Ear health and quality of life in pet rabbits of differing ear conformations: A UK survey of owner-reported signalment risk factors and effects on rabbit welfare and behaviour.

The impacts of ear disease on animal welfare and behaviour are little documented. Ear disease may be common in rabbits, but difficult to recognise, and lop-ears have previously been indicated as a risk factor for ear disease. We aimed to better understand the range of ear conditions in pet rabbits, signalment risk factors, and impacts on welfare and behaviour.

Environmental Health and Biosafety Risk Assessment Guidance for Commercial-Scale Cell and Gene Therapy Manufacturing.

Introduction: This article aims to identify best practices, improve risk controls, and aid regulatory agencies in developing guidance for environmental and biosafety risk assessment for commercial-scale cell and gene therapy manufacturing.

Methods: A cross-functional team should start with hazard classification and testing requirements for materials used or generated by the process and process hazard characterization.

Results: The team develops a safety profile of the process to mitigate risks, including: product biological contamination risk and process controls, including raw materials, facilities, operator and environmental controls, and method of detection;a technical review of the process to evaluate the operational and engineering controls;monitoring systems to mitigate the risk of failure and/or breach of the system, preventing the release of material to the facility or operator exposure;site sanitization strategy and facility containment measures, including engineering designs, air handling systems, spill containment measures, surface cleanability, waste flows, and decontamination practices;a review of site practices, including process, employee, material and waste flows, staff training, controlled access, operator gowning, and emergency response plans/measures.

Neutering is associated with developing hemangiosarcoma in dogs in the Veterinary Medical Database: An age and time-period matched case-control study (1964-2003).

The hypothesis that neutered dogs in the Veterinary Medical Database (VMDB) are at increased risk for developing hemangiosarcoma (HSA) was tested. Dogs ( = 5736) were diagnosed with HSA from a population of 2 106 324 dogs in the VMDB from 1964 to 2003. A case-control design matched on age and time period was created for general, cardiac, and splenic HSAs.

Effects of a Mental Warmup on the Workout Readiness and Stress of College Student Exercisers.

The importance of warming up prior to sport competition has been highlighted in the scientific literature, with increasing attention paid to the benefits of mental warmups. The purpose of this research was to explore the possibility that a mental warmup may also benefit exercisers. Two studies were conducted in which the effects of a mental warmup on the psychological readiness and psychological stress of exercisers were examined.

The economic costs of intrapartum care in Tower Hamlets: A comparison between the cost of birth in a freestanding midwifery unit and hospital for women at low risk of obstetric complications.

Objective: to compare the economic costs of intrapartum maternity care in an inner city area for 'low risk' women opting to give birth in a freestanding midwifery unit compared with those who chose birth in hospital.

Design: micro-costing of health service resources used in the intrapartum care of mothers and their babies during the period between admission and discharge, data extracted from clinical notes.

Setting: the Barkantine Birth Centre, a freestanding midwifery unit and the Royal London Hospital's consultant-led obstetric unit, both run by the former Barts and the London NHS Trust in Tower Hamlets, a deprived inner city borough in east London, England, 2007-2010.

Risk of Osteosarcoma in Dogs After Open Fracture Fixation.

Objective: To critically evaluate whether open fracture fixation is a significant risk factor for latent osteosarcoma development.

Study Design: Case-control study.

Sample Population: Dogs undergoing open fracture repair and dogs diagnosed with osteosarcoma.

Central line practice in Canadian blood and marrow transplant.

More than 800 blood cell and bone marrow transplants are performed annually in Canada to treat fatal cancers and rare blood disorders. Central vascular access is fundamental in blood and marrow transplant nursing to facilitate chemotherapy and blood product infusions. A tunnelled Central Venous Catheter (CVC) is the vascular access device-of-choice in the cell and marrow transplant population.

Chaotic escape from an open vase-shaped cavity. I. Numerical and experimental results.

We present part I in a two-part study of an open chaotic cavity shaped as a vase. The vase possesses an unstable periodic orbit in its neck. Trajectories passing through this orbit escape without return.

The histone gene activator HINFP is a nonredundant cyclin E/CDK2 effector during early embryonic cell cycles.

Competency for DNA replication is functionally coupled to the activation of histone gene expression at the onset of S phase to form chromatin. Human histone nuclear factor P (HiNF-P; gene symbol HINFP) bound to its cyclin E/cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) responsive coactivator p220(NPAT) is a key regulator of multiple human histone H4 genes that encode a major subunit of the nucleosome. Induction of the histone H4 transcription factor (HINFP)/p220(NPAT) coactivation complex occurs in parallel with the CDK-dependent release of pRB from E2F at the restriction point.

Effects of sleep deprivation on the pediatric electroencephalogram.

Background: The routine electroencephalogram aids in epilepsy syndrome diagnosis. Unfortunately, routine outpatient electroencephalogram results are normal in roughly half of children with epilepsy. To increase the yield, practice guidelines recommend electroencephalograms with sleep and sleep deprivation.

Escaping an evolutionary trap: preference and performance of a native insect on an exotic invasive host.

Exotic plants may act as population sinks or evolutionary traps for native herbivores. The native butterfly Pieris oleracea lays eggs on garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata, but larvae develop very poorly on this exotic invasive plant. We examined oviposition preference of individual females and larval performance of their offspring for individuals from one area where garlic mustard is well established and one where it is absent.

