Publications
| Title | Abstract | Year(sorted descending) Filter | PMID Filter |
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| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| smoke-free legislation and asthma. | 2011 | 21208121 | |
| 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 |
| cyclooxygenase-2 (cox-2) polymorphisms and risk of inflammatory bowel disease in a scottish and danish case-control study. | inflammatory bowel diseases (ibds) are a result of interactions between luminal pathogens and the intestinal immune response. cyclooxygenase-2 (cox-2) plays a key role in the regulation of the inflammatory response upon stimulation by luminal pathogens via toll-like receptors. | 2011 | 20803508 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| during the summer 2009 outbreak of "swine flu" in scotland what respiratory pathogens were diagnosed as h1n1/2009? | abstract: | 2011 | 21752259 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| [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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| a threonine to isoleucine missense mutation in the pericentriolar material 1 gene is strongly associated with schizophrenia. | markers at the pericentriolar material 1 gene (pcm1) have shown genetic association with schizophrenia in both a university college london (ucl) and a usa-based case-control sample. in this paper we report a statistically significant replication of the pcm1 association in a large scottish case-control sample from aberdeen. resequencing of the genomic dna from research volunteers who had inherited haplotypes associated with schizophrenia showed a threonine to isoleucine missense mutation in exon ... | 2010 | 19048012 |
| altitudinal patterns of tick and host abundance: a potential role for climate change in regulating tick-borne diseases? | the impact of climate change on vector-borne infectious diseases is currently controversial. in europe the primary arthropod vectors of zoonotic diseases are ticks, which transmit borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (the agent of lyme disease), tick-borne encephalitis virus and louping ill virus between humans, livestock and wildlife. ixodes ricinus ticks and reported tick-borne disease cases are currently increasing in the uk. theories for this include climate change and increasing host abundance. ... | 2010 | 19685082 |
| spatial and temporal epidemiology of sporadic human cryptosporidiosis in scotland. | the spatial and temporal epidemiology of human cryptosporidiosis was described by analysing sporadic cases reported in scotland from 2005 to 2007. measures of livestock density and human population density were explored as indicators of the geographical variation in prevalence. cryptosporidium parvum was more common in areas with lower human population densities, with a higher ratio of the number of farms to human inhabitants and with a higher ratio of the number of private water supplies to hum ... | 2010 | 19638164 |
| loss-of-function cyp2c9 variants improve therapeutic response to sulfonylureas in type 2 diabetes: a go-darts study. | sulfonylureas are metabolized mainly by the cytochrome p450 2c9 (cyp2c9) enzyme. two cyp2c9 variants--*2 (arg144cys) and *3 (ile359leu)--are associated with reduced enzyme activity and impaired substrate metabolism. we identified 1,073 incident users of sulfonylureas in tayside, scotland, and assessed the impact of the combined cyp2c9*2 and cyp2c9*3 genotypes on early and sustained sulfonylurea response. we found that patients with two copies of a loss-of-function allele were 3.4 times (p = 0.00 ... | 2010 | 19794412 |
| immature defense mechanisms are associated with lesser vaginal orgasm consistency and greater alcohol consumption before sex. | disturbances of emotional and physical awareness can impair female sexual function. previous research revealed that immature psychological defense mechanisms (impairing emotional awareness) are associated specifically with impaired vaginal orgasm (orgasm triggered solely by penile-vaginal stimulation). alcohol consumed before sex (acbs) might impair vaginal orgasm or lead to avoiding the opportunity for it, but research examining immature defenses, acbs, and specific sexual behaviors has been la ... | 2010 | 19889144 |
| hospitalised adult patients with suspected 2009 h1n1 infection at regional infectious diseases units in scotland--most had alternative final diagnoses. | 2010 | 19896500 | |
| economic evaluation of diagnosing and excluding ectopic pregnancy. | the diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy in women presenting in early pregnancy is often protracted, relying on costly investigations that are psychologically burdensome to the patient. the aim of this study was to evaluate the financial costs to the health services in scotland of the current methods used to diagnose and exclude ectopic pregnancy, and compare these with that of a theoretical single diagnostic serum biomarker. | 2010 | 19933287 |
| association of existing and new candidate genes for anxiety, depression and personality traits in older people. | genetic variants that have previously been associated with personality traits and/or psychological distress, or inflammatory marker levels were investigated for their relationship to self-rated personality traits, anxiety, and depression in two elderly scottish cohorts. ten genes (29 snps) were investigated in the lothian birth cohort 1936 (approximately 70 years, n = 1,091). four of these genes and seven others (35 snps) were tested in the lothian birth cohort 1921 who were measured on the same ... | 2010 | 20052609 |
