Use of Lethal Control to Reduce Habituation to Blank Rounds by Scavenging Birds

Abstract Scavenging bird deterrence frequently fails due to habituation. We demonstrated such habituation by gulls and corvids to blank rounds used in a dawn-to-dusk regime at a landfill site in southern England. We then combined blank rounds with live rounds and shot birds whenever they attempted to land. Gull numbers declined significantly despite only 1.9% of the population being shot. Corvid numbers returned to precontrol levels despite 52.7% of the population being shot. We suggest that shooting reduces gull habituation to blank rounds but is ineffective at reducing habituation by corvids.     

The Middle Care Round

As an experiment in postgraduate education a 25-week course in weekly ward rounds for general practitioners and local authority nurses was established at a district general hospital of 340 beds. A total of 73 rounds were held, divided into 12-, 4-, and 9-week courses, from January to December 1969. Ninety-nine general practitioners and district nurses (including health visitors) attended one or more of these rounds. Seventeen consultants participated and there were 273 doctor attendances and 190 nurse attendances. The average attendance per round was four doctors and two nurses. The number of rounds conducted by each of the consultants throughout the course varied from two to six. This paper presents an evaluation of the course.     

Quantitative analysis of the DNA content in salivary gland chromosomes of Chrironomus thummi in the larval and prepupal stages]

Relative DNA content during the polytenization of the salivary gland nuclei of Chironomus thummi was measured by cytophotometric and cytofluorometric methods. To estimate polyteny degree, DNA content was calculated in hemocyte and spermatocyte nuclei. Chromosome polytenization is associated with the 10th-12th replication rounds. There are 4-5 replication rounds in the 1st instar, 2-3 rounds in the 2nd instar, the 3rd and the 4th instars have 1-2 rounds each. From early postembryonic development, larvae already have salivary gland nuclei representing two polyteny classes (2-2-2-4c), this heterogeneity being retained in all instars. Approximate DNA content is 0.51-0.58 picogram per a diploid set.     

Initiation and termination of chromosome replication at 45 degree C in a temperature-sensitive deoxyribonucleic acid initiation mutant of Bacillus subtilis 168, TsB134.

Deoxyribose nucleic acid transfer experiments showed that upon shifting Bacillus subtilis TsB134 to 45 degree C, initiation of new rounds of replication was effectively blocked and the majority of existing rounds terminated.     

Medical grand rounds: alive and well and living in Canada.

Grand rounds have long been the principal educational activity of departments of medicine at teaching hospitals. Several recent articles have suggested that there has been a general deterioration in the quality of grand rounds. To evaluate their status in Canada we mailed a questionnaire to the chairmen of the departments of medicine at the 53 Canadian teaching hospitals; of the 48 responses received (91%), 38 were from chairmen, 5 were from senior department members, and 5 were from chief residents. The results indicated that grand rounds continued to be the principal teaching exercise of the departments. Of the respondents 98% felt that the quality had improved or stayed the same. The overall attendance was considered to have improved or remained unchanged for the past decade by 75%; 25% thought that it had declined. The diminished emphasis on patient-related topics concerned 10%. The respondents gave numerous suggestions, which should help organizers to improve the impact of grand rounds on learning.     

Bus rounds for palliative care education in the community

Increasingly, patients with cancer are dying at home and in continuing care facilities. The purpose of bus rounds is to provide continuing education to physicians and nurse palliative care consultants, to familiarize family physicians with the delivery of care in these settings and to educate family medicine and specialty residents as well as medical students. A total of 18 4-hour bus rounds took place during 1996. A mean of 13 (range 9 to 17) participants attended, to discuss a mean of 3.5 (range 2 to 4) patients and 4.5 (range 3 to 8) journal articles. A questionnaire was filled out anonymously by 18 first-time medical and 24 first-time nursing participants. On a scale from 1 (worst) to 5 (best), they gave the rounds an overall rating of 5 (range 4 to 5). The mean cost per round was $245.40. The authors conclude that bus rounds provide an opportunity for intensive exposure to community-based learning for physicians, nurses and students and are highly satisfactory from the participants'' perspective.     

Progress towards eliminating lymphatic filariasis in Zanzibar: a model programme

Programmes to eliminate lymphatic filariasis are underway in ten countries of sub-Saharan Africa, and in several programmes outside Africa five rounds of mass drug administration (MDA) are being completed. In Africa, Egypt and Zanzibar have completed five rounds of MDA. Zanzibar was the first country to complete five rounds of treatment using a combination of albendazole and ivermectin, reducing both the prevalence and intensity of Wuchereria bancrofti. Characteristics of the Zanzibar programme serve as a model for other countries: factors crucial to its success include high-level political commitment, the development of appropriate social mobilization strategies, the involvement of communities in drug distribution, and the introduction of morbidity management for individuals with lymphoedema.     

Relationships of the Location and Content of Rounds to Specialty,Institution, Patient-Census,and Team Size

Objective

Existing observational data describing rounds in teaching hospitals are 15 years old, predate duty-hour regulations, are limited to one institution, and do not include pediatrics. We sought to evaluate the effect of medical specialty, institution, patient-census, and team participants upon time at the bedside and education occurring on rounds.

