Hydroxyacid Oxidase 1, a Glutamine Metabolism-Associated Protein, Predicts Poor Patient Outcome in Luminal Breast Cancer.

Breast cancer (BC), which remains the most prevalent malignancy among women, is characterised by significant heterogeneity across its molecular subtypes. Oestrogen receptor-positive (ER+) (luminal) BC represents approximately 75% of cases, and despite advancements in treatment there remains around a 40% recurrence rate. Cellular uptake of glutamine is conducted by solute carriers (SLCs), which are significantly associated with outcome in luminal BC.

Higher Apparent Gas Transfer Velocities for CO Compared to CH in Small Lakes.

Large greenhouse gas emissions occur via the release of carbon dioxide (CO) and methane (CH) from the surface layer of lakes. Such emissions are modeled from the air-water gas concentration gradient and the gas transfer velocity (). The links between and the physical properties of the gas and water have led to the development of methods to convert between gases through Schmidt number normalization.

Diversity in Genetic Regulation of Bacterial Fimbriae Assembled by the Chaperone Usher Pathway.

Bacteria express different types of hair-like proteinaceous appendages on their cell surface known as pili or fimbriae. These filamentous structures are primarily involved in the adherence of bacteria to both abiotic and biotic surfaces for biofilm formation and/or virulence of non-pathogenic and pathogenic bacteria. In pathogenic bacteria, especially Gram-negative bacteria, fimbriae play a key role in bacteria-host interactions which are critical for bacterial invasion and infection.

Regulating MR Safety Standards.

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging uses magnetic fields and radio waves to generate an image of the body. Though it is considered safe because it does not emit ionizing radiation, the strong magnetic fields produced by the MR scanner require unique safety considerations. The American College of Radiology (ACR) has provided guidance documents on MR safety since 2002 and recently updated and reorganized these documents into the ACR Manual on MR Safety.

Optimised Heterologous Expression and Functional Analysis of the F1-Capsular Antigen Regulator Caf1R.

The bacterial pathogen, , has caused three historic pandemics and continues to cause small outbreaks worldwide. During infection, assembles a capsule-like protective coat of thin fibres of Caf1 subunits. This F1 capsular antigen has attracted much attention due to its clinical value in plague diagnostics and anti-plague vaccine development.

Integrated approach towards quantifying carbon dioxide and methane release from waste stabilization ponds.

Accurate estimations of gaseous emissions and carbon sequestration in wastewater processing are essential for the design, operation and planning of treatment infrastructure, particularly considering greenhouse gas reduction targets. In this study, we look at the interplay between biological productivity, hydrodynamics and evasion of carbon-based greenhouse gases (GHG) through diffusion and ebullition in order to provide direction for more accurate assessments of their emissions from waste stabilization ponds (WSPs). The ponds stratified in the day and mixed at night.

Turbulence in a small boreal lake: Consequences for air-water gas exchange.

The hydrodynamics within small boreal lakes have rarely been studied, yet knowing whether turbulence at the air-water interface and in the water column scales with metrics developed elsewhere is essential for computing metabolism and fluxes of climate-forcing trace gases. We instrumented a humic, 4.7 ha, boreal lake with two meteorological stations, three thermistor arrays, an infrared (IR) camera to quantify surface divergence, obtained turbulence as dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy () using an acoustic Doppler velocimeter and a temperature-gradient microstructure profiler, and conducted chamber measurements for short periods to obtain fluxes and gas transfer velocities ().

Elective orthopaedic cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic: where are we now, and where are we heading?

Aims: The primary aim is to estimate the current and potential number of patients on NHS England orthopaedic elective waiting lists by November 2020. The secondary aims are to model recovery strategies; review the deficit of hip and knee arthroplasty from National Joint Registry (NJR) data; and assess the cost of returning to pre-COVID-19 waiting list numbers.

Methods: A model of referral, waiting list, and eventual surgery was created and calibrated using historical data from NHS England (April 2017 to March 2020) and was used to investigate the possible consequences of unmet demand resulting from fewer patients entering the treatment pathway and recovery strategies.

Super-Resolution Fluorescence Microscopy Reveals Clustering Behaviour of Major Outer Membrane Protein.

is a Gram-negative bacterium responsible for a number of human respiratory diseases and linked to some chronic inflammatory diseases. The major outer membrane protein (MOMP) of is a conserved immunologically dominant protein located in the outer membrane, which, together with its surface exposure and abundance, has led to MOMP being the main focus for vaccine and antimicrobial studies in recent decades. MOMP has a major role in the chlamydial outer membrane complex through the formation of intermolecular disulphide bonds, although the exact interactions formed are currently unknown.

Effects of climate change and episodic heat events on cyanobacteria in a eutrophic polymictic lake.

