Some studies found that providing micronutrient powder (MNP) causes adverse health outcomes, but modifying factors are unknown. We aimed to investigate whether Fe status and inherited Hb disorders (IHbD) modify the impact of MNP on growth and diarrhoea among young Lao children. In a double-blind controlled trial, 1704 children of age 6–23 months were randomised to daily MNP (with 6 mg Fe plus fourteen micronutrients) or placebo for about 36 weeks. IHbD, and baseline and final Hb, Fe status and anthropometrics were assessed. Caregivers provided weekly morbidity reports. At enrolment, 55·6 % were anaemic; only 39·3 % had no sign of clinically significant IHbD. MNP had no overall impact on growth and longitudinal diarrhoea prevalence. Baseline Hb modified the effect of MNP on length-for-age (LAZ) (P for interaction = 0·082). Among children who were initially non-anaemic, the final mean LAZ in the MNP group was slightly lower (–1·93 (95 % CI –1·88, –1·97)) v. placebo (–1·88 (95 % CI –1·83, –1·92)), and the opposite occurred among initially anaemic children (final mean LAZ –1·90 (95 % CI –1·86, –1·94) in MNP v. –1·92 (95 % CI –1·88, –1·96) in placebo). IHbD modified the effect on diarrhoea prevalence (P = 0·095). Among children with IHbD, the MNP group had higher diarrhoea prevalence (1·37 (95 % CI 1·17, 1·59) v. 1·21 (95 % CI 1·04, 1·41)), while it was lower among children without IHbD who received MNP (1·15 (95 % CI 0·95, 1·39) v. 1·37 (95 % CI 1·13, 1·64)). In conclusion, there was a small adverse effect of MNP on growth among non-anaemic children and on diarrhoea prevalence among children with IHbD.

Excavations at several locations in Verteba Cave have uncovered a large amount of human skeletal remains in association with faunal bones and Tripolye material culture. We aim to establish radiocarbon (14C) dates for eight sites and to evaluate whether these deposits are singular events, or slow accumulations over time. 14C measurements, along with stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data from human and faunal remains, were collected from 18 specimens. Stable isotope values were used to evaluate human and animal diet, and whether freshwater reservoir effects offset measured dates. We found diets of the sampled species had limited to no influence from freshwater resources. Human diet appears to be dominated by terrestrial plants and herbivores. Four new sites were identified as Eneolithic. Comparisons of dates from top and bottom strata for two sites (7 and 20) reveal coeval dates, and we suggest that these deposits represent discrete events rather than slow continuous use. Lastly, we identified dates from the Mesolithic (8490±45 BP, 8765±30 BP), Iron Age (2505±20 BP), Slavic state era (1315±25 BP), and Medieval Period (585±15 BP), demonstrating periodic use of the cave by humans prior to and after the Eneolithic.

To date, Ireland has been a leading light in the provision of youth mental health services. However, cognisant of the efforts of governmental and non-governmental agencies working in youth mental health, there is much to be done. Barriers into care as well as discontinuity of care across the spectrum of services remain key challenges. This editorial provides guidance for the next stage of development in youth mental care and support that will require significant national engagement and resource investment.

β-agonists are known to enhance muscle growth in livestock species, although sometimes at the expense of increased meat toughness. In pigs, administration of porcine somatotropin (pST) produces muscle hypertrophy without detrimental effects on toughness. Calpastatin, a specific inhibitor that regulates the calpain proteinases responsible for cleavage of myofibrillar proteins, has a key role in growth and the rate at which meat tenderises postmortem. In the porcine calpastatin gene there are at least three calpastatin promoters (upstream of exons 1xa, 1xb and 1u respectively), of which 1u is used predominantly in skeletal muscle. All three promoters contain transcription factor binding motifs suggesting sensitivity to β-agonist/cyclic AMP (cAMP)/protein kinase A (PKA) and IGF-1/Ca2+/calcineurin-mediated signalling pathways (Parr et al., 2004). It was previously shown that expression of calpastatin mRNA from all three promoters can be increased in pigs treated with clenbuterol and suppressed in pST-treated animals (Sensky et al., 2004), suggesting differential regulation by the two pathways. In this study, the effect of manipulating these pathways is evaluated in vitro in order to determine if there is a specific element within the porcine 1u promoter that is responsive to both pathways, using rat muscle cells transfected with a series of 5’-deleted porcine 1u promoter constructs and treated with cAMP analogues and the calcium ionophore calcimycin.

