Publications
| Title | Abstract | Year Filter | PMID(sorted ascending) Filter |
|---|
| measurement methods and accuracy in copy number variation: failure to replicate associations of beta-defensin copy number with crohn's disease. | the copy number variation in beta-defensin genes on human chromosome 8 has been proposed to underlie susceptibility to inflammatory disorders, but presents considerable challenges for accurate typing on the scale required for adequately powered case-control studies. in this work, we have used accurate methods of copy number typing based on the paralogue ratio test (prt) to assess beta-defensin copy number in more than 1500 uk dna samples including more than 1000 cases of crohn's disease. a subse ... | 2010 | 20858604 |
| new approaches to problem framing in environmental health: application to water. | the relationship between human health and water in its many forms illustrates rather well, the greatest contemporary challenge for decision makers in environmental health - how to develop coherent and effective policy in a climate of significant and increasing complexity. in the study of water and health we recognise the types of complexity that emerge for scientists and epidemiologists in assessing and communicating environmental health risk but also the difficulty for policy makers in interpre ... | 2010 | 20889174 |
| fcγ receptor iiib (cd16b) polymorphisms are associated with susceptibility to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. | an excess of neutrophils in the alveoli and lung interstitium has been described in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (ipf). engagement of neutrophil fcγ receptors with igg complexes may contribute to the pathogenesis of ipf. the neutrophil fcγriiib receptor occurs in two codominantly expressed allelic variants, na1 and na2, which exhibit different binding affinities for igg1 and igg3 subclasses. the aim of this study was to investigate whether fcγriiib genotype is associated with ipf susceptibility ... | 2010 | 20924590 |
| epidemiology of salmonellosis in garden birds in england and wales, 1993 to 2003. | salmonellosis has been reported as an important cause of mortality of garden birds in several countries, including norway and scotland. we investigated the frequency of the disease in garden birds submitted for postmortem examination by members of the public in england and wales between 1993 and 2003, inclusive. we found salmonellosis to be the most frequent cause of death due to infectious disease in the garden birds submitted. this disease was confirmed in 7 of the 45 bird species that were ex ... | 2010 | 20945078 |
| determination of the bioaccessibility of chromium in glasgow soil and the implications for human health risk assessment. | the unified bioaccessibility method (ubm), which simulates the fluids of the human gastrointestinal tract, was used to assess the oral bioaccessibility of cr in 27 glasgow soils. these included several contaminated with cr(vi), the most toxic form of cr, from the past disposal of chromite ore processing residue (copr). the extraction was employed in conjunction with the subsequent determination of the bioaccessible cr by icp-oes and cr(vi) by the diphenylcarbazide complexation colorimetric proce ... | 2010 | 21035835 |
| the centennial of man's redemption of man. | 2010 | 21079249 | |
| rapid detection of pandemic influenza in the presence of seasonal influenza. | key to the control of pandemic influenza are surveillance systems that raise alarms rapidly and sensitively. in addition, they must minimise false alarms during a normal influenza season. we develop a method that uses historical syndromic influenza data from the existing surveillance system 'servis' (scottish enhanced respiratory virus infection surveillance) for influenza-like illness (ili) in scotland. | 2010 | 21106071 |
| cytoplasmic mrna: move it, use it or lose it! | once an mrna is synthesized and processed, the immediate translation and later destruction of the transcript is not as inevitable as the central molecular biology dogma suggests. interest in the field of post-transcriptional control continues to grow rapidly, as regulation of these multiple steps in gene expression is implicated in diverse aspects of biology such as metabolism, neurology, reproduction and viral lifecycle regulation. researchers who utilize various combinations of human studies, ... | 2010 | 21118114 |
| suitability of an automated nucleic acid extractor (easymag) for use with hepatitis c virus and human immunodeficiency virus type 1 nucleic acid amplification testing. | serological screening assays have greatly reduced, but not eliminated, the risk of transmission of viral infections by transfusion of blood and blood products. in addition, the 1999 regulation of the european agency for the evaluation of medicinal products requiring all plasma for fractionation to have tested negative for hepatitis c virus (hcv) rna (cpmp/bwp/390/97, 1998) led many blood transfusion services to introduce nucleic acid amplification technology (nat) to screen blood donations for h ... | 2010 | 21126541 |
