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Risk of cardiovascular and autoimmune disease in people with multiple sclerosis on long-term interferon-β therapy
Get PDFENPP1 Inhibition: A Promising Oral Therapy for Later-Onset Hypophosphatasia
Get PDFHypophosphatasia (HPP) is a rare, inherited metabolic bone disorder characterized by deficient activity of tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNAP), an enzyme encoded by the ALPL gene. Loss-of-function mutations in ALPL lead to reduced TNAP activity, resulting in the accumulation of extracellular inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi), a potent inhibitor of hydroxyapatite crystal formation and skeletal mineralization. Clinically, this presents as a broad spectrum of dento-osseous complications, including premature tooth loss, rickets or osteomalacia, and calcific arthropathies
High Pressure and Compositionally Directed Route to a Hexagonal GeSn Alloy Class
Get PDFDespite their electronic dominance, cubic diamond structured Si and Ge, are optoelectronically deficient. Recent work indicates, however, that a volume-expanded hexagonal Ge modification can exhibit intensely sought, superior optoelectronic characteristics. If larger Sn could form a hexagonal solid solution with Ge, this would achieve this expansion. But this was not expected because Ge and Sn are unreactive at ambient conditions, Sn does not have an ambient hexagonal symmetry, and only cubic or tetragonal binary modifications could be prepared under any conditions including thin film processing. This state of affairs is categorically changed here by subjecting Ge and Sn to pressures of 9 and 10 GPa and temperatures up to 1500 K using large-volume press methods. Synchrotron angle-dispersive X-ray diffraction, precession electron diffraction and chemical analysis using electron microscopy reveal ambient pressure recovery of hexagonal 2H, 4H and 6H Ge–Sn solid solutions (P63/mmc). Formation of this new binary materials landscape is correlated with Sn uptake, with the hexagonal symmetry being accessible below 21 atom % Sn and the cubic diamond symmetry at or above this value. The findings form fertile routes to advanced materials, by in tandem creating reactivity with pressure and directing production of needed crystal symmetries with composition, as well as opportunity to tune properties based on crystal symmetry, composition, and stacking sequence for optoelectronic applications
Education, sustainability and social justice:Lessons for capability development and expansion of opportunities for authorship from the global south
Get PDFThe comparative pathology workbench: An update
Get PDFThe Comparative Pathology Workbench (CPW) is a web-browser-based visual analytics platform providing shared access to an interactive “spreadsheet” style presentation of image data and associated analysis data. The software was developed to enable pathologists and other clinical and research users to compare histopathological images of diseased and/or normal tissues between different samples of the same or different patients/species. The CPW provides a grid layout of cells in rows and columns so that images that correspond to matching data can be organized in the form of an image-enabled “spreadsheet”. An individual workbench or bench can be shared with other users with read-only or full edit access as required. In addition, each bench cell or the whole bench itself has an associated discussion thread to allow collaborative analysis and consensual interpretation of the data. Here, we present the updated system based on 2 years of active use in the field that generated constructive feedback. The updates deliver new capabilities, including automated importation of entire image collections, sorting image collections, long running tasks, public benches, uploading miscellaneous image types, refining search facilities, enabling use of tags, and improving efficiency, speed, and user-friendlines
Rethinking responsibility: dog owners experiencing homelessness
Get PDFAround one in ten to one in twenty people experiencing homelessness in Great Britain seek dog-friendly accommodation. Dogs belonging to people experiencing homelessness are generally happy and healthy but the owners are often deemed ‘not responsible’. It would be unlikely that any homeless person could obtain a dog from a shelter, for example. Erasure of a homeless person’s existing affection and relationship with a dog, via exclusionary rules and regulations, is discriminatory; prohibition of acquisition of a new dog similarly so. The benefits of companion animal ownership are denied and marginalised people get excluded more.MethodsInterpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to survey both service providers and people experiencing homelessness at a well-established (15 years) veterinary outreach clinic for homeless and vulnerably-housed animal owners in Edinburgh. The topic of ‘joint provision of animal and human healthcare’ was used as a means of exploring relevant issues through a One Health lens. FindingsThe study raised questions for inclusive veterinary practice. There is a need for an empathetic approach to veterinary services 'at the periphery'. Service learning could allow student veterinarians to understand the value and depth of the human-animal bond and see first-hand how animal and human health and well-being are linked for some of the most under-served people in society. Underlying assumptions of ‘responsible pet ownership’ need to be addressed and this often-used trope critiqued from the perspectives of discrimination and animal agency. Further qualitative research is required.<br/
Tariffs and innovation in a Schumpeterian economy with North-South technology transfer
