentre retrospective cohort comparison of aetiology and survival in patients with chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis versus idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from BMJ Publishing Group via the DOI in this recordWinter Meeting of the British Thoracic Society, 5-7 December 2018, London, U

The utility of the oxygen uptake efficiency plateau as a submaximal exercise biomarker in interstitial lung disease

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from BMJ Publishing Group via the DOI in this recordPaper S14 presented at the British Thoracic Society Winter Meeting, 17 - 19 February 202