| human and fishing vessel losses in sea accidents in the uk fishing industry from 1948 to 2008. | objective. to investigate long-term trends in mortality rates for accidents to fishing vessels in the uk fishing industry from 1948 to 2008; to investigate the circumstances and causes of these fishing vessel accidents and trends in fishing vessel losses. material and methods. examination of paper death inquiry files, death registers, marine accident investigative files, annual casualty and death returns. results. of 1039 fatalities from accidents to uk fishing vessels from 1948 to 2008, most (6 ... | 2010 | 21154301 |
| redrawing the map of great britain from a network of human interactions. | do regional boundaries defined by governments respect the more natural ways that people interact across space? this paper proposes a novel, fine-grained approach to regional delineation, based on analyzing networks of billions of individual human transactions. given a geographical area and some measure of the strength of links between its inhabitants, we show how to partition the area into smaller, non-overlapping regions while minimizing the disruption to each person's links. we tested our meth ... | 2010 | 21170390 |
| evolution of an agriculture-associated disease causing campylobacter coli clade: evidence from national surveillance data in scotland. | the common zoonotic pathogen campylobacter coli is an important cause of bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide but its evolution is incompletely understood. using multilocus sequence type (mlst) data of 7 housekeeping genes from a national survey of campylobacter in scotland (2005/6), and a combined population genetic-phylogenetics approach, we investigated the evolutionary history of c. coli. genealogical reconstruction of isolates from clinical infection, farm animals and the environment, reveal ... | 2010 | 21179537 |
| smoke-free legislation and asthma. | 2011 | 21208121 | |
| predictive clinicopathological features derived from systematic autopsy examination of patients who died with a/h1n1 influenza infection in the uk 2009-10 pandemic. | from april 2009 to january 2010, the pandemic of a/h1n1 influenza affected the uk. there were > 30,000 infections and 457 deaths (all ages). reports from other countries had indicated that certain comorbidities were associated with a higher risk of death from h1n1 infection, and there was a need to identify these factors in the uk population as knowledge of them could lead to improved treatment in the current epidemic and reduced mortality in future epidemics. | 2010 | 21208548 |
| escherichia coli o157: comparing awareness of rural residents and visitors in livestock farming areas. | summarythis research compared public opinions about escherichia coli o157 (an increasing environmental hazard associated with livestock) in two farming areas with contrasting incidence of e. coli o157 disease. a questionnaire was administered in rural grampian (10·8 cases/100 000 population per year) and north wales (2·5 cases/100 000 population per year). awareness was highest among farmers in grampian (91%) and lowest among visitors to both areas (28%). respondents were more likely to indicate ... | 2011 | 21211111 |
| prevalence of escherichia coli o157: h7 and serogroups o26, o103, o111 and o145 in sheep presented for slaughter in scotland. | sheep have been proposed as a source of human verocytotoxigenic escherichia coli infection on a number of occasions but few prevalence studies have focused on identifying rates of carriage of these pathogens in this species. the purpose of this work was to establish the frequency of excretion of e. coli of serogroups o157, o26, o103, o111 and o145 in sheep presented for slaughter in scotland and to examine their carriage of known virulence determinants. the study involved microbiological isolati ... | 2011 | 21233295 |
| effectiveness of pandemic and seasonal influenza vaccine in preventing pandemic influenza a(h1n1)2009 infection in england and scotland 2009-2010. | following the global spread of pandemic influenza a(h1n1)2009, several pandemic vaccines have been rapidly developed. the united kingdom and many other countries in the northern hemisphere implemented seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccine programmes in october 2009. we present the results of a case–control study to estimate effectiveness of such vaccines in preventing confirmed pandemic influenza infection. some 5,982 individuals with influenza-like illness seen in general practices between no ... | 2011 | 21251487 |
| get vaccinated to reduce the impact of flu this winter. | 2010 | 21261164 | |
| audit of microalbumin excretion in children with type i diabetes. | objective: to investigate prevalence, persistence and clinical correlates of increased microalbumin excretion in random urine samples collected in a paediatric diabetes clinic. method: random urine samples were collected annually in patients >10 years attending the diabetes clinic in the royal hospital for sick children, edinburgh. albumin excretion is expressed as albumin:creatinine ratio (acr) and classified as normal (10mg/mmol), or macroalbuminuria (>47 mg/mmol in females, >35 mg/mmol in mal ... | 2009 | 21274398 |
