Hagar Qim and Mnajdra Visitor Centre, Ggantija Visitor Centre:Prehistoric World Heritage Sites visitor centre media and academic content

2010-12 Expert Assistance with research material, digital illustration and text for Visitor Centres in Malta and Gozo (Heritage Malta) and National Museum

Water Content Determinations for Peat and Other Organic Soils Using the Oven-Drying Method

There has been much debate in the literature over the past 60 years regarding an appropriate oven-drying temperature for water content determinations in peat and other organic soils. For inorganic soils, the water content is usually based on the equilibrium dry mass corresponding to drying temperatures in the range 100-110°C. However, for peat and other organic soils, several researchers have recommended lower drying temperatures in the range 60-90°C in an attempt to prevent possible charring, oxidation, and/or vaporization of substances other than pore water. However, all of the relevant water is not fully evaporated at too low a temperature, and because specimen dry mass is a function of drying temperature, the resulting water content values are lower than those determined for the temperature range 100-110°C. Experimental data reported in this article show that oven drying of peat and other organic soils at 100-110°C using either gravity-convection or forced-draft ovens is acceptable for routine water content determinations. Because a standardized oven temperature is desirable when correlating water content with other material properties, it is recommended that oven drying of peat and other organic soils be performed over temperature ranges of either 105-110°C or 105 ± 5°C, in line with standardized ranges for inorganic soils. © 2014 Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Arsenic removal from soil with high iron content using a natural surfactant and phosphate

An environment friendly arsenic removal technique from contaminated soil with high iron content has been studied. A natural surfactant extracted from soapnut fruit, phosphate solution and their mixture was used separately as extractants. The mixture was most effective in desorbing arsenic, attaining above 70 % efficiency in the pH range of 4–5. Desorption kinetics followed Elovich model. Micellar solubilization by soapnut and arsenic exchange mechanism by phosphate are the probable mechanisms behind arsenic desorption. Sequential extraction reveals that the mixed soapnut–phosphate system is effective in desorbing arsenic associated with amphoteric–Fe-oxide forms. No chemical change to the wash solutions was observed by Fourier transform-infrared spectra. Soil:solution ratio, surfactant and phosphate concentrations were found to affect the arsenic desorption process. Addition of phosphate boosted the performance of soapnut solution considerably. Response surface methodology approach predicted up to 80 % desorption of arsenic from soil when treated with a mixture of ≈1.5 % soapnut, ≈100 mM phosphate at a soil:solution ratio of 1:30.

What the newspapers say about medication adherence: a content analysis

Background: This study investigates the coverage of adherence to medicine by the UK and US newsprint media. Adherence to medicine is recognised as an important issue facing healthcare professionals and the newsprint media is a key source of health information, however, little is known about newspaper coverage of medication adherence.

Methods. A search of the newspaper database Nexis®UK from 2004-2011 was performed. Content analysis of newspaper articles which referenced medication adherence from the twelve highest circulating UK and US daily newspapers and their Sunday equivalents was carried out. A second researcher coded a 15% sample of newspaper articles to establish the inter-rater reliability of coding.

Results: Searches of newspaper coverage of medication adherence in the UK and US yielded 181 relevant articles for each country. There was a large increase in the number of scientific articles on medication adherence in PubMed® over the study period, however, this was not reflected in the frequency of newspaper articles published on medication adherence. UK newspaper articles were significantly more likely to report the benefits of adherence (p = 0.005), whereas US newspaper articles were significantly more likely to report adherence issues in the elderly population (p = 0.004) and adherence associated with diseases of the central nervous system (p = 0.046). The most commonly reported barriers to adherence were patient factors e.g. poor memory, beliefs and age, whereas, the most commonly reported facilitators to adherence were medication factors including simplified regimens, shorter treatment duration and combination tablets. HIV/AIDS was the single most frequently cited disease (reported in 20% of newspaper articles). Poor quality reporting of medication adherence was identified in 62% of newspaper articles.

