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Filamentous influenza A (IAV) virions can resist inactivation at the level of cell entry. Filaments therefore predominate over spherical particles in clinical infections and may enable viruses to persist and evolve in the face of immune pressure. Despite this, the mechanism of virion shape regulation is not well understood. Shape distribution is currently viewed as a defined feature of a viral genome. However, unpublished data in our lab show that shape can be tuned phenotypically in response to external pressures, without a genetic change. Our goal is to investigate non-genetic determinants of shape in order to begin piecing together the overall mechanism of shape regulation. I performed single-cycle infections with influenza A virus in the presence of inhibitors targeting defined steps in the virus life cycle. I measured the resulting dynamic shape effects using our novel flow virometry approach. Unlike traditional electron microscopy, this technique enables us to measure the shape of many individual fluorescently-labeled virus particles in a high-throughput manner. My results reveal that shape changes actively in response to treatment within a single cycle of infection, in which genetic change is unlikely. Overall, reduced viral yields correlate with increased amounts of filaments. Additionally, I show that inhibiting viral production after endocytosis leads to greater amounts of filaments for greater input particles. This is consistent with host cell membrane surface tension playing a role in phenotypic tuning of shape. I further demonstrate that membrane surface tension can also explain how certain published genetic changes affect shape. Based on our results, we propose shifting the field’s current perspective on virion shape regulation to include both genetics and external environment. Our insight can also be used to inform antiviral strategies, in order to avoid inhibitors which drive formation of filamentous particles.

Additional file 3. Standardised coefficients of the cross-lagged analysis on the relationships of the socio-demographic variables on LS at T2.

Additional file 1.

Additional file 2. Implicit willingness-to-pay of self-rated health status and social support from wellbeing valuation studies in an Asian context.

Additional file 1.

To The Editor: We thank Huisstede and colleagues for their interest in our publication and their comments.1 Like the authors we agree wholeheartedly that weight reduction is key to improving asthma control and quality of life in obese patients, and that bariatric surgery is one treatment option to help achieve this. However, access to bariatric surgery varies between countries. In the UK, this option is only available for patients with a BMI range of 35-40 together with additional medical problems such as type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure proven to be improved by marked weight loss, or a BMI >40. This does not include the obese asthmatics that took part in our study (mean BMI of 28). We note that while Huisstede and colleagues found no difference in the eosinophil count between obese asthmatics and obese controls in their analysis,2 their patients were a very different cohort (with a BMI >45) compared to our group. Therefore we believe it is difficult to draw comparisons between the two studies., This work was supported by Asthma UK [08/11], the Medical Research Council [grant number MR/J00345X/1], the Wellcome Trust [grant number 098351/Z/12/Z], Cambridge NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Wellcome Trust Senior Fellowship (to CEB) [grant number WT082265], AirPROM 7th EU Framework grant and Leicester NIHR Biomedical Research Centre.

Use of autologous Technetium-labelled neutrophils to quantify lung neutrophil clearance in COPD

