Fucking failures: The future of fat sex

In the context of the obesity ‘epidemic’ fat people’s sex lives are cast as sterile, sexually dysfunctional or just plain non-existent. This article analyzes medical discourses of obesity and sex in order to argue that fat sex is constructed as a type of failure. Using insights from antisocial queer theory, fat sex is further shown to be queer in its failure to adhere to the specifically heteronormative dictates of what Edelman (2004) calls ‘reproductive futurism’. The analysis finally engages with Halberstam’s (2011) notion of queer failure to demonstrate how deconstructing notions of success and failure might offer fat political projects new ways to imagine the future of fat sex

LHC Searches for Non-Chiral Weakly Charged Multiplets

Because the TeV-scale to be probed at the Large Hadron Collider should shed light on the naturalness, hierarchy, and dark matter problems, most searches to date have focused on new physics signatures motivated by possible solutions to these puzzles. In this paper, we consider some candidates for new states that although not well-motivated from this standpoint are obvious possibilities that current search strategies would miss. In particular we consider vector representations of fermions in multiplets of $SU(2)_L$ with a lightest neutral state. Standard search strategies would fail to find such particles because of the expected small one-loop-level splitting between charged and neutral states.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figure

MultiMetEval: comparative and multi-objective analysis of genome-scale metabolic models

Comparative metabolic modelling is emerging as a novel field, supported by the development of reliable and standardized approaches for constructing genome-scale metabolic models in high throughput. New software solutions are needed to allow efficient comparative analysis of multiple models in the context of multiple cellular objectives. Here, we present the user-friendly software framework Multi-Metabolic Evaluator (MultiMetEval), built upon SurreyFBA, which allows the user to compose collections of metabolic models that together can be subjected to flux balance analysis. Additionally, MultiMetEval implements functionalities for multi-objective analysis by calculating the Pareto front between two cellular objectives. Using a previously generated dataset of 38 actinobacterial genome-scale metabolic models, we show how these approaches can lead to exciting novel insights. Firstly, after incorporating several pathways for the biosynthesis of natural products into each of these models, comparative flux balance analysis predicted that species like Streptomyces that harbour the highest diversity of secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters in their genomes do not necessarily have the metabolic network topology most suitable for compound overproduction. Secondly, multi-objective analysis of biomass production and natural product biosynthesis in these actinobacteria shows that the well-studied occurrence of discrete metabolic switches during the change of cellular objectives is inherent to their metabolic network architecture. Comparative and multi-objective modelling can lead to insights that could not be obtained by normal flux balance analyses. MultiMetEval provides a powerful platform that makes these analyses straightforward for biologists. Sources and binaries of MultiMetEval are freely available from https://github.com/PiotrZakrzewski/MetEv​al/downloads

Pain management procedures used by dental and maxillofacial surgeons: an investigation with special regard to odontalgia

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the procedures used by German dental and maxillofacial surgeons treating patients suffering from chronic orofacial pain (COP). This study aimed to evaluate the ambulatory management of COP. METHODS: Using a standardized questionnaire we collected data of dental and maxillofacial surgeons treating patients with COP. Therapists described variables as patients' demographics, chronic pain disorders and their aetiologies, own diagnostic and treatment principles during a period of 3 months. RESULTS: Although only 13.5% of the 520 addressed therapists returned completely evaluable questionnaires, 985 patients with COP could be identified. An orofacial pain syndrome named atypical odontalgia (17.0 %) was frequent. Although those patients revealed signs of chronification, pain therapists were rarely involved (12.5%). For assessing pain the use of Analogue Scales (7%) or interventional diagnostics (4.6%) was uncommon. Despite the fact that surgical procedures are cofactors of COP therapists preferred further surgery (41.9%) and neglected the prescription of analgesics (15.7%). However, most therapists self-evaluated the efficacy of their pain management as good (69.7 %). CONCLUSION: Often ambulatory dental and maxillofacial surgeons do not follow guidelines for COP management despite a high prevalence of severe orofacial pain syndromes

Different regulation of cigarette smoke induced inflammation in upper versus lower airways

Background: Cigarette smoke (CS) is known to initiate a cascade of mediator release and accumulation of immune and inflammatory cells in the lower airways. We investigated and compared the effects of CS on upper and lower airways, in a mouse model of subacute and chronic CS exposure. Methods: C57BL/6 mice were whole-body exposed to mainstream CS or air, for 2, 4 and 24 weeks. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL) was obtained and tissue cryosections from nasal turbinates were stained for neutrophils and T cells. Furthermore, we evaluated GCP-2, KC, MCP-1, MIP-3 alpha, RORc, IL-17, FoxP3, and TGF-beta 1 in nasal turbinates and lungs by RT-PCR. Results: In both upper and lower airways, subacute CS-exposure induced the expression of GCP-2, MCP-1, MIP-3a and resulted in a neutrophilic influx. However, after chronic CS-exposure, there was a significant downregulation of inflammation in the upper airways, while on the contrary, lower airway inflammation remained present. Whereas nasal FoxP3 mRNA levels already increased after 2 weeks, lung FoxP3 mRNA increased only after 4 weeks, suggesting that mechanisms to suppress inflammation occur earlier and are more efficient in nose than in lungs. Conclusions: Altogether, these data demonstrate that CS induced inflammation may be differently regulated in the upper versus lower airways in mice. Furthermore, these data may help to identify new therapeutic targets in this disease model

