Absence of Nanoparticle-Induced Drought Tolerance in Nutrient Sufficient Wheat Seedlings

Strategies to reduce crop losses due to drought are needed as climate variability affects agricultural productivity. Wheat (Triticum aestivum var. Juniper) growth in a nutrient-sufficient, solid growth matrix containing varied doses of CuO, ZnO, and SiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) was used to evaluate NP mitigation of drought stress. NP amendments were at fertilizer levels, with maxima of 30 Cu, 20 Zn, and 200 Si (mg metal/kg matrix). Seeds of this drought-tolerant cultivar were inoculated with Pseudomonas chlororaphis O6 (PcO6) to provide a protective root microbiome. An 8 day drought imposed on 14 day-old wheat seedlings decreased shoot and root mass, shoot water content, and the quantum yield of photosystem II when compared to watered plants. PcO6 root colonization was not impaired by drought or NPs. A dose-dependent increase in the Cu, Zn, and Si from the NPs was observed from analysis of the rhizosphere solution, and this process was not affected by drought. Consequently, fertilizer concentrations of the NPs did not further improve drought tolerance in wheat seedlings under the growth conditions of adequate mineral nutrition and the presence of a beneficial microbiome. These findings suggest that potential NP benefits in promoting plant drought tolerance occur only under certain environmental conditions.

Effects of freshwater sponge Ephydatia fluviatilis on conjugative transfer of antimicrobial resistance in Enterococcus faecalis strains in aquatic environments

Filter feeding is a biotic process that brings waterborne bacteria in close contact with each other and may thus support the horizontal transfer of their antimicrobial resistance genes. This laboratory study investigated whether the freshwater sponge Ephydatia fluviatilis supported the transfer of vancomycin resistance between two Enterococcus faecalis strains that we previously demonstrated to exhibit pheromone responsive plasmid conjugation. Microcosm experiments exposed live and dead colonies of laboratory-grown sponges to a vancomycin-resistant donor strain and a rifampicin-resistant recipient strain of Ent. faecalis. Enterococci with both resistance phenotypes were detected on double selection plates. In comparison to controls, abundance of these presumed transconjugants increased significantly in water from sponge microcosms. Homogenized suspensions of sponge cells also yielded presumed transconjugants; however, there was no significant difference between samples from live or dead sponges. Fluorescent in situ hybridization analysis of the sponge cell matrix using species-specific probes revealed the presence of enterococci clusters with cells adjacent to each other. The results demonstrated that sponge colonies can support the horizontal transfer of antimicrobial resistance although the mechanism underlying this process, such as binding of the bacteria to the sponge collagen matrix, has yet to be fully elucidated.

An economic analysis of ransomware and its welfare consequences

We present in this work an economic analysis of ransomware, a relatively new form of cyber-enabled extortion. We look at how the illegal gains of the criminals will depend on the strategies they use, examining uniform pricing and price discrimination. We also explore the welfare costs to society of such strategies. In addition, we present the results of a pilot survey which demonstrate proof of concept in evaluating the costs of ransomware attacks. We discuss at each stage whether the different strategies we analyse have been encountered already in existing malware, and the likelihood of them being implemented in the future. We hope this work will provide some useful insights for predicting how ransomware may evolve in the future.

Development of Rectodispersible Tablets and Granulate Capsules for the Treatment of Serious Neonatal Sepsis in Developing Countries

Current pediatric antibiotic therapies often use oral and parenteral routes of administration. Neither are suitable for treating very sick neonates who cannot take oral medication and may be several hours away from hospital in developing countries. Here, we report on the development of rectal forms of ceftriaxone, a third-generation cephalosporin. Rectodispersible tablets and capsules were developed and successfully passed 6-month accelerated stability tests. Rabbit bioavailability showed plasma concentrations above the minimal inhibitory concentrations for 3 formulations of rectodispersible tablets and 2 formulations of hard capsules. Clinical batches are currently being prepared for human evaluation with the prospect of offering therapeutic alternatives for treating critically ill neonates. This proof of concept for efficient rectal delivery of antibiotics could help the development of other rectal antibiotic treatments and increase options for noninvasive drug development for pediatric patients.

The outcome of brittle type 1 diabetes--a 20 year study

AIMS

To determine the long-term (20 years from presentation) outcome of brittle type 1 diabetes characterized by recurrent episodes of ketoacidosis (DKA).

METHODS

The cohort studied was a group of brittle diabetic patients from various parts of UK originally identified between 1979 and 1985. Patients were traced, where possible, via their diabetic clinics and/or general practitioners. Data on survival or otherwise were obtained from hospital case notes and information from diabetes care team members. For survivors, clinical and demographic information obtained included complication status and whether they still had brittle characteristics. They were also compared with a matched case-control group of type 1 patients with no history of brittle behaviour.

