Fasciola hepatica:studies on vaccination of rats and mice with a surface antigen prepared from fluke homogenate by means of a monoclonal antibody

T1 tegumental antigen was isolated from a homogenate of eight- to 10-week-old Fasciola hepatica using a T1-specific monoclonal antibody bound to sepharose in an antibody-affinity column. Rats and mice were vaccinated with T1 antigen in Freund's complete adjuvant, and control groups received equivalent amounts of non-T1 antigen (eluted from the antibody-affinity column) or ovalbumin. On completion of the immunisation programme, serum samples were collected for ELISA and IFA testing. The animals were challenged by oral infection with F hepatica metacercariae or, for several vaccinated rats, by intraperitoneal transplantation of live adult flukes. At autopsy, worm-burden and liver damage was assessed for each animal and the condition of transplanted flukes was examined. Comparison of test and control groups of animals showed that neither T1 nor non-T1 antigens provided significant protection against challenge, although specific antibody responses against the appropriate sensitising antigen were engendered. Flukes transplanted to the peritoneal cavity of immunised rats survived without damage, although they became encased in hollow fibrous capsules of host origin. The results lend support to the pre-existing concept that glycocalyx turnover by discharge of T1 secretory bodies at the apical surface of migrating flukes provides an efficient means of protection for the parasite against host immunity.

Empirical assessment of non-invasive population genetics in bats:Comparison of DNA quality from faecal and tissue samples

Non-invasive population genetics has become a valuable tool in ecology and conservation biology, allowing genetic studies of wild populations without the need to catch, handle or even observe the study subjects directly. We address some of the concerns regarding the limitations of using non-invasive samples by comparing the quality of population genetic information gained through DNA extracted from faecal samples and biopsy samples of two elusive bat species, Myotis mystacinus and Myotis nattereri. We demonstrate that DNA extracted from faeces and tissue samples gives comparable results for frequency based population genetic analyses, despite the occurrence of genotyping errors when using faecal DNA. We conclude that non-invasive genetic sampling for population genetic analysis in bats is viable, and although more labour-intensive and expensive, it is an alternative to tissue sampling, which is particularly pertinent when specimens are rare, endangered or difficult to capture. © 2012 Museum and Institute of Zoology PAS.

Lung stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) delivered over 4 or 11days: A comparison of acute toxicity and quality of life.

Abstract
PURPOSE:
The optimal duration over which lung SBRT should be delivered is unknown. We conducted a randomized pilot study in patients treated with four fractions of lung SBRT delivered over 4 or over 11days.
METHODS:
Patients with a peripheral solitary lung tumor (NSCLC or pulmonary metastasis) ?5cm were eligible. For NSCLC lung tumors ?3cm, a dose of 48Gy in 4 fractions was used, otherwise 52Gy in 4 fractions was delivered. Patients were randomized to receive treatment over 4 consecutive days or over 11days. The primary end-point was acute grade ?2 toxicity. Secondary end-points included quality of life (QOL) assessed using the EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-LC13 questionnaires.
RESULTS:
Fifty four patients were enrolled. More patients in the 11day group had respiratory symptoms at baseline. 55.6% patients treated over 4days and 33.3% of patients treated over 11days experienced acute grade ?2 toxicity (p=0.085). Dyspnea, fatigue and coughing domains were worse in the 11day group at baseline. At 1 and 4months, more patients in the 4day group experienced a clinically meaningful worsening in the dyspnea QOL domain compared to the 11day group (44.5% vs 15.4%, p=0.02; 38.5% vs 12.0%, p=0.03, respectively). However, raw QOL scores were not different at these time-points between treatment groups.
CONCLUSIONS:
Grade 2 or higher acute toxicity was more common in the 4day group, approaching statistical significance. More patients treated on 4 consecutive days reported a clinically meaningful increase in dyspnea, although interpretation of these results is challenging due to baseline imbalance between treatment groups. Larger studies are required to validate these results.

The Psychological and Health Consequences of Caring for a Spouse With Dementia:A Critical Comparison of Husbands and Wives

Caring for someone with dementia can be demanding, particularly for spouses living with the care recipient. The main goal of this study was to clarify differences in the experience of caregivers who were husbands and wives with respect to burden, health, healthy behaviors, presence of difficult care recipient behaviors, social supports, and the quality of the premorbid relationship. The results of this study support research demonstrating a difference between the caregiving experiences of women and men. It is becoming increasingly apparent that female gender is a marker that places them at increased risk of high burden and less support.