| the epidemiology of multiple sclerosis in scotland: inferences from hospital admissions. | multiple sclerosis (ms) is a neurological disorder with a highly characteristic disease distribution. prevalence and incidence in general increase with increasing distance from the equator. similarly the female to male sex ratio increases with increasing latitude. multiple possible risk factors have been hypothesised for this epidemiological trend, including human leukocyte antigen allele frequencies, ultraviolet exposure and subsequent vitamin d levels, smoking and epstein-barr virus. in this s ... | 2011 | 21298053 |
| love and hiv serodiscordance in gay men's accounts of life with their regular partners. | this paper examines discourse on serodiscordant relationships in interviews with 16 hiv-positive and 3 hiv-negative gay men living in scotland. drawing on critiques concerning love, reason and hiv serostatus normativity, this paper supplies a much-needed insight into how gay men in serodiscordant relationships negotiate hiv prevention. among other matters, some hiv-negative men were said to knowingly request risky sex with their hiv-positive partners as an expression of love. in some situations, ... | 2011 | 21331963 |
| virtual reality haptic human dissection. | this project aims to create a three-dimensional digital model of the human hand and wrist which can be virtually 'dissected' through a haptic interface. tissue properties will be added to the various anatomical structures to replicate a realistic look and feel. the project will explore the role of the medical artist and investigate the cross-discipline collaborations required in the field of virtual anatomy. the software will be used to train anatomy students in dissection skills before experien ... | 2011 | 21335827 |
| hpv type-specific prevalence using a urine assay in unvaccinated male and female 11- to 18-year olds in scotland. | we conducted a baseline prevalence survey of unvaccinated 11- to 18-year olds to inform effectiveness studies for the new human papillomavirus (hpv) immunisation programme in scotland. | 2011 | 21343934 |
| vasomotor and fibrinolytic responses to kinin receptor agonists in the atherosclerotic human lower limb. | upregulation of vascular b(1) kinin receptor expression has been reported in human atheroma, but its role remains unclear. we examined vasomotor and fibrinolytic responses to selective b(1) and b(2) kinin receptor agonism in the human femoral circulation and correlated responses with femoral arterial plaque load. femoral arterial cross-sectional area, blood flow and plaque volume were determined using intravascular ultrasound and doppler during selective arterial infusion of lys-des-arg(9)-brady ... | 2011 | 21394642 |
| halogenated persistent organic pollutants in deep water fish from waters to the west of scotland. | halogenated persistent organic pollutants [polychlorinated biphenyls (pcbs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (pbdes)] along with total lipid, were measured in the liver and muscle of three species of deep water fish (black scabbard, black dogfish (liver only) and roundnose grenadier) collected from the rockall fishing area, to the west of scotland, between 2006 and 2008. both contaminant groups were detected in the muscle and liver, with concentrations of pcbs being higher than pbdes. there we ... | 2011 | 21421255 |
| mortuary provision in emergencies causing mass fatalities. | emergencies that cause the deaths of large numbers of people can result from major accidents, natural disasters or acts of hostility. while what has happened cannot be undone, other people may be protected from similar events by careful investigation of the causes, the collection of evidence and the prosecution of any criminal acts. within the wider investigation, responding to the deaths will focus on the respectful treatment and accurate identification of the physical remains, and where possib ... | 2011 | 21482511 |
| does inbreeding affect n-glycosylation of human plasma proteins? | inbreeding depression and heterosis are the two ends of phenotypic changes defined by the genome-wide homozygosity. the aim of this study was to investigate the association of genetic marker-based homozygosity estimates with 46 n-glycan features measured in human plasma. the study was based on a total of 2,341 subjects, originating from three isolated island communities in croatia (vis and korcula islands) and scotland (orkney islands). inbreeding estimates were associated with an increase in te ... | 2011 | 21487732 |
| digit ratio (2d:4d) predicts facial, but not voice or body odour, attractiveness in men. | there is growing evidence that human second-to-fourth digit ratio (or 2d:4d) is related to facial features involved in attractiveness, mediated by in utero hormonal effects. the present study extends the investigation to other phenotypic, hormone-related determinants of human attractiveness: voice and body odour. pictures of faces with a neutral expression, recordings of voices pronouncing vowels and axillary odour samples captured on cotton pads worn for 24 h were provided by 49 adult male dono ... | 2011 | 21508034 |
