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Background To explore the lived experience of chronic pain and dyskinesia in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy. Methods A convergent parallel mixed methods design was undertaken. First, a quantitative cross-sectional study of participants able to self-report their quality of life was undertaken. This study characterised pain chronicity, intensity, body locations, and quality of life. Second, semi-structured interviews were undertaken with a subset of children and adolescents experiencing chronic pain. Results Twenty-five children and adolescents took part in the cross-sectional study, 23 of whom experienced chronic pain and 13 of moderate intensity. Pain was often located in multiple bodily regions (6/21), with no trends in quality of life outcomes detected. Eight participated in semi-structured interviews, which identified three key themes including ‘lives embedded with dyskinesia’, ‘real world challenges of chronic pain’, and ‘still learning strategies to manage their pain and dyskinesia’. Conclusions A high proportion of children and adolescents with cerebral palsy and dyskinesia who were able to self-report experienced chronic pain. The physical and emotional impacts of living with chronic pain and dyskinesia existed along a spectrum, from those with lesser to greater extent of their impacts. Children and adolescents may benefit from targeted chronic pain education and management within bio-psychosocial models.

One-hundred-fourteen kindergarten through third-grade teachers from seven different schools were surveyed using The Survey of Preparedness and Knowledge of Language Structure Related to Teaching Reading to Struggling Students. The purpose was to compare their definitions and application knowledge of language structure, phonics, and other code-based concepts, as well as their perceptions of their own knowledge as operationalized in a scale designed to measure participants’ confidence in their responses. Participants were divided into groups based on their districts’ use or non-use of a scripted, code-based reading program. The code-based reading program group comprised 60 teacher participants, and the no code-based reading program group comprised 54 participants. Multivariate analysis of covariance revealed no significant differences between groups in definitions or application knowledge, once demographic differences were accounted for. Analyses of covariance revealed no significant differences in perceptions of knowledge after accounting for relevant covariates. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated the variance contribution of condition and demographic variables to obtained knowledge to be non-significant, and partial correlation analyses showed only weak, often non-significant correlations between perceived knowledge and obtained knowledge. Overall poor survey performance indicated that the majority of teachers in both conditions did not possess the necessary code-based reading knowledge or application skills to effectively teach struggling readers. The results of this study suggest that the use of a scripted, code-based reading program does not guarantee mastery of language structure, phonics, and other code-based concepts.

Some insects are infected with maternally inherited bacterial endosymbionts that protect them against pathogens or parasitoids. The weevil Sitona obsoletus (=Sitona lepidus) is invasive in New Zealand, and suspected to contain such defensive symbionts, because it is particularly resistant to a Moroccan strain of the parasitoid Microctonus aethiopoides (which successfully attacks many other weevil species), and shows geographic variation in susceptibility to an Irish strain of the same parasitoid. Using 454 pyrosequencing, we investigated the bacterial community associated with S. obsoletus, two other exotic weevils (Sitona discoideus and Listronotus bonariensis) and two endemic New Zealand weevils (Irenimus aequalis and Steriphus variabilis). We found that S. obsoletus was infected by one strain of Wolbachia and two strains of Rickettsia, none of which were found in any other weevil species examined. Using diagnostic PCR, we found that S. obsoletus in the Northland region, where parasitism is highly variable, were primarily infected with Wolbachia and Rickettsia strain 2, indicating that these two symbionts should be investigated for potential defensive properties. In comparison, S. discoideus lacked any apparent maternally inherited bacterial endosymbionts. In the other weevil species, we found a different strain of Wolbachia and two different strains of Spiroplasma. Two weevil species (St. variabilis and L. bonariensis) were infected with distinct strains of Nardonella, the ancestral endosymbiont of weevils, whereas three weevil species (S. obsoletus, S. discoideus, and I. aequalis) lacked evidence for Nardonella infection. However, I. aequalis was consistently infected with a novel Enterobacteriaceae strain, suggesting that a symbiont replacement may have taken place, similar to that described for other weevil clades.

We aimed to investigate whether vitamin D supplementation modulates peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) telomerase activity in overweight African Americans. A double blind, randomized and placebo-controlled clinical trial (#NCT01141192) was recently conducted. African-American adults were randomly assigned to either the placebo, or the vitamin D group (60 000 IU per month (equivalent to ∼2000 IU per day) oral vitamin D3 supplementation). Fresh PBMCs were collected from 37 subjects (18 in the placebo group and 19 in the vitamin D group), both at baseline and 16 weeks. PBMC telomerase activity was measured by the telomeric repeat amplification protocol. Serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D levels increased from 40.7±15.7 at baseline to 48.1±17.5 nmol l–1 at posttest (P=0.004) in the placebo group, and from 35.4±11.3 at baseline to 103.7±31.5 nmol l–1 at posttests (P

