Amygdalar function reflects common individual differences in emotion and pain regulation success

Although the co-occurrence of negative affect and pain is well recognized, the mechanism underlying their association is unclear. To examine whether a common self-regulatory ability impacts the experience of both emotion and pain, we integrated neuroimaging, behavioral, and physiological measures obtained from three assessments separated by substantial temporal intervals. Out results demonstrated that individual differences in emotion regulation ability, as indexed by an objective measure of emotional state, corrugator electromyography, predicted self-reported success while regulating pain. In both emotion and pain paradigms, the amygdala reflected regulatory success. Notably, we found that greater emotion regulation success was associated with greater change of amygdalar activity following pain regulation. Furthermore, individual differences in degree of amygdalar change following emotion regulation were a strong predictor of pain regulation success, as well as of the degree of amygdalar engagement following pain regulation. These findings suggest that common individual differences in emotion and pain regulatory success are reflected in a neural structure known to contribute to appraisal processes.

Germ-line chimaeras can produce both strains of fowl with high efficiency after partial sterilization

The drug busulphan is known to be cytotoxic to migrating primordial germ cells (PGCs). A technique is described in which doses of 0, 25, 50 and 250 micrograms busulphan in 40 microliters sesame oil were injected into the yolk of White Leghorn eggs incubated for 0, 24, 48 and 72 h. The percentage survival values of these embryos showed that the older the embryo at the time of injection, the greater the survival. Increasing the dose of busulphan decreased the survival. The percentage of embryos showing abnormalities increased with higher doses of busulphan. The number of germ cells in histological sections from gonads of 16-day embryos was estimated and in embryos treated with 50 micrograms and 250 micrograms busulphan the number of germ cells was significantly less than in the controls. Eggs were injected with 50 micrograms busulphan at 24-30 h, and at 50-55 h the embryos received an intravascular injection of a germinal crescent cell suspension containing PGCs from Rhode Island Red embryos. Twenty hatchlings from these experiments were raised to sexual maturity. All these birds were fertile and half of the breeding groups producing offspring from the transferred germ cells at a rate of about 35% of the total. The technique would improve the efficiency of producing transgenic gametes.

Testing of fibre composite leaf spring for heavy axle loads

This paper presents the results of quasi-static and dynamic testing of glass fiber-reinforced polyester leaf suspension for rail freight vehicles named Euroleaf. The principal elements of the suspension's design and manufacturing process are initially summarized. Comparison between quasi-static tests and finite element predictions are then presented. The Euroleaf suspension have been mounted on a tipper wagon and tested dynamically at tare and full load on a purpose-built shaker rig. A shaker rig dynamic testing methodology has been pioneered for rail vehicles, which follows closely road vehicle suspension dynamic testing methodology. The use and evaluation of this methodology have demonstrated that the Euroleaf suspension is dynamically much softer than steel suspensions even though it is statically much stiffer. As a consequence, the suspension dynamic loading at laden loading conditions is reduced compared to the most advanced steel leaf suspension over shaker rig track tests.

Implementation of a new urban energy budget scheme into MetUM. Part II: Validation against observations and model intercomparison

In the first part of this article, we introduced a new urban surface scheme, the Met Office – Reading Urban Surface Exchange Scheme (MORUSES), into the Met Office Unified Model (MetUM) and compared its impact on the surface fluxes with respect to the current urban scheme. In this second part, we aim to analyze further the reasons behind the differences. This analysis is conducted by a comparison of the performance of the two schemes against observations and against a third model, the Single Column Reading Urban model (SCRUM). The key differences between the three models lie in how each model incorporates the heat stored in the urban fabric and how the surface-energy balance is coupled to the underlying substrate. The comparison of the models with observations from Mexico City reveals that the performance of MORUSES is improved if roof insulation is included by minimizing the roof thickness. A comparison of MORUSES and SCRUM reveals that, once insulation is included within MORUSES, these two models perform equally well against the observations overall, but that there are differences in the details of the simulations at the roof and canyon level. These differences are attributed to the different representations of the heat-storage term, specifically differences in the dominant frequencies captured by the urban canopy and substrate, between the models. These results strongly suggest a need for an urban model intercomparison exercise. Copyright © 2010 Royal Meteorological Society and Crown Copyright

Extracellular release of a heterologous phytase from roots of transgenic plants: does manipulation of rhizosphere biochemistry impact microbial community structure?