The gig economy can be described as a temporary work-environment where an independent workforce uses platforms to find and draw income from work. In 2016, 20-30% of US and Europe’s population took part in some kind of independent work, and the amount of selfemployed in Sweden is growing. However, at what rate it grows differs depending on how these workers are defined. Within the gig economy, the fastest growing areas of work are in knowledge intensive- and creative environments such as consulting. Using gig consultants provides companies access to top talent within IT, which is required in many businesses and industries where digitalisation is disrupting their ways of working. One of these industries is manufacturing, where e.g. servitisation and Industry 4.0 makes the companies more digital and connected. The purpose of this thesis was to understand how manufacturing companies handle their external talent management and demand for consultant hires within IT, both now and in the future as the amount of gig consultants increases. This was done by conducting interviews with representatives from five Swedish manufacturing companies within automotive and machinery. The interviewees had different roles, but were or had been responsible for hiring consultants within IT. The empirics gained from the interviews were combined with theory, mainly on talent management and managing external talent. The main findings from the study were that in most cases, the companies do not choose between a consultant and a gig consultant, they rather look for the right competence. Gig consultants are however seen as more of experts and can specifically be hired when frontedge or niched competence is needed. On the other hand, consultants can be used when a complete solution has to be delivered as the capacity of a consultancy is higher. To ensure successful consultant hires, the IT departments work with preferred suppliers with whom they have framework agreements to access and hire talent. These suppliers include both consultancies and brokers, from where they get both regular consultants and gig consultants. In general, what defines a successful hire of a consultant is that he or she is sufficiently competent and able to quickly adapt to the company. Additionally, a successful hire is when the project or assignment is completed on time with good result. The main advantages with hiring gig consultants are that acquiring competence can be made easier and more flexible, they can also access more niched competencies. The main disadvantage is that it is unclear who takes responsibility if a gig consultant cannot deliver as they are not part of a firm who can send a replacement. However, some brokers seem to replace the gig consultant. Gigekonomin kan beskrivas som en tillfällig arbetsmiljö där en självständig arbetsstyrka använder sig av plattformar för att hitta och tjäna pengar på sitt arbete. Under 2016 jobbade 20-30% av befolkningen i USA och Europa med någon form av självständigt arbete, och denna grupp växer i antal i Sverige. Däremot kan tillväxttakten se lite olika ut beroende på hur man definierar dessa självständiga arbetare. De snabbast växande områdena för självständigt arbete inom gigekonomin är i kunskapsintensiva och kreativa områden såsom konsultbranschen. Genom att använda sig av så kallade gigkonsulter kan företag få tillgång till topptalanger och kompetens inom IT, vilket det är ett stort behov av inom många industrier där digitaliseringen radikalt förändrar de arbetssätt som finns. En av dessa industrier är den tillverkande industrin, där bland annat servitisation och Industry 4.0 gör att företagen måste bli mer digitala och uppkopplade. Syftet med detta examensarbete var att undersöka hur tillverkande företag jobbar med extern talent management och sitt behov av extern kompetens inom IT, både nu och i framtiden eftersom antalet gigkonsulter ökar. Studien genomfördes genom intervjuer med representanter från fem svenska tillverkande företag med inriktning mot fordon och maskiner. De personer som intervjuades hade olika roller inom företagen, men jobbar med eller har erfarenhet av att hyra in konsulter inom IT. Den empiri som intervjuerna gav kombinerades med teori, huvudsakligen inom talent management och hur man jobbar med extern inhyrning av kompetens. De viktigaste upptäckterna från studien var att företagen i de flesta fall inte väljer mellan en konsult och en gigkonsult, de letar snarare efter rätt kompetens. Gigkonsulter ses dock som experter i större utsträckning och används speciellt när spetskompetens behövs. Däremot används konsulter i större utsträckning när en komplett lösning behöver levereras då ett konsultföretags kapacitet är högre eftersom de har anställda konsulter. För att lyckas med en extern inhyrning så använder företagen så kallade “preferred suppliers” som de har ramavtal med. Bland dessa finns både klassiska konsultföretag med anställda konsulter och så kallade konsultmäklare som de använder för att ta in gigkonsulter. Generellt definierar företagen en inhyrning som lyckad om personen är tillräckligt kompetent och snabbt kan anpassa sig till företaget och dess arbetssätt, och projektet eller uppdraget blir klart i tid med gott resultat. Den främsta fördelen företagen ser med gigkonsulter är att man lättare och mer flexibelt kan få tag på kompetens. Den främsta nackdelen är att det finns en osäkerhet i vem som tar ansvar om en gigkonsult inte kan leverera, eftersom de inte jobbar för en konsultfirma som kan skicka en ersättare. Vissa konsultmäklare verkar dock ordna en ersättare.

This clinical study explored the significance of the experience of an absent father on the identity formation of women in an attempt to understand the psychological effect of father absence and the role this experience plays in terms of the daughter's, confidence, self esteem, social identity and intimate relationships. The influence on resiliency of the absent father experience is also a critical aspect of this research. The two theoretical frameworks that guide this clinical study are: the psychodynamic approach, more specifically, objects relations, and self psychology, and Bowens’ family systems theory. The research method is a qualitative design to develop an in-depth understanding of the sample population of twenty adult women who had grown up without a father and live in the geographical area of Cape Town. Data was collected using an in-depth, semistructured interview, facilitated by open-ended questions contained in an interview guide. A wide range of conditions affected participants in the study. Presence of a positive caregiver experience in early childhood appeared to play a role in the psychological well-being of the women. The quality of the women's relationships also appeared to be influenced by their early relational experiences. Poverty was the cause of hardship for many of the participants. Some of the women experienced shame and an internal poverty of worthlessness resulting from perceived rejection and abandonment by their fathers. These psychological experiences were found to influence social interactions and they were often less socially engaged than their peers. The women were generally resilient, at least to some degree and received a measure of support from others, however many felt they were their own most reliable resource.