| the chi3l1 rs4950928 polymorphism is associated with asthma-related hospital admissions in children and young adults. | asthma exacerbations are the commonest cause of medical admissions in childhood. these have a significant effect on quality of life and are a major financial burden on worldwide healthcare services. a range of gene-environment interactions may influence the course and severity of asthma in children and their response to medication. the chitinase 3-like 1 (chi3l1)-131c>g genotype (rs4950928) is associated with increased asthma susceptibility and severity in adults. | 2011 | 21530869 |
| Teaching and assessing non-technical skills. | The terms human factors and non-technical skills have recently been introduced to the language of surgical education. Both tend to be used interchangeably and yet each has a specific definition. More importantly, however, is the fact that the attributes and qualities contained within these headings relate to behaviours, attitudes and cognitive skills. They are recognised as crucially important in the practice of surgery, but are often poorly articulated during surgical performance, during traini ... | 2011 | 21549994 |
| influenza a(h1n1)2009 antibody seroprevalence in scotland following the 2010/11 influenza season. | 2011 | 21616049 | |
| the relationship between lay and technical views of escherichia coli o157 risk. | here, we bring together and contrast lay (accessible primarily through social science methodologies) and technical (via risk assessment and epidemiological techniques) views of the risk associated with the escherichia coli o157 pathogen using two case study areas in the grampian region of scotland, and north wales. epidemiological risk factors of contact with farm animals, visiting farms or farm fields and having a private water supply were associated with postcode districts of higher than avera ... | 2011 | 21624920 |
| putting medical genetics into practice. | this article describes a fragment of history on the growing impact of genetics on the practice of medicine over 50 years, as experienced by a medical geneticist who helped to provide services to patients at risk of genetic disorders. it is a personal account influenced by a fascination with chromosomes that has drawn him into many studies, including sex determination, gene discovery, fetal diagnosis, phylogenomics, and karyotype evolution. expected final online publication date for the annual re ... | 2011 | 21639797 |
| meticillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus with a novel meca homologue in human and bovine populations in the uk and denmark: a descriptive study. | background: animals can act as a reservoir and source for the emergence of novel meticillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (mrsa) clones in human beings. here, we report the discovery of a strain of s aureus (lga251) isolated from bulk milk that was phenotypically resistant to meticillin but tested negative for the meca gene and a preliminary investigation of the extent to which such strains are present in bovine and human populations. methods: isolates of bovine mrsa were obtained from the vet ... | 2011 | 21641281 |
| compliance to oseltamivir and subsequent occurrence of self-reported adverse drug reactions among nursery and primary school children following exposure to influenza a(h1n1)v. | during the containment phase of influenza a(h1n1)v, a nursery, a primary school and an afterschool club were closed after two pupils were found confirmed cases. classmates were prescribed postexposure oseltamivir. compliance was expected to be low. the objective of this study was to assess compliance, the number of children developing adverse drug reactions (adrs) and the reasons for stopping the course prematurely. we conducted a survey among parents of all classmates of the two cases. parents ... | 2011 | 21670140 |
| Sero-prevalence and incidence of A/H1N1 2009 influenza infection in Scotland in winter 2009-2010. | Sero-prevalence is a valuable indicator of prevalence and incidence of A/H1N1 2009 infection. However, raw sero-prevalence data must be corrected for background levels of cross-reactivity (i.e. imperfect test specificity) and the effects of immunisation programmes. | 2011 | 21687661 |
| [a nuclear document in the central core of the moral debates of our time]. | we summarize the contents of the instruction dignitas personae and briefly attempt to explain why we find ourselves before an impossible debate when we talk about human life, its conception and reception. we will also try to provide some light as we try to escape this cul de sac so characteristic in the moral discussions of our time. to do so, we seek the help of the moral philosopher, alasdair macintyre, whose life's work makes him especially suited to identifying the anthropological paradoxes ... | 2011 | 21692552 |
| diet, environmental factors, and lifestyle underlie the high prevalence of vitamin d deficiency in healthy adults in scotland, and supplementation reduces the proportion that are severely deficient. | vitamin d deficiency has recently been implicated as a possible risk factor in the etiology of numerous diseases, including nonskeletal conditions. in humans, skin synthesis following exposure to uvb is a potent source of vitamin d, but in regions with low uvb, individuals are at risk of vitamin d deficiency. our objectives were to describe the prevalence of vitamin d deficiency and to investigate determinants of plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin d (25-ohd) concentrations in a high northern latitude coun ... | 2011 | 21697298 |
