The sight of an adult brood parasite near the nest is an insufficient cue for a honeyguide host to reject foreign eggs.

Hosts of brood-parasitic birds typically evolve anti-parasitism defences, including mobbing of parasitic intruders at the nest and the ability to recognize and reject foreign eggs from their clutches. The Greater Honeyguide Indicator indicator is a virulent brood parasite that punctures host eggs and kills host young, and accordingly, a common host, the Little Bee-eater Merops pusillus frequently rejects entire clutches that have been parasitized. We predicted that given the high costs of accidentally rejecting an entire clutch, and that the experimental addition of a foreign egg is insufficient to induce this defence, Bee-eaters require the sight of an adult parasite near the nest as an additional cue for parasitism before they reject a clutch. We found that many Little Bee-eater parents mobbed Greater Honeyguide dummies while ignoring barbet control dummies, showing that they recognized them as a threat. Surprisingly, however, neither a dummy Honeyguide nor the presence of a foreign egg, either separately or in combination, was sufficient to stimulate egg rejection

G-quadruplex DNA motifs in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum and their potential as novel antimalarial drug targets

G-quadruplexes are DNA or RNA secondary structures that can be formed from guanine-rich nucleic acids. These four-stranded structures, composed of stacked quartets of guanine bases, can be highly stable and have been demonstrated to occur in vivo in the DNA of human cells and other systems, where they play important biological roles, influencing processes such as telomere maintenance, DNA replication and transcription, or, in the case of RNA G-quadruplexes, RNA translation and processing. We report for the first time that DNA G-quadruplexes can be detected in the nuclei of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which has one of the most A/T-biased genomes sequenced and therefore possesses few guanine-rich sequences with the potential to form G-quadruplexes. We show that despite this paucity of putative G-quadruplex-forming sequences, P. falciparum parasites are sensitive to several G-quadruplex-stabilizing drugs, including quarfloxin, which previously reached phase 2 clinical trials as an anticancer drug. Quarfloxin has a rapid initial rate of kill and is active against ring stages as well as replicative stages of intraerythrocytic development. We show that several G-quadruplex-stabilizing drugs, including quarfloxin, can suppress the transcription of a G-quadruplex-containing reporter gene in P. falciparum but that quarfloxin does not appear to disrupt the transcription of rRNAs, which was proposed as its mode of action in both human cells and trypanosomes. These data suggest that quarfloxin has potential for repositioning as an antimalarial with a novel mode of action. Furthermore, G-quadruplex biology in P. falciparum may present a target for development of other new antimalarial drugs

Arithmetically Cohen-Macaulay Bundles on complete intersection varieties of sufficiently high multidegree

Recently it has been proved that any arithmetically Cohen-Macaulay (ACM) bundle of rank two on a general, smooth hypersurface of degree at least three and dimension at least four is a sum of line bundles. When the dimension of the hypersurface is three, a similar result is true provided the degree of the hypersurface is at least six. We extend these results to complete intersection subvarieties by proving that any ACM bundle of rank two on a general, smooth complete intersection subvariety of sufficiently high multi-degree and dimension at least four splits. We also obtain partial results in the case of threefolds.Comment: 15 page

Ontologies, Mental Disorders and Prototypes

As it emerged from philosophical analyses and cognitive research, most concepts exhibit typicality effects, and resist to the efforts of defining them in terms of necessary and sufficient conditions. This holds also in the case of many medical concepts. This is a problem for the design of computer science ontologies, since knowledge representation formalisms commonly adopted in this field do not allow for the representation of concepts in terms of typical traits. However, the need of representing concepts in terms of typical traits concerns almost every domain of real world knowledge, including medical domains. In particular, in this article we take into account the domain of mental disorders, starting from the DSM-5 descriptions of some specific mental disorders. On this respect, we favor a hybrid approach to the representation of psychiatric concepts, in which ontology oriented formalisms are combined to a geometric representation of knowledge based on conceptual spaces

A program of nurse algorithm-guided care for adult patients with acute minor illnesses in primary care

Background: Attention to patients with acute minor-illnesses requesting same-day consultation represents a major burden in primary care. The workload is assumed by general practitioners in many countries. A number of reports suggest that care to these patients may be provided, at in least in part, by nurses. However, there is scarce information with respect to the applicability of a program of nurse management for adult patients with acute minor-illnesses in large areas. The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of a program of nurse algorithm-guided care for adult patients with acute minor illnesses requesting same-day consultation in primary care in a largely populated area. Methods: A cross-sectional study of all adult patients seeking same day consultation for 16 common acute minor illnesses in a large geographical area with 284 primary care practices. Patients were included in a program of nurse case management using management algorithms. The main outcome measure was case resolution, defined as completion of the algorithm by the nurse without need of referral of the patient to the general practitioner. The secondary outcome measure was return to consultation, defined as requirement of new consultation for the same reason as the first one, in primary care within a 7-day period. Results: During a two year period (April 2009-April 2011), a total of 1,209,669 consultations were performed in the program. Case resolution was achieved by nurses in 62.5% of consultations. The remaining cases were referred to a general practitioner. Resolution rates ranged from 94.2% in patients with burns to 42% in patients with upper respiratory symptoms. None of the 16 minor illnesses had a resolution rate below 40%. Return to consultation during a 7-day period was low, only 4.6%. Conclusions: A program of algorithms-guided care is effective for nurse case management of patients requesting same day consultation for minor illnesses in primary care