To The Editor: Eosinophils play an important pathogenic role in pulmonary and systemic conditions including eosinophilic asthma and eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis.1,2 While progress has been made in understanding the mechanisms responsible for the activation of these cells, existing biomarkers of eosinophilic inflammation are indirect and/or invasive and do not always correlate with tissue eosinophilia. Hence, there is a need to develop non-invasive biomarkers of tissue eosinophilia. We have previously demonstrated the capacity of SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) to quantify neutrophil uptake into the lungs of COPD patients.3 We sought to determine whether this methodology could be used to quantify eosinophil kinetics and pulmonary uptake, which may differ amongst diseases characterized by eosinophilic inflammation. In particular, the role of the eosinophil in asthma with obesity, a distinct asthma endotype associated with increased severity,4 is controversial. We hypothesized that injection of radiolabeled eosinophils, coupled with SPECT/CT, would reveal changes in eosinophil kinetics in patients compared to healthy volunteers.

International audience

A Spanish group recently reported that four patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy carrying IgG4 autoantibodies against contactin 1 showed aggressive symptom onset and poor response to intravenous immunoglobulin. We aimed to describe the clinical and serological features of Japanese chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy patients displaying the anti-contactin 1 antibodies. Thirteen of 533 (2.4%) patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy had anti-contactin 1 IgG4 whereas neither patients from disease or normal control subjects did (P = 0.02). Three of 13 (23%) patients showed subacute symptom onset, but all of the patients presented with sensory ataxia. Six of 10 (60%) anti-contactin 1 antibody-positive patients had poor response to intravenous immunoglobulin, whereas 8 of 11 (73%) antibody-positive patients had good response to corticosteroids. Anti-contactin 1 IgG4 antibodies are a possible biomarker to guide treatment option.

A new striped Ichthyophis is described based on one adult male collected from the southeastern slope of Mt. Kinabalu, Sabah, East Malaysia. The new species is characterized by the absence of yellow marking on the jaw angle and the presence of a lateral stripe on most of the collar region, and is distinguished from all other striped congeners by a combination of characters that includes body size and proportion, position of tentacles, shape of annular grooves, and number of annuli, scale rows, and splenial teeth. The anterior phallodeum morphology is also described for the new species.