Attention during social interaction in children with autism: Comparison to specific language impairment, typical development, and links to cognition

Eye-tracking studies have shown how people with autism spend significantly less time looking at socially relevant information on-screen compared to those developing typically. This has been suggested to impact on the development of socio-cognitive skills in autism. We present novel evidence of how attention atypicalities in children with autism extend to real-life interaction, in comparison to typically developing (TD) children and children with specific language impairment (SLI). We explored the allocation of attention during social interaction with an interlocutor, and how aspects of attention (awareness checking) related to traditional measures of social cognition (false belief attribution). We found divergent attention allocation patterns across the groups in relation to social cognition ability. Even though children with autism and SLI performed similarly on the socio- cognitive tasks, there were syndrome-specific atypicalities of their attention patterns. Children with SLI were most similar to TD children in terms of prioritising attention to socially pertinent information (eyes, face, awareness checking). Children with autism showed reduced attention to the eyes and face, and slower awareness checking. This study provides unique and timely insight into real-world social gaze (a)typicality in autism, SLI and typical development, its relationship to socio-cognitive ability, and raises important issues for intervention.

Validation of a regional Indonesian seas model based on a comparison between model and INSTANT transports

The International Nusantara Stratification and Transport (INSTANT) program measured currents through multiple Indonesian Seas passages simultaneously over a three-year period (from January 2004 to December 2006). The Indonesian Seas region has presented numerous challenges for numerical modelers - the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) must pass over shallow sills, into deep basins, and through narrow constrictions on its way from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean. As an important region in the global climate puzzle, a number of models have been used to try and best simulate this throughflow. In an attempt to validate our model, we present a comparison between the transports calculated from our model and those calculated from the INSTANT in situ measurements at five passages within the Indonesian Seas (Labani Channel, Lifamatola Passage, Lombok Strait, Ornbai Strait, and Timor Passage). Our Princeton Ocean Model (POM) based regional Indonesian Seas model was originally developed to analyze the influence of bottom topography on the temperature and salinity distributions in the Indonesian seas region, to disclose the path of the South Pacific Water from the continuation of the New Guinea Coastal Current entering the region of interest up to the Lifamatola Passage, and to assess the role of the pressure head in driving the ITF and in determining its total transport. Previous studies found that this model reasonably represents the general long-term flow (seasons) through this region. The INSTANT transports were compared to the results of this regional model over multiple timescales. Overall trends are somewhat represented but changes on timescales shorter than seasonal (three months) and longer than annual were not considered in our model. Normal velocities through each passage during every season are plotted. Daily volume transports and transport-weighted temperature and salinity are plotted and seasonal averages are tabulated.

Assessment of a zoomed global model for the North Sea by comparison with a conventional nested regional model

Assessment of marine downscaling of global model simulations to the regional scale is a prerequisite for understanding ocean feedback to the atmosphere in regional climate downscaling. Major difficulties arise from the coarse grid resolution of global models, which cannot provide sufficiently accurate boundary values for the regional model. In this study, we first setup a stretched global model (MPIOM) to focus on the North Sea by shifting poles. Second, a regional model (HAMSOM) was performed with higher resolution, while the open boundary values were provided by the stretched global model. In general, the sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the two experiments are similar. Major SST differences are found in coastal regions (root mean square difference of SST is reaching up to 2°C). The higher sea surface salinity in coastal regions in the global model indicates the general limitation of this global model and its configuration (surface layer thickness is 16 m). By comparison, the advantage of the absence of open lateral boundaries in the global model can be demonstrated, in particular for the transition region between the North Sea and Baltic Sea. On long timescales, the North Atlantic Current (NAC) inflow through the northern boundary correlates well between both model simulations (R~0.9). After downscaling with HAMSOM, the NAC inflow through the northern boundary decreases by ~10%, but the circulation in the Skagerrak is stronger in HAMSOM. The circulation patterns of both models are similar in the northern North Sea. The comparison suggests that the stretched global model system is a suitable tool for long-term free climate model simulations, and the only limitations occur in coastal regions. Regarding the regional studies focusing on the coastal zone, nested regional model can be a helpful alternative.

Novel comparison of kinetic models for the adsorption-coupled reduction of Cr(VI) using untreated date pit biomaterial

Biosorption of Cr(VI) onto date pit biomass has been investigated via kinetic studies as functions of initial Cr(VI) concentration, solution temperature and date pit particle size. Kinetic experiments indicated that chromate ions accumulate onto the date pits and then reduce to less toxic Cr(III) compounds. The López-García, Escudero and Park Cr(VI) biosorption kinetic models, which take into consideration the direct reduction, the passivation process and the follow-on decrease of the active surface area of reaction, were applied to the kinetic data. The models represented the experimental data accurately at low Cr(VI) concentration (0.480 mM) and small particle size (0.11–0.22 mm) at which the Cr(VI) was completely removed from the aqueous solution and completely reduced to Cr(III) after 420 min. Date pit biomass thus offers a green chemical process for the remediation of chromium from wastewater. This investigation will help researchers employ the adsorption-coupled reduction of Cr(VI) models and simplify their application to kinetic experimental data.