Methods and Participants

Between December of 2007 and October of 2008 we performed 51 observations at Lucile Packard Children''s Hospital, Seattle Children''s Hospital, Stanford University Hospital, and the University of Washington Medical Center of 35 attending physicians. We recorded minutes spent on rounds in three location and seven activity categories, members of the care team, and patient-census.

Results

Results presented are means. Pediatric rounds had more participants (8.2 vs. 4.1 physicians, p<.001; 11.9 vs. 2.4 non-physicians, p<.001) who spent more minutes in hallways (96.9 min vs. 35.2 min, p<.001), fewer minutes at the bedside (14.6 vs. 38.2 min, p = .01) than internal medicine rounds. Multivariate regression modeling revealed that minutes at the bedside per patient was negatively associated with pediatrics (−2.77 adjusted bedside minutes; 95% CI −4.61 to −0.93; p<.001) but positively associated with the number of non-physician participants (0.12 adjusted bedside minutes per non physician participant; 95% CI 0.07 to 0.17; p = <.001). Education minutes on rounds was positively associated with the presence of an attending physician (2.70 adjusted education minutes; 95% CI 1.27 to 4.12; p<.001) and with one institution (1.39 adjusted education minutes; 95% CI 0.26 to 2.53; p = .02).

Conclusions

Pediatricians spent less time at the bedside on rounds than internal medicine physicians due to reasons other than patient-census or the number of participants in rounds. Compared to historical data, internal medicine rounds were spent more at the bedside engaged in patient care and communication, and less upon educational activities.     

Mos limits the number of meiotic divisions in urochordate eggs

Mos kinase is a universal mediator of oocyte meiotic maturation and is produced during oogenesis and destroyed after fertilization. The hallmark of maternal meiosis is that two successive M phases (meiosis I and II) drive two rounds of asymmetric cell division (ACD). However, how the egg limits the number of meioses to just two, thereby preventing gross aneuploidy, is poorly characterized. Here, in urochordate eggs, we show that loss of Mos/MAPK activity is necessary to prevent entry into meiosis III. Remarkably, maintaining the Mos/MAPK pathway active after fertilization at near physiological levels induces additional rounds of meiotic M phase (meiosis III, IV and V). During these additional rounds of meiosis, the spindle is positioned asymmetrically resulting in further rounds of ACD. In addition, inhibiting meiotic exit with Mos prevents pronuclear formation, cyclin A accumulation and maintains sperm-triggered Ca(2+) oscillations, all of which are hallmarks of the meiotic cell cycle in ascidians. It will be interesting to determine whether Mos availability in mammals can also control the number of meioses as it does in the urochordates. Our results demonstrate the power of urochordate eggs as a model to dissect the egg-to-embryo transition.     

从构建的噬菌体抗体库中筛选抗甲肝人单抗

用固相化甲肝抗原,对所构建的噬菌体抗体库进行了3轮淘筛。第3轮淘筛后洗脱下来的噬菌体,较第l轮增加了近100倍。含有抗体重链基因和轻链基因的重组克隆．也由淘筛前的25％增至100％。说明甲肝抗原对抗体库的淘筛,富集了表面呈现甲肝人单抗的噬菌体。经夹心ELISA法筛选到抗甲肝病毒噬菌体抗体,并以竞争抑制实验进一步证实了这些抗体的特异性。     

Bedside manners: Paradoxes of physician behavior in grand rounds

This paper explains some of the routine of grand rounds in a major Israeli teaching hospital. It focuses on paradoxical behavior of physicians and others who participate in grand rounds. Behaviors are explained as boundary marking mechanisms meant to redefine statuses in the hospital and defend the physician from threats to his status. These paradoxical behaviors also function to permit the physician to enter and depart from the more culturally marginal territories of human experience, those which people try to deny or mask in everyday life. In particular, paradoxical behavior arises when dealing with death, waste, and sex. Paradoxical behavior is seen as a means of making a space in which everyday reality is masked and turned into play, creating a boundary between the medical reality and the social world. Paradox and other aspects of the grand rounds serve to restratify and counteract structural breakdown created by the physician's entry into states of pollution.     

External Quality Assessment for Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Drug Resistance in the European Union: A Five Year Multicentre Implementation Study

BackgroundExternal quality assurance (EQA) systems are essential to ensure accurate diagnosis of TB and drug-resistant TB. The implementation of EQA through organising regular EQA rounds and identification of training needs is one of the key activities of the European TB reference laboratory network (ERLTB-Net). The aim of this study was to analyse the results of the EQA rounds in a systematic manner and to identify potential benefits as well as common problems encountered by the participants.MethodsThe ERLTB-Net developed seven EQA modules to test laboratories’ proficiency for TB detection and drug susceptibility testing using both conventional and rapid molecular tools. All National TB Reference laboratories in the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) Member States were invited to participate in the EQA scheme.ResultsA total of 32 National TB Reference laboratories participated in six EQA rounds conducted in 2010–2014. The participation rate ranged from 52.9% - 94.1% over different modules and rounds. Overall, laboratories demonstrated very good proficiency proving their ability to diagnose TB and drug-resistant TB with high accuracy in a timely manner. A small number of laboratories encountered problems with identification of specific Non-tuberculous Mycobacteria (NTMs) (N = 5) and drug susceptibility testing to Pyrazinamide, Amikacin, Capreomycin, and Ethambutol (N = 4).ConclusionsThe European TB Reference laboratories showed a steady and high level of performance in the six EQA rounds. A network such as ERLTB-Net can be instrumental in developing and implementing EQA and in establishing collaboration between laboratories to improve the diagnosis of TB in the EU/EEA.     

