Publications by authors named "T Mackay"

Article Synopsis
  • MPS IIIB is a rare disorder caused by defects in the enzyme NAGLU, leading to brain dysfunction due to the accumulation of heparan sulfate in lysosomes.
  • Researchers created a Drosophila (fruit fly) model with various NAGLU mutations to study the disorder's effects on activity and sleep patterns, revealing significant hyperactivity and sleep issues.
  • The study found that gene expression changes in mutant flies are linked to problems with nervous system development and synaptic function, suggesting that this fly model could help develop future therapies for MPS IIIB.
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Background: Early intervention in psychosis (EIP) services improve outcomes for young people, but approximately 30% disengage.

Aims: To test whether a new motivational engagement intervention would prolong engagement and whether it was cost-effective.

Method: We conducted a multicentre, single-blind, parallel-group, cluster randomised controlled trial involving 20 EIP teams at five UK National Health Service (NHS) sites.

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Background: 4-methylimidazole is a ubiquitous and potentially carcinogenic environmental toxicant. Genetic factors that contribute to variation in susceptibility to its toxic effects are challenging to assess in human populations. We used the Drosophila melanogaster Genetic Reference Panel (DGRP), a living library of natural genetic variation, to identify genes with human orthologs associated with variation in susceptibility to 4-methylimidazole.

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Closed-form expressions were established for depolarization dyadics for a truncated sphere and a truncated spheroid, both electrically small, immersed in a uniaxial dielectric ambient medium. These depolarization dyadics were used to develop the Bruggeman homogenization formalism to predict the relative permittivity dyadic of a homogenized composite material (HCM) arising from a randomly distributed mixture of oriented particles shaped as truncated spheres and spheroids. Unlike other homogenization formalisms, most notably the Maxwell Garnett formalism, the Bruggeman formalism is not restricted to composites containing dilute volume fractions of constituent particles.

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Speciation is a fundamental evolutionary process but the genetic changes accompanying speciation are difficult to determine since true species do not produce viable and fertile offspring. Partially reproductively isolated incipient species are useful for assessing genetic changes that occur prior to speciation. from Zimbabwe, Africa are partially sexually isolated from other populations whose males have poor mating success with Zimbabwe females.

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