| dorsal spinous process impingement syndrome ('kissing spine') in a cat: imaging appearance and surgical management. | spinal pain is an important clinical presentation in feline patients, but the underlying causes can often be difficult to elucidate. dorsal spinous process impingement syndrome ('kissing spine' or in human patients 'baastrup syndrome') is a significant cause of spinal pain in equine and human patients and radiographically is characterised by a close approximation of adjacent spinous processes with reactive bone sclerosis affecting these spinous processes. in this report we describe the first rep ... | 2011 | 21723173 |
| the increasing importance of intellectual property in transfusion medicine. | the scottish national blood transfusion service (snbts) originated in edinburgh in the 1920's by dentist jack copland. since that time the scope of transfusion medicine has broadened significantly to accommodate advances in technologies such as cell isolation, culture and manipulation [1]. many transfusion services, including snbts, now provide expertise both in the traditional field of blood transfusion and the newer, wider field of human cell (including 'adult' and embryonic stem cells) and ti ... | 2011 | 21733756 |
| during the summer 2009 outbreak of "swine flu" in scotland what respiratory pathogens were diagnosed as h1n1/2009? | abstract: | 2011 | 21752259 |
| vasoactive properties of calcitonin gene-related peptide in human skin. | calcitonin gene-related peptide (cgrp) is a potential mediator of neurogenic inflammation in eczema, psoriasis and rosacea, and also contributes to vasodilatation and oedema in complex regional pain disorder. we investigated the feasibility of administering cgrp and its antagonist cgrp8-37 by iontophoresis in human skin to characterise their vasoactive profiles. | 2011 | 21804480 |
| epidemiology of acinetobacter baumannii of animal origin. | acinetobacter baumannii is an opportunistic pathogen responsible for nosocomial infections, however the origins of these bacteria remain unclear. sixteen a. baumannii strains collected from animals slaughtered for human consumption were investigated for their susceptibility profiles, resistance islands (ris), class 1 integrons, insertion sequence isaba1, and bla(oxa-51)-like and bla(ampc) genes. polymerase chain reaction (pcr) and sequencing approaches were used to identify and type the isolates ... | 2011 | 21831604 |
| asia tsunami disaster 2004: experience at three international airports. | on 26 december 2004, a large earthquake in the indian ocean and the resulting tsunami created a disaster on a scale unprecedented in recorded history. thousands of foreign tourists, predominantly europeans, were affected. their governments were required to organize rapid rescue responses for a catastrophe thousands of miles away, something for which they had little or no experience. the rescue operations at three international airports in sweden, the uk, and finland are analyzed with emphasis on ... | 2011 | 21838068 |
| how well do strategic environmental assessments in scotland consider human health? | strategic environmental assessment (sea) is a systematic approach to identifying, describing, evaluating and reporting on the environmental - and health - effects of policies, plans and strategies. seas have potential to improve population health because they assess 'upstream' health determinants and recommend measures to improve these. the authors studied the range of health issues considered in seas in scotland, and the evidence used in their assessment. | 2011 | 21855099 |
| a lead isotopic study of the human bioaccessibility of lead in urban soils from glasgow, scotland. | the human bioaccessibility of lead (pb) in pb-contaminated soils from the glasgow area was determined by the unified bioaccessibility research group of europe (barge) method (ubm), an in vitro physiologically based extraction scheme that mimics the chemical environment of the human gastrointestinal system and contains both stomach and intestine compartments. for 27 soils ranging in total pb concentration from 126 to 2160 mg kg(-1) (median 539 mg kg(-1)), bioaccessibility as determined by the 'st ... | 2011 | 21930292 |
| combining risk assessment and epidemiological risk factors to elucidate the sources of human e. coli o157 infection. | summarye. coli o157 can be transmitted to humans by three primary (foodborne, environmental, waterborne) and one secondary (person-to-person transmission) pathways. a regression model and quantitative microbiological risk assessments (qmras) were applied to determine the relative importance of the primary transmission pathways in ne scotland. both approaches indicated that waterborne infection was the least important but it was unclear whether food or the environment was the main source of infec ... | 2011 | 21943778 |
