Since its adoption by artists, shortly after the process became practical in the 1960's, holography has struggled to be accepted as a legitimate medium within the visual arts. A number of key ...milestones, during the early developmental process of creative holography, are acknowledged with reference to sparse critical discussions. The value of traditional , framed, wall-based display is explored and a number of sculptural installations by the author, which have attempted to question this method of presentation, are discussed. Floor-based installations, which involve the integration of drawn holographic elements within site-specific locations, are examined.
There has been considerable speculation about the use of holography in architecture and interior design over the past 20 years, with some spectacular examples having been realised. A number of ...installed works are referenced which use interior and exterior structures and spaces. Scale is considered as well as the possibility of architectural works existing within an artificial (model) environment. The visual, conceptual and critical values such an installation provokes are interrogated, with particular reference to 'Light Liquid, a holographic lake installed within the 2011 Miniments exhibition at Nottingham Trent University, UK. Aspects of miniature public art interventions, and whether they can have a critical validity within a contrived and artificial environment, are examined.
Abstract
Objective:
Inadequate medication adherence is a widespread problem that contributes to increased chronic disease complications and health care expenditures. Packaging interventions using ...pill boxes and blister packs have been widely recommended to address the medication adherence issue. This meta-analysis review determined the overall effect of packaging interventions on medication adherence and health outcomes. In addition, we tested whether effects vary depending on intervention, sample, and design characteristics.
Research design and methods:
Extensive literature search strategies included examination of 13 computerized databases and 19 research registries, hand searches of 57 journals, and author and ancestry searches. Eligible studies included either pill boxes or blister packaging interventions to increase medication adherence. Primary study characteristics and outcomes were reliably coded. Random-effects analyses were used to calculate overall effect sizes and conduct moderator analyses.
Results:
Data were synthesized across 22,858 subjects from 52 reports. The overall mean weighted standardized difference effect size for two-group comparisons was 0.593 (favoring treatment over control), which is consistent with the mean of 71% adherence for treatment subjects compared to 63% among control subjects. We found using moderator analyses that interventions were most effective when they used blister packs and were delivered in pharmacies, while interventions were less effective when studies included older subjects and those with cognitive impairment. Methodological moderator analyses revealed significantly larger effect sizes in studies reporting continuous data outcomes instead of dichotomous results and in studies using pharmacy refill medication adherence measures compared with studies with self-report measures.
Conclusions:
Overall, meta-analysis findings support the use of packaging interventions to effectively increase medication adherence. Limitations of the study include the exclusion of packaging interventions other than pill boxes and blister packs, evidence of publication bias, and primary study sparse reporting of health outcomes and potentially interesting moderating variables such as the number of prescribed medications.
Epithelial cells line the respiratory tract and interface with the external world. Epithelial cells contribute to pulmonary inflammation, but specific epithelial roles have proven difficult to ...define. To discover unique epithelial activities that influence immunity during infection, we generated mice with nuclear factor-κB RelA mutated throughout all epithelial cells of the lung and coupled this approach with epithelial cell isolation from infected and uninfected lungs for cell-specific analyses of gene induction. The RelA mutant mice appeared normal basally, but in response to pneumococcus in the lungs they were unable to rapidly recruit neutrophils to the air spaces. Epithelial cells expressed multiple neutrophil-stimulating cytokines during pneumonia, all of which depended on RelA. Cytokine expression by nonepithelial cells was unaltered by the epithelial mutation of RelA. Epithelial cells were the predominant sources of CXCL5 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), whereas nonepithelial cells were major sources for other neutrophil-activating cytokines. Epithelial RelA mutation decreased whole lung levels of CXCL5 and GM-CSF during pneumococcal pneumonia, whereas lung levels of other neutrophil-recruiting factors were unaffected. Defective neutrophil recruitment in epithelial mutant mice could be rescued by administration of CXCL5 or GM-CSF. These results reveal a specialized immune function for the pulmonary epithelium, the induction of CXCL5 and GM-CSF, to accelerate neutrophil recruitment in the infected lung.