Limbic white matter pathways link emotion, cognition, and behavior and are potentially malleable to the influences of traumatic events throughout development. However, the impact of interactions between childhood and later life trauma on limbic white matter pathways has yet to be examined. Here, we examined whether childhood maltreatment moderated the effect of combat exposure on diffusion tensor imaging measures within a sample of military veterans (N = 28). We examined five limbic tracts of interest: two components of the cingulum (cingulum, cingulate gyrus, and cingulum hippocampus [CGH]), the uncinate fasciculus, the fornix/stria terminalis, and the anterior limb of the internal capsule. Using effect sizes, clinically meaningful moderator effects were found only within the CGH. Greater combat exposure was associated with decreased CGH fractional anisotropy (overall structural integrity) and increased CGH radial diffusivity (perpendicular water diffusivity) among individuals with more severe childhood maltreatment. Our findings provide preliminary evidence of the moderating effect of childhood maltreatment on the relationship between combat exposure and CGH structural integrity. These differences in CGH structural integrity could have maladaptive implications for emotion and memory, as well as provide a potential mechanism by which childhood maltreatment induces vulnerability to later life trauma exposure.

Studies on growth promoter action can give an insight into the mechanisms of growth control. Calpain genes encode a family of proteins responsible for calcium-dependent proteolytic activity in mammalian cells. The ubiquitous enzymes µ- and m-calpain are activated in vitro by µM and mM calcium ion concentration, respectively. Both these calpain isoforms have been implicated in myofibrillar protein turnover and are regulated by calpastatin, a highly specific inhibitor protein. Overexpression of calpastatin has been strongly associated with skeletal muscle hypertrophy and meat toughness in livestock; a plausible mechanism has been that inhibition of calpain reduces myofibrillar protein degradation while protein synthesis continues unchanged in vivo, whilst inhibition of calpain post mortem prevents proteolytic cleavage of myofibrillar proteins. In pigs there are at least three calpastatin promoters (1xa, 1xb, 1u) with transcription factor binding motifs potentially responsive to β-agonist and IGF-1/calcineurin–mediated signalling pathways (Parr et al., 2001). The objective of the current study is to compare the expression patterns of different calpastatin mRNA transcripts in pigs treated with two different classes of growth promoters: clenbuterol treatment for 24 h and porcine somatotropin (pST) for 7 d.

Trypanosoma cruzi, causative agent of Chagas disease, co-infects its triatomine vector with its sister species Trypanosoma rangeli, which shares 60% of its antigens with T. cruzi. Additionally, T. rangeli has been observed to be pathogenic in some of its vector species. Although T. cruzi–T. rangeli co-infections are common, their effect on the vector has rarely been investigated. Therefore, we measured the fitness (survival and reproduction) of triatomine species Rhodnius prolixus infected with just T. cruzi, just T. rangeli, or both T. cruzi and T. rangeli. We found that survival (as estimated by survival probability and hazard ratios) was significantly different between treatments, with the T. cruzi treatment group having lower survival than the co-infected treatment. Reproduction and total fitness estimates in the T. cruzi and T. rangeli treatments were significantly lower than in the co-infected and control groups. The T. cruzi and T. rangeli treatment group fitness estimates were not significantly different from each other. Additionally, co-infected insects appeared to tolerate higher doses of parasites than insects with single-species infections. Our results suggest that T. cruzi–T. rangeli co-infection could ameliorate negative effects of single infections of either parasite on R. prolixus and potentially help it to tolerate higher parasite doses.

Direct solar flare neutrons are a valuable diagnostic of high-energy ion acceleration in these events, and COMPTEL improves over all previous cosmic neutron detectors in its capacity for neutron energy measurement. Previous studies of COMPTEL neutron data have worked with an incomplete model of the instrumental response, applying energy-by-energy detection efficiencies. Here we employ statistical regularisation techniques with the full (Monte Carlo simulation derived) response matrix to produce improved estimates of neutron numbers and energy distribution. These techniques are applied to data from the well-observed 15 June 1991 flare. Our improved treatment of the instrumental response results in a reduction of 73% in total neutron numbers, compared with previously deduced values. Implications for the picture of primary ion acceleration in this flare are briefly discussed.

We estimate the 1.8 MeV luminosity of the Sco-Cen association due to radioactive decay of 26A1 to (4 – 15) 10−5ph cm−2 s−1. We propose a low surface brightness, limb brightened bubble for the 1.8 MeV intensity distribution. The detectibility of this distribution with existing γ-ray telescopes is discussed.

