Reduced aggression and foraging efficiency of invasive signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) infested with non-native branchiobdellidans (Annelida: Clitellata)

BACKGROUND

Biological invasions are a principal threat to global biodiversity and identifying the determinants of non-native species' success is a conservation priority. Through their ability to regulate host populations, parasites are increasingly considered as important in determining the outcome of species' invasions. Here, we present novel evidence that the common crayfish ecto-symbiont, Xironogiton victoriensis (Annelida: Clitellata) can affect the behaviour of a widespread and ecologically important invader, the signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus).

METHODS

To assess the signal crayfish-X. victoriensis relationship naïve crayfish were infested with an intensity of worms typically observed under natural conditions. Over a 10-week period the growth rate and survivorship of these animals was monitored and compared to those of uninfested counterparts. Complementary dyadic competition and foraging experiments were run to assess the behaviour of infested compared to uninfested animals. These data were analysed using General Linear Models and Generalized Linear Mixed Models.

RESULTS

Whilst X. victoriensis did not affect the growth rate or survivorship of signal crayfish under laboratory conditions, infested animals were significantly less aggressive and poorer foragers than uninfested individuals.

CONCLUSIONS

Through reducing aggression and foraging efficiency, infestation with X. victoriensis may disrupt the social structure, and potentially growth rate and/or dispersal of afflicted crayfish populations, with potential effects on their invasion dynamics. This is important given the widespread invasive range of crayfish and their functional roles as ecosystem engineers and keystone species.

Genetic risk alleles associated with serologic autoimmunity in normal individuals (BA3P.113)

We screened 2628 normal individuals for antibodies binding to the mix of antigens in a human nuclear extract and identified 579 (26.05%) individuals with significant levels of IgG antibodies to self-antigens. Next, we analyzed 639 representative sera from ANA-, ANA+, ILE and SLEs on an autoantigen proteomic array, which identified 33 antigens strongly recognized by IgG autoantibodies in ANA+ group as compared to ANA- normals. Of these 33, 19 antigens were non-nuclear or cytoplasmic proteins and 14 were nuclear proteins, including known SLE associated antigens such as dsDNA and Histones. Antigen cluster analysis showed that DNA and RNA clusters are more frequent in SLE and ILE group, while matrix proteins and antiphospholipid antibodies clusters are more frequent in ANA+ normals. Next, all the individuals were genotyped with immunochip and subset by target sequencing. Quantitative genetic association test identified SNPs associated with ANA and auto-antigens. The strongest association signal was observed at HLA, where SNP rs3117103 near BTNL2, rs9268832 near HLA-DRA and rs2395252 in HLA-DQA2 gene showed strongest (10-7) association. Other signals were in/near BANK1, PTTG1 and CR1L genes. RNA sequencing analysis identified ANA risk alleles associated with up regulation of HLA-DRB1 in monocytes and BANK1 in B cells. Our data suggest that functional variations in or near HLA DRB1 and BANK1 gene may be associated with development of humoral autoimmunity in general population.

Total hip replacement through a posterior approach using a 22 mm diameter femoral head : the role of the transverse acetabular ligament and capsular repair in reducing the rate of dislocation

Despite a lack of long-term follow-up, there is an increasing trend towards using femoral heads of large diameter in total hip replacement (THR), partly because of the perceived advantage of lower rates of dislocation. However, increasing the size of the femoral head is not the only way to reduce the rate of dislocation; optimal alignment of the components and repair of the posterior capsule could achieve a similar effect. In this prospective study of 512 cemented unilateral THRs (Male:Female 230:282) performed between 2004 and 2011, we aimed to determine the rate of dislocation in patients who received a 22 mm head on a 9/10 Morse taper through a posterior approach with capsular repair and using the transverse acetabular ligament (TAL) as a guide for the alignment of the acetabular component. The mean age of the patients at operation was 67 years (35 to 89). The mean follow-up was 2.8 years (0.5 to 6.6). Pre- and post-operative assessment included Oxford hip, Short Form-12 and modified University of California Los Angeles and Merle D'Aubigne scores. The angles of inclination and anteversion of the acetabular components were measured using radiological software. There were four dislocations (0.78%), all of which were anterior. In conclusion, THR with a 22 mm diameter head performed through a posterior approach with capsular repair and using the TAL as a guide for the alignment of the acetabular component was associated with a low rate of dislocation.

Biomarker-based treatment selection in early-stage rectal cancer to promote organ preservation

Background

Total mesorectal excision (TME) remains commonplace for T1–2 rectal cancer owing to fear of undertreating a small proportion of patients with node-positive disease. Molecular stratification may predict cancer progression. It could be used to select patients for organ-preserving surgery if specific biomarkers were validated.