RESULTS

The original cohort comprised 33 patients- all female and mean ± SD, aged 18 ± 5 years and diabetes duration 8 ± 4 years. Thirteen were not traceable and 10 of the remaining 20 (50%) had died during the mean 22 years of follow-up. Deaths occurred evenly throughout the period, and causes were chronic renal failure (3), DKA (3), hypoglycaemia (2), subarachnoid haemorrhage (1) and uncertain (1). Age at death ranged from 27 to 45 years. Of the 10 survivors, none remained brittle, but they had a substantial burden of complications. Compared with the non-brittle control group, there was a significant excess of nephropathy and autonomic neuropathy.

CONCLUSION

We conclude that brittle diabetes characterized by recurrent DKA has high long-term outcome mortality. These deaths were premature and almost all diabetes related. Those who survived had resolution of brittleness, but suffered a significant complication burden.

Artesunate and Dihydroartemisinin (DHA): Unusual Decomposition Products Formed under Mild Conditions and Comments on the Fitness of DHA as an Antimalarial Drug

Artesunate drug substance, for which a rectal capsule formulation is under development for the treatment of severe malaria, when heated at 100 degrees C for 39 h gives beta-artesunate, artesunate dimers, 9,10-anhydrodihydroartemisinin (glycal), a DHA beta-formate ester, and smaller amounts of other products that arise via intermediate formation of dihydroartemisinin (DHA) and subsequent thermal degradation. Solid DHA at 100 degrees C provides an epimeric mixture of a known peroxyhemiacetal, arising via ring opening to a hydroperoxide and re-closure, smaller amounts of a 3:1 mixture of epimers of a known tricarbonyl compound, and a single epimer of a new dicarbonyl compound. The latter arises via homolysis of the peroxide and an ensuing cascade of alpha-cleavage reactions which leads to loss of formic acid incorporating the C10 carbonyl group of DHA exposed by this 'unzipping' cascade. The tricarbonyl compound that arises via peroxide homolysis and extrusion of formic acid from a penultimate hydroxyformate ester incorporating C12 of the original DHA, is epimeric at the exocyclic 1''-aldehyde, and not in the cyclohexanone moiety. It is converted into the dicarbonyl compound by peroxide-induced deformylation. The dicarbonyl compound is not formed during anhydrous ferrous bromide mediated decomposition of DHA at room temperature, which provides the 1''-R epimer of the tricarbonyl compound as the dominant product; this equilibrates at room temperature to the 3:1 mixture of epimers of the tricarbonyl compound obtained from thermolysis. Each of artesunate and DHA decomposes readily under aqueous acidic conditions to provide significant amounts of the peroxyhemiacetal, which, like DHA, decomposes to the inert end product 2-deoxyartemisinin under acidic or basic conditions. DHA and the peroxyhemiacetal are the principal degradants in aged rectal capsule formulations of artesunate. TGA analysis and thermal degradation of DHA reveals a thermal lability which would pose a problem not only in relation to ICH stability testing guidelines, but in the use of DHA in fixed formulations currently under development. This thermolability coupled with the poor physicochemical properties and relative oral bioavailability of DHA suggests that it is inferior to artesunate in application as an antimalarial drug.

Differential expression of syndecans and glypicans in chronically inflamed synovium

BACKGROUND

Membrane-bound heparan sulphate proteoglycans (HSPGs) act as co-receptors and presenters of cytokines and are involved in cell-matrix and cell-cell adhesion.

AIM

To investigate which HSPGs are expressed in knee joint synovia from patients with different forms of arthritis and normal individuals.

METHODS

Synovial samples were obtained from patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (n = 8), longstanding rheumatoid arthritis (n = 13), psoriatic arthritis (n = 7), osteoarthritis (n = 6) and normal joints (n = 12). Expression of syndecan-1, -2, -3 and -4 and glypican-1, -3 and -4 was analysed by immunohistochemistry and dual label immunofluorescence.

RESULTS

The expression of HSPGs in chronically inflamed synovium exhibited a differential distribution. Syndecan-1 was present in the mononuclear infiltrates of synovia from patients with rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis where it was expressed by plasma cells. Syndecan-2 was present mainly in blood vessels where it occurred on endothelial cells, pericytes and smooth muscle cells. Syndecan-3 stained intensely in endothelial cells but also occurred in sublining macrophages and the lining layer. Glypican-4 occurred in the lining layer and blood vessels. Increased expression of these HSPGs was apparent in rheumatoid and psoriatic compared to osteoarthritic and normal synovia. Little or no staining for syndecan-4, glypican-1 and glypican-3 was seen in all samples.

DISCUSSION

Selected HSPGs, such as syndecan-1, -2 and -3 and glypican-4, could play a part in the pathophysiology of arthritis, such as the migration and retention of leukocytes and angiogenesis in the chronically inflamed synovium.

The Design of Drivers' CABS

The paper examines the operational role of the driver and the environmental requirements if he is to fulfil this role successfully. It then looks at the state-of-the-art, with particular reference to Great Britain, in the fields of structure, visibility, environment, controls and instrumentation, and concludes by suggesting the basic characteristics of an optimum cab layout.