| Evaluation of the Scrub Practitioners' List of Intraoperative Non-Technical Skills (SPLINTS) system. | BACKGROUND: The Scrub Practitioners' List of Intraoperative Non-Technical Skills (SPLINTS) system is a new tool for training and assessing scrub practitioner (nurse, technician) behaviours during surgical operations. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to test the psychometric properties including inter-rater reliability of the prototype SPLINTS behavioural rating system. METHODS: Experienced scrub practitioners (n=34) attended a one-day session where they received background training in human ... | 2011 | 21974792 |
| prevalence of influenza a (h1n1) seropositivity in unvaccinated healthcare workers in scotland at the height of the global pandemic. | we set out to identify the level of previous exposure to influenza a (h1n1) in unvaccinated healthcare workers (hcws) at the peak of the pandemic outbreak in the uk, with control samples collected prior to the outbreak. | 2011 | 21977047 |
| Understanding the impact of HIV diagnosis amongst gay men in Scotland: an interpretative phenomenological analysis. | Although a wide literature details the psychological impact of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) diagnosis, it predates the introduction of effective treatment for HIV (i.e. anti-retroviral therapies, ARTs). This article explores the psychological impact of HIV diagnosis in post-ART accounts. This is important, given the recent policy developments which focus upon increasing HIV testing and thus diagnoses. | 2011 | 22010635 |
| Has Scotland always been the 'sick man' of Europe? An observational study from 1855 to 2006. | BACKGROUND: Scotland has been dubbed 'the sick man of Europe' on account of its higher mortality rates compared with other western European countries. It is not clear the length of time for which Scotland has had higher mortality rates. The root causes of the higher mortality in Scotland remain elusive. METHODS: Life expectancy data from the Human Mortality Database were tabulated and graphed for a selection of wealthy, mainly European countries from around 1850 onwards. RESULTS: Scotland ha ... | 2011 | 22021374 |
| matthew baillie: pioneer of systematic pathology. | this year is the 250th anniversary of the birth of matthew baillie, whose textbook morbid anatomy of the human body, published in 1793, and its accompanying atlas, published 6 years later, constituted the first textbook which dealt exclusively with system-based pathology. this adopted a new and convenient method of describing pathology according to the organs involved rather than according to symptoms, as giovanni morgagni (1682-1771) of padua had adopted in his de sedibus et causis morborum (on ... | 2011 | 22041735 |
| Sediment amendment with Phoslock® in Clatto Reservoir (Dundee, UK): Investigating changes in sediment elemental composition and phosphorus fractionation. | Lanthanum-modified bentonite clay (Phoslock(®) is a lake remediation tool designed to strip dissolved phosphorus (P) from the water column and increase the sediment P-sorption capacity. This study investigated short term alterations in sediment elemental composition and sediment P-fractions based on sediment cores taken 2 days before and 28 days following the application of 24 t of Phoslock® to a 9 ha, man-made reservoir. Following the application, sediment lanthanum (La) content increased signi ... | 2012 | 22054585 |
| an ecological approach to assessing the epidemiology of antimicrobial resistance in animal and human populations. | we examined long-term surveillance data on antimicrobial resistance (amr) in salmonella typhimurium dt104 (dt104) isolates from concurrently sampled and sympatric human and animal populations in scotland. using novel ecological and epidemiological approaches to examine diversity, and phenotypic and temporal relatedness of the resistance profiles, we assessed the more probable source of resistance of these two populations. the ecological diversity of amr phenotypes was significantly greater in hu ... | 2011 | 22090389 |
| antibiotic resistance gene abundances correlate with metal and geochemical conditions in archived scottish soils. | the vast majority of antibiotic resistant genes (arg) acquired by human pathogens have originated from the natural environment. therefore, understanding factors that influence intrinsic levels of arg in the environment could be epidemiologically significant. the selection for metal resistance often promotes ar in exposed organisms; however, the relationship between metal levels in nature and the intrinsic presence of arg has not been fully assessed. here, we quantified, using qpcr, the abundance ... | 2011 | 22096547 |
| Locum tenens consultant doctors in a rural general hospital - an essential part of the medical workforce or an expensive stopgap? | Maintaining hospital consultant staffing levels often requires the employment of locum tenens to meet service needs. This is particularly so in hospitals where core clinical services are run by a small number of permanently appointed consultants. The problems associated with locum employment are underestimated and little attention has been directed towards addressing the issue in the rural general hospitals of Scotland. This study looked at the permanent and short- and long-term locum consultant ... | 2011 | 22117560 |
