Membrane glucocorticoid receptors are localised in the extracellular matrix and signal through the MAPK pathway in mammalian skeletal muscle fibres

A number of studies have previously proposed the existence of glucocorticoid receptors on the plasma membrane of many cell types including skeletal muscle fibres. However, their exact localisation and the cellular signalling pathway(s) they utilise to communicate with the rest of the cell are still poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the localisation and the mechanism(s) underlying the non-genomic physiological functions of these receptors in mouse skeletal muscle cells. The results show that the receptors were localised in the cytoplasm in myoblasts, in the nucleus in myotubes and in the extracellular matrix, in satellite cells and in the proximity of mitochondria in adult muscle fibres. Also, they bound laminin in a glucocorticoid-dependent manner. Treating small skeletal muscle fibre bundles with the synthetic glucocorticoid, beclomethasone dipropionate, increased the phosphorylation (=activation) of extracellular-signal regulated kinase 1&2, c-Jun N-terminal kinase and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase. This occurred within 5min and depended on the fibre-type and the duration of the treatment. It was also abolished by the glucocorticoid receptor inhibitor, mifepristone, and a monoclonal antibody against the receptor. From these results we conclude that the non-genomic/non-canonical physiological functions of glucocorticoids, in adult skeletal muscle fibres are mediated by a glucocorticoid receptor localised in the extracellular matrix, in satellite cells and close to mitochondria and involve activation of the MAPK pathway

Exploring the effects of consumers’ trust : a predictive model for satisfying buyers’ expectations based on sellers’ behaviour in the marketplace

In recent years, Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) marketplaces have become very popular among Internet users. However, compared to traditional Business-to-Consumer (B2C) stores, most modern C2C marketplaces are reported to be associated with stronger negative sentiments among consumers. These negative sentiments arise from the inability of sellers to meet certain buyers’ expectations and are linked to the low trust relationship among sellers and buyers in C2C marketplaces. The growth of these negative emotions might jeopardize buyers’ decisions to opt for C2C marketplaces in their future purchase intentions. In the present study, we extend the definition of trust as an emotion to cover the digital world and demonstrate the trust model currently used by most online stores. Based on the buyer’s behaviour in the C2C marketplace, we propose a conceptual framework to predict trust between the buyer and the seller. Given that C2C marketplaces are rich sources of data for trust mining and sentiment analysis, we perform text mining on Airbnb to predict the trust level in host descriptions of offered facilities. The data are acquired from the US city of Ashville, Alabama, and Manchester in the UK. The results of the analysis demonstrate that guest negative feedback in reviews are high when the description of the host’s property has the emotion of joy only. By contrast, guest negative sentiments in reviews are at a minimum when the host’s sentiment has mixed emotions (e.g., joy and fear)

P2X receptors: epithelial ion channels and regulators of salt and water transport.

When the results from electrophysiological studies of renal epithelial cells are combined with data from in vivo tubule microperfusion experiments and immunohistochemical surveys of the nephron, the accumulated evidence suggests that ATP-gated ion channels, P2X receptors, play a specialized role in the regulation of ion and water movement across the renal tubule and are integral to electrolyte and fluid homeostasis. In this short review, we discuss the concept of P2X receptors as regulators of salt and water salvage pathways, as well as acknowledging their accepted role as ATP-gated ion channels

The efficacy of silver diamine fluoride in arresting caries in children

Data sourcesPubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, the Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature database (LILACS), the Brazilian Library in Dentistry (BBO), Cochrane Library and grey literature.Study selectionTwo reviewers selected randomised clinical trials (RCTs) that compared the efficacy of SDF application with other active treatments or placebo in arresting carious lesions.Data extraction and synthesisThree authors extracted data using customised extraction forms, and risk of bias was assessed by two independent reviewers. Meta-analyses were performed on studies classified at 'low' or 'unclear' risk of bias, where similar outcomes were recorded in primary teeth, and that compared SDF to active treatments.ResultsEleven studies were included; five studies were at 'low', two at 'unclear' and four studies at 'high' risk of bias. Eight were conducted with primary teeth, two with permanent first molars and one conducted on both. Six studies used 38% SDF, two 30% SDF, one 12% SDF, one compared 38% SDF to 12% SDF and one used Nano Silver Fluoride (NSF).ConclusionsSDF is more effective than active treatments or placebo for carious lesion arrest in primary teeth. The body of evidence was of high quality for primary teeth. However, there was not enough high quality evidence to draw conclusions about carious lesion arrest in first permanent molars

Cutting tool tracking and recognition based on infrared and visual imaging systems using principal component analysis (PCA) and discrete wavelet transform (DWT) combined with neural networks

The implementation of computerised condition monitoring systems for the detection cutting tools’ correct installation and fault diagnosis is of a high importance in modern manufacturing industries. The primary function of a condition monitoring system is to check the existence of the tool before starting any machining process and ensure its health during operation. The aim of this study is to assess the detection of the existence of the tool in the spindle and its health (i.e. normal or broken) using infrared and vision systems as a non-contact methodology. The application of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) combined with neural networks are investigated using both types of data in order to establish an effective and reliable novel software program for tool tracking and health recognition. Infrared and visual cameras are used to locate and track the cutting tool during the machining process using a suitable analysis and image processing algorithms. The capabilities of PCA and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) combined with neural networks are investigated in recognising the tool’s condition by comparing the characteristics of the tool to those of known conditions in the training set. The experimental results have shown high performance when using the infrared data in comparison to visual images for the selected image and signal processing algorithms