| two-dimensional patterns of human enamel thickness on deciduous (dm1, dm2) and permanent first (m1) mandibular molars. | to characterise patterns of enamel thickness on deciduous (dm1, dm2) and permanent first (m1) mandibular molars and evaluate these against functional and morphological interpretative models. | 2010 | 20056193 |
| observational learning of tool use in children: investigating cultural spread through diffusion chains and learning mechanisms through ghost displays. | in the first of two experiments, we demonstrate the spread of a novel form of tool use across 20 "cultural generations" of child-to-child transmission. an experimentally seeded technique spread with 100% fidelity along twice as many "generations" as has been investigated in recent exploratory "diffusion" experiments of this type. this contrasted with only a single child discovering the technique spontaneously in a comparable group tested individually without any model. this study accordingly doc ... | 2010 | 20064644 |
| predicting the postmortem submersion interval for human remains recovered from u.k. waterways. | this article aims to increase accuracy in estimating the postmortem submersion interval (pmsi) for bodies recovered from rivers in the united kingdom. data were collected from closed case files, crime scene reports, and autopsy files concerning bodies recovered over a 15-year period from the river clyde, scotland, and the river mersey and canals in northwest england. one hundred and eighty-seven cases met the study criteria and were scored by quantifying the overall amount of decomposition obser ... | 2010 | 20102465 |
| predicted impact of vaccination against human papillomavirus 16/18 on cancer incidence and cervical abnormalities in women aged 20-29 in the uk. | human papillomavirus (hpv) vaccination has been approved in more than 90 countries and is being implemented in many of these. in the uk, vaccination for girls aged 12-13 with catch-up for girls up to age 18 was introduced in 2008, using the bivalent gsk vaccine (cervarix). | 2010 | 20104226 |
| unexpected, periodic and permanent increase in medical inpatient care: man-made or new disease? | for many years medical admissions to acute hospitals have been increasing at a rate far higher than expected from demographic change. factors such as emergency re-admission, gp thresholds, breakdown of the family unit and deficiencies in community and social care have been suggested to explain this widening gap. solutions to the problem have revolved around demand management strategies. while such strategies do result in a relative reduction in demand they are unable to prevent the underlying lo ... | 2010 | 20138437 |
| distribution of hpv types associated with cervical cancers in scotland and implications for the impact of hpv vaccines. | this study evaluated human papillomavirus (hpv) type prevalence in 370 scottish invasive cervical cancers (iccs) using hpv genotyping and hpv mrna detection. | 2010 | 20145611 |
| lasalocid awareness and sampling in scotland. | lasalocid is an ionophore antibiotic extensively used as a coccidiostat in poultry production. lasalocid should not be fed to egg-laying hens as it accumulates in the eggs, and residues have often been found in eggs. other ionophores are toxic to humans, but the exact level of lasalocid toxicity to humans has not been established. approximately 250 egg samples were analysed for lasalocid each year from the 10 billion eggs consumed annually in the uk. a census of the 32 scottish local authority e ... | 2010 | 20155555 |
| variation in the uric acid transporter gene (slc2a9) and memory performance. | understanding human cognitive ageing is important to improve the health of an increasing elderly population. serum uric acid levels have been linked to many ageing illnesses and are also linked to cognitive functioning, though the direction of the association is equivocal. slc2a9, a urate transporter, influences uric acid levels. this study first tested four slc2a9 snps, previously associated with uric acid levels, in approximately 1000 scots: the lothian birth cohort 1936 (lbc1936). these parti ... | 2010 | 20197412 |
| prevalence of genetic haemochromatosis and iron overload in patients attending rheumatology and joint replacement clinics. | genetic haemochromatosis (gh) is common in north european and celtic populations and is associated with arthropathy. we aimed to measure the frequency of the common gh mutations (c282y and h63d), the carrier frequency of c282y and markers of iron overload in patients who were referred to our rheumatology and joint replacement clinics. | 2010 | 20218273 |
| comparison of the hungarian and scottish communicable disease control systems: lessons for a convergent european community. | european public health systems are converging, particularly in relation to communicable disease control. this process requires mutual learning through comparison; this was undertaken for scotland (population 5.1 million) and hungary (population 10.5 million). | 2010 | 20223490 |
| multi-locus sequence types of campylobacter carried by flies and slugs acquired from local ruminant faeces. | to assess whether flies and slugs acquire strains of campylobacter jejuni and campylobacter coli present in local ruminant faeces. | 2010 | 20337762 |
| smoking intensity before and after introduction of the public place smoking ban in scotland. | a study was performed to determine whether cigarettes were smoked more intensely outside of public venues in scotland, compared to indoors, after introduction of the public place smoking (pps) ban. it was conducted in three waves: before the ban, immediately after and 6months after introduction. the study included 322 regular smokers of four cigarette brand variants. filter analysis measurements were used to estimate the human-smoked yields of tar and nicotine from cigarettes smoked predominantl ... | 2010 | 20347910 |
