Space, time, desire, and the Atlantic in three Spanish films of the 1920s

This article looks at the relationship between Hollywood and Spanish cinema of the 1920s. The central issue is the impact on the representation of space and time, both of Hollywood film structures, and of the elision between 'Spanish' and 'North American' space. The problem of boundaries and elision between these two spaces hinges on the definition of sexual and gender roles

The catalytic subunit of the system L1 amino acid transporter (S<i>lc7a5</i>) facilitates nutrient signalling in mouse skeletal muscle

The System L1-type amino acid transporter mediates transport of large neutral amino acids (LNAA) in many mammalian cell-types. LNAA such as leucine are required for full activation of the mTOR-S6K signalling pathway promoting protein synthesis and cell growth. The SLC7A5 (LAT1) catalytic subunit of high-affinity System L1 functions as a glycoprotein-associated heterodimer with the multifunctional protein SLC3A2 (CD98). We generated a floxed Slc7a5 mouse strain which, when crossed with mice expressing Cre driven by a global promoter, produced Slc7a5 heterozygous knockout (Slc7a5+/-) animals with no overt phenotype, although homozygous global knockout of Slc7a5 was embryonically lethal. Muscle-specific (MCK Cre-mediated) Slc7a5 knockout (MS-Slc7a5-KO) mice were used to study the role of intracellular LNAA delivery by the SLC7A5 transporter for mTOR-S6K pathway activation in skeletal muscle. Activation of muscle mTOR-S6K (Thr389 phosphorylation) in vivo by intraperitoneal leucine injection was blunted in homozygous MS-Slc7a5-KO mice relative to wild-type animals. Dietary intake and growth rate were similar for MS-Slc7a5-KO mice and wild-type littermates fed for 10 weeks (to age 120 days) with diets containing 10%, 20% or 30% of protein. In MS-Slc7a5-KO mice, Leu and Ile concentrations in gastrocnemius muscle were reduced by ∼40% as dietary protein content was reduced from 30 to 10%. These changes were associated with >50% decrease in S6K Thr389 phosphorylation in muscles from MS-Slc7a5-KO mice, indicating reduced mTOR-S6K pathway activation, despite no significant differences in lean tissue mass between groups on the same diet. MS-Slc7a5-KO mice on 30% protein diet exhibited mild insulin resistance (e.g. reduced glucose clearance, larger gonadal adipose depots) relative to control animals. Thus, SLC7A5 modulates LNAA-dependent muscle mTOR-S6K signalling in mice, although it appears non-essential (or is sufficiently compensated by e.g. SLC7A8 (LAT2)) for maintenance of normal muscle mass

Amblyopia and quality of life: a systematic review

Background/Aims Amblyopia is a common condition which can affect up to 5% of the general population. The health-related quality of life (HRQoL) implications of amblyopia and/or its treatment have been explored in the literature. Methods A systematic literature search was undertaken (16th-30th January 2007) to identify the HRQoL implications of amblyopia and/or its treatment. Results A total of 25 papers were included in the literature review. The HRQoL implications of amblyopia related specifically to amblyopia treatment, rather than the condition itself. These included the impact upon family life; social interactions; difficulties undertaking daily activities; and feelings and behaviour. The identified studies adopted a number of methodologies. The study populations included; children with the condition; parents of children with amblyopia; and adults who had undertaken amblyopia treatment as a child. Some studies developed their own measures of HRQoL, and others determined HRQoL through proxy measures. Conclusions The reported findings of the HRQoL implications are of importance when considering the management of cases of amblyopia. Further research is required to assess the immediate and long-term effects of amblyopia and/or its treatment upon HRQoL using a more standardised approach

Enriched on-grown Artemia metanauplii actively metabolise highly unsaturated fatty acid-rich phospholipids

On-grown (metanaupliar) stages of Artemia have been regarded as more adequate preys for early life-cycle stages of cephalopods, crustaceans, and a variety of fish species. In recent studies, we obtained successful enhancements of highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA) and polar lipids (PL) in enriched Artemia metanauplii using either a combination of a commercial, neutral lipid (NL)-based HUFA-rich emulsion and Soya lecithin, or HUFA-rich phospholipids. The present study aimed at exploring the molecular form under which dietary HUFA are actually deposited in the metanaupliar lipids. Thus, we analysed the fatty acid (FA) composition of the PL and NL fractions from enriched metanauplii, with special emphasis on the fate of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) within Artemia lipids. The results show that on-grown Artemia actively translocated ingested FA contained from PL to NL classes including triacylglycerides

Why health visiting? Examining the potential public health benefits from health visiting practice within a universal service: A narrative review of the literature