Probing the SELEX process with next-generation sequencing

Background

SELEX is an iterative process in which highly diverse synthetic nucleic acid libraries are selected over many rounds to finally identify aptamers with desired properties. However, little is understood as how binders are enriched during the selection course. Next-generation sequencing offers the opportunity to open the black box and observe a large part of the population dynamics during the selection process.

Methodology

We have performed a semi-automated SELEX procedure on the model target streptavidin starting with a synthetic DNA oligonucleotide library and compared results obtained by the conventional analysis via cloning and Sanger sequencing with next-generation sequencing. In order to follow the population dynamics during the selection, pools from all selection rounds were barcoded and sequenced in parallel.

Conclusions

High affinity aptamers can be readily identified simply by copy number enrichment in the first selection rounds. Based on our results, we suggest a new selection scheme that avoids a high number of iterative selection rounds while reducing time, PCR bias, and artifacts.     

Induction of immunological tolerance to adenoviral vectors by using a novel dendritic cell-based strategy

The success of helper-dependent adenoviral (HD-Ad) vector-mediated lung gene therapy is hampered by the host immune response, which limits pulmonary transgene expression following multiple rounds of vector readminstration. Here, we show that HD-Ad-mediated pulmonary gene expression is sustained even upon three rounds of readministration to immunodeficient mice, highlighting the need to suppress the adaptive immune response for sustained gene expression following vector readministration. Therefore, we devised a dendritic cell (DC)-based strategy for induction of immunological tolerance toward HD-Ad vectors. DCs derived in the presence of interleukin-10 (IL-10) are refractory to HD-Ad-induced maturation and instead facilitate generation of IL-10-producing Tr1 regulatory T cells which suppress HD-Ad-induced T cell proliferation. Delivery of HD-Ad-pulsed, IL-10-modified DCs to mice induces long-lasting immunological tolerance to HD-Ad vectors, whereby pulmonary DC maturation, the T cell response, and antibody response to HD-Ad vectors are suppressed even after three rounds of pulmonary HD-Ad readministration. Moreover, sustained transgene expression is also observed in the lungs of mice immunized with HD-Ad-pulsed, IL-10-modified DCs even after three rounds of pulmonary HD-Ad delivery. Taken together, these studies identify the use of DCs generated in the presence of IL-10 as a novel strategy to induce long-lasting immune tolerance to HD-Ad vectors.     

Differential giemsa staining of sister chromatids after extraction with acids

Chromosomes of Chinese hamster strain cells were air-dried on slides after BrdU substitution for two or three rounds of replication. The preparations were treated with 20% PCA at 55 degrees C for 20-30 min, or 5N HCl at 55 degrees C for 15-20 min. After staining with Giemsa, unifilarly BrdU-substituted chromatids stained faintly and bifilarly substituted chromatids stained darkly. Such a pattern of sister chromatid differential staining was confirmed by the examination of metaphase cells grown with BrdU for three rounds of replication.     

日光温室黄瓜长期连作自毒物质累积与土壤肥力因子的关系

以日光温室连作第2、6、10、14、18、20、24、26茬次的黄瓜根际土壤为研究材料,研究了长期连作对黄瓜根际土壤酚酸类物质的影响及其与土壤化学性质、酶活性、微生物活性的关系.结果表明:随着连作茬次的增加,酚酸类物质含量显著增加,且茬次间的总酚增长量在连作前期(0～2茬)和后期(20～26茬)显著高于连作中期(10～...     

Duplication of Escherichia coli during inhibition of net phospholipid synthesis.

In Escherichia coli BB26-36, the inhibition of net phospholipid synthesis during glycerol starvation affected cell duplication in a manner that was similar in some respects to that observed during the inhibition of protein synthesis. Ongoing rounds of chromosome replication continued, and cells in the D period divided. The initiation of new rounds of chromosome replication and division of cells in the C period were inhibited. Unlike the inhibition of protein synthesis, however, the accumulation of initiation potential in dnaA and dnaC mutants at the nonpermissive temperature was not affected by the inhibition of phospholipid synthesis. Furthermore, proteins synthesized during the inhibition of phospholipid synthesis can be utilized later for division. The results are consistent with a dual requirement for protein and phospholipid synthesis for both the inauguration of new rounds of chromosome replication and the initiation of septum formation. Once initiated, both processes progress to completion independent of continuous phospholipid and protein synthesis.