Effective AdS/renormalized CFT

For an effective AdS theory, we present a simple prescription to compute the renormalization of its dual boundary field theory. In particular, we define anomalous dimension holographically as the dependence of the wave-function renormalization factor on the radial cutoff in the Poincare patch of AdS. With this definition, the anomalous dimensions of both single- and double- trace operators are calculated. Three different dualities are considered with the field theory being CFT, CFT with a double-trace deformation and spontaneously broken CFT. For the second dual pair, we compute scaling corrections at the UV and IR fixed points of the RG flow triggered by the double-trace deformation. For the last case, we discuss whether our prescription is sensitive to the AdS interior or equivalently, the IR physics of the dual field theory.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figure

MFV Reductions of MSSM Parameter Space

The 100+ free parameters of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) make it computationally difficult to compare systematically with data, motivating the study of specific parameter reductions such as the cMSSM and pMSSM. Here we instead study the reductions of parameter space implied by using minimal flavour violation (MFV) to organise the R-parity conserving MSSM, with a view towards systematically building in constraints on flavour-violating physics. Within this framework the space of parameters is reduced by expanding soft supersymmetry-breaking terms in powers of the Cabibbo angle, leading to a 24-, 30- or 42-parameter framework (which we call MSSM-24, MSSM-30, and MSSM-42 respectively), depending on the order kept in the expansion. We provide a Bayesian global fit to data of the MSSM-30 parameter set to show that this is manageable with current tools. We compare the MFV reductions to the 19-parameter pMSSM choice and show that the pMSSM is not contained as a subset. The MSSM-30 analysis favours a relatively lighter TeV-scale pseudoscalar Higgs boson and $\tan \beta \sim 10$ with multi-TeV sparticles.Comment: 2nd version, minor comments and references added, accepted for publication in JHE

Climate Change and Future Long Term Trends of Rainfall at North-eastern Part of Iraq

Iraq is facing water shortage problem despite the presence of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. In this research, long rainfall trends up to the year 2099 were studied in Sulaimani city northeast Iraq to give an idea about future prospects. The medium high (A2) and medium low B2 scenarios have been used for purpose of this study as they are more likely than others scenarios, that beside the fact that no climate modeling canter has performed GCM (global climate model) simulations for more than a few emissions scenarios (HadCM3 has only these two scenarios) otherwise pattern scaling can be used for generating different scenarios which entail a huge uncertainty. The results indicate that the average annual rainfall shows a significant downward trend for both A2 and B2 scenarios. In addition, winter projects increase/decrease in the daily rainfall statistics of wet days, the spring season show very slight drop and no change for both scenarios. However, both summer and autumn shows a significant reduction in maximum rainfall value especially in 2080s while the other statistics remain nearly the same. The extremes events are to decrease slightly in 2080s with highest decrease associated with A2 scenario. This is due to the fact that rainfall under scenario A2 is more significant than under scenario B2. The return period of a certain rainfall will increase in the future when a present storm of 20 year could occur once every 43 year in the 2080s. An increase in the frequency of extreme rainfall depends on several factors such as the return period, season of the year, the period considered as well as the emission scenario used

Identification of capacity development indicators for faculty development programs: A nominal group technique study.

BackgroundAlthough there have been many research studies of the effectiveness of faculty development in health profession education, the contribution of these programs to organizational development through capacity development has not been studied. Further understanding of capacity development requires appropriate indicators and no previous indicators for faculty development of health profession educators were identified. The aim of the study was to identify indicators of capacity development in the context of faculty development programs at Tehran University of medical sciences (TUMS).MethodsA nominal group technique session was conducted with key informants from faculty development program providers to generate and prioritize a list of capacity development indicators.ResultsA list of 26 indicators was generated and five categories were identified: Development and innovation in teaching and learning process, Development and innovation in communication and collaboration at different levels, Development and sustaining faculty development programs, Development of educational leadership and management, Development in scholarship.ConclusionsCapacity development for faculty development interventions of health profession educators is a process of engagement within a wider system, including individual and collective action, and involves the socialization of the teachers into suitable roles through professional identity development and participation within the wider system

Facile Synthesis of High Quality Graphene Nanoribbons

Graphene nanoribbons have attracted attention for their novel electronic and spin transport properties1-6, and because nanoribbons less than 10 nm wide have a band gap that can be used to make field effect transistors. However, producing nanoribbons of very high quality, or in high volumes, remains a challenge. Here, we show that pristine few-layer nanoribbons can be produced by unzipping mildly gas-phase oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotube using mechanical sonication in an organic solvent. The nanoribbons exhibit very high quality, with smooth edges (as seen by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy), low ratios of disorder to graphitic Raman bands, and the highest electrical conductance and mobility reported to date (up to 5e2/h and 1500 cm2/Vs for ribbons 10-20 nm in width). Further, at low temperature, the nanoribbons exhibit phase coherent transport and Fabry-Perot interference, suggesting minimal defects and edge roughness. The yield of nanoribbons was ~2% of the starting raw nanotube soot material, which was significantly higher than previous methods capable of producing high quality narrow nanoribbons1. The relatively high yield synthesis of pristine graphene nanoribbons will make these materials easily accessible for a wide range of fundamental and practical applications.Comment: Nature Nanotechnology in pres