How do grazers achieve their distribution? A continuum of models from random diffusion to the ideal free distribution using biased random walks

A conceptual model is described for generating distributions of grazing animals, according to their searching behavior, to investigate the mechanisms animals may use to achieve their distributions. The model simulates behaviors ranging from random diffusion, through taxis and cognitively aided navigation (i.e., using memory), to the optimization extreme of the Ideal Free Distribution. These behaviors are generated from simulation of biased diffusion that operates at multiple scales simultaneously, formalizing ideas of multiple-scale foraging behavior. It uses probabilistic bias to represent decisions, allowing multiple search goals to be combined (e.g., foraging and social goals) and the representation of suboptimal behavior. By allowing bias to arise at multiple scales within the environment, each weighted relative to the others, the model can represent different scales of simultaneous decision-making and scale-dependent behavior. The model also allows different constraints to be applied to the animal's ability (e.g., applying food-patch accessibility and information limits). Simulations show that foraging-decision randomness and spatial scale of decision bias have potentially profound effects on both animal intake rate and the distribution of resources in the environment. Spatial variograms show that foraging strategies can differentially change the spatial pattern of resource abundance in the environment to one characteristic of the foraging strategy.</

A feasibility study on the development and integration of a teaching aid for pharmacology

Traditional methods of teaching and learning in higher education are ever-evolving. This report assesses the feasibility of developing a teaching aid for pharmacology modules. Focus groups were established to gauge student and staff opinions on the use of teaching aids and an extensive literature review was conducted. The study identifies and critically evaluates a range of possibilities that could be developed and discusses practical issues such as accessibility, inclusion and assessment, associated with these potential aids. This initial study concludes that a suitable aid could take the form of a student-led development of a wiki-type website resource that included access to case-studies giving students ‘real-life’ experience of the concepts being studied. This type of project requires considerable time and financial support; nevertheless, this idea could be extended for many drugs and could be used in any health science course.

First report of the use of a saxitoxin-protein conjugate to develop a DNA aptamer to a small molecule toxin

Saxitoxin (STX) is a low molecular weight neurotoxin mainly produced by certain marine dinoflagellates that, along with its family of similarly related paralytic shellfish toxins, may cause the potentially fatal intoxication known as paralytic shellfish poisoning. Illness and fatality rates are low due to the effective monitoring programs that determine when toxins exceed the established regulatory action level and effectuate shellfish harvesting closures accordingly. Such monitoring programs rely on the ability to rapidly screen large volumes of samples. Many of the screening assays currently available employ antibodies or live animals. This research focused on developing an analytical recognition element that would eliminate the challenges associated with the limited availability of antibodies and the use of animals. Here we report the discovery of a DNA aptamer that targets STX. Concentration-dependent and selective binding of the aptamer to STX was determined using a surface plasmon resonance sensor. Not only does this work represent the first reported aptamer to STX, but also the first aptamer to any marine biotoxin. A novel strategy of using a toxin-protein conjugate for DNA aptamer selection was successfully implemented to overcome the challenges associated with aptamer selection to small molecules. Taking advantage of such an approach could lead to increased diversity and accessibility of aptamers to low molecular weight toxins, which could then be incorporated as analytical recognition elements in diagnostic assays for foodborne toxin detection. The selected STX aptamer sequence is provided here, making it available to any investigator for use in assay development for the detection of STX.

Dual template synthesis of a highly mesoporous SSZ-13 zeolite with improved stability in the methanol-to-olefins reaction

The dual template synthesis of zeolite SSZ-13 by use of trimethyl-adamantanammonium hydroxide and a diquaternary-ammonium mesoporogen induces considerable mesoporosity without impeding zeolite microporosity. The strongly improved accessibility of Bronsted sites in mesoporous SSZ-13 increases its stability during application as an acid catalyst in the methanol-to-olefins reaction.