| pathogenic potential to humans of bovine escherichia coli o26, scotland. | escherichia coli o26 and o157 have similar overall prevalences in cattle in scotland, but in humans, shiga toxin-producing e. coli o26 infections are fewer and clinically less severe than e. coli o157 infections. to investigate this discrepancy, we genotyped e. coli o26 isolates from cattle and humans in scotland and continental europe. the genetic background of some strains from scotland was closely related to that of strains causing severe infections in europe. nonmetric multidimensional scali ... | 2012 | 22377426 |
| using sequence data to identify alternative routes and risk of infection: a case-study of campylobacter in scotland. | genetic typing data are a potentially powerful resource for determining how infection is acquired. in this paper mlst typing was used to distinguish the routes and risks of infection of humans with campylobacter jejuni from poultry and ruminant sources | 2012 | 22462563 |
| environmental determinants of ixodes ricinus ticks and the incidence of borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, the agent of lyme borreliosis, in scotland. | lyme borreliosis (lb) is the most common arthropod-borne disease of humans in the northern hemisphere. in europe, the causative agent, borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex, is principally vectored by ixodes ricinus ticks. the aim of this study was to identify environmental factors influencing questing i. ricinus nymph abundance and b. burgdorferi s.l. infection in questing nymphs using a large-scale survey across scotland. ticks, host dung and vegetation were surveyed at 25 woodland sites, an ... | 2013 | 23036286 |
| elucidating the aetiology of human campylobacter coli infections. | there has been little research on the determinants of campylobacter coli infection, despite its contributing up to 10% of human campylobacter infections. a case-control and two case-case study methods explored the aetiology of c. coli over a one year period across scotland. the case-control multivariate model found an increased risk of c. coli infection in people older than 19 years (o.r. = 3.352), and during the summer months (o.r. = 2.596), while residing in an urban area decreased the risk (o ... | 2013 | 23734204 |
| the epidemiology of infectious mononucleosis in northern scotland: a decreasing incidence and winter peak. | infection with epstein-barr virus (ebv) is almost ubiquitous in humans and generally occurs at two ages: infantile, which is usually asymptomatic and associated with poorer socioeconomic conditions, and adolescent, which causes infectious mononucleosis (im) in ~25% cases. the determinants of whether the infection causes im remain uncertain. we aimed to evaluate seasonality and temporal trends in im. | 2014 | 24650116 |
| molecular diversity of scottish cryptosporidium hominis isolates. | cryptosporidium hominis is one of the most prevalent protozoan parasites to infect humans where transmission is via the consumption of infective oocysts. this study describes sporadic cases in addition to the molecular diversity of outbreak cases in scotland using the glycoprotein-60 subtyping tool. from a total of 187 c. hominis isolates, 65 were subjected to further molecular analysis and 46 were found to be the common iba10g2 subtype. unusual subtypes included four isolates belonging to the i ... | 2015 | 25185671 |
| time-scaled evolutionary analysis of the transmission and antibiotic resistance dynamics of staphylococcus aureus clonal complex 398. | staphylococcus aureus clonal complex 398 (cc398) is associated with disease in humans and livestock, and its origins and transmission have generated considerable interest. we performed a time-scaled phylogenetic analysis of cc398, including sequenced isolates from the united kingdom (scotland), along with publicly available genomes. using state-of-the-art methods for mapping traits onto phylogenies, we quantified transitions between host species to identify sink and source populations for cc398 ... | 2014 | 25239891 |
| should a water colour parameter be included in lake total phosphorus prediction models used for the water framework directive? | under the water framework directive (wfd) lakes are classified according to a variety of criteria. this classification facilitates state of the environment assessments and helps identify work needed to achieve the objectives of the wfd, which are broadly to maintain and/or restore water quality and ecological status at a level recognised as good or high. to achieve high or good status, lakes must meet a criterion for total phosphorus (tp) that is linked to a predicted reference condition value t ... | 2015 | 25262390 |
| the role of material, psychosocial and behavioral factors in mediating the association between socioeconomic position and allostatic load (measured by cardiovascular, metabolic and inflammatory markers). | lower socioeconomic position (sep), both accumulated across the life course and at different life-stages, has been found to be associated with higher cumulative physiological burden, as measured by allostatic load. this study aimed to identify what factors mediate the association between sep and allostatic load, as measured through combining cardiovascular, metabolic and inflammatory markers. we explored the role of material, psychological and behavioral factors, accumulated across two periods i ... | 2015 | 25459100 |