Review article: Oral, modified-release mesalazine formulations--proprietary versus generic

Products containing mesalazine have been used in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease for many years. Many of the oral, modified-release products are reaching the point of patent expiration, and it is expected that several new 'generic' versions will be developed. As mesalazine acts topically, the drug needs to be available at the site of inflammation to be effective. For this reason, the currently available products have been developed with individual formulations so that physicians have a choice when matching the different release profiles to the site and extent of disease. As such, the current guidelines state that oral, delayed-release mesalazine formulations are not interchangeable and should be prescribed by their proprietary (brand) name. The standard regulatory assessment process for generic or 'copy' products, using systemic bioequivalence data, does not appear to be sufficient when evaluating topically acting, oral, modified-release products. We therefore recommend that the regulatory bodies should require that new, oral mesalazine products should be assessed by a combination of dissolution, bioequivalence and (a minimum of one) adequately powered, comparative trial to determine therapeutic equivalence. Of most importance here is that the assessment of new modified-release products is sufficiently rigorous to allow patients and physicians to be confident in their use.

A review of Clinical Terms Version 3 (Read Codes) for speech and language record keeping

There may be bugs, there may be viruses, but computers are here to stay. Access to computers may vary greatly from 'seen one once' to daily usage. However, with an increasing dependence on electronic records, even the most remote therapist will ultimately be faced with computerization. To make this process as painless as possible some commonality in approach is logical. A common vocabulary, for instance, would ensure that dysphasia in Cape Town is the same as dysphasia in Dundee. This is great in theory but is Clinical Terms Version 3 (Read Codes) (CTV3) sufficient to encode records in clinical practice? It is to this end that the Speech and Language Therapy Department at Burton Hospital took part in a multidisciplinary project with the NHS Centre for Coding and Classification (NHS CCC). (NHS CCC became the NHS Information Authority, Coding and Classification on 1 April 1999.) Their CTV3 offers a standardized clinical terminology. An audit of patient case-notes found that 78% of the terms used by therapists were available in CTV3. Although there are many issues raised concerning electronic patient records, CTV3 presented as a potential vocabulary for recording patient information in this acute setting.

Interpreting the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems: subscales based on an interpersonal theory model

There remains considerable debate about a theoretically interpretable subscale structure for the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP). In this paper items are extracted from the IIP to form a 40-item shortened version (the IIP-40) comprising eight subscales, each of five items, which conform to the eight octant positions within Birtchnell's interpersonal octagon: a version of interpersonal theory. The inter-item reliability of the subscale structure is found to be acceptable when tested against a sample of 150 pre-assessment for psychotherapy IIP completions within the Centre for the Study of Psychotherapy (CSP), University of Kent. The face validity is established through acceptable inter-rater reliability scores in an experiment using blind raters. Subscale scores are shown for patients within CSP and are found to be significantly different between genders in the octant positions of Upper Close and Neutral Distant. High scores in the octant position of Upper Distant is found to be a significant predictor of therapeutic drop-out. The results for gender and therapeutic engagement are consistent with other published work in the interpersonal theory field.

Why don't more young men in the UK become fathers?

OBJECTIVE

This paper aims to show that, compared with young women, there is an apparent discrepancy in the reported sexual behaviour of young men and records of their fatherhood.

DESIGN

The data come from four studies of the sexual behaviour of young people in various parts of Britain between 1960 and 1990 and from statistics published by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys.

MAIN RESULTS

More of the young men than the young women had been sexually active, and the men had had more sexual partners. Relatively few men under 20, however, are identified as fathers. In 1991 there were 52,396 live births to women under 20 years, but only 12,959 births were attributed to men under 20, and if all those to women under 20 for which the father was not identified are added to this, the total is still only 28,208--54% of the number of births to women of that age. Seven possible reasons for the discrepancy are discussed. Data suggest that the two most probable explanations are that there are different patterns of intercourse among young men and women and that the data obtained in surveys are to some extent inaccurate or biased.

CONCLUSIONS

Differing behaviours indicate a double standard for men and women. Imperfect information affects predictions about a potential heterosexual HIV epidemic.

Dying when you're old

This paper focuses on the deaths of older people and compares their circumstances and care with those of people dying at younger ages. Those dying when they are 85 years or more have greater needs and less support from relatives than people dying at younger ages. However, older people were not receiving more attention from general practitioners or from home nurses, even though those dying when they were 85 years or more were the least likely to be admitted to a hospital or hospice in the last year of their lives. The data add to the evidence from other studies that our health care services often fail to give appropriate and adequate care to older people.

Social class differences in health and care in the year before death

STUDY OBJECTIVE

The aim was to identify any social class differences in health and care in the year before death emerging from a wider study of life before death.

DESIGN AND SETTING

Data were collected at interviews, mainly of close relatives, with those who knew most about the people's lives in the year before they died. The sample was a random sample of adult (15 and over) deaths in 10 areas of England in 1987.

SUBJECTS

Information was obtained about 639 persons, 80% of the initial sample of 800 deaths.

MAIN RESULTS

While middle class people die at an older age, the symptoms and physical restrictions reported for middle class and working class people were similar, and middle class people were reported to have a better quality of life before death. More working class people were felt to be in financial need.

CONCLUSIONS

Money and class contribute to the quality of life before death as well as postponing death.