Microbial differences between dental plaque and historic dental calculus are related to oral biofilm maturation stage.

Background: Dental calculus, calcified oral plaque biofilm, contains microbial and host biomolecules that can be used to study historic microbiome communities and host responses. Dental calculus does not typically accumulate as much today as historically, and clinical oral microbiome research studies focus primarily on living dental plaque biofilm. However, plaque and calculus reflect different conditions of the oral biofilm, and the differences in microbial characteristics between the sample types have not yet been systematically explored.

Transcriptome sequencing of human breast cancer reveals aberrant intronic transcription in amplicons and dysregulation of alternative splicing with major therapeutic implications.

Advances in genomic and transcriptome sequencing are revealing the massive scale of previously unrecognised alterations occurring during neoplastic transformation. Breast cancers are genetically and phenotypically heterogeneous. Each of the three major subtypes [ERBB2 amplified, estrogen receptor (ESR)-positive and triple-negative] poses diagnostic and therapeutic challenges.

A decade in diabetes specialist services, 2000 to 2011, in England: the views of consultant diabetologists and diabetes specialist nurses amidst persistent healthcare delivery change.

Aims: To assess the impact of continual major National Health Service reorganization on commissioning, organizational and delivery arrangements for secondary care diabetes services. To explore how consultant diabetologists and diabetes specialist nurses perceive the issues facing diabetes specialist services in 2011 and how these have changed in the preceding decade.

Methods: We used a longitudinal case study approach that combined quantitative and qualitative methods.

Splice variant PRKC-ζ(-PrC) is a novel biomarker of human prostate cancer.

Background: Previously, using gene-knockdown techniques together with genome expression array analysis, we showed the gene protein Kinase C (PKC)-zeta (PRKCZ) to mediate the malignant phenotype of human prostate cancer. However, according to NCBI, the gene has undergone several major iterations. Therefore, to understand the relationship between its structure and biological activities, we have analysed its expressed sequence in prostate cancer cell lines and tissues.

siRNA knockdown of ribosomal protein gene RPL19 abrogates the aggressive phenotype of human prostate cancer.

We provide novel functional data that posttranscriptional silencing of gene RPL19 using RNAi not only abrogates the malignant phenotype of PC-3M prostate cancer cells but is selective with respect to transcription and translation of other genes. Reducing RPL19 transcription modulates a subset of genes, evidenced by gene expression array analysis and Western blotting, but does not compromise cell proliferation or apoptosis in-vitro. However, growth of xenografted tumors containing the knocked-down RPL19 in-vivo is significantly reduced.

The concerns of school staff in caring for children with diabetes in primary school.

Objectives: Primary school children spend 25% of their waking hours in school. Education authorities have a duty of care to support children with chronic illnesses within schools, but this is very variable. This study has examined the concerns of primary school staff working with children with Type 1 diabetes and their parents, and related these concerns to the views of health-care professionals (HCP) working with school personnel.

The fifth UK paediatric diabetes services survey: meeting guidelines and recommendations?

Aim: To assess the provision of UK paediatric and adolescent diabetes services and examine changes in service delivery since 2002.

Method: Questionnaires were sent to the lead paediatric consultant from all paediatric and adolescent diabetes services (n=205). Questions were based on National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence and Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines recommendations for diabetes care in childhood.

PRKC-ζ Expression Promotes the Aggressive Phenotype of Human Prostate Cancer Cells and Is a Novel Target for Therapeutic Intervention.

We show protein kinase C-zeta (PKC-ζ) to be a novel predictive biomarker for survival from prostate cancer (P < 0.001). We also confirm that transcription of the PRKC-ζ gene is crucial to the malignant phenotype of human prostate cancer.

A national survey of the current state of screening services for diabetic retinopathy: ABCD-diabetes UK survey of specialist diabetes services 2006.

The main aims were to ascertain the progress made in the implementation of retinal screening services and to explore any barriers or difficulties faced by the programmes. The survey focused on all the essential elements for retinal screening, including assessment and treatment of screen-positive cases. Eighty-five per cent of screening programmes have a coordinated screening service and 73% of these felt that they have made significant progress.

Cystatin C in macular and neuronal degenerations: implications for mechanism(s) of age-related macular degeneration.

Cystatin C is a strong inhibitor of cysteine proteinases expressed by diverse cells. Variant B cystatin C, which was associated with increased risk of developing age-related macular degeneration, differs from the wild type protein by a single amino acid (A25T) in the signal sequence responsible for its targeting to the secretory pathway. The same variant conveys susceptibility to Alzheimer disease.

