Still vacant after all these years – Evaluating the efficiency of property-led urban regeneration

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.Peer reviewedPostprin

STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY

Determinants of merger and acquisition activity in the food industry are analyzed using logit regression analysis. Factors affecting the food processing, food retailing and food service sectors are considered. Results indicate merger and acquisition activity in all three sectors are significantly influenced by antitrust activity, profitability and real gross domestic product.Industrial Organization,

Large-scale structure of brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) populations in England: effects on rodenticide resistance

The brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) is a relatively recent (<300 years) addition to the British fauna, but by association with negative impacts on public health, animal health and agriculture, it is regarded as one of the most important vertebrate pest species. Anticoagulant rodenticides were introduced for brown rat control in the 1950s and are widely used for rat control in the UK, but long-standing resistance has been linked to control failures in some regions. One thus far ignored aspect of resistance biology is the population structure of the brown rat. This paper investigates the role population structure has on the development of anticoagulant resistance. Using mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA, we examined 186 individuals (from 15 counties in England and one location in Wales near the Wales–England border) to investigate the population structure of rural brown rat populations. We also examined individual rats for variations of the VKORC1 gene previously associated with resistance to anticoagulant rodenticides. We show that the populations were structured to some degree, but that this was only apparent in the microsatellite data and not the mtDNA data. We discuss various reasons why this is the case. We show that the population as a whole appears not to be at equilibrium. The relative lack of diversity in the mtDNA sequences examined can be explained by founder effects and a subsequent spatial expansion of a species introduced to the UK relatively recently. We found there was a geographical distribution of resistance mutations, and relatively low rate of gene flow between populations, which has implications for the development and management of anticoagulant resistance

Economic impact of the Florida cultured hard clam industry

(29pp.

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High-throughput continuous dielectrophoretic separation of neural stem cells.

We created an integrated microfluidic cell separation system that incorporates hydrophoresis and dielectrophoresis modules to facilitate high-throughput continuous cell separation. The hydrophoresis module consists of a serpentine channel with ridges and trenches to generate a diverging fluid flow that focuses cells into two streams along the channel edges. The dielectrophoresis module is composed of a chevron-shaped electrode array. Separation in the dielectrophoresis module is driven by inherent cell electrophysiological properties and does not require cell-type-specific labels. The chevron shape of the electrode array couples with fluid flow in the channel to enable continuous sorting of cells to increase throughput. We tested the new system with mouse neural stem cells since their electrophysiological properties reflect their differentiation capacity (e.g., whether they will differentiate into astrocytes or neurons). The goal of our experiments was to enrich astrocyte-biased cells. Sorting parameters were optimized for each batch of neural stem cells to ensure effective and consistent separations. The continuous sorting design of the device significantly improved sorting throughput and reproducibility. Sorting yielded two cell fractions, and we found that astrocyte-biased cells were enriched in one fraction and depleted from the other. This is an advantage of the new continuous sorting device over traditional dielectrophoresis-based sorting platforms that target a subset of cells for enrichment but do not provide a corresponding depleted population. The new microfluidic dielectrophoresis cell separation system improves label-free cell sorting by increasing throughput and delivering enriched and depleted cell subpopulations in a single sort

Surgical left atrial appendage occlusion: evaluation of a novel device with magnetic resonance imaging

Objective: Management of the left atrial appendage (LAA) is considered an important adjunct to ablation in cardiac surgical patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). However, current surgical techniques, both cut-and-sew and stapling, have been associated with incomplete LAA occlusion and complications. Using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we studied the safety and effectiveness of a new device for LAA occlusion in a primate model. Methods: Seven adult baboons underwent off-pump placement of an LAA clip (AtriCure Inc., Westchester, Ohio). LAA occlusion was confirmed intraoperatively by direct incision. All animals had MRI before and after clip placement to assess LAA perfusion, architecture, and overall cardiac function. Pathologic and histological studies were performed at 7, 30 and 180 days. Results: Clip placement was successful in all (n=7) without any clip related complications. Complete LAA occlusion was demonstrated intraoperatively in all subjects. LAA occlusion was confirmed on pre-sacrifice MRI, and left and right ventricular function were unchanged from preoperative studies; however, clip placement caused small reductions in left ventricular end-diastolic, end-systolic, and stroke volumes. At sacrifice, direct inspection confirmed stable location, persistent LAA exclusion, tissue in-growth and homogenous epithelialization without damage to adjacent structures. Histological analysis revealed a regular in-growth pattern in all studied specimens. Conclusion: We demonstrated a safe, straightforward, persistent and effective method for LAA occlusion with this new LAA clip. MRI effectively demonstrated LAA occlusion and only minor changes in left ventricular volume

Analysis of Fascin-1 in Relation to Gleason Risk Classification and Nuclear ETS-Related Gene Status of Human Prostate Carcinomas:An Immunohistochemical Study of Clinically Annotated Tumours From the Wales Cancer Bank

Although prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing can identify early-stage prostate cancers, additional biomarkers are needed for risk stratification. In one study, high levels of the actin-bundling protein, fascin-1, were correlated with lethal-phase, hormone-refractory prostate cancer. Analyses of independent samples are needed to establish the value of fascin-1 as a possible biomarker. We examined fascin-1 by immunohistochemistry in tumour specimens from the Wales Cancer Bank in comparison with nuclear-located ETS-related gene (ERG), an emerging marker for aggressive prostate cancer. Fascin-1 was elevated in focal areas of a minority of tumours, yet fascin-1-positivity did not differentiate tumours of low-, intermediate-, or high-risk Gleason scores and did not correlate with PSA status or biochemical relapse after surgery. Stromal fascin-1 correlated with high Gleason score. Nuclear ERG was upregulated in tumours but not in stroma. The complexities of fascin-1 status indicate that fascin-1 is unlikely to provide a suitable biomarker for prediction of aggressive prostate cancer

Integrated chronostratigraphy of Proterozoic-Cambrian boundary beds in the western Anabar region, northern Siberia

Carbonate-rich sedimentary rocks of the western Anabar region, northern Siberia, preserve an exceptional record of evolutionary and biogeochemical events near the Proterozoic/Cambrian boundary. Sedimentologically, the boundary succession can be divided into three sequences representing successive episodes of late transgressive to early highstand deposition; four parasequences are recognized in the sequence corresponding lithostratigraphically to the Manykai Formation. Small shelly fossils are abundant and include many taxa that also occur in standard sections of southeastern Siberia. Despite this coincidence of faunal elements, biostratigraphic correlations between the two regions have been controversial because numerous species that first appear at or immediately above the basal Tommotian boundary in southeastern sections have first appearances scattered through more than thirty metres of section in the western Anabar. Carbon- and Sr-isotopic data on petrographically and geochemically screened samples collected at one- to two-metre intervals in a section along the Kotuikan River, favour correlation of the Staraya Reckha Formation and most of the overlying Manykai Formation with sub-Tommotian carbonates in southeastern Siberia. In contrast, isotopic data suggest that the uppermost Manykai Formation and the basal 26 m of the unconformably overlying Medvezhya Formation may have no equivalent in the southeast; they appear to provide a sedimentary and palaeontological record of an evolutionarily significant time interval represented in southeastern Siberia only by the sub-Tommotian unconformity. Correlations with radiometrically dated horizons in the Olenek and Kharaulakh regions of northern Siberia suggest that this interval lasted approximately three to six million years, during which essentially all 'basal Tommotian' small shelly fossils evolved