Community convergence and recruitment of keystone species as performance indicators of artificial reefs

An experimental artificial reefwas constructed in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland as part of trials to regenerate damaged biogenic reefs formed by the horse mussel Modiolus modiolus. Experimental reef plots were constructed using Pecten maximus shell as cultch. Clumps of live adult M. modiolus were translocated from nearby natural reefs into cultchwith a high profile (elevated cultch), cultch with a lowprofile (flattened cultch), as well as directly into the seafloor. The aim of the study was to test the hypothesis that translocated mussel clumps would increase habitat complexity thus accelerating community succession and enhancing natural recruitment of M. modiolus spat. These effects were predicted to be greater on elevated cultch due to greater protection from
predators and increased accessibility to food resources. Within the artificial reef array the translocated clumps had a significant positive effect on recruitment compared to cultch without mussels with average densities of spat settled on the translocated M. modiolus clumps ranging from 100 to 200 individuals m-2 compared to 4 to 52 spat m-2 on cultch without mussels. Recruitment of M. modiolus spat was also significantly higher on translocated horse mussels when compared to natural reefs where densities of 8–36 spat m-2 were recorded.
Reef elevation appeared to provide some degree of protection from predators but differences in translocated M. modiolus survival on the different elevation treatments were not significant. In total, 223 taxa were recorded 12 months after reef construction. The presence of translocated clumps ofM. modiolus was the main driver of the increases in faunal diversity and species abundance. Application of objective criteria to assess the performance of artificial reefs suggested that translocation of M. modiolus clumps alone achieved most of the restoration objectives. Consequently this pilot study demonstrates a straightforward and realistic intervention technique that could be used to kick start the regeneration and expansion of impacted mussel and similar biogenic reefs elsewhere.

Characterization of the six glycosyltransferases involved in the biosynthesis of Yersinia enterocolitica serotype O:3 lipopolysaccharide outer core

Yersinia enterocolitica (Ye) is a gram-negative bacterium; Ye serotype O:3 expresses lipopolysaccharide (LPS) with a hexasaccharide branch known as the outer core (OC). The OC is important for the resistance of the bacterium to cationic antimicrobial peptides and also functions as a receptor for bacteriophage phiR1-37 and enterocoliticin. The biosynthesis of the OC hexasaccharide is directed by the OC gene cluster that contains nine genes (wzx, wbcKLMNOPQ, and gne). In this study, we inactivated the six OC genes predicted to encode glycosyltransferases (GTase) one by one by nonpolar mutations to assign functions to their gene products. The mutants expressed no OC or truncated OC oligosaccharides of different lengths. The truncated OC oligosaccharides revealed that the minimum structural requirements for the interactions of OC with bacteriophage phiR1-37, enterocoliticin, and OC-specific monoclonal antibody 2B5 were different. Furthermore, using chemical and structural analyses of the mutant LPSs, we could assign specific functions to all six GTases and also revealed the exact order in which the transferases build the hexasaccharide. Comparative modeling of the catalytic sites of glucosyltransferases WbcK and WbcL followed by site-directed mutagenesis allowed us to identify Asp-182 and Glu-181, respectively, as catalytic base residues of these two GTases. In general, conclusive evidence for specific GTase functions have been rare due to difficulties in accessibility of the appropriate donors and acceptors; however, in this work we were able to utilize the structural analysis of LPS to get direct experimental evidence for five different GTase specificities.

Family caregiver views on patient-centred care at the end of life

Aim: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the patient-centredness of community palliative care from the perspective of family members who were responsible for the care of a terminally ill family member. Method: A survey questionnaire was mailed to families of a deceased family member who had been designated as palliative and had received formal home care services in the central west region of the Province of Ontario, Canada. Respondents reported on service use in the last four weeks of life; the Client-Centred Care Questionnaire (CCCQ) was used to evaluate the extent to which care was patient-centred. The accessibility instrument was used to assess respondent perception of access to care. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analyses. Results: Of the 243 potential participants, 111 (46.0%) family caregivers completed the survey questionnaire. On average, respondents reported that they used five different services during the last four weeks of the care recipient's life. When asked about programme accessibility, care was also perceived as largely accessible and responsive to patients' changing needs (M=4.3 (SD=1.04)]. Most respondents also reported that they knew what service provider to contact if they experienced any problems concerning the care of their family member. However, this service provider was not consistent among respondents. Most respondents were relatively positive about the patient-centred care they received. There were however considerable differences between some items on the CCCQ. Respondents tended to provide more negative ratings concerning practical arrangement and the organization of care: who was coming, how often and when. They also rated more negatively the observation that service providers were quick to say something was possible when it was not the case. Bivariate analyses found no significant differences in CCCQ or accessibility domain scores by caregiver age, care recipient age, income, education and caregiver sex. Conclusions: Patient-centred care represents a service attribute that should be recognized as an important outcome to assess the quality of service delivery. This study demonstrates how this attribute can be evaluated in the provision of care. © 2011 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences © 2011 Nordic College of Caring Science.