Humanity has always used energy in different forms; muscle power and heating, for example. The sources of energy undergo constant development, and in the 18th century, fossil fuels were discovered. Today, the awareness of climatic effects and climate problems related to the fossil fuels has increased, and they are not accepted in the same way they were then. One of today’s common sources of energy is biomass. The usage of biomass is nothing new, for example, the burning of wood has been used for cooking and heating for a long time, but today there are additional possible uses, and even more areas of use are under development. Biomass is a renewable source of energy, containing inartificial organic material, living or dead. There are three types of biomass: raw material from the forest, from watercourses and from agriculture. These can, among other things, be used for biofuels, food and animal feed, textiles, plastics and nanocellulose – a very strong material, with attributes similar to Kevlar. The purpose of this bachelor’s degree project was to investigate the areas of use for biomass and to find out which one of them that is optional, with help from a breakdown of cost and energy, in consideration of chosen limitations and formulations of questions. The work was based on the increasing demand for alternatives to the fossil based energy sources. The aim was to find the optimal area of use for those alternatives, in regard to energy usage, climatic effects and economy. The work begun with an information search, where the areas of use for biomass and their pros and cons were investigated. Then, the three most interesting areas were chosen: combined power and heating, biogas and bioplastics. Subcategories were chosen and calculations were made for these with an economic, environmental and ethical perspective, in order to decide the optimal area of use for biomass. The final result was that, among other things discovered, combined heating and power fueled with wooden chips is the most optimal area of use for biomass considering climatic/environmental effects, and that bioplastics is the most optimal area of use for the future, considering chosen limitations. Combined power and heating fueled with waste is the area of use that generates the biggest income in comparison to raw material cost. Människan har alltid använt sig av energi i olika former, exempelvis muskelkraft och värme. Energikällorna är under ständig utveckling, och på 1700-talet upptäcktes fossila bränslen. På senare tid har dock medvetenheten om miljöpåverkan och olika klimatproblem relaterade till de fossila källorna ökat, vilket lett till att de inte längre är lika acceptabla. En av dagens vanliga energikällor är biomassa. Användning av biomassa i sig är ingen nymodighet, till exempel trä har länge eldats för att erhålla värme och tillaga mat. Idag finns däremot fler användningsområden, och ännu fler är under utveckling. Biomassa är en förnybar energikälla som innefattar naturligt, levande eller dött, organiskt material. Det finns tre typer av biomassa; skogsråvara, råvara från jordbruket samt vattendrag. Dessa biomassor kan användas till bland annat biobränslen och drivmedel, mat och djurfoder, textil, plast och nanocellulosa – ett mycket starkt material som egenskapsmässigt kan jämföras med kevlar. Syftet med detta kandidatexamensarbete var att undersöka användningsområden för biomassa och se vilket som är optimalt för användning med hänsyn till angivna avgränsningar och frågeställningar. Arbetet grundade sig i den ökade efterfrågan på alternativ till de fossilbaserade energikällorna och sammanställningar av energi- och kostnadsdata låg som grund. Målet var att ta reda på vad som är den mest optimala användningen av dessa med avseende på energianvändning, miljöpåverkan och ekonomi. Arbetet började med en litteraturstudie, där de olika användningsområdena för biomassa, samt dess fördelar och nackdelar undersöktes. Därefter valdes de tre mest intressanta områdena ut; kraftvärme, biogas och bioplast. Sedan valdes specifika områden för dessa, och beräkningar gjordes med ekonomiskt, miljömässigt och etiskt perspektiv, så att den optimala användningen för biomassa kunde tas fram. Till slut konstaterades det, bland annat, att fliseldad kraftvärme är den mest optimala användningen av biomassa sett till miljöpåverkan och bioplast är det användningsområde för biomassa som har bäst potential för framtiden sett till givna avgränsningar. Avfallseldad kraftvärme är det användningsområde för biomassa som genererar störst inkomst i förhållande till kostnad för råvaran.

ImportanceEarly intervention for substance use is critical to improving adolescent outcomes. Studies have found promising results for Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT), but little research has examined implementation.ObjectiveTo compare SBIRT implementation in pediatric primary care among trained pediatricians, pediatricians working in coordination with embedded behavioral health care practitioners (BHCPs), and usual care (UC).Design, setting, and participantsThe study is a 2-year (November 1, 2011, through October 31, 2013), nonblinded, cluster randomized, hybrid implementation and effectiveness trial examining SBIRT implementation outcomes across 2 modalities of implementation and UC. Fifty-two pediatricians from a large general pediatrics clinic in an integrated health care system were randomized to 1 of 3 SBIRT implementation arms; patients aged 12 to 18 years were eligible.InterventionsTwo modes of SBIRT implementation, (1) pediatrician only (pediatricians trained to provide SBIRT) and (2) embedded BHCP (BHCP trained to provide SBIRT), and (3) UC.Main outcomes and measuresImplementation of SBIRT (primary outcome), which included assessments, brief interventions, and referrals to specialty substance use and mental health treatment.ResultsThe final sample included 1871 eligible patients among 47 pediatricians; health care professional characteristics did not differ across study arms. Patients in the pediatrician-only (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 10.37; 95% CI, 5.45-19.74; P < .001) and the embedded BHCP (AOR, 18.09; 95% CI, 9.69-33.77; P < .001) arms had higher odds of receiving brief interventions compared with patients in the UC arm. Patients in the embedded BHCP arm were more likely to receive brief interventions compared with those in the pediatrician-only arm (AOR, 1.74; 95% CI, 1.31-2.31; P < .001). The embedded BHCP arm had lower odds of receiving a referral compared with the pediatrician-only (AOR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.43-0.78; P < .001) and UC (AOR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.48-0.89; P = .006) arms; odds of referrals did not differ between the pediatrician-only and UC arms.Conclusions and relevanceThe intervention arms had better screening, assessment, and brief intervention rates than the UC arm. Patients in the pediatrician-only and UC arms had higher odds of being referred to specialty treatment than those in the embedded BHCP arm, suggesting lingering barriers to having pediatricians fully address substance use in primary care. Findings also highlight age and ethnic groups less likely to receive these important services.Trial registrationClinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT02408952.

