Food Behaviours: Healthy Eating on the island of Ireland

In the past, safefood’s consumer focused reviews (CFRs) have focused on key food chains including chicken, finfish, fruit and vegetables, milk, beef and pork. The reviews aimed to address consumer concerns surrounding food safety, production methods and nutritional issues related to key foods, with a view to communicating directly to consumers on those issues. More recently, there has been a shift in emphasis by safefood to address broader issues of consumer concern, such as food origin. The aim of the current CFR is different from previous reports. Instead of addressing key consumer food concerns, it focuses on understanding consumer food behaviour. Its primary aim is to inform the research, policies and practices of all those working towards changing consumer food safety and dietary behaviour on the island of Ireland and to ensure that communication with consumers is both evidence-based and effective.

Examining Nutrition Surveillance on the island of Ireland

The food we eat is a key determinant of our health and the monitoring of nutritional status is an essential element of monitoring public health. On the island of Ireland (IOI) there has been a wealth of nutrition data collected contributing to the nutrition surveillance picture, although no formal nutrition surveillance system currently exists in either jurisdiction. This report outlines recent and current activities contributing to nutrition surveillance on IOI and makes recommendations for the future. This is with a view to maximising the use of resources and harnessing and maintaining expertise in this important domain using a joint programming approach.

Health Protection Inequalities on the island of Ireland: An introductory paper

Public health services in Ireland, North and South, are committed to addressing inequalities in health on the island of Ireland. This report, prepared by Dr Lorraine Doherty, Assistant Director of Public Health (Health Protection), Public Health Agency NI for the Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH), specifically highlights health inequalities in relation to infectious diseases and other areas of health protection such as chemical hazards and environmental disruption. Infectious diseases disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in society. These vulnerable groups bear the highest burden of disease in relation to infectious diseases. The report also highlights the impact of climate change on health protection and the impacts for water, food and vector borne diseases. The aim of this report is to enable a programme of work to begin to document health protection inequalities and develop action plans for addressing them on an all island basis.

Intracellular excision and reintegration dynamics of the ICEclc genomic island of Pseudomonas knackmussii sp. strain B13.

Genomic islands are DNA elements acquired by horizontal gene transfer that are common to a large number of bacterial genomes, which can contribute specific adaptive functions, e.g. virulence, metabolic capacities or antibiotic resistances. Some genomic islands are still self-transferable and display an intricate life-style, reminiscent of both bacteriophages and conjugative plasmids. Here we studied the dynamical process of genomic island excision and intracellular reintegration using the integrative and conjugative element ICEclc from Pseudomonas knackmussii B13 as model. By using self-transfer of ICEclc from strain B13 to Pseudomonas putida and Cupriavidus necator as recipients, we show that ICEclc can target a number of different tRNA(Gly) genes in a bacterial genome, but only those which carry the GCC anticodon. Two conditional traps were designed for ICEclc based on the attR sequence, and we could show that ICEclc will insert with different frequencies in such traps producing brightly fluorescent cells. Starting from clonal primary transconjugants we demonstrate that ICEclc is excising and reintegrating at detectable frequencies, even in the absence of recipient. Recombination site analysis provided evidence to explain the characteristics of a larger number of genomic island insertions observed in a variety of strains, including Bordetella petri, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Burkholderia.

The role of computational fluid dynamics in the management of unruptured intracranial aneurysms: a clinicians' view

Objective: The importance of hemodynamics in the etiopathogenesis of intracranial aneurysms (IAs) is widely accepted.Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is being used increasingly for hemodynamic predictions. However, alogn with thecontinuing development and validation of these tools, it is imperative to collect the opinion of the clinicians. Methods: A workshopon CFD was conducted during the European Society of Minimally Invasive Neurological Therapy (ESMINT) Teaching Course,Lisbon, Portugal. 36 delegates, mostly clinicians, performed supervised CFD analysis for an IA, using the @neuFuse softwaredeveloped within the European project @neurIST. Feedback on the workshop was collected and analyzed. The performancewas assessed on a scale of 1 to 4 and, compared with experts’ performance. Results: Current dilemmas in the management ofunruptured IAs remained the most important motivating factor to attend the workshop and majority of participants showedinterest in participating in a multicentric trial. The participants achieved an average score of 2.52 (range 0–4) which was 63% (range 0–100%) of an expert user. Conclusions: Although participants showed a manifest interest in CFD, there was a clear lack ofawareness concerning the role of hemodynamics in the etiopathogenesis of IAs and the use of CFD in this context. More effortstherefore are required to enhance understanding of the clinicians in the subject.

Absence of ectopic epithelial inclusions in 3,904 axillary lymph nodes examined in sentinel technique.

Intraoperative examination of sentinel axillary lymph nodes can be done by imprint cytology, frozen section, or, most recently, by PCR-based amplification of a cytokeratin signal. Using this technique, benign epithelial inclusions, representing mammary tissue displaced along the milk line, will likely generate a positive PCR signal and lead to a false-positive diagnosis of metastatic disease. To better appreciate the incidence of ectopic epithelial inclusions in axillary lymph nodes, we have performed an autopsy study, examining on 100 μm step sections 3,904 lymph nodes obtained from 160 axillary dissections in 80 patients. The median number of lymph nodes per axilla was 23 (15, 6, and 1 in levels 1, 2, and 3, respectively). A total of 30,450 hematoxylin-eosin stained slides were examined, as well as 8,825 slides immunostained with pan-cytokeratin antibodies. Despite this meticulous work-up, not a single epithelial inclusion was found in this study, suggesting that the incidence of such inclusions is much lower than the assumed 5% reported in the literature.