Fabrication and characterization of dual function nanoscale pH-scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM) probes for high resolution pH mapping

The easy fabrication and use of nanoscale dual function pH-scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM) probes is reported. These probes incorporate an iridium oxide coated carbon electrode for pH measurement and an SICM barrel for distance control, enabling simultaneous pH and topography mapping. These pH-SICM probes were fabricated rapidly from laser pulled theta quartz pipets, with the pH electrode prepared by in situ carbon filling of one of the barrels by the pyrolytic decomposition of butane, followed by electrodeposition of a thin layer of hydrous iridium oxide. The other barrel was filled with an electrolyte solution and Ag/AgCl electrode as part of a conductance cell for SICM. The fabricated probes, with pH and SICM sensing elements typically on the 100 nm scale, were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and various electrochemical measurements. They showed a linear super-Nernstian pH response over a range of pH (pH 2–10). The capability of the pH-SICM probe was demonstrated by detecting both pH and topographical changes during the dissolution of a calcite microcrystal in aqueous solution. This system illustrates the quantitative nature of pH-SICM imaging, because the dissolution process changes the crystal height and interfacial pH (compared to bulk), and each is sensitive to the rate. Both measurements reveal similar dissolution rates, which are in agreement with previously reported literature values measured by classical bulk methods

Ambient-aware continuous care through semantic context dissemination

Background: The ultimate ambient-intelligent care room contains numerous sensors and devices to monitor the patient, sense and adjust the environment and support the staff. This sensor-based approach results in a large amount of data, which can be processed by current and future applications, e. g., task management and alerting systems. Today, nurses are responsible for coordinating all these applications and supplied information, which reduces the added value and slows down the adoption rate. The aim of the presented research is the design of a pervasive and scalable framework that is able to optimize continuous care processes by intelligently reasoning on the large amount of heterogeneous care data. Methods: The developed Ontology-based Care Platform (OCarePlatform) consists of modular components that perform a specific reasoning task. Consequently, they can easily be replicated and distributed. Complex reasoning is achieved by combining the results of different components. To ensure that the components only receive information, which is of interest to them at that time, they are able to dynamically generate and register filter rules with a Semantic Communication Bus (SCB). This SCB semantically filters all the heterogeneous care data according to the registered rules by using a continuous care ontology. The SCB can be distributed and a cache can be employed to ensure scalability. Results: A prototype implementation is presented consisting of a new-generation nurse call system supported by a localization and a home automation component. The amount of data that is filtered and the performance of the SCB are evaluated by testing the prototype in a living lab. The delay introduced by processing the filter rules is negligible when 10 or fewer rules are registered. Conclusions: The OCarePlatform allows disseminating relevant care data for the different applications and additionally supports composing complex applications from a set of smaller independent components. This way, the platform significantly reduces the amount of information that needs to be processed by the nurses. The delay resulting from processing the filter rules is linear in the amount of rules. Distributed deployment of the SCB and using a cache allows further improvement of these performance results

Stepped-wedge randomised trial of laparoscopic ventral mesh rectopexy in adults with chronic constipation: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic ventral mesh rectopexy (LVMR) is an established treatment for external full-thickness rectal prolapse. However, its clinical efficacy in patients with internal prolapse is uncertain due to the lack of high-quality evidence. METHODS: An individual level, stepped-wedge randomised trial has been designed to allow observer-blinded data comparisons between patients awaiting LVMR with those who have undergone surgery. Adults with symptomatic internal rectal prolapse, unresponsive to prior conservative management, will be eligible to participate. They will be randomised to three arms with different delays before surgery (0, 12 and 24 weeks). Efficacy outcome data will be collected at equally stepped time points (12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks). The primary objective is to determine clinical efficacy of LVMR compared to controls with reduction in the Patient Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life (PAC-QOL) at 24 weeks serving as the primary outcome. Secondary objectives are to determine: (1) the clinical effectiveness of LVMR to 48 weeks to a maximum of 72 weeks; (2) pre-operative determinants of outcome; (3) relevant health economics for LVMR; (4) qualitative evaluation of patient and health professional experience of LVMR and (5) 30-day morbidity and mortality rates. DISCUSSION: An individual-level, stepped-wedge, randomised trial serves the purpose of providing an untreated comparison for the active treatment group, while at the same time allowing the waiting-listed participants an opportunity to obtain the intervention at a later date. In keeping with the basic ethical tenets of this design, the average waiting time for LVMR (12 weeks) will be shorter than that for routine services (24 weeks)

Elucidating the aetiology of human Campylobacter coli infections

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Structure in 6D and 4D N=1 supergravity theories from F-theory

We explore some aspects of 4D supergravity theories and F-theory vacua that are parallel to structures in the space of 6D theories. The spectrum and topological terms in 4D supergravity theories correspond to topological data of F-theory geometry, just as in six dimensions. In particular, topological axion-curvature squared couplings appear in 4D theories; these couplings are characterized by vectors in the dual to the lattice of axion shift symmetries associated with string charges. These terms are analogous to the Green-Schwarz terms of 6D supergravity theories, though in 4D the terms are not generally linked with anomalies. We outline the correspondence between F-theory topology and data of the corresponding 4D supergravity theories. The correspondence of geometry with structure in the low-energy action illuminates topological aspects of heterotic-F-theory duality in 4D as well as in 6D. The existence of an F-theory realization also places geometrical constraints on the 4D supergravity theory in the large-volume limit.Comment: 63 page