No full textThis article develops a North–South quality-ladder model with northern innovative R&D, southern adaptive R&D, and imitative R&D to analyse the effects of tariffs on innovation, technology transfer, relative wage, and welfare. We find that increasing the southern tariff decreases the relative wage between the North and the South permanently, increases the technology transfer rate permanently, and decreases the northern innovation rate temporarily. In contrast, increasing the northern tariff increases the relative wage permanently, decreases the technology transfer rate permanently, and either increases or decreases the northern innovation rate, depending on the size of the North–South labour ratio. Moreover, we calibrate this model to the US-China data to perform a quantitative analysis. We find that imposing a tariff in the home country yields a welfare gain for itself and a welfare loss in the foreign country. The numerical results are consistent with the analytical policy implications
Reinvigorating Devolution:Enhancing Central-Local Relations in Scotland
No full textThis report examines how devolution has reshaped territorial governance in Scotland while leaving deeper questions of central–local balance unresolved. It highlights three interrelated dynamics. First, economic and demographic activity has become increasingly concentrated in Edinburgh and the East-Central Belt since 1999, widening gaps with other parts of Scotland. Second, political power has also centralised at Holyrood, with local authorities constrained financially and institutionally, limiting their role as meaningful counterweights. Third, public opinion reflects these imbalances, with many Scots in rural and peripheral areas perceiving devolution as having disproportionately benefited central and affluent regions.A growing debate in Scotland is now focused on the concentration of power in Edinburgh and the limited capacity of local governance. In this context, attention has turned to reforms trialled in England in response to over-centralism, particularly combined authorities and directly elected mayors, which are seen by some as possible approaches to addressing Scotland’s own challenges. Although not directly transferable, these English innovations offer insights into the opportunities and limitations of institutional reforms to strengthen local accountability and voice.The report concludes by reflecting on how Scotland might pursue its own path toward more territorially balanced and responsive governance, while also shedding light on the evolving trajectory of devolution across the UK.<br/
Drivers of Coral and Sponge Community Composition and Size Structure Revealed With Cumulative Abundance Profiles
No full textDeep-sea corals and sponges form ecologically significant habitats that support biodiversity hotspots and contribute to important ecosystem functions such as carbon and nutrient cycling as well as benthic-pelagic coupling. However, quantifying their contributions to ecosystem functioning requires examination not only of the fine spatial distribution of community composition but also community size structure, because larger individuals are expected to contribute more to ecosystem functions than smaller ones. Here we create novel cumulative abundance profiles (CAPs) by combining body size structure with species abundance data to identify ecological drivers of sponge and coral community composition and size structure. Data were collected from 226 drop camera images captured near Saglek Bank, on the northern Labrador shelf and upper slope in the northwest Atlantic. The density of four coral and 17 sponge morphospecies were recorded from each image. The surface area covered by coral and sponge specimens was measured (1458 measurements in total) and converted to size estimates using data from live specimens collected with a rock dredge. Cumulative abundance profiles were then constructed and combined with cluster analysis to identify distinct community assemblages. In addition, distance-based redundancy analysis was used to identify environmental drivers influencing cluster community composition and/or size structure. Finally, organic carbon turnover was calculated for each cluster using published respiration data. Three assemblages were identified with differing composition and size structures. One of these was characterized by large coral and sponge morphospecies and individuals. The spatial distribution of this cluster was controlled by interactions between substrate type, terrain position index (TPI) and orientation of the slope (eastness). When analysing composition or size structure separately, dissolved oxygen and current speed respectively were also identified as key parameters. This finding indicates that substrate type and TPI influence the presence of coral and sponges in the study area, while dissolved oxygen may constrain which morphospecies are present and bottom currents restrict the size of individuals. As predicted, high levels of carbon turnover were driven by large sponge and coral individuals, likely maintained in part by the sponge loop in which sponges recycle dissolved organic matter into particulate organic matter. This study gives the first demonstration of how CAPs can be used to analyse spatial variation in deep-sea benthic community composition and size structure and appropriately quantify contribution to ecosystem functions such as carbon turnover.</p
mGem: Guides or triggers? Extracellular RNAs beyond vesicular miRNAs
No full textDespite a huge expansion in the last decades, several assumptions have directed, and perhaps pigeonholed, the evolution of the extracellular RNA (exRNA) field. For example, extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been assumed to be the main carriers of RNA molecules between cells. In parallel, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been assumed to be the main EV RNA cargo. However, from mammals to microbes, these assumptions do not seem to fall out of the data. In addition, miRNAs need to localize to the cytosol to be active but are likely to start in endosomes in most EV entry pathways. The mechanisms for their endosomal escape and the quantities of imported miRNAs required for their functions are not always considered. Without questioning the empirical evidence supporting EV-miRNA-mediated intercellular communication, we would like to shed light on the overlooked aspects of the exRNA biology that may bear important insights into how cells and organisms interact and sense one another
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