Oxygen therapy in premature low birth weight infants is associated with capillary loss and increases in blood pressure: a pilot study

Low birth weight (LBW) and premature birth are known risk factors for future cardiovascular disease and in particular essential hypertension (EH). Capillary rarefaction (CR) is an established hallmark of EH and is known to occur in individuals with a history of LBW. We previously reported that LBW infants do not have CR at birth but rather increased capillary density (CD). We hypothesized that LBW infants undergo a process of accelerated CR in early life, triggered in part by oxygen therapy. We studied 26 LBW infants, of whom 10 infants received oxygen therapy, and compared them to 14 normal birth weight (NBW) infants. We measured CD at 1, 5 and 10 days after birth and again after 40 weeks adjusted gestational age equivalent to birth at full term. We confirmed that LBW infants had higher CD at birth compared to NBW infants and found that significant structural CR occurred at term age in LBW infants who had received oxygen therapy (mean difference −22 capillaries/field, p = 0.007) and in those who did not receive oxygen therapy (mean difference −29 capillaries/field, p < 0.001) compared to baseline at birth. Both LBW groups showed a significant rise in BP at 40 weeks adjusted term age and the rise in systolic (mean difference 24 mm Hg, p < 0.0001) and diastolic BP (mean difference 14 mm Hg, p < 0.001) was more pronounced in the oxygen treated group compared to the nonoxygen group (mean difference 14 mm Hg, p = 0.043 and mean difference = 9 mm Hg p = 0.056 respectively). In conclusion, oxygen therapy in premature LBW infants may induce significant increases in their BP in early life

Similarity solutions for unsteady shear-stress-driven flow of Newtonian and power-law fluids : slender rivulets and dry patches

Unsteady flow of a thin film of a Newtonian fluid or a non-Newtonian power-law fluid with power-law index N driven by a constant shear stress applied at the free surface, on a plane inclined at an angle α to the horizontal, is considered. Unsteady similarity solutions representing flow of slender rivulets and flow around slender dry patches are obtained. Specifically, solutions are obtained for converging sessile rivulets (0 < α < π/2) and converging dry patches in a pendent film (π/2 < α < π), as well as for diverging pendent rivulets and diverging dry patches in a sessile film. These solutions predict that at any time t, the rivulet and dry patch widen or narrow according to |x|3/2, and the film thickens or thins according to |x|, where x denotes distance down the plane, and that at any station x, the rivulet and dry patch widen or narrow like |t|−1, and the film thickens or thins like |t|−1, independent of N

Factors influencing research engagement: research interest, confidence and experience in an Australian speech-language pathology workforce

Background: Recent initiatives within an Australia public healthcare service have seen a focus on increasing the research capacity of their workforce. One of the key initiatives involves encouraging clinicians to be research generators rather than solely research consumers. As a result, baseline data of current research capacity are essential to determine whether initiatives encouraging clinicians to undertake research have been effective. Speech pathologists have previously been shown to be interested in conducting research within their clinical role; therefore they are well positioned to benefit from such initiatives. The present study examined the current research interest, confidence and experience of speech language pathologists (SLPs) in a public healthcare workforce, as well as factors that predicted clinician research engagement

Measurements of neutrino oscillation in appearance and disappearance channels by the T2K experiment with 6.6 x 10(20) protons on target

111 pages, 45 figures, submitted to Physical Review D. Minor revisions to text following referee comments111 pages, 45 figures, submitted to Physical Review D. Minor revisions to text following referee comments111 pages, 45 figures, submitted to Physical Review D. Minor revisions to text following referee commentsWe thank the J-PARC staff for superb accelerator performance and the CERN NA61/SHINE Collaboration for providing valuable particle production data. We acknowledge the support of MEXT, Japan; NSERC, NRC, and CFI, Canada; CEA and CNRS/IN2P3, France; DFG, Germany; INFN, Italy; National Science Centre (NCN), Poland; RSF, RFBR and MES, Russia; MINECO and ERDF funds, Spain; SNSF and SER, Switzerland; STFC, UK; and the U. S. Deparment of Energy, USA. We also thank CERN for the UA1/NOMAD magnet, DESY for the HERA-B magnet mover system, NII for SINET4, the WestGrid and SciNet consortia in Compute Canada, GridPP, UK, and the Emerald High Performance Computing facility in the Centre for Innovation, UK. In addition, participation of individual researchers and institutions has been further supported by funds from ERC (FP7), EU; JSPS, Japan; Royal Society, UK; and DOE Early Career program, USA

Integration of decision support systems to improve decision support performance

Decision support system (DSS) is a well-established research and development area. Traditional isolated, stand-alone DSS has been recently facing new challenges. In order to improve the performance of DSS to meet the challenges, research has been actively carried out to develop integrated decision support systems (IDSS). This paper reviews the current research efforts with regard to the development of IDSS. The focus of the paper is on the integration aspect for IDSS through multiple perspectives, and the technologies that support this integration. More than 100 papers and software systems are discussed. Current research efforts and the development status of IDSS are explained, compared and classified. In addition, future trends and challenges in integration are outlined. The paper concludes that by addressing integration, better support will be provided to decision makers, with the expectation of both better decisions and improved decision making processes

Measurement of the electron neutrino charged-current interaction rate on water with the T2K ND280 pi(0) detector

10 pages, 6 figures, Submitted to PRDhttp://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.91.112010© 2015 American Physical Society11 pages, 6 figures, as accepted to PRD11 pages, 6 figures, as accepted to PRD11 pages, 6 figures, as accepted to PR

