Workplace physical activity interventions : a systematic review

Objective. To assess the effectiveness of workplace interventions in improving physical activity. Data Source. EBSCO research database (and all subdatabases). Study Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria. Articles were published from 2000 to 2010 in English, had appropriate designs, and measured employees' physical activity, energy consumption, and/or body mass index (BMI) as primary outcomes. Articles that did not meet the inclusion criteria were excluded. Data Extraction. Data extracted included study design, study population, duration, intervention activities, outcomes, and results. Data Synthesis. Data were synthesized into one table. Results of each relevant outcome including p values were combined. Results. Twelve (60%) of 20 selected interventions reported an improvement in physical activity level, steps, or BMI, and there was one slowed step reduction in the intervention group. Among these, 10 were less than 6 months in duration; 9 used pedometers; 6 applied Internet-based approaches; and 5 included activities targeting social and environmental levels. Seven of 8 interventions with pre-posttest and quasi-experimental controlled design showed improvement on at least one outcome. However, 7 of 12 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) did not prove effective in any outcome. Conclusion. Interventions that had less rigorous research designs, used pedometers, applied Internet-based approaches, and included activities at social and environmental levels were more likely to report being effective than those without these characteristics.

Available evidence does not support serosorting as an HIV risk reduction strategy

Recent data highlighted the association between penetration of antiretrovirals in the central nervous system (CNS) and neurocognitive impairment in HIVpositive patients. Existing antiretrovirals have been ranked according to a score of neuropenetration, which was shown to be a predictor of anti-HIVactivity in the CNS and improvement of neurocognitive disorders [1]. Main factors affecting drug penetration are known to be protein binding, lipophilicity and molecular weight [2]. Moreover, active translation by membrane transporters (such as p-glycoprotein) could be a key mechanism of passage [3]. The use of raltegravir (RGV), a novel antiretroviral drug targeted to inhibit the HIV preintegrase complex, is increasing worldwide due to its efficacy and tolerability. However, penetration of RGV in the CNS has not been yet elucidated. In fact, prediction of RGV neuropenetration according to molecular characteristics is controversial. Intermediate protein binding (83%) and large volume of distribution (273 l) could suggest a high distribution beyond extracellular spaces [4]. On the contrary, low lipophilicity (oil/water partition coefficient at pH 7.4 of 2.80) and intermediate molecular weight (482.51 Da) suggest a limited diffusion. Furthermore, in-vitro studies suggest that RGV is substrate of p-glycoprotein, although this efflux pump has not been identified to significantly affect plasma pharmacokinetics [5]. In any case, no data concerning RGV passage into cerebrospinal fluid of animals or humans have yet been published.

Analysis of the extreme diversity of salivary alpha-amylase isoforms generated by physiological proteolysis using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Saliva is a crucial biofluid for oral health and is also of increasing importance as a non-invasive source of disease biomarkers. Salivary alpha-amylase is an abundant protein in saliva, and changes in amylase expression have been previously associated with a variety of diseases and conditions. Salivary alpha-amylase is subject to a high diversity of post-translational modifications, including physiological proteolysis in the oral cavity. Here we developed methodology for rapid sample preparation and non-targeted LC-ESI-MS/MS analysis of saliva from healthy subjects and observed an extreme diversity of alpha-amylase proteolytic isoforms. Our results emphasize the importance of consideration of post-translational events such as proteolysis in proteomic studies, biomarker discovery and validation, particularly in saliva. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Collection and determination of nucleotide metabolites in neonatal and adult saliva by high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry

Saliva contains a number of biochemical components which may be useful for diagnosis/monitoring of metabolic disorders, and as markers of cancer or heart disease. Saliva collection is attractive as a non-invasive sampling method for infants and elderly patients. We present a method suitable for saliva collection from neonates. We have applied this technique for the determination of salivary nucleotide metabolites. Saliva was collected from 10 healthy neonates using washed cotton swabs, and directly from 10 adults. Two methods for saliva extraction from oral swabs were evaluated. The analytes were then separated using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). The limits of detection for 14 purine/pyrimidine metabolites were variable, ranging from 0.01 to 1.0 mu M. Recovery of hydrophobic purine/pyrimidine metabolites from cotton tips was consistently high using water/acetonitrile extraction (92.7-111%) compared with water extraction alone. The concentrations of these metabolites were significantly higher in neonatal saliva than in adults. Preliminary ranges for nucleotide metabolites in neonatal and adult saliva are reported. Hypoxanthine and xanthine were grossly raised in neonates (49.3 +/- 25.4; 30.9 +/- 19.5 mu M respectively) compared to adults (4.3 +/- 3.3; 4.6 +/- 4.5 mu M); nucleosides were also markedly raised in neonates. This study focuses on three essential details: contamination of oral swabs during manufacturing and how to overcome this; weighing swabs to accurately measure small saliva volumes; and methods for extracting saliva metabolites of interest from cotton swabs. A method is described for determining nucleotide metabolites using HPLC with photo-diode array or MS/MS. The advantages of utilising saliva are highlighted. Nucleotide metabolites were not simply in equilibrium with plasma, but may be actively secreted into saliva, and this process is more active in neonates than adults. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Implications of differences in technical efficiency of fishing boats for capacity measurement and reduction

Capacity measurement and reduction is a major international issue to emerge in the new millennium. However, there has been limited assessment of the success of capacity reduction schemes (CRS). In this paper, the success of a CRS is assessed for a European fishery characterised by differences in efficiency levels of individual boats. In such a fishery, given it is assumed that the least efficient producers are the first to exit through a CRS, the reduction in harvesting capacity is less than the nominal reduction in physical fleet capacity. Further, there is potential for harvesting capacity to increase if remaining vessels improve their efficiency.

Identification of salivary N-glycoproteins and measurement of glycosylation site occupancy by boronate glycoprotein enrichment and liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

RATIONALE Diseases including cancer and congenital disorders of glycosylation have been associated with changes in the site-specific extent of protein glycosylation. Saliva can be non-invasively sampled and is rich in glycoproteins, giving it the potential to be a useful biofluid for the discovery and detection of disease biomarkers associated with changes in glycosylation. METHODS Saliva was collected from healthy individuals and glycoproteins were enriched using phenylboronic acid based glycoprotein enrichment resin. Proteins were deglycosylated with peptide-N-glycosidase F and digested with AspN or trypsin. Desalted peptides and deglycosylated peptides were separated by reversed-phase liquid chromatography and detected with on-line electrospray ionization quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry using a 5600 TripleTof instrument. Site-specific glycosylation occupancy was semi-quantitatively determined from the abundance of deglycosylated and nonglycosylated versions of each given peptide. RESULTS Glycoprotein enrichment identified 67 independent glycosylation sites from 24 unique proteins, a 3.9-fold increase in the number of glycosylation sites identified. Enrichment of glycoproteins rather than glycopeptides allowed detection of both deglycosylated and nonglycosylated versions of each peptide, and thereby robust measurement of site-specific occupancy at 21 asparagines. Healthy individuals showed limited biological variability in occupancy, with partially modified sites having characteristics consistent with inefficient glycosylation by oligosaccharyltransferase. Inclusion of negative controls without enzymatic deglycosylation controlled for spontaneous chemical deamidation, and identified asparagines previously incorrectly annotated as glycosylated. CONCLUSIONS We developed a sample preparation and mass spectrometry detection strategy for rapid and efficient measurement of site-specific glycosylation occupancy on diverse salivary glycoproteins suitable for biomarker discovery and detection of changes in glycosylation occupancy in human disease.