| variability and pathogenicity of hepatitis e virus genotype 3 variants. | infection with hepatitis e virus (hev) can be clinically inapparent or produce symptoms and signs of hepatitis of varying severity and occasional fatality. this variability in clinical outcomes may reflect differences in host susceptibility or the presence of virally encoded determinants of pathogenicity. analysis of complete genome sequences supports the division of hev genotype 3 (hev-3) variants into three major clades: 3ra comprising hev isolates from rabbits, and 3efg and 3abchij comprising ... | 2015 | 26282123 |
| salmonella infection in grey seals (halichoerus grypus), a marine mammal sentinel species: pathogenicity and molecular typing of salmonella strains compared with human and livestock isolates. | microbial pollution of the marine environment through land-sea transfer of human and livestock pathogens is of concern. salmonella was isolated from rectal swabs of free-ranging and stranded grey seal pups (21.1%; 37/175) and compared with strains from the same serovars isolated from human clinical cases, livestock, wild mammals and birds in scotland, uk to characterize possible transmission routes using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and multi-locus variable number of tandem repeat analyses. ... | 2016 | 26768299 |
| colonization of the scottish islands via long-distance neolithic transport of red deer (cervus elaphus). | red deer (cervus elaphus) have played a key role in human societies throughout history, with important cultural significance and as a source of food and materials. this relationship can be traced back to the earliest human cultures and continues to the present day. humans are thought to be responsible for the movement of a considerable number of deer throughout history, although the majority of these movements are poorly described or understood. studying such translocations allows us to better u ... | 2016 | 27053752 |
| the prevalence and genotypic analysis of toxoplasma gondii from individuals in scotland, 2006-2012. | contemporary information relating to the prevalence of toxoplasma gondii in humans is lacking for the uk population, with even less information available about the human prevalence of the parasite in scotland. to address this, two different study groups were used to determine the prevalence and genotypes of toxoplasma gondii in the scottish population. | 2016 | 27267112 |
| red squirrels in the british isles are infected with leprosy bacilli. | leprosy, caused by infection with mycobacterium leprae or the recently discovered mycobacterium lepromatosis, was once endemic in humans in the british isles. red squirrels in great britain (sciurus vulgaris) have increasingly been observed with leprosy-like lesions on the head and limbs. using genomics, histopathology, and serology, we found m. lepromatosis in squirrels from england, ireland, and scotland, and m. leprae in squirrels from brownsea island, england. infection was detected in overt ... | 2016 | 27846605 |
| an audit of cryptosporidium and giardia detection in scottish national health service diagnostic microbiology laboratories. | giardia duodenalis and cryptosporidium species are protozoan parasites capable of causing gastrointestinal disease in humans and animals through the ingestion of infective faeces. whereas cryptosporidium species can be acquired locally or through foreign travel, there is the mis-conception that giardiasis is considered to be largely travel-associated, which results in differences in laboratory testing algorithms. in order to determine the level of variation in testing criteria and detection meth ... | 2017 | 28274291 |
| detection of babesia dna in blood and spleen samples from eurasian badgers (meles meles) in scotland. | babesia are intraerythrocytic parasites of importance worldwide within the fields of human and veterinary medicine, as some babesia sp., including babesia microti are potentially zoonotic and can cause fatal disease in both humans and animals. the aims of this study were to use a nested pcr (amplifying the 18s rrna gene) to determine the presence and species of babesia parasite dna found in blood (n = 47) and spleen (n = 47) samples collected from eurasian badgers (meles meles) in scotland. the ... | 2017 | 28696186 |
| exposure of harbour seals phoca vitulina to brucella in declining populations across scotland. | since 2000 there has been a major decline in the abundance of scottish harbour seals phoca vitulina. the causes of the decline remain uncertain. the aim of this study was to establish the extent to which the seals in the regions of greatest decline have been exposed to brucella, a bacterial pathogen that causes reproductive failure in terrestrial mammalian hosts. tissues from dead seals collected between 1992 and 2013 were cultured for brucella (n = 150). serum samples collected from live captur ... | 2017 | 28930081 |