To maintain the sustainability of agriculture, it is imperative that the reliance of crops on inorganic phosphorus (P) fertilizers is reduced. One approach is to improve the ability of crop plants to acquire P from organic sources. Transgenic plants that produce microbial phytases have been suggested as a possible means to achieve this goal. However, neither the impact of heterologous expression of phytase on the ecology of microorganisms in the rhizosphere nor the impact of rhizosphere microorganisms on the efficacy of phytases in the rhizosphere of transgenic plants has been tested. In this paper, we demonstrate that the presence of rhizosphere microorganisms reduced the dependence of plants oil extracellular secretion of phytase from roots when grown in a P-deficient soil. Despite this, the expression of phytase in transgenic plants had little or no impact on the microbial community structure as compared with control plant lines, whereas soil treatments, such as the addition of inorganic P, had large effects. The results demonstrate that soil microorganisms are explicitly involved in the availability of P to plants and that the microbial community in the rhizosphere appears to be resistant to the impacts of single-gene changes in plants designed to alter rhizosphere biochemistry and nutrient cycling.

Escherichia coli O157:H7 colonization in small domestic ruminants

Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 was first implicated in human disease in the early 1980s, with ruminants cited as the primary reservoirs. Preliminary studies indicated cattle to be the sole source of E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks in humans; however, further epidemiological studies soon demonstrated that E. coli O157:H7 was widespread in other food sources and that a number of transmission routes existed. More recently, small domestic ruminants (sheep and goats) have emerged as important sources of E. coli O157:H7 human infection, particularly with the widespread popularity of petting farms and the increased use of sheep and goat food products, including unpasteurized cheeses. Although the colonization and persistence characteristics of E. coli O157:H7 in the bovine host have been studied intensively, this is not the case for small ruminants. Despite many similarities to the bovine host, the pathobiology of E. coli O157:H7 in small domestic ruminants does appear to differ significantly from that described in cattle. This review aims to critically review the current knowledge regarding colonization and persistence of E. coli O157:H7 in small domestic ruminants, including comparisons with the bovine host where appropriate.

Interaction of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157 : H7 with mouse intestinal mucosa

In this study, we used mouse ileal loops to investigate the interaction of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157:H7 with the mouse intestinal mucosa. With a dose of 10(9) and 3 h incubation, EHEC O157 was detected in the lumen and to a lesser extent associated with the epithelium. Typical attaching and effacing (A/E) lesions were seen, albeit infrequently. While the effector protein Tir was essential for A/E lesion formation, the bacterial type III secretion system adaptor protein TccP was dispensable. These results suggest that A/E lesions on mouse intestinal mucosa can be formed independently of robust actin polymerization.

A high prevalence of antimicrobial resistant Escherichia coli isolated from pigs and a low prevalence of antimicrobial resistant E-coli from cattle and sheep in Great Britain at slaughter

The incidence of antimicrobial resistance and expressed and unexpressed resistance genes among commensal Escherichia coli isolated from healthy farm animals at slaughter in Great Britain was investigated. The prevalence of antimicrobial resistance among the isolates varied according to the animal species; of 836 isolates from cattle tested only 5.7% were resistant to one or more antimicrobials, while only 3.0% of 836 isolates from sheep were resistant to one or more agents. However, 92.1% of 2480 isolates from pigs were resistant to at least one antimicrobial. Among isolates from pigs, resistance to some antimicrobials such as tetracycline (78.7%), sulphonamide (66.9%) and streptomycin (37.5%) was found to be common, but relatively rare to other agents such as amikacin (0.1%), ceftazidime ( 0.1%) and coamoxiclav (0.2%). The isolates had a diverse range of resistance gene profiles, with tet(B), sul2 and strAB identified most frequently. Seven out of 615 isolates investigated carried unexpressed resistance genes. One trimethoprim-susceptible isolate carried a complete dfrA17 gene but lacked a promoter for it. However, in the remaining six streptomycin-susceptible isolates, one of which carried strAB while the others carried aadA, no mutations or deletions in gene or promoter sequences were identified to account for susceptibility. The data indicate that antimicrobial resistance in E. coli of animal origin is due to a broad range of acquired genes.

Organic certification, export market access and the impacts of policy: Bayesian estimation of avocado smallholder “times-to-organic certification” in Michoacán Mexico

This study analyzes organic adoption decisions using a rich set of time-to-organic durations collected from avocado small-holders in Michoacán Mexico. We derive robust, intrasample predictions about the profiles of entry and exit within the conventional-versus-organic complex and we explore the sensitivity of these predictions to choice of functional form. The dynamic nature of the sample allows us to make retrospective predictions and we establish, precisely, the profile of organic entry had the respondents been availed optimal amounts of adoption-restraining resources. A fundamental problem in the dynamic adoption literature, hitherto unrecognized, is discussed and consequent extensions are suggested.