Analysis of resource efficiency : a production frontier approach

This article integrates the material/energy flow analysis into a production frontier framework to quantify resource efficiency (RE). The emergy content of natural resources instead of their mass content is used to construct aggregate inputs. Using the production frontier approach, aggregate inputs will be optimised relative to given output quantities to derive RE measures. This framework is superior to existing RE indicators currently used in the literature. Using the exergy/emergy content in constructing aggregate material or energy flows overcomes a criticism that mass content cannot be used to capture different quality of differing types of resources. Derived RE measures are both ‘qualitative’ and ‘quantitative’, whereas existing RE indicators are only qualitative. An empirical examination into the RE of 116 economies was undertaken to illustrate the practical applicability of the new framework. The results showed that economies, on average, could reduce the consumption of resources by more than 30% without any reduction in per capita gross domestic product (GDP). This calculation occurred after adjustments for differences in the purchasing power of national currencies. The existence of high variations in RE across economies was found to be positively correlated with participation of people in labour force, population density, urbanisation, and GDP growth over the past five years. The results also showed that economies of a higher income group achieved higher RE, and those economies that are more dependent on imports and primary industries would have lower RE performance.

Protection by methylproamine of irradiated human keratinocytes correlates with reduction of DNA damage

Purpose: The therapeutic ratio for ionising radiation treatment of tumour is a trade-off between normal tissue side-effects and tumour control. Application of a radioprotector to normal tissue can reduce side-effects. Here we study the effects of a new radioprotector on the cellular response to radiation. Methylproamine is a DNA-binding radioprotector which, on the basis of published pulse radiolysis studies, acts by repair of transient radiation-induced oxidative species on DNA. To substantiate this hypothesis, we studied protection by methylproamine at both clonogenic survival and radiation-induced DNA damage, assessed by γH2AX (histone 2AX phosphorylation at serine 139) focus formation endpoints. Materials and methods: The human keratinocyte cell line FEP1811 was used to study clonogenic survival and yield of γH2AX foci following irradiation (137Cs γ-rays) of cells exposed to various concentrations of methylproamine. Uptake of methylproamine into cell nuclei was measured in parallel. Results: The extent of radioprotection at the clonogenic survival endpoint increased with methylproamine concentration up to a maximum dose modification factor (DMF) of 2.0 at 10 μM. At least 0.1 fmole/nucleus of methylproamine is required to achieve a substantial level of radioprotection (DMF of 1.3) with maximum protection (DMF of 2.0) achieved at 0.23 fmole/nucleus. The γH2AX focus yield per cell nucleus 45 min after irradiation decreased with drug concentration with a DMF of 2.5 at 10 μM. Conclusions: These results are consistent with the hypothesis that radioprotection by methylproamine is mediated by attenuation of the extent of initial DNA damage.

Multiphase porous media model for heat and mass transfer during drying of agricultural products

Modelling of food processing is complex because it involves sophisticated material and transport phenomena. Most of the agricultural products such fruits and vegetables are hygroscopic porous media containing free water, bound water, gas and solid matrix. Considering all phase in modelling is still not developed. In this article, a comprehensive porous media model for drying has been developed considering bound water, free water separately, as well as water vapour and air. Free water transport was considered as diffusion, pressure driven and evaporation. Bound water assumed to be converted to free water due to concentration difference and also can diffuse. Binary diffusion between water vapour and air was considered. Since, the model is fundamental physics based it can be applied to any drying applications and other food processing where heat and mass transfer takes place in porous media with significant evaporation and other phase change.

Characterization of acyl chain position in unsaturated phosphatidylcholines using differential mobility-mass spectrometry

Glycerophospholipids (GPs) that differ in the relative position of the two fatty acyl chains on the glycerol backbone (i.e., sn-positional isomers) can have distinct physicochemical properties. The unambiguous assignment of acyl chain position to an individual GP represents a significant analytical challenge. Here we describe a workflow where phosphatidylcholines (PCs) are subjected to ESI for characterization by a combination of differential mobility spectrometry and MS (DMS-MS). When infused as a mixture, ions formed from silver adduction of each phospholipid isomer {e.g., [PC (16:0/18:1) + Ag]+ and [PC (18:1/16:0) + Ag]+} are transmitted through the DMS device at discrete compensation voltages. Varying their relative amounts allows facile and unambiguous assignment of the sn-positions of the fatty acyl chains for each isomer. Integration of the well-resolved ion populations provides a rapid method (< 3 min) for relative quantification of these lipid isomers. The DMS-MS results show excellent agreement with established, but time-consuming, enzymatic approaches and also provide superior accuracy to methods that rely on MS alone. The advantages of this DMS-MS method in identification and quantification of GP isomer populations is demonstrated by direct analysis of complex biological extracts without any prior fractionation.