The effect of multiple chronic conditions on self-rated health, disability and quality of life among the older populations of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland: a comparison of two nationally representative cross-sectional surveys

Objectives: Multimorbidity is common in the older population, but the impact of combinations of chronic conditions on disability and quality of life (QoL) is not well known. This analysis explores the effect of specific combinations of chronic diseases on disability, QoL and self-rated health (SRH).

Design: We used data from two population representative cross-sectional studies, the Northern Ireland Health and Social Wellbeing Survey (NIHSWS) 2005 and the Survey of Lifestyle, Attitudes and Nutrition (SLAN) 2007 (conducted in the Republic of Ireland).

Setting: Randomly selected community-living participants were interviewed at home.

Participants: A total of 6159 participants aged 50 years and older were included in the analysis.

Outcome measures: Chronic conditions were classified as cardiovascular disease, chronic pain,diabetes or respiratory disease. Interaction terms estimated by logistic regression were used to examine the effects of multiple chronic conditions on disability, SRH and QoL.

Results: Each chronic condition group was correlated with each of the others after adjusting for sociodemographic factors. Those from Northern Ireland were more likely to report a limitation in daily activities (45%) compared to those from the Republic of Ireland (21%). Each condition had an independent effect on disability, SRH and QoL, and those with multiple chronic conditions reported the worst outcomes. However, there were no statistically significant positive interactions between chronic condition groups with respect to any outcome.

Conclusions: Chronic conditions affect individuals largely independent of each other with respect to their effect on disability, SRH and QoL. However, a significant proportion of the population aged 50 years and over across the island of Ireland lives with multimorbidity,and this group is at the highest risk of disability, poor SRH and poor QoL.

Comparison of single and multi-analyte methods based on LC-MS/MS for mycotoxin biomarker determination in human urine

The performances of four LC-MS/MS methodologies for determination of up to eight mycotoxin biomarkers in human urines were compared by involving three laboratories that analysed common urine samples spiked at two levels of each biomarker. Each laboratory received a calibration solution, spiked urines and the corresponding unspiked urine. The two spiking levels for each biomarker were chosen by considering the levels naturally occurring in human urines and the limits of quantification of the LC-MS/MS methodologies used by the participating laboratories. The results of each laboratory were evaluated for their z-score values. The percentage of satisfactory z-scores (vertical bar z vertical bar 2) were obtained for fumonisin B-1 (7/12 results), ochratoxin A (4/8 results) and alpha-zearalenol (1/8 results). The percentage of satisfactory z-scores for fumonisin B-1 and ochratoxin A increased from 42 to 83% for fumonisin B-1 and from 50 to 62% for ochratoxin A when laboratories 1 and 2 used own calibrants. Factors that could explain the different results obtained for fumonisin B-1 and ochratoxin A with provided and own calibration solutions could not be identified in this study and should be carefully investigated in future studies.

European Border Regions in Comparison: Overcoming Nationalistic Aspects or Re-Nationalization?

Essay Review of Katarzyna Stokłosa and Gerhard Besier (eds) (2014) European Border Regions in Comparison: Overcoming Nationalistic Aspects or Re-Nationalization? (London: Routledge)

In vitro studies on the infection and replication of porcine circovirus type 2 in cells of the porcine immune system

Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) nucleic acid and/or antigens are consistently observed in cells of monocytic morphology in lesions of pigs affected by post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS). In this study, PCV2 antigen was detected in the cytoplasm of monocytes, pulmonary macrophages (PMs) and monocyte-derived macrophages exposed to the virus in vitro, by immunofluorescence analysis (IFA) and the phenotype of these cells confirmed by detection of monocytic cell surface markers using flow cytometry. Viral antigen was not observed in lymphocytic cells. Replication of the virus in PMs was investigated further by comparison to that observed in the continuous pig kidney cell line (PK15A) using quantitative virus titration, quantitative PCR and by the detection of double stranded DNA intermediates of viral replication by Southern blotting analyses. Although increases in viral DNA and levels of infectious virus progeny and the presence of replicative intermediates, indicative of viral replication, were observed in PK15A cells, no such changes were observed in PMs in spite of the fact that infectious virus, viral antigen and viral DNA persisted in the cells for at least the duration of the experiment. These results suggest that in vivo, monocytic cells may not represent the primary target for PCV2 replication. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A comparison of the effectiveness of TiO2 photocatalysis and UVA photolysis for the destruction of three pathogenic micro-organisms