INTRODUCTION: There is increasing international interest in universal, health promoting services for pregnancy and the first three years of life and the concept of proportionate universalism. Drawing on a narrative review of literature, this paper explores mechanisms by which such services might contribute to health improvement and reducing health inequalities. OBJECTIVES: Through a narrative review of empirical literature, to identify: DESIGN: The paper draws upon a scoping study and narrative review. REVIEW METHODS: We used three complementary approaches to search the widely dispersed literature: Our key inclusion criterion was information about health visiting practice. We included empirical papers from United Kingdom (UK) from 2004 to February 2012 and older seminal papers identified in search (3), identifying a total of 348 papers for inclusion. A thematic content analysis compared the older (up to 2003) with more recent research (2004 onwards). RESULTS: The analysis revealed health visiting practice as potentially characterized by a particular 'orientation to practice.' This embodied the values, skills and attitudes needed to deliver universal health visiting services through salutogenesis (health creation), person-centredness (human valuing) and viewing the person in situation (human ecology). Research about health visiting actions focuses on home visiting, needs assessment and parent-health visitor relationships. The detailed description of health visitors' skills, attitudes, values, and their application in practice, provides an explanation of how universal provision can potentially help to promote health and shift the social gradient of health inequalities. CONCLUSIONS: Identification of needs across an undifferentiated, universal caseload, combined with an outreach style that enhances uptake of needed services and appropriate health or parenting information, creates opportunities for parents who may otherwise have remained unaware of, or unwilling to engage with such provision. There is a lack of evaluative research about health visiting practice, service organization or universal health visiting as potential mechanisms for promoting health and reducing health inequalities. This paper offers a potential foundation for such research in future

Six years of demography data for 11 reef coral species

Scleractinian corals are colonial animals with a range of life history strategies, making up diverse species assemblages that define coral reefs. We tagged and tracked approximately 30 colonies from each of 11 species during seven trips spanning six years (2009-2015) in order to measure their vital rates and competitive interactions on the reef crest at Trimodal Reef, Lizard Island, Australia. Pairs of species were chosen from five growth forms where one species of the pair was locally rare (R) and the other common (C). The sampled growth forms were massive [Goniastrea pectinata (R) and G. retiformis (C)], digitate [Acropora humilis (R) and A. cf. digitifera (C)], corymbose [A. millepora (R) and A. nasuta (C)], tabular [A. cytherea (R) and A. hyacinthus (C)] and arborescent [A. robusta (R) and A. intermedia (C)]. An extra corymbose species with intermediate abundance, A. spathulata was included when it became apparent that A. millepora was too rare on the reef crest, making the 11 species in total. The tagged colonies were visited each year in the weeks prior to spawning. During visits, two or more observers each took 2-3 photographs of each tagged colony from directly above and on the horizontal plane with a scale plate to track planar area. Dead or missing colonies were recorded and new colonies tagged in order to maintain approximately 30 colonies per species throughout the six years of the study. In addition to tracking tagged corals, 30 fragments were collected from neighboring untagged colonies of each species for counting numbers of eggs per polyp (fecundity); and fragments of untagged colonies were brought into the laboratory where spawned eggs were collected for biomass and energy measurements. We also conducted surveys at the study site to generate size structure data for each species in several of the years. Each tagged colony photograph was digitized by at least two people. Therefore, we could examine sources of error in planar area for both photographers and outliners. Competitive interactions were recorded for a subset of species by measuring the margins of tagged colony outlines interacting with neighboring corals. The study was abruptly ended by Tropical Cyclone Nathan (Category 4) that killed all but nine of the over 300 tagged colonies in early 2015. Nonetheless, these data will be of use to other researchers interested in coral demography and coexistence, functional ecology, and parametrizing population, community and ecosystem models. The data set is not copyright restricted, and users should cite this paper when using the data.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Modelling the predictable effects of dietary lipid sources on the fillet fatty acid composition of one-year-old gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata L.)

The present study aimed to ascertain the different fatty acid (FA) descriptors linking dietary and muscle FA composition in one-year-old gilthead sea bream. For that purpose, our own published data along with additional data from the present study were compiled and analysed. High linear correlations (r2 = 0.90, P &lt; 0.001) between dietary and muscle fatty acid composition were reported for monoenes, C18 polyunsaturated FA (PUFA) and long-chain PUFA. Prediction deviations due to changes in muscle fatness were analyzed in an independent trial with two different feeding levels (full ration size, 30% restriction ration). Regardless of feeding regimen, predicted values for muscle FA at low concentrations deviated (P &lt; 0.001) from observed values, but good predictions with less than 6% deviations were found for abundant fatty acids (16:1n-7, 18:1n-9, 18:2n-6, 18:3n-3, 20:4n-6, 20:5n-3, 22:6n-3). All this highlights the predictable effects of dietary oils in the muscle FA composition of gilthead sea bream, although further research is needed to cover all the range of commercial fish size and for the up-scaling of laboratory results to different fish farming conditions