Methods

Gene methylation was quantified using bisulphite pyrosequencing in 133 unirradiated rectal cancer TME specimens. KRAS mutation and microsatellite instability status were also defined. Molecular parameters were correlated with histopathological indices of disease progression. Predictive models for nodal metastasis, lymphovascular invasion (LVI) and distant metastasis were constructed using a multilevel reverse logistic regression model.

Results

Methylation of the retinoic acid receptor β gene, RARB, and that of the checkpoint with forkhead and ring finger gene, CHFR, was associated with tumour stage (RARB: 51·9 per cent for T1–2 versus 33·9 per cent for T3–4, P < 0·001; CHFR: 5·5 per cent for T1–2 versus 12·6 per cent for T3–4, P = 0·005). Gene methylation associated with nodal metastasis included RARB (47·1 per cent for N− versus 31·7 per cent for N+; P = 0·008), chemokine ligand 12, CXCL12 (12·3 per cent for N− versus 8·9 per cent for N+; P = 0·021), and death-associated protein kinase 1, DAPK1 (19·3 per cent for N− versus 12·3 per cent for N+; P = 0·022). RARB methylation was also associated with LVI (45·1 per cent for LVI− versus 31·7 per cent for LVI+; P = 0·038). Predictive models for nodal metastasis and LVI achieved sensitivities of 91·1 and 85·0 per cent, and specificities of 55·3 and 45·3 per cent, respectively.

Conclusion

This methylation biomarker panel provides a step towards accurate discrimination of indolent and aggressive rectal cancer subtypes. This could offer an improvement over the current standard of care, whereby fit patients are offered radical surgery. May assist selection for organ preservation

X-ray fluorescence imaging reveals subcellular biometal disturbances in a childhood neurodegenerative disorder

Biometals such as zinc, iron, copper and calcium play key roles in diverse physiological processes in the brain, but can be toxic in excess. A hallmark of neurodegeneration is a failure of homeostatic mechanisms controlling the concentration and distribution of these elements, resulting in overload, deficiency or mislocalization. A major roadblock to understanding the impact of altered biometal homeostasis in neurodegenerative disease is the lack of rapid, specific and sensitive techniques capable of providing quantitative subcellular information on biometal homeostasis in situ. Recent advances in X-ray fluorescence detectors have provided an opportunity to rapidly measure biometal content at subcellular resolution in cell populations using X-ray Fluorescence Microscopy (XFM). We applied this approach to investigate subcellular biometal homeostasis in a cerebellar cell line isolated from a natural mouse model of a childhood neurodegenerative disorder, the CLN6 form of neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis, commonly known as Batten disease. Despite no global changes to whole cell concentrations of zinc or calcium, XFM revealed significant subcellular mislocalization of these important biological second messengers in cerebellar Cln6nclf (CbCln6nclf ) cells. XFM revealed that nuclear-to-cytoplasmic trafficking of zinc was severely perturbed in diseased cells and the subcellular distribution of calcium was drastically altered in CbCln6nclf cells. Subtle differences in the zinc K-edge X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) spectra of control and CbCln6nclf cells suggested that impaired zinc homeostasis may be associated with an altered ligand set in CbCln6nclf cells. Importantly, a zinc-complex, ZnII(atsm), restored the nuclear-to-cytoplasmic zinc ratios in CbCln6nclf cells via nuclear zinc delivery, and restored the relationship between subcellular zinc and calcium levels to that observed in healthy control cells. ZnII(atsm) treatment also resulted in a reduction in the number of calcium-rich puncta observed in CbCln6nclf cells. This study highlights the complementarities of bulk and single cell analysis of metal content for understanding disease states. We demonstrate the utility and broad applicability of XFM for subcellular analysis of perturbed biometal metabolism and mechanism of action studies for novel therapeutics to target neurodegeneration.

Integrating molecular diagnostics into histopathology training: the Belfast model

Molecular medicine is transforming modern clinical practice, from diagnostics to therapeutics. Discoveries in research are being incorporated into the clinical setting with increasing rapidity. This transformation is also deeply changing the way we practise pathology. The great advances in cell and molecular biology which have accelerated our understanding of the pathogenesis of solid tumours have been embraced with variable degrees of enthusiasm by diverse medical professional specialties. While histopathologists have not been prompt to adopt molecular diagnostics to date, the need to incorporate molecular pathology into the training of future histopathologists is imperative. Our goal is to create, within an existing 5-year histopathology training curriculum, the structure for formal substantial teaching of molecular diagnostics. This specialist training has two main goals: (1) to equip future practising histopathologists with basic knowledge of molecular diagnostics and (2) to create the option for those interested in a subspecialty experience in tissue molecular diagnostics to pursue this training. It is our belief that this training will help to maintain in future the role of the pathologist at the centre of patient care as the integrator of clinical, morphological and molecular information.