In-plane graphene/boron-nitride heterostructure as efficient metal-free electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction

Exploiting metal-free catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and understanding their catalytic mechanisms are vital for the development of fuel cells (FCs). Our study has demonstrated that in-plane heterostructures of graphene and boron nitride (G/BN) can serve as an efficient metal-free catalyst for the ORR, in which the C-N interfaces of G/BN heterostructures act as reactive sites. The formation of water at the heterointerface is both energetically and kinetically favorable via a fourelectron pathway. Moreover, the water formed can be easily released from the heterointerface, and the catalytically active sites can be regenerated for the next reaction. Since G/BN heterostructures with controlled domain sizes have been successfully synthesized in recent reports (e.g. Nat. Nanotechnol., 2013, 8, 119), our results highlight the great potential of such heterostructures as a promising metal-free catalyst for ORR in FCs.

Bat colony size reduction coincides with clear-fell harvest operations and high rates of roost loss in plantation forest

Clear-fell harvest of forest concerns many wildlife biologists because of loss of vital resources such as roosts or nests, and effects on population viability. However, actual impact has not been quantified. Using New Zealand long-tailed bats (Chalinolobus tuberculatus) as a model species we investigated impacts of clear-fell logging on bats in plantation forest. C. tuberculatus roost within the oldest stands in plantation forest so it was likely roost availability would decrease as harvest operations occurred. We predicted that post-harvest: (1) roosting range sizes would be smaller, (2) fewer roosts would be used, and (3) colony size would be smaller. We captured and radiotracked C. tuberculatus to day-roosts in Kinleith Forest, an exotic plantation forest, over three southern hemisphere summers (Season 1 October 2006–March 2007; Season 2 November 2007–March 2008; and Season 3 November 2008–March 2009). Individual roosting ranges (100% MCPs) post harvest were smaller than those in areas that had not been harvested, and declined in area during the 3 years. Following harvest, bats used fewer roosts than those in areas that had not been harvested. Over 3 years 20.7% of known roosts were lost: 14.5% due to forestry operations and 6.2% due to natural tree fall. Median colony size was 4.0 bats (IQR = 2.0–8.0) and declined during the study, probably because of locally high levels of roost loss. Post harvest colonies were smaller than colonies in areas that had not been harvested. Together, these results suggest the impact of clear-fell harvest on long-tailed bat populations is negative.

Jet and flash imprint defectivity - Assessment and reduction for semiconductor applications

Defectivity has been historically identified as a leading technical roadblock to the implementation of nanoimprint lithography for semiconductor high volume manufacturing. The lack of confidence in nanoimprint's ability to meet defect requirements originates in part from the industry's past experiences with 1 × lithography and the shortage in enduser generated defect data. SEMATECH has therefore initiated a defect assessment aimed at addressing these concerns. The goal is to determine whether nanoimprint, specifically Jet and Flash Imprint Lithography from Molecular Imprints, is capable of meeting semiconductor industry defect requirements. At this time, several cycles of learning have been completed in SEMATECH's defect assessment, with promising results. J-FIL process random defectivity of < 0.1 def/cm2 has been demonstrated using a 120nm half-pitch template, providing proof of concept that a low defect nanoimprint process is possible. Template defectivity has also improved significantly as shown by a pre-production grade template at 80nm pitch. Cycles of learning continue on feature sizes down to 22nm. © 2011 SPIE.