A population study of neutering status as a risk factor for canine prostate cancer.

Background: Prostate cancer has been reported to occur more commonly in neutered than intact male dogs in several case series. This study was undertaken to evaluate risk of prostate cancer in a large population database. The hypothesis was that castration is a risk factor for prostate cancer in male companion dogs.

Two-dimensional differential in-gel electrophoresis (DIGE) of leaf and roots of Lycopersicon esculentum.

In this report we present a detailed protocol for the analysis of differential protein expression between two plant tissue samples. The protocol involves harvesting of leaves and roots from mature tomato plants, preparing protein extracts from the harvested tissues, fluorescent labeling of each sample prior to differential in-gel electrophoresis (DIGE), first- and second-dimension electrophoretic separations, and image analysis to visualize and quantify differential protein expression. This protocol is adaptable for use with a wide variety of plant materials and can be used to measure protein expression changes occurring in response to abiotic stress, biotic stress, genetic manipulation, selective breeding, and many other conditions.

Modelling the impacts of two exotic invasive species on a native butterfly: top-down vs. bottom-up effects.

1. Exotic invasive species can influence population dynamics of native species through top-down or bottom-up forces. The present study examined separate and interactive effects of multiple exotic species invasions on the native mustard white butterfly, Pieris napi oleracea Harris (Lepidoptera: Pieridae), using a stochastic simulation model.

Rescue of Mdm4-deficient mice by Mdm2 reveals functional overlap of Mdm2 and Mdm4 in development.

The Mdm2 and Mdm4 genes are amplified and overexpressed in a variety of human cancers and encode structurally related oncoproteins that bind to the p53 tumor suppressor protein and inhibit p53 activity. Mice deleted for either Mdm2 or Mdm4 die during embryogenesis, and the developmental lethality of either mouse model can be rescued by concomitant deletion of p53. However, the phenotypes of Mdm2 and Mdm4-deficient mice suggest that Mdm2 and Mdm4 play nonoverlapping roles in regulating p53 activity during development, with Mdm2 regulating p53-mediated cell death and Mdm4 regulating p53-mediated inhibition of cell growth.

Coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor is essential for cardiomyocyte development.

The coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor (CAR) is a transmembrane protein that is known to be a site of viral attachment and entry, but its physiologic functions are undefined. CAR expression is maximal in neonates and wanes rapidly after birth in organs such as heart, muscle, and brain, suggesting that CAR plays a role in the development of these tissues. Here, we show that CAR deficiency resulted in an embryonic lethal condition associated with cardiac defects.

Comprehensive proteomics in yeast using chromatographic fractionation, gas phase fractionation, protein gel electrophoresis, and isoelectric focusing.

We have investigated the use of a variety of different techniques to identify as many proteins as possible in a yeast lysate, with the aim of investigating the overlap and complementarity of data from different approaches. A standard lysate was prepared from log phase yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). This was then subjected to analysis via five different approaches aimed at identifying as many proteins as possible using an ion trap mass spectrometer.

Does strategy knowledge influence working memory in children with mathematical disabilities?

This study investigated the relationship between working memory (WM), declarative strategy knowledge, and math achievement in children with and without mathematical disabilities (MD). Experiment 1 examined the relationship between strategy knowledge, verbal WM, and visual-spatial WM in children with MD as a function of initial, gain, and maintenance conditions. The results showed that after partialing the influence of reading, stable strategy choices rather than specific strategy knowledge was related to verbal and visual-spatial WM span in high demand (maintenance) conditions.

Dynamin inhibits phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase in hematopoietic cells.

Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase) plays a role in late stages of endocytosis as well as in cellular proliferation and transformation. The SH3 domain of its regulatory p85 subunit stimulates the GTPase activity of dynamin in vitro. Dynamin is a GTPase enzyme required for endocytosis of activated growth factor receptors.

Serum markers of lamellar basement membrane degradation and lamellar histopathological changes in horses affected with laminitis.

In order better to evaluate the extent to which degradation of the lamellar basement membrane (LBM) by matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) occurs in equine laminitis, we determined the concentration of type IV collagen and laminin in normal and laminitic horses, using specific immunoassays. Blood samples were obtained from both the jugular and the cephalic veins of horses (n = 10) before and after the induction of acute alimentary laminitis by carbohydrate overload. Jugular and cephalic venous blood samples were also obtained from horses affected with naturally occurring laminitis (n = 16) and nonlaminitic controls (n = 8).

Electron-impact ionization cross section measurements out of the 5(2)P excited state of rubidium.

We describe new techniques involving trapped atoms as targets for measurements of electron-impact ionization cross sections out of an excited level. By directly detecting the ions formed by electron collisions, we have obtained the first experimental ionization cross sections out of the 5(2)P excited level in rubidium at energies from 40 to 300 eV.

PI 3-kinase activation in BCR/abl-transformed hematopoietic cells does not require interaction of p85 SH2 domains with p210 BCR/abl.

BCR/abl is a chimeric oncogene implicated in the pathogenesis of human chronic myelogenous leukemia. Expression of the BCR/abl gene induces hematologic malignancies in transgenic mice and transformation of interleukin-3-dependent hematopoietic cells. The mechanism of BCR/abl-mediated transformation of hematopoietic cells is poorly understood and involves activation of at least two signaling pathways, p21ras and PI 3-kinase.