Heterologous Biosynthesis of Methanobactin from sp. Strain SB2 in OB3b.

Aerobic methanotrophs, or methane-consuming microbes, are strongly dependent on copper for their activity. To satisfy this requirement, some methanotrophs produce a copper-binding compound, or chalkophore, called methanobactin (MB). In addition to playing a critical role in methanotrophy, MB has also been shown to have great promise in treating copper-related human diseases, perhaps most significantly Wilson's disease.

Material History, Historied Materials and the Question of Epistemic Freedom in Ghana's Medical Schools.

Medical schools rely on a wide range of tools, technologies and materials for their teaching, on books, and bodies, and on the buildings which house them. This article considers the histories of this material culture in the three oldest medical schools operating in Ghana today. Borrowing theoretical concepts from Science and Technology Studies, medical anthropology and postcolonial political economy, this article takes that the material culture of modern medical education often binds contemporary pedagogy to outdated ideas and faraway places.

Non-pyrogenicity and biocompatibility of parylene-coated magnetic bead implants.

Clinical grade magnetic bead implants have important applications in interfacing with the human body, providing contactless mechanical attachment or wireless communication through human tissue. We recently developed a new strategy, magnetomicrometry, that uses magnetic bead implants as passive communication devices to wirelessly sense muscle tissue lengths. We manufactured clinical-grade magnetic bead implants and verified their biocompatibility via intramuscular implantation, cytotoxicity, sensitization, and intracutaneous irritation testing.

Renin and renin blockade have no role in complement activity.

Renin, an aspartate protease, regulates the renin-angiotensin system by cleaving its only known substrate angiotensinogen to angiotensin. Recent studies have suggested that renin may also cleave complement component C3 to activate complement or contribute to its dysregulation. Typically, C3 is cleaved by C3 convertase, a serine protease that uses the hydroxyl group of a serine residue as a nucleophile.

Putting the Cart Before the Horse? Developing a Blended Anatomy Curriculum Supplemented by Cadaveric Anatomy.

Cadaveric anatomy is frequently described as the gold standard for anatomy education. Increasingly and especially following the COVID-19 pandemic, there is acceptance that a blended approach for anatomy curriculum delivery is optimal for learners.Setting up a new UK Medical School in 2019 necessitated building a new cadaveric anatomy facility.

Building global vaccine manufacturing capacity: Spotlight on Africa.

Africa is set to experience a three-fold increase in vaccine demand by 2040, yet the continent possesses few domestic capabilities for vaccine production. This lack of production capacity, heavy reliance on foreign aid, disruptions of hard-won immunization progress due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and fluctuating vaccine market dynamics threaten to hinder ongoing efforts to increase vaccination rates on the continent. In order meet the vaccine demands of a rapidly growing population, and to be able to provide novel vaccines to its population in the future, the African continent must develop a sustainable vaccine manufacturing infrastructure.

Soybean seed proteomics: Methods for the isolation, detection, and identification of low abundance proteins.

The salt-soluble globulins, glycinins (11S globulin), and β-conglycinins (7S globulin), are the most abundant seed proteins of soybean seeds. Together, these two groups of proteins account for 60-70% of total soybean seed proteins. Proteomic assessment of the less abundant soybean seed proteins using general isolation protocols is challenging due to the overwhelming abundance of storage proteins.

Multiple cranial nerve motor deficits, resembling polyneuritis cranialis, in a cat with hyperthyroidism.

A 14 plus-year-old (exact age unknown) neutered female domestic shorthair cat presented with a 6-day history of rapidly evolving difficulty in eating, dropped jaw, protrusion of the tongue, sialosis, change in voice (meow softer and higher pitched) and mild variable pelvic limb weakness. Salient clinical features were a left thyroid nodule, 2/6 systolic cardiac murmur, poor body condition, hypertension, bilateral retinal haemorrhages and an increased total thyroid hormone level consistent with a diagnosis of hyperthyroidism (HT). Neurological examination disclosed mild generalised weakness, bilateral visual deficits attributable to a hypertensive retinopathy and multiple cranial nerve (CN) motor deficits that included; mandibular paresis (CN V), bilateral external ophthalmoparesis (CNs III, IV, VI), bilateral facial paresis (CN VII), dysphagia (CNs IX, X), dysphonia (CN XI) and symmetrical paresis of the tongue (CN XII).

Severe corneal melting after cataract surgery in patients prescribed topical postoperative NSAIDs and dexamethasone/neomycin combination therapy.

Three patients using a postoperative combination of topical ketorolac (Acular) and neomycin/polymyxin B sulfate/dexamethasone (Maxitrol) were diagnosed with atypical keratopathy soon after routine cataract surgery. An immediate retrospective analysis of hospital patients who had used this topical drug combination in the previous year identified 10 other patients who also had significant corneal pathology after uneventful cataract surgery. Five of the 13 affected patients had corneal melting and 1 patient had corneal perforation and endophthalmitis.

"No one may starve in the British Empire": Kwashiorkor, Protein and the Politics of Nutrition Between Britain and Africa.