Stress processes in caring for an end-of-life family member:Application of a theoretical model

Objectives: Family caregivers play a vital role in maintaining the lives of individuals with advanced illness living in the community. However, the responsibility of caregiving for an end-of-life family member can have profound consequences on the psychological, physical and financial well-being of the caregiver. While the literature has identified caregiver stress or strain as a complex process with multiple contributing factors, few comprehensive studies exist. This study examined a wide range of theory-driven variables contributing to family caregiver stress. Method: Data variables from interviews with primary family caregivers were mapped onto the factors within the Stress Process Model theoretical framework. A hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine the strongest predictors of caregiver strain as measured by a validated composite index, the Caregiver Strain Index. Results: The study included 132 family caregivers across south-central/western Ontario, Canada. About half of these caregivers experienced high strain, the extent of which was predicted by lower perceived program accessibility, lower functional social support, greater weekly amount of time caregivers committed to the care recipient, younger caregiver age and poorer caregiver self-perceived health. Conclusion: This study examined the influence of a multitude of factors in the Stress Process Model on family caregiver strain, finding stress to be a multidimensional construct. Perceived program accessibility was the strongest predictor of caregiver strain, more so than intensity of care, highlighting the importance of the availability of community resources to support the family caregiving role.

Assessing Lifetime Homes Standards and Part M Building Regulations for Housing Design in the UK

The aims of this article are to examine Lifetime Home Standards (LTHS) and Part M of the UK Building Regulations and to discuss how relevant and successful they are. The UK government expects all new homes to be built to LTHS by 2013. This is increasingly important with an ageing population. The home environment can enable independence and provide a therapeutic place for everyone. As Part M of the building regulations are compulsory in all housing and LTHS are mandatory for public sector housing, a review of research articles was undertaken on these standards. The paper begins with a brief background on accessibility regulations, followed by a critical review of the standards that takes the body of literature that has been written around them into account. This review suggests that the standards should be improved and that designers and architects face challenges to creatively incorporate them into housing design.

Would people with Parkinson's disease benefit from palliative care?

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic, progressive, degenerative disorder of the nervous system, causing substantial morbidity and has the capacity to shorten life. People with PD and their families can find the disease devastating. Nevertheless, this population of patients is not usually considered a group to be supported by palliative care specialists. But the nature of the illness and the challenges of managing its many physical and psychological effects raises questions about the potential benefits of a palliative care approach. The purpose of this project was to describe the experience of PD and consider the relevance of palliative care for this population. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight people with PD, 21 family caregivers and six health professionals. Five themes were developed from the data analysis: (1) emotional impact of diagnosis; (2) staying connected; (3) enduring financial hardship; (4) managing physical challenges; and (5) finding help for advanced stages. These data revealed that people with PD and family caregivers are confronted with similar issues to people with typical palliative care diagnoses, such as advanced cancer, and that a palliative approach may be helpful in the care of people with PD and their families.

Caregiving for the terminally ill:at what cost?

This literature review exposes the nature and extent of physical and psychosocial morbidity and economic disadvantage, home palliative caregivers suffer as a direct result of their caregiving role. Research has demonstrated that caregivers providing support to individuals receiving palliative care report unmet needs for information, communication, service provision and support from health and community services. Three sets of challenges are highlighted in this literature review which help explain why the needs of home palliative caregivers are largely unmet: (i) barriers to seeking help; (ii) a dearth of research-based interventions focused on reducing the negative aspects of caregiving; and (iii) a number of impediments to effective policy and service development for family caregivers. Furthermore, invited submissions from caregivers echoed and confirmed the issues reported in the literature. Recommendations for enhancing caregiver support are outlined.

