A brief review of Cn-symmetric calixarenes and resorcinarenes

Calixarene and resorcinarene macrocycles are renowned for their ability to form inclusion complexes or act as molecular scaffolds. The addition of chirality to these non-planar molecules is an exciting enhancement of their already robust potential, offering much promise as ligands for chiral catalysis and enantioselective separations. Chiral calixarenes can be produced by the attachment of a chiral moiety or by the placement of an achiral functionality on the macrocyclic structure so as to render it asymmetric. The latter method is particularly intriguing, often resulting in molecules which have Cn dissymmetry. This review describes examples of the Cn-dissymmetric calixarenes and resorcinarenes prepared to date and discusses aspects of their chirality, including their pictorial and written descriptors

When Critique Meets Reality: Systemic Violence and the BioShock Games

The procedural rhetoric of the BioShock games has been both lauded as a ludological implementation of social critique and criticised as the continuation of conservative gameplay formulae. At times, this extends to full hypocrisy, with the series simultaneously narratively criticising and mechanically perpetuating capitalism and ethnocentrism. This article will expand on these examples and, as part of the field of cultural legal studies, emphasise the relevance of procedural rhetoric to contemporary Western legal systems. Ultimately, while the series demonstrates a deep hypocrisy, an emphasis on this hypocrisy as an aspect of the franchise is able to produce a new critical reading that emphasises how systemic violence can be rendered invisible through normalisation in what are often perceived as objective and mechanical systems, including many contemporary understandings of law

A Comparison of Potential Student Blood Donors to Actual Donors

With a growing need for blood and blood products, managers of blood collection agencies are interested in increasing donation rates. A better understanding of how donors are different from the general public might inform decisions on how to promote to make non-donors more like donors. A sample of 74 student blood donors was surveyed at two university blood donor clinics about their attitudes and beliefs about blood donation. A convenience sample of 134 respondents in a university student population was also surveyed for comparison. The latter was later split by level of commitment to blood donation. Differences among these three groups were tested. Applications of these finding are suggested

Comparison of feeding diets diluted with sorghum-sudangrass silage or low-quality grass on nutrient intake and digestibility and growth performance of Holstein dairy heifers

This study was carried out to evaluate the nutrient intakes and growth of dairy heifers offered an alfalfa silage– corn silage diet (CON; 14.3% crude protein, 61.1% total digestible nutrients, 47.9% neutral detergent fiber) compared with diets containing 1 of 2 types of sorghumsudangrass (SS) silages: conventional or photoperiod sensitive. The objective of the study was to determine the potential to use SS to control dry matter (DM) and nutrient intakes and weight gain. Both diets were similar in nutrient composition, with approximately 13% crude protein, 60 to 61% total digestible nutrients, and 55% neutral detergent fiber. Seventy-two Holstein heifers (16–18 mo at study initiation) were blocked by initial body weight (light = 422 ± 12.8 kg; medium = 455 ± 14.8 kg; heavy = 489 ± 16.7 kg) with 3 pens assigned to each weight block (8 heifers/pen; 24 heifers/block). The 3 diets were randomly allocated to the pens within each block and offered for 12 wk. Heifers offered the CON diet had greater DM, protein, and energy intakes compared with those offered the SS silage-based diets due to the greater neutral detergent fiber concentration of the SS diets. With lower DM and nutrient intakes, average daily gain was in the recommended range (0.8– 1 kg/d for Holstein heifers) for heifers offered the SS silage-based diets (mean of 0.92 kg/d for both SS diets vs. 1.11 kg/d for CON). Sorting behaviors for heifers offered both SS diets were more aggressive against long, medium, and short particles compared with those of heifers offered the CON diet; however, heifers sorted large particles from photoperiod-sensitive silage more aggressively than those from conventional silage. Based on this study, SS silage-based diets can control the DM and energy intakes for heifers and maintain optimum growth rates, with harvesting at a shorter chop length likely helping to alleviate sorting issues