Iron homeostasis and oxidative stress in idiopathic pulmonary alveolar proteinosis: a case-control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Lung injury caused by both inhaled dusts and infectious agents depends on increased availability of iron and metal-catalyzed oxidative stress. Because inhaled particles, such as silica, and certain infections can cause secondary pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP), we tested the hypothesis that idiopathic PAP is associated with an altered iron homeostasis in the human lung.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Healthy volunteers (n = 20) and patients with idiopathic PAP (n = 20) underwent bronchoalveolar lavage and measurements were made of total protein, iron, tranferrin, transferrin receptor, lactoferrin, and ferritin. Histochemical staining for iron and ferritin was done in the cell pellets from control subjects and PAP patients, and in lung specimens of patients without cardiopulmonary disease and with PAP. Lavage concentrations of urate, glutathione, and ascorbate were also measured as indices of oxidative stress.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Lavage concentrations of iron, transferrin, transferrin receptor, lactoferrin, and ferritin were significantly elevated in PAP patients relative to healthy volunteers. The cells of PAP patients had accumulated significant iron and ferritin, as well as considerable amounts of extracellular ferritin. Immunohistochemistry for ferritin in lung tissue revealed comparable amounts of this metal-storage protein in the lower respiratory tract of PAP patients both intracellularly and extracellularly. Lavage concentrations of ascorbate, glutathione, and urate were significantly lower in the lavage fluid of the PAP patients.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Iron homeostasis is altered in the lungs of patients with idiopathic PAP, as large amounts of catalytically-active iron and low molecular weight anti-oxidant depletion are present. These findings suggest a metal-catalyzed oxidative stress in the maintenance of this disease.</p

Modelling human visual navigation using multi-view scene reconstruction

It is often assumed that humans generate a 3D reconstruction of the environment, either in egocentric or world-based coordinates, but the steps involved are unknown. Here, we propose two reconstruction-based models, evaluated using data from two tasks in immersive virtual reality. We model the observer’s prediction of landmark location based on standard photogrammetric methods and then combine location predictions to compute likelihood maps of navigation behaviour. In one model, each scene point is treated independently in the reconstruction; in the other, the pertinent variable is the spatial relationship between pairs of points. Participants viewed a simple environment from one location, were transported (virtually) to another part of the scene and were asked to navigate back. Error distributions varied substantially with changes in scene layout; we compared these directly with the likelihood maps to quantify the success of the models. We also measured error distributions when participants manipulated the location of a landmark to match the preceding interval, providing a direct test of the landmark-location stage of the navigation models. Models such as this, which start with scenes and end with a probabilistic prediction of behaviour, are likely to be increasingly useful for understanding 3D vision

CMV quantitative PCR in the diagnosis of CMV disease in patients with HIV-infection – a retrospective autopsy based study

Background Patients with advanced HIV infection at the time of diagnosis and patients not responding to antiretroviral therapy are at risk of cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease. Earlier studies of patients with HIV infection have demonstrated that the diagnosis is often first made post-mortem. In recent years new molecular biological tests have become available for diagnosis of CMV disease. Although clinical evaluation of tests for diagnosis of CMV disease in HIV-infected individuals is suboptimal without autopsy, no results from such studies have been published. The aim of this study was to explore the diagnostic utility of CMV quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in plasma from HIV and CMV seropositive patients who died during the period 1991–2002 and in whom autopsy was performed. Methods Autopsy was performed in all cases, as part of routine evaluation of HIV-infected cases followed at Ullevaal University Hospital. Of 125 patients included, 53 had CMV disease, 37 of whom were first diagnosed at autopsy. CMV disease was diagnosed either by ophthalmoscopic findings typical of CMV retinitis, biopsy or autopsy. One or two plasma samples taken prior to the first diagnosis of CMV disease (alive or at autopsy) or death without CMV disease were analysed by CMV quantitative PCR. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were calculated for different CMV viral load cut-offs and according to detection of viraemia in one versus two samples. Results Twenty-seven of 53 patients with CMV disease (51%) and 10 of 72 patients without CMV disease (14%) had detectable viraemia in at least one sample. Sensitivity and negative predictive value (NPV) of the test, maximised with a cut-off at the test's limit of detection of CMV viraemia (400 copies/mL), were 47% and 70%, respectively. With cut-off at 10 000 copies/mL, specificity and positive predictive value (PPV) were 100%. With a requirement for CMV viraemia in two samples, specificity and PPV were 100% in patients with CMV viraemia above the limit of detection. Conclusion Our results indicate that quantitative CMV PCR is best used to rule in, rather than to rule out CMV disease in HIV-infected individuals at high risk