Multisensory mechanisms in temporo-parietal cortex support self-location and first-person perspective.

Self-consciousness has mostly been approached by philosophical enquiry and not by empirical neuroscientific study, leading to an overabundance of diverging theories and an absence of data-driven theories. Using robotic technology, we achieved specific bodily conflicts and induced predictable changes in a fundamental aspect of self-consciousness by altering where healthy subjects experienced themselves to be (self-location). Functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed that temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) activity reflected experimental changes in self-location that also depended on the first-person perspective due to visuo-tactile and visuo-vestibular conflicts. Moreover, in a large lesion analysis study of neurological patients with a well-defined state of abnormal self-location, brain damage was also localized at TPJ, providing causal evidence that TPJ encodes self-location. Our findings reveal that multisensory integration at the TPJ reflects one of the most fundamental subjective feelings of humans: the feeling of being an entity localized at a position in space and perceiving the world from this position and perspective.

Inspection of Social Care Support Services for Carers of Older People (PDF 1776 KB)

Social Services Inspection Final Report for Craigavon & Banbridge - fieldwork inspection 14-25 Nov 2005

Sperrin Lakeland Report on Care Support Services for Carers of Older People (PDF 1050 KB)

Sperrin Lakeland Trust inspection

Inspection of Social Care Support Services for Carers of Older People (PDF 494 KB)

Down Lisburn Health And Social Services Trust Eastern Health And Social Services Board Fieldwork Inspection: 31st May 2005 - 10th June 2005 (Final Report April 2006)

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support in acardia.

In extreme situations, such as hyperacute rejection of heart transplant or major heart trauma, heart preservation may not be possible. Our experimental team works on a project of peripheral extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support in acardia as a bridge to heart transplantation or artificial heart implantation. An ECMO support was established in five calves (58.6 ± 6.9 kg) by the transjugular insertion to the caval axis of a self-expanded cannula, with carotid artery return. After baseline measurements, ventricular fibrillation was induced, great arteries were clamped, heart was excised, and right and left atria remnants, containing pulmonary veins, were sutured together leaving an atrial septal defect over the caval axis cannula. Measurements of pump flow and arterial pressure were taken with the pulmonary artery clamped and anastomosed with the caval axis for a total of 6 hours. Pulmonary artery anastomosis to the caval axis provided an acceptable 6 hour hemodynamic stability, permitting a peripheral access ECMO support in extreme scenarios indicating a heart explantation.

Altered Response of Strain of Schistosoma mansoni to Oxamniquine and Praziquantel

The susceptibility of a fourth generation Ouh strain (Paranapanema Valley, São Paulo, Brazil) of Schistosoma mansoni to oxamniquine (OXA) and praziquantel (PZQ) was studied. Ten groups of 13 female albino mice each were infected with 70 cercariae per animal. These mice were medicated orally on the 50th day after infection. Five groups were given OXA doses of 0, 100, 200, 300 and 400 mg/kg (single doses) and the rest were treated with PZQ doses of 0, 100, 200, and 250 mg/kg/5 days. Each group was sub-divided: 8 animals underwent perfusion after 15 days treatment, 5 mice followed up for oviposition and their feces were tested every 15 days for miracidia hatching. The efficacy of the OXA doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg was 66% and 91.4%, respectively and for the 100 mg/kg PZQ dose it was 90.1%. The follow-up groups with 100 and 200 mg/kg of OXA and PZQ, 100 and 150 mg/kg, showed that they re-established the oviposition after a period of 60 to 75 days of treatment. The ED50 was 69.6mg/kg OXA and 39.4 mg/kg PZQ. The results show the tolerance of the Ouh strain to a dose of 100 mg with both drugs and they appoint the need for a dose review during the follow up of the oviposition and in monitoring phenomena in the field.