Effect of water, sanitation, and hygiene on the prevention of trachoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Trachoma is the world's leading cause of infectious blindness. The World Health Organization (WHO) has endorsed the SAFE strategy in order to eliminate blindness due to trachoma by 2020 through "surgery," "antibiotics," "facial cleanliness," and "environmental improvement." While the S and A components have been widely implemented, evidence and specific targets are lacking for the F and E components, of which water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) are critical elements. Data on the impact of WASH on trachoma are needed to support policy and program recommendations. Our objective was to systematically review the literature and conduct meta-analyses where possible to report the effects of WASH conditions on trachoma and identify research gaps. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, ISI Web of Knowledge, MedCarib, Lilacs, REPIDISCA, DESASTRES, and African Index Medicus databases through October 27, 2013 with no restrictions on language or year of publication. Studies were eligible for inclusion if they reported a measure of the effect of WASH on trachoma, either active disease indicated by observed signs of trachomatous inflammation or Chlamydia trachomatis infection diagnosed using PCR. We identified 86 studies that reported a measure of the effect of WASH on trachoma. To evaluate study quality, we developed a set of criteria derived from the GRADE methodology. Publication bias was assessed using funnel plots. If three or more studies reported measures of effect for a comparable WASH exposure and trachoma outcome, we conducted a random-effects meta-analysis. We conducted 15 meta-analyses for specific exposure-outcome pairs. Access to sanitation was associated with lower trachoma as measured by the presence of trachomatous inflammation-follicular or trachomatous inflammation-intense (TF/TI) (odds ratio [OR] 0.85, 95% CI 0.75-0.95) and C. trachomatis infection (OR 0.67, 95% CI 0.55-0.78). Having a clean face was significantly associated with reduced odds of TF/TI (OR 0.42, 95% CI 0.32-0.52), as were facial cleanliness indicators lack of ocular discharge (OR 0.42, 95% CI 0.23-0.61) and lack of nasal discharge (OR 0.62, 95% CI 0.52-0.72). Facial cleanliness indicators were also associated with reduced odds of C. trachomatis infection: lack of ocular discharge (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.31-0.49) and lack of nasal discharge (OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.37-0.76). Other hygiene factors found to be significantly associated with reduced TF/TI included face washing at least once daily (OR 0.76, 95% CI 0.57-0.96), face washing at least twice daily (OR 0.85, 95% CI 0.80-0.90), soap use (OR 0.76, 95% CI 0.59-0.93), towel use (OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.53-0.78), and daily bathing practices (OR 0.76, 95% CI 0.53-0.99). Living within 1 km of a water source was not found to be significantly associated with TF/TI or C. trachomatis infection, and the use of sanitation facilities was not found to be significantly associated with TF/TI. CONCLUSIONS: We found strong evidence to support F and E components of the SAFE strategy. Though limitations included moderate to high heterogenity, low study quality, and the lack of standard definitions, these findings support the importance of WASH in trachoma elimination strategies and the need for the development of standardized approaches to measuring WASH in trachoma control programs

Temperature-Dependence of Weibel-Palade Body Exocytosis and Cell Surface Dispersal of von Willebrand Factor and Its Propolypeptide

Background: Weibel-Palade bodies (WPB) are endothelial cell (EC) specific secretory organelles containing Von Willebrand factor (VWF). The temperature-dependence of Ca2+-driven WPB exocytosis is not known, although indirect evidence suggests that WPB exocytosis may occur at very low temperatures. Here we quantitatively analyse the temperature-dependence of Ca2+-driven WPB exocytosis and release of secreted VWF from the cell surface of ECs using fluorescence microscopy of cultured human ECs containing fluorescent WPBs. Principal Findings: Ca2+-driven WPB exocytosis occurred at all temperatures studied (7–37°C). The kinetics and extent of WPB exocytosis were strongly temperature-dependent: Delays in exocytosis increased from 0.92 s at 37°C to 134.2 s at 7°C, the maximum rate of WPB fusion decreased from 10.0±2.2 s−1 (37°C) to 0.80±0.14 s−1 (7°C) and the fractional extent of degranulation of WPBs in each cell from 67±3% (37°C) to 3.6±1.3% (7°C). A discrepancy was found between the reduction in Ca2+-driven VWF secretion and WPB exocytosis at reduced temperature; at 17°C VWF secretion was reduced by 95% but WPB exocytosis by 75–80%. This discrepancy arises because VWF dispersal from sites of WPB exocytosis is largely prevented at low temperature. In contrast VWF-propolypeptide (proregion) dispersal from WPBs, although slowed, was complete within 60–120 s. Novel antibodies to the cleaved and processed proregion were characterised and used to show that secreted proregion more accurately reports the secretion of WPBs at sub-physiological temperatures than assay of VWF itself. Conclusions : We report the first quantitative analysis of the temperature-dependence of WPB exocytosis. We provide evidence; by comparison of biochemical data for VWF or proregion secretion with direct analysis of WPB exocytosis at reduced temperature, that proregion is a more reliable marker for WPB exocytosis at reduced temperature, where VWF-EC adhesion is increased

Development and validation of a multi-level air freight handling safety climate scale

Safety is of critical importance in many industries. One of the more dangerous environments in industry, and the military, is air freight handling, where the fatal injury rate has consistently been higher than the national average. Nonetheless, peer-reviewed safety research that is focused on air freight handling is practically non-existent. Therefore, research that helps academicians and managers better understand safety climate and its potential influence on employee attitudes and behaviors is vitally important. To address these concerns, we develop and validate an air freight handling-specific safety climate scale capable of capturing employees’ safety climate perceptions at the organization and group levels. We also found that, in general, measurement scale dimensions in this context are like those in other high-risk, transportation-related contexts, and that the nomological network may be converging on a cross-context set of safety climate dimensions. The resultant scale can be used to investigate safety climate’s relationship with various employee attitudes, safety and operational behaviors in this high-risk environment