TiO₂ photocatalysis has demonstrated efficacy as a treatment process for water contaminated with chemical pollutants. When exposed to UVA light TiO₂ also demonstrates an effective bactericidal activity. The mechanism of this process has been reported to involve attack by valence band generated hydroxyl radicals. In this study when three common bacterial pathogens, Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, were exposed to TiO₂ and UVA light a substantial decrease in bacterial numbers was observed. Control experiments in which all three pathogens were exposed to UVA light only resulted in a similar reduction in bacterial numbers. Moreover, exposure to UVA light alone resulted in the production of a smaller than average colony phenotype among the surviving bacteria, for all three pathogens examined, a finding which was not observed following treatment with UVA and TiO₂. Small slow growing colonies have been described for several pathogenic bacteria and are referred to as small colony variants. Several studies have demonstrated an association between small colony variants and persistent, recurrent and antibiotic resistant infections. We propose that the production of small colony variants of pathogenic bacteria following UVA treatment of drinking water may represent a health hazard. As these small colony variants were not observed with the UVA/TiO₂ system this potential hazard is not a risk when using this technology. It would also appear that the bactericidal mechanism is different with the UVA/TiO₂ process compared to when UVA light is used alone.

Failure of a numerical quality assessment scale to identify potential risk of bias in a systematic review: a comparison study

BACKGROUND: Assessing methodological quality of primary studies is an essential component of systematic reviews. Following a systematic review which used a domain based system [United States Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF)] to assess methodological quality, a commonly used numerical rating scale (Downs and Black) was also used to evaluate the included studies and comparisons were made between quality ratings assigned using the two different methods. Both tools were used to assess the 20 randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials examining an exercise intervention for chronic musculoskeletal pain which were included in the review. Inter-rater reliability and levels of agreement were determined using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). Influence of quality on pooled effect size was examined by calculating the between group standardized mean difference (SMD).

RESULTS: Inter-rater reliability indicated at least substantial levels of agreement for the USPSTF system (ICC 0.85; 95% CI 0.66, 0.94) and Downs and Black scale (ICC 0.94; 95% CI 0.84, 0.97). Overall level of agreement between tools (ICC 0.80; 95% CI 0.57, 0.92) was also good. However, the USPSTF system identified a number of studies (n = 3/20) as "poor" due to potential risks of bias. Analysis revealed substantially greater pooled effect sizes in these studies (SMD -2.51; 95% CI -4.21, -0.82) compared to those rated as "fair" (SMD -0.45; 95% CI -0.65, -0.25) or "good" (SMD -0.38; 95% CI -0.69, -0.08).

CONCLUSIONS: In this example, use of a numerical rating scale failed to identify studies at increased risk of bias, and could have potentially led to imprecise estimates of treatment effect. Although based on a small number of included studies within an existing systematic review, we found the domain based system provided a more structured framework by which qualitative decisions concerning overall quality could be made, and was useful for detecting potential sources of bias in the available evidence.

Interlaboratory studies on in vitro test methods for estimating in vivo resorption of calcium phosphate ceramics

A potential standard method for measuring the relative dissolution rate to estimate the resorbability of calcium-phosphate-based ceramics is proposed. Tricalcium phosphate (TCP), magnesium-substituted TCP (MgTCP) and zinc-substituted TCP (ZnTCP) were dissolved in a buffer solution free of calcium and phosphate ions at pH 4.0, 5.5 or 7.3 at nine research centers. Relative values of the initial dissolution rate (relative dissolution rates) were in good agreement among the centers. The relative dissolution rate coincided with the relative volume of resorption pits of ZnTCP in vitro. The relative dissolution rate coincided with the relative resorbed volume in vivo in the case of comparison between microporous MgTCPs with different Mg contents and similar porosity. However, the relative dissolution rate was in poor agreement with the relative resorbed volume in vivo in the case of comparison between microporous TCP and MgTCP due to the superimposition of the Mg-mediated decrease in TCP solubility on the Mg-mediated increase in the amount of resorption. An unambiguous conclusion could not be made as to whether the relative dissolution rate is predictive of the relative resorbed volume in vivo in the case of comparison between TCPs with different porosity. The relative dissolution rate may be useful for predicting the relative amount of resorption for calcium-phosphate-based ceramics having different solubility under the condition that the differences in the materials compared have little impact on the resorption process such as the number and activity of resorbing cells.