Gradients of the intergenerational transmission of health in developing countries

This paper investigates sensitivity of the intergenerational transmission of health to changes in the socioeconomic and public health environment into which children are born using individual survey data on 2.24 million children born to 600000 mothers during 1970-2000 in 38 developing countries merged by country and cohort with macroeconomic data. We find that children are more likely to bear the penalty exerted by poor maternal health if they are conceived or born in adverse socioeconomic conditions. Equivalently, shocks to the child’s birth environment are more damaging of children born to women with a weaker stock of health at birth.

Thiamine plays a critical role in the acid tolerance of Listeria monocytogenes

Understanding the molecular basis of acid tolerance in the food-borne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes is important as this property contributes to survival in the food-chain and enhances survival within infected hosts. The aim of this study was to identify genes contributing to acid tolerance in L. monocytogenes using transposon mutagenesis and subsequently to elucidate the physiological role of these genes in acid tolerance. One mutant harboring a Tn917 insertion in the thiT gene (formerly lmo1429), which encodes a thiamine (vitamin B1) uptake system, was found to be highly sensitive to acid. The acid-sensitive phenotype associated with loss of this gene was confirmed with an independently isolated mutant, from which the thiT gene was deleted (ΔthiT). Cells of both wild-type and ΔthiT mutant that were thiamine depleted were found to be significantly more acid sensitive than control cultures. Thiamine-depleted cultures failed to produce significant concentrations of acetoin, consistent with the known thiamine dependence of acetolactate synthase, an enzyme required for acetoin synthesis from pyruvate. As acetoin synthesis is a proton-consuming process, we suggest that the acid sensitivity observed in thiamine-depleted cultures may be owing to an inability to produce acetoin.

Regulatory reform and productivity change in Indian banking

This paper examines the impact of regulatory reform on productivity growth and its components for Indian banks in 1992-2009. We estimate parametric and non-parametric efficiency frontiers, followed by Divisia and Malmquist indexes of Total Factor Productivity respectively. To account for technology heterogeneity among ownership types we utilise a metafrontier approach. Results are consistent across methodologies and show sustained productivity growth, driven mainly by technological progress. Furthermore, results indicate that different ownership types react differently to changes in the operating environment. The position of foreign banks becomes increasingly dominant and their production technology becomes the best practice in the industry.

Evidence of immunomodulatory effects of a novel probiotic, Bifidobacterium longum bv. infantis CCUG 52486

Bifidobacterium longum bv. infantis CCUG 52486 was originally isolated from healthy elderly subjects and demonstrated to have particular ecological fitness and anti-pathogenic effects. Bifidobacteria are commonly associated with immunomodulatory properties, especially in older people, but this strain has not been investigated for effects on immune function. This study aimed to explore the immunomodulatory effects of this novel probiotic, compared with three commercial strains, B. longum SP 07/3, L. rhamnosus GG (L.GG) and L. casei Shirota (LcS). Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from fasting blood of young or older volunteers and exposed to probiotic strains or Con A. NK activity and activation, and cytokine release were enhanced by all probiotics with strain-specificities. The effect of B. infantis on NK activity was influenced by ageing. Except for L.GG, probiotics increased IFN-γ production to a much greater degree in young subjects, and increased IL-6 production to a much greater degree in older subjects. Based on IL-10/IL-12 ratios, B. infantis resulted in the most anti-inflammatory profile of all of the probiotics. These results suggest that B. infantis CCUG 52486 has strong immunomodulatory potential compared with well-known commercial strains, and that the immune response to probiotics may be influenced by ageing.

Bridging a yawning chasm: EEG investigations into the debate concerning the role of the human mirror neuron system in contagious yawning

Ongoing debate in the literature concerns whether there is a link between contagious yawning and the human mirror neuron system (hMNS). One way of examining this issue is with the use of the electroencephalogram (EEG) to measure changes in mu activation during the observation of yawns. Mu oscillations are seen in the alpha bandwidth of the EEG (8–12 Hz) over sensorimotor areas. Previous work has shown that mu suppression is a useful index of hMNS activation and is sensitive to individual differences in empathy. In two experiments, we presented participants with videos of either people yawning or control stimuli. We found greater mu suppression for yawns than for controls over right motor and premotor areas, particularly for those scoring higher on traits of empathy. In a third experiment, auditory recordings of yawns were compared against electronically scrambled versions of the same yawns. We observed greater mu suppression for yawns than for the controls over right lateral premotor areas. Again, these findings were driven by those scoring highly on empathy. The results from these experiments support the notion that the hMNS is involved in contagious yawning, emphasise the link between contagious yawning and empathy, and stress the importance of good control stimuli.