Poly(vinylidene fluoride)–La0.5Sr0.5CoO3−δ composites: the influence of LSCO particle size on the structure and dielectric properties

The inclusion of LSCO into PVDF readily favours the formation of polar crystals (β and γ-phases), which makes the composite suitable for embedded capacitor applications.

Increasing awareness of hypoglycaemia in patients with type 2 diabetes treated with oral agents

Hypoglycaemia is the most common acute complication of type 2 diabetes and can limit therapeutic efforts to improve glycaemic control in order to protect against long-term complications. It is a potential side effect of the drugs used to treat diabetes, specifically exogenous insulin or insulin secretagogues. As many people are prescribed these agents, hypoglycaemia is frequent in clinical practice, although patients commonly do not inform their healthcare professional of the problems spontaneously. The impact of hypoglycaemia on the patient and to the healthcare system is significant through reduced treatment satisfaction and adherence, reduced quality of life and serious health consequences. This has financial implications and costs for the patient, the public and the economy at large. The single most important risk factor for hypoglycaemia is previous hypoglycaemia. Prevention depends on appropriate education regarding diabetes management and selfcare, self-monitoring of blood glucose, awareness of factors that may precipitate hypoglycaemia, and an individualized approach to therapy and glycaemic control targets. The purpose of this review is to increase understanding of the impact and consequences of hypoglycaemia, in particular that associated with sulphonylurea therapy, and to highlight areas requiring more attention in order to improve the overall management of people with type 2 diabetes.

Determining in-patient diabetes treatment satisfaction in the UK--the DIPSat study

AIMS

To measure in-patient diabetes treatment satisfaction and its relationship to in-patient diabetes care.

METHODS

In a cross-sectional study, diabetes in-patient specialist nurses at 58 UK hospitals asked insulin-treated in-patients with diabetes to complete the recently updated Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for In-patients and a general questionnaire; 1319 in-patients completed these questionnaires.

RESULTS

Satisfaction with the general diabetes treatment items in the Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for In-patients was high, but there were high levels of extreme dissatisfaction with meal choices, meal quality and lack of similarity of hospital meals to normal domestic choices--23% would never or rarely have made similar meal choices at home. Hyperglycaemia or hypoglycaemia was reported for much of the in-patient stay (20% and 7%, respectively) and 26% reported at least one severe hypoglycaemic episode; these groups had lower satisfaction with the timing of medication in relation to meals (P < 0.003). More frequent in-patient hyperglycaemia or hypoglycaemia were associated with significantly poorer overall satisfaction scores and negative well-being scores (both P < 0.0001). Previous experience of a multiple daily insulin injection regimen was associated with more dissatisfaction than other regimens (P < 0.01). Multiple regression models explained 36% of variability in overall treatment satisfaction, with most (22.4%) accounted for by satisfaction with time spent with a diabetes in-patient specialist nurse (P < 0.0001). Self-administration of insulin was independently associated with higher treatment satisfaction (P < 0.006) in this model.

CONCLUSIONS

The DIPSat programme describes the complex relationships between diabetes in-patient treatment satisfaction and in-patient diabetes care.

Human papillomavirus related head and neck cancer survival: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (OPSCCs) are reported to have improved prognosis and survival in comparison to other head and neck squamous cell cancers (HNSCCs). This systematic review and meta-analysis examines survival differences in HPV-positive HNSCC and OPSCC subtypes including tonsillar carcinoma in studies not previously investigated. Four electronic databases were searched from their inception till April 2011. A random effects meta-analysis was used to pool study estimates evaluating disease-specific (death from HNSCC), overall (all-cause mortality), progression-free and disease-free (recurrence free) survival outcomes in HPV-positive vs. HPV-negative HNSCCs. All statistical tests were two-sided. Forty-two studies were included. Patients with HPV-positive HNSCC had a 54% better overall survival compared to HPV-negative patients HR 0.46 (95% CI 0.37-0.57); the pooled HR for tonsillar cancer and OPSCC was 0.50 (95% CI 0.33-0.77) and HR 0.47 (95% CI 0.35-0.62) respectively. The pooled HR for disease specific survival was 0.28 (95% CI 0.19-0.40); similar effect sizes were found irrespective of the adjustment for confounders, HPV detection methods or study location. Both progression-free survival and disease-free survival were significantly improved in HPV-positive HNSCCs. HPV-positive HNSCCs and OPSCCs patients have a significantly lower disease specific mortality and are less likely to experience progression or recurrence of their cancer than HPV-negative patients; findings which have connotations for treatment selection in these patients.