Diabetes specialist nurses and role evolvement: a survey by Diabetes UK and ABCD of specialist diabetes services 2007.

Aims: To review the working practices of UK diabetes specialist nurses (DSNs), specific clinical roles, and to examine changes since 2000.

Methods: Postal questionnaires were sent to lead DSNs from all identifiable UK diabetes centres (n = 361). Quantitative and qualitative data were collected on the specific clinical roles, employment, and continual professional development of hospital and community DSNs, Nurse Consultants and Diabetes Healthcare Assistants.

National guidelines for psychological care in diabetes: how mindful have we been?

Aims: To assess the availability and types of psychological services for people with diabetes in the UK, compliance with national guidelines and skills of the diabetes team in, and attitudes towards, psychological aspects of diabetes management.

Methods: Postal questionnaires to team leads (doctor and nurse) of all UK diabetes centres (n = 464) followed by semi-structured telephone interviews of expert providers of psychological services identified by team leads.

Results: Two hundred and sixty-seven centres (58%) returned postal questionnaires; 66 (25%) identified a named expert provider of psychological services, of whom 53 (80%) were interviewed by telephone.

The conflict between specialist diabetes services and acute-general internal medicine for consultant diabetologists in the UK in 2006.

An online survey of consultant diabetologists in the UK examined the interface between specialist services and acute-general internal medicine (acute-GIM). Out of 592 consultants, 289 (49%) responded. Of these, 94% contributed to acute-GIM, devoting equivalent time to acute-GIM and specialist diabetes services.

Association of British Clinical Diabetologists (ABCD) and Diabetes-UK survey of specialist diabetes services in the UK, 2006. 1. The consultant physician perspective.

Aims: To identify the views and working practices of consultant diabetologists in the UK in 2006-2007, the current provision of specialist services, and to examine changes since 2000.

Methods: All 592 UK consultant diabetologists were invited to participate in an on-line survey. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of responses were undertaken.

Social ontologies.

There is room for considerable cooperation between archaeology and neuroscience, but in order for this to happen we need to think about the interactions among brain-body-world, in which each of these three terms acts as cause and effect, without attributing a causally determinant position to any one. Consequently, I develop the term social ontology to look at how human capabilities of mind and body are brought about through an interaction with the material world. I look also at the key notion of plasticity to think about not only the malleable nature of human brains, but also the artefactual world.

WITHDRAWN: Chorion villus sampling versus amniocentesis for prenatal diagnosis.

Background: Amniocentesis test results are usually available only after 18 weeks gestation. Chorion villus sampling (CVS) may be performed transabdominally or transvaginally, usually between 10 and 12 weeks gestation.

Objectives: The objective of this review was to assess the safety and accuracy of chorion villus sampling compared to amniocentesis.

Primer: tissue fixation and preservation for optimal molecular analysis of urologic tissues.

Appreciation of the different methods of tissue handling is a prerequisite to obtaining accurate and biologically relevant tissue-based information. When a tissue sample is removed from its environment, biological changes are induced within its constituent cell population. It is inevitable that artefacts will be induced through obtaining and processing tissues, irrespective of whether the samples comprise a few cells derived by fine-needle aspiration or larger specimens obtained surgically.

Chorion villus sampling versus amniocentesis for prenatal diagnosis.

Background: Amniocentesis test results are usually available only after 18 weeks gestation. Chorion villus sampling (CVS) may be performed transabdominally or transvaginally, usually between 10 and 12 weeks gestation.

Objectives: The objective of this review was to assess the safety and accuracy of chorion villus sampling compared to amniocentesis.

Ontogeny of interstitial cells of Cajal in the human intestine.

Background/purpose: Interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) recently have been identified as intestinal pacemaker cells. Abnormalities in ICC are increasingly recognized in a number of neonatal disorders such as infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis, Hirschsprung's disease, and transient intestinal pseudo-obstruction. The aim of this study was to determine the fetal and postnatal differentiation and development of ICC in the human gastrointestinal tract to aid interpretation of pathological specimens.

Expression of type 2 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase and corticosteroid hormone receptors in early human fetal life.

In adult life, the type 2 isozyme of 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11betaHSD2) protects the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) from glucocorticoid by inactivating cortisol to cortisone. 11betaHSD2 activity has been reported in human fetal tissues, where glucocorticoids may impair fetal growth yet are also required for normal fetal development. Using digoxigenin-labeled complementary ribonucleic acid (RNA) probes and an in-house 11betaHSD2 antiserum, we have analyzed the expression of 11betaHSD2, MR, and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in human fetal tissues of gestational age 6-17 weeks (n=15).