Throughout the twentieth century it was widely assumed that African diets were grossly deficient in protein, that childhood protein deficiency was a natural result of this generalised diet and that a relative lack of meat and milk went some way to explaining African economic underdevelopment. This article explores why these conclusions took hold; the European deification of animal protein in previous centuries; structural changes to African diets and food economies under colonial government; and the political value of such a consensus. Unlike elsewhere in the world, where deficiency was removed from the exceptionalism of tropical medicine, protein malnutrition was constructed as a particularly African concern.

Primary Human Natural Killer Cells Retain Proinflammatory IgG1 at the Cell Surface and Express CD16a Glycoforms with Donor-dependent Variability.

Post-translational modification confers diverse functional properties to immune system proteins. The composition of serum proteins such as immunoglobulin G (IgG) strongly associates with disease including forms lacking a fucose modification of the crystallizable fragment (Fc) asparagine(N)-linked glycan that show increased effector function, however, virtually nothing is known about the composition of cell surface receptors or their bound ligands because of low abundance in the circulating blood. We isolated primary NK cells from apheresis filters following plasma or platelet donation to characterize the compositional variability of Fc γ receptor IIIa/CD16a and its bound ligand, IgG1.

Shared decision-making in psychiatry: a study of patient attitudes.

Objectives: Shared decision-making (SDM) is promoted as beneficial in mental healthcare, despite a dearth of supportive evidence. We aimed to obtain patients' perspective on SDM in a 'real world' hospital sample.

Methods: Structured validated questionnaires were used to examine SDM with regard to treatment choices, and whether SDM influences attitudes towards treatment.

Diffusion tensor imaging determines three-dimensional architecture of human cervix: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: To determine the microarchitecture of the cervix using high-resolution diffusion tensor (DT) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Leeds, UK.

An unusual diagnosis for persistent diarrhoea and vomiting.

Identifying the etiology of chronic diarrhoea might be challenging in some patients, and before a diagnosis is made these patients may spend a substantial length of time with unresolved symptoms leading to uncertainty and anxiety that is severely impairing their life quality. A 45-year-old female was referred by her general practitioner with a 5-year history of increasingly frequent episodes of cyclical diarrhoea, vomiting, abdominal pain and intermittent palpitations. Contrast CT Abdomen/Pelvis revealed a 36x33x46 mm mass in the aorto caval region of her retro-peritoneum, just above the bifurcation.

Malnutrition in a Modernising Economy: The Changing Aetiology and Epidemiology of Malnutrition in an African Kingdom, Buganda c.1940-73.

The ecological fecundity of the northern shore of Lake Victoria was vital to Buganda's dominance of the interlacustrine region during the pre-colonial period. Despite this, protein-energy malnutrition was notoriously common throughout the twentieth century. This paper charts changes in nutritional illness in a relatively wealthy, food-secure area of Africa during a time of vast social, economic and medical change.

Stable isotope anatomy of tropical cyclone Ita, North-Eastern Australia, April 2014.

The isotope signatures registered in speleothems during tropical cyclones (TC) provides information about the frequency and intensity of past TCs but the precise relationship between isotopic composition and the meteorology of TCs remain uncertain. Here we present continuous δ18O and δ2H data in rainfall and water vapour, as well as in discrete rainfall samples, during the passage of TC Ita and relate the evolution in isotopic compositions to local and synoptic scale meteorological observations. High-resolution data revealed a close relationship between isotopic compositions and cyclonic features such as spiral rainbands, periods of stratiform rainfall and the arrival of subtropical and tropical air masses with changing oceanic and continental moisture sources.

Australian tropical cyclone activity lower than at any time over the past 550-1,500 years.

The assessment of changes in tropical cyclone activity within the context of anthropogenically influenced climate change has been limited by the short temporal resolution of the instrumental tropical cyclone record (less than 50 years). Furthermore, controversy exists regarding the robustness of the observational record, especially before 1990. Here we show, on the basis of a new tropical cyclone activity index (CAI), that the present low levels of storm activity on the mid west and northeast coasts of Australia are unprecedented over the past 550 to 1,500 years.

Titan: a distant but enticing destination for human visitors.

Until recently, very little was known about Saturn's largest satellite, Titan. But that has changed dramatically since the Cassini spacecraft started orbiting in the Saturn system in 2004. Larger than Mercury and with a dense atmosphere, Titan has many of the characteristics of a planet.

Palaeotempestology: the study of prehistoric tropical cyclones--a review and implications for hazard assessment.

Records of prehistoric tropical cyclones occur in the form of ridges of coral rubble, sand, shell, sand and shell, and pumice; erosional terraces in raised gravel beaches; barrier washover deposits; and, sediments deposited in the shallow offshore marine environment. Other less well-documented records occur as variations in isotopic ratios within speleothems and possibly tree rings, and changes in pollen records resulting from introduction of new species after forest disturbance due to cyclonic winds. As yet, such records have not been identified beyond 5500 years of age.