We use a novel technique that allows for closed recirculation of vector genomes in the cardiac circulation using cardiopulmonary bypass, referred to here as molecular cardiac surgery with recirculating delivery (MCARD). We demonstrate that this platform technology is highly efficient in isolating the heart from the systemic circulation in vivo. Using MCARD, we compare the relative efficacy of single-stranded (ss) adeno-associated virus (AAV)6, ssAAV9 and self-complimentary (sc)AAV6-encoding enhanced green fluorescent protein, driven by the constitutive cytomegalovirus promoter to transduce the ovine myocardium in situ. MCARD allows for the unprecedented delivery of up to 48 green fluorescent protein genome copies per cell globally in the sheep left ventricular (LV) myocardium. We demonstrate that scAAV6-mediated MCARD delivery results in global, cardiac-specific LV gene expression in the ovine heart and provides for considerably more robust and cardiac-specific gene delivery than other available delivery techniques such as intramuscular injection or intracoronary injection; thus, representing a potential, clinically translatable platform for heart failure gene therapy.

This paper focuses on Web accessibility. Relevant legislation and judicial decisions are reviewed, and prior empirical research is presented. This study presents the results from the Web accessibility analysis of the home pages of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. It found that twenty-nine percent of the home pages do not meet the requirements for Conformance Level A Web accessibility. Only one state meets Conformance Level AA standards, which are the minimum standards recommended for Web accessibility, and no state meets Conformance Level AAA standards. This paper also discusses how to address common accessibility problems.

Associational resistance, in which one species gains protection from its consumers by association with a competitor, is common among plants but has seldom been documented among insects. Here we show that parasitism of an aboveground herbivore, European corn borer, by its specialist parasitoid Macrocentrus grandii, is reduced 98% in the presence of a belowground herbivore, corn rootworm. We tested the hypothesis that this positive indirect interaction between corn rootworm and corn borer was mediated by corn rootworm's influence on the habitat: plant height was diminished by 33% and plant density by 20%, resulting in a more open habitat. We found that M. grandii showed a two- to five-fold preference for dense versus open habitats, and that experimental reduction of plant density in the absence of corn rootworm reduced M. grandii parasitism of corn borer by 13%. This result supports the presence of a habitat modification effect as a contributing factor to associational resistance for corn borer. We argue that associational resistance may be more common among phytophagous insects than previously appreciated.

2-Mercapto-1-tert-butylimidazole (HmimtBu) and its Group 12 metal complexes (HmimtBu)2 MBr2 (M = Zn, Cd, Hg) have been readily prepared and structurally characterized. Whereas the former displays a dimeric structure in the solid state with two S ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ H–N interactions linking each pair of molecules, the four-coordinate complexes exhibit distorted tetrahedral geometries with the S–M–S angles in the range 103.2–135.2○. The average M–Br bond lengths are 2.401, 2.567, and 2.688 A for M = Zn, Cd, and Hg, respectively, and the corresponding average M–S bond distances are 2.350, 2.540, and 2.467 A. The average C–S bond length for all the complexes (1.72 A) is only ca. 0.02 A longer than the corresponding value in the free ligand. HmimtBu is orthorhombic, space group Pbca, a = 10.1571(5) A, b = 9.7906(5) A, c = 17.6616(9) A, V = 1756.34(15) A3, Z = 8; (HmimtBu)2ZnBr2 is monoclinic, space group C2/c, a = 17.187(3) A, b = 8.9908(17) A, c = 15.560(3) A, β = 117.206(3)○, V = 2138.3(7) A3, Z = 4; (HmimtBu)2CdBr2 is triclinic, space group P $${\bar 1}$$ , a = 7.4625(6) A, b = 9.6149(9) A, c = 31.020(3) A, α = 93.485(2)○, β = 94.579(2)○, γ = 103.872(2)○, V = 2146.6(3) A3, Z = 4; (HmimtBu)2HgBr2 is monoclinic, space group P21/c, a = 6.8908(6) A, b = 10.2397(9) A, c = 29.859(3) A, β = 94.364(2)○, V = 2100.7(3) A3, Z = 4.

The relationship between nutrient availability and mycorrhizal status has been well studied for terrestrial plant species, but has been examined rarely in aquatic and emergent aquatic species. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of phosphorus availability on the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) status of an emergent aquatic, Lythrum salicaria L. L. salicaria was grown in hydroponic sand culture at five phosphorus concentrations (0, 100, 1000, 10 000, and 47 500 μg PO4/l nutrient solution) for 49 days with or without mycorrhizal inoculum obtained from wetland soil. Inoculated plants at the lowest three phosphorus concentrations were colonized by AM, whereas there was no colonization of plants grown at the highest two phosphorus concentrations. Colonization by AM fungi occurred in conjunction with symptoms of phosphorus deficiency in L. salicaria under experimental conditions: plants at the lowest three phosphorus concentrations had lower biomass and higher root: shoot weight ratios than plants at the highest two concentrations. However, total biomass and internal phosphorus concentration did not differ between inoculated and control plants. Further studies are needed under conditions more closely mimicking natural dynamics.