Mixing regime and CO availability may control cyanobacterial blooms in polymictic lakes, but the underlying mechanisms still remain unclear. We integrated detailed results from a natural experiment comprising an average-wet year (2011) and one with heat waves (2012), a long-term meteorological dataset (1960-2010), historical phosphorus concentrations and sedimentary pigment records, to determine the mechanistic controls of cyanobacterial blooms in a eutrophic polymictic lake. Intense warming in 2012 was associated with: 1) increased stability of the water column with buoyancy frequencies exceeding 40 cph at the surface, 2) high phytoplankton biomass in spring (up to 125 mg WW L), 3) reduced downward transport of heat and 4) depleted epilimnetic CO concentrations.

Ecology under lake ice.

Winter conditions are rapidly changing in temperate ecosystems, particularly for those that experience periods of snow and ice cover. Relatively little is known of winter ecology in these systems, due to a historical research focus on summer 'growing seasons'. We executed the first global quantitative synthesis on under-ice lake ecology, including 36 abiotic and biotic variables from 42 research groups and 101 lakes, examining seasonal differences and connections as well as how seasonal differences vary with geophysical factors.

A global database of lake surface temperatures collected by in situ and satellite methods from 1985-2009.

Global environmental change has influenced lake surface temperatures, a key driver of ecosystem structure and function. Recent studies have suggested significant warming of water temperatures in individual lakes across many different regions around the world. However, the spatial and temporal coherence associated with the magnitude of these trends remains unclear.

Early-life school, neighborhood, and family influences on adult health: a multilevel cross-classified analysis of the Aberdeen children of the 1950s study.

Lifetime exposures to adverse social environments influence adult health, as do exposures in early life. It is usual to examine the influences of school on teenage health and of adult area of residence on adult health. We examined the combined long-term association of the school attended, as well as the area of residence in childhood, with adult health.

Does perceived physical attractiveness in adolescence predict better socioeconomic position in adulthood? Evidence from 20 years of follow up in a population cohort study.

There is believed to be a 'beauty premium' in key life outcomes: it is thought that people perceived to be more physically attractive have better educational outcomes, higher-status jobs, higher wages, and are more likely to marry. Evidence for these beliefs, however, is generally based on photographs in hypothetical experiments or studies of very specific population subgroups (such as college students). The extent to which physical attractiveness might have a lasting effect on such outcomes in 'real life' situations across the whole population is less well known.

Allosteric mechanism controls traffic in the chaperone/usher pathway.

Many virulence organelles of Gram-negative bacterial pathogens are assembled via the chaperone/usher pathway. The chaperone transports organelle subunits across the periplasm to the outer membrane usher, where they are released and incorporated into growing fibers. Here, we elucidate the mechanism of the usher-targeting step in assembly of the Yersinia pestis F1 capsule at the atomic level.

Using natural experiments to evaluate population health interventions: new Medical Research Council guidance.

Natural experimental studies are often recommended as a way of understanding the health impact of policies and other large scale interventions. Although they have certain advantages over planned experiments, and may be the only option when it is impossible to manipulate exposure to the intervention, natural experimental studies are more susceptible to bias. This paper introduces new guidance from the Medical Research Council to help researchers and users, funders and publishers of research evidence make the best use of natural experimental approaches to evaluating population health interventions.

'The Anglo-Saxon disease': a pilot study of the barriers to and facilitators of the use of randomised controlled trials of social programmes in an international context.

Background: There appears to be considerable variation between different national jurisdictions and between different sectors of public policy in the use of evidence and particularly the use of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate non-healthcare sector programmes.

Methods: As part of a wider study attempting to identify RCTs of public policy sector programmes and the reasons for variation between countries and sectors in their use, we carried out a pilot study which interviewed 10 policy makers and researchers in six countries to elicit views on barriers to and facilitators of the use of RCTs for social programmes.

Results: While in common with earlier studies, those interviewed expressed a need for unambiguous findings, timely results and significant effect sizes, users could, in fact, be ambivalent about robust methods and robust answers about what works, does not work or makes no difference, particularly where investment or a policy announcement was planned.

Evidence in the development of health policy.

For over a century and a half, reformers, researchers and politicians have complained that social and public health policy is not based on evidence. Linear models of knowledge transfer gaps are consistently shown to be poor predictors of research uptake. Public health research, in particular, involves more elements than the linear biomedical model of translation into healthcare products or interventions.

Large is fast, small is tight: determinants of speed and affinity in subunit capture by a periplasmic chaperone.

The chaperone/usher pathway assembles surface virulence organelles of Gram-negative bacteria, consisting of fibers of linearly polymerized protein subunits. Fiber subunits are connected through 'donor strand complementation': each subunit completes the immunoglobulin (Ig)-like fold of the neighboring subunit by donating the seventh β-strand in trans. Whereas the folding of Ig domains is a fast first-order process, folding of Ig modules into the fiber conformation is a slow second-order process.

Childhood residential mobility and health in late adolescence and adulthood: findings from the West of Scotland Twenty-07 Study.

Background: The relationship between childhood residential mobility and health in the UK is not well established; however, research elsewhere suggests that frequent childhood moves may be associated with poorer health outcomes and behaviours. The aim of this paper was to compare people in the West of Scotland who were residentially stable in childhood with those who had moved in terms of a range of health measures.

Methods: A total of 850 respondents, followed-up for a period of 20 years, were included in this analysis.