Surface plasmon resonance-based inhibition assay for real-time detection of Cryptosporidium parvum oocyst

A surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based inhibition assay method using a polyclonal anti-mouse IgM arrayed Cryptosporidium sensor chip was developed for the real-time detection of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts. The Cryptosporidium sensor chip was fabricated by subsequent immobilization of streptavidin and polyclonal anti-mouse IgM (secondary antibody) onto heterogeneous self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). The assay consisted of the immunoreaction step between monoclonal anti-C. parvum oocyst (primary antibody) and oocysts, followed by the binding step of the unbound primary antibody onto the secondary antibody surface. It enhanced not only the immunoreaction yield of the oocysts by batch reaction but also the accessibility of analytes to the chip surface by antibody–antibody interaction. Furthermore, the use of optimum concentration of the primary antibody maximized its binding response on the chip. An inversely linear calibration curve for the oocyst concentration versus SPR signal was obtained in the range of 1×106–1×102 oocysts ml-1. The oocyst detection was also successfully achieved in natural water systems. These results indicate that the SPR-based inhibition assay using the Cryptosporidium sensor chip has high application potential for the real-time analysis of C. parvum oocyst in laboratory and field water monitoring.

cudaMap: a GPU accelerated program for gene expression connectivity mapping

Background: Modern cancer research often involves large datasets and the use of sophisticated statistical techniques. Together these add a heavy computational load to the analysis, which is often coupled with issues surrounding data accessibility. Connectivity mapping is an advanced bioinformatic and computational technique dedicated to therapeutics discovery and drug re-purposing around differential gene expression analysis. On a normal desktop PC, it is common for the connectivity mapping task with a single gene signature to take >2h to complete using sscMap, a popular Java application that runs on standard CPUs (Central Processing Units). Here, we describe new software, cudaMap, which has been implemented using CUDA C/C++ to harness the computational power of NVIDIA GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) to greatly reduce processing times for connectivity mapping.

Results: cudaMap can identify candidate therapeutics from the same signature in just over thirty seconds when using an NVIDIA Tesla C2050 GPU. Results from the analysis of multiple gene signatures, which would previously have taken several days, can now be obtained in as little as 10 minutes, greatly facilitating candidate therapeutics discovery with high throughput. We are able to demonstrate dramatic speed differentials between GPU assisted performance and CPU executions as the computational load increases for high accuracy evaluation of statistical significance.

Conclusion: Emerging 'omics' technologies are constantly increasing the volume of data and information to be processed in all areas of biomedical research. Embracing the multicore functionality of GPUs represents a major avenue of local accelerated computing. cudaMap will make a strong contribution in the discovery of candidate therapeutics by enabling speedy execution of heavy duty connectivity mapping tasks, which are increasingly required in modern cancer research. cudaMap is open source and can be freely downloaded from http://purl.oclc.org/NET/cudaMap.

Developing virtual patients for medical microbiology education

The landscape of medical education is changing as students embrace the accessibility and interactivity of e-learning. Virtual patients are e-learning resources that may be used to advance microbiology education. Although the development of virtual patients has been widely considered, here we aim to provide a coherent approach for clinical educators.

Integrating geophysical data and upscaling techniques to support regional groundwater flow modelling: A practical example of the Lagan Valley, Northern Ireland

When studying heterogeneous aquifer systems, especially at regional scale, a degree of generalization is anticipated. This can be due to sparse sampling regimes, complex depositional environments or lack of accessibility to measure the subsurface. This can lead to an inaccurate conceptualization which can be detrimental when applied to groundwater flow models. It is important that numerical models are based on observed and accurate geological information and do not rely on the distribution of artificial aquifer properties. This can still be problematic as data will be modelled at a different scale to which it was collected. It is proposed here that integrating geophysics and upscaling techniques can assist in a more realistic and deterministic groundwater flow model. In this study, the sedimentary aquifer of the Lagan Valley in Northern Ireland is chosen due to intruding sub-vertical dolerite dykes. These dykes are of a lower permeability than the sandstone aquifer. The use of airborne magnetics allows the delineation of heterogeneities, confirmed by field analysis. Permeability measured at the field scale is then upscaled to different levels using a correlation with the geophysical data, creating equivalent parameters that can be directly imported into numerical groundwater flow models. These parameters include directional equivalent permeabilities and anisotropy. Several stages of upscaling are modelled in finite element. Initial modelling is providing promising results, especially at the intermediate scale, suggesting an accurate distribution of aquifer properties. This deterministic based methodology is being expanded to include stochastic methods of obtaining heterogeneity location based on airborne geophysical data. This is through the Direct Sample method of Multiple-Point Statistics (MPS). This method uses the magnetics as a training image to computationally determine a probabilistic occurrence of heterogeneity. There is also a need to apply the method to alternate geological contexts where the heterogeneity is of a higher permeability than the host rock.