Islet transplantation is an effective means of treating severe type 1 diabetes in patients with life‐threatening hypoglycemia. Improvements in glycemic control with correction of HbA1C enhance ...quality of life irrespective of insulin independence. By antagonizing the Natural Killer Group 2, member D (NKG2D) receptor expression on NK and CD8+ T cells, in combination with blocking CTLA‐4 binding sites, we demonstrate a significant delay of graft rejection in islet allotransplant. Anti‐NKG2D combined with CTLA‐4 Ig (n = 15) results in prolonged allograft survival, with 84.6 ± 10% of the recipients displaying insulin independence compared to controls (n = 10, p < 0.001). The effect of combination therapy on graft survival is superior to treatments alone (CTLA‐4 Ig vs. combination p = 0.024, anti‐NKG2D vs. combination p < 0.001) indicating an interaction between these pathways. In addition, combination treatment also improves glucose tolerance when compared to controls (n = 10, p = 0.018). Histologically, NKG2D+ cells were significantly decreased within the allograft after 7 days of combination treatment (n = 6, p = 0.029). T cell proliferation was significantly reduced with anti‐NKG2D therapy and CD8+ T cell daughter fractions were also significantly decreased with mAb and combination treatment when measured by in vitro mixed lymphocyte reaction (n = 5, p = 0.015, p = 0.005 and p = 0.048). These results demonstrate that inhibition of NKG2D receptors and costimulatory pathways enhance islet allograft survival.
Antagonizing the Natural Killer Group 2, member D receptor expression on NK and CD8+ T cells, in combination with blocking CTLA‐4 binding sites, significantly prolongs islet allograft survival.
Background
The clinical course and outcome of natural feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infection are variable and incompletely understood. Assigning clinical relevance to FIV infection in ...individual cats represents a considerable clinical challenge.
Objective
To compare signalment, hematologic and biochemical data, major clinical problem, and survival among client‐owned, FIV‐infected, and uninfected domestic cats.
Animals
Client‐owned, domestic cats tested for FIV (n = 520).
Methods
Retrospective, case control study. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify risk factors for FIV infection and to compare hematologic and biochemical data between cases and controls, after adjusting for potential confounders. Survival times were compared using Kaplan–Meier curves.
Results
The prevalence of FIV infection was 14.6%. Mixed breed, male sex, and older age were risk factors for FIV infection. Hematologic abnormalities, biochemical abnormalities or both were common in both FIV‐infected and uninfected cats. Lymphoid malignancies were slightly more common in FIV‐infected than uninfected cats. Survival of FIV‐infected cats was not significantly different from that of uninfected cats.
Conclusions and Clinical Importance
Multiple hematologic and biochemical abnormalities are common in old, sick cats regardless of their FIV status. Their presence should not be assumed to indicate clinical progression of FIV infection. A negative effect of FIV on survival was not apparent in this study.
Summary
PCR‐based detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms is a powerful tool for the plant geneticist. Cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence analysis is the most widely used approach for the ...detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms. However, this technique is limited to mutations which create or disrupt a restriction enzyme recognition site. This paper presents a modification of this technique where mismatches in a PCR primer are used to create a polymorphism based on the target mutation. This technique is useful for following known mutations in segregating populations and genetic mapping of isolated DNAs used for positional based cloning of new genes. In addition, a computer program has been developed that facilitates the design of these PCR primers.
In a forest ecosystem at steady state, net carbon (C) assimilation by plants and C loss through soil and litter decomposition by heterotrophic organisms are balanced. However, a perturbation to the ...system, such as increased mean soil temperature, will lead to faster decay, enhancing CO2 release from decomposers, and thus upsetting the balance. Recent in situ experiments have indicated that the stimulation of soil respiration following a step increase in annual average soil temperature declines over time. One possible explanation for this decline may be changes in substrate availability. This hypothesis is examined by using the ecosystem model G'DAY, which simulates C and nitrogen (N) dynamics in plants and soil.
We applied the model to observations from a soil‐warming experiment in a Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) stand by simulating a step increase of soil temperature. The model provided a good qualitative reproduction of the observed reduction of heterotrophic respiration (Rh) under sustained warming. The simulations showed how the combined effects of faster turnover and reduced substrate availability lead to a transient increase of Rh. The simulated annual increase in Rh from soil was 60% in the first year after perturbation but decreased to 30% after a decade.
One conclusion from the analysis of the simulations is that Rh can decrease even though the temperature response function for decomposition remains unchanged. G'DAY suggests that acclimation of Rh to soil warming is partly an effect of substrate depletion of labile C pools during the first decade of warming as a result of accelerated rates of mineralization. The response is attributed mainly to changing levels of C in pools with short time constants, reflecting the importance of high‐quality soil C fractions. Changes of the structure or physiology of the decomposer community were not invoked. Therefore, it becomes a question of definition whether the simulated dynamics of the declining response of CO2 release to the warming should be named acclimation or seen as a natural part of the system dynamics.
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