26Al radioactivity is believed to originate predominantly from massive stars, ejected into interstellar medium in wind phases and/or supernova events. With its million-year decay time, penetrating γ-rays from 26Al decay measure the massive-star history averaged over a time scale of ≃million years, thus extending times cales accessible otherwise. The COMPTEL 1.809 MeV all-sky data from 5 years of observations show irregularities and features at intermediate latitudes, which may have a more local origin (≃ 1 kpc). We find that the large scale emission can be characterized by a Galactic scale height of ≃ 130 pc, and a Galactocentric scale radius of ≃ 5 kpc, with features from spiral structure. Catalogues from massive-star related objects do not significantly improve the description of COMPTEL data above this. Emission associated with nearby structures such as the Gould Belt, Loop I, or stellar aggregates, is indicated, yet cannot be clearly detected. Combined with our imaging results, this suggests that 26A1 yields from massive star ensembles depend on specifics of those stars and their history. Further 26A1 γ-ray studies are underway to help mapping of the massive star history in the solar vicinity.

Periods of rapid growth seen during the early stages of fetal development, including cell proliferation and differentiation, are greatly influenced by the maternal environment. We demonstrate here that over-nutrition, specifically exposure to a high-fat diet in utero, programed the extent of atherosclerosis in the offspring of ApoE*3 Leiden transgenic mice. Pregnant ApoE*3 Leiden mice were fed either a control chow diet (2.8% fat, n=12) or a high-fat, moderate-cholesterol diet (MHF, 19.4% fat, n=12). Dams were fed the chow diet during the suckling period. At 28 days postnatal age wild type and ApoE*3 Leiden offspring from chow or MHF-fed mothers were fed either a control chow diet (n=37) or a diet rich in cocoa butter (15%) and cholesterol (0.25%), for 14 weeks to induce atherosclerosis (n=36). Offspring from MHF-fed mothers had 1.9-fold larger atherosclerotic lesions (P<0.001). There was no direct effect of prenatal diet on plasma triglycerides or cholesterol; however, transgenic ApoE*3 Leiden offspring displayed raised cholesterol when on an atherogenic diet compared with wild-type controls (P=0.031). Lesion size was correlated with plasma lipid parameters after adjustment for genotype, maternal diet and postnatal diet (R 2=0.563, P<0.001). ApoE*3 Leiden mothers fed a MHF diet developed hypercholesterolemia (plasma cholesterol two-fold higher than in chow-fed mothers, P=0.011). The data strongly suggest that maternal hypercholesterolemia programs later susceptibility to atherosclerosis. This is consistent with previous observations in humans and animal models.

Iron oxides resulting from the corrosion of large quantities of steel that are planned to be installed throughout a deep geological disposal facility (GDF) are expected to be one of the key surfaces of interest for controlling radionuclide behaviour under disposal conditions. Over the lengthy timescales associated with a GDF, the system is expected to become anoxic so that reduced Fe(II) phases will dominate. Batch experiments have therefore been completed in order to investigate how a model reduced Fe-oxide surface (wüstite, Fe1–xO) alters as a function of exposure to aqueous solutions with compositions representative of conditions expected within a GDF. Additional experiments were performed to constrain the effect that highly alkaline solutions (up to pH 13) have on the adsorption behaviour of the uranyl (UO2 2+) ion onto the surfaces of both wüstite and portlandite [Ca(OH)2; representative of the expected cementitious phases]. Surface co-ordination chemistry and speciation were determined by ex situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements (both X-ray absorption near-edge structure analysis (XANES) and extended X-ray absorption fine structure analysis (EXAFS)). Diffraction, elemental analysis and XANES showed that the bulk solid composition and Fe oxidation state remained relatively unaltered over the time frame of these experiments (120 h), although under alkaline conditions possible surface hydroxylation is observed, due presumably to the formation of surface hydroxyl complexes. The surface morphology, however, is altered significantly with a large degree of roughening and an observed decrease in the average particle size. Reduction of U(VI) to U(IV) occurs during adsorption in almost all cases and this is interpreted to indicate that wüstite may be an effective reductant of U during surface adsorption. This work also shows that increasing the carbonate concentration in reactant solutions dramatically decreases the adsorption coefficients for U on both wüstite and portlandite, consistent with U speciation and surface reactivity determined in other studies. Finally, the EXAFS results include new details about exactly how U bonds to this metal oxide surface.