Conclusion: Adherence is not well covered in the newspaper media despite a significant presence in the medical literature. The mass media have the potential to help educate and shape the public's knowledge regarding the importance of medication adherence; this potential is not being realised at present. © 2013 Goodfellow et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Development of a method to quantify the DNA content in DNA- cationic peptide nanoparticles

Gene therapy has the potential to provide safe and targeted therapies for a variety of diseases. A range of intracellular gene delivery vehicles have been proposed for this purpose. Non-viral vectors are a particularly attractive option and among them cationic peptides have emerged as promising candidates. For the pharmaceutical formulation and application to clinical studies it is necessary to quantify the amount of pDNA condensed with the delivery system. There is a severe deficiency in this area, thus far no methods have been reported specifically for pDNA condensed with cationic peptide to form nanoparticles. The current study seeks to address this and describes the evaluation of a range of disruption agents to extract DNA from nanoparticles formed by condensation with cationic fusogenic peptides RALA and KALA. Only proteinase K exhibited efficient and reproducible results and compatibility with the PicoGreen reagent based quantification assay. Thus we report for the first time a simple and reliable method that can quantify the pDNA content in pDNA cationic peptide nanoparticles.

Effect of carbohydrate type and concentration on polyhydroxy alcohol and trehalose content of conidia of three entomopathogenic fungi

The entomopathogenic fungi Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae and Paecilomyces farinosus were cultured on solid agar media containing different carbohydrate components (glycerol, glucose, trehalose or starch) at concentrations of ≤ 142.7 g added carbon 1-1 for 30 d at 25°C. The water activity (a(w)) of the media ranged from 0.925 to 0.998. Growth of M. anisopliae and P. farinosus was stimulated between 0.975 and 0.995 a(w) on glucose media and that of P. farinosus at 0. 975 a(w) on glycerol media. At < 0.970 a(w), growth of each fungal species was significantly reduced (P < 0.05). Polyhydroxy alcohols (polyols) and trehalose were extracted from conidia produced on different media and quantified using HPLC. Total polyol content of conidia produced on glucose media varied between 5.2 and 52.2 mg g-1 for B. bassiana, 77.3 and 90.3 mg g-1 for M. anisopliae, and 26.7 and 76.1 mg g-1 for P. farinosus. The amounts of specific polyols in conidia varied significantly from media of different glucose concentrations. Mannitol was the predominant polyol in conidia of all three species, with conidia of M. anisopliae, for example, containing as much as 75.2 mg mannitol g-1 when cultured on glucose media. The amount of the lower molecular mass polyols glycerol and erythritol was greater in conidia produced on glucose media with > 50.0 g added carbon 1-1 than that in conidia produced at lower glucose concentrations. Conidia contained between 10.8 and 20.8 mg glycerol plus erythritol g-1 on glucose media with 142.7 g added carbon 1-1, depending on species. Conversely, conidia of B. bassiana and P. farinosus contained maximum amounts of trehalose ( ≤ 23.5 mg g-1) when produced on glucose media with < 50.0 g added carbon l-1, and trehalose content was considerably less at higher glucose concentrations. There were accumulations of glycerol and erythritol in conidia of all three species when grown on glycerol media with > 25.0 g added carbon 1-1; conidia of B. bassiana contained up to 154.0 mg glycerol plus erythritol g-1. hen B. bassiana and P. farinosus were grown on trehalose media, conidia contained up to 222.1 mg trehalose g-1. By contrast, conidia of M. anisopliae contained < 17.0 mg trehalose g-1 under all conditions tested. The water availability of solutions of different polyols is discussed in relation to their potential to act in osmotic adjustment during germination. The ability to manipulate polyol and trehalose content of fungal propagules may be critical in enhancing the storage life and efficacy of biological control agents.

Implications of FPS1 deletion and membrane ergosterol content for glycerol efflux from Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The deletion of the gene encoding the glycerol facilitator Fps1p was associated with an altered plasma membrane lipid composition in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The S. cerevisiae fps1delta strain respectively contained 18 and 26% less ergosterol than the wild-type strain, at the whole-cell level and at the plasma membrane level. Other mutants with deficiencies in glycerol metabolism were studied to investigate any possible link between membrane ergosterol content and intracellular glycerol accumulation. In these mutants a modification in intracellular glycerol concentration, or in intra- to extracellular glycerol ratio was accompanied by a reduction in plasma membrane ergosterol content. However, there was no direct correlation between ergosterol content and intracellular glycerol concentration. Lipid composition influences the membrane permeability for solutes during adaptation of yeast cells to osmotic stress. In this study, ergosterol supplementation was shown to partially suppress the hypo-osmotic sensitivity phenotype of the fps1delta strain, leading to more efficient glycerol efflux, and improved survival. The erg-1 disruption mutant, which is unable to synthesise ergosterol, survived and recovered from the hypo-osmotic shock more successfully when the concentration of exogenously supplied ergosterol was increased. The results obtained suggest that a higher ergosterol content facilitates the flux of glycerol across the plasma membrane of S. cerevisiae cells.