Final Evaluation Report of the Teen Parents Support Initiative

The evaluation was commissioned by the Department of Health and Children and undertaken by the Centre for Social and Educational Research, Dublin Institute of Technology. The content of the report relates from the Initiativeâ?Ts launch in July 1999 to June 2002.The Initiative sought to provide a range of additional support services for teen parents during pregnancy, until their children reached 2 years of age. Download document here

Springboard - Promoting Family Well-Being: Through Family Support Services

This report is the final evaluation of the three year pilot phase of the Springboard initiative and sets out to answer the question: has Springboard improved the well-being of children and parents and how have its services been received Download the Report here

A Guide to What Works in Family Support Services for Vulnerable Families

This publication is part of research undertaken for the Springboard Family Support Initiative. Springboard is one of the most important initiatives of any Government in recent times to support vulnerable families. It aims to support families which are experiencing difficulties in providing adequate care and protection for their children through community based centres  which work in partnership not only with other local service providers but with the families themselves. Download the Report here

Fifteen years SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics: life science databases, tools and support.

The SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (www.isb-sib.ch) was created in 1998 as an institution to foster excellence in bioinformatics. It is renowned worldwide for its databases and software tools, such as UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot, PROSITE, SWISS-MODEL, STRING, etc, that are all accessible on ExPASy.org, SIB's Bioinformatics Resource Portal. This article provides an overview of the scientific and training resources SIB has consistently been offering to the life science community for more than 15 years.

The role of energy and nutritional support in the intensive care unit.

Malnutrition is common in critically ill, hospitalized patients and so represents a major problem for intensive care. Nutritional support can be beneficial in such cases and may help preserve vital organ and immune function. Energy requirements, route of delivery and potential complications of nutritional support are discussed in this paper.

I. Identification and characterisation of epigenetically altered tumor supressor genes by proteomic and genomic approches / II. Studies of genes regualted by MeCP2 union to its promoter regions by proteomic and genmomic approches

DNA methylation has an important impact on normal cell physiology, thus any defects in this mechanism may be related to the development of various diseases In this project we are interested in identifying epigeneticaliy modified genes, in general controlled by processes related to the DNA methylation, by means of a new strategy combining protomic and genomic analyses. First, the two Dimensional-Difference Gel Electrophoresis (2-DIGE) protein analyses of extracts obtained from HCT-116 wt and double knockout for DNMT1 and DNMT3b (DKO) cells revealed 34 proteins overexpressed in the condition of DNMTs depletion. From five genes with higher transcript lavels in DKO cells, comparing with HCT-116 wt. oniy AKR1B1, UCHLl and VIM are melhylated in HCT-116. As expected. the DNA methvlation 1s lost in DKO cells. The rneth,vl ation of VIM and UCHLl promoters in some cancer samples has already been repaired, thus further studies has been focused on AKRlBI. AKR1B1 expression due lo DNA methyiaton of promoter region seems to occur specilfically in the colon cancer cell Iines. which was confirmed in the DNA rnethylation status and expression analyses. performed on 32 different cancer cell lines (including colon, breast, lymphoma, leukemia, neuroblastoma, glioma and lung cancer cell Iines) as well as normal colon and normal lymphocytes samples. AKRIBI expression after treatments with DNA demethvlating agent (AZA) was rescued in 5 coloncancer cell lines (including genetic regulation of the candidate gene. The methylation status of the rest of the genes identified in proteomic analysis was checked by methylation specific PCR (MSP) experiment and all appeared to be unmethylated. The similar research has been done also bv means of Mecp2-null mouse model For 14 selected candidate genes the analyses of expression leveis, methylation Status and MeCP2 interaction with promoters are currently being performed.

Unmodified self antigen triggers human CD8 T cells with stronger tumor reactivity than altered antigen

Human cancer vaccines are often prepared with altered "analog" or "heteroclitic" antigens that have been optimized for HLA class I binding, resulting in enhanced immunogenicity. Here, we take advantage of CpG oligodeoxynucleotides as powerful vaccine adjuvants and demonstrate the induction of high T cell frequencies in melanoma patients, despite the use of natural (unmodified) tumor antigenic peptide. Compared with vaccination with analog peptide, natural peptide induced T cell frequencies that were approximately twofold lower. However, T cells showed superior tumor reactivity because of (i) increased functional avidity for natural antigen and (ii) enhancement of T cell activation and effector function. Thus, novel vaccine formulations comprising potent immune stimulators may allow to circumvent the need for modified antigens and can induce highly functional T cells with precise antigen specificity