Children’s picture books provide images and knowledge for small children to learn about other people, places, and cultures. Many public libraries of major cities in the United States have a branch targeting service to Chinese residents such as the Chicago Public Library Chinatown Branch, San Francisco, and Los Angeles public library systems. These libraries have a tremendous collection of Chinese children picture books. As a Chinese American librarian, I am curious to find out, what kinds of Chinese picture books are housed in the Mid-Western public libraries of the United States, where the communities are predominantly Caucasian (European American). This study explores the Chinese picture book collection of the 16 Northeast Kansas Library System libraries. A total of 118 titles of eight hundred and fifty-eight Chinese picture books are recorded. This study suggests that population ethnicity is not a factor for purchasing Chinese children's picture books amongst the local libraries. Despite the demographic statistics, it appears that many Mid-Western residents are interested in exploring Chinese culture and its fascinating folklore stories. The main themes of the Chinese children's books have moved away from the predominant folklores to the contemporary stories.

Instructional animations are commonly used in computer-based educational environments. However, despite the appeal of instructional animations, the factors influencing their effectiveness are still not fully understood, often making appropriate implementation in educational settings difficult. Much of the existing literature has found that animations were not superior to, or worse than, static graphics. The variety of results suggests the effectiveness of animations is influenced by a number of design factors and individual learner characteristics. One such factor is the knowledge domain an instructional animation depicts. Emerging evidence suggests that animation may be effective under certain knowledge domains. One such context is human movement. The present series of experiments systematically investigated the cognitive effects of instructional animations and informationally equivalent static graphics depicting human movement tasks across different conditions. Experiments 1 and 2 found animation was better than static graphics for a human movement task, whereas the advantage of animation was lost for a task depicting non-human movement. Experiment 3, using a human movement task, found animation was superior to static graphics. Further, there was no difference between whether participants practised or not, nor the type of practice undertaken. Experiment 4 found human movement- based animation was superior to all static graphics formats, regardless of whether they were presented sequentially or simultaneously. There was also no difference between sequential and simultaneous static graphics formats, nor was there any difference between static graphics presented in a paper-based versus computer-based format. Experiment 5 used different materials and found animation was superior to static graphics for information presented in short sections, replicating the results of Experiments 1–4. In contrast, the superiority of animation was lost for information presented in long sections, due to the transience of the information. The results from the experiments in this thesis consistently demonstrated that for tasks depicting human movement, animation is more effective than static graphics, so long as the amount of information presented does not exceed working memory limits. The benefits of animations did not extend to non-human movement domains, such as mechanical movement tasks.

While openness to trade is a well-recognized hallmark of the Asian growth model, another component of the model is a leapfrogging strategy—the use of policies to guide industrial structural transformation ahead of a country's factor endowment. Does the leapfrogging strategy work? Opinions vary but the evidence is scarce in part because it is more difficult to measure the degree of leapfrogging than the extent of trade openness. We undertake a systematic look at the evidence both across countries and subregions within a large regional Asian economy to assess the efficacy of such a strategy. We conclude that there is no strong and robust evidence that this strategy works reliably.

To The Editor: Eosinophils play an important pathogenic role in pulmonary and systemic conditions including eosinophilic asthma and eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis.1,2 While progress has been made in understanding the mechanisms responsible for the activation of these cells, existing biomarkers of eosinophilic inflammation are indirect and/or invasive and do not always correlate with tissue eosinophilia. Hence, there is a need to develop non-invasive biomarkers of tissue eosinophilia. We have previously demonstrated the capacity of SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) to quantify neutrophil uptake into the lungs of COPD patients.3 We sought to determine whether this methodology could be used to quantify eosinophil kinetics and pulmonary uptake, which may differ amongst diseases characterized by eosinophilic inflammation. In particular, the role of the eosinophil in asthma with obesity, a distinct asthma endotype associated with increased severity,4 is controversial. We hypothesized that injection of radiolabeled eosinophils, coupled with SPECT/CT, would reveal changes in eosinophil kinetics in patients compared to healthy volunteers.

NAFLD patients usually have an increase in AST/ALT levels, but cholestasis can also be observed. We aimed to assess in subjects with NAFLD the impact of the (cholestatic) C pattern on the likelihood of developing major liver-related outcomes (MALO)., None. GS is supported by a Senior Salary Award from Fonds de la Recherche en Santé du Quebéc (FRQS) (#296306).

Thesis (MEd) -- University of South Australia, 1994 Bibliography: leaf 75-79.