Publications by authors named "A Bushell"

Hormones mediate life-history trade-offs. In female mammals, such trade-offs have been studied predominantly in the contexts of oestrogen, progesterone and prolactin. We evaluate the hypothesis that prenatal and postnatal testosterone levels structure and regulate trade-offs in females involving components of reproduction and survival.

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Article Synopsis
  • Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is common and often affects fertility, but some traits linked to it, like high testosterone, might have had advantages in ancient environments.
  • A literature review found that elevated testosterone typically correlates with increased strength, athleticism, and dominance in females, including those with PCOS, who showed enhanced physical traits compared to those without.
  • The findings support the idea that high testosterone provides certain benefits in specific contexts, reinforcing the "maladaptive extremes of adaptation" model, which could influence how PCOS is treated and inspire future research.
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Background And Objectives: Brown adipose tissue (BAT) plays key roles in mammalian physiology, most notably with regard to thermoregulation in infants and juveniles. Previous studies have suggested that intragenomic conflict, in the form of genomic imprinting, mediates BAT thermogenesis, because it represents a public good for groups of siblings, or a mother with her offspring, who huddle together to conserve warmth. By this hypothesis, maternally expressed imprinted genes should promote BAT, while paternally expressed genes should repress it.

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Introduction: Regulatory T cell (Treg) therapy has been demonstrated to facilitate long-term allograft survival in preclinical models of transplantation and may permit reduction of immunosuppression and its associated complications in the clinical setting. Phase 1 clinical trials have shown Treg therapy to be safe and feasible in clinical practice. Here we describe a protocol for the TWO study, a phase 2b randomised control trial of Treg therapy in living donor kidney transplant recipients that will confirm safety and explore efficacy of this novel treatment strategy.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study explores using low-density polyethylene (LDPE) as an alternative calibration material for x-ray photoelectron spectrometers, instead of traditional materials like gold and silver.
  • Researchers developed improved LDPE reference spectra, which led to a modest absolute offset of about 3.0% and systematic deviations averaging ±6.5% when compared to gold calibration methods.
  • The study also highlights the challenges of using LDPE, including surface roughness and issues with low count rates, and provides an updated LDPE calibration protocol to enhance accuracy and consistency in the field.
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