Food Preference Patterns in a UK Twin Cohort

Food liking-disliking patterns may strongly influence food choices and health. Here we assess: (1) whether food preference patterns are genetic/environmentally driven; and (2) the relationship between metabolomics profiles and food preference patterns in a large population of twins. 2,107 individuals from TwinsUK completed an online food and lifestyle preference questionnaire. Principle components analysis was undertaken to identify patterns of food liking-disliking. Heritability estimates for each liking pattern were obtained by structural equation modeling. The correlation between blood metabolomics profiles (280 metabolites) and each food liking pattern was assessed in a subset of 1,491 individuals and replicated in an independent subset of monozygotic twin pairs discordant for the liking pattern (65 to 88 pairs). Results from both analyses were meta-analyzed. Four major food-liking patterns were identified (Fruit and Vegetable, Distinctive Tastes, Sweet and High Carbohydrate, and Meat) accounting for 26% of the total variance. All patterns were moderately heritable (Fruit and Vegetable, h 2[95% CI]: 0.36 [0.28; 0.44]; Distinctive Tastes: 0.58 [0.52; 0.64]; Sweet and High Carbohydrate: 0.52 [0.45, 0.59] and Meat: 0.44 [0.35; 0.51]), indicating genetic factors influence food liking-disliking. Overall, we identified 14 significant metabolite associations (Bonferroni p &lt; 4.5 × 10-5) with Distinctive Tastes (8 metabolites), Sweet and High Carbohydrate (3 metabolites), and Meat (3 metabolites). Food preferences follow patterns based on similar taste and nutrient characteristics and these groupings are strongly determined by genetics. Food preferences that are strongly genetically determined (h 2 ≥ 0.40), such as for meat and distinctive-tasting foods, may influence intakes more substantially, as demonstrated by the metabolomic associations identified here

Prevalence of challenging behaviour in adults with intellectual disabilities, correlates, and association with mental health

Purpose of Review To summarise findings about the prevalence and correlates of challenging behaviour in adults with intellectual disabilities from robust research. We also describe findings on the interplay between challenging behaviour and mental health. Recent Findings Recent studies that have utilised psychometrically evaluated tools, with clear operational definitions, show similar findings on the prevalence of challenging behaviour of about 1 in every 5–6 adults known to services. We describe common correlates identified such as communication impairments, severity of intellectual disability, and living in institutional settings or congregate care. We also describe the complex and multifaceted relationship between challenging behaviour and mental health. Summary Based on recent studies, we propose a revised framework model to help understand challenging behaviour. We propose a number of areas where more research is required, particularly the development of risk tools clinicians can utilise in practice

Transient anhedonia phenotype and altered circadian timing of behaviour during night-time dim light exposure in Per3(-/-) mice, but not wildtype mice.

Industrialisation greatly increased human night-time exposure to artificial light, which in animal models is a known cause of depressive phenotypes. Whilst many of these phenotypes are 'direct' effects of light on affect, an 'indirect' pathway via altered sleep-wake timing has been suggested. We have previously shown that the Period3 gene, which forms part of the biological clock, is associated with altered sleep-wake patterns in response to light. Here, we show that both wild-type and Per3(-/-) mice showed elevated levels of circulating corticosterone and increased hippocampal Bdnf expression after 3 weeks of exposure to dim light at night, but only mice deficient for the PERIOD3 protein (Per3(-/-)) exhibited a transient anhedonia-like phenotype, observed as reduced sucrose preference, in weeks 2-3 of dim light at night, whereas WT mice did not. Per3(-/-) mice also exhibited a significantly smaller delay in behavioural timing than WT mice during weeks 1, 2 and 4 of dim light at night exposure. When treated with imipramine, neither Per3(-/-) nor WT mice exhibited an anhedonia-like phenotype, and neither genotypes exhibited a delay in behavioural timing in responses to dLAN. While the association between both Per3(-/-) phenotypes remains unclear, both are alleviated by imipramine treatment during dim night-time light

The role of horizontal resolution in simulating drivers of the global hydrological cycle

The role of atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) horizontal resolution in representing the global energy budget and hydrological cycle is assessed, with the aim of improving the understanding of model uncertainties in simulating the hydrological cycle. We use two AGCMs from the UK Met Office Hadley Centre: HadGEM1-A at resolutions ranging from 270 to 60 km, and HadGEM3-A ranging from 135 to 25 km. The models exhibit a stable hydrological cycle, although too intense compared to reanalyses and observations. This over-intensity is explained by excess surface shortwave radiation, a common error in general circulation models (GCMs). This result is insensitive to resolution. However, as resolution is increased, precipitation decreases over the ocean and increases over the land. This is associated with an increase in atmospheric moisture transport from ocean to land, which changes the partitioning of moisture fluxes that contribute to precipitation over land from less local to more non-local moisture sources. The results start to converge at 60-km resolution, which underlines the excessive reliance of the mean hydrological cycle on physical parametrization (local unresolved processes) versus model dynamics (large-scale resolved processes) in coarser HadGEM1 and HadGEM3 GCMs. This finding may be valid for other GCMs, showing the necessity to analyze other chains of GCMs that may become available in the future with such a range of horizontal resolutions. Our finding supports the hypothesis that heterogeneity in model parametrization is one of the underlying causes of model disagreement in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) exercises