| novel subtype c human immunodeficiency virus type 1 envelopes cloned directly from plasma: coreceptor usage and neutralization phenotypes. | human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (hiv-1) is classified into different phylogenetic subtypes, with subtype c representing more than half of the novel infections globally. however, there are relatively few subtype c envelopes available for study. we amplified 18 unique env genes from 13 patients who were infected with subtype c hiv-1 in six african countries and in scotland to create replication-competent viruses. these envelopes are phylogenetically diverse across the subtype c spectrum, and h ... | 2010 | 20484560 |
| to bite or not to bite! a questionnaire-based survey assessing why some people are bitten more than others by midges. | the scottish biting midge, culicoides impunctatus, responsible for more than 90% of biting attacks on human beings in scotland, is known to demonstrate a preference for certain human hosts over others. | 2010 | 20500852 |
| transatlantic issues: report from scotland. | 2010 | 20507678 | |
| on inferring presence of an individual in a mixture: a bayesian approach. | homer and others (2008. resolving individuals contributing trace amounts of dna to highly complex mixtures using high-density snp genotyping microarrays. plos genetics 4, e1000167) recently showed that, given allele frequency data for a large number of single nucleotide polymorphisms in a sample together with corresponding population "reference" frequencies, by typing an individual's dna sample at the same set of loci it can be inferred whether or not the individual was a member of the sample. t ... | 2010 | 20522729 |
| association between polymorphisms of the dopamine receptor d2 and catechol-o-methyl transferase genes and cognitive function. | the dopaminergic neurotransmitter system of the brain is involved in working memory and other cognitive functions. studies suggest an important role for dopamine synthesis and uptake in modulation of human cognitive processes. we studied the association between polymorphisms in the catechol-o-methyl transferase (comt) and dopamine receptor d2 (drd2) genes and general cognitive ability in a secondary analysis of 2091 men and women, aged 55-80 years living in scotland. general cognitive ability 'g ... | 2010 | 20567893 |
| population structure and genome-wide patterns of variation in ireland and britain. | located off the northwestern coast of the european mainland, britain and ireland were among the last regions of europe to be colonized by modern humans after the last glacial maximum. further, the geographical location of britain, and in particular of ireland, is such that the impact of historical migration has been minimal. genetic diversity studies applying the y chromosome and mitochondrial systems have indicated reduced diversity and an increased population structure across britain and irela ... | 2010 | 20571510 |
| variation in epidermal morphology in human skin at different body sites as measured by reflectance confocal microscopy. | two methods of estimating stratum corneum thickness using reflectance confocal microscopy were examined, and epidermal thickness measurements at multiple body sites were compared. measurements of stratum corneum thickness were made using the derivative method, which is based on the rate of change of image intensity as a proxy for keratin concentration, and simple visual analysis of confocal images. to compare epidermal thickness we collected 1491 z-axis stacks of confocal images from 10 body sit ... | 2010 | 20574601 |
| 2009 pandemic influenza a(h1n1) virus in scotland: geographically variable immunity in spring 2010, following the winter outbreak. | we determined the age- and location-specific seroprevalence of antibodies against 2009 pandemic influenza a(h1n1) virus in scotland following the first two waves of infection. serum samples collected following the winter outbreak were analysed by microneutralisation assay. the proportion of positive sera varied significantly between cities and, in the case of inverness, between age groups (with younger adults more likely to be positive than older individuals). this study demonstrates that older ... | 2010 | 20576237 |
| hpv vaccination: vaccine acceptance, side effects and screening intentions. | as part of an evaluation of the introductory campaign of human papilloma virus (hpv) vaccine in a scottish health board, self-administered questionnaires were offered to all 5007 eligible girls in school following the third dose of hpv to identify side-effects, reasons for non-vaccination and future cervical screening intentions, and 2775 (56.2%) replied. in all, 630 (23.5%) of vaccinated girls reported side effects to the vaccination, about half of which were common injection-site reactions. ma ... | 2010 | 20586376 |
| putative household outbreaks of campylobacteriosis typically comprise single mlst genotypes. | during a 15-month period in scotland a small but important number of human campylobacter cases (3·2%) arose from 91 putative household outbreaks. of the 26 outbreaks with known strain composition, 89% were composed of the same mlst which supports the potential use of mlst in public health epidemiology. the number of cases associated with household outbreaks is much larger than general outbreaks and there is some evidence to indicate that there may be secondary transmission, although this is rela ... | 2010 | 20587120 |