SU-E-I-67: Multi-Shot RESOLVE Compared to Single-Shot EPI Diffusion- Weighted MR Imaging Acquisition Scheme

PURPOSE

The purpose of this project was to configure the parameters for optimal comparison of image quality differences between the prototype imaging technique, read-out-segmented EPI multi-shot (RESOLVE) and the clinically used single-shot EPI (SS-EPI) MRI sequence for Diffusion Weighted Imaging (DWI) in a saline phantom, followed by a normal rat brain.

METHODS

Saline phantom (4.2 × 4.2 cm² ) and a rat brain were imaged on the 1.5T ESPREE (Siemens, Germany) MRI magnet using a wrist coil. Both the SS-EPI and RESOLVE DWI were optimized with equal imaging parameters such as slice thickness/slice gap = 3.0/0 mm, field of view = 210 mm, phase resolution = 100%, and diffusion b values = 0, 600 s/mm² while other parameters were given similar settings such as the base resolution, which had to be interpolated for the SS-EPI to 96i to match the RESOLVE as it was unable to be set at 192. Image quality was compared in terms of signal intensity, distortion, % ghosting and Apparent Diffusion Co-efficient (ADC) measurements from each sequence.

RESULTS

A marked enhancement of overall image quality with superior detail was observed in each of the scans from the RESOLVE sequence when compared to the SS-EPI. Comparing the efficiency of both sequences in terms of image quality, RESOLVE demonstrated a better stable image with minimal distortion and ghosting. The phantom dimensions obtained from RESOLVE images matched the actual dimensions perfectly. RESOLVE images had signal intensities significantly higher than (2.4×) the SS-EPI images (p=0.0008) and ∼0.6 % times less ghosting compared to SS-EPI (p=0.82) which also exhibited distortion with reduced phantom dimensions (4.05 × 3.28 cm) from original. The ADC values computed were almost identical to be (p=0.32) from SS-EPI (2.21mm² /sec) and RESOLVE (2.19mm² /sec).

CONCLUSIONS

The RESOLVE sequence has significantly superior image quality compared to SS-EPI at 1.5 T with reasonable scan times. DWI with RESLOVE acquisition scheme can be highly beneficial in obtaining distortion free images in routine clinical studies to characterize tumors and other pathological mechanisms with much greater detail than the current clinically used SS-EPI.

A study of brain and serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor protein in Wistar and Wistar-Kyoto rat strains after electroconvulsive stimulus

BACKGROUND

Serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) protein has been related to depression and less consistently to its treatments in human studies. However, animal studies have failed to demonstrate a clear link between BDNF protein in serum and brain tissue.

METHODS

Serum and brain tissue levels of BDNF protein were measured with ELISA in the Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) and Wistar strains at 1 and 7 days after 5 daily electroconvulsive stimulus sessions or sham treatments.

RESULTS

The WKY strain showed lower baseline serum BDNF protein relative to Wistar controls. After 5 electroconvulsive stimuli, BDNF protein density was significantly increased in hippocampus and cortical regions, but not in the cerebellum or in serum. A clear correlation between brain and serum BDNF was not observed in either strain or treatment group.

DISCUSSION

Despite lower baseline serum BDNF protein in the WKY strain, a lack of change in serum BDNF after electroconvulsive stimulus and a lack of correlation between brain and serum BDNF protein calls into question the relevance of serum BDNF as a measure of depression and treatment response.

Investigations into the molecular-level adhesion characteristics of hydroxyapatite-coated and anodized titanium surfaces using the molecular orbital approach

It has been established that the adhesion of cells on to the surfaces of orthopaedic implants depends on the ability of the surfaces to accommodate protein molecules. Hydroxyapatite coating and anodizing are the most common methods to make TiAl6V4 implants (Ti) more biocompatible. In this paper Spartan 02, a molecular dynamics software, is used to analyze and predict the bonding characteristics of Extra cellular matrix protein sequence arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) on a Hyrdoxyapatite (HA) coated Ti and an anodized Ti surface based on the property of its constituent atoms, their polarity (net electrostatic charge, Qr), the energies of the molecular orbital E_HOMO (energy of the highest occupied molecular orbital), and E_LUMO (energy of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital). The results show favourable criterion for formation of bonding between the HOMO orbital of the HA coated and anodized surfaces and LUMO orbital of the glycine strand from the RGD unit. The mechanism of bonding of individual atoms to form primary calcium oxide compounds is likely only in the case of HA coated surfaces . The surface texture of the anodized Ti with inherent porosities appear more responsible for the adsorption of proteins on to them by mechanical interlocking than the formation of any intermediate calcium oxide compounds.