A genetic isolation gradient of populations of the Balearic green toad (Bufo balearicus) follows rising eastward fragmentation of the rural landscapes on the island of Menorca.

We present the first approach to the genetic diversity and structure of the Balearic toad (Bufo balearicus Boettger, 1880) for the island of Menorca. Forty-one individ- uals from 21 localities were analyzed for ten microsatellite loci. We used geo-refer- enced individual multilocus genotypes and a model-based clustering method for the inference of the number of populations and of the spatial location of genetic dis- continuities between those populations.¦Only six of the microsatellites analyzed were polymorphic. We revealed a northwest- ern area inhabited by a single population with several well-connected localities and another set of populations in the southeast that includes a few unconnected small units with genetically significant differences among them as well as with the individ- uals from the northwest of the island. The observed fragmentation may be explained by shifts from agricultural to tourism practices that have been taking place on the island of Menorca since the 1960s. The abandonment of rural activities in favor of urbanization and concomitant service areas has mostly affected the southeast of the island and is currently threatening the overall geographic connectivity between the different farming areas of the island that are inhabited by the Balearic toad.

The Island of Drive. Representations, somatic states and the origin of drive

Freud defined the drive as "a concept on the frontier between the mental and the somatic". Today this view that was based on clinical observations interpreted within the psychoanalytical framework, can be revisited in light of the current neuroscientific notions of neuronal plasticity and somatic states. Indeed, through the mechanisms of plasticity experience leaves a trace that forms the neural basis of a representation of the experience. Such a representation R is associated with a somatic state S in the sense taken from the "somatic marker" model of Damasio. Thus, the internal reality of the subject, particularly the unconscious one, is constituted by such connected R's and S's. In the model that we discuss, the posterior insula represents the primary interoceptive cortex where information about somatic states S converges, while in the anterior insula the connection between R and S can take place and establish a neurobiological correlate for the notion of drive. We posit that the re-representations of S associated with R in the anterior insula may correspond to the Vorstellungsrepräsentanz postulated by Freud. We further propose that the tension between R and S established in the anterior insula is discharged according to the notion of drive through the motor arm of the limbic system, namely the anterior cingulate cortex which is heavily connected with the anterior insula.

Radial displacement of a fluid annulus in a rotating Hele¿Shaw cell

The radial displacement of a fluid annulus in a rotating circular Hele-Shaw cell has been investigated experimentally. It has been found that the flow depends sensitively on the wetting conditions at the outer interface. Displacements in a prewet cell are well described by Darcy's law in a wide range of experimental parameters, with little influence of capillary effects. In a dry cell, however, a more careful analysis of the interface motion is required; the interplay between a gradual loss of fluid at the inner interface, and the dependence of capillary forces at the outer interface on interfacial velocity and dynamic contact angle, result in a constant velocity for the interfaces. The experimental results in this case correlate in the form of an empirical scaling relation between the capillary number Ca and a dimensionless group, related to the ratio of centrifugal to capillary forces, which spans about three orders of magnitude in both quantities. Finally, the relative thickness of the coating film left by the inner interface, alpha i, is obtained as a function of Ca.

Interfacial instabilities of a fluid annulus in a rotating Hele-Shaw cell

We have studied the interfacial instabilities experienced by a liquid annulus as it moves radially in a circular Hele-Shaw cell rotating with angular velocity Omega. The instability of the leading interface (oil displacing air) is driven by the density difference in the presence of centrifugal forcing, while the instability of the trailing interface (air displacing oil) is driven by the large viscosity contrast. A linear stability analysis shows that the stability of the two interfaces is coupled through the pressure field already at a linear level. We have performed experiments in a dry cell and in a cell coated with a thin fluid layer on each plate, and found that the stability depends substantially on the wetting conditions at the leading interface. Our experimental results of the number of fingers resulting from the instability compare well with the predictions obtained through a numerical integration of the coupled equations derived from a linear stability analysis. Deep in the nonlinear regime we observe the emission of liquid droplets through the formation of thin filaments at the tip of outgrowing fingers.

Multiplex PCR of sonication fluid accurately differentiates between prosthetic joint infection and aseptic failure.

OBJECTIVE: Cultures have limited sensitivity in the diagnosis of prosthetic joint infection (PJI), especially in low-grade infections. We assessed the value of multiplex PCR in differentiating PJI from aseptic failure (AF). METHODS: Included were patients in whom the joint prosthesis was removed and submitted for sonication. The resulting sonication fluid was cultured and investigated by multiplex PCR, and compared with periprosthetic tissue culture. RESULTS: Among 86 explanted prostheses (56 knee, 25 hip, 3 elbow and 2 shoulder prostheses), AF was diagnosed in 62 cases (72%) and PJI in 24 cases (28%). PJI was more common detected by multiplex PCR (n=23, 96%) than by periprosthetic tissue (n=17, 71%, p=0.031) or sonication fluid culture (n=16, 67%, p=0.016). Among 12 patients with PJI who previously received antibiotics, periprosthetic tissue cultures were positive in 8 cases (67%), sonication fluid cultures in 6 cases (50%) and multiplex PCR in 11 cases (92%). In AF cases, periprosthetic tissue grew organisms in 11% and sonication fluid in 10%, whereas multiplex PCR detected no organisms. CONCLUSIONS: Multiplex PCR of sonication fluid demonstrated high sensitivity (96%) and specificity (100%) for diagnosing PJI, providing good discriminative power towards AF, especially in patients previously receiving antibiotics.