| today's research: tomorrow's therapies. | 2010 | 20624121 | |
| vaccine effectiveness in pandemic influenza - primary care reporting (viper): an observational study to assess the effectiveness of the pandemic influenza a (h1n1)v vaccine. | to determine influenza a (h1n1)v vaccine effectiveness (ve) in the scottish population at an early stage of the 2009-10 h1n1v vaccination programme, using a sentinel surveillance network of 41 general practices contributing to the practice team information (pti) network. | 2010 | 20630126 |
| geographic determinants of reported human campylobacter infections in scotland. | campylobacteriosis is the leading cause of bacterial gastroenteritis in most developed countries. people are exposed to infection from contaminated food and environmental sources. however, the translation of these exposures into infection in the human population remains incompletely understood. this relationship is further complicated by differences in the presentation of cases, their investigation, identification, and reporting; thus, the actual differences in risk must be considered alongside ... | 2010 | 20633277 |
| the influence of tall man lettering on drug name confusion: a laboratory-based investigation in the uk using younger and older adults and healthcare practitioners. | medication errors commonly involve confusion between drugs with similar names. one possible method of reducing error is to emphasize differences between the names using 'tall man' (uppercase) letters (e.g. ceftazidime vs cefuroxime). previous studies investigating this issue have been conducted mainly on university students, and results have been mixed. | 2010 | 20635826 |
| dispensing patterns and financial costs of glucose-lowering therapies in the uk from 2000 to 2008. | a variety of influences determine prescribing behaviour. the purpose of this study was to characterize the pattern of dispensing for glucose-lowering and monitoring in the uk from 2000 to 2008, inclusively. | 2010 | 20636954 |
| identification of cryptosporidium species and genotypes in scottish raw and drinking waters during a one-year monitoring period. | we analyzed 1,042 cryptosporidium oocyst-positive slides (456 from raw waters and 586 from drinking waters) of which 55.7% contained 1 or 2 oocysts, to determine species/genotypes present in scottish waters. two nested pcr-restriction fragment length polymorphism (rflp) assays targeting different loci (1 and 2) of the hypervariable region of the 18s rrna gene were used for species identification, and 62.4% of samples were amplified with at least one of the pcr assays. more samples (577 slides; 4 ... | 2010 | 20639357 |
| association between raised inflammatory markers and cognitive decline in elderly people with type 2 diabetes: the edinburgh type 2 diabetes study. | to determine whether circulating levels of the inflammatory markers c-reactive protein (crp), interleukin (il)-6, and tumor necrosis factor (tnf)-alpha are associated with cognitive ability and estimated lifetime cognitive decline in an elderly population with type 2 diabetes. | 2010 | 19959761 |
| risk of carcase contamination with campylobacter in sheep sent for slaughter into an abattoir in scotland. | campylobacter species have been identified as the major cause of acute bacterial enteritis in the uk. however, the epidemiology of campylobacteriosis remains poorly understood. it has been suggested that the role of sheep in the epidemiology of campylobacter has been underestimated. the objective of the present study was to assess the infection risk of campylobacter in sheep meat as a potential risk for human campylobacteriosis and to establish any possible associations between the epidemiologic ... | 2010 | 20381181 |
| objective and subjective evaluation of a redesigned corridor environment in a psychiatric hospital. | this study examined the impact of redesigning a corridor space within a psychiatric hospital on the behaviour of patients with dementia. in addition, patient and staff perceptions of the redesigned corridor were assessed. data were collected through an observational tool (behavioural mapping) and a specifically design questionnaire. the findings suggest a positive impact of the redesigned corridor on patient behaviour and that patients and staff perceived the change to the environment differenti ... | 2010 | 20394476 |
| the emergence of oseltamivir-resistant pandemic influenza a (h1n1) 2009 virus amongst hospitalised immunocompromised patients in scotland, november-december, 2009. | to investigate the frequency of oseltamivir resistance in circulating strains of the 2009 influenza a(h1n1) pandemic virus in scotland, 1,802 samples from 1,608 infected hospitalised patients were screened by the h275y discriminatory rt-pcr. among these, we identified 10 patients who developed the h275y mutation. all of them were immunocompromised and were under treatment or had been treated previously with oseltamivir. | 2010 | 20394718 |
| legal implications of tissue. | this paper reviews the legal rules that govern the way surgeons deal with human tissues during the course of diagnosing and treating their patients. the topic is dominated by the human tissue act 2004, which was enacted in september 2006; thus, the article applies specifically only to england, wales and northern ireland, since scotland has separate legislation (human tissue (scotland) act 2006). although the human tissue act 2004 was built largely upon a plethora of legal principles that were de ... | 2010 | 20412669 |