High content analysis: A sensitive tool to detect and quantify the cytotoxic, synergistic and antagonistic effects of chemical contaminants in foods

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), ochratoxin A (OTA) and fumonisin B1 (FB1) are important mycotoxins in terms of
human exposure via food, their toxicity and regulatory limits that exist worldwide. Mixtures of toxins can frequently be present in foods, however due to the complications of determining their combined toxicity,
legal limits of exposure are determined for single compounds, based on long standing toxicological
techniques. High content analysis (HCA) may be a useful tool to determine total toxicity of complex
mixtures of mycotoxins. Endpoints including cell number (CN), nuclear intensity (NI), nuclear area (NA),
plasma membrane permeability (PMP), mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and mitochondrial
mass (MM) were compared to the conventional 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5 diphenyltetrazolium
bromide (MTT) and neutral red (NR) endpoints in MDBK cells. Individual concentrations of each
mycotoxin (OTA 3mg/ml, FB1 8mg/ml and AFB11.28mg/ml) revealed no cytotoxicity with MTTor NR but
HCA showed significant cytotoxic effects up to 41.6% (p0.001) and 10.1% (p0.05) for OTA and AFB1,
respectively. The tertiary mixture (OTA 3mg/ml, FB1 8mg/ml and AFB1 1.28mg/ml) detected up to 37.3%
and 49.8% more cytotoxicity using HCA over MTT and NR, respectively. Whilst binary combinations of
OTA (3mg/ml) and FB1 (8mg/ml) revealed synergistic interactions using HCA (MMP, MM, NI endpoints)
not detected using MTT or NR. HCA is a highly novel and sensitive tool that could substantially help
determine future regulatory limits, for single and combined toxins present in food, ensuring legislation is based on true risks to human health exposure.

Knowledge translation in men’s health research: development and delivery of content for use online

Background: Men can be hard to reach with face-to-face health-related information, while increasingly, research shows that they are seeking health information from online sources. Recognizing this trend, there is merit in developing innovative online knowledge translation (KT) strategies capable of translating research on men’s health into engaging health promotion materials. While the concept of KT has become a new mantra for researchers wishing to bridge the gap between research evidence and improved health outcomes, little is written about the process, necessary skills, and best practices by which researchers can develop online knowledge translation.
Objective: Our aim was to illustrate some of the processes and challenges involved in, and potential value of, developing research knowledge online to promote men’s health.

Methods: We present experiences of KT across two case studies of men’s health. First, we describe a study that uses interactive Web apps to translate knowledge relating to Canadian men’s depression. Through a range of mechanisms, study findings were repackaged with the explicit aim of raising awareness and reducing the stigma associated with men’s depression and/or help-seeking. Second, we describe an educational resource for teenage men about unintended pregnancy, developed for delivery in the formal Relationship and Sexuality Education school curricula of Ireland, Northern Ireland (United Kingdom), and South Australia. The intervention is based around a Web-based interactive film drama entitled “If I Were Jack”.

Results: For each case study, we describe the KT process and strategies that aided development of credible and well-received online content focused on men’s health promotion. In both case studies, the original research generated the inspiration for the interactive online content and the core development strategy was working with a multidisciplinary team to develop this material through arts-based approaches. In both cases also, there is an acknowledgment of the need for gender and culturally sensitive information. Both aimed to engage men by disrupting stereotypes about men, while simultaneously addressing men through authentic voices and faces. Finally, in both case studies we draw attention to the need to think beyond placement of content online to delivery to target audiences from the outset.

Conclusions: The case studies highlight some of the new skills required by academics in the emerging paradigm of translational research and contribute to the nascent literature on KT. Our approach to online KT was to go beyond dissemination and diffusion to actively repackage research knowledge through arts-based approaches (videos and film scripts) as health promotion tools, with optimal appeal, to target male audiences. Our findings highlight the importance of developing a multidisciplinary team to inform the design of content, the importance of adaptation to context, both in terms of the national implementation context and consideration of gender-specific needs, and an integrated implementation and evaluation framework in all KT work.