An association between the acute phase response and patterns of antigen induced T cell proliferation in juvenile idiopathic arthritis

The aim of this research was to determine whether all memory T cells have the same propensity to migrate to the joint in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Paired synovial fluid and peripheral blood mononuclear cell proliferative responses to a panel of antigens were measured and the results correlated with a detailed set of laboratory and clinical data from 39 patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Two distinct patterns of proliferative response were found in the majority of patients: a diverse pattern, in which synovial fluid responses were greater than peripheral blood responses for all antigens tested; and a restricted pattern, in which peripheral blood responses to some antigens were more vigorous than those in the synovial fluid compartment. The diverse pattern was generally found in patients with a high acute phase response, whereas patients without elevated acute phase proteins were more likely to demonstrate a restricted pattern. We propose that an association between the synovial fluid T cell repertoire and the acute phase response suggests that proinflammatory cytokines may influence recruitment of memory T cells to an inflammatory site, independent of their antigen specificity. Additionally, increased responses to enteric bacteria and the presence of αEβ7 T cells in synovial fluid may reflect accumulation of gut associated T cells in the synovial compartment, even in the absence of an elevated acute phase response. This is the first report of an association between the acute phase response and the T cell population recruited to an inflammatory site.     

Isolation and properties of Bacillus brevis mutants unable to produce tyrocidine.

Mutants of Bacillus brevis ATCC 10068 were isolated which produced less than 1/100 of the amount of tyrocidine produced by the parent strain. These mutants produced spores at the same frequency and which were as resistant to heating at 80 degrees C for up to 3 h as were those produced by the parent strain. A partially purified tyrocidine synthetase from strain ATCC 10068 catalyzed [32P]PPi-ATP exchange reactions dependent on added tyrocidine-constituent amino acids. These activities were separated into three groups (I, II, and III) by fractionation on an Ultrogel AcA34 column. Each group was similar to one of the three components (heavy, intermediate, and light, respectively) found previously for strain ATCC 8185 except that glutamate-dependent activity was not detected in the group I activities and some amino acyl-tRNA synthetase activities were associated with the group III activities. Some of the mutants were shown to have defective tyrocidine synthetase enzymes. Mutant BH30 was defective in two of the group II amino acid-dependent [32P]PPi-ATP exchange reactions, mutant BH16 was defective in one of the group I and one of the group II reactions, and mutant BH34 had alterations to activities in all of the groups. It is unlikely that any of these mutants could synthesise tyrocidine. We conclude that tyrocidine is not involved in either the sporulation process or the resistance of spores of B. brevis ATCC 10068 to heating at 80 degrees C for up to 3 h.     

Wading through the swamp: what does tropical peatland restoration mean to national‐level stakeholders in Indonesia?

Ecological restoration is considered to play an important role in mitigating climate change, protecting biodiversity, and preventing environmental degradation. Yet, there are often multiple perspectives on what outcomes restoration should be aiming to achieve, and how we should get to that point. In this study we interview a range of policymakers, academics, and non‐governmental organization (NGO) representatives to explore the range of perspectives on the restoration of Indonesia's tropical peatlands—key global ecosystems that have undergone large‐scale degradation. Thematic analysis suggests that participants agreed about the importance of restoration, but had differing opinions on how effective restoration activities to date have been and what a restored peatland landscape should look like. These results exemplify how ecological restoration can mean different things to different people, but also highlight important areas of consensus for moving forward with peatland restoration strategies.     

Associations between Extending Access to Primary Care and Emergency Department Visits: A Difference-In-Differences Analysis

BackgroundHealth services across the world increasingly face pressures on the use of expensive hospital services. Better organisation and delivery of primary care has the potential to manage demand and reduce costs for hospital services, but routine primary care services are not open during evenings and weekends.Extended access (evening and weekend opening) is hypothesized to reduce pressure on hospital services from emergency department visits. However, the existing evidence-base is weak, largely focused on emergency out-of-hours services, and analysed using a before-and after-methodology without effective comparators.ConclusionsThe study found that extending access was associated with a reduction in emergency department visits in the first 12 months. The results of the research have already informed the decision by National Health Service England to extend primary care access across Greater Manchester from 2016. However, further evidence is needed to understand whether extending primary care access is cost-effective and sustainable.     

An approach to overcoming regeneration recalcitrance in genetic transformation of lupins and other legumes

For pulse legume research to fully capitalise on developments in plant molecular genetics, a high throughput genetic transformation methodology is required. In Western Australia the dominant grain legume is Lupinus angustifolius L. (narrow leafed lupin; NLL). Standard transformation methodology utilising Agrobacterium tumefaciens on wounded NLL seedling shoot apices, in combination with two different herbicide selections (phosphinothricin and glyphosate) is time consuming, inefficient, and produces chimeric shoots that often fail to yield transgenic progeny. Investigation of hygromycin as an alternative selection in combination with expression of green fluorescent protein indicated that transformation of NLL apical cells was not the rate limiting step to achieve transgenic shoot materials. In this research it was identified that despite ready transformation, apical cells were not competent to regenerate. However a deep and broad wounding procedure to expose underlying axillary shoot and vascular cells to Agrobacterium, in combination with delayed selection proved successful, increasing initial explants transformation efficiency up to 75?% and generating axillary shoots with significant transgenic content. Based on knowledge gained from studies of plant chimeras, further subculture of these initial axillary shoots will result in development of low chimeric transgenic materials with heritable content. Furthermore, the method was also tested successfully on other Lupinus species, faba bea and field pea. These results demonstrate that development of